US6160545A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Multi-regional interactive program guide for television
Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC
•
Filing: 1997-12-15
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Granted: 2000-12-12
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Expires: 2017-12-15
Abstract
Abstract Interactive Program Guide (IPG) data for television is delivered to integrated receiver-decoders (IRDs) in a decoder population via, for example, a satellite network. The IPG data provides scheduling information for global and local programming services which are carried via the satellite network as well as another network such as a CATV network or a terrestrial broadcast network. Each IRD is assigned to an IPG region using unit addressing. At the IRD, IPG data is filtered so that only the global data and the region-specific data for the IRD's IPG region is retained and processed by the IRD. Channel map data is also delivered to the IRDs so that bundles of IRD data can be filtered out using firmware filtering to discard program sources that are not present in the channel map. The IRD data which is retained after filtering is used to provide scheduling information via an on-screen display. A preferred source may be designated when there are duplicative channels on the different networks.
Inventors
- 👤 Mark K. Eyer
- 👤 Zicheng Guo
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 20:19
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/40; H04N21/45; H04N21/4508; H04N21/4524; H04N21/43; H04N21/434; H04N21/4345; H04N21/454; H04N21/462; H04N21/4622; H04N21/47; H04N7/00; H04N7/08; H04N7/087; H04N7/088; H04N7/0887; H04N7/16; H04N7/162; H04N7/163; H04N21/80; H04N21/81; H04N21/812
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 44
Claim 1
Independent Claim
278 words
A method for delivering interactive program guide (IPG) data to at least a first subscriber terminal population in a first local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, and a second subscriber terminal population in a second local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, wherein said first and second subscriber terminal populations also receive global programming services via a global communication plant, comprising the steps of: providing first IPG identifiers to said first subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a first IPG region; providing second IPG identifiers to said second subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a second IPG region; providing the IPG data to the first and second subscriber terminal populations via the global communication plant; wherein the IPG data includes at least: (a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the second local communication plant; at each subscriber terminal in the first and second subscriber terminal populations, recovering the global data from the IPG data provided thereto; at each subscriber terminal in the first subscriber terminal population, filtering the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data; and at each subscriber terminal in the second subscriber terminal population, filtering the IPG data in accordance with the second IPG identifier to recover the second local data, while ignoring at least the first local data.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
278 words
A method for delivering interactive program guide (IPG) data to at least a first subscriber terminal population in a first local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, and a second subscriber terminal population in a second local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, wherein said first and second subscriber terminal populations also receive global programming services via a global communication plant, comprising the steps of: providing first IPG identifiers to said first subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a first IPG region; providing second IPG identifiers to said second subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a second IPG region; providing the IPG data to the first and second subscriber terminal populations via the global communication plant; wherein the IPG data includes at least: (a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the second local communication plant; at each subscriber terminal in the first and second subscriber terminal populations, recovering the global data from the IPG data provided thereto; at each subscriber terminal in the first subscriber terminal population, filtering the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data; and at each subscriber terminal in the second subscriber terminal population, filtering the IPG data in accordance with the second IPG identifier to recover the second local data, while ignoring at least the first local data.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 1, wherein: said global communication plant comprises a satellite network.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 1, wherein: said first local communication plant comprises one of a cable television network and a terrestrial broadcast television network, and said second local communication plant comprises one of a cable television network and a terrestrial broadcast television network.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 1, wherein: the first IPG identifier is addressed to the first subscriber terminal population.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 1, wherein: the first IPG identifier is multicast addressed to the first subscriber terminal population via the first local communication plant.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
47 words
The method of claim 1, wherein: at least the first IPG region comprises a plurality of cable television networks; and the subscriber terminals in the first IPG region are assigned to a corresponding one of said cable television networks according to addressed data which is provided thereto.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 1, wherein: the global programming services are targeted to be received by a threshold portion of at least one of the first and second subscriber terminal populations.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of claim 1, comprising the further step of: providing an identifier in the IPG data for each one of the global data, first local data, and second local data, for use in said recovering step and in said filtering steps.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
56 words
The method of claim 1, wherein the IPG data includes common local data that provides information regarding common programming services of the first and second local communication plants, comprising the further step of: at each subscriber terminal in the first and second subscriber terminal populations, recovering the common local data from the IPG data provided thereto.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
98 words
The method of claim 1, comprising the further steps of: providing channel map data to the subscriber terminals in the first subscriber terminal population to define the local programming services that are available thereto; and at the subscriber terminals in the first subscriber terminal, filtering the first local data of the IPG data in accordance with the associated channel map data to recover a subset of the first local data that corresponds to the available local programming services, while ignoring a remainder of the first local data that corresponds to local programming services that are not available thereto.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 10, wherein: the first IPG region comprises a plurality of cable television networks; and said channel map data is specific to each of said cable television networks.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 10, wherein: the channel map data is provided to the subscriber terminals in the first subscriber terminal population via the first local communication plant.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
71 words
The method of claim 1, comprising the further steps of: determining when one of the global programming services and one of the programming services of the first local communication plant are duplicative with one another; and designating one of the duplicative programming services as a preferred source to allow the recovery and display thereof by the subscriber terminals of the first subscriber terminal population in lieu of the non-designated programming service.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
288 words
An apparatus for delivering interactive program guide (IPG) data to at least a first subscriber terminal population in a first local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, and a second subscriber terminal population in a second local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, wherein said first and second subscriber terminal populations also receive global programming services via a global communication plant, comprising: means for providing first IPG identifiers to said first subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a first IPG region; means for providing second IPG identifiers to said second subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a second IPG region; and means for providing the IPG data to the first and second subscriber terminal populations via the global communication plant; wherein: the IPG data includes at least: (a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the second local communication plant; each subscriber terminal in the first and second subscriber terminal populations is adapted to recover the global data from the IPG data provided thereto; each subscriber terminal in the first subscriber terminal population is adapted to filter the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data; and each subscriber terminal in the second subscriber terminal population is adapted to filter the IPG data in accordance with the second IPG identifier to recover the second local data, while ignoring at least the first local data.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
288 words
An apparatus for delivering interactive program guide (IPG) data to at least a first subscriber terminal population in a first local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, and a second subscriber terminal population in a second local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, wherein said first and second subscriber terminal populations also receive global programming services via a global communication plant, comprising: means for providing first IPG identifiers to said first subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a first IPG region; means for providing second IPG identifiers to said second subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a second IPG region; and means for providing the IPG data to the first and second subscriber terminal populations via the global communication plant; wherein: the IPG data includes at least: (a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the second local communication plant; each subscriber terminal in the first and second subscriber terminal populations is adapted to recover the global data from the IPG data provided thereto; each subscriber terminal in the first subscriber terminal population is adapted to filter the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data; and each subscriber terminal in the second subscriber terminal population is adapted to filter the IPG data in accordance with the second IPG identifier to recover the second local data, while ignoring at least the first local data.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
14 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein: said global communication plant comprises a satellite network.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
43 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein: said first local communication plant comprises one of a cable television network and a terrestrial broadcast television network, and said second local communication plant comprises one of a cable television network and a terrestrial broadcast television network.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
18 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein: the first IPG identifier is addressed to the first subscriber terminal population.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
25 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein: the first IPG identifier is multicast addressed to the first subscriber terminal population via the first local communication plant.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
47 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein: at least the first IPG region comprises a plurality of cable television networks; and the subscriber terminals in the first IPG region are assigned to a corresponding one of said cable television networks according to addressed data which is provided thereto.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
31 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein: the global programming services are targeted to be received by a threshold portion of at least one of the first and second subscriber terminal populations.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
45 words
The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising: means for providing an identifier in the IPG data for each one of the global data, first local data, and second local data, for use by the subscriber terminals in recovering and filtering the IPG data provided thereto.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
54 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein: the IPG data includes common local data that provides information regarding common programming services of the first and second local communication plants; and each subscriber terminal in the first and second subscriber terminal populations is adapted to recover the common local data from the IPG data provided thereto.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
99 words
The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising: means for providing channel map data to the subscriber terminals in the first subscriber terminal population to define the local programming services that are available thereto; wherein: the subscriber terminals in the first subscriber terminal are adapted to filter the first local data of the IPG data in accordance with the associated channel map data to recover a subset of the first local data that corresponds to the available local programming services, while ignoring a remainder of the first local data that corresponds to local programming services that are not available thereto.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
31 words
The apparatus of claim 23, wherein: the first IPG region comprises a plurality of cable television networks; and said channel map data is specific to each of said cable television networks.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
28 words
The apparatus of claim 23, wherein: the channel map data is provided to the subscriber terminals in the first subscriber terminal population via the first local communication plant.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
80 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the subscriber terminals in the first subscriber terminal population are adapted to: determine when one of the global programming services and one of the local programming services of the first local communication plant are duplicative with one another; and designating one of the duplicative programming services as a preferred source to allow the recovery and display thereof by the subscriber terminals of the first subscriber terminal population in lieu of the non-designated programming service.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
160 words
A subscriber terminal in a first subscriber terminal population in a first local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, comprising: means for receiving Interactive Program Guide (IPG) data and associated global programming services via a global communication plant; means for receiving a first IPG identifier to assign the subscriber terminal to a first IPG region; wherein the IPG data includes at least: (a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services provided via the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding local programming services provided to a second subscriber terminal population via a second local communication plant; means for recovering the global data from the IPG data provided thereto; and means for filtering the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
160 words
A subscriber terminal in a first subscriber terminal population in a first local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, comprising: means for receiving Interactive Program Guide (IPG) data and associated global programming services via a global communication plant; means for receiving a first IPG identifier to assign the subscriber terminal to a first IPG region; wherein the IPG data includes at least: (a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services provided via the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding local programming services provided to a second subscriber terminal population via a second local communication plant; means for recovering the global data from the IPG data provided thereto; and means for filtering the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
15 words
The subscriber terminal of claim 27, wherein: said global communication plant comprises a satellite network.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
25 words
The subscriber terminal of claim 27, wherein: said first local communication plant comprises one of a cable television network and a terrestrial broadcast television network.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
19 words
The subscriber terminal of claim 27, wherein: the first IPG identifier is addressed to the first subscriber terminal population.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
26 words
The subscriber terminal of claim 27, wherein: the first IPG identifier is multicast addressed to the first subscriber terminal population via the first local communication plant.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
48 words
The subscriber terminal of claim 27, wherein: at least the first IPG region comprises a plurality of cable television networks; and the subscriber terminals in the first IPG region are assigned to a corresponding one of said cable television networks according to addressed data which is provided thereto.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
32 words
The subscriber terminal of claim 27, wherein: the global programming services are targeted to be received by a threshold portion of at least one of the first and second subscriber terminal populations.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
44 words
The subscriber terminal of claim 27, wherein: an identifier is provided in the IPG data for each one of the global data, first local data, and second local data, for use by the subscriber terminal in recovering and filtering the IPG data provided thereto.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
44 words
The subscriber terminal of claim 27, wherein the IPG data includes common local data that provides information regarding common programming services of the first and second local communication plants, further comprising: means for recovering the common local data from the IPG data provided thereto.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
90 words
The subscriber terminal of claim 27, wherein channel map data is provided to the subscriber terminals in the first subscriber terminal population to define the local programming services that are available thereto, further comprising: means for filtering the first local data of the IPG data in accordance with the associated channel map data to recover a subset of the first local data that corresponds to the available local programming services, while ignoring a remainder of the first local data that corresponds to local programming services that are not available thereto.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
32 words
The subscriber terminal of claim 36, wherein: the first IPG region comprises a plurality of cable television networks; and said channel map data is specific to each of said cable television networks.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
29 words
The subscriber terminal of claim 36, wherein: the channel map data is provided to the subscriber terminals in the first subscriber terminal population via the first local communication plant.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
68 words
The subscriber terminal of claim 27, further comprising: means for determining when one of the global programming services and one of the local programming services of the first local communication plant are duplicative with one another; and means for designating one of the duplicative programming services as a preferred source to allow the recovery and display thereof by the subscriber terminal in lieu of the non-designated programming service.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
162 words
A decoding method for a subscriber terminal in a first subscriber terminal population served by a first local communication plant that provides corresponding local programming services, comprising the steps of: receiving Interactive Program Guide (IPG) data and associated global programming services at said subscriber terminal via a global communication plant; receiving a first IPG identifier to assign the subscriber terminal to a first IPG region; said IPG data including at least: (a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services provided via the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding local programming services provided to a second subscriber terminal population via a second local communication plant; recovering the global data from the IPG data provided thereto; and filtering the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
162 words
A decoding method for a subscriber terminal in a first subscriber terminal population served by a first local communication plant that provides corresponding local programming services, comprising the steps of: receiving Interactive Program Guide (IPG) data and associated global programming services at said subscriber terminal via a global communication plant; receiving a first IPG identifier to assign the subscriber terminal to a first IPG region; said IPG data including at least: (a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services provided via the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding local programming services provided to a second subscriber terminal population via a second local communication plant; recovering the global data from the IPG data provided thereto; and filtering the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data.
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