Apparatus and methods for efficient delivery of electronic program guide data

A computerized gateway apparatus for delivering electronic program guide (EPG) data over a content delivery network, the computerized gateway apparatus comprising:

• a first data interface implemented by the computerized gateway apparatus for data communication with at least one computerized server device, the computerized server device comprising a plurality of guide data;
• a second data interface implemented by the computerized gateway apparatus for data communication with at least one computerized client device;
• processor apparatus in data communication with the first and second data interfaces;
• and
• a non-transitory storage apparatus in data communication with the processor apparatus and comprising a storage medium having a computer program thereon, the computer program comprising a plurality of instructions configured to, when executed by the processor apparatus, cause the computerized gateway device to:
• receive the plurality of guide data from the at least one computerized server device;
• pre-process at least a first portion of the received plurality of guide data into a first representation of the received plurality of guide data based on one or more capabilities of the at least one computerized client device;
• transmit the first representation of the received plurality of guide data to the at least one computerized client device for display thereon;
• based at least in part on data relating to a command subsequently received via the at least one computerized client device, pre-process at least a second portion of the received plurality of guide data into an updated version of the first representation;
• and
• cause delivery of the updated version to the at least one computerized client device for display thereon.

A non-transitory storage apparatus comprising a storage medium having at least one computer program thereon, the at least one computer program comprising a plurality of instructions configured to, when executed by a processor apparatus, cause a computerized network apparatus to:

• receive guide data from the network computerized entity;
• generate a first static representation of the guide data from a first portion of the guide data;
• cause presentation of the first static representation of the guide data at a computerized client device;
• predict at least one updated static representation of the guide data based on behavior of a user of the computerized client device with respect to the first static representation;
• based on the prediction, generate the at least one updated second static representation of the guide data from at least a second portion of the guide data;
• and
• cause presentation of at least one of the at least one updated static representation of the guide data at the computerized client device.

A computerized network apparatus configured to deliver programming data to a computerized client device, the computerized network apparatus comprising:

• a processor apparatus implementing one or more data interfaces to enable data communication with a computerized server and a computerized client device;
• and
• a non-transitory storage apparatus comprising a storage medium having at least one computer program thereon, the at least one computer program comprising a plurality of instructions configured to, when executed by the processor apparatus, cause the computerized network apparatus to:
• receive data indicative of program guide information from the computerized server via at least one of the one or more data interfaces;
• render the data indicative of program guide information according to a first of a plurality of available formats, the first of the plurality of available formats associated with video and selected based at least on capabilities of the computerized client device, the rendering comprising rendering into at least one video stream via a transcoder process and configured to produce a first displayable representation of the rendered data in the first format, the first displayable representation comprising one or more user-perceptible animations displayable on the computerized client device;
• subsequent to the rendering, provide to the computerized client device the first displayable representation;
• subsequent to the provision of the first displayable representation, and based on a first user command with respect to the first displayable representation, provide to the computerized client device a second displayable representation of the rendered data in the first format;
• and
• upon receipt of a second user command, cause rendering of at least another video stream corresponding to an updated displayable representation of the rendered data.