Method and apparatus for analyzing program data

#This invention relates to the analysis of program data and, in particular, to systems and methods that analyze program data, such as television program data, to schedule recording events.

#Client devices, such as digital video recorders (DVRs), may include a program guide or other mechanism that displays information to a viewer. The displayed information may be related to various television programs that are scheduled on different channels and different times on a particular day. A viewer is able to select one or more television programs to be recorded such that the viewer can watch the recorded programs at the viewer's convenience. Additionally, a viewer may enter a request to record all shows in a particular series (such as a sitcom or drama series) or shows that recur at a particular frequency (such as a program scheduled for 9:00 p.m. every Monday evening).

#The program guide content may change as particular programs are cancelled, rescheduled, or preempted by other programs. Such changes increases the difficulty of locating and recording the correct programs from the program guide. Further, some programs may change start times and program length from one week to the next (or from one broadcast of the program to the next). These changes further complicate the task of identifying and recording the correct programs from the program guide.

#The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to reference like features and components.

#FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary environment in which the systems and methods described herein may be implemented.

#FIG. 2 illustrates of an example client device, a television, and various input devices that interact with the client device.

#The following discussion provides specific examples directed to television-based entertainment systems, such as interactive TV networks, cable networks that utilize electronic program guides, and Web-enabled TV networks. Clients in such systems range from full-resource clients with substantial memory and processing resources, such as TV-enabled personal computers and TV recorders equipped with hard-disks, to low-resource clients with limited memory and/or processing resources, such as traditional set-top boxes. While aspects of the described systems and methods can be used in any of these systems and for any types of clients, they are described in the context of the following exemplary environment.

#FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary environment 100 in which the methods and systems described herein may be implemented. Exemplary environment 100 is a television entertainment system that facilitates distribution of content and program data to multiple viewers. The environment 100 includes one or more content providers 102, a content distribution system 104, and multiple client devices 106(1), 106(2), . . . , 106(N) coupled to the content distribution system 104 via a broadcast network 108.

#Content provider 102 includes an electronic program guide (EPG) database 110 and an EPG server 112. The EPG database 110 stores electronic files of program data 114 that is used to generate an electronic program guide (or, “program guide”). Program data includes program titles, ratings, characters, descriptions, actor names, station identifiers, channel identifiers, schedule information, and the like. The terms “program data” and “EPG data” are used interchangeably throughout this discussion. For discussion purposes, an electronic file maintains program data 114 that includes a program title 116, a program day or days 118 to identify which days of the week the program will be shown, and a start time or times 120 to identify the time that the program will be shown on the particular day or days of the week. In a particular embodiment, the electronic file does not contain specific information indicating which days of the week a program is broadcast. This information is inferred from the EPG.