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US 8,621,519 B2Granted
Method and system for acquiring electronic programming guide signals
AssigneeComcast Cable Holdings, LLC
InventorsWalt Michel, Errol J. D'Souza, Robert Heiman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for use in a cable network to acquire electronic programming guide (EPG) content signals from one or more EPG vendors. The system includes a set-top box (STB) for receiving cable signals and EPG signals from a headend controller so that the STB can output the signals to a media output device for display. A conversion table is provided to each STB for use by the STB in determining source IDs associated with a given channel for each EPG vendor, the source IDs for use in acquiring the EPG content signals.
Claims19
A method comprising:
- processing a first channel map comprising a first set of source identifications (IDs) useable for selecting first program listing signals from a first program listing provider, wherein a second set of source IDs is useable for selecting second program listing signals from a second program listing provider, the second set of source IDs being different from the first set of source IDs;
- and
- processing, by a processor, at least a portion of a conversion table to identify a source ID, from among the second set of source IDs, that corresponds to one or more program listing signals from the second program listing provider, wherein the conversion table comprises at least a first portion associated with the first channel map and a second portion associated with a second channel map different from the first channel map.
A method comprising:
- processing a first channel map that associates a first set of source identifications (IDs) with a plurality of content channels, the first set of source IDs being useable for acquiring first program listing signals from a first program listing provider;
- processing, by a processor, a second set of source IDs associated with the plurality of content channels, the second set of source IDs being useable for acquiring second program listing signals from a second program listing provider and being different from the first set of source IDs;
- processing at least a portion of a conversion table to identify a source ID, from among the second set of source IDs, that corresponds to one or more program listing signals from the second program listing provider, wherein the conversion table comprises at least a first portion associated with the first channel map and a second portion associated with a second channel map different from the first channel map;
- and
- causing retrieval of the one or more program listing signals from the second program listing provider using the source ID.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory communicatively coupled to the processor and storing instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to:
- process a first channel map associating a first set of source identifications (IDs) with a plurality of content channels, the first set of source IDs being useable for acquiring first program listing signals from a first program listing provider;
- process a second set of source IDs associated with the plurality of content channels, the second set of source IDs being useable for acquiring second program listing signals from a second program listing provider and being different from the first set of source IDs;
- process at least a portion of a conversion table to identify a source ID, from among the second set of source IDs, that corresponds to one or more program listing signals from the second program listing provider, wherein the conversion table comprises at least a first portion associated with the first channel map and a second portion associated with a second channel map different from the first channel map;
- and
- cause retrieval of the one or more program listing signals from the second program listing provider using the source ID.
5 more elements
A method comprising:
- processing a first channel map that associates a first set of source identifications (IDs) with a plurality of content channels, the first set of source IDs being useable for acquiring first program listing signals from a first program listing provider;
- processing a second set of source IDs associated with the plurality of content channels, the second set of source IDs being useable for acquiring second program listing signals from a second program listing provider and being different from the first set of source IDs;
- processing, by a processor, a signal instructing use of the second set of source IDs instead of the first set of source IDs;
- processing at least a portion of a conversion table to identify a source ID, from among the second set of source IDs, that corresponds to one or more program listing signals from the second program listing provider, wherein the conversion table comprises at least a first portion associated with the first channel map and a second portion associated with a second channel map different from the first channel map;
- and
- causing retrieval of the one or more program listing signals from the second program listing provider using the source ID.
3 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory communicatively coupled to the processor and storing instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to:
- process a first channel map associating a first set of source identifications (IDs) with a plurality of content channels, the first set of source IDs being useable for acquiring first program listing signals from a first program listing provider;
- process a second set of source IDs associated with the plurality of content channels, the second set of source IDs being useable for acquiring second program listing signals from a second program listing provider and being different from the first set of source IDs;
- process a signal instructing use of the second set of source IDs instead of the first set of source IDs;
- process at least a portion of a conversion table to identify a source ID, from among the second set of source IDs, that corresponds to one or more program listing signals from the second program listing provider, wherein the conversion table comprises at least a first portion associated with the first channel map and a second portion associated with a second channel map different from the first channel map;
- and
- cause retrieval of the one or more program listing signals from the second program listing provider using the source ID.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.