System and method for combining several EPG sources to one reliable EPG
First Claim
1. A system for generating and outputting electronic program guide (EPG) information the system comprising:
- an acquiring unit (102) for acquiring EPG data from a plurality of sources (120), said EPG data including one or more program listings (40);
a storage device for storing said acquired EPG data;
an identifying unit (106) for identifying a set of equivalent program listings (40) from said stored EPG data, wherein each program listing in said set of equivalent program listings (40) has a scheduled starting time that falls within a specified time window;
a combining unit (108) for combining information from said set of equivalent program listings (40) to a single combined program listing (40);
an output device (110) for outputting an EPG including said combined program listing (40).
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a device for acquiring electronic program guide (EPG) data from a plurality of different EPG sources (120), and combining the acquired data to a single EPG (10). At regular intervals, EPG data is acquired from different sources (120), which may include the Internet (122), digital programming broadcasters, and teletext service providers (126). Equivalent program listings (40) within the acquired EPG data are identified, and the best information is selected from the equivalent program listings (40) to be included in the combined EPG (10). The present invention is able to identify equivalent program listings (40), even if the program titles are written in different languages or when the scheduled broadcast times differ to some extent. The resulting EPG (10) is more reliable and contains more information than any of the EPGs (10) associated with the original sources (120).
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A system for generating and outputting electronic program guide (EPG) information the system comprising:
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an acquiring unit (102) for acquiring EPG data from a plurality of sources (120), said EPG data including one or more program listings (40);
a storage device for storing said acquired EPG data;
an identifying unit (106) for identifying a set of equivalent program listings (40) from said stored EPG data, wherein each program listing in said set of equivalent program listings (40) has a scheduled starting time that falls within a specified time window;
a combining unit (108) for combining information from said set of equivalent program listings (40) to a single combined program listing (40);
an output device (110) for outputting an EPG including said combined program listing (40). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A process for generating and outputting electronic program guide information (EPG) (10) the process comprising the steps of:
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acquiring and storing EPG data from a plurality of sources (120), said EPG data including one or more program listings (40);
identifying a set of equivalent program listings (40) from said stored EPG data, wherein each program listing (40) in said set of equivalent program listings (40) has a scheduled starting time that falls within a specified time window;
combining information from said set of equivalent program listings (40) to a single combined program listing (40);
outputting an EPG (10) including said combined program listing (40).
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11. A computer-readable medium including instructions to be executed on a computer, said medium comprising:
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instructions for acquiring and storing EPG data from a plurality of sources (120), said EPG data including one or more program listings (40);
instructions for identifying a set of equivalent program listings (40) from said stored EPG data, wherein each program listing (40) in said set of equivalent program listings (40) has a scheduled starting time that falls within a specified time window;
instructions for combining information from said set of equivalent program listings (40) to a single combined program listing (40);
instructions for outputting an EPG (10) including said combined program listing (40).
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Specification