METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CREATING TELEVISION PROGRAMMING GUIDE

• US 20070016932A1
• Filed: 08/23/2006
• Published: 01/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Titantv Inc.
• Original Assignee: Decisionmark Corp. (Broadcast Interactive Media, LLC)
• Inventors: PERRY, JACK, FRANKEN, KENNETH, MOUBARAK, TOUFIC
• Granted Patent: US 8,010,981 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/254 Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server arrangements for maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00; network services using third party service providers H04L67/53
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/438 Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. retrieving encoded video stream packets from an IP network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/445 for displaying additional information H04N5/50 takes precedence

Abstract

A household level electronic program guide which provides a PC user with a specific guide of television stations which are available at a location where a cable has been scanned to determine the television channels and stations being broadcast thereon and being provided to the PC.

Claims

1. An electronic programming guide apparatus comprising:

a programmable electronic device at a first location;

a computer system at a second location, coupled to said programmable electronic device via a network;

said programmable electronic device providing information regarding said programmable electronic device at said first location to said computer system; and

said computer system configured to utilize a record of electronically transmitted programming which is available to be received at said first location, and for generating an electronic programming guide based upon said record.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the information regarding said programmable electronic device is the location of the programmable electronic device,

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the information regarding said programmable electronic device is the record of electronically transmitted programming which is available to be received at said first location and further wherein said programmable electronic device is a PC and said first location is a first household location.

4. This system of claim 3 wherein the record is calculated using a Longley Rice algorithm.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the record is generated in response to repeatedly scanning actual electronic programming signals delivered to said first household location.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the electronic programming signals are over-the-air signals.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the electronic programming signals are delivered via a cable television cable.

8. The system of claim 5 wherein the electronic programming signals are received by a television tuner card disposed in the PC.

9. The system of claim 8 where the television tuner card outputs a vertical blanking interval signal used to identify television channels.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the PC is coupled to a schedule and descriptive programming information source via an internet connection.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the computer system is configured to utilize a plurality of television station geographic reception areas and a plurality of overlapping geographic areas in generating the electronic program guide.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of associating a station occurs on the remote computer.

12. A method of generating an electronic programming guide comprising the steps of:

providing a programmable electronic device at a first location;

providing a remote computer coupled to the programmable electronic device via an internet connection;

generating a record of television stations which are specifically available at the first location;

generating a specific electronic program guide based upon the record; and

displaying the electronic program guide on the programmable electronic device.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of generating a record of television stations comprises the step of using a Longley-Rice algorithm to calculate signal strengths at the first location.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of generating a record of television stations comprises the steps of:

scanning a cable at the first location to determine if a signal is present on one of a plurality of channels;

repeating the step of scanning a cable for each of a plurality of different channels;

generating a plurality of information entries of channels available for reception at the first location; and

associating a station with each of the plurality of information entries;

wherein the programmable electronic device is a PC and said first location is a first household location.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a PC at a first location;

a source of television programming information;

means for connecting the PC to the source of television programming;

means for scanning a cable at the first location to determine if signals representative of predetermined television channels are being transmitted on the cable;

means for associating a television station with a detected television channel on the cable; and

means for generating an electronic program guide tailored to the stations available for reception at the first location.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the means for scanning comprises a television tuner card in the PC.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the means for associating comprises a store of information on the PC relating to geographic limits of predetermined television stations.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the means for generating an electronic program guide comprises a computer processor for receiving information from the source of television programming information.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 where the computer processor is disposed on a computer other than the PC.

21. A method of providing an electronic program guide which is tailored for a specific location comprising the steps of:

providing a radio frequency source of television programming to a television tuner card disposed in a personal computer of the type having a microprocessor therein;

scanning the radio frequency source of programming to make a determination that a programming signal is present and if an embedded station identification signal is also present;

repeating the step of scanning for a plurality of predetermined channels;

creating a table of channel numbers and station identification information;

determining station identification information of a first channel which has been received by the tuner card and for which no embedded station identification information is present by generating an intersection area of geographic broadcast areas of channels in the table where station identification has been previously determined and comparing the intersection area to a broadcast area of a station broadcasting on the first channel and making a determination of overlap if overlap exists between the intersection area and the broadcast area; and

generating an electronic program guide tailored for a location partially in response to the determination of overlap.