System and Method for the Construction of Electronic Program Guide Through Cooperative Transmission of Electronic Program Guide Data
First Claim
1. A system for the construction of EPG (electronic program guide) service, comprising:
- an EPG transmission server transmitting, through a forward path mediated by a broadcasting network, a part of total EPG data to be transmitted to a settop box and data into which request commands for remaining EPG data not transmitted via the broadcasting network are embedded;
an EPG head end server transmitting the remaining EPG data in response to user'"'"'s request through a return path mediated by a communication network; and
a settop box equipped with an EPG application which processes the EPG data received from the EPG transmission server and the EPG head end server.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a system and a method for the construction of EPG service through cooperative transmission of electronic program guide data. The system of the present invention comprises an EPG transmission server transmitting, through a forward path mediated by a broadcasting network, a part of total EPG data to be transmitted to a settop box and data into which request commands for remaining EPG data not transmitted via the broadcasting network are embedded; an EPG head end server transmitting the remaining EPG data in response to user'"'"'s request through a return path mediated by a communication network; and a settop box equipped with an EPG application which processes the EPG data received from the EPG transmission server and the EPG head end server. The EPG data transmitted via the broadcasting network includes both a service description table and an event information table. The system and the method for the construction of EPG service in accordance with the present invention require a significantly reduced broadcasting bandwidth for the EPG data transmission, compared with the conventional method or system. EPG service construction can be achieved using the broadcasting bandwidth of 2 M or smaller. Also, the system is applicable to various EPG applications without sacrificing user'"'"'s satisfaction at all.
20 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A system for the construction of EPG (electronic program guide) service, comprising:
- an EPG transmission server transmitting, through a forward path mediated by a broadcasting network, a part of total EPG data to be transmitted to a settop box and data into which request commands for remaining EPG data not transmitted via the broadcasting network are embedded;
an EPG head end server transmitting the remaining EPG data in response to user'"'"'s request through a return path mediated by a communication network; and
a settop box equipped with an EPG application which processes the EPG data received from the EPG transmission server and the EPG head end server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- an EPG transmission server transmitting, through a forward path mediated by a broadcasting network, a part of total EPG data to be transmitted to a settop box and data into which request commands for remaining EPG data not transmitted via the broadcasting network are embedded;
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8. A method for the construction of EPG (electronic program guide) service on a settop box equipped with an EPG application through cooperative transmissions of the EPG data from an EPG transmission server transmitting through a forward path mediated by a broadcasting network, a part of EPG data to be transmitted to the settop box and data into which request commands for remaining EPG data not transmitted via the broadcasting network are embedded, and from an EPG head end server transmitting the remaining EPG data in response to user'"'"'s request through a return path mediated by a communication network, which comprises the steps of:
- transmitting, through the forward path mediated by the broadcasting network from the EPG transmission server to the settop box, the partial EPG data and the data into which the request commands for remaining EPG data;
in response to user'"'"'s request signal for the remaining EPG data, transmitting, the request signal of the user to the EPG head end server through the return path mediated by the communication network; and
receiving the EPG data requested by the user from the EPG head end server through the return path mediated by the communication network and displaying it on a user'"'"'s television. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
- transmitting, through the forward path mediated by the broadcasting network from the EPG transmission server to the settop box, the partial EPG data and the data into which the request commands for remaining EPG data;
Specification