MULTI-SOURCE MULTI-NETWORK ELECTRONIC SERVICE GUIDE

• US 20090030931A1
• Filed: 07/18/2008
• Published: 01/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Roundbox, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Roundbox, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mataga, Peter, Valloppillil, Vinod, Villanueva, Edgar, Khivesara, Amit
• Application Number:
  US12/176,249
• Publication Number:
  US 20090030931A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4355 involving reformatting operations of additional data, e.g. HTML pages on a television screen optimising the visualization of content for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/9577; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/066; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• 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 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A method and system by which a client device can gather ESG data from disparate sources and present them to a user in a unified manner via a single user interface provides improved usability of the ESG. A method for providing an electronic service guide comprises acquiring a plurality of electronic service guides, translating each of the plurality of electronic service guides that was not acquired in a specified representation to the specified representation, combining the plurality of electronic service guides in the specified representation to form a unified electronic service guide, and providing the unified electronic service guide for display.

Claims

1. A method for providing an electronic service guide comprising:

acquiring a plurality of electronic service guides from one or more sources,

translating each of the plurality of electronic service guides that was not acquired in a specified representation to the specified representation;

combining the plurality of electronic service guides in the specified representation to form a unified electronic service guide;

filtering the unified electronic service guide based on location, attributes of a user or attributes of a client device for which the electronic service guide is to be used; and

providing the unified electronic service guide for display or further processing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed in a client device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the client device is a mobile device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the providing step comprises the steps of:

providing the unified electronic service guide to a browser application on the client device, and

displaying the unified electronic service guide using the browser application.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one of the electronic service guides is acquired from a memory device connected to the client device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed in a server.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the providing step comprises the steps of:

delivering the unified electronic service guide to a client device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of electronic service guides comprise information relating to different services, different types of information about the same services, or both, and the combining step comprises:

combining the information relating to different services, different types of information about the same services, or both, to form a unified electronic service guide.

9. A client device for displaying an electronic service guide to a user, the client device comprising:

a processor to execute computer program instructions;

a display to display information to a user;

a memory to store computer program instructions executable by the processor; and

computer program instructions stored in the memory and executable to perform the steps of;

acquiring a plurality of electronic service guides from one or more sources,

translating each of the plurality of electronic service guides that was not acquired in a specified representation to the specified representation;

combining the plurality of electronic service guides in the specified representation to form a unified electronic service guide,

filtering the unified electronic service guide based on location, attributes of the user or attributes of the client device for which the electronic service guide is to be used, and

displaying the unified electronic service guide on the display.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the client device is a mobile device.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the displaying step comprises:

providing the unified electronic service guide to a browser application on the client device, and

displaying the unified electronic service guide using the browser application.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein at least one of plurality of electronic service guides is acquired from a server, and at least one of plurality of electronic service guides is acquired from another source.

13. The device of claim 9, wherein at least one of the electronic service guides is acquired from a memory device connected to the client device.

14. The device of claim 9, wherein the plurality of electronic service guides comprise information relating to different services, different types of information about the same services, or both, and the combining step comprises:

combining the information relating to different services, different types of information about the same services, or both, to form a unified electronic service guide.

15. A server for providing an electronic service guide to a client device, the server comprising:

a processor to execute computer program instructions;

a memory to store computer program instructions executable by the processor; and

computer program instructions stored in the memory and executable to perform the steps of;

acquiring a plurality of electronic service guides from one or more sources,

translating each of the plurality of electronic service guides that was not acquired in a specified representation to the specified representation;

combining the plurality of electronic service guides in the specified representation to form a unified electronic service guide,

filtering the unified electronic service guide based on attributes of a user or a client device for which the electronic service guide is to be used, and

delivering the unified electronic service guide to the client device.

16. The server of claim 15, wherein the client device is a mobile device.

17. The server of claim 15, wherein the client device displays the delivered guide or performs unification with other sources prior to display.

18. The device of claim 15, wherein the plurality of electronic service guides comprise information relating to different services, different types of information about the same services, or both, and the combining step comprises:

combining the information relating to different services, different types of information about the same services, or both, to form a unified electronic service guide.

19. A computer program product for providing an electronic service guide, comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

computer program instructions, recorded on the computer readable medium, executable by a processor, for performing the steps of;

acquiring a plurality of electronic service guides from one or more sources,

translating each of the plurality of electronic service guides that was not acquired in a specified representation to the specified representation;

combining the plurality of electronic service guides in the specified representation to form a unified electronic service guide,

filtering the unified electronic service guide based on attributes of a user or attributes of a client device for which the electronic service guide is to be used, and

providing the unified electronic service guide for display or further processing.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer program instructions are executed in a client device.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the client device is a mobile device.

22. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the providing step comprises the steps of:

providing the unified electronic service guide to a browser application on the client device, and

displaying the unified electronic service guide using the browser application.

23. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein at least one of the electronic service guides is acquired from a memory device connected to the client device.

24. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer program instructions are executed in a server.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the providing step comprises the steps of:

delivering the unified electronic service guide to a client device, which displays the delivered guide or performs unification with other sources prior to display.

26. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the plurality of electronic service guides comprise information relating to different services, different types of information about the same services, or both, and the combining step comprises:

combining the information relating to different services, different types of information about the same services, or both, to form a unified electronic service guide.