Multi-regional interactive program guide for television
First Claim
1. A method for delivering interactive program guide (IPG) data to at least a first subscriber terminal population in a first local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, and a second subscriber terminal population in a second local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, wherein said first and second subscriber terminal populations also receive global programming services via a global communication plant, comprising the steps of:
- providing first IPG identifiers to said first subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a first IPG region;
providing second IPG identifiers to said second subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a second IPG region;
providing the IPG data to the first and second subscriber terminal populations via the global communication plant;
wherein the IPG data includes at least;
(a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the second local communication plant;
at each subscriber terminal in the first and second subscriber terminal populations, recovering the global data from the IPG data provided thereto;
at each subscriber terminal in the first subscriber terminal population, filtering the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data; and
at each subscriber terminal in the second subscriber terminal population, filtering the IPG data in accordance with the second IPG identifier to recover the second local data, while ignoring at least the first local data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Interactive Program Guide (IPG) data for television is delivered to integrated receiver-decoders (IRDs) in a decoder population via, for example, a satellite network. The IPG data provides scheduling information for global and local programming services which are carried via the satellite network as well as another network such as a CATV network or a terrestrial broadcast network. Each IRD is assigned to an IPG region using unit addressing. At the IRD, IPG data is filtered so that only the global data and the region-specific data for the IRD'"'"'s IPG region is retained and processed by the IRD. Channel map data is also delivered to the IRDs so that bundles of IRD data can be filtered out using firmware filtering to discard program sources that are not present in the channel map. The IRD data which is retained after filtering is used to provide scheduling information via an on-screen display. A preferred source may be designated when there are duplicative channels on the different networks.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method for delivering interactive program guide (IPG) data to at least a first subscriber terminal population in a first local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, and a second subscriber terminal population in a second local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, wherein said first and second subscriber terminal populations also receive global programming services via a global communication plant, comprising the steps of:
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providing first IPG identifiers to said first subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a first IPG region; providing second IPG identifiers to said second subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a second IPG region; providing the IPG data to the first and second subscriber terminal populations via the global communication plant; wherein the IPG data includes at least;
(a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the second local communication plant;at each subscriber terminal in the first and second subscriber terminal populations, recovering the global data from the IPG data provided thereto; at each subscriber terminal in the first subscriber terminal population, filtering the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data; and at each subscriber terminal in the second subscriber terminal population, filtering the IPG data in accordance with the second IPG identifier to recover the second local data, while ignoring at least the first local data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus for delivering interactive program guide (IPG) data to at least a first subscriber terminal population in a first local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, and a second subscriber terminal population in a second local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, wherein said first and second subscriber terminal populations also receive global programming services via a global communication plant, comprising:
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means for providing first IPG identifiers to said first subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a first IPG region; means for providing second IPG identifiers to said second subscriber terminal population to assign the subscriber terminals thereof to a second IPG region; and means for providing the IPG data to the first and second subscriber terminal populations via the global communication plant;
wherein;the IPG data includes at least;
(a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding the local programming services of the second local communication plant;each subscriber terminal in the first and second subscriber terminal populations is adapted to recover the global data from the IPG data provided thereto; each subscriber terminal in the first subscriber terminal population is adapted to filter the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data; and each subscriber terminal in the second subscriber terminal population is adapted to filter the IPG data in accordance with the second IPG identifier to recover the second local data, while ignoring at least the first local data. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A subscriber terminal in a first subscriber terminal population in a first local communication plant that receives corresponding local programming services therefrom, comprising:
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means for receiving Interactive Program Guide (IPG) data and associated global programming services via a global communication plant; means for receiving a first IPG identifier to assign the subscriber terminal to a first IPG region; wherein the IPG data includes at least;
(a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services provided via the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding local programming services provided to a second subscriber terminal population via a second local communication plant;means for recovering the global data from the IPG data provided thereto; and means for filtering the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A decoding method for a subscriber terminal in a first subscriber terminal population served by a first local communication plant that provides corresponding local programming services, comprising the steps of:
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receiving Interactive Program Guide (IPG) data and associated global programming services at said subscriber terminal via a global communication plant; receiving a first IPG identifier to assign the subscriber terminal to a first IPG region; said IPG data including at least;
(a) global data that provides information regarding the global programming services, (b) first local data that provides information regarding the local programming services provided via the first local communication plant, and (c) second local data that provides information regarding local programming services provided to a second subscriber terminal population via a second local communication plant;recovering the global data from the IPG data provided thereto; and filtering the IPG data in accordance with the first IPG identifier to recover the first local data, while ignoring at least the second local data.
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Specification