Patent · US Expired

Data management and distribution system and method for an electronic television program guide

US5666645A · kind A · utility

510Cited by
4References
37Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 26, 1995
Grant dateSep 9, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 26, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N21/84
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A data management and distribution system for an electronic program guide ("EPG") for television programs comprising an automated data collection subsystem, a manual entry and correction subsystem, a database validation subsystem, an edition generation subsystem, a configuration subsystem, and a status and control subsystem. The system may further comprise a feed generation subsystem if one or more of the EPG providers supported by the EPG distributor requires a live feed of data. The automated data collection subsystem collects EPG data from multiple sources in various formats, filters the data based on the needs of the EPG providers supported, and places the data in a centralized database in a form suitable to support the different environmental contexts of the EPG providers. The manual entry and correction subsystem permits the EPG distributor to make manual corrections, additions, and deletions to the data stored in the database. The database validation subsystem verifies the data stored in the database in accordance with designated verification options. The edition generation subsystem generates the different editions of the EPG for the different EPG providers supported by the…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.