Scheduler apparatus employing a gopher agent

US6216264A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Thomson Licensing · FR

Inventors

• Kenneth Wayne Maze · Mooresville, US
• Jeffrey Philip Reavis · Indianapolis, US
• Robert Howard Miller · Leawood, US
• Sheila Renee Crosby · Crystal Lake, US
• Keith Reynolds Wehmeyer · Fishers, US
• Hugh Boyd Morrison · Marion, US
• Megan Louise Brown · Carmel, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 25, 1996
• Grant date: Apr 10, 2001
• Expiry date: Jul 25, 2016

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S707/99933
• WIPO field: Audio-visual technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

In a television system in which at least program title information for programs which are to be transmitted in the future is transmitted in advance to form a channel guide listing, apparatus is provided for searching the listing for specific user-entered information, and upon successful conclusion to the search, the apparatus schedules the tuning of the desired program, or in the alternative, notifies the viewer of the availability of the program. In those instances where descriptive text accompanies the program listing, apparatus of the invention performs a search of the text for a particular text string which may relate to the title, the star, the director, or the context of the program, among other search criteria.