System for comparing data from multiple fonters to form a composite program guide for display

摘要

"SYSTEM FOR COMBATING DATA FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES TO FORM A COMPOUND PROGRAM GUIDE FOR DISPLAY" This is a video decoder system that compares program guide information acquired from a variety of local and remote sources (405, 415, 420). Program guide information is received from a first source and a selectable program guide menu icon is displayed. A category of program guide information items from the first source is compared (425) by a display attribute in response to the selection of the menu icon and the program guide information items are displayed (430, 435). The display attribute allocated to the category of items in the program guide information is common to both the category of items and the menu icon. Codes identifying program categories can be converted to other codes using equivalence mapping information to classify programs according to a master group of program categories (425). The composite program map information can be formed by including new data identifiers allocated to the program guide information items for use when retrieving the items from a second source (420).