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`C)PI(:
`OFFICE ma LA PROFRIETE
`INTELLECTUELLE DU CANADA
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`PROPERTY OFFICE
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`CANADIAN INTELLECTUAL
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`Ottawa Hull KIA 0C9
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`(21)
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`(A1)
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`2,164,608
`
`(86)
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`(43)
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`1994/06/06
`
`1994/12/22
`
`6
`
`(51) Int.C1.
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`H04N 7/08; H04N 5/445
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`(19) (CA) APPLICATION FOR CANADIAN PATENT (12)
`
`(54) Electronic Program Guide and Text Channel Data
`Controller
`
`(72) Hamilton, Scott - U.S.A.
`;
`Haman, Ray Thomas - U.s.A.
`Durden, Gregory Steven - U.S.A.
`Christensen, Jan L.
`- U.S.A.
`Paulick, Melvin - U.S.A.
`;
`
`;
`
`;
`
`;
`
`(71) Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.
`
`— U.S.A.
`
`;
`
`(30)
`
`(US) 08/072,911 1993/06/07
`
`(57) 34 Claims
`
`Notice:
`
`This application is as filed and may therefore contain an
`incomplete specification.
`
`Industrie Canada
`
`Industry Canada
`
`om — C|PO191
`
`In
`
`Page 000463
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`

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`lN'I'ELLBC'l'U
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`PCT
`INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY (PCT)
`
`2164808
`
`
`
`(51) Im’v°"'1‘5°1|3l P3301“ C'355ifi°3fi°1| 5 =
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`15/62
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`Al
`
`(1 1) International Publication Number:
`(43) International Publication Date:
`
`WO 94129811
`22 December 1994 (22.12.94)
`
`(21) Intanational Application Number:
`
`PCI'IUS94I06361
`
`(22) International Filing Date:
`
`6 June 1994 (06.06.94)
`
`(30) Priority Data:
`08/072,911
`
`7 June 1993 (07.06.93)
`
`US
`
`(81) Designated States: AU, BB, BG, BR, BY, CA, CN, CZ, F1,
`HU. JP. KP. KR. KZ. I-K. I-V. MG. MN. MW. NO. NZ. PL.
`E
`RO, RU, SD, SI, SK, TI‘. UA, U2, VN,
`uropean patent
`(AT, BE, CH, DE, DK ES, FR, GB, GR, IE, IT, LU, MC,
`NL. PT, SE), OAPI patent (BF, BI, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA.
`GN. ML. MR. NE. SN. TD, TG).
`
`Published
`With international search report.
`
`[US/US]; One
`INC.
`SClEN'I'IFIC-A'I'l.ANTA,
`(71) Applicant:
`Technology Park, P.O. Box 105600, Atlanta, GA 30348
`(US).
`
`(72) Inventors: HAMILTON, Scott; 3069 Mill Run Court, Duluth,
`GA 30136 (US). 1-IAMAN, Ray, Thomas; 3937 Whitney
`Place, Duluth, GA 30136 (US). DURDEN, Gregory,
`Steven; 9407 Terri Lane, Jonesboro, GA 30236 (US).
`CHRISTENSEN, Jan, L.; 4872 NW 8th Court, Plantation,
`FL 33317 (US). PAULICK, Melvin; 1751 SW 44th Avenue,
`Gainesville, FL 32608-4061 (US).
`
`I. et al.; Woodcock Washbmn
`(74) Agents: ROCCI, Steven,
`Kurtz Mackiewicz & Norris, 46th floor, One Liberty Place,
`Philadelphia, PA 19103 (US).
`
`(54) Title: ELFLTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE AND TEXT CHANNEL DATA CONTROLLER
`
`
`/0
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`
`
`
`1
`
`
`
`(57) Abstract
`
`A data controller (16) which manages the flow of text and electronic program guide (EPG) information to a cable television viewer.
`The data controller (16) receives text and EPG information from one or a plurality of authorized data sources (20) via a communications
`link, processes the received data in its internal database manager to perform data compression and die like, and then t:ransr:nits this text
`information to the viewer under control of the head end controller (34). In a preferred embodiment, I:he text data is formatted on a screen
`basis into transactions of a predetermined length and the EPG data is formatted on a program basis into transactions of the same length.
`The transactions are then inserted into the vertical blanking interval of a channel to which the corresponding text or electronic program data
`has been assigned.
`
`
`
`Page 000464
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`
`WO 94/29811
`
`2164608
`
`PCT/US94/06361
`
`ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE AND TEXT CHANNEL DATA CONTROLLER
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`Field of the Invention
`
`The present invention relates to a data controller
`
`which manages the flow of text and electronic program guide
`
`data from the data supplier to the viewer's television tuner.
`
`In particular,
`
`the data controller of the invention accepts
`
`electronic program guide and text data from one or more local
`
`or remote sources, processes the data in its internal
`
`database manager, and formats the data for transmission to
`
`the viewer's television tuner preferably via the vertical
`
`blanking intervals of existing cable television channels.
`
`Description of the Prior Art
`
`Television text data services are readily
`
`available.
`
`Such services provide sports, weather, stock
`
`market, news, advertising and other information to the
`
`viewer's television for display to the viewer. Typically,
`
`the text data is provided to the cable head end by the text
`
`data service providers and then provided to the viewer via
`
`dedicated cable channels provided at the cable head end. At
`
`the cable head end,
`
`the text data from the different text
`
`data service providers is assigned to respective cable
`
`television channels available to the viewers, converted into
`
`a video signal, and then transmitted to the viewer's
`
`television via the assigned cable television channel in place
`
`The viewer then tunes to the assigned
`of other programming.
`cable television channel to receive the transmitted text
`
`data. Unfortunately,
`this technique wastes valuable video
`bandwidth for the transmission of the text data and is thus
`
`10
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`Page 000465
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`-2-
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`generally undesirable. Also, since the cable head end
`
`operator must create a video signal from the text data
`provided by the service providers prior to transmission of
`the text data to the viewer,
`the existing technique for
`
`providing text data to a viewer is quite tedious and
`
`expensive.
`
`A more efficient text data service is desired.
`
`Other techniques for providing text data to viewers
`
`are known in the art.
`
`For example, closed captioned encoding
`
`techniques are used to transmit text data in synchronization
`
`with its associated video data by inserting the closed
`
`captioned text data into the vertical blanking interval of
`
`the video signal.
`
`In this manner, not only can
`
`synchronization be preserved, but also, additional bandwidth
`
`is not necessary for the transmission of the text data.
`
`However,
`
`the closed captioned text data must be inserted into
`
`the vertical blanking interval of the video signal by the
`the vertical
`producer of the video programming. As a result,
`blanking interval of the video signal cannot be used by the
`
`10
`
`15
`
`head end operator to insert other text data such as sports,
`An
`
`weather, stock market, news, advertising and the like.
`
`20
`
`improved text data transmission technique is desired whereby
`
`such general text data may be inserted into the video signal
`at the cable head end for transmission to the viewer.
`
`It is also known in the art to provide an
`
`electronic program guide (EPG) which provides the viewer with
`
`an on-screen listing of the upcoming television programs on
`
`the cable television channels available to the viewer.
`
`the EPG is provided by an EPG data service and the
`Typically,
`EPG data is converted into a video signal at the cable head
`
`end and transmitted to the viewer's television via a
`
`dedicated cable television channel. After tuning to the
`
`dedicated cable television channel,
`
`the viewer then must
`
`25
`
`30
`
`passively wait until the programming for the desired time
`period is displayed.
`In other words,
`this technique provides
`no mechanism for allowing the viewer to scroll through the
`
`35
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`EPG to the desired listing. Moreover,
`
`this technique also
`
`requires the cable head end operator to dedicate a separate
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`cable television channel to the EPG data and to create video
`
`signals from the EPG data provided by the EPG service
`
`providers.
`
`These problems with the transmission of EPG data
`
`have been addressed in the prior art by modulating the EPG
`
`data onto an FM carrier and transmitting that FM carrier with
`
`a video signal on one of the cable television channels.
`
`A
`
`dedicated peripheral device provided at the viewer's
`
`television tuner demodulates the EPG data from the FM carrier
`
`10
`
`and stores the EPG data until the viewer requests
`
`presentation of the EPG data on the viewer's television.
`
`Upon selection of the EPG data,
`
`the EPG is displayed on the
`
`viewer's television in place of the other video programming.
`
`Since the EPG data is stored locally at the viewer's
`
`15
`
`television,
`
`EPG until the desired listing is reached.
`
`the viewer may scroll through the listings in the
`While this
`
`technique does not require a separate dedicated cable
`
`television channel for the transmission of the EPG and allows
`
`the user to scroll through the EPG,
`
`an improved EPG
`
`20
`
`transmission technique is desired which can be integrated
`
`with the viewer's normal cable television tuner so that a
`
`separate peripheral device dedicated to reception of the EPG
`Also, it is desired that the EPG data
`is not necessary.
`
`transmission be combined with the text data transmission to
`
`25
`
`maximize efficiency.
`
`In addition, it is also known to amplitude modulate
`
`the audio carrier or to frequency modulate an out-of—band
`
`carrier with control and authorization information from the
`cable
`
`head end controller for transmission to the viewers’
`the
`television tuners. However, it is desired that
`
`30
`
`transmission of the control and authorization information
`
`also be integrated with the text data and EPG data
`
`transmission so that a single common data
`
`transmission/reception scheme may be used.
`
`35
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`The present invention has been designed to meet
`these needs in the art.
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`SUMMARY or THE INvEN'rioN
`
`The present invention relates to a data controller
`
`which manages the flow of text data and electronic program
`The data
`
`guide (EPG) data to a cable television viewer.
`controller of the invention receives text data and EPG data
`
`from one or a plurality of local or remote data sources via a
`
`communications link, processes the received data in its
`
`internal database manager to perform data compression and the
`
`like, and then provides this text data and EPG data to the
`
`10
`
`viewer under control of the head end controller.
`
`In a
`
`preferred embodiment,
`
`the text data and EPG data are inserted
`
`into the vertical blanking intervals of cable television
`
`channels to which the corresponding text data or EPG data has
`
`been assigned, and upon receipt at the viewer's television
`the text data and EPG data are extracted from the
`
`tuner ,
`
`15
`
`vertical blanking interval and displayed on the viewer's
`television.
`text channels and one or more EPG
`Hence,
`
`channels may be provided as "virtual channels" which do not
`
`require extra video bandwidth.
`
`Preferably,
`
`the viewer's cable television tuner
`
`includes an EPG memory for storing the EPG data at the
`viewer's television tuner to allow the viewer to scroll
`
`through the stored EPG data to the desired listings. Also, a
`
`template memory is preferably provided at the tuner to
`
`provide a framework in which to display the EPG data. Also,
`
`the EPG data is formatted into transactions including display
`
`commands and the like so that the EPG data may be transmitted
`
`directly to the viewer's television tuner as data rather than
`
`video,
`
`thereby saving a substantial amount of bandwidth.
`
`In addition,
`
`the text data is also formatted into
`
`transactions including display commands and the like and
`
`transmitted to the viewer's television tuner on a screen by
`
`screen basis with an appropriate delay between the
`
`presentation of each page as designated by the system
`
`controller.
`
`Such auto-pagination makes it unnecessary for
`
`the user to request the pages to scroll; however, manual
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`pagination may be provided by using memory at the set top
`
`tuner for storing successive pages of text data.
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`The above and other objects and advantages of the
`
`invention will become more apparent and more readily
`
`appreciated from the following detailed description of the
`
`presently preferred exemplary embodiment of the invention
`
`taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of
`which:
`
`FIGURE 1 is a block diagram of a system for
`
`providing EPG data and text data to a viewer in accordance
`with the invention.
`
`FIGURE 2 illustrates a data controller for
`
`receiving the EPG data and text data from the data providers,
`
`appropriately formatting that data for display, and inserting
`
`the data into the vertical blanking interval of a cable
`
`television channel to which the data is assigned for
`transmission to the viewer.
`
`FIGURE 3 illustrates the information field of the
`
`EPG data read from the EPG database of Figure 2.
`FIGURE 4 illustrates the data format of data read
`
`from the database for insertion into the assigned cable
`television channel.
`
`10
`
`15
`
`20
`
`257
`
`of the EPG transaction formatter of Figure 2.
`
`FIGURE 5 is a flow chart illustrating the operation
`
`FIGURE 6 is a flow chart illustrating the operation
`
`of the text transaction formatters of Figure 2.
`
`FIGURE 7 illustrates a set top tuner for use in
`
`receiving text data and EPG data in accordance with the
`invention.
`
`30
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
`
`An electronic program guide
`
`(EPG) and text channel
`
`data controller which affords the above-mentioned and other
`
`beneficial features in accordance with a presently preferred
`
`35
`
`exemplary embodiment of the invention will be described below
`Those skilled in the art will
`
`with reference to Figures 1-7.
`
`readily appreciate that the description given herein with
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`respect to those figures is for explanatory purposes only and
`is not intended in any way to limit the scope of the
`
`invention.
`
`For example, while a cable television system is
`
`shown and described,
`
`the present
`
`invention may also be used
`
`in a satellite, over-the—air broadcast, subscription
`
`television system or other television system known in the
`Also,
`
`art.
`
`while the present invention is described for use
`those
`
`in the provision of sports and weather text channels,
`
`10
`
`15
`
`20
`
`25
`
`30
`
`skilled in the art will appreciate that these text channels
`
`are only examples of the limitless types of text channels
`
`which may be provided to a viewer in accordance with the
`
`invention. Accordingly, any questions regarding the scope of
`
`the invention should be resolved by referring to the appended
`claims.
`
`Figure 1 illustrates an EPG and text information
`As shown,
`service in accordance with the invention.
`the
`
`local cable television company's billing Vendor 10
`
`communicates via a billing link to an RS-232 port of a system
`
`manager 12 located at the cable head end. Billing vendor 10
`
`includes a subscriber database and generates a monthly bill
`
`Vfor the subscribers in the system based on the level of
`
`service and any pay—per—view purchases. Billing vendor 10
`
`may comprise a personal computer or other data processing
`
`device known in the art. Billing vendor 10 informs system
`
`manager 12 as to which cable television subscribers are
`authorized to receive the available cable television
`
`channels.
`
`System manager 12 is also a personal computer or
`
`other processing device which receives viewer authorization
`
`transactions from billing vendor 10 and generates
`
`transactions for delivery to the distribution apparatus or
`
`the subscribers.
`
`Such transactions include text channel
`
`definition transactions which instruct the subscriber's tuner
`
`which group of channels it is entitled to receive, which
`
`frequency to tune for a particular text data channel, whether
`to mute the audio for that text channel,
`the pagination delay
`
`35
`
`between pages, and the like.
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`System manager 12 also communicates via a head end
`
`link to an RS-232 port of a head end controller (HEC) 14
`
`which controls the transmission of television programming to
`the subscribers.
`As will be described in more detail with
`
`respect to Figure 2,
`
`HEC 14 communicates via a control link
`
`to an RS-232 port of an information services processor (or
`
`data controller) 16 which manages the flow of EPG and text
`
`data in accordance with the invention. As shown by dotted
`
`line in Figure 1,
`
`information services processor
`
`(ISP) 16 is
`
`preferably located at the cable head end with system manager
`
`12, HEC 14 and the signal scramblers.
`
`HOWEVEI‘ ,
`
`those skilled
`
`in the art will appreciate that all of the head end equipment
`need not be located at one site.
`
`As shown in Figure 1, EPG data is supplied from one
`
`or more local or remote EPG suppliers 18 via a satellite
`
`link, modem link or other communication link to an RS-232
`
`port of ISP 16. Similarly,
`
`channel suppliers 20 is provided via a satellite link,
`
`text data from one or more text
`modem
`
`link, or other communication link to another RS-232 port of
`
`ISP 16.
`
`In preferred embodiments,
`
`ISP 16 has a plurality of
`
`identical RS-232 ports for accepting data from a plurality of
`
`EPG suppliers 18 and text channel suppliers 20.
`
`Also,
`
`as
`
`shown,
`one of these RS-232 ports is preferably used for a
`control link to HEC 14 as well.
`As will be described in more
`
`detail below with respect to Figure 2,
`
`ISP 16 manages EPG and
`
`text source databases in response to control signals from HEC
`
`14 in order to provide EPG data and/or text channel data to
`selected viewers.
`
`As shown in Figure 1, HEC 14 also provides control
`
`data directly to the viewer's television tuner via an RS-485
`the control data from HEC 14
`
`output port. Preferably,
`includes the aforementioned text channel definition
`
`transactions as well as EPG definition transactions for
`
`instructing the tuner at which frequency to tune for the EPG
`
`data and the like.
`
`The control data may also include
`
`software for downloading into the viewer's tuner for
`
`reprogramming the viewer's tuner as necessary.
`
`In a
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`_
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`the control data from HEC 14 is
`preferred‘embodiment,
`inserted into the vertical§blanking interval of the selected
`24
`
`cable television signal by daisy—chained scramblers 22,
`
`and 26 using known in-band techniques,
`
`although the control
`
`data from HEC 14 may also be modulated on an out-of-band
`carrier or an in—band audio carrier for transmission as
`
`described in related U.S. Patent Application Serial No.
`
`07/983,766, filed December 1,
`
`1992 and assigned to the
`
`present assignee,
`
`the contents of which are hereby
`
`incorporated by reference.
`
`Preferably,
`
`scramblers 22-26 are
`
`daisy—chained so that the scramblers may be addressed
`EPG data and text
`
`individually or globally. Similarly,
`
`channel data from ISP 16 are provided to the viewer's
`
`television tuner via an RS-485 output port of ISP 16.
`
`EPG
`
`data and text channel data are similarly inserted into the
`
`vertical blanking intervals of selected cable television
`
`signals by EPG scrambler 28 and text channel scramblers 30
`
`and 32,
`
`respectively, using, for example,
`
`the in—band
`
`the aforementioned patent application serial no.
`
`vertical blanking interval insertion techniques described in
`07/983,766
`scramblers
`
`filed December 1, 1992.
`
`Of course,
`
`22-32 may insert the control data,
`
`if desired,
`and text channel
`
`EPG data,
`
`data into other portions of the video signals such as the
`
`horizontal blanking intervals or else replace the video
`
`entirely.
`
`Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that
`
`a number of scramblers may be provided in accordance with the
`
`volume of data received from HEC 14 and ISP 16. Typically,
`
`however,
`
`the number of scramblers depends on the number of
`
`premium channels for which scrambling is used.
`
`Preferably, EPG scrambler 28 and text channel
`
`scramblers 30 and 32 are identical to control data scramblers
`
`22-26 and are similarly daisy—chained for individual or
`scramblers 28-32
`
`global addressing. As shown in Figure 1,
`
`receive a single serial data channel which carries the
`
`combined EPG data and text data and display control
`
`transactions (to be described in more detail with respect to
`for all data streams in use. Each scrambler is
`
`Figure 2)
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`also equipped with memory for storing a predetermined amount
`
`of this data in an internal memory so as to minimize the
`scramblers 28-32
`
`number of database accesses. Preferably,
`
`have internal memory sufficient to store a significant number
`
`of transactions.
`
`For example, scrambler 30 may have enough
`
`internal memory to score a day's sports scores for display on
`The data received and stored in
`
`a sports text channel.
`
`10
`
`15
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`20
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`25
`
`scramblers 28-32 is preferably in RS-485 format,
`All data
`
`protocol in a preferred embodiment is SDLC.
`transactions to scramblers 28-32 are sent on individual data
`
`and the
`
`streams specifying the target scrambler (station addresses in
`
`SDLC protocol),
`
`and the control data is sent on a global data
`
`stream which is filtered in the scramblers 28-32 based on the
`
`address of the scrambler so that the data streams can be
`
`configured by a transaction from ISP 16.
`
`The individual EPG
`
`data and text data streams are preferably generic in the
`
`scramblers so that they can be allocated as desired.
`
`Preferably, scramblers 28-32 have baud rates of at least
`9600.
`
`Preferably,
`
`the subscriber's tuner is a set top
`
`tuner 34 which comprises an EPG memory 36 for storing the EPG
`data from ISP 16.
`
`For example, EPG memory 36 may store one
`
`or two weeks of EPG data for selective access by the viewer
`
`via a menu of the set top tuner 34. This menu preferably
`
`allows the viewer to scroll through the EPG data stored in
`
`EPG memory 36 using the key pads of the viewer's television
`
`remote control device.
`
`Set
`
`top tuner 34 may also comprise a
`
`nonvolatile template memory 38 for storing the template in
`
`which the EPG data is to be inserted for display to the
`
`30
`
`viewer on the viewer's television 40.
`
`In this manner, a
`
`video signal containing the template display data need not be
`
`continuously retransmitted to the set top tuner 34,
`
`thereby
`
`saving more bandwidth.
`
`Instead,
`
`the EPG data only needs to
`
`35
`
`be updated every 30 minutes or when there is a program
`Of course,
`
`different set top tuners 34 may have a
`
`change.
`
`varied amounts of memory and processing capabilities for such
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`purposes in accordance with the acceptable memory costs
`
`during manufacture of the set top tuner 34.
`
`As shown in Figure 1, set top tuner 34 may also
`
`comprise a text data memory 42 for storing a page of text
`Thus,
`
`data for presentation to the screen.
`
`text data is displayed to the subscriber,
`
`while one page of
`the next page of
`
`text data may be loaded into the text data memory 42.
`
`As noted above,
`
`ISP 16 of the invention manages the
`
`flow of text data and EPG data from the data service provider
`
`to the viewer's set top tuner 34.
`
`ISP 16 manages this data
`
`by accepting data only from one or more authorized text data
`
`and/or EPG data sources, processing the text data and EPG
`
`data in its internal database manager, and formatting the
`
`processed data into a common data transaction format for
`
`output to the scramblers for transmission to the set top
`tuner 34. Provision of EPG data and text data to the
`
`subscribers is controlled by the head end controller 14 via
`
`the control link as will be described in more detail below.
`
`In a preferred embodiment,
`
`ISP 16 comprises an IBM
`
`PS2 model 7546 personal computer having a plurality of RS-232
`
`serial input ports for EPG data and/or text data inputs and
`
`at least one RS-485 HDLC serial link at its output of the
`
`type used by HEC 14.
`
`the control link
`As shown in Figure 1,
`The hardware and
`
`will be a single RS-232 serial port.
`
`software components of ISP 16 are then configured as
`
`illustrated in Figure 2.
`
`10
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`15
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`20
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`25
`
`As shown in Figure 2,
`
`ISP 16 preferably comprises a
`
`plurality of RS-232 ports which provide a common interface
`for the EPG data and text channel data asynchronously
`18 and text channel suppliers
`
`provided by the EPG supplier(s)
`
`30
`
`20.
`
`The EPG data and text channel data is transmitted to ISP
`
`16 via a satellite link
`
`(when the interface is operated in
`
`simplex mode) or by modem (when the interface is operated in
`the data is transmitted at a
`half duplex mode). Preferably,
`35 baud rate of at least 1200.
`
`ISP 16 functions as a "gate keeper" which only
`allows access by authorized data sources. Accordingly, when
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`ISP 16 receives a message from an EPG supplier 18 or a text
`
`channel supplier 20, it first checks the data for
`authorization.
`
`If that supplier is not authorized,
`
`the data
`
`is ignored.
`to access ISP 16,
`
`On the other hand,
`
`if the supplier is authorized
`
`ISP 16 performs the requested action and
`
`returns a command response message.
`
`If the communications
`
`link is simplex,
`
`the response is ignored.
`
`ISP 16 is limited by authorization codes,
`
`Hence,
`
`access to
`but as will be
`
`described below,
`
`access is also limited by whether the data
`
`provider provides the EPG data or text data in the
`
`transmission protocol expected by ISP 16.
`
`In particular, messages sent between an EPG
`
`supplier 18 or a text channel supplier 20 and ISP 16 are
`
`preferably formatted to include a start of text byte, a data
`
`block of ASCII characters, checksum bytes and an ASCII
`
`carriage return. This format is used in commands sent to ISP
`
`16 from the data suppliers as well as in responses sent to
`
`the data suppliers. As known by those skilled in the art,
`
`the
`
`checksum verifies proper message transmission by comparing
`
`the checksum in the message with an internally computed
`
`checksum. Preferably,
`
`the checksum is a two byte CRC of all
`
`bytes in the message field beginning with the first character
`
`following the start of text character up to but not including
`The checksum is transmitted in the
`the checksum field.
`
`message as the hexadecimal ASCII representation (four bytes)
`
`of the CRC computation.
`
`The data blocks, on the other hand,
`
`are configured differently depending upon whether the input
`data is EPG data or text data.
`
`EPG data from the EPG supplier 18 is formatted in
`
`accordance with an EPG command set including, for example, a
`
`Define Program Command which is used to identify all data
`
`relating to a single program, a Define Category Command which
`
`is used to establish a category for identifying different
`
`types of programs, and a Delete Category Command which is
`
`used to delete an unused category to make room in the
`The EPG
`
`database of ISP 16 for new programming categories.
`
`data is formatted on a "per program" basis by these commands.
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`3