Electronic Program Guide data encoding method and system

摘要

A method for composing an electronic program guide (EPG) metadata file, comprising receiving program metadata and converting the program metadata into a file using a Fast Infoset coding standard. The method is applied in a Metadata search server (MSS) for providing services relating to an electronic program guide (EPG), the MSS (1) in operation being in communication with a plurality of set top boxes (3), and one or more metadata providers (11, 12) which provide program metadata. The MSS (1) comprises an encoder (15) arranged to encode program metadata received from the one or more metadata provides (11, 12) into an EPG file to be broadcast using fast infoset (FI) standard.