SEAMLESS CONTROL OF INPUT TV SIGNALS

摘要

An apparatus and method for switching a channel among a plurality of sources selected by a viewer are provided. The apparatus includes: a plurality of tuners (12) coupled to receive incoming channel signals from the plurality of sources for decoding the received channel signals; a switch circuit (16) coupled to receive the output signals from each of the plurality of tuners; and, a controller (14), coupled to the plurality of tuners (12) and the switch circuit (16), for retrieving the output signals indicative of a desired program selected by the viewer according to single channel map information covering the incoming channel signals from the plurality of sources. The method includes the steps of: receiving a plurality of television programs from the plurality of sources; retrieving one of the television programs from the plurality of sources in response to a user selection according to a predetermined channel map data; and forwarding the retrieved television program to the television system for display.