SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY FORMING A PROGRAM GUIDE FROM INFORMATION DERIVED FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES

摘要

A video decoder system automatically acquires program guide information from local and remote peripheral devices to form a composite program guide. Program guide information is received from a first source and access data is retrieved from memory (405, 415). The access data is used to initiate communication automatically between the video decoder and a second source external to the video decoder (415). Program guide information retrieved from the second source (420) together with program guide information provided by the first source is incorporated (430) into a composite program guide for display. The communication may be initiated upon different conditions and a peripheral device and associated communication protocol may be identified (415) from various sources of configuration information.