SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING AN INFORMATION DISPLAY SCHEDULE FOR AN ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE

摘要

An electronic program schedule system which includes a receiver for receiving television program schedule information and promotional information transmitted via satellite, a digital playback system for storing the schedule and promotional information and formatting pages of said information, and a cable television channel modulator for modulating the pages of information onto a cable television system. A data processor in the playback system receives and stores in a memory television program schedule information for a plurality of television programs to appear on the plurality of television channels. A television receiver is used to display the television program schedule and promotional information by tuning the receiv er or cable converter box to the designated channel upon which the signals are modulated. A multimedia generator receives control co mmands from the data processor and program schedule information from the memory and displays a portion of the program schedule i nformation in either full screen grid format or partial screen grid format together with promotional information, as controlled by a schedu le for display of the promotional information resident i n the data processor. The data processor controls the multimedia generator with co ntrol commands, issued in response to a computer program resident on the data processor, to display program schedule information and promotional information.