Abstract: A method and apparatus for controlling a VCR or other television program recording device for unattended recording of television programs based upon user selections from an on-line television program schedule system, converts the on-line television schedule listings for the user selected programs into event timer information and loads the event timer information into an event timer. The event timer, which may be located in the VCR or external to the VCR, controls the VCR for unattended recording in the customary manner. Since the VCR is controlled by the event timer information, rather than directly from the on-line program schedule listings, the VCR may be controlled for unattended recording even if the on-line listings are lost. Accordingly, the on-line listings may be stored in low cost volatile memory (dynamic RAM). Only the event timer information should be stored in non-volatile memory (static RAM), which can be kept small due to the limited information contained in the event timer information.

Abstract: An online television program information system extracts from a broadcast datastream of television program information only that program information for those shows which meet predetermined selection criteria, and stores only the extracted information. By not storing all broadcast television information, memory size for information storage is reduced and a high performance processor is not required for subset searches of the entire stored datastream for programs of interest. A low cost online television program information system is thereby provided, which may store large amounts of useful program information. Content selective storage is facilitated by transmitting and receiving the television program information in three groups, with the first group comprising event data, the second group comprising titles and the third group comprising descriptions.