Abstract: Techniques to create, generate, and deliver customized interactive program guide (custom-IPG). In one embodiment, selections indicative of a set of channels to be included in the custom-IPG are received. In response, one or more custom-IPG screens including the set of selected channels are rendered at a headend. Custom-IPG screens can be formed as subsets of the regular IPG screens, or as new screens. The rendered custom-IPG screens are provided from the head end to a set top terminal upon receiving a viewer request for the custom-IPG. Commands indicative of a particular location at which to overlay the custom-IPG screens may also be received, and the custom-IPG screens are re-rendered at the indicated location. Custom-IPG screens can be overlaid on a video sequence provided on a particular channel being viewed, used to carry regular program guide, or a channel independent of the channel used to carry regular programming and program guide.

Abstract: Techniques to create, generate, and deliver customized interactive program guide (custom-IPG). In one embodiment, selections indicative of a set of channels to be included in the custom-IPG are received. In response, one or more custom-IPG screens including the set of selected channels are rendered at a headend. Custom-IPG screens can be formed as subsets of the regular IPG screens, or as new screens. The rendered custom-IPG screens are provided from the head end to a set top terminal upon receiving a viewer request for the custom-IPG. Commands indicative of a particular location at which to overlay the custom-IPG screens may also be received, and the custom-IPG screens are re-rendered at the indicated location. Custom-IPG screens can be overlaid on a video sequence provided on a particular channel being viewed, used to carry regular program guide, or a channel independent of the channel used to carry regular programming and program guide.

Abstract: Techniques to create, generate, and deliver customized interactive program guide (custom-IPG). In one embodiment, selections indicative of a set of channels to be included in the custom-IPG are received. In response, one or more custom-IPG screens including the set of selected channels are rendered at a headend. Custom-IPG screens can be formed as subsets of the regular IPG screens, or as new screens. The rendered custom-IPG screens are provided from the head end to a set top terminal upon receiving a viewer request for the custom-IPG. Commands indicative of a particular location at which to overlay the custom-IPG screens may also be received, and the custom-IPG screens are re-rendered at the indicated location. Custom-IPG screens can be overlaid on a video sequence provided on a particular channel being viewed, used to carry regular program guide, or a channel independent of the channel used to carry regular programming and program guide.

Abstract: Techniques for searching a program guide database. In accordance with a method, one or more search criteria (e.g., keywords) are received and a request for a search is then sent, along with the search criteria, to a head end of an information distribution system. In response, one or more search results are received from the head end. In this server-centric system, the program guide database is searched at the head end. The search results can be displayed on one search result IPG page (or more, if necessary) or displayed one at a time on the respective IPG page that includes the search result. Upon receiving an indication that a particular search result has been selected, one or more streams associated with the selected search result can be retrieved and decoded to recover the selected program, which can then be displayed.

Abstract: An interactive program guide (IPG) may include a program grid section and a multimedia section. The program grid section typically contains program information organized in a grid with a time axis and a channel axis. The multimedia section may include video for advertisement, previews, and other purposes. Such an IPG may be rendered and encoded at a server and distributed to client terminals in the form of compressed bit streams. For certain IPGs, the program grid section may comprise alternating stripes of background with different shades (lighter/darker) or different colors. Typically, the alternating background stripes may be used to visually separate text information into timeslots or channels. Blank areas of the background may be “skip” encoded to “save” a portion of the bit rate. Meanwhile, the quantizer stepsize for encoding that section may be lowered so as to utilize the saved bits to improve the viewing quality of the program grid section.

Abstract: Techniques to create, generate, and deliver customized interactive program guide (custom-IPG). In one method, selections indicative of a set of channels to be included in the custom-IPG are received. In response, one or more custom-IPG screens having included therein the set of selected channels are rendered at a head end. The custom-IPG screens can be formed as subsets of the regular IPG screens, or as new screens. The rendered custom-IPG screens are provided from the head end to a set top terminal upon receiving a viewer request for the custom-IPG. Command indicative of a particular location at which to overlay the custom-IPG screens may also be received. In this case, the custom-IPG screens are re-rendered at the indicated location.