In digital broadcasting, each broadcast station can transmit program data on its broadcast signal, so receiving devices generally have a function for displaying the program schedule of each broadcast station as an electronic program guide on a television screen or the like.
An electronic program guide can be used to display, in addition to an electronic program schedule, the title and air time of the currently tuned program, summaries of programs and their performers, program reservations, and so on. In particular, an electronic program schedule enables the program information for multiple broadcast stations in a desired time slot to be displayed, which is useful in checking broadcast schedules and searching for programs.
A technique for preventing user operations on an electronic program schedule from being interrupted by update of the electronic program schedule is disclosed in Patent Reference 1. The electronic program schedule generating device disclosed in Patent Reference 1 is configured so as not to execute update processing on the electronic program schedule while the user continues to operate on the electronic program schedule. Therefore, the technique disclosed in Patent Reference 1 can enhance operability by preventing user operations from being temporarily interrupted by electronic program schedule update processing.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds