BCE Inc.
Delivery of electronic programming guide using a caching content delivery network

Abstract:

An electronic programming guide (EPG) may be efficiently distributed through a CDN by breaking the EPG into elements including EPG info element that provides an indication of the current EPG version and a length of schedule blocks within the EPG. The EPG info can be retrieved periodically, and when a change of the EPG version is detected, EPG Channels info can be retrieved that provides a list of all channels in the EPG as well as an indication for each schedule block of the channel of the EPG version in which the schedule block was last changed. The schedule block version information may be used to retrieve the particular schedule block information when required, and if the correct version of the schedule block is not available at the device. The individual schedule block provides an indication of what programs are airing during the schedule block. Further details of each program may be retrieved as required for each program.