Electronic Program Guide Data Segmentation for Display Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional program information display devices experience slowdowns in processing due to the need to search through large amounts of data during scrolling and user operations in electronic program guides.
Innovation Solution
A program information display terminal device is configured with a communication component to receive data from an external server, a display component to display the guide, and a controller that divides the data into sections, allowing for display control using only the data corresponding to the section being operated, reducing the amount of data processed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If the controller refers to a huge amount of data during scrolling and user operations, then the electronic program guide can be displayed with complete information, but the processing speed slows down
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the electronic program guide data into multiple sections (e.g., by time periods, channels, or program types) and only loads and processes the section currently being viewed or operated on. This segmentation allows the system to maintain complete program guide information available in the database while only actively processing a small subset of data during user operations, thereby resolving the contradiction between information completeness and processing speed.
2Productivity
If all program guide data is loaded into memory for fast access, then user operations are processed quickly, but the device requires more memory resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments program guide data into multiple sections that are loaded into memory only when needed. Instead of loading all data at once, the system loads only the current section (e.g., current time period or channel group) into fast memory, keeping other sections in slower storage. This approach maintains fast operation response for current viewing while reducing overall memory requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent pre-loads sections that are likely to be viewed next based on user behavior patterns, such as loading the next time period's data before the user requests it. This preliminary action ensures that when the user navigates to adjacent sections, the data is already in memory, maintaining fast response times without requiring all data to be simultaneously loaded.
3Productivity
If the controller processes only the current section data, then processing speed increases, but the user cannot easily navigate to other sections
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a pre-loading mechanism that automatically loads adjacent sections into memory before the user navigates to them. Based on the current viewing position, the system proactively loads the next time period, previous time period, or adjacent channel sections into fast memory, ensuring that when the user performs navigation operations, the target data is already available for immediate display without requiring full data loading.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a data management intermediary layer (such as a buffer memory or data cache) that sits between the permanent storage and the display processing. This intermediary pre-loads and manages sections of data, allowing the controller to quickly switch between sections by simply switching which buffered data is active, rather than loading from scratch each time. This mediator enables fast navigation while maintaining the benefit of processed section-by-section data.
Data Source
AI summary
A program information display terminal device includes a communication component, a display component and a controller. The communication component receives data of an electronic program guide from an external server. The display component displays the electronic program guide based on the data of the electronic program guide received by the communication component. The controller divides the data of the electronic program guide for each of a plurality of sections. The controller performs display control of the electronic program guide by using divided data of the electronic program guide that corresponds to one of the sections including program information that is displayed on the display component.