Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.V.

Astrid M F Dobbelaar

Edwin A Montie

Warner R T Ten Kate

The invention relates to an apparatus for receiving programs from a plurality of channels, comprising a tuner for tuning to any of the plurality of channels, and an electronic program guide (EPG) for presenting a schedule of the programs. The apparatus comprises virtual channel means for creating a user selectable virtual channel for reproducing selected programs from various genuine channels. The virtual channel means are adapted to control the tuner to tune to a channel currently broadcasting a selected program. When a user selects the virtual channel, the apparatus takes care of automatically switching between the genuine channels broadcasting the programs viewed on the virtual channel. As a consequence, the user can view the desired programs by simply selecting the virtual channel.

Apparatus and method for rescheduling program conflicts in a virtual channel scheduling gap

The invention relates to a method of and apparatus for displaying an electronic program guide. The method includes the step of displaying an axis ( ) on the screen ( ) which corresponds to a particular program attribute (e.g. channel name, broadcast time, program category, program title). The user may select a value from the axis, causing a pictogram ( ) to be displayed, showing information about programs corresponding to the selected value. The pictogram's position corresponds to the position of the selected value. A new value may be selected by dragging the pictogram and/or shifting the axis.

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Eindhoven, Netherlands

Astrid M F Dobbelaar