Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Thomson Licensing

Norbert N Eigeldinger

Rainer Zwing

Paul Daniel Wolf

Ian Michael Simmons

David J Woolgar

A method is disclosed to determine the topology of a network comprising a master node and one or more slave nodes interconnected using unidirectional data connections. The master node makes available data to succeeding nodes, and a slave node reads data from a preceding node, the read data comprising information of a path from master node to the slave node. A further method is disclosed to configure the path by sending data from the slave node to all nodes on the path via bi-directional data connections between nodes.

Determining and configuring a communication path in a network

Broadcast receiving devices usually have access to an electronic program schedule or EPG. Since often the same audio/video program is broadcasted more than once within a short time range on the same channel, or simultaneously on another channel, a method is provided for notifying this fact to the user. According to the invention, a method for automatically extracting data identifying a broadcast A/V program from received broadcast data includes the steps of receiving user input defining a first program, analyzing an EPG, determining broadcast data of the first program, automatically detecting that an identical second program is scheduled for broadcast, and displaying an indication to the user indicating that the second program was detected. If e.g. the same program is broadcasted at different times or channels with different amount of commercial interruptions, the user may select the instance with less commercials for viewing or recording.

Growing community of inventors

Villingen, Germany

Norbert N Eigeldinger