Electronic Program Guide (EPG) - Framework
The Calsoft Labs has provided Cable Network solutions for the CATV Industry. The framework for Electronic Program Guide (EPG- Framework) is a recent initiative from Calsoft Labs, which would be part of a IPTV/Cable set top box and present the cable TV program guide information through a web interface.
Proposed Solution
Electronic Program Guide Framework (EPG) - Components
An architectural overview and the workflow within the Media Platform are provided in the diagram.
The EPG framework is broadly classified into three modules whose description and functionalities are described below.
EPG Data Grabber
This component, implemented as a Linux Daemon, would be responsible for fetching the EPG data from the pre-configured external source (In this case XMLTV) at scheduled intervals. The data is fetched from the external source based on some predefined configuration parameters like Source Details (e.g. XMLTV Source IP Address and other details), Fetch Interval, EPG Locale and EPG Window Size (specified in number of hours).
EPG Data Store
The EPG data fetched from the external source would be stored in the local file system as XML files with the standard format (XMLTV DTD). It provides a centralized data store for all EPG data and preloads part of EPG data into memory with a configurable window size.
EPG Data Processor
This component, implemented as a CGI script, would serve the requests from the web server and present the program guide using the data from the data store and HTML templates stored in the local file system. It extracts the TV listing data from Data Store and applies predefined filters to select specific group of programs.
Conclusion
The Electronic Program Guide Framework (EPG) has been developed and deployed successfully in the Set top box platform. Our design is such that EPG can coexist with any other set top box applications like PVR, Video processing modules, Gaming applications etc.