Patent ID: 8607270
Filing Date: 2013-12-10
Classification: G06F,H04N

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: receiving, by a client device, electronic program guide (EPG) data from an EPG provider, the EPG data describing characteristics of media assets that are available from a content provider; identifying, by the client device, one or more locally available media assets, the locally available media assets including: generating, by a guide application on the client device, an EPG display based on the EPG data and the locally available media assets, the EPG display being configured to simultaneously display different types of media assets including the media assets that are available from the content provider and each of the local media assets as respective different types of media assets, each media asset being directly selectable through interaction with the EPG display; receiving a user-submitted selection of a particular media asset represented in the EPG display, the particular media asset being selected from those being simultaneously displayed; in response to the user-submitted selection of the particular media asset being received through interaction with the EPG display: the guide application passing the user-submitted selection to a virtual tuner executed on the client device; and the virtual tuner executed on the client device selecting an application for presenting the particular media asset; managing, by the virtual tuner, execution of the application for presenting the particular media asset, wherein the managing includes: