Patent ID: 7757256

Claim:
A method to set transmission cycles for tables to be transmitted as part of a digital television (DTV) transport stream, the method comprising: setting transmission cycles for a sequence of event information tables EIT0, EIT1, EIT2, and EIT3 containing program information covering different time spans, wherein the transmission cycle of the EIT0 is less than the transmission cycle of the EIT1; setting transmission cycles for a sequence of extended text tables ETT0, ETT1, ETT2, and ETT3 containing program description information associated with the EIT0, EIT1, EIT2, and EIT3, respectively, wherein the transmission cycle of the ETT3 is greater than a sum of the transmission cycle of the EIT0 and the transmission cycle of the EIT1, wherein the transmission cycle of the EIT1 is less than the transmission cycle of the EIT2; and broadcasting the DTV transport stream having the EITs and ETTs therein to receiving devices.