Patent ID: 8359320

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, by a system comprising a processor, first metadata in a first format from a first metadata database at a first content provider associated with a wide area network, the first metadata being associated with a first content item; receiving, by the system, second metadata in a second format from a second metadata database at a second content provider associated with the wide area network, the second metadata being associated with a second content item; converting, by the system, the first metadata to third metadata in a third format; converting, by the system, the second metadata to fourth metadata in the third format; storing, by the system, the third and fourth metadata in a third metadata database; receiving, by the system, a first query from a customer device coupled to a residential gateway; searching, by the system, the third metadata database based on the first query; identifying, by the system, a first result in response to searching the third metadata database based on the first query, the first result comprising metadata in the third format; identifying, by the system, a native format used by the customer device to process metadata; determining, by the system, that the native format used by the customer device is incompatible with the third format; and providing, by the system, the customer device the first result in the native format of the customer device.