Patent ID: 8635641

Claim:
A method of performing parental control a channel in building a channel map in an internet protocol television (IPTV) receiver, the method comprising: performing a service discovery procedure with a service provider, wherein the service discovery procedure comprises: receiving, from the service provider, a master service information (SI) table including a first element defining location of a virtual channel map table, parsing the first element in the received master SI table, receiving, from the service provider, the virtual channel map table including a second element defining location of a virtual channel description table based on the parsed first element, parsing the second element in the received virtual channel map table, receiving, from the service provider, the virtual channel description table, which includes a third element including a first parental guidance of a virtual channel, based on the parsed second element, wherein the first parental guidance includes a code number for a dimension of the virtual channel and a code number for a rating level for the dimension of the virtual channel, and parsing the third element in the received virtual channel description table; performing an EPG reception procedure with an EPG server, wherein the EPG reception procedure comprises: receiving, from the EPG server, an electronic program guide (EPG) metadata including both a rating region table and a second parental guidance of a broadcast program, wherein the rating region table defines allowable rating dimensions and allowable rating levels for a parental guidance system, and the second parental guidance includes a code number for a dimension of the broadcast program and a code number for a rating level for the dimension of the broadcast program; performing parental controls on the virtual channel based on the first parental guidance; and performing parental controls on the broadcast program based on the second parental guidance, wherein the dimension is as defined in the ATSC PSIP standard.