Patent ID: 8832766

Claim:
A method of handling channel changes in a digital home communication terminal (DHCT) comprising: receiving a channel change request at a digital home communication terminal; creating at least one channel change parameter for the channel change request, wherein creating at least one channel change parameter comprises initiating a priority parameter and a delay parameter; determining whether the channel change request involves background data collection; setting, in response to the channel change request not involving background data collection, the priority parameter to an intermediate value between a low value and a high value; determining, in response to the channel change request not involving background data collection, whether the channel change request is user-initiated; determining, in response to the channel change request being non-user initiated, whether a source of the channel change request is a navigator; setting, in response to the channel change request being non-user initiated and the source of the request not being from the navigator, the priority parameter to the high value and the delay parameter to random short; wherein, when the source of the channel change is the navigator, the delay parameter is set to random long; wherein the delay parameter controls the amount of delay between the request to channel acquisition and the actual channel change; wherein the range for random short values are less than a range for random long values; and performing a channel change based on the priority parameter and the delay parameter.