Smart channel entry system

DETAILED DESCRIPTION These and other objects of the invention are accomplished in accordance with the principles of the present invention by providing an interactive channel entry system.
The system may display program listings information relating to the channels that are associated with the entered digits during channel entry.
The program listings information for a channel may include a channel designator (e.
g.
, the call letters for the channel, a channel name, a network affiliation, etc.
), the title of the program currently airing on the channel, or other information specific to the channel.
The system may display a list of channel numbers associated with the entered digits during channel entry.
The list of channels may be sorted numerically, by type, by frequency of viewing, by recent use, by favorite channels, etc.
The system may notify a user when channels are related to the channel number of the entered digit or digits during channel entry.
The related channels may be channels that are components of another channel, or channels that are from the same provider, network, or of the same type such as PPV channels, digital music channels, movie channels, broadcast channels, etc.
The system may allow a user to assign a source identifier to channel numbers from different sources.
The system may display the channels from the multiple sources with their corresponding source identifier during channel entry.
The interactive channel entry system may be implemented on a television, a computer, a radio system, or other suitable platform.
Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.