System and method for providing recording function when no program information is available

• US 20030223734A1
• Filed: 08/20/2002
• Published: 12/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Madison Patent Holdings (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Mears, Mark Gilmore, Cooper, Steven Lee Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,496,275 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/83
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape

Abstract

A method and system for recording a program in an apparatus that has auxiliary programming information available are described. A program is first selected for recording. A determination is made to see whether the associated auxiliary programming information is available for the selected first program for recording. If the associated auxiliary programming information is not available for the selected first program, then a recording timer is automatically populated with all known recording parameters. All the unknown recording parameters in the recording timer are also populated according to a pre-determined algorithm.

Claims

1. A method for recording a program in an apparatus which has auxiliary programming information available, comprising the steps of:

selecting a first program for recording

determining whether associated auxiliary programming information is available for the selected first program for recording;

if the associated auxiliary programming information is not available for the selected first program, automatically populating a recording timer with all known recording parameters; and

automatically populating unknown recording parameters in the recording timer according to an algorithm.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the known recording parameters comprising at least one of:

channel number;

subchannel number;

current month;

current date;

antenna source for the selected first program; and

current time.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the unknown recording parameters comprising at least one of:

stop time;

frequency of recording; and

start time.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of allowing a user to modify any of the known and unknown recording parameters.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing an alert screen containing a message that not all associated programming information is available.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the algorithm for determining the stop time comprising a rule that if current time is 0 to 14 minutes past an hour, then set the stop time automatically to 30 minutes past the hour.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein the algorithm for determining the stop time comprising a rule that if current time is 15 to 59 minutes past an hour, then set the stop time to the start of the next hour.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein the algorithm for determining the stop time comprising a rule that if the current time is 15 to 59 minutes past 11:

00 AM, then the stop time is automatically set to 12;

00 PM.

9. The method of claim 3 wherein the algorithm for determining the stop time comprising a rule that if the current time is 15 to 59 minutes past 11:

00 PM, then the stop time may be automatically set to 12;

00 AM.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of automatically highlighting a stop time for the recording timer, when the recording timer is displayed.

14. The system of claim 1 further comprising the step of allowing a user to modify any of the known and unknown recording parameters.

11. A system for recording a program wherein the system normally has auxiliary programming information available, comprising the steps of:

means for selecting a first program for recording; and

means for determining whether associated auxiliary programming information is available for the selected first program for recording, and if the associated auxiliary programming information is not available for the selected first program, said means for determining automatically populating a recording timer with all known recording parameters and automatically populating unknown recording parameters in the recording timer according to an algorithm.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the known recording parameters comprising at least one of:

channel number;

subchannel number;

current month;

current date;

antenna source for the selected first program; and

current time.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the unknown recording parameters comprising at least one of:

stop time;

frequency of recording; and

start time.

15. The system of claim 11 further comprising providing an alert screen containing a message that not all associated programming information is available.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the algorithm for determining the stop time comprising a rule that if current time is 0 to 14 minutes past an hour, then set the stop time automatically to 30 minutes past the hour.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the algorithm for determining the stop time comprising a rule that if current time is 15 to 59 minutes past an hour, then set the stop time to the start of the next hour.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the algorithm for determining the stop time comprising a rule that if the current time is 15 to 59 minutes past 11:

00 AM, then the stop time is automatically set to 12;

00 PM.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the algorithm for determining the stop time comprising a rule that if the current time is 15 to 59 minutes past 11:

00 PM, then the stop time may be automatically set to 12;

00 AM.

20. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of automatically highlighting a stop time for the recording timer, when the recording timer is displayed.