TUNER SHARING VIDEO RECORDER SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
First Claim
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1. A video recorder system, comprising:
- at least a first and second video recorder configured to utilize a broadcast signal each of said video recorders having one or more tuners;
a network connecting said first and second video recorders; and
a conflict manager associated with said first video recorder configured to determine when all of said one or more tuners in said first video recorder are unavailable and to use said network to access a connected tuner in said second video recorder if said connected tuner is available.
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to a shared tuner video recorder system architecture. In one embodiment, multiple set-top boxes are networked and configured to share tuners with each other. If a specific set-top box has no tuners available to schedule a show, it attempts to schedule the show on the tuner of another set-top box in the network.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A video recorder system, comprising:
- at least a first and second video recorder configured to utilize a broadcast signal each of said video recorders having one or more tuners;
a network connecting said first and second video recorders; and
a conflict manager associated with said first video recorder configured to determine when all of said one or more tuners in said first video recorder are unavailable and to use said network to access a connected tuner in said second video recorder if said connected tuner is available. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
- at least a first and second video recorder configured to utilize a broadcast signal each of said video recorders having one or more tuners;
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17. A method for sharing tuners in a video recorder system, comprising:
- using one or more tuners in at least a first and a second video recorder to utilize a broadcast signal;
connecting said first and second video recorders in a network;
determining when all of said one or more tuners in said first video recorder is unavailable; and
using said network to access a connected tuner in said second video recorder if said connected tuner is available. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
- using one or more tuners in at least a first and a second video recorder to utilize a broadcast signal;
Specification