System for automated copying from a personal video recorder

• US 20050078934A1
• Filed: 10/08/2003
• Published: 04/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Time Warner Inc. (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Time Warner Inc. (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Eldering, Charles A., Fish, Charles M.
• Application Number:
  US10/681,949
• Publication Number:
  US 20050078934A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

A digitizing system is described that connects to a Personal Video Recorder for automatically making digital copies of programs stored within the Personal Video Recorder. These digital copies may be archived for future viewing, recorded on a media such as a CD, DVD, etc., shared on a computer network, sold or traded.

Claims

1. A method for automated copying from a personal video recorder, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a first signal indicative of a playback;

receiving a second signal from the personal video recorder, wherein the second signal is an analog signal containing the playback;

digitizing the second signal in response to the first signal to create a digital representation of the playback; and

storing the digital representation of the playback.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

transmitting the digital representation of the playback over a network.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:

sharing the digital representation of the playback in a peer-to-peer network configuration.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

copying the digital representation of the playback onto a digital storage medium.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the copying is performed on a transportable digital storage medium.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising compressing the digital representation of the playback and storing the compressed digital representation.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said first signal is generated by said personal video recorder.

8. An apparatus for creating a digitized copy of a recorded program on a personal video recorder, the apparatus comprising:

a first subsystem for receiving a first signal, the first signal indicating the commencement of playback of a recorded program from the personal video recorder;

a second subsystem for intercepting a second signal, the second signal containing an analog representation of the recorded program; and

a third subsystem for creating a digitized version of the intercepted signal.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a storage medium for storing the digitized signal.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a transmitting circuit for transmitting the compressed version of the digitized signal.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a fourth subsystem for compressing the digitized signal.

12. A system for automatically creating a digitized copy of a recorded program from a personal video recorder, the apparatus comprising:

an analog-to-digital converter for digitizing the analog video component of the recorded program to create a digitized video signal;

an analog-to-digital converter for digitizing analog audio components of the recorded program to create at least one digitized audio signal;

a receiver for receiving a control signal, the control signal indicating the commencement or conclusion of playback of the recorded program from the personal video recorder; and

a digital storage device for storing the digitized video signal and the digitized audio signal.

13. The system of claim 12 further comprising a first compression unit that compresses the digitized video signal to produced a compressed digitized video signal, and a second compression unit for compressing the digitized audio signal to produce compressed digitized audio signal.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first compression unit is an electronic circuit capable of compressing the digitized video signal.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first compression unit is computer based software utilizing at least one video compression algorithm.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer based software is augmented by an electronic circuit that accelerates the at least one video compression algorithm.

17. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a transmitter for transmitting the digitized video signal and the digitized audio signal.

18. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising:

a network interface subsystem for sharing the digitized video signal and the digitized audio signal with other computer systems on a computer network.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the network interface subsystem is a client-server computer network.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the network interface subsystem is a peer-to-peer network configuration.

21. The system of claim 12 further comprising:

a storage system with removable medium for storing the digitized video signal and the digitized audio signal on a write-once removable medium.

22. The system of claim 12 further comprising:

a storage system adapted for use with a removable medium for storing the digitized video signal and the digitized audio signal on a rewritable removable medium.

23. A method for automated copying of content from a personal video recorder, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a first signal from the personal video recorder wherein the first signal is indicative of the initiation of a playback of the content;

intercepting a second signal from the personal video recorder, wherein the second signal is an analog signal containing the playback and wherein the analog signal contains a video component that contains additional information related to the playback;

digitizing the video component signal to create a digitized version of the playback;

digitizing the information; and

storing the video component and the digitized information.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of:

transmitting the digitized video component and the digitized information over a network.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of:

sharing the digitized video component and the digitized information in a peer-to-peer network configuration.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of:

copying the digitized video component and the digitized information onto a transportable digital storage medium.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein said digital storage media is an optical media.

28. A method for automated copying of a playback from a personal video recorder, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a first signal indicative of the initiation of a playback;

intercepting a second signal from the personal video recorder, wherein the second signal is an analog signal containing the playback and wherein the analog signal contains an audio component and a video component;

digitizing the video component of the playback to create a digitized video component;

digitizing the audio component of the playback to create a digitized audio component; and

storing the digitized video and audio components.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein said first signal is generated by the personal video recorder.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein said playback recording includes an imbedded data subcomponent formed of data related to the playback.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein said data subcomponent is imbedded in said video component.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein said data component is encoded within a vertical blanking interval of said video component.

33. The method of claim 30 further comprising digitizing said data subcomponent to define digitized data.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising storing said digitized data with together with said digitized video and audio components.

35. The method of claim 28 wherein said data component is disposed within a blanking interval of the video component.

36. The method of claim 28, further comprising the step of:

transmitting the digitized video and audio components over a network.

37. The method of claim 28, further comprising the step of:

sharing the video and audio subcomponents in a peer-to-peer network configuration.

38. The method of claim 28, further comprising the step of:

copying the video and audio subcomponents onto a transportable digital storage medium.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the transportable digital storage medium is an optical disc.

41. The method of claim 32 wherein said signal is an analog signal, further comprising digitizing said signal, compressing the digitized signal and storing the compressed signal.

42. The method of claim 32 wherein said signal is an encoded digital signal, further comprising decoding said digital signal and storing the decoded signal.

40. A method for automated copying from a personal video recorder, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a signal from the personal video recorder containing a recorded program in response to an automated copy command; and

storing the signal on a digital media.