Cycling of recording states for program selections during video recording conflict resolution

• US 20060037048A1
• Filed: 09/22/2004
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Taylor, Thomas H., Potrebic, Peter J., Fong, Jeffrey C., DeYonker, Aaron J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,603,688 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/58
• 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 21/4583 Automatically resolving scheduling conflicts, e.g. when a recording by reservation has been programmed for two programs in the same time slot
• 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 5/765 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 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums

Abstract

The present invention generally relates to conflict management resolution. Typically systems for resolving conflicts between television programs with coinciding broadcast schedules use preferences, a confusing and limited display, or a combination thereof. The present invention, on thee other hand, provides for determining time spans or time slices, that indicate the duration of the conflict, and uses these to determine the available recording options. These can then be displayed in a user friendly interface, that is easy to understand and simple to use. In addition, other example embodiments ensure that the various programs and/or available options are capable of being cycled through, regardless of preference settings.

Claims

1. In a home entertainment system that includes a recording device configured to automatically record scheduled television programs, a method of cycling through available recording options for resolving conflicts between programs with, coinciding broadcast times, the system configured to ensure that a user is able to cycle state for each of available recording options in succession, the method comprising acts of:

identifying that a conflict exists between a plurality of programs based on coinciding broadcast times for portions of the plurality of programs;

storing initial state information for the plurality of programs that indicates which of the plurality of programs are initially enabled and disabled for recording;

receiving user input that changes state of a first program from a disabled state to an enabled state;

in response to the user input that changes state of the first program, automatically changing state of a second program of the plurality of programs from an enabled state to a disabled state;

receiving user input that changes the state of the second program from a disabled state to an enabled state;

based on the initial state information, automatically changing state for a third program of the plurality of programs from an enabled state to a disabled state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the disabling of the second program is based on priority data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the priority data is based on one or more of a percentage of desired program recordings, a ranking of desired program recordings, an order for which the programs where selected for recording, genre of the content for the programs, whether the programs are repeatedly recorded, or whether there are alternative broadcast schedules for the programs.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising acts of:

storing second state information that indicates the change in state for the first and second programs;

receiving user input that changes the state of the third program from disabled to enabled; and

based on at least the second state information, automatically disabling the first program.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the act of automatically disabling of the first program is also based on the initial state information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial state information is based on priority data, wherein the priority data is based on one or more of a percentage of desired program recordings, a ranking of desired program recordings, an order for which the programs where selected for recording, genre of the content for the programs, whether the programs are repeatedly recorded, or whether there are alternative broadcast schedules for the programs.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first, second and third programs are available options.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial state information is a random selection.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising an act of:

generating a user interface that allows a user to visually see and enable or disable a subset of the plurality of programs, the user interface being generated based on the detection of the conflict.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first program includes multiple programs and wherein the user enables all the multiple programs within the first program in a single user input.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein programs enabled for recording are identified by one or more of a highlighting, selected radio button or a marked check box.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more programs disabled for are identified by one or more of an unselected radio button or no mark in a check box.

13. In a home entertainment system that includes a recording device configured to automatically record scheduled television programs, a method of cycling through available recording options for resolving conflicts between programs with coinciding broadcast times, the system configured to ensure that a user is able to cycle state for each of the available recording options in succession, the method comprising:

an act of identifying that a conflict exists between a plurality of programs based on coinciding broadcast times for portions of the plurality of programs;

an act of storing initial state information for the plurality of programs that indicates which of the plurality of programs are currently enabled and disabled from recording, wherein at least one of the plurality of programs is disabled and at least two of the plurality of programs are enabled;

based on the initial state information, a step for allowing a user to successively change state for each of the plurality of programs.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising acts of:

storing state information that indicates the successive change in state for each of the plurality of programs; and

receiving user input that changes the state of a program from disabled to enabled, the program chosen from among the plurality of programs; and

based the state information, automatically disabling a program on a first in, first out basis.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the initial state information is based on priority data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the priority data is based on one or more of a percentage of desired program recordings, a ranking of desired program recordings, an order for which the programs where selected for recording, genre of the content for the programs, whether the programs are repeatedly recorded, or whether there are alternative broadcast schedules for the programs.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the initial state information is a random selection.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the first program includes multiple programs and wherein the user enables all the multiple programs within the first program in a single user input.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of programs are available recording options.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein one or more programs disabled for are identified by one or more of a highlighting, an unselected radio button or no mark in a check box.

21. A computer program product for use in a home entertainment system that includes a recording device configured to automatically record scheduled television programs, the computer program product for implementing a method of cycling through available recording options for resolving conflicts between programs with coinciding broadcast times, the system configured to ensure that a user is able to cycle state for each of available recording options in succession, the computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, can cause the distributed computing system to perform the following:

identify that a conflict exists between a plurality of programs based on coinciding broadcast times for portions of the plurality of programs;

store initial state information for the plurality of programs that indicates which of the plurality of programs are initially enabled and disabled for recording;

receive user input that changes state of a first program from a disabled state to an enabled state;

in response to the user input that changes state of the first program, automatically change state of a second program of the plurality of programs from an enabled state to a disabled state;

receive user input that changes the state of the second program from a disabled state to an enabled state;

based on the initial state information, automatically change state for a third program of the plurality of programs from an enabled state to a disabled state.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the disabling of the second program is based on priority data.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the priority data is based on one or more of a percentage of desired program recordings, a ranking of desired program recordings, an order for which the programs where selected for recording, genre of the content for the programs, whether the programs are repeatedly recorded, or whether there are alternative broadcast schedules for the programs.

24. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising computer executable instructions that:

store second state information that indicates the change in state for the first and second programs;

receive user input that changes the state of the third program from disabled to enabled; and

based on at least the second state information, automatically disable the first program.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the act of automatically disabling of the first program is also based on the initial state information.

26. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the initial state information is based on priority data.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the priority data is based on one or more of a percentage of desired program recordings, a ranking of desired program recordings, an order for which the programs where selected for recording, genre of the content for the programs, whether the programs are repeatedly recorded, or whether there are alternative broadcast schedules for the programs.

28. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the initial state information is a random selection.

29. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising computer executable instructions that:

generate a user interface that allows a user to visually see and enable or disable a subset of the plurality of programs, the user interface being generated based on the detection of the conflict.

30. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the first program includes multiple programs and wherein the user enables all the multiple programs within the first program in a single user input.

31. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein programs enabled for recording are identified by one or more of a highlighting, selected radio button or a marked check box.

32. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein one or more programs disabled for are identified by one or more of an unselected radio button or no mark in a check box.

33. A computer program product for use in a home entertainment system that includes a recording device configured to automatically record scheduled television programs, the computer program product for implementing a method of cycling through available recording options for resolving conflicts between programs with coinciding broadcast times, the system configured to ensure that a user is able to cycle state for each of available recording option in succession, the computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, can cause the distributed computing system to perform the following:

identify that a conflict exists between a plurality of programs based on coinciding broadcast times for portions of the plurality of programs;

store initial state information for the plurality of programs that indicates which of the plurality of programs are currently enabled and disabled from recording, wherein at least one of the plurality of programs is disabled and at least two of the plurality of programs are enabled;

based on the initial state information, allow a user to successively change state for each of the plurality of programs.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, further comprising computer executable instructions that:

store state information that indicates the successive change in state for each of the plurality of programs; and

receive user input that changes the state of a program from disabled to enabled, the program chosen from among the plurality of programs; and

based the state information, automatically disable a program on a first in, first out basis.

35. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the initial state information is based on priority data.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the priority data is based on one or more of a percentage of desired program recordings, a ranking of desired program recordings, an order for which the programs where selected for recording, genre of the content for the programs, whether the programs are repeatedly recorded, or whether there are alternative broadcast schedules for the programs.

37. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the initial state information is a random selection.

38. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the first program includes multiple programs and wherein the user enables all the multiple programs within the first program in a single user input.

39. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein programs enabled for recording are identified by one or more of selected radio button or a marked check box.

40. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein one or more programs disabled for are identified by one or more of a highlighting, an unselected radio button or no mark in a check box.