Automatic deletion scheduling for multi-user digital video recorder systems

• US 20070033232A1
• Filed: 08/04/2005
• Published: 02/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Malloy, William
• Granted Patent: US 7,519,627 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• 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 21/4751 for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children

Abstract

One embodiment relates generally to managing files. A plurality of users is identified for a digital device. A file on the digital device is identified for access by the plurality of users. A user is logged as having viewed the program in response to the user completing playback of the file.

Claims

1. A method for automatically scheduling the deletion of files on a digital playback system, the method comprising:

logging a plurality of users of the digital playback system;

identifying a file on the digital playback system to be accessed by the plurality of users;

logging when at least one of the plurality of users has accessed the file; and

scheduling deletion of the identified file based on when the at least one of the plurality of users has completed accessing the file.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising marking the file eligible for deletion when all of the plurality of users have accessed the file.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein logging the plurality of users for the digital playback system further comprises displaying a user interface configured to accept user input specifying information about a user.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising displaying a user interface configured to determine the criterion for retaining the file.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising selecting an option to identify the file to be viewed by the plurality of users.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising logging when each user has completed viewing the file.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising displaying a user interface configured to identify a subset of users interested in viewing the recorded program in response to an end of a playback of the file.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising selecting at least one user from the subset of users interested in viewing the file.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising recording the file on the digital playback system from a source.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the source is one of a digital video disk player, a videotape player, a compact disk player, and a mp3 player.

11. An apparatus configured to perform the method of claim 1, the apparatus comprising:

means for logging a plurality of users of the digital playback system;

means for identifying a file on the digital playback system to be accessed by the plurality of users;

means for logging when at least one of the plurality of users has accessed the file; and

means for scheduling deletion of the identified file based on when the at least one of the plurality of users has completed accessing the file.

12. A digital playback system configured to automatically schedule deletion of files representing recorded programming, the system comprising:

an interface configured to receive programming; and

a digital storage device coupled to the interface and configured to store at least one file for programming selected by at least one user, wherein the digital storage device is also configured to identify a plurality of users interested in viewing the file representing the received programming, determine a status of when each user from the plurality of users has viewed the file, and schedule deletion of the file when at least some of the users interested in viewing the file have viewed the file.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the digital storage device is further configured to automatically schedule a file for deletion when all of the plurality of users have viewed the file.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the digital storage device is further configured to maintain a first data structure adapted to identify the plurality of users interested in viewing the file.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the digital storage device is further configured to maintain a second data structure adapted to identify the users from the plurality of users that have viewed the file.

16. The system according to claim 12, wherein the digital storage device is further configured to display a user interface configured to identify the plurality of users for the digital storage device.

17. The system according to claim 12, wherein the digital storage device is further configured to display a user interface configured to determine a retention criterion for the file.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the digital storage device is further configured to receive an option indicating that the recorded program be saved until all of the plurality of users have viewed the file.

19. The system according to claim 12, wherein the digital storage device is further configured to display a user interface allowing a viewing user of the file to indicate that the viewing user has viewed the file.

20. A computer readable storage medium on which is embedded one or more computer programs, said one or more computer programs implementing a method of automatically scheduling deletion of a recorded program, said one or more computer programs comprising a set of instructions for:

identifying a plurality of users for the digital playback device;

recording a plurality of programs on the digital playback system;

identifying a file to be viewed by a subset of the plurality of users;

logging when the subset of users has viewed the file; and

scheduling deletion of the file based on when the subset of users has viewed the file.

21. The computer readable storage medium in according to claim 20, said set of instructions further comprises marking the file eligible for deletion in response to all of the plurality of users have viewed the file.

22. The computer readable storage medium in according to claim 20, said set of instructions further comprises displaying a user interface configured to accept user input specifying a user as one of the subset of plurality of users.

23. The computer readable storage medium in according to claim 20, said set of instructions further comprises displaying a user interface configured to determine the retention criteria for the file.

24. The computer readable storage medium in according to claim 23, said set of instructions further comprises selecting an option to indicate that the file is to be retained until all of the plurality of the users have viewed the file.

25. The computer readable storage medium in according to claim 20, said set of instructions further comprises displaying a user interface configured to identify the subset of the plurality of users interested in viewing the file in response to an end of a playback of the file.

26. The computer readable storage medium in according to claim 25, said set of instructions further comprises selecting the identity of a viewing user from the subset of the plurality of users.