Systems and methods for resolving conflicts and managing system resources in multimedia delivery systems

• US 20070174336A1
• Filed: 12/29/2005
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: GuideWorks, LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Day, Thomas, Craner, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,765,235 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 21/4583 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 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8545 for generating interactive applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/913 Multimedia

Abstract

The invention manages resources and resolve conflicts when locally recording multimedia assets from a variety of sources in multimedia delivery systems. Local and system resources such as storage, tuners, and bandwidth are considered when alternative sources for assets are available (e.g., VOD). Rather than record assets locally, if equivalent assets are available via alternative sources, the recordings are deferred and a pointer to the equivalent asset is stored in lieu of the asset itself. When a user selects a multimedia asset for playback, an “on demand” or alternative source session is started for the asset associated with the pointer. Before the expiration date of the alternative source equivalent of the multimedia asset, it may be downloaded and recorded locally. The system may automatically determine based on various factors, such as transmission bandwidth, latency, and DRM, whether to store assets or pointers.

Claims

1. A method for managing resources in a multimedia delivery network, the method comprising:

scheduling on a personal video recorder (PVR) a local recording of a multimedia asset that is available during a first window of time from a first source;

gathering information related to resources of the PVR and the multimedia delivery network;

determining whether a substantially equivalent multimedia asset is available from an alternative source; and

deciding, based upon the determining and applying other system and/or user-specified criteria, whether or not to record the multimedia asset locally, wherein when it is decided not to record the multimedia asset locally, the method further comprises;

deferring the local recording of the multimedia asset beyond the first window of time; and

storing a multimedia asset pointer for the substantially equivalent multimedia asset.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein gathering information comprises checking an amount of local storage space that is available on the PVR, and wherein applying the other criteria includes determining whether the local storage space is sufficient to record the multimedia asset.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein gathering information comprises determining a number of tuners that are available during the first window of time and applying the other criteria includes determining that tuners are available when recording will be performed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative source is a video-on-demand (VOD) server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative source is a pay-per-view (PPV) channel.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative source is an Internet server.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein gathering information includes determining an expiration time of the equivalent multimedia asset from the alternative source.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, when the expiration time of the equivalent multimedia asset from the alternative source is imminent, the method further includes recording on the PVR the equivalent multimedia asset from the alternative source.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a user interface to a user of the PVR wherein a multimedia asset that is stored locally is represented to the user in substantially the same way as an equivalent multimedia asset for which only a pointer is stored, such that whether or not a multimedia asset is stored locally or only its pointer is stored is substantially transparent to the user of the PVR.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein gathering information includes determining a cost of the equivalent multimedia asset from the alternative source and applying the criteria includes determining whether the cost of the equivalent multimedia asset exceeds a specified cost budget.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein gathering information includes determining a digital rights restriction associated with the equivalent multimedia asset from the alternative source and applying the other criteria includes determining whether accessing or recording the equivalent multimedia asset violates at least one digital right.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing locally stored multimedia assets with equivalent assets available from an alternative source;

deleting at least one of the locally stored multimedia assets; and

storing a pointer to a multimedia asset that is equivalent to the at least one deleted multimedia asset.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scheduling on the PVR a local recording of a second multimedia asset during a second window of time, the second multimedia asset different from the multimedia asset;

determining that a tuner resource conflict exists due to an overlap between the first and the second windows of time, wherein the deciding is a function of the determining that a tuner resource conflict exists.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing a desired future viewing time from the PVR user, the viewing time being later than the first window of time; and

presenting to the user a list of multimedia assets that are viewable during that future viewing time wherein the list includes the substantially equivalent multimedia asset.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

allowing the user to select the substantially equivalent multimedia asset from the list for future viewing, wherein the gathering information includes determining whether the user selected the substantially equivalent multimedia asset from the list and the applying the criteria is a function of whether or not the user selected the substantially equivalent multimedia asset from the list.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the gathering information includes determining an expiration time for the substantially equivalent multimedia asset and the method further includes updating the list to remove the listing of the substantially equivalent multimedia asset if the expiration time is earlier than the viewing time.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein when it is decided not to record the multimedia asset locally, the method further comprises storing a beginning portion of the substantially equivalent multimedia asset locally as part of a quick-start feature for the multimedia asset.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein gathering information comprises checking a remaining storage capacity of the PVR, wherein, if the remaining storage capacity is insufficient for recording the multimedia asset, applying a deletion criterion to identify a stored multimedia asset to be deleted from the PVR.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the deletion criterion comprises a date/time when a stored multimedia asset was last watched, a frequency with which a stored multimedia asset was accessed, a designation as “

archived program,”

a rental conditions for the stored multimedia asset, a current availability of a stored multimedia asset from a server, a user'"'"'s permission for deletion, or a combination thereof.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising notifying a user if the remaining storage capacity remains insufficient after applying the deletion criterion.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising locally recording the multimedia asset, if on-demand session capacity is insufficient for real-time transmission of the substantially equivalent multimedia asset from the alternative source.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the on-demand session capacity includes at least one of a transmission bandwidth from the alternative source and a latency from the alternative source.

23. A system for managing resources in a multimedia delivery system comprising a personal video recorder (PVR) capable of locally recording a multimedia asset and control circuitry, the control circuitry configured to:

schedule on the PVR the local recording of a multimedia asset that is available during a first window of time from a first source;

gather information related to resources of the PVR and the VOD system;

determine whether a substantially equivalent multimedia asset is available from an alternative source; and

decide, based upon the determining and applying other system and/or user-specified criteria, whether or not to record the multimedia asset locally,

wherein when it is decided not to record the multimedia asset locally, the control circuitry is further configured to;

defer the local recording of the multimedia asset beyond the first window of time; and

store a multimedia asset pointer for the substantially equivalent multimedia asset.

24. The system of claim 23, the control circuitry further configured to check an amount of local storage space that is available on the PVR, and to determine whether the local storage space is sufficient to record the multimedia asset.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the alternative source is a video-on-demand (VOD) server.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the alternative source is a pay-per-view (PPV) channel.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the alternative source is an Internet server.

28. The system of claim 23, the control circuitry further configured to determine if an expiration time of the equivalent multimedia asset from the alternative source is imminent, and if the expiration time is imminent, to cause the PVR to record the equivalent multimedia asset from the alternative source.

29. The system of claim 23, the control circuitry further configured to

compare multimedia assets stored on the PVR with equivalent assets available from an alternative source;

delete at least one of the multimedia assets stored on the PVR; and

store a pointer to a multimedia asset that is equivalent to the at least one deleted multimedia asset.

30. The system of claim 23, the control circuitry further configured to

schedule on the PVR a local recording of a second multimedia asset during a second window of time, the second multimedia asset different from the multimedia asset;

determine that a tuner resource conflict exists due to an overlap between the first and the second window of time; and

decide, based upon the determination of a conflict and by applying other system and/or user-specified criteria, whether or not to record the multimedia asset locally.

31. The system of claim 23, the control circuitry further configured to

check a remaining storage capacity of the PVR;

and

if the remaining storage capacity is insufficient for recording the multimedia asset, apply a deletion criterion to identify a stored multimedia asset to be deleted from the PVR.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the deletion criterion comprises a date/time when a stored multimedia asset was last watched, a frequency with which a stored multimedia asset was accessed, a designation as “

archived program,”

a rental conditions for the stored multimedia asset, a current availability of a stored multimedia asset from a server, a user'"'"'s permission for deletion, or a combination thereof.

33. The system of claim 31, the control circuitry further configured to notify a user if the remaining storage capacity remains insufficient after applying the deletion criterion.

34. The system of claim 23, the control circuitry further configured to cause the PVR to record the multimedia asset, if VOD session capacity is insufficient for real-time transmission of the substantially equivalent multimedia asset from the alternative source.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the VOD session capacity includes at least one of a transmission bandwidth from the alternative source and a latency from the alternative source.

36. A system for allowing a user to identify multimedia assets at a present time and schedule the multimedia assets for later viewing , the system comprising:

a display;

a user interface shown on the display and responsive to user commands specifying a future viewing period;

control circuitry configured to display a list of multimedia assets on the display, wherein the assets displayed comprise at least;

a first asset that is available from a first source during the specified future viewing period, and

a second asset that is available between the present time and up to a beginning of the specified future viewing period but not during the specified viewing period.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the user interface includes a drop-down menu that can be used by a user to specify the future viewing period.

38. The system of claim 36, further comprising a personal video recorder (PVR), the control circuitry further configured to recognize multimedia assets that are not available during the specified future viewing period, and allow a recording of the asset to be scheduled, the recording scheduled to be recorded before the beginning of the specified viewing period.

39. The system of claim 38, the control circuitry further configured to display an indicator of remaining recording space on the PVR, or an estimated remaining asset recording capacity, or both dynamically as a function of multimedia assets that are selected for future viewing by a user from the displayed list of multimedia assets.