MEDIA RECORDING AND PLAYBACK

• US 20090087167A1
• Filed: 05/23/2006
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sky CP Limited (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: British Sky Broadcasting Limited (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Seisun, Michele, Murret-Labarthe, Herve, Griffith, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 9,025,940 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/296
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2005/91342 the copy protection signal being an authentication signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2183 Cache memory caches in web servers or browsers G06F16/9574; intermediate storage and caching in data networks H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• 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 21/4424 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A media recording device automatically records selected broadcast programmes according to categories specified by the user, without requiring the user to specify in advance which programmes are to be recorded. The recorded programmes are then presented to the user for selection, and the selected programmes may be played back immediately or saved for later playback. Each broadcast programme may be allocated a priority, and the device may decide which programmes to record or delete according to their relative priority. For each broadcast programme, a corresponding visibility period may be specified, during which the programme can be selected for playback and is not deleted. There may be a delay between the broadcast of the programme and the beginning of its visibility period. An expiry time may be specified for each programme, after which the programme is deleted. There may be a delay between the end of the visibility period and the expiry time.

Claims

1. Apparatus for selectively recording and playing back broadcast media content items, comprising:

a. means for receiving media content information relating to the media content items;

b. recording means for selectively receiving and recording from a broadcast stream ones of the media content items selected on the basis of the media content information;

c. a user interface for indicating recorded media content items to a user and for receiving a user selection of the indicated media content items; and

d. playback means for playing back said user-selected media content item or items;

wherein the media content information includes availability times corresponding to the media content items, and the user interface is arranged not to indicate said recorded media content items before said corresponding availability times.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the media content information indicates expiry times corresponding to the media content items, the recording means being arranged to delete ones of the media content items for which the corresponding expiry times have passed.

3. Apparatus for selectively recording and playing back broadcast media content items, comprising:

a. means for receiving media content information relating to the media content items;

b. recording means for selectively receiving and recording from a broadcast stream ones of the media content items selected on the basis of the media content information; and

for selectively deleting recorded ones of the media content items, selected on the basis of the media content information;

c. a user interface for indicating recorded media content items to a user and for receiving a user selection of the indicated media content items; and

d. playback means for playing back said user-selected media content items;

wherein the media content information includes soft and hard expiry times corresponding to the media content items, and the recording means is arranged to prevent deletion recorded media content items before the corresponding soft expiry times, and to enforce deletion of the recorded media content items after the corresponding hard expiry times.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the media content information indicates availability periods corresponding to the media content items.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the user interface is arranged to indicate media content items only within their corresponding availability periods.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the recording means is arranged to prevent deletion of media content items within their corresponding availability periods.

7. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the playback means is able to play back said selected one or more media content items after their corresponding availability periods.

8. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the media content information indicates a relative priority between different ones of said media content items.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the recording means is arranged to select said ones of the media content items on the basis of the relative priority.

10. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the recording means is arranged to delete ones of the media content items having lower priority than ones of the media content items selected for recording.

11. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the recording means is arranged to delete selected ones of said media content items according to a storage capacity constraint.

12. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the media content information indicates one or more categories corresponding to each of said media items, the recording means being arranged to record selected ones of the media content items on the basis of said one or more categories.

13. Apparatus according to claim 12, including means for receiving user category preferences from a user, the recording means being arranged to record selected ones of the media content items on the basis of said user category preferences.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said categories include a default category, the recording means being arranged to record selected ones of the media content items belonging to the default category independently of said user category preferences.

15. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said media content information includes media content identification information uniquely identifying said media content items, the recording means being arranged to record only ones of said media content items which the media content identification information indicates are not already recorded.

16. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the user selection includes an indication that the selected one or more of the media content items are to be saved for subsequent playback, such that the recording means is inhibited from deleting the saved one or more media content items.

17. Apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the media content information includes an indication as to which of the media content items are not permitted to be saved, such that the user is prevented from saving those indicated media content items.

18. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the media content information is received from the broadcast stream.

19. Apparatus according to claim 3, including a plurality of receiver resources for receiving said broadcast stream, and live play means for playing live content from the broadcast stream substantially as it is received, the apparatus being arranged to allocate at least one of the receiver resources to the live play means in preference to recording by the recording means.

20. Apparatus according to claim 19, including means for detecting whether the user is attending to the live content, and reallocating the at least one of the receiver resources from the live play means to the recording means if the user is detected not be attending to the live content.

21. A method of selectively recording and playing back broadcast media content items, comprising:

a. receiving media content information relating to the media content items;

b. selectively receiving and recording from a broadcast stream ones of the media content items, selected on the basis of the media content information;

c. indicating recorded media content items to a user and receiving a user selection of the indicated media content items; and

d. playing back said user-selected media content item or items;

wherein the media content information includes an availability time corresponding to a recorded one of the media content items, and the user interface is arranged not to indicate said corresponding recorded media content items before said availability time.

22. A method of selectively recording and playing back broadcast media content items, comprising:

a. receiving media content information relating to the media content items;

b. selectively receiving and recording from a broadcast stream ones of the media content items, selected on the basis of the media content information;

c. indicating recorded media content items to a user and receiving a user selection of the indicated media content items; and

playing back said user-selected media content item or items;

wherein the media content information includes a soft expiry time and a hard expiry time corresponding to a recorded one of the media content items, and the recording means is arranged to prevent deletion of the corresponding media content item before the soft expiry time, and to enforce deletion of the corresponding media content item after the hard expiry time.

23. A method of broadcasting media content items for recording and subsequent playback, comprising broadcasting said media content items together with media content information indicating a relative priority between different ones of said media content items.

24. A method of broadcasting media content items for recording and subsequent playback, comprising broadcasting said media content items together with media content information indicating soft and hard expiry times corresponding to each of the media content items, such that the media content items may be deleted after the soft expiry times and are deleted after the hard expiry times.

25. A method of broadcasting media content items for recording and subsequent playback, comprising broadcasting said media content items together with media content information indicating availability times corresponding to the media content items, such that the media content items are available to be selected for playback only after the corresponding availability times.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the availability times are subsequent to the corresponding broadcast times of the media content items.

27. A method of broadcasting media content items for recording and subsequent playback, comprising broadcasting said media content items together with media content information indicating visibility times corresponding to the media content items, such that the media content items are available to be selected for playback only during the corresponding visibility times.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the media content information includes save information indicating whether each of the media content items can be saved during their corresponding visibility times for viewing after their corresponding visibility times.

29. (canceled)