Digital Video Recorder

• US 20090180763A1
• Filed: 01/14/2008
• Published: 07/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: McCarthy, Mary C., Montalvo, Valerie H., Lopez, Elizabeth
• Granted Patent: US 8,995,824 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/326
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/005 Reproducing at a different information rate from the information rate of recording for television signals H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• 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 21/4334 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 21/47214 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 21/47217 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 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6118 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/845 Structuring of content, e.g. decomposing content into time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• 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 5/907 : using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 : involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

An apparatus for recording multimedia content transmitted over a network including a reception interface for receiving the multimedia content from the network, a user input interface for receiving user inputs, and a storage resource including executable instructions including a recording module for recording the multimedia content in accordance with the user inputs. The user inputs also include a multimedia selection signal for indicating the multimedia content to be recorded, and a segmenting signal for indicating a size of at least one of a plurality of segments in which the multimedia content is recorded.

Claims

1. An apparatus for recording multimedia content transmitted over a network, comprising:

a reception interface for receiving the multimedia content from the network;

a user input interface for receiving user inputs; and

a storage resource comprising executable instructions including recording module instructions for recording the multimedia content in accordance with the user inputs;

wherein the user inputs comprise;

a multimedia selection signal for indicating the multimedia content to be recorded, and

a segmenting signal for indicating a size of at least one of a plurality of segments in which the multimedia content is recorded.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of segments records a successive transmission segment of the multimedia content.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network is an internet protocol television network.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the network is a coaxial cable-based network.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising instructions, in the storage resources, for enabling a user to interact with a user display.

6. The digital recording apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

instructions for listing the recorded multimedia content in a catalogue by program,

instructions in the storage resource for presenting the catalogue to the user, and

enabling the user to select multimedia content from the catalogue for viewing.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

instructions to determine whether the multimedia item has segments associated with the program; and

instructions for displaying a separate menu of the segments to a user when segments are associated with the content title.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

instructions to determine whether the multimedia item has segments associated with the program; and

instructions for displaying the segments in the catalogue to a user when segments are associated with the content title.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein when one segment is selected, the display displays the selected segment and each successive segment to the user.

10. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the user can select any subset of the segments to view and the selected subset of segments is played back in order, skipping over any unselected segments.

11. A method for recording program comprising:

enabling a user to select program for recording;

enabling the user to record the program in segments;

enabling the user to save the segments in storage; and

enabling the user to select a particular segment for viewing.

12. The method for recording program of claim 11, wherein segments correspond to successive transmission segments of the program.

13. The method for recording program of claim 12, further comprising enabling the user to select a size of the particular segment.

14. The method for recording program of claim 13, further comprising enabling the user to select multiple program to record.

15. The method for recording program of claim 14 further comprising, enabling the user to select the size of segments applicable to at least some of the multiple multimedia transmissions.

16. The method for recording program of claim 11 further comprising, enabling the user to erase specific segments from storage.

17. The method for recording program of claim 11, wherein each segment is listed in a catalogue and the catalogue is saved in storage.

18. The method for recording program of claim 17 further comprising, enabling the user to select a segment from the catalogue.

19. A computer program product comprising computer executable instructions, stored on a tangible computer readable medium, for recording multimedia content transmitted over a network, the instructions comprising instructions to:

transmit a multimedia content selection menu to a user to enable the user to select the multimedia content to record;

transmit a segment selection menu to the user to allow the user to select a size of segments to store the multimedia content;

receive a multimedia content selection signal and the size from the user;

record the selected multimedia content in segments of the size selected by the user; and

store the segments in storage.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising instructions to:

display segments to the user; and

respond to receiving a content selection signal corresponding to a specific segment from the user by displaying the specific segment.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising instructions to:

list segments corresponding to a multimedia content in a catalogue by the multimedia content;

display the catalogue to the user; and

enable the user to select the multimedia content.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions to respond to the user selecting the multimedia content from the catalogue by displaying the segments to the user.

23. A computer program product, comprising instructions, stored on a computer readable medium of a multimedia processing resource, the instructions including instructions to:

include a segmenting option in at least one interface for selecting a program for recording; and

respond to detecting a user selection of the segmenting option by automatically inserting a plurality of bookmarks at user selectable locations within a recorded copy of a selected program when the selected program is recorded to demarcate chapters.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising instructions to respond to detecting a playback input by displaying a listing of recorded programs including displaying the selected programs with the chapters displayed hierarchically under the selected program.