Managing Digital Video Recorder Storage for a Plurality of Users

• US 20100272413A1
• Filed: 04/23/2009
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: O'Connell, Brian Marshall, Boss, Gregory Jensen, Bhogal, Kulvir Singh, Hamilton, Rick Allen II
• Granted Patent: US 8,290,342 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: N/A
• 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 21/4335 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 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4753 for user identification, e.g. by entering a PIN or password cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34
• 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

Abstract

A computer implemented method and apparatus for managing digital video recorder storage for one or more users. Each user in the multi-user environment is assigned an amount of program storage in the digital video recorder. Responsive to receiving a request to record a new program from a user in the multi-user environment, an associated amount of program storage assigned to the use is determined. Responsive to a determination that addition of the new program will not exceed the associated amount of program storage assigned to the user, the new program is recorded to the program storage.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for managing program retention in a digital video recorder in a multi-user environment, the computer implemented method comprising:

assigning each user in the multi-user environment an amount of program storage in the digital video recorder;

responsive to receiving a request to record a new program from a user in the multi-user environment, determining an associated amount of program storage assigned to the user; and

responsive to a determination that addition of the new program will not exceed the associated amount of program storage assigned to the user, recording the new program to the program storage.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a determination that addition of the new program will exceed the amount of program storage assigned to the user, rejecting the request to record the new program.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a determination that addition of the new program will exceed the amount of program storage assigned to the user, identifying a second user in the multi-user environment with available program storage; and

recording the new program to the available program storage of the second user.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a determination that addition of the new program will exceed the amount of program storage assigned to the user, deleting a recorded program of another user from the program storage assigned to the user; and

recording the new program in the program storage assigned to the user.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a determination that addition of the new program will not exceed the amount of program storage assigned to the user, determining if the program storage assigned to the user has available space to store the new program; and

recording the new program if the program storage assigned to the user has available space.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein assigning each user in the multi-user environment an amount of program storage space in the digital video recorder further comprises:

assigning an equal amount of program storage space to each user in the multi-user environment.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein assigning each user in the multi-user environment an amount of program storage space in the digital video recorder further comprises:

assigning different amounts of program storage space to each user in the multi-user environment.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein assigning each user in the multi-user environment an amount of program storage space in the digital video recorder further comprises:

assigning a percentage of program storage space to each user in the multi-user environment.

9. A computer implemented method for managing program retention in a digital video recorder in a multi-user environment, the computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a request to record a new program in the digital video recorder from a user in the multi-user environment;

determining if program storage assigned to the user in the digital video recorder contains sufficient space to store the new program;

responsive to a determination that the program storage assigned to the user does not contain sufficient space to store the new program, identifying a program genre ranked lowest by the user in order of retention preference;

deleting a recorded program from the lowest-ranked program genre; and

recording the new program to the program storage.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

responsive to a determination that the user has not ranked any program genres, deleting a recorded program from the program storage; and

recording the new program to the program storage.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

assigning a time to live value in the program storage indicating a minimum amount of time a recorded program is retained before the recorded program is available for deletion; and

overriding deletion of the recorded program from the lowest-ranked program genre if the time to live value of the recorded program has not been met.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

assigning a priority percentage to each program genre ranked by the user indicating a minimum amount of storage available for recorded programs within a program genre; and

overriding deletion of recorded programs from the lowest-ranked program genre if the percentage of storage available to the lowest-ranked program genre has not been exceeded.

13. A computer implemented method for managing program retention in a digital video recorder in a multi-user environment, the computer implemented method comprising:

allocating each user in the multi-user environment a number of retention credits;

responsive to receiving a request to record a new program from a user in the multi-user environment, determining if program storage assigned to the user in the digital video recorder contains sufficient space to store the new program;

responsive to a determination that the program storage assigned to the user does not contain sufficient space to store the new program, identifying a recorded program in a program storage assigned to the user that has been assigned a least amount of retention credits by the user;

deleting the recorded program from the program storage; and

recording the new program to the program storage.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 13, wherein identifying a recorded program that has been assigned a least amount of retention credits by the user further comprises:

calculating a retention value per time unit for each recorded program in the program storage based on the number of retention credits assigned to a recorded program and a time length of the recorded program; and

determining the recorded program that has been assigned a least amount of retention credits by the user as the recorded program with the lowest calculated retention value per time unit.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

responsive to deleting the recorded program, allocating retention credits assigned to the deleted recorded program to the user.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 13, wherein allocating each user in the multi-user environment a number of retention credits further comprises:

allocating a user a set number of retention credits over a specific time period.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 13, wherein allocating each user in the multi-user environment a number of retention credits further comprises:

allocating a percentage of a total number of retention credits to a user.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 17, further comprising:

responsive to deleting a recorded program in the program storage assigned to the user, reallocating retention credits assigned to the deleted recorded program to recorded programs remaining in the program storage based on individual percentages assigned to each remaining recorded program.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 17, further comprising:

responsive to recording the new program in the program storage assigned to the user, reallocating retention credits assigned to recorded programs in the program storage based on individual percentages assigned to the new program and the recorded programs.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 13, wherein identifying a recorded program assigned a least amount of retention credits by the user further comprises:

receiving, from the user, a user identifier; and

determining the recorded program assigned a least amount of retention credits associated with the user identifier.

21. A computer implemented method for managing program retention in a digital video recorder in a multi-user environment, the computer implemented method comprising:

determining a number of programs recorded by a user in the multi-user environment;

determining a number of programs deleted from a program storage without having been viewed by the user;

calculating a recording to viewing ratio for the user;

responsive to receiving a request to record a new program from a user in the multi-user environment, comparing an associated recording to viewing ratio of each user in the multi-user environment to identify a user having a highest recording to viewing ratio;

deleting a recorded program associated with a particular user having the highest recording to viewing ratio; and

recording the new program to the program storage.

22. The computer implemented method of claim 21, wherein determining a number of programs deleted from a program storage without having been viewed by the user further comprises:

determining a program has been viewed if the program has been viewed in its entirety by the user.

23. The computer implemented method of claim 21, wherein determining a number of programs deleted from a program storage without having been viewed by the user further comprises:

determining a program has been viewed if a portion of the program has been viewed by the user.

24. The computer implemented method of claim 21, further comprising:

performing the comparing and deleting steps in response to a determination that the program storage does not contain available space to store the new program.

25. The computer implemented method of claim 21, wherein determining a number of programs recorded by a user in the multi-user environment further comprises:

receiving, from the user, a user identifier; and

determining the number of programs associated with the user identifier.