PERSONAL VIDEO RECORDER E-MAIL ALERTS AND STATUS
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for providing information regarding broadcast video content, comprising:
- receiving, at one or more servers, via a wide area network, information from a standalone computer, where the standalone computer;
(a) records broadcast video content or (b) communicates locally with a video recorder which records broadcast video content, the information identifying broadcast video content which has been scheduled to be recorded or has been recorded;
storing the information at the one or more servers;
accessing, at the one or more servers, notification settings associated with a user of the standalone computer; and
based on the stored information and the notification settings;
providing a routine notification to the user according to a notification schedule, the routine notification provides a summary of recording operations for the broadcast video content; and
providing an urgent notification to the user at a time which differs from the notification schedule when the information from the standalone computer is not received by an expected time.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A web-based service which provides a notification such an email to a user to facilitate managing the recording of broadcast content using a personal video recorder (PVR). The user can agree to participate in the service in exchange for emails which can provide information such as a summary of programs recorded over a few days, missed recordings, and scheduling conflicts. The notification can include targeted recommendations, targeted advertising and information about recording habits of members of a social network of the user. A notification can be provided on an urgent basis if program schedule conflicts or hardware or software problems with the user'"'"'s equipment are detected. The user'"'"'s equipment can include a PC-based PVR, or a PC which communicates with a separate PVR device. PC-related information such as events thrown can also be reported up to the web service.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for providing information regarding broadcast video content, comprising:
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receiving, at one or more servers, via a wide area network, information from a standalone computer, where the standalone computer;
(a) records broadcast video content or (b) communicates locally with a video recorder which records broadcast video content, the information identifying broadcast video content which has been scheduled to be recorded or has been recorded;storing the information at the one or more servers; accessing, at the one or more servers, notification settings associated with a user of the standalone computer; and based on the stored information and the notification settings; providing a routine notification to the user according to a notification schedule, the routine notification provides a summary of recording operations for the broadcast video content; and providing an urgent notification to the user at a time which differs from the notification schedule when the information from the standalone computer is not received by an expected time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer-implemented method for providing information regarding broadcast video content, comprising:
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receiving, at one or more servers, user instructions which identify;
(a) an agreement by a user to participate in a web-based notification service, and (b) notification settings;creating an account for the user in response to the user instructions; receiving, at the one or more servers, via a wide area network, information from a standalone computer, where the standalone computer (a) records broadcast video content or (b) communicates locally with a video recorder which records broadcast video content, the information identifying broadcast video content which been scheduled to record or has been recorded; storing the information at the one or more servers, indexed to the account; accessing the notification settings at the one or more servers; and based on the stored information and the notification settings, providing a notification to the user which provides a summary of recording operations of the broadcast video content. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. Computer readable storage having computer readable software embodied thereon for programming at least one processor to perform a method for providing information regarding user premises equipment which records broadcast video content, the method comprising:
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using a standalone computer of the user premises equipment to participate in a web-based notification service for the user premises equipment; and pursuant to the web-based notification service; transmitting, to one or more servers, according to a reporting schedule, via a wide area network, information from the standalone computer of the user premises equipment which identifies broadcast video content which has been scheduled to be recorded or has been recorded by the user premises equipment; and transmitting, to the one or more servers, at a time which differs from the reporting schedule, via the wide area network, information from the standalone computer of the user premises equipment which identifies a problem with the user premises equipment, and which triggers a notification process to a user of the user premises equipment. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification