SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING STORED PROGRAMS

• US 20110052156A1
• Filed: 08/26/2009
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Kuhn, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 8,364,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/295
• 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: H04N 21/431 Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

Systems and methods are operable to manage previously recorded programs. In at least one embodiment identifies a plurality of previously recorded programs, categorizes each one of the plurality of previously recorded programs into one of a plurality of recorded program categories, and generates a recorded program category-based graphical user interface (GUI). The recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts the plurality of recorded program categories and graphically depicts an amount of memory capacity utilized by each of the plurality of recorded program categories based upon an amount of memory capacity utilized by the previously recorded programs.

Claims

1. A method for managing previously recorded programs, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of previously recorded programs;

categorizing each one of the plurality of previously recorded programs into at least one of a plurality of recorded program categories; and

generating a recorded program category-based graphical user interface (GUI),

wherein the recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts the plurality of recorded program categories, and

wherein the recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts an amount of memory capacity utilized by each of the plurality of recorded program categories based upon an amount of memory capacity utilized by the previously recorded programs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of recorded program categories are defined based upon a viewing history, and further comprising:

determining the viewing history of each one of the plurality of previously recorded programs; and

categorizing each one of the plurality of previously recorded programs based upon a viewing history category.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

storing information corresponding to the viewing history category of each one of the plurality of previously recorded programs.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

retrieving the stored information corresponding to the viewing history category of each one of the plurality of previously recorded programs in response to a request for presentation of the recorded program category-based GUI.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein in response to a viewing of one of the selected previously recorded programs, further comprising:

determining an updated viewing history of the selected previously recorded program; and

re-categorizing the selected previously recorded programs based upon the viewing history.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts the amount of memory capacity utilized by each of the plurality of recorded program categories using a pie chart format.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts an amount of memory capacity available for recording of at least one program.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

specifying a category type of the at least one of a plurality of recorded program categories.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a category-based recorded program listing GUI in response to receiving a selection of one of the plurality of recorded program categories, wherein the category-based recorded program listing GUI lists the previously recorded programs that have been categorized into the selected recorded program category; and

presenting the category-based recorded program listing GUI on a display.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein presenting the category-based recorded program listing GUI on the display comprises:

presenting the amount of memory capacity utilized by each of the plurality of recorded programs that have been categorized into the selected recorded program category.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

deleting at least one of the plurality of previously recorded programs listed on the category-based recorded program listing GUI in response to receiving a selection identifying the deleted at least one previously recorded program.

12. The method of claim 11, in response to deleting the at least one of the plurality of previously recorded programs listed on the category-based recorded program listing GUI, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of remaining previously recorded programs that have been categorized into the selected recorded program category; and

generating an updated recorded program category-based GUI;

wherein the updated recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts the plurality of recorded program categories, and

wherein the updated recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts an updated amount of memory capacity utilized by each of the plurality of recorded program categories based upon an amount of memory capacity utilized by the remaining previously recorded programs.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the updated recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts an updated amount of memory capacity available for recording of at least one program.

14. A program recording management system, comprising:

a program content stream interface configured to receive a plurality of programs;

a digital video recorder (DVR) configured to store a plurality of selected ones of the received plurality of programs; and

a processor system that manages the stored plurality of programs on the DVR, wherein the processor system is configured to;

categorize each one of the stored plurality of programs into one of a plurality of recorded program categories; and

generate a recorded program category-based graphical user interface (GUI),

wherein the recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts the plurality of recorded program categories, and

wherein the recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts an amount of memory capacity utilized by each of the plurality of recorded program categories based upon an amount of memory capacity utilized by the stored plurality of programs.

15. The program recording management system of claim 14, further comprising:

a presentation device interface communicatively coupled to the processor system, configured to communicatively couple to a media presentation device, and configured to communicate the recorded program category-based GUI to a display of the media presentation device; and

a remote interface communicatively coupled to the processor system and configured to receive a request signal from a remote control device,

wherein in response to receiving the request signal from the remote control device, the recorded program category-based GUI is communicated from the presentation device interface to the media presentation device.

16. The program recording management system of claim 15, wherein the processor system is further configured to:

generate a category-based recorded program listing GUI in response to receiving a selection of one of the plurality of recorded program categories in a second signal received by the remote control device, wherein the category-based recorded program listing GUI lists the previously recorded programs that have been categorized into the selected recorded program category; and

output the category-based recorded program listing GUI to a display.

17. The program recording management system of claim 14, wherein the program recording management system is implemented in a set top box.

18. A method for managing previously recorded programs, the method comprising:

presenting a recorded program category-based GUI on a display,

wherein the recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts a plurality of recorded program categories, and

wherein the recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts an amount of memory capacity utilized by each of the plurality of recorded program categories based upon an amount of memory capacity utilized by previously recorded programs that have been categorized into the respective ones of the plurality of recorded program categories, and wherein the plurality of recorded programs categories are defined based upon a viewing history;

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of recorded program categories; and

presenting the category-based recorded program listing GUI,

wherein the category-based recorded program listing GUI lists the previously recorded programs that have been categorized into the selected recorded program category.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

deleting at least one of the plurality of previously recorded programs listed on the category-based recorded program listing GUI in response to receiving a selection identifying the at least one previously recorded program.

20. The method of claim 19, in response to deleting the at least one of the plurality of previously recorded programs listed on the category-based recorded program listing GUI, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of remaining previously recorded programs that have been categorized into the selected recorded program category;

generating an updated recorded program category-based GUI;

wherein the updated recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts the plurality of recorded program categories; and

wherein the updated recorded program category-based GUI graphically depicts an updated amount of memory capacity utilized by each of the plurality of recorded program categories based upon an amount of memory capacity utilized by the remaining previously recorded programs.