CUSTOMIZING DVR FUNCTIONALITY

• US 20110067048A1
• Filed: 11/19/2010
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TiVo Solutions Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TiVo Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: BARTON, James, Beach, Brian, Glennon, Shelly, Schmidt, Margret, Poniatowski, Robert F.
• Granted Patent: US 8,549,553 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/28
• 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 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4112 having fewer capabilities than the client, e.g. thin client having less processing power or no tuning capabilities
• 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 21/42646 for reading from or writing on a non-volatile solid state storage medium, e.g. DVD, CD-ROM
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• 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 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• 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 21/4755 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 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• 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 7/163 : by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/7921 : for more than one processing mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 : involving data reduction

Abstract

Techniques described herein enable parents to establish a child-protective “kids zone” on a DVR. According to one technique, a DVR receives, from a parent, identities of content items that the parent does not want children to view. The DVR maps the identities to a kids zone. During times that the DVR is set to operate in the kids zone operational mode, the DVR prevents itself from presenting any content items that are associated with the identities. However, during these times, the DVR still may obtain and store these content items. At other times, during which the DVR is not set to operate in the kids zone operational mode, the DVR may allow itself to present the content items that are associated with the identities, including content items that the DVR obtained and stored during times that the DVR was set to operate in the kids zone operational mode.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

reading, from a first content-storing medium that has been inserted into a content-storing medium reader of a device, first information that identifies first content that is stored on said first content-storing medium;

causing said first information to be presented on a visual display;

receiving, from a user of said device, first user input that indicates that said first content is not allowed to be presented while said device is in a kid'"'"'s zone mode;

in response to receiving said first user input, updating a first list to include a first identity of said first content;

after said updating, receiving second user input that instructs said device to enter said kid'"'"'s zone mode;

in response to receiving said second user input, said device entering said kid'"'"'s zone mode;

determining, based at least in part on said first list, a set of content items that are available for presentation by said device while said device is in said kid'"'"'s zone mode;

omitting, based at least in part on said first list containing said first identity, all identifying information about said first content from said set; and

causing one or more items in said set to be presented on said visual display.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein causing said one or more items in said set to be presented on said visual display comprises causing said one or more items to be presented on said visual display while said first content-storing medium is inserted into said content-storing medium reader of said device.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said first content-storing medium is a digital video disc (DVD), and wherein said content-storing medium reader is a DVD player.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said device is a digital video recorder (DVR) that receives broadcast signals, encodes said signals into encoded data, and stores said encoded data onto a drive.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

reading, from a second content-storing medium that has been inserted into said content-storing medium reader, second information that identifies second content that is stored on said second content-storing medium;

causing said second information to be presented on a visual display;

receiving, from said user, third user input that indicates that said second content is allowed to be presented while said device is in said kid'"'"'s zone mode;

in response to receiving said third user input, updating a second list to include a second identity of said second content;

wherein determining said set of content items that are available for presentation by said device while said device is in said kid'"'"'s zone mode is performed based at least in part on said second list;

based at least in part on said second list containing said second identity, including, within said set, identifying information about said second content.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein said step of causing said second information to be presented on said visual display comprises causing a presentation, on said visual display, of at least (a) a title of said second content and (b) an icon that indicates that said second content satisfies criteria that are associated with said kid'"'"'s zone mode.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

including, within said set, one or more content items (a) that said device recorded from broadcast signals that said device received from a source other than said first content-storing medium and (b) that said user previously identified as being appropriate for presentation while said device is in said kid'"'"'s zone mode.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

after said updating, said first content-storing medium being removed from said content-storing medium reader;

after said first content-storing medium being removed form said content-storing medium reader, detecting that said first content-storing medium has been re-inserted into said content-storing medium reader;

in response to detecting that said first content-storing medium has been re-inserted into said content-storing medium reader, reading said first list as previously updated to determine that said first content is not to be presented by said device while said device is in a kid'"'"'s zone mode.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

said device receiving, over a computer network, guru guide information that identifies one or more digital video discs (DVDs) and whether contents of said DVDs are recommended by a creator of said guru guide information for presentation within said kid'"'"'s zone mode.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining, from said first information, a rating that is associated with said first content;

determining whether said rating satisfies rating criteria previously specified by said user; and

based at least in part in response to determining that said rating does not satisfy said rating criteria, updating said first list to include said first identity of said first content.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a module for reading, from a first content-storing medium that has been inserted into a content-storing medium reader of said apparatus, first information that identifies first content that is stored on said first content-storing medium;

a module for causing said first information to be presented on a visual display;

a module for receiving, from a user of said apparatus, first user input that indicates that said first content is not allowed to be presented while said apparatus is in a kid'"'"'s zone mode;

a module for updating, in response to receiving said first user input, a first list to include a first identity of said first content;

a module for receiving, after said updating, second user input that instructs said apparatus to enter said kid'"'"'s zone mode;

a module for causing said apparatus to enter said kid'"'"'s zone mode in response to receiving said second user input;

a module for determining, based at least in part on said first list, a set of content items that are available for presentation by said apparatus while said apparatus is in said kid'"'"'s zone mode;

a module for omitting, based at least in part on said first list containing said first identity, all identifying information about said first content from said set; and

a module for causing one or more items in said set to be presented on said visual display.

12. An apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein said module for causing said one or more items in said set to be presented on said visual display comprises a module for causing said one or more items to be presented on said visual display while said first content-storing medium is inserted into said content-storing medium reader of said apparatus.

13. An apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein said first content-storing medium is a digital video disc (DVD), and wherein said content-storing medium reader is a DVD player.

14. An apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein said apparatus is a digital video recorder (DVR) that receives broadcast signals, encodes said signals into encoded data, and stores said encoded data onto a drive.

15. An apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

a module for reading, from a second content-storing medium that has been inserted into said content-storing medium reader, second information that identifies second content that is stored on said second content-storing medium;

a module for causing said second information to be presented on a visual display;

a module for receiving, from said user, third user input that indicates that said second content is allowed to be presented while said apparatus is in said kid'"'"'s zone mode;

a module for updating, in response to receiving said third user input, a second list to include a second identity of said second content;

wherein said module for determining said set of content items that are available for presentation by said apparatus while said apparatus is in said kid'"'"'s zone mode performs said determining said set based at least in part on said second list; and

a module for including, within said set, and based at least in part on said second list containing said second identity, identifying information about said second content.

16. An apparatus as recited in claim 15, wherein said module for causing said second information to be presented on said visual display comprises a module for causing a presentation, on said visual display, of at least (a) a title of said second content and (b) an icon that indicates that said second content satisfies criteria that are associated with said kid'"'"'s zone mode.

17. An apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

a module for including, within said set, one or more content items (a) that said apparatus recorded from broadcast signals that said apparatus received from a source other than said first content-storing medium and (b) that said user previously identified as being appropriate for presentation while said apparatus is in said kid'"'"'s zone mode.

18. An apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

a module for detecting, after said updating, and after said first content-storing medium being removed from said content-storing medium reader, that said first content-storing medium has been re-inserted into said content-storing medium reader; and

a module for reading, in response to detecting that said first content-storing medium has been re-inserted into said content-storing medium reader, said first list as previously updated to determine that said first content is not to be presented by said apparatus while said apparatus is in a kid'"'"'s zone mode.

19. An apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

a module for receiving, over a computer network, guru guide information that identifies one or more digital video discs (DVDs) and whether contents of said DVDs are recommended by a creator of said guru guide information for presentation within said kid'"'"'s zone mode.

20. An apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

a module for determining, from said first information, a rating that is associated with said first content;

a module for determining whether said rating satisfies rating criteria previously specified by said user; and

a module for updating, based at least in part in response to determining that said rating does not satisfy said rating criteria, said first list to include said first identity of said first content.