METHOD FOR WATCHING MISSED TELEVISION PROGRAMS AND USER TERMINAL

• US 20110197230A1
• Filed: 02/23/2011
• Published: 08/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Device Company Limited (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Device Company Limited (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: YU, Dawei, Guo, Zhikun, Tan, Yu, Lin, Yaosheng
• Granted Patent: US 8,782,701 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/40
• 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 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• 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 21/47 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 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• 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

Abstract

A method for watching a missed television (TV) program and a user terminal are provided. The method includes the following steps. Electronic program guide (EPG) information distributed by a headend is received, and a local table of missed programs and current time are obtained. It is determined that a missed program exits when the user terminal is in a non-working status according to the local table of missed programs and the current time. Information of the missed program in the local table of missed programs is updated according to the EPG information. It is detected whether the missed program is played currently, and if yes, a service of watching a missed program is implemented. By using the method for making up for watching the missed TV program and the user terminal, when the missed program of the user is played in a system, the user is reminded in time of watching the missed program, and a trouble that the user searches the missed program through the EPG is avoided.

Claims

1. A method for watching missed television (TV) programs, comprising:

receiving Electronic Program Guide (EPG) information distributed by a headend, and obtaining a local table of missed programs and current time;

determining that a program is missed when the user terminal is in a non-working status according to the local table of missed programs and the current time, and updating information of the missed program in the local table of missed programs according to the EPG information; and

detecting whether the missed program is played currently, and if the missed program is played currently, implementing a service of watching the missed program.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the local table of missed programs comprises a local table of missed series and a local table of missed common programs.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the implementing the service of watching the missed program comprises:

prompting a user for whether to choose to watch the missed program; and

switching to a target channel and updating the local table of missed programs when the user chooses to make up for watching.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the switching to the target channel and updating the local table of missed programs comprises:

switching to the target channel;

determining whether the missed program is a series;

if the missed program is a series, deleting a missing tag of a current episode from the local table of missed series, and determining whether all the episodes of the series have been watched, and if all the episodes of the series have been watched, notifying the user that all the episodes of the series has been watched, and deleting a tracking record relevant to the series from the local table of missed programs; and

if the missed program is not a series, deleting a tracking record relevant to the missed program from the local table of missed common programs.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sequentially detecting whether the missed program is played currently according to rules comprises:

sequentially detecting information of all programs of all channels in the EPG information, and checking whether the missed program is played currently.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the sequentially detecting whether the missed program is played currently according to rules comprises:

sequentially detecting information of all programs of all channels in the EPG information, and checking whether the missed program is played currently.

7. The method according to claim 3, wherein the sequentially detecting whether the missed program is played currently according to rules comprises:

sequentially detecting information of all programs of all channels in the EPG information, and checking whether the missed program is played currently.

8. The method according to claim 4, wherein the sequentially detecting whether the missed program is played currently according to rules comprises:

sequentially detecting information of all programs of all channels in the EPG information, and checking whether the missed program is played currently.

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein before the obtaining the local table of missed programs, the method further comprises setting the local table of missed programs;

the setting the local table of missed programs comprises;

selecting and tracking the missed program according to the EPG information, and recording the information of the missed program in the local table of missed programs;

determining whether the missed program is a series;

if the missed program is a series, and when it is determined that the missed program is not the first episode of the series, adding one record to the local table of missed series according to a watching situation input by the user, of episodes from the first episode to the current episode of the series program; and

if the missed program is not a series, adding one record to the local table of missed common programs.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein after the setting the local table of missed programs, the method further comprises setting a missed program reminding table, wherein the missed program reminding table is associated with the local table of missed series and the local table of missed common programs;

and

after adding one record to the local table of missed programs, the method further comprises updating the missed program reminding table according to the local table of missed programs and the EPG information.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising canceling the tracking of the missed program, and deleting the information of the missed program from the local table of missed programs and the missed program reminding table.

12. The method according to claim 2, wherein the updating the information of the missed program in the local table of missed programs according to the EPG information comprises:

determining whether the missed program is played in a corresponding channel during a playing time segment;

if the missed program is played, when the missed program is a series, updating a current schedule in the local table of missed series; and

when the missed program is not a series, deleting a relevant record of the missed program from the local table of missed common programs.

13. A user terminal, comprising a receiving module, a determining module, an updating module, and a missed program watching module, wherein

the receiving module is configured to receive Electronic Program Guide (EPG) information distributed by a headend after the user terminal starts to work, and obtain a local table of missed programs and current time;

the determining module is connected to the receiving module, and is configured to determine that a program is missed when the user terminal is in a non-working status according to the local table of missed programs and the current time;

the updating module is connected to the receiving module, and is configured to update information of the missed program in the local table of missed programs according to the EPG information; and

the missed program watching module is connected to the determining module, and is configured to sequentially detect whether the missed program is played currently according to rules, and if the missed program is played currently, implement a service of watching the missed program.

14. The user terminal according to claim 13, wherein the local table of missed programs comprises a local table of missed series and a local table of missed common programs;

the user terminal further comprises;

a storage module, configured to store the local table of missed series, the local table of missed common programs, and a missed program reminding table associated with the local table of missed series and the local table of missed common programs; and

a reminding module, configured to remind a user whether to implement the service of watching the missed program according to playing time of the missed program in the missed program reminding table.

15. The user terminal according to claim 13, wherein the user terminal is a digital television (TV) set top box, an integrated digital TV, a personal computer, or a handheld terminal.

16. The user terminal according to claim 14, wherein the user terminal is a digital television (TV) set top box, an integrated digital TV, a personal computer, or a handheld terminal.