System and Method to Send Information Identifying Recommended Media Content Items

• US 20120222073A1
• Filed: 05/09/2012
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Scott, Charles, White, Scott, Mukerji, Ankur
• Granted Patent: US 9,137,580 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/432 Content retrieval operation from a local storage medium, e.g. hard-disk details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• 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 21/4583 Automatically resolving scheduling conflicts, e.g. when a recording by reservation has been programmed for two programs in the same time slot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4825 using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score

Abstract

A method includes receiving information identifying at least one recommended media content item at a computing device. The information is received from a sender device. The at least one recommended media content item is selected from an electronic program guide and an address associated with the computing device is selected via a graphical user interface at the sender device. The method includes receiving a user selection of at least one item of media content from the at least one recommended media content item. The method includes automatically scheduling recording of the at least one item of media content at a media recorder device when the at least one item of media content is a scheduled program. The method also includes automatically placing the at least one item of media content in an on demand queue when the at least one item of media content includes on demand media content.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving information identifying at least one recommended media content item at a computing device, wherein the information is received from a sender device, and wherein a user of the sender device selected the at least one recommended media content item from an electronic program guide and selected an address associated with the computing device via a graphical user interface;

receiving a user selection of at least one item of media content from the at least one recommended media content item;

when the at least one item of media content is a scheduled program, automatically scheduling recording of the at least one item of media content at a media recorder device; and

when the at least one item of media content includes on demand media content, automatically placing the at least one item of media content in an on demand items queue.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising automatically scheduling a download of the at least one item of media content at a media download device in response to the user selection when the at least one item of media content includes downloadable media content.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein scheduling the at least one item of media content for download comprises:

setting a priority of the at least one item of media content; and

placing the at least one item of media content in a download queue.

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

determining whether scheduling a recording of the at least one item of media content would conflict with a previously scheduled recording at the media recorder device; and

automatically identifying a second presentation of a program associated with the previously scheduled recording or the at least one item of media content.

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

receiving a second user selection indicating that the second presentation should be scheduled for recording; and

scheduling the second presentation for recording at the media recorder.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein automatically scheduling recording of the at least one item of media content comprises accessing the electronic program guide.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computing device comprises a set-top box device.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computing device comprises a mobile communication device.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving information identifying at least one recommended media content item at a computing device, wherein the information is received from a sender device, and wherein a user of the sender device selected the at least one recommended media content item from an electronic program guide and selected an address associated with the computing device via a graphical user interface;

receiving a user selection of at least one item of media content from the at least one recommended media content item;

determining a type of each item of the at least one item of media content; and

sending data for each item of a particular type to an appropriate computing device, wherein the data causes the appropriate computing device to schedule retrieval of the item.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the appropriate computing device is a media recorder when the particular type is scheduled programming.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the appropriate computing device is one of a set-top box device and a personal computing device when the particular type is on demand programming.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the appropriate computing device is one of a set-top box device and a personal computing device when the particular type is downloadable media content.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the at least one item comprises a plurality of items, and wherein the method further comprises presenting an option to select all items of the plurality of items of media content.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises displaying at least a portion of the information on a display device to present a title of each item of the at least one recommended media content item in a second graphical user interface.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the second graphical user interface includes a selection box associated with each displayed title.

16. A system comprising:

a processor, and

a memory accessible to the memory, the memory comprising instructions executable by the processor to perform a method comprising;

receiving information identifying at least one recommended media content item at a computing device, wherein the information is received from a sender device, and wherein a user of the sender device selected the at least one recommended media content item from an electronic program guide and selected an address associated with the computing device via a graphical user interface;

receiving a user selection of at least one item of media content from the at least one recommended media content item;

determining whether the at least item of media content is at least one of scheduled programming and downloadable media content;

automatically scheduling recording of the at least one item of media content at a media recorder device when the at least one item of media content is scheduled programming; and

automatically scheduling download of the at least one item of media content at a media download device when the at least one item of media content is downloadable media content.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a display device coupled to the processor, wherein the display device receives a second graphical user interface from the processor that displays titles of each item of the at least one recommended media content item.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether scheduling recording of the at least one item of media content creates a conflict with scheduled recording of a second program;

identifying a second presentation of the at least one item of media content;

receiving a second user selection of approval to record the second presentation; and

scheduling recording of the second presentation.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether scheduling recording of the at least one item of media content creates a conflict with scheduled recording of a second program;

identifying a second presentation of the second program;

receiving a second user selection of approval to record the second presentation in place of the scheduled recording of the second program;

scheduling recording of the at least one item of media content, and

scheduling recording of the second presentation.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises automatically adding the at least one item of media content to an on demand queue when the at least one item of media content is on demand media content.