RESOURCE SHARING SYSTEM OF SET-TOP BOXES

• US 20140040969A1
• Filed: 08/01/2013
• Published: 02/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Aptiv Digital Incorporated (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Bumgardner, James A., Krakirian, Haig H.
• Application Number:
  US13/957,296
• Publication Number:
  US 20140040969A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/115
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/433 Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• 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 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44231 Monitoring of peripheral device or external card, e.g. to detect processing problems in a handheld device or the failure of an external recording device configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network H04L12/2823; monitoring the status of connected device in data switched networks H04L43/0817
• 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 21/47214 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 21/4788 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 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 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a resource sharing system of set-top boxes. The set-top boxes are arranged in a network. The resources of each set-top box in the network are potentially available to another set-top box in the network that has run out of resources. When a user needs a tuner resource, the set-top box determines if it has a local tuner available. If not, the set-top box attempts to use the tuner of another set-top box in the network. In one embodiment all of the tuners in the network are pooled together and used as a global resource of tuners for all of the set-tops. Alternatively, if a set-top box runs out of resource space on a storage device, it attempts to use the storage device on another set-top box before deleting shows locally to make room for the new show.

Claims

1-27. -27. (canceled)

28. A method for using a network of user devices, the method comprising:

receiving a user request to perform at least one of receiving and storing a media asset, wherein performing the at least one of receiving and storing the media asset requires a resource;

querying each of a plurality of user devices coupled to the network to determine;

whether the queried user device is inactive; and

whether the resource is available at the queried user device; and

if one of the plurality of user devices is inactive and the resource is available at the one user device, causing the one of the plurality of user devices to perform the at least one of receiving and storing the media asset.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the one of receiving and storing the media asset comprises storing a transmission of the media asset.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the resource comprises a tuner.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the resource comprises sufficient storage space to store the media asset.

32. The method of claim 28, further comprising determining that the queried user device is inactive if a display associated with the user device is OFF.

33. The method of claim 28, further comprising determining that the queried user device is inactive if no user input was received by the queried user device within an amount of time.

34. The method of claim 28, further comprising determining that the queried user device is inactive if a user of the queried user device has given permission for the queried user device to perform the at least one of receiving and storing the media asset.

35. The method of claim 28, further comprising determining that the resource is available at the queried user device if the queried user device is inactive.

36. The method of claim 28, wherein causing the one of the plurality of user devices to perform the at least one of receiving and storing the media asset comprises causing the one of the plurality of user devices to receive the media asset from a remote source that is not directly connected to the network.

37. The method of claim 28, wherein causing the one of the plurality of user devices to perform the at least one of receiving and storing the media asset comprises causing the one of the plurality of user devices to receive the media asset with a first receiver, and wherein the one of the plurality of user devices is coupled to the network over a second receiver.

38. A system for using a network of user devices, the system comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive a user request to perform at least one of receiving and storing a media asset, wherein performing the at least one of receiving and storing the media asset requires a resource;

query each of a plurality of user devices coupled to the network to determine;

whether the queried user device is inactive; and

whether the resource is available at the queried user device; and

if one of the plurality of user devices is inactive and the resource is available at the one of the plurality of user devices, cause the one of the plurality of user devices to perform the at least one of receiving and storing the media asset.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the one of receiving and storing the media asset comprises storing a transmission of the media asset.

40. The system of claim 38, wherein the resource comprises a tuner.

41. The system of claim 38, wherein the resource comprises sufficient storage space to store the media asset.

42. The system of claim 38, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the queried user device is inactive if a display associated with the user device is OFF.

43. The system of claim 38, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the queried user device is inactive if no user input was received by the queried user device within an amount of time.

44. The system of claim 38, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the queried user device is inactive if a user of the queried user device has given permission for the queried user device to perform the at least one of receiving and storing the media asset.

45. The system of claim 38, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the resource is available at the queried user device if the queried user device is inactive.

46. The system of claim 38, wherein the processor is configured to cause the one of the plurality of user devices to perform the at least one of receiving and storing the media asset by being configured to cause the one of the plurality of user devices to receive the media asset from a remote source that is not directly connected to the network.

47. The system of claim 38, wherein the processor is configured to cause the one of the plurality of user devices to perform the at least one of receiving and storing the media asset by being configured to cause the one of the plurality of user devices to receive the media asset with a first receiver, and wherein the one of the plurality of user devices is coupled to the network over a second receiver.