Recorded Multimedia and Live Television Roaming

• US 20140096166A1
• Filed: 09/30/2013
• Published: 04/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gordon, Alan, Kneeling, John, Chang, Glen C.
• Granted Patent: US 10,034,043 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/86
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4333 Processing operations in response to a pause request
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44004 involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatuses can be operable to facilitate pausing playback of recorded multimedia or live television on a multimedia player and resuming playback from the pause point on the same or a different multimedia player. A user can pause a channel on a multimedia player and resume play of the paused channel on a different multimedia player. A user can pause a channel on a multimedia player and tune the multimedia player to a different channel without losing content associated with the paused channel.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving content from a first channel through a first tuner;

receiving a request to output content from a second channel;

determining whether a second tuner is available for receiving content from the second channel; and

where a second tuner is available for receiving content from the second channel;

receiving content from the second channel through the second tuner; and

buffering content from the first channel while outputting content from the second channel.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a request to output content from the first channel; and

reading and outputting the buffered content from the first channel.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the request to output content from the first channel comprises tuning a multimedia player to the first channel, wherein the multimedia player is a separate device from a device receiving content from the second channel.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein tuning the multimedia player to the first channel comprises directly tuning to the first channel, automatically tuning to the first channel, returning to the first channel as a previously-viewed channel, or tuning to the first channel by selecting the first channel from an interactive channel guide.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

creating a television roaming pause location associated with the location in the content from the first channel at which buffering of the content from the first channel started.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the television roaming pause location is automatically created when the request to output content from the second channel is received.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content from the first channel comprises multimedia streaming in real-time, a record buffer associated with the first channel, multimedia streaming from a pay-per-view channel, or a recording stored on a digital video recorder.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

where a second tuner is not available for receiving content from the second channel, continuing to receive content from the first channel through the first tuner.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

where a second tuner is not available for receiving content from the second channel, tuning the first tuner to the second channel, and receiving content from the second channel through the first tuner.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of tuners configured to receive content from one or more channels;

a processor configured to determine whether a second tuner is available to receive content from a second channel when a first tuner is receiving content from a first channel;

one or more interfaces configured to be used to;

receive a user request to receive content from the second channel; and

output the content received from the second channel through a second tuner when the determination is made that a second tuner is available to receive the content from the second channel; and

storage configured to buffer content from the first channel while content from the second channel is being output.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the one or more interfaces are further configured to be used to:

receive a user request to output content from the first channel; and

output the buffered content associated with the first channel.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the request to output content from the first channel comprises tuning a multimedia player to the first channel.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the request to output content from the first channel is received from a multimedia player other than a multimedia player from which the request to receive content from the second channel was received, and the buffered content associated with the first channel is output to the multimedia player from which the request to output content from the first channel was received.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the storage is further configured to:

establish a television roaming pause location associated with the location in the content from the first channel at which buffering of the content from the first channel started.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the storage is further configured to:

clear the television roaming pause location after outputting of buffered content associated with the first channel begins.

16. One or more computer readable media having instructions operable to cause one or more processors to perform the operations comprising:

receiving content from a first channel through a first tuner;

receiving a request to output content from a second channel;

identifying a second tuner that is tuned to the second channel;

identifying a resume point in the content from the second channel from which to begin outputting the content from the second channel; and

outputting the content from the second channel beginning at the identified resume point.

17. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 16, having instructions further operable to cause the one or more processors to perform the operations comprising:

sending a message to a display device associated with a multimedia player from which the request to output content from the second channel was received, wherein the message acknowledges that the content from the second channel is resuming from a resume point.

18. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the resume point is the location in the content from the second channel at which buffering of the content from the second channel started.

19. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 16, having instructions further operable to cause the one or more processors to perform the operations comprising:

clearing the resume point after starting to output the content from the second channel.

26. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 16, having instructions further operable to cause the one or more processors to perform the operations comprising:

creating a television roaming pause location associated with the location in the content from the first channel at which buffering of the content from the first channel started.

27. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 26, wherein the television roaming pause location is automatically created when the request to output content from the second channel is received.

20. A method comprising:

receiving content from a first channel through a first tuner;

receiving a request to output content from a second channel;

identifying a second tuner that is tuned to the second channel;

identifying a resume point in the content from the second channel from which to begin outputting the content from the second channel; and

outputting the content from the second channel beginning at the identified resume point.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the resume point is the location in the content from the second channel at which buffering of the content from the second channel started.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

clearing the resume point after starting to output the content from the second channel.

23. One or more computer readable media having instructions operable to cause one or more processors to perform the operations comprising:

receiving content from a first channel through a first tuner;

receiving a request to output content from a second channel;

determining whether a second tuner is available for receiving content from the second channel; and

where a second tuner is available for receiving content from the second channel;

receiving content from the second channel through the second tuner; and

buffering content from the first channel while outputting content from the second channel.

24. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 23, having instructions further operable to cause the one or more processors to perform the operations comprising:

receiving a request to output content from the first channel; and

reading and outputting the buffered content from the first channel.

25. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 24, wherein the request to output content from the first channel comprises tuning a multimedia player to the first channel, wherein the multimedia player is a separate device from a device receiving content from the second channel.

28. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 23, wherein the content from the first channel comprises multimedia streaming in real-time, a record buffer associated with the first channel, multimedia streaming from a pay-per-view channel, or a recording stored on a digital video recorder.

29. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 23, having instructions further operable to cause the one or more processors to perform the operations comprising:

where a second tuner is not available for receiving content from the second channel, continuing to receive content from the first channel through the first tuner.

30. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 23, having instructions further operable to cause the one or more processors to perform the operations comprising:

where a second tuner is not available for receiving content from the second channel, tuning the first tuner to the second channel, and receiving content from the second channel through the first tuner.