PROVISIONING PREFERRED MEDIA CONTENT

• US 20160066026A1
• Filed: 08/27/2014
• Published: 03/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar UK Holdings Ltd (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Mountain, Dale Llewelyn
• Granted Patent: US 9,681,176 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• 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 21/4532 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 21/4583 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6143 involving transmission via a satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver

Abstract

Allocating idle tuner resources to buffer or record broadcast programming determined to be desirable or preferred by any particular user or television viewer.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying a particular tuner of a multi-tuner television receiver, wherein the particular tuner is designated as in an idle mode;

accessing, in response to the identifying, a listing that itemizes a plurality of television channels to be recorded by the television receiver for an indeterminate time period; and

recording at least one television channel of the plurality of television channels using the particular tuner while the particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a change in status of the particular tuner from the idle mode to an active mode; and

discontinuing recording of the at least one television channel in response to determining the change in status.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recording multiple television channels of the plurality of television channels using the particular tuner while the particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the at least one television channel based upon a priority scheme that identifies the at least one television channel as preferred over other television channels of the plurality of television channels.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

populating the listing with one or more television channels different than each of the plurality of television channels without user-input designating the one or more television channels as intended for inclusion within the listing.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

populating the listing with one or more television channels different than each of the plurality of television channels based on user-input designating the one or more television channels as intended for inclusion within the listing.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

populating the listing with one or more television channels different than each of the plurality of television channels based upon usage activity as continuously obtained by the television receiver.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting for display within an electronic programming guide an icon that when selected activates the television receiver to playback the recording of the at least one television channel.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the listing itemizes a plurality of channels favored by a particular end-user and is at least one manually populated and automatically populated without end-user input.

10. A television receiver, comprising:

one or more processors;

a plurality of tuners; and

a memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processors and having stored therein processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

identify a particular tuner of the plurality of tuners that is in an idle mode;

access a listing that itemizes a plurality of television channels to be recorded by the television receiver for an indeterminate time period; and

record at least one television channel of the plurality of television channels using the particular tuner while the particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode.

11. The television receiver of claim 10, wherein the memory having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

determine a change in status of the particular tuner from the idle mode to an active mode; and

discontinue recording of the at least one television channel in response to determining the change in status.

12. The television receiver of claim 10, wherein the memory having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

record multiple television channels of the plurality of television channels using the particular tuner while the particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode.

13. The television receiver of claim 10, wherein the memory having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

select the at least one television channel based upon a priority scheme that identifies the at least one television channel as preferred over other television channels of the plurality of television channels.

14. The television receiver of claim 10, wherein the memory having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

populate the listing with one or more television channels different than each of the plurality of television channels without user-input designating the one or more television channels as intended for inclusion within the listing.

15. The television receiver of claim 10, wherein the memory having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

populate the listing with one or more television channels different than each of the plurality of television channels based on user-input designating the one or more television channels as intended for inclusion within the listing.

16. The television receiver of claim 10, wherein the memory having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

populate the listing with one or more television channels different than each of the plurality of television channels based upon usage activity as continuously obtained by the television receiver.

17. The television receiver of claim 10, wherein the memory having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

output for display within an electronic programming guide an icon that when selected activates the television receiver to playback the recording of the at least one television channel.

18. The television receiver of claim 10, wherein the listing itemizes a plurality of channels favored by a particular end-user and is at least one manually populated and automatically populated without end-user input.

20. A method, comprising:

identifying a particular tuner of a multi-tuner television receiver, wherein the particular tuner is designated as in an idle mode;

accessing, in response to the identifying, a listing that itemizes a plurality of television channels to be recorded by the television receiver for an indeterminate time period, wherein the plurality of channels is at least one of manually populated to the listing and automatically populated to the listing without end-user input;

selecting at least one television channel from the listing based upon a priority scheme that identifies the at least one television channel as preferred over other television channels of the plurality of television channels;

recording at least one television channel of the plurality of television channels using the particular tuner;

determining a change in status of the particular tuner from the idle mode to an active mode; and

discontinuing recording of the at least one television channel in response to determining the change in status.