DOWNLOADING OF MEDIA BASED ON DELETION OF A CONSUMED EPISODE OF THE SAME SHOW

• US 20170230706A1
• Filed: 07/28/2015
• Published: 08/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: ROGERS, Travis, RETUREAU, Arnaud
• Application Number:
  US15/518,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20170230706A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• 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 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82

Abstract

The present principles of the embodiments generally relate to an apparatus and a method for downloading of media content and particularly for downloading a plurality of episodes for a show such as e.g., a television series. In one exemplary embodiment, if sufficient space is not available for the selected plurality of episodes of the show, then at least one already downloaded and watched episode of same show is deleted. Another episode not yet downloaded will then be downloaded to fill a space vacated by the deleted downloaded and watched episode of the same show.

Claims

1. A method for use in a user device, the method comprising:

selecting a plurality of episodes of a show for download from a server;

determining if there is sufficient space in a storage device for the selected plurality of episodes of the show;

and

if sufficient space is not available for the selected plurality of episodes of the show as determined by the determining, then deleting at least one downloaded and consumed episode of same show from the storage device, and downloading at least one episode of the selected plurality of episodes not yet downloaded.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a storage space of the storage device is allocated on a per show basis and the sufficient space is determined based on the storage space allocated to the show.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprises repeating deleting and downloading if sufficient space is not available as determined by the determining, until all the selected plurality of episodes of the show have been downloaded.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the deleting and downloading if sufficient space is not available as determined by the determining, are automatically performed by the user device without user intervention.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying a user before deleting the at least one downloaded and consumed episode of the same show.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the notifying further comprises

providing a query to the user of whether to delete the at least one downloaded and consumed episode;

and

downloading the at least one episode of the selected plurality of episodes not yet downloaded if a user response to the query is yes.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

If the user response to the query is no, then skipping the downloading of the at least one episode of the selected plurality of episodes not yet downloaded.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a number of episodes of the show to be downloaded based on a user profile.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the number of the episodes to be downloaded is determined in response to a message from the server indicating that all episodes of the show are available for download.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the all episodes of the show correspond to a season of the show.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a user input for selecting a plurality of episodes of a show for download from a server; and

a processor configured to determine if there is sufficient space in a storage device for the selected plurality of episodes of the show;

wherein the processor is configured to, if there is no sufficient space, delete at least one downloaded and consumed episode of same show from the storage device, and download at least one episode of the selected plurality of episodes not yet downloaded.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a storage space of the storage device is allocated on a per show basis and the sufficient space is determined based on the storage space allocated to the show.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the processor is further configured to delete another downloaded and consumed episode of the same show and download another episode of the selected plurality of episodes not yet downloaded until all the selected plurality of episodes of the show have been downloaded.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to provide a notice to a user before deleting the at least one downloaded and consumed episode of the same show.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to provide a query to the user of whether to delete the at least one downloaded and consumed episode, and download the at least one episode of the selected plurality of episodes not yet downloaded, if a user response to the query is yes.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the processor is configured to skip the downloading of the at least one episode of the selected plurality of episodes not yet downloaded, If the user response to the query is no.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the processor is further configured to determine a number of episodes of the show to be downloaded based on a user profile.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the number of the episodes to be downloaded is determined in response to a message from the server indicating that all episodes of the show are available for download.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the all episodes correspond to a season of the show.

20. A method for use on a website for downloading episodes of a show to a user device, the method comprising:

determining a plurality of episodes of a show to be downloaded in response to a user request from the user device;

determining if there is sufficient space in a storage device for the selected plurality of episodes of the show;

and

if sufficient space is not available for the determined plurality of episodes of the show as determined by the determining, then instructing the user device to delete at least one downloaded and consumed episode of same show from the storage device, and downloading at least one episode of the selected plurality of episodes not yet downloaded.

21. A computer program product stored in non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising computer-executable instructions for:

selecting a plurality of episodes of a show for download from a server;

determining if there is sufficient space in a storage device for the selected plurality of episodes of the show;

and

if sufficient space is not available for the selected plurality of episodes of the show as determined by the determining, then deleting at least one downloaded and consumed episode of same show from the storage device, and downloading at least one episode of the selected plurality of episodes not yet downloaded.