Method and apparatus for recording program data without commercials

• US 6,226,444 B1
• Filed: 09/30/1997
• Issued: 05/01/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hanger Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Williams, Christopher D., Goldschmidt Iki, Jean M., Lane, Kathleen, Shah-Nazaroff, Anthony Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Garber, Wendy R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Boccio, Vincent F.
• Application Number:
  US08/940,355
• Time in Patent Office: 1,309 Days
• Field of Search: 386/46, 386/80-81, 386/83, 358/908, 348/1, 348/5, 348/7, 348/10, 348/13, 348/906, 348/2, 348/8, 348/722, 348/907, 348/460, 725/133, 725/8
• US Class Current: 386/251
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/216 Rewritable discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 358/908 Pause control, i.e. "commercial killers"

Abstract

A method for managing recording of broadcast data includes recording the broadcast data on a recordable medium. Whether a commercial or a program is being broadcasted in the broadcast data is determined. Recording is stopped when a commercial is being broadcasted in the broadcast data. Recording is resumed at a location on the recordable medium where a previously recorded video signal in the broadcast data dropped to a black level after a next video signal in the broadcast data drops to the black level.

Claims

1. A method for managing recording of broadcast data, comprising:

receiving, at an entertainment system, a request from a user to record a broadcast data program without commercials;

recording the request in a log of the entertainment system;

recording the broadcast data program without commercials on a recordable medium of the entertainment system in response to the request, the recording including determining whether a commercial or a program is being broadcasted in the broadcast data, and stopping the recording when a commercial is being broadcasted in the broadcast data and resuming the recording when a program is being broadcasted in the broadcast data; and

after recording the request in the log, transmitting the record of the request from the log to an external computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein recording the broadcast data program without commercials comprises reading a vertical blanking interval of the broadcast data for a message indicating whether the broadcast data is a commercial or a program.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein recording the broadcast data program without commercials comprises monitoring an amplitude of an audio signal of the broadcast data for an increase in volume level.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein recording the broadcast data program without commercials comprises monitoring an amplitude of a video signal of the broadcast data for a drop of the video signal to a black level.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein recording the broadcast data program without commercials comprises stopping and resuming the recording by instructing a wireless communication interface to transmit commands to a video recording device using infra-red signals.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the record comprises transmitting the record through a network via a network controller.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising delaying the broadcast data that is provided to the video recording device sufficient to allow for the finding of an indicator and the transmitting of a command to the video recording device.

8. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions, the sequences of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform:

receiving at an entertainment system a request from a user to record a broadcast data program without commercials;

recording the request in a log of the entertainment system;

recording the broadcast data program without commercials on a recordable medium of the entertainment system in response to the request, the recording including determining whether a commercial or a program is being broadcasted in the broadcast data, and stopping the recording when a commercial is being broadcasted in the broadcast data and resuming the recording when a program is being broadcasted in the broadcast data; and

after recording the request in the log, transmitting the record of the request from the log to an external computer system.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein recording the broadcast data program without commercials comprises reading a vertical blanking interval of the broadcast data for a message indicating whether the broadcast data is a commercial or a program.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein recording the broadcast data program without commercials comprises monitoring an amplitude of an audio signal of the broadcast data for an increase in volume level.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein recording the broadcast data program without commercials comprises monitoring an amplitude of a video signal of the broadcast data for a drop of the video signal to a black level.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein transmitting the record comprises transmitting the record through a network via a network controller.

13. A broadcast data recording manager of an entertainment system, comprising:

a transaction processor that records a request received from a user of the entertainment system to produce a recording of a broadcast data program without commercials;

a log associated with the transaction processor that records the received recording request together with programming information about the broadcast data that is requested to be recorded;

a broadcast data analyzer, coupled to the transaction processor, that determines which part of the broadcast data includes the commercials by monitoring the broadcast data for commercial and program indicators;

a recorder interface, coupled to the broadcast data analyzer, that transmits commands to a video recording device to generate a recording of the broadcast data without commercials; and

an external interface, coupled to the log, that transmits the received recording request together with the programming information recorded in the log to an external computer system.

14. The program recording manager of claim 13, wherein the broadcast data analyzer comprises a vertical blanking interval (VBI) analyzer that reads the VBI for a message indicating that a commercial is to be broadcasted.

15. The program recording manager of claim 14 wherein the broadcast data analyzer monitors a vertical blanking interval (VBI) in the broadcast data for a commercial indicator and outputs a signal to the recorder interface that stops a recording when the commercial indicator is found.

16. The program recording manager of claim 13, wherein the broadcast data analyzer comprises a volume analyzer that monitors an amplitude of an audio signal of the broadcast data for an increase in volume level.

17. The program recording manager of claim 13, wherein the broadcast data analyzer comprises a background analyzer that monitors an amplitude of a video signal of the broadcast data for a drop of the video signal to a black level.

18. The program recording manager of claim 13, further comprising a network controller for transmitting the programming information to the external computer system through a network.

19. The program recording manager of claim 13, wherein the recorder interface further comprises a wireless communication interface to transmit commands to the video recording device using infra-red signals.

20. The program recording manager of claim 13, further comprising a delay unit, coupled between the broadcast data and the video recording device for delaying the broadcast data sufficient to allow for the finding of an indicator and the transmitting of a command to the video recording device.