Television program recording with user preference determination
First Claim
1. Apparatus for causing recordation of television programs comprising:
- a preference agent for causing retrieval of attribute information corresponding to each television program viewed by a user of said apparatus, said preference agent generating classification information indicative of viewing preferences of said user as a function of said attribute information and program deletion information indicative of priority in which television programs are deleted; and
a record manager that fills a storage medium to maximum capacity and then automatically maintains the storage medium at maximum capacity with highest priority television programs by causing automatic recordation and storage to the storage medium of a plurality of television programs having attribute information that matches said classification information without requiring an explicit decision to record each of the plurality of programs on the part of the user, and by causing automatic deletion and replacement of television programs having lowest priority with newly stored television programs when required.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for recording television programs for subsequent viewing by a user includes a preference determination module which is responsive to attribute information associated with television programs viewed by the user. The preference determination module categorizes the attribute information in accordance with categorization parameters to generate recordation preference information, indicative of television program viewing preferences of the user. The system also includes a recordation module which is responsive to the recordation preference information, for causing recordation on a storage medium of subsequently transmitted television programs, having attribute information corresponding to the recordation preference information.
432 Citations
22 Claims
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1. Apparatus for causing recordation of television programs comprising:
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a preference agent for causing retrieval of attribute information corresponding to each television program viewed by a user of said apparatus, said preference agent generating classification information indicative of viewing preferences of said user as a function of said attribute information and program deletion information indicative of priority in which television programs are deleted; and
a record manager that fills a storage medium to maximum capacity and then automatically maintains the storage medium at maximum capacity with highest priority television programs by causing automatic recordation and storage to the storage medium of a plurality of television programs having attribute information that matches said classification information without requiring an explicit decision to record each of the plurality of programs on the part of the user, and by causing automatic deletion and replacement of television programs having lowest priority with newly stored television programs when required. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
means for causing deletion of television programs stored on said storage medium as a function of age of said television programs;
means for causing deletion of television programs stored on said storage medium as a function of viewing frequency of said program by said user; and
means for causing deletion of television programs stored on said storage medium as a function of program deletion inputs from said user identifying one or more programs to be deleted from said storage medium.
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3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said program deletion information is periodically updated as a function of time.
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4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 further comprising means, responsive to one or more user inputs, for preventing updating of selected ones of said programs as a function of time.
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5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said program deletion information is periodically updated as a function of programs viewed by said user.
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6. In a system that receives television signals carrying television programs, a computer storage medium comprising apparatus for causing storage of selected ones of said television programs for subsequent viewing by a user of said apparatus, comprising:
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a preference determination module, responsive to attribute information associated with television programs viewed by said user, for categorizing said attribute information in accordance with categorization parameters to generate recordation preference information, indicative of television program viewing preferences of said user; and
a recordation module, responsive to user specified requests to cause recordation on said storage medium of subsequently transmitted television programs, and further responsive to said recordation preference information, for causing recordation on a storage medium of a plurality of subsequently transmitted television programs, having attribute information corresponding to said recordation preference information without requiring a user specified request to cause recordation;
wherein said recordation preference information comprises program deletion information indicative of priority in which television programs stored on said recordation module are deleted from said storage medium, as indicated by viewing preferences of said user, and wherein said recordation module fills said storage medium to maximum capacity and then maintains said storage medium at maximum capacity by responding to said program deletion information by causing replacement of television programs having lowest priority with newly stored television programs. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
means, responsive to a user program selection input, for causing generation of a user selection menu on said television, said user selection menu providing said user with a plurality of options comprising, an option to play a selected program, hold a selected program, delete a selected program, play a selected program from the beginning of said program, fast-forward a selected program or rewind a selected program; and
means, responsive to user selection of one of said options, for causing execution of said selection option.
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22. Apparatus as set forth in claim 21 wherein said means for causing generation of a user selection menu on said television is responsive to a menu view input received during viewing of a program for causing generation of said user selection menu on said television.
Specification