Methods and arrangements for providing a novel television and multimedia viewing paradigm
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- automatically selecting a candidate program to record;
identifying the candidate program in a first part of a time-dependent buffer arrangement, to provide candidate information;
recording content associated with the selected candidate program;
identifying the recorded content in a second part of the time-dependent buffer arrangement, to provide recorded program information, wherein the candidate information and the recorded program information define program-related information;
wherein the program-related information advances through the time-dependent buffer arrangement in the manner of a shift register, wherein an order of program-related information in the time-dependent buffer arrangement defines a temporal order for presenting programs corresponding to the program-related information to a viewer; and
presenting a stream of programs to the viewer based on the temporal order identified by the time-dependent buffer arrangement.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Improved methods and arrangements are provided for use in selecting candidate television and multimedia programs for recording, recording the candidate programs, viewing the recorded programs, and archiving the recorded programs. At the center of this capability is a time-dependent content buffering arrangement that allows candidate programs to be selected by an intelligent content agent, with the assistance of a bubbling agent, an electronic program guide, a select library listing, and/or a personal profile associated with a particular user. The buffering arrangement selectively records candidate programs in a non-circular manner. Candidate programs may be dropped during recording based on certain information associated with the program. For example, examination of closed captioning information may reveal that the candidate program does not match the initial criteria for making it a candidate program. The buffering arrangement also allows the user to selectively view recorded programs on demand and/or archive certain programs. Archived programs are maintained locally or otherwise stored to another media. Those recorded programs that are not archived will be erased in a time-dependent manner when a defined storage capacity is reached. The buffering arrangement also provides for feedback to various intelligent candidate-selecting agents, such as, e.g., an intelligent content agent and a bubbling agent.
96 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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automatically selecting a candidate program to record; identifying the candidate program in a first part of a time-dependent buffer arrangement, to provide candidate information; recording content associated with the selected candidate program; identifying the recorded content in a second part of the time-dependent buffer arrangement, to provide recorded program information, wherein the candidate information and the recorded program information define program-related information; wherein the program-related information advances through the time-dependent buffer arrangement in the manner of a shift register, wherein an order of program-related information in the time-dependent buffer arrangement defines a temporal order for presenting programs corresponding to the program-related information to a viewer; and presenting a stream of programs to the viewer based on the temporal order identified by the time-dependent buffer arrangement. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:
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automatically selecting a candidate program to record; identifying the candidate program in a first part of a time-dependent buffer arrangement, to provide candidate information; recording content associated with the selected candidate program; identifying the recorded content in a second part of the time-dependent buffer arrangement to provide recorded program information, wherein the candidate information and the recorded program information define program-related information; wherein the program-related information advances through the time-dependent buffer arrangement in the manner of a shift register, wherein an order of program-related information in the time-dependent buffer arrangement defines a temporal order for presenting programs corresponding to the program-related information to a viewer; and presenting a stream of programs to the viewer based on the temporal order. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An arrangement comprising:
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an intelligent content agent configured to automatically select a candidate program to record; a time-dependent content buffer mechanism operatively coupled to the intelligent content agent and configurable to; identify the candidate program in a first part of the time-dependent buffer mechanism, to provide candidate information, wherein the recording of the candidate program produces recorded content; and identify the recorded content in a second part of the time-dependent buffer mechanism to provide recorded program information, wherein the candidate information and the recorded program information define program-related information, wherein the arrangement is configured to advance the program-related information through the time-dependent buffer in the manner of a shift register, wherein an order of program-related information in the time-dependent buffer mechanism defines a temporal order for presenting programs corresponding to the program-related information to a viewer, wherein the arrangement is configured to present a stream of programs to the viewer based on the temporal order identified by the time-dependent buffer mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method comprising:
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identifying program information associated with plural programs in a time-dependent buffer arrangement, wherein an order of the program information defines a temporal order in which the programs are presented to a viewer; presenting a stream of programs to the viewer in the order defined by the time-dependent buffer arrangement by advancing the program information through the time-dependent buffer in the manner of a shift register; and identifying, using the time-dependent buffer arrangement, a status of the program information with respect to whether the corresponding programs have been;
(a) selected but not yet recorded;
(b) recorded but not yet viewed; and
(c) viewed. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
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Specification