Television and multimedia viewing paradigm

• US 7,093,273 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2005
• Issued: 08/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rovi Technologies Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Marsh, David J.
• Primary Examiner(s): BOCCIO, VINCENT F
• Application Number:
  US11/109,416
• Publication Number:
  US 20050185933A1
• Time in Patent Office: 483 Days
• Field of Search: 725/39, 725/46, 725/58, 725141-142, 725133-134, 725/155, 386/83, 386/46, 386125-126, 386/95
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• 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 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• 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 21/466 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies services using the results of monitoring in broadcast systems H04H60/61
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/7921 for more than one processing mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction

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.

Claims

1. An arrangement comprising:

means for automatically selecting a candidate program to record;

means for identifying the candidate program in a first part of a time-dependent buffer arrangement, to provide candidate information;

means for recording content associated with the selected candidate program;

means for 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 arrangement is configured such that 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 consumer; and

means for presenting a stream of programs to the consumer based on the temporal order.

2. The arrangement as recited in claim 1, wherein the means for automatically selecting of the candidate program comprises means for scanning an electronic program guide (EPG) based on definable user selection criteria to identify the candidate program.

3. The arrangement as recited in claim 2, further comprising means for maintaining definable user selection criteria for each one of a plurality of users.

4. The arrangement as recited in claim 2, further comprising:

means for monitoring user activities associated with the recorded content; and

means for modifying the definable user selection criteria based on the monitored user activities.

5. The arrangement as recited in claim 2, further comprising:

means for identifying a plurality of the recorded content corresponding to respective candidate programs within the time-dependent buffer arrangement to provide a corresponding plurality of recorded program information, wherein the plurality of the recorded program information is in an initial time-ordered sequence for viewing the recorded content; and

means for selectively rearranging the initial time-ordered sequence of the plurality of the recorded program information to produce a modified time-ordered sequence for viewing the recorded content within the time-dependent buffer arrangement.

6. The arrangement as recited in claim 5, further comprising means for automatically rearranging the initial time-ordered sequence based on a comparison of the recorded program information with at least a portion of the definable user selection criteria.

7. The arrangement as recited in claim 5, further comprising means for manually rearranging the initial time-ordered sequence based on user inputs.

8. The arrangement as recited in claim 5, wherein the modified time-ordered sequence differs from the initial time-ordered sequence by moving at least some recorded program information in front of other recorded program information.

9. The arrangement as recited in claim 1, further comprising means for selectively identifying the recorded content within the time-dependent buffer arrangement with a permanent storage buffer arrangement.

10. The arrangement as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

means for playing the recorded content identified in the second part of the time-dependent buffer arrangement, to provide previously played program information; and

means for identifying the previously played program information in a third part of the time-dependent buffer arrangement.

11. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing each of the means of claim 1.

12. An arrangement comprising:

means for identifying program-related information associated with plural programs in a time-dependent buffer arrangement, wherein an order of the program-related information defines a temporal order in which the programs are presented to a viewer;

means for presenting a stream of programs to the viewer in the order defined by the time-dependent buffer arrangement by advancing the program-related information through the time-dependent buffer arrangement in the manner of a shift register; and

means for identifying, using the time-dependent buffer arrangement, a status of the program-related 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.

13. The arrangement as recited in claim 12, further comprising means for selectively rearranging the order of program-related information in the time-dependent buffer arrangement to a modified order.

14. The arrangement as recited in claim 13, wherein the means for selectively rearranging comprises means for automatically rearranging the order of program-related information.

15. The arrangement as recited in claim 13, wherein the means for selectively rearranging comprises means for manually rearranging the order of program-related information based on user inputs.

16. The arrangement as recited in claim 13, wherein the modified order differs from an original order by moving at least some recorded program information in front of other recorded program information.

17. The arrangement as recited in claim 12, further comprising means for selectively identifying the recorded content within the time-dependent buffer arrangement with a permanent storage buffer arrangement.

18. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing each of the means of claim 12.

19. A computer readable medium including a time-dependent buffer arrangement, comprising:

a first part of the time-dependent buffer arrangement for identifying candidate programs to be recorded to provide candidate information;

a second part of the time-dependent buffer arrangement for identifying candidate programs that have been recorded to provide recorded program information; and

a third part of the time-dependent buffer arrangement for identifying recorded programs that have been consumed to provide previously played program information, wherein the candidate information, the recorded program information and the previously played program information define program-related information,

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

wherein the time-dependent buffer arrangement is configured such that the program-related information advances through the time-dependent buffer arrangement in the manner of a shift register for consumption by a viewer in the temporal order.

20. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 19, further including a permanent storage buffer arrangement for selectively identifying recorded content within the time-dependent buffer arrangement.