Unified recording and pause buffer format

• US 7,848,618 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2005
• Issued: 12/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Barrett, Peter T., McEnroe, Elizabeth Rose, Potrebic, Peter J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUNN, MISHAWN N
• Application Number:
  US11/128,970
• Publication Number:
  US 20060257099A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,034 Days
• Field of Search: 386/45, 386/124
• US Class Current: 386/344
• 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 21/42646 for reading from or writing on a non-volatile solid state storage medium, e.g. DVD, CD-ROM
• 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 21/44004 involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8227 the additional signal being at least another television signal

Abstract

A unified recording format allows both recorded programs and paused buffered broadcasts to be stored in memory as a common virtual stream. As content is received on a channel, it is placed into the virtual stream with newer content at the start of the stream and progressively aging content migrating farther downstream. A front section of the stream effectively operates as a pause buffer, as the currently tuned broadcast program is recorded in this section and is responsive to pause/resume commands. Recorded programs are also stored as part of the same virtual stream. Pointers are used to identify the boundaries of the pause buffer, as well as the beginning and end of each recorded program in the virtual stream.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

storing in memory as a single virtual stream, one or more recorded programs together with content from a currently tuned broadcast program, the content from the currently tuned broadcast program stored in a front section of the stream, the front section of the stream effectively operable as a pause buffer;

enabling a user to pause and resume play of the content in the pause buffer;

enabling the user to playback the one or more recorded programs from the virtual stream; and

identifying gaps in the virtual stream that are not part of the one or more recorded programs, are not part of the pause buffer, and are located in the virtual stream between one of the recorded programs and the pause buffer and reclaiming any storage space associated with the gaps while maintaining storage space associated with the one or more recorded programs.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more recorded programs are initially stored in the virtual stream as part of the pause buffer.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein two of the recorded programs overlap within the virtual stream.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising identifying the recorded programs within the virtual stream via references to starting and ending points of each of the recorded programs.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a channel change from a channel, maintaining the recently received content in the virtual stream; and

upon return to the channel, enabling the user to play back a portion of the recently received content that was stored in the virtual stream prior to the channel change.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

responsive to a channel change, omitting a portion of a broadcast or recorded program while recording the program; and

presenting a user interface that explains that the omitted portion was not recorded and cannot be played back due to the channel change.

7. A digital video recording system comprising:

memory;

a virtual stream to capture recorded programs and broadcast programs in a single stream, the broadcast programs captured in a pause buffer of the virtual stream; and

a collection component to identify gaps in the virtual stream that contain content that is not part of the recorded programs and is not in the pause buffer, and to reclaim any physical storage space associated with the gaps in the virtual stream, wherein at least one of the gaps is located within the virtual stream between a recorded program and the pause buffer.

8. A digital video recording system as recited in claim 7, wherein the virtual stream has an arbitrary length.

9. A digital video recording system as recited in claim 7, wherein the virtual stream comprises:

a first section to define the pause buffer for holding currently captured content so that, when a user pauses the program and subsequently resumes play, the content held in the pause buffer is played back to the user; and

a second section outside of the pause buffer to hold one or more recorded programs.

10. A digital video recording system as recited in claim 7, further comprising a stream manager to maintain references to identify start and end points of each of the recorded programs in the virtual stream.

11. A digital video recording system as recited in claim 7, wherein first and second recorded programs, which are fully recorded, overlap one another in the virtual stream.

12. A digital video recording system as recited in claim 7, wherein content captured in the pause buffer is maintained persistently as a recorded program.

13. A digital video recording system as recited in claim 7, embodied as one of a television-based entertainment system or a computing device.

14. A computer-readable memory device storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, direct a digital video recording system to perform operations comprising:

receiving broadcast programs from one or more broadcast channels;

storing a currently broadcast program in a first section of an arbitrary-length virtual stream;

maintaining one or more previously broadcast programs in a second section of the virtual stream, wherein the previously broadcast programs maintained in the second section of the virtual stream are recorded temporally before the currently broadcast programs being stored in the first section of the virtual stream; and

identifying gaps in the virtual stream that are not part of the one or more previously broadcast programs, are not part of the currently broadcast program, and are located in the virtual stream between one of the previously broadcast programs and the currently broadcast program and reclaiming any storage space associated with the gaps while maintaining storage space associated with the one or more previously broadcast programs,

wherein the second section of the virtual stream overlaps with the first section of the virtual stream.

15. The computer-readable memory device as recited in claim 14, wherein two of the previously broadcast programs overlap within the virtual stream.

16. The computer-readable memory device as recited in claim 14, wherein the first section forms a pause buffer and one of the previously broadcast programs is partially contained in the pause buffer and partially maintained in the second section of the virtual stream.

17. The computer-readable memory device as recited in claim 14 wherein the operations further comprise:

enabling a user to pause and resume play of content stored in the first section of the virtual stream; and

enabling playback of one or more previously broadcast programs maintained in the second section of the virtual stream.