Video recorder having user extended and automatically extended time slots

• US 7,853,120 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2004
• Issued: 12/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ROVI Product Corporation (Xperi Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Aptiv Digital Incorporated (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Bumgardner, Jim, Krakirian, Haig H.
• Primary Examiner(s): ATALA, JAMIE JO
• Application Number:
  US10/707,834
• Publication Number:
  US 20040208477A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,525 Days
• Field of Search: 386/83, 386/46, 386/128, 386/95, 386/96, 386/125, 725/28, 725/52, 725/58, 725/142
• US Class Current: 386/291
• 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 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/91 Television signal processing therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/7921 for more than one processing mode

Abstract

The present invention is a video recorder having user extended and automatically extended time slots. The user has the option to extend a chosen time slot, in which a show is scheduled to be transferred to a storage device. The time slot may be extended before the show, after the show, or both. The system also implements an automatic extension of the time slot by default, which is used to ensure that the data is completely captured to the system, in case the broadcast and the set-top box are slightly out of sync, the broadcaster unexpectedly begins a show'"'"'s broadcast slightly early or late, or the show unexpectedly runs longer than the IPG indicates.

Claims

1. A method for transferring a broadcast signal to a storage device comprising:

receiving multiple broadcast signals from corresponding multiple channels substantially simultaneously;

receiving instructions to transfer two or more timeslots on one or more channels to the storage device, wherein each of the timeslots corresponds to a program broadcast on a respective channel, and wherein first and second of the timeslots each includes at least a core portion, the first one of the timeslots including a user extended lead portion preceding the core portion of the first timeslot or a user extended trail portion following the core portion of the first timeslot, wherein each of the timeslot portions is processed as a separate entity;

determining whether the instructions require at least portions of the first and second timeslots to be transferred to the storage device at the same time and thereby cause a conflict between the first and the second timeslots;

determining one or more solutions to the conflict;

providing a user an opportunity to choose one of the solutions to the conflict; and

resolving the conflict automatically when the user does not choose one of the solutions by assigning priorities to each of the timeslots, wherein the priorities indicate an order in which the timeslots are transferred to the storage device when a conflict is detected, wherein priorities are assigned automatically by;

determining whether the first one of the timeslots has the user extended lead or trail portion;

assigning a priority to the first timeslot that is higher than a priority assigned to the second timeslot when the first timeslot is determined to include the user extended trail portion; and

otherwise, assigning a priority to the second timeslot that is higher than the priority assigned to the first timeslot when the first timeslot includes the user extended lead portion.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining whether the instructions cause a conflict further comprises:

determining whether a conflict exists when a number of available tuners is less than resources required to completely transfer a plurality of timeslots scheduled to be transferred to the storage device; and

wherein the timeslot with the lower priority is transferred to a system queue.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing the user an opportunity further comprises receiving an indication to resolve the conflict automatically.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the multiple broadcast signals are received by respective first and second tuners.

2. A method for transferring a broadcast signal to a storage device comprising:

receiving multiple broadcast signals from corresponding multiple channels substantially simultaneously;

receiving instructions to transfer two or more timeslots on one or more channels to the storage device, wherein each of the timeslots corresponds to a program broadcast on a respective channel, and wherein the first and second of the timeslots each includes at least a core portion, the first one of the timeslots including an automatically extended lead portion preceding the core portion of the first timeslot or an automatically extended trail portion following the core portion of the first timeslot, the second one of the timeslots not having an automatically extended lead portion or an automatically extended trail portion, wherein each of the timeslot portions is processed as a separate entity;

determining whether the instructions require at least portions of the first and second timeslots to be transferred to the storage device at the same time and thereby cause a conflict between the first and the second timeslots;

determining one or more solutions to the conflict;

providing a user an opportunity to choose one of the solutions to the conflict; and

resolving the conflict automatically when the user does not choose one of the solutions by assigning a priority to the second timeslot that is higher than a priority assigned to the first timeslot, wherein the priorities indicate an order in which the timeslots are transferred to the storage device when a conflict is detected.

3. A method for transferring a broadcast signal to a storage device comprising:

receiving multiple broadcast signals from corresponding multiple channels substantially simultaneously;

receiving instructions to transfer two or more timeslots on one or more channels to the storage device;

determining whether the instructions require at least portions of the timeslots to be transferred to the storage device at the same time and thereby cause a conflict between the timeslots;

determining a plurality of solutions to the conflict;

examining each timeslot in each of the solutions;

assigning a first priority for a first of the timeslots, wherein the first timeslot includes a user extended lead portion, a second priority for a second of the timeslots, wherein the second timeslot includes a user extended trail portion, a third priority for a third of the timeslots, wherein the third timeslot includes an automatically extended lead or trail portion, and a fourth priority for a fourth of the timeslots, wherein the fourth timeslot includes a core portion, wherein the priorities indicate an order in which the timeslots are transferred to the storage device when a conflict is detected;

determining solutions to the conflict based on the priorities assigned to the slots;

presenting the solutions to the user;

providing a user an opportunity to choose one of the solutions to the conflict; and

resolving the conflict automatically, when the user does not choose one of the solutions, by assigning a priority to the second timeslot that is higher than a priority assigned to other timeslots based on a determination that the second timeslot includes the user extended trail portion.

4. A video recorder comprising:

means for receiving multiple broadcast signals from corresponding multiple channels substantially simultaneously;

means for receiving two or more instructions to transfer one or more timeslots on one or more channels to a storage device, wherein each of the timeslots corresponds to a program broadcast on a respective channel, and wherein the first and second of the timeslots each includes at least a core portion, the first one of the timeslots including an automatically extended lead portion preceding the core portion of the first timeslot or an automatically extended trail portion following the core portion of the first timeslot, the second one of the timeslots not having an automatically extended lead portion or an automatically extended trail portion;

means for finding one or more conflicts, which are caused by the instructions when the instructions require at least portions of the first and second timeslots to be transferred to the storage device at the same time;

means for generating one or more solutions to the conflicts, which the video recorder obtains;

means for giving a user an opportunity to choose one of the solutions to the conflicts; and

means for solving the conflicts automatically when the user does not choose one of the solutions by assigning a priority to the second timeslot that is higher than priority assigned to the first timeslot based on a determination that the first timeslot includes the automatically extended lead portion or the automatically extended trail portion, wherein the priorities indicate an order in which the timeslots are transferred to the storage device when a conflict is detected.

6. The video recorder of claim 4, further comprising means for providing a system queue, wherein the system queue receives one of the first timeslot or the second timeslot that is not used to solve the conflict.

10. The video recorder of claim 4, further comprising means for receiving an indication to resolve the conflict automatically.

7. A method for transferring a broadcast signal to a storage device comprising:

receiving multiple broadcast signals from corresponding multiple channels substantially simultaneously;

receiving instructions to record one or more timeslots on one or more channels, wherein each of the timeslots corresponds to a program broadcast on a respective channel, and wherein first and second of the timeslots each includes at least a core portion, the first one of the timeslots including a user extended lead portion preceding the core portion of the first timeslot or a user extended trail portion following the core portion of the first timeslot, wherein each of the timeslot portions is processed as a separate entity;

determining whether the instructions require at least portions of the first and second timeslots to be transferred to the storage device at the same time and thereby cause a conflict between the first and the second timeslots;

providing a system queue for receiving the first and second timeslots that cause a conflict, wherein priorities are assigned to the first and second, such that a higher priority is assigned to the first timeslot when the first timeslot includes a user extended trail portion; and

resolving the conflict automatically by;

comparing the first and second timeslots in the system queue with priorities assigned to subsequent one or more timeslots on one or more channels;

transferring one of the first and second timeslots in the system queue with based on the higher priority that matches the priority of the subsequent one or more timeslots to the storage device.

8. A video recorder comprising:

means for receiving multiple broadcast signals from corresponding multiple channels substantially simultaneously;

means for receiving one or more instructions to transfer one or more timeslots on two or more channels to a storage device, wherein each of the timeslots corresponds to a program broadcast on a respective channel, and wherein first and second of the timeslots each includes at least a core portion, the first one of the timeslots including a user extended lead portion preceding the core portion of the first timeslot or a user extended trail portion following the core portion of the first timeslot, wherein each of the timeslot portions is processed as a separate entity;

means for finding one or more conflicts, which may be caused by the instructions, where the instructions require at least portions of the one or more timeslots to be transferred to the storage device at the same time and thereby cause a conflict between the first and the second timeslots;

means for generating one or more solutions to the conflicts;

means for providing a system queue for receiving one or more timeslots;

means for giving a user an opportunity to choose one of the solutions to the conflict; and

means for solving the conflict automatically when the user does not choose one of the solutions, by assigning priorities to each of the timeslots, wherein the priorities indicate an order in which the timeslots are transferred to the system queue when a conflict is detected, wherein priorities are assigned automatically by assigning a priority to the first timeslot that is higher than a priority assigned to the second timeslot when the first timeslot is determined to include the user extended trail portion.