System for presenting status information associated with a media content processor

• US 8,209,719 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2007
• Issued: 06/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: White, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): SALCE, JASON P
• Application Number:
  US11/847,067
• Publication Number:
  US 20090064240A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,763 Days
• Field of Search: 725/25, 725/28, 725/51, 725/86, 725/109, 725/112, 725/136, 725/43, 725/52, 715/808
• US Class Current: 725/43
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/443 OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a computing device having a controller adapted to monitor one or more activities taking place at a media content processor, and present an iconic symbol in a graphical user interface window adjusted according to the one or more activities being monitored. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium operating in a computing device, comprising computer instructions for:

facilitating establishment of communications with a set top box receiver located remotely from the computing device;

receiving from the set top box receiver information associated with one or more content management activities taking place at the set top box receiver;

presenting an iconic symbol in a graphical user interface window of the computing device;

adjusting the iconic symbol in the graphical user interface window according to a plurality of content management activities taking place at the set top box receiver, wherein the plurality of content management activities comprise at least a download status of media content supplied by a video-on-demand service;

constructing a selectable message associated with at least one of the one or more content management activities;

presenting the selectable message in a pop-up graphical user interfacewindow positioned near the iconic symbol within the graphical user interfacewindow of the computing device;

constructing a plurality of messages associated with at least the download status of media content supplied by the video-on-demand service;

storing an archive of the plurality of messages, each message being stored with a time stamp; and

presenting the plurality of messages responsive to detecting a selection of the iconic symbol.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the computing device corresponds to one among a computer and a portable communication device and wherein the iconic symbol is presented within a system tray within the graphical user interface window of the computing device.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more content management activities further comprise a recording status of a media program recorded by a digital video recorder service managed by the set top box receiver.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface window of the computing device is a system tray of an operating system of the computing device.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, comprising computer instructions for:

detecting a pointer of a mouse in a vicinity of a location of the iconic symbol in the graphical user interface window; and

presenting the pop-up graphical user interface window with the selectable message responsive to said detection.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, comprising computer instructions for:

detecting one or more events from information associated with the one or more content management activities;

constructing the selectable message according to the one or more events; and

presenting the pop-up graphical user interface window with the selectable message responsive to said detection.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for:

presenting the plurality of messages in the graphical user interface window responsive to detecting a selection of the iconic symbol, wherein the presentation includes displaying message information representative of the archive of time-stamped messages that were previously viewed or missed by the subscriber.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, comprising computer instructions for:

detecting a selection of the pop-up graphical user interface window by a mouse pointer; and

launching an application associated with the message.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the iconic symbol is a representation of the set top box receiver, and wherein the iconic symbol is positioned in a system tray of an operating system of the computing device.

10. A computing device, comprising:

a memory comprising computer instructions; and

a controller coupled to the memory, wherein the controller when executing the computer instructions is configured to;

monitor remotely over an Internet Protocol Television network one or more activities taking place at a media content processor, wherein the one or more activities comprise at least a download status of media content supplied by a video-on-demand service;

present an iconic symbol in a graphical user interface window, the iconic symbol being symbolically representative of the media content processor;

adjust the iconic symbol according to a plurality of activities being monitored when the activities are being performed, wherein the plurality of activities comprise set top box operational information other than recording status;

constructing a plurality of messages associated with at least the download status of media content supplied by the video-on-demand service;

storing an archive of the plurality of messages; and

presenting the plurality of messages responsive to detecting a selection of the iconic symbol.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device corresponds to at least one among a cell phone, a personal digital assistant, and a computer, and wherein the media content processor corresponds to one among a satellite media content process, an Internet Protocol Television media content processor, and a cable television media content processor.

12. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the one or more activities further comprise a recording status of a media program recorded by a digital video recorder service managed by the media content processor and wherein the set top box operational information comprises computer processing unit usage statistics.

13. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the execution of the computer instructions causes the controller to:

construct a message associated with at least one of the one or more activities being monitored; and

present the message in a pop-up graphical user interface window associated with the iconic symbol.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the execution of the computer instructions causes the controller to:

detect a pointer in a vicinity of a location of the iconic symbol; and

present the pop-up graphical user interface window with the message responsive to said detection.

15. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the execution of the computer instructions causes the controller to:

detect an event from the one or more activities being monitored;

construct the message according to the event; and

present the pop-up graphical user interface window with the message responsive to said detection.

16. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the execution of the computer instructions causes the controller to:

receive a message from the media content processor; and

present the message in a pop-up graphical user interface window.

17. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the execution of the computer instructions causes the controller to:

store the archive of the plurality of messages, each message being stored with a time stamp.

18. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the execution of the computer instructions causes the controller to:

detect a selection of the pop-up graphical user interface window; and

launch an application to manage one or more services of the media content processor.

19. A content media processor, comprising:

a memory comprising computer instructions; and

a controller coupled to the memory, wherein the controller when executing the computer instructions is configured to transmit over an Internet Protocol Television network to a computing device remote from the content media processor a plurality of activities taking place at the media content processor to present at the computing device an iconic symbol adjusted according to the plurality of activities, wherein the adjustment to the iconic symbol is performed when the plurality of activities commence, and wherein the plurality of activities comprise at least a download status of media content supplied by a video-on-demand service and content media processor operational information other than recording status comprising at least computer processing unit usage statistics of the content media processor, wherein the controller is further configured to construct a plurality of messages associated with at least the download status of the media content supplied by the video-on-demand service, store an archive of the plurality of messages, and present the plurality of messages responsive to detecting a selection of the iconic symbol.

20. The content media processor of claim 19, wherein the computing device corresponds to at least one among a cell phone, a personal digital assistant, and a computer, and wherein the media content processor corresponds to one among a satellite media content process, an Internet Protocol Television media content processor, and a cable television media content processor.

21. The content media processor of claim 19, wherein the plurality of activities further comprise a recording status of a media program recorded by a digital video recorder service managed by the media content processor.

22. The content media processor of claim 19, wherein the execution of the computer instructions causes the controller to transmit a message to the computing device which is presented by the computing device in a pop-up GUI window associated with the iconic symbol.

23. The content media processor of claim 22, wherein the execution of the computer instructions causes the controller to:

monitor one or more events associated with the plurality of activities being monitored;

detect at least one of the one or more events; and

generate the message responsive to said detection.

24. The content media processor of claim 19, wherein the execution of the computer instructions causes the controller to transmit the plurality of activities to the computing device by way of a portal.