Managing digital video recorder storage for a plurality of users

• US 8,290,342 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2009
• Issued: 10/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bhogal, Kulvir Singh, Boss, Gregory Jensen, Hamilton, Rick Allen II, O'Connell, Brian Marshall
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, THAI Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hasan, Syed
• Application Number:
  US12/428,903
• Publication Number:
  US 20100272413A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,272 Days
• Field of Search: 386/248, 386/295, 386/E5.001, 235/375, 370/230, 370/252, 370/443, 370/468, 370/E7.07, 705/14.27, 705/14.36, 705/59, 707/822, 707/E17.01, 707/E17.044, 711/159, 711/170, 725/58, 725/134, 725/142, 725/145, 725/151, 726/22, 726/31
• US Class Current: 386/248
• 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 21/4334 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 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4751 for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4753 for user identification, e.g. by entering a PIN or password cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus

Abstract

A computer implemented method and apparatus for managing digital video recorder storage for one or more users. Each user in the multi-user environment is assigned an amount of program storage in the digital video recorder. Responsive to receiving a request to record a new program from a user in the multi-user environment, an associated amount of program storage assigned to the use is determined. Responsive to a determination that addition of the new program will not exceed the associated amount of program storage assigned to the user, the new program is recorded to the program storage.

Claims

1. A method for managing program retention in a multi-user environment, the method comprising:

a digital video recorder assigning each user in the multi-user environment an amount of program storage in the digital video recorder;

responsive to receiving a request to record a first program from a user in the multi-user environment, the digital video recorder determining an associated amount of the program storage assigned to the user;

responsive to a determination that recording the first program to the associated amount of the program storage assigned to the user will not exceed the associated amount of the program storage assigned to the user, the digital video recorder recording the first program to the program storage;

the digital video recorder calculating a recording to viewing ratio for each user;

the digital video recorder determining a user having a highest recording to viewing ratio; and

the digital video recorder deleting a recorded program associated with the user having the highest recording to viewing ratio.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a determination that recording a second program to the associated amount of the program storage assigned to the user will exceed the associated amount of the program storage assigned to the user, the digital video recorder rejecting a request to record the second program.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a determination that recording a second program to the associated amount of the program storage assigned to the user will exceed the associated amount of the program storage assigned to the user, the digital video recorder identifying a second user in the multi-user environment with available program storage; and

the digital video recorder recording the second program to the available program storage of the second user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a determination that recording a second program to the associated amount of the program storage assigned to the user will exceed the associated amount of the program storage assigned to the user, the digital video recorder deleting a recorded program of another user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the recording step is performed further in response to the digital video recorder determining that the associated amount of the program storage assigned to the user has available space to store the first program.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital video recorder assigning each user in the multi-user environment an amount of program storage space in the digital video recorder comprises:

the digital video recorder assigning an equal amount of program storage space to each user in the multi-user environment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital video recorder assigning each user in the multi-user environment an amount of program storage space in the digital video recorder comprises:

the digital video recorder assigning different amounts of program storage space to each user in the multi-user environment.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital video recorder assigning each user in the multi-user environment an amount of program storage space in the digital video recorder comprises:

the digital video recorder assigning a percentage of program storage space to each user in the multi-user environment.

9. A method for managing program retention in a multi-user environment, the method comprising:

a digital video recorder receiving a request to record a program in the digital video recorder from a requesting user in the multi-user environment;

the digital video recorder determining if program storage assigned to the requesting user in the digital video recorder contains sufficient space to store the program;

responsive to a determination that the program storage assigned to the requesting user does not contain sufficient space to store the program, the digital video recorder identifying a program genre ranked lowest by the requesting user in order of retention preference;

the digital video recorder deleting a recorded program of the lowest-ranked program genre;

the digital video recorder recording the program to the program storage;

the digital video recorder calculating a recording to viewing ratio for each user in the multi-user environment;

the digital video recorder determining a user having a highest recording to viewing ratio; and

the digital video recorder deleting a recorded program associated with the user having the highest recording to viewing ratio.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

responsive to a determination that the requesting user has not ranked any program genres, the digital video recorder deleting a recorded program from the program storage; and

the digital video recorder recording the program to the program storage.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

the digital video recorder assigning a time to live value in the program storage indicating a minimum amount of time a recorded program is retained before the recorded program is available for deletion; and

the digital video recorder overriding deletion of the recorded program from the lowest-ranked program genre if the time to live value of the recorded program has not been met.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

the digital video recorder assigning a priority percentage to each program genre ranked by the requesting user indicating a minimum amount of storage available for recorded programs within a program genre; and

the digital video recorder overriding deletion of recorded programs from the lowest-ranked program genre if the percentage of storage available to the lowest-ranked program genre has not been exceeded.

13. A method for managing program retention in a multi-user environment, the method comprising:

a digital video recorder allocating each user in the multi-user environment a number of retention credits;

responsive to receiving a request to record a first program from a requesting user in the multi-user environment, the digital video recorder determining if program storage assigned to the requesting user in the digital video recorder contains sufficient space to store the first program;

responsive to a determination that the program storage assigned to the requesting user does not contain sufficient space to store the first program, the digital video recorder identifying a recorded program in the program storage assigned to the requesting user that has been assigned a least amount of retention credits by the requesting user;

the digital video recorder deleting the recorded program from the program storage assigned to the requesting user;

the digital video recorder recording the first program to the program storage;

the digital video recorder calculating a recording to viewing ratio for each user in the multi-user environment;

the digital video recorder determining a user having a highest recording to viewing ratio; and

the digital video recorder deleting a recorded program associated with the user having the highest recording to viewing ratio.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the digital video recorder identifying a recorded program that has been assigned a least amount of retention credits by the requesting user comprises:

the digital video recorder calculating a retention value per time unit for each individual recorded program in the program storage based on a number of retention credits assigned to an individual recorded program and a time length of the individual recorded program; and

the digital video recorder determining the recorded program that has been assigned a least amount of retention credits by the requesting user as a recorded program with a lowest calculated retention value per time unit.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

responsive to deleting the recorded program, the digital video recorder allocating retention credits assigned to the deleted recorded program to the requesting user.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the digital video recorder allocating each user in the multi-user environment a number of retention credits comprises:

the digital video recorder allocating a user a set number of retention credits over a specific time period.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the digital video recorder allocating each user in the multi-user environment a number of retention credits comprises:

the digital video recorder allocating a percentage of a total number of retention credits to a user.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

responsive to deleting a recorded program in the program storage assigned to the requesting user, the digital video recorder reallocating retention credits assigned to the deleted recorded program to recorded programs remaining in the program storage based on individual percentages assigned to each remaining recorded program.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

responsive to recording the program in the program storage assigned to the requesting user, the digital video recorder reallocating retention credits assigned to recorded programs in the program storage based on individual percentages assigned to the program and the recorded programs.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the digital video recorder identifying a recorded program assigned a least amount of retention credits by the requesting user comprises:

the digital video recorder receiving, from the requesting user, a user identifier; and

the digital video recorder determining that the recorded program is associated with the user identifier.

21. A method for managing program retention in a multi-user environment, the method comprising:

a digital video recorder determining a number of programs recorded by a first user in the multi-user environment;

the digital video recorder determining a number of programs deleted from a program storage without having been viewed by the first user;

the digital video recorder calculating a recording to viewing ratio for the first user;

responsive to receiving a request to record a program from a user in the multi-user environment, the digital video recorder comparing an associated recording to viewing ratio of each user in the multi-user environment to identify a user having a highest recording to viewing ratio;

the digital video recorder deleting a recorded program associated with a particular user having the highest recording to viewing ratio; and

the digital video recorder recording the program to the program storage.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the digital video recorder determining a number of programs deleted from a program storage without having been viewed by the first user comprises:

the digital video recorder determining a first program has been viewed if the first program has been viewed in its entirety by the first user.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the digital video recorder determining a number of programs deleted from a program storage without having been viewed by the first user comprises:

the digital video recorder determining a first program has been viewed if a portion of the first program has been viewed by the first user.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the digital video recorder performs the comparing and deleting steps in response to a determination that the program storage does not contain available space to store the program.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the digital video recorder determining a number of programs recorded by a first user in the multi-user environment comprises:

the digital video recorder receiving, from the first user, a user identifier; and

the digital video recorder determining a number of programs associated with the user identifier.