Customizing DVR functionality

• US 8,549,553 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2010
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TiVo Solutions Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TiVo Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Barton, James M., Beach, Brian, Schmidt, Margret, Poniatowski, Robert F., Glennon, Shelly
• Primary Examiner(s): MENGESHA, MULUGETA A
• Application Number:
  US12/950,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20110067048A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,047 Days
• Field of Search: 725 25- 30
• US Class Current: 725/28
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/005 Reproducing at a different information rate from the information rate of recording for television signals H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4112 having fewer capabilities than the client, e.g. thin client having less processing power or no tuning capabilities
• 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 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• 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 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• 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 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• 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 7/163 : by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/7921 : for more than one processing mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 : involving data reduction

Abstract

Techniques described herein enable parents to establish a child-protective “kids zone” on a DVR. According to one technique, a DVR receives, from a parent, identities of content items that the parent does not want children to view. The DVR maps the identities to a kids zone. During times that the DVR is set to operate in the kids zone operational mode, the DVR prevents itself from presenting any content items that are associated with the identities. However, during these times, the DVR still may obtain and store these content items. At other times, during which the DVR is not set to operate in the kids zone operational mode, the DVR may allow itself to present the content items that are associated with the identities, including content items that the DVR obtained and stored during times that the DVR was set to operate in the kids zone operational mode.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

reading, from a first content-storing medium that has been inserted into a content-storing medium reader of a device, first information that identifies first content that is stored on the first content-storing medium;

causing the first information to be presented on a visual display;

receiving, from a user of the device, first user input that indicates that the first content is not allowed to be presented while said device is in a kid'"'"'s zone mode;

in response to receiving the first user input, updating a black list to include a first identity of said first content;

reading, from a second content-storing medium that has been inserted into the content-storing medium reader, second information that identifies second content that is stored on the second content-storing medium;

causing the second information to be presented on a visual display;

receiving, from the user, second user input that indicates that the second content is allowed to be presented while the device is in the kid'"'"'s zone mode;

in response to receiving the second user input, updating a white list to include a second identity of the second content;

after the updating, receiving third user input that instructs the device to enter the kid'"'"'s zone mode;

in response to receiving the third user input, the device entering the kid'"'"'s zone mode;

determining, based at least in part on the black list and at least in part on the white list, a set of content items that are available for presentation by the device while the device is in the kid'"'"'s zone mode;

omitting, based at least in part on the black list containing the first identity, all identifying information about the first content from the set;

based at least in part on the white list containing the second identity, including, within the set, identifying information about the second content; and

causing one or more items in the set to be presented on the visual display.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein causing the one or more items in the set to be presented on the visual display comprises causing the one or more items to be presented on the visual display while the first content-storing medium is inserted into the content-storing medium reader of the device.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first content-storing medium is a digital video disc (DVD), and wherein the content-storing medium reader is a DVD player.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the device is a digital video recorder (DVR) that receives broadcast signals, encodes the signals into encoded data, and stores the encoded data onto a drive.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of causing the second information to be presented on the visual display comprises causing a presentation, on the visual display, of at least (a) a title of the second content and (b) an icon that indicates that the second content satisfies criteria that are associated with the kid'"'"'s zone mode.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

including, within the set, one or more content items (a) that the device recorded from broadcast signals that the device received from a source other than the first content-storing medium and (b) that the user previously identified as being appropriate for presentation while the device is in the kid'"'"'s zone mode.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

after the updating, the first content-storing medium being removed from the content-storing medium reader;

after the first content-storing medium being removed form the content-storing medium reader, detecting that the first content-storing medium has been re-inserted into the content-storing medium reader;

in response to detecting that the first content-storing medium has been re-inserted into the content-storing medium reader, reading the black list as previously updated to determine that the first content is not to be presented by the device while the device is in a kid'"'"'s zone mode.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

the device receiving, over a computer network, guru guide information that identifies one or more digital video discs (DVDs) and whether contents of the DVDs are recommended by a creator of the guru guide information for presentation within the kid'"'"'s zone mode.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining, from the first information, a rating that is associated with the first content;

determining whether the rating satisfies rating criteria previously specified by the user; and

based at least in part in response to determining that the rating does not satisfy the rating criteria, updating the black list to include the first identity of the first content.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a module for reading, from a first content-storing medium that has been inserted into a content-storing medium reader of the apparatus, first information that identifies first content that is stored on the first content-storing medium;

a module for causing the first information to be presented on a visual display;

a module for receiving, from a user of the apparatus, first user input that indicates that the first content is not allowed to be presented while the apparatus is in a kid'"'"'s zone mode;

a module for updating, in response to receiving the first user input, a black list to include a first identity of the first content;

a module for reading, from a second content-storing medium that has been inserted into the content-storing medium reader, second information that identifies second content that is stored on the second content-storing medium;

a module for causing the second information to be presented on a visual display;

a module for receiving, from the user, second user input that indicates that the second content is allowed to be presented while the apparatus is in the kid'"'"'s zone mode;

a module for updating, in response to receiving the second user input, a white list to include a second identity of the second content;

a module for receiving, after the updating, third user input that instructs the apparatus to enter the kid'"'"'s zone mode;

a module for causing the apparatus to enter the kid'"'"'s zone mode in response to receiving the third user input;

a module for determining, based at least in part on the black list and at least in part on the white list, a set of content items that are available for presentation by the apparatus while the apparatus is in the kid'"'"'s zone mode;

a module for omitting, based at least in part on the black list containing the first identity, all identifying information about the first content from the set;

a module for including, within the set, and based at least in part on the white list containing the second identity, identifying information about the second content; and

a module for causing one or more items in the set to be presented on the visual display.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein the module for causing one or more items in the set to be presented on the visual display comprises a module for causing one or more items to be presented on the visual display while the first content-storing medium is inserted into the content-storing medium reader of the apparatus.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein the first content-storing medium is a digital video disc (DVD), and wherein the content-storing medium reader is a DVD player.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein the apparatus is a digital video recorder (DVR) that receives broadcast signals, encodes the signals into encoded data, and stores the encoded data onto at least one storage device.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein the module for causing second information to be presented on the visual display comprises a module for causing a presentation, on the visual display, of at least (a) a title of the second content and (b) an icon that indicates that the second content satisfies criteria that are associated with the kid'"'"'s zone mode.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

a module for including, within the set, one or more content items (a) that the apparatus recorded from broadcast signals that the apparatus received from a source other than the first content-storing medium and (b) that the user previously identified as being appropriate for presentation while the apparatus is in the kid'"'"'s zone mode.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

a module for detecting, after the updating, and after the first content-storing medium being removed from the content-storing medium reader, that the first content-storing medium has been re-inserted into the content-storing medium reader; and

a module for reading, in response to detecting that the first content-storing medium has been re-inserted into the content-storing medium reader, the black list as previously updated to determine that the first content is not to be presented by the apparatus while the apparatus is in a kid'"'"'s zone mode.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

a module for receiving, over a computer network, guru guide information that identifies one or more digital video discs (DVDs) and whether contents of the DVDs are recommended by a creator of the guru guide information for presentation within the kid'"'"'s zone mode.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

a module for determining, from the first information, a rating that is associated with the first content;

a module for determining whether the rating satisfies rating criteria previously specified by the user; and

a module for updating, based at least in part in response to determining that the rating does not satisfy the rating criteria, the black list to include the first identity of the first content.