Backwards guide

• US 8,850,476 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2011
• Issued: 09/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: VanDuyn, Luke, Kennedy, John T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Goodarzi, Nasser
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hong, Michael
• Application Number:
  US13/215,655
• Publication Number:
  US 20130055310A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,134 Days
• Field of Search: 725/38, 725/39, 725/40
• US Class Current: 725/39
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416

Abstract

A receiver determines to transmit an EPG that includes schedule information regarding content available from a provider, determines that content is stored and is not currently available from the provider, incorporates information regarding the stored content in the EPG, and includes indicators indicating that the stored content is stored rather than available from the provider. The stored content may be recorded as part of recording a plurality of content received via a broadcast that are all included in the same frequency band and encoded with the same code word. The EPG may be divided into portions that include information regarding available content and portions that include information regarding previously available content and may include indications of which are stored. The EPG may be configured in a calendar arrangement based at least on the information regarding the available and information regarding when stored content were previously available from the provider.

Claims

1. A method for displaying an electronic programming guide that includes stored content information, the method comprising:

determining, by a content receiver, to transmit the electronic programming guide that includes schedule information regarding a plurality of instances of content available via the content receiver from at least one content provider to a presentation device, wherein

the electronic programming guide includes a grid, the grid including a plurality of time columns and a plurality of channel rows;

receiving, by the content receiver, a direction command that is indicative of moving earlier in time than an earliest time column of the plurality of time columns and is indicative of moving earlier in time than a time column of the plurality of time columns indicative of currently broadcast content;

determining, by the content receiver, that at least one instance of content is stored by the content receiver; and

in response to receiving the direction command, incorporating, by the content receiver, information regarding the at least one instance of content stored by the content receiver in the electronic programming guide in at least one channel row of the plurality of channel rows, such that an indication of the at least one instance of content appears to the left of the time column indicative of the currently broadcast content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one instance of content stored by the content receiver is recorded by the content receiver as part of recording a plurality of instances of content received via at least one broadcast from the at least one content provider wherein the plurality of instances of content are all included in a same frequency band of the at least one broadcast and are all encoded utilizing a same code word.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

dividing the electronic programming guide into at least a first portion that includes the schedule information regarding the plurality of instances of content available via the content receiver from the at least one content provider and a second portion that includes information regarding a plurality of instances of content that were previously available from the at least one content provider.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic programming guide is configured in a calendar arrangement based at least on the schedule information regarding a plurality of instances of content available via the content receiver from at least one content provider and schedule information regarding when the at least one instance of content stored by the content receiver was available from the at least one content provider prior to storage.

5. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

including, by the content receiver, an indicator in the electronic programming guide that indicates that the at least one instance of content stored by the content receiver is stored content, wherein the indicator comprises coloring of a slot associated with the at least one instance of content.

6. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

incorporating, by the content receiver, at least one preview of the at least one instance of content stored by the content receiver, wherein the at least one preview generated by processing the at least one instance of content stored by the at least one content receiver.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

including at least one indication that indicates that at least one of the plurality of instances of content that were previously available from the at least one content provider is stored.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the indicated at least one plurality of instances of content that were previously available from the at least one content provider comprises the at least one instance of content stored by the content receiver.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the calendar arrangement includes a plurality of virtual pages that are navigable by a user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of virtual pages are navigable by the user in a chronological order.

11. A content receiver, comprising:

at least one communication component that is configured to obtain a plurality of instances of content available from at least one content provider;

at least one non-transitory storage medium that stores at least one instance of content that is not currently available from the at least one content provider via the at least one communication component; and

at least one processing unit, communicably coupled to the at least one communication component and the at least one non-transitory storage medium, that determines to transmit an electronic programming guide that includes schedule information regarding the plurality of instances of content available from the at least one content provider via the at least one communication component to a presentation device, wherein;

the electronic programming guide includes a grid, the grid including a plurality of time columns and a plurality of channel rows; and

the at least one processing unit being configured to;

process a received direction command that is indicative of moving earlier in time than an earliest time column of the plurality of time columns and is indicative of moving earlier in time than a time column of the plurality of time columns indicative of currently broadcast content;

determine that the at least one instance of content is stored in the at least one non-transitory storage medium; and

in response to receiving the direction command, incorporate information regarding the at least one instance of content that is stored in the at least one non-transitory storage medium into the electronic programming guide, such that an indication of the at least one instance of content appears to the left of the time column indicative of the currently broadcast content.

12. The content receiver of claim 11, further comprising:

at least one recorder, communicably coupled to the at least one processing unit, that records the at least one instance of content to the at least one non-transitory storage medium as part of recording a plurality of instances of content received by the at least one communication component via at least one broadcast from the at least one content provider wherein the plurality of instances of content are all included in a same frequency band of the broadcast and are all encoded utilizing a same code word.

13. The content receiver of claim 11, wherein:

the electronic programming guide is configured in a calendar arrangement based at least on the schedule information regarding the plurality of instances of content available from at least one content provider and schedule information regarding when the at least one instance of content stored in the non-transitory storage medium was available from the at least one content provider prior to storage.

14. The content receiver of claim 11, wherein the at least one processing unit is further configured to:

include an indicator in the electronic programming guide that indicates that the at least one instance of content stored by the content receiver is stored content, wherein the indicator comprises coloring of a slot associated with the at least one instance of content.

15. The content receiver of claim 11, wherein the at least one processing unit is further configured to divide the electronic programming guide into at least a first portion that includes the schedule information regarding the plurality of instances of content available from the at least one content provider and a second portion that includes information regarding a plurality of instances of content that were previously available from the at least one content provider.

16. The content receiver of claim 11, wherein the at least one processing unit is further configured to incorporate at least one preview of the at least one instance of content stored in the at least one non-transitory storage medium in the electronic programming guide wherein the at least one processing unit generates the at least one preview by processing the at least one instance of content stored in the at least one non-transitory storage medium.

17. The content receiver of claim 13, wherein the calendar arrangement includes a plurality of virtual pages that are navigable by a user.

18. The content receiver of claim 17, wherein the plurality of virtual pages are navigable by the user in a chronological order.

19. The content receiver of claim 15, wherein the at least one processing unit is further configured to include at least one indication in the at least one electronic programming guide that indicates that at least one of the plurality of instances of content that were previously available from the at least one content provider is stored in the at least one non-transitory storage medium.

20. The content receiver of claim 19, wherein the indicated at least one plurality of instances of content that were previously available from the at least one content provider comprises the at least one instance of content stored in the at least one non-transitory storage medium.