Content access

• US 9,160,971 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2012
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rovi Technologies Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rovi Technologies Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Potrebic, Peter J., Jha, Prashant K., Tozer, Mark B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bui, Kieu Oanh T
• Application Number:
  US13/477,511
• Publication Number:
  US 20120230655A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,239 Days
• Field of Search: 725/27, 725/34, 725/35, 725/39
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2385 Channel allocation H04N21/266 takes precedence; Bandwidth allocation H04N21/24 takes precedence ; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25833 involving client hardware characteristics, e.g. manufacturer, processing or storage capabilities allocation of resources considering hardware capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5044; allocation of resources considering software capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5055
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25858 involving client software characteristics, e.g. OS identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/12 Systems in which the television signal is transmitted via one channel or a plurality of parallel channels, the bandwidth of each channel being less than the bandwidth of the television signal H04N7/24 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

Techniques are described to provide content access. In an implementation, a determination is made at a client that a high-definition channel has content that matches content provided by a standard-definition channel. Access is provided to the content via the high-definition channel and access is restricted to the content via the standard-definition channel up the client is capable of outputting the content and high definition.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a client device, the method comprising:

determining hardware and software content capabilities of the client device;

outputting a representation of content that is available via a plurality of different sources at a same time;

selecting, in response to a user selection of the representation, one of the plurality of different sources to be used to obtain the content, wherein the selecting is based at least in part on the determined capabilities of the client device and availability of the plurality of different sources when the user selection is received; and

responsive to a particular source becoming available, automatically accessing the particular source when it becomes available.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the determining of the hardware and software content capabilities of the client device is performed by querying a driver.

3. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the plurality of different sources includes different channels from a head end.

4. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the determining of the hardware and software content capabilities of the client device is performed by locating a preconfigured identifier that indicates the capabilities of the client device.

5. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the content is available via standard definition and high definition.

6. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the content is a matching media asset.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions thereon for storing a series of media assets, the instructions comprising:

instructions for generating for display a media guidance application having a mode such that when a representation of a media asset is selected for storing, the media asset is stored and a series that includes the media asset is automatically selected for storing when in the mode.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 7, wherein the representation of the media asset is selectable via an input to cause the storing of the series.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 7, wherein the mode is a default mode of the media guidance application.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 7, wherein the media guidance application includes another mode that is selectable to cause the selected media asset to be stored and not the series.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 7, further comprising instructions for causing a confirmation to be displayed to confirm that the series is to be stored.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 7, further comprising instructions for causing an option to be displayed to rank the series in relation to one or more other series that are scheduled to be stored to resolve storing conflicts.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions thereon for a content source, the instructions comprising:

instructions for determining hardware and software capabilities of a client device;

instructions for causing a media guidance application to output a representation of content that is available via a plurality of different sources at a same time;

instructions for selecting, in response to a user selection of the representation, one of the plurality of different sources to be used to obtain the content, wherein the selecting is based at least in part on the determined capabilities of the client device and availability of the plurality of different sources when the user selection is received; and

instructions for, responsive to a particular source becoming available, automatically accessing the particular source when it becomes available.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 13, wherein the instructions for causing the media guidance application to output a representation of content causes the media guidance application to output representations of content available during primetime.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 13, wherein the instructions for causing the media guidance application to output a representation of content causes the media guidance application to output representations of late night talk shows, daytime talk shows, children'"'"'s programming, or newly-broadcast content.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 13, wherein the representation of the content is selectable to cause the content to be recorded.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 13, wherein the representation is of a media asset and is selectable to store a series that includes the media asset.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 17, wherein the selection of the series is configured to cause a media asset that is not currently represented by the media guidance application to be stored.

19. A system comprising:

a client device comprising a processor configured to;

determine hardware and software content capabilities of the client device;

output a representation of content that is available via a plurality of different sources at a same time;

select, in response to a user selection of the representation, one of the plurality of different sources to be used to obtain the content, wherein the selecting is based at least in part on the determined capabilities of the client device and availability of the plurality of different sources when the user selection is received; and

responsive to a particular source becoming available, automatically access to the particular source when it becomes available.

20. A system as described in claim 19, wherein the processor is configured to determine the hardware and software content capabilities of the client device by querying a driver.

21. A system as described in claim 19, wherein the plurality of different sources includes different channels from a head end.

22. A system as described in claim 19, wherein the processor is configured to determine the hardware and software content capabilities of the client device by locating a preconfigured identifier that indicates the capabilities of the client device.

23. A system as described in claim 19, wherein the content is available via standard definition and high definition.