Provisioning preferred media content

• US 9,681,176 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2014
• Issued: 06/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Mountain, Dale Llewelyn
• Primary Examiner(s): Pendleton, Brian T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gee, Alexander
• Application Number:
  US14/470,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20160066026A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,021 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4263 involving specific tuning arrangements, e.g. two tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• 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 21/4532 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 21/4583 Automatically resolving scheduling conflicts, e.g. when a recording by reservation has been programmed for two programs in the same time slot
• 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 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6143 involving transmission via a satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver

Abstract

Allocating idle tuner resources to buffer or record broadcast programming determined to be desirable or preferred by any particular user or television viewer.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

generating, by a multi-tuner television receiver, a first output signal corresponding to an electronic programming guide, wherein the electronic programming guide includes a first menu item for configuring a content provisioning service for recording one or more television channels using one or more idle mode tuners of the television receiver, and wherein the content provisioning service allows for automatic and manual priority ranking of television channels;

ranking a plurality of television channels according to recording priority, wherein a recording priority identifies an order of preference for recording a television channel for an indeterminate time period while a tuner of the television receiver is designated as in an idle mode, wherein ranking includes generating a listing that itemizes the plurality of television channels, wherein ranking includes determining that output usage time for one or more television channels is equal to or exceeds a predetermined and configurable threshold time period, wherein ranking includes identifying portions of total usage time for one or more television channels and populating the listing with the one or more television channels ranked according to the portions of total usage time, wherein ranking includes receiving input corresponding to a manual determination of recording priority, wherein an indeterminate time period corresponds to a time period that does not have an end time explicitly defined, and wherein tuners designated as in the idle mode correspond to tuners unused for actively providing access to live programming or actively recording broadcast programming according to a recording timer;

designating a number of particular tuners of the multi-tuner television receiver to be in the idle mode, wherein the number of particular tuners is less than a total number of tuners of the multi-tuner television receiver;

accessing the listing that itemizes the plurality of television channels;

identifying a first particular television channel from the listing, wherein the first particular television channel corresponds to a first television channel of the plurality of television channels ranked higher than a threshold ranking;

tuning a first particular tuner of the number of particular tuners to the first particular television channel, wherein the first particular tuner is a single particular tuner capable of simultaneously tuning multiple television channels;

recording the first particular television channel while the first particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode, wherein recording the first particular television channel includes simultaneously recording multiple television channels of the plurality of television channels including the first particular television channel using the first particular tuner while the first particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode;

outputting, for display within the electronic programming guide, a second menu item that, when selected, activates the television receiver to playback the recording of the first particular television channel;

receiving input corresponding to selection of the second menu item;

generating a second output signal corresponding to playback of the recording of the first particular television channel;

identifying a second particular television channel from the listing, wherein the second particular television channel corresponds to a second television channel of the plurality of television channels ranked higher than the threshold ranking;

tuning a second particular tuner of the number of particular tuners to the second particular television channel;

recording the second particular television channel while the second particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode; and

determining a change in status of the first particular tuner from the idle mode to an active mode, wherein determining includes receiving a command to tune the first particular tuner to live programming or to activate a recording timer using the first particular tuner, wherein tuners designated as in the active mode correspond to tuners used for actively providing access to live programming or actively recording programming according to a recording timer;

discontinuing recording of the first particular television channel in response to determining the change in status.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first particular television channel includes selecting the first particular television channel based upon a priority scheme that identifies the first particular television channel as preferred by an end-user over other television channels of the plurality of television channels.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking includes populating the listing with one or more television channels without user-input designating the one or more television channels as intended for inclusion within the listing.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking includes populating the listing with one or more television channels ranked based on user-input designating the one or more television channels as intended for inclusion within the listing.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking includes populating the listing with one or more television channels ranked based upon empirical usage activity obtained on a continuously rolling basis by the television receiver during a predetermined and configurable time period.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking includes itemizing a plurality of channels favored by a particular end-user, wherein the listing includes a first television channel manually populated according to end-user input and a second television channel automatically populated without end-user input.

7. A television receiver, comprising:

one or more processors;

a plurality of tuners; and

a memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processors and having stored therein processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including;

generating a first output signal corresponding to an electronic programming guide, wherein the electronic programming guide includes a first menu item for configuring a content provisioning service for recording one or more television channels using one or more idle mode tuners of the television receiver, and wherein the content provisioning service allows for automatic and manual priority ranking of television channels;

ranking a plurality of television channels according to recording priority, wherein a recording priority identifies an order of preference for recording a television channel for an indeterminate time period while a tuner of the television receiver is designated as in an idle mode, wherein ranking includes generating a listing that itemizes the plurality of television channels, wherein ranking includes determining that output usage time for one or more television channels is equal to or exceeds a predetermined and configurable threshold time period, wherein ranking includes identifying portions of total usage time for one or more television channels and populating the listing with the one or more television channels ranked according to the portions of total usage time, wherein ranking includes receiving input corresponding to a manual determination of recording priority, wherein an indeterminate time period corresponds to a time period that does not have an end time explicitly defined, and wherein tuners designated as in the idle mode correspond to tuners unused for actively providing access to live programming or actively recording broadcast programming according to a recording timer;

designating a number of particular tuners of the plurality of tuners to be in the idle mode, wherein the number of particular tuners is less than a total number of tuners of the plurality of tuners;

accessing the listing that itemizes the plurality of television channels;

identifying a first particular television channel from the listing, wherein the first particular television channel corresponds to a first television channel of the plurality of television channels ranked higher than a threshold ranking;

tuning the first particular tuner to the first particular television channel, wherein the first particular tuner is a single particular tuner capable of simultaneously tuning multiple television channels;

recording the first particular television channel while the first particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode, wherein recording the first particular television channel includes simultaneously recording multiple television channels of the plurality of television channels including the first particular television channel using the first particular tuner while the first particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode;

outputting, for display within the electronic programming guide, a second menu item that, when selected, activates the television receiver to playback the recording of the first particular television channel;

receiving input corresponding to selection of the second menu item;

generating a second output signal corresponding to playback of the recording of the first particular television channel;

identifying a second particular television channel from the listing, wherein the second particular television channel corresponds to a second television channel of the plurality of television channels ranked higher than the threshold ranking;

tuning the second particular tuner to the second particular television channel;

recording the second particular television channel while the second particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode;

determining a change in status of the first particular tuner from the idle mode to an active mode, wherein determining includes receiving a command to tune the first particular tuner to live programming or to activate a recording timer using the first particular tuner, wherein tuners designated as in the active mode correspond to tuners used for actively providing access to live programming or actively recording programming according to a recording timer; and

discontinuing recording of the first particular television channel in response to determining the change in status.

8. The television receiver of claim 7, wherein identifying the first particular television channel includes selecting the first particular television channel based upon a priority scheme that identifies the first particular television channel as preferred by an end-user over other television channels of the plurality of television channels.

9. The television receiver of claim 7, wherein ranking includes populating the listing with one or more television channels without user-input designating the one or more television channels as intended for inclusion within the listing.

10. The television receiver of claim 7, wherein ranking includes populating the listing with one or more television channels based on user-input designating the one or more television channels as intended for inclusion within the listing.

11. The television receiver of claim 7, wherein ranking includes populating the listing with one or more television channels ranked based upon empirical usage activity obtained on a continuously rolling basis by the television receiver during a predetermined and configurable time period.

12. The television receiver of claim 7, wherein ranking includes itemizing a plurality of channels favored by a particular end-user, wherein the listing includes a first television channel manually populated according to end-user input and a second television channel automatically populated without end-user input.

13. A method, comprising:

generating, by a multi-tuner television receiver, a first output signal corresponding to an electronic programming guide, wherein the electronic programming guide includes a first menu item for configuring a content provisioning service for recording one or more television channels using one or more idle mode tuners of the television receiver, and wherein the content provisioning service allows for automatic and manual priority ranking of television channels;

ranking a plurality of television channels according to recording priority, wherein a recording priority identifies an order of preference for recording a television channel for an indeterminate time period while a tuner of the television receiver is designated as in an idle mode, wherein ranking includes generating a listing that itemizes the plurality of television channels, wherein the listing includes a first television channel manually populated according to end-user input and a second television channel automatically populated without end-user input, wherein ranking includes determining that output usage time for one or more television channels is equal to or exceeds a predetermined and configurable threshold time period, wherein ranking includes identifying portions of total usage time for one or more television channels and populating the listing with the one or more television channels ranked according to the portions of total usage time, wherein ranking includes receiving input corresponding to a manual determination of recording priority, wherein an indeterminate time period corresponds to a time period that does not have an end time explicitly defined, and wherein tuners designated as in the idle mode correspond to tuners unused for actively providing access to live programming or actively recording broadcast programming according to a recording timer;

designating a number of particular tuners of the multi-tuner television receiver to be in an idle mode, wherein the number of particular tuners is less than a total number of tuners of the multi-tuner television receiver;

accessing the listing that itemizes the plurality of television channels;

identifying a first particular television channel from the listing, wherein the first particular television channel corresponds to a first television channel of the plurality of television channels ranked higher than a threshold ranking, and wherein identifying includes selecting the first particular television channel based upon a priority scheme that identifies the first particular television channel as preferred by an end-user over other television channels of the plurality of television channels;

recording the first particular television channel using a first particular tuner of the multi-tuner television receiver, wherein the first particular tuner is a single particular tuner capable of simultaneously tuning multiple television channels, and wherein recording the first particular television channel includes simultaneously recording multiple television channels of the plurality of television channels including the first particular television channel using the first particular tuner while the first particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode;

outputting, for display within an electronic programming guide, an icon that, when selected, activates the television receiver to playback the recording of the first particular television channel;

receiving input corresponding to selection of the icon;

generating an output signal corresponding to playback of the recording of the first particular television channel;

identifying a second particular television channel from the listing, wherein the second particular television channel corresponds to a second television channel of the plurality of television channels ranked higher than the threshold ranking;

recording the second particular television channel using a second particular tuner of the multi-tuner television receiver;

determining a change in status of the first particular tuner from the idle mode to an active mode, wherein tuners designated as in the active mode correspond to tuners used for actively providing access to live programming or actively recording programming according to a recording timer; and

discontinuing recording of the first particular television channel in response to determining the change in status.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein automatically populating the list with the second television channel without end-user input includes monitoring usage data and determining that the second television channel is tuned to, by an end-user, more frequently than other television channels.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein ranking includes populating the listing with one or more television channels ranked based upon empirical usage activity obtained on a continuously rolling basis by the television receiver during a predetermined and configurable time period.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein identifying the first particular television channel includes selecting the first particular television channel based upon a priority scheme that identifies the first particular television channel as preferred by an end-user over other television channels of the plurality of television channels.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein ranking includes populating the listing with one or more television channels based on user-input designating the one or more television channels as intended for inclusion within the listing.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein ranking includes populating the listing with one or more television channels without user-input designating the one or more television channels as intended for inclusion within the listing.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein ranking includes populating the listing with one or more television channels based on user-input designating the one or more television channels as intended for inclusion within the listing.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein ranking includes itemizing a plurality of channels favored by a particular end-user, wherein the listing includes a first television channel manually populated according to end-user input and a second television channel automatically populated without end-user input.