Extra margins for record time interval via EPG

• US 20030072559A1
• Filed: 10/08/2002
• Published: 04/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Top Victory Investments Limited (TPV Technology Co., Ltd. (f/k/a Nanjing Huadong Electronics Information & Technology))
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Van Haver, David Albert Lea
• Granted Patent: US 7,764,865 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/83
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 15/026 by using processor, e.g. microcomputer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape

Abstract

A system, method, and computer-readable medium which reduce the occurrence of incomplete recordings of television programs by video cassette recorders (VCR) (130), or other types of video recorders, by adding margins (6, 7) to the programmed start and end times (1, 2) of the recording. The margins (6, 7) cause the recording to start earlier than the programmed start time (1) by a specified amount of time (ΔT_B), and to stop later than the programmed stop time by another specified amount of time (ΔT_E). Therefore, when a television program starts a few minutes earlier, or ends a few minutes later than scheduled, the present invention helps ensure that the entire television program will be recorded by the video recorder, despite the fact that the video recorder was programmed in accordance with to the scheduled times (1, 2).

Claims

1. A system for recording a program, the system comprising:

an input device (10a, 10b, 610) for inputting a start and stop time (1, 2) for recording, said start and stop time (1, 2) defining a recording time interval (5);

a margin setting device (60) for modifying said recording time interval (5) by adding an amount of time (6, 7) to said recording time interval (5);

a recording device for recording a broadcast program on a storage medium during said modified recording time interval (5).

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said input device (10a, 10b, 610) includes a selection device for selecting a program displayed on an electronic program guide, said selected program corresponding to a specific start and stop time (1, 2).

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a set-top box comprising said input device (610) and said margin setting device (60).

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said input device (10a, 10b, 610) includes an interface for manually entering the start and stop times (1, 2) for recording.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said video recording device is a video cassette recorder (VCR) (130) and said storage medium is a magnetic tape.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said margin setting device (60) is implemented in said VCR (130).

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said margin setting device (60) modifies said recording time interval (5) by at least one of:

moving said start time (1) to an earlier time, said earlier time being determined in accordance with a predetermined beginning time margin (Δ

T_B); and

moving said stop time (2) to a later time, said later time being determined in accordance with to a predetermined ending time margin (Δ

T_E).

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said predetermined beginning time margin (Δ

T_B) and/or said predetermined ending time margin (Δ

T_E) are designated by a user.

9. A method of recording a program, the method comprising the steps of:

inputting a start and stop time (1, 2) for recording, said start and stop time (1, 2) defining a recording time interval (5);

modifying said recording time interval (5) by adding an amount of time (6, 7) to said recording time interval (5);

recording on a storage medium a broadcast program during said modified recording time interval (5).

10. A computer-readable medium including instructions to be executed by a computer, said medium comprising:

instructions for inputting a start and stop time (1, 2) for recording, said start and stop time (1, 2) defining a recording time interval (5);

instructions for modifying said recording time interval (5) by adding an amount of time (6, 7) to said recording time interval (5); and

instructions for automatically programming a video recorder to record on a storage medium a broadcast program during said modified recording time interval (5).