Method for watching missed television programs and user terminal

• US 8,782,701 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2011
• Issued: 07/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Device Company Limited (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Device Company Limited (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Yu, Dawei, Guo, Zhikun, Lin, Yaosheng, Tan, Yu
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, AN SON PHI
• Application Number:
  US13/033,077
• Publication Number:
  US 20110197230A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,238 Days
• Field of Search: 725/40, 725/46, 725/53, 725/58
• US Class Current: 725/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• 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 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73

Abstract

A method for watching a missed television (TV) program and a user terminal are provided. The method includes the following steps. Electronic program guide (EPG) information distributed by a headend is received, and a local table of missed programs and current time are obtained. It is determined that a missed program exits when the user terminal is in a non-working status according to the local table of missed programs and the current time. Information of the missed program in the local table of missed programs is updated according to the EPG information. It is detected whether the missed program is played currently, and if yes, a service of watching a missed program is implemented. By using the method for making up for watching the missed TV program and the user terminal, when the missed program of the user is played in a system, the user is reminded in time of watching the missed program, and a trouble that the user searches the missed program through the EPG is avoided.

Claims

1. A method for watching missed television (TV) programs, comprising:

receiving Electronic Program Guide (EPG) information distributed by a headend;

obtaining a local table of missed programs and a current time, wherein the local table of missed programs comprises a local table of missed series and a local table of missed common programs, and wherein the local table is stored at a user terminal;

determining that a program has been missed when the user terminal is in a non-working status according to the local table of missed programs and the current time;

updating information of the missed program in the local table of missed programs according to the EPG information;

detecting whether the missed program is currently being played; and

implementing a service of watching the missed program when it is detected that the missed program is currently being played,

wherein implementing the service of watching the missed program comprises;

switching to a target channel and updating the local table of missed programs when a user chooses to watch the missed program at the user terminal;

determining whether the missed program is a series by determining whether a name of a program in the EPG information distributed by the headend includes brackets and whether a number is in the brackets;

determining a missing tag of a current episode from the local table of missed series and determining whether all episodes of the series have been watched when the missed program is in the series;

notifying the user that all the episodes of the series have been watched and deleting a tracking record relevant to the series from the local table of missed programs when all the episodes of the series have been watched; and

deleting a tracking record relevant to the missed program from the local table of missed common programs when the missed program is not in the series,

wherein the local table of missed series comprises a plurality of columns of information, and wherein the plurality of columns of information comprises a name column, an alias column, a total number of episodes column, a language column, a main channel column, a current schedule column, and a playing time column, and

wherein the local table of missed common programs comprises a plurality of columns of information, and wherein the plurality of columns of information comprises a name column, an alias column, a language column, a missed or not missed column, a main channel column, a played or not played column, a playing time column, and a times of choosing not to watch column.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein detecting whether the missed program is currently being played comprises sequentially detecting information of all programs of all channels in the EPG information, and checking whether the missed program is currently being played.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising setting the local table of missed programs, and wherein setting the local table of missed programs comprises:

selecting and tracking the missed program according to the EPG information;

recording information of the missed program in the local table of missed programs;

adding one record to the local table of missed series according to a watching situation input by the user when the missed program is in the series and when it is determined that the missed program is not the first episode of the series; and

adding one record to the local table of missed common programs when the missed program is not in the series.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein after setting the local table of missed programs, the method further comprises setting a missed program reminding table, wherein the missed program reminding table is associated with the local table of missed series and the local table of missed common programs, and wherein after adding one record to the local table of missed programs, the method further comprises updating the missed program reminding table according to the local table of missed programs and the EPG information.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising canceling the tracking of the missed program, and deleting the information of the missed program from the local table of missed programs and the missed program reminding table.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the missed program reminding table comprises a plurality of columns of information, and wherein the plurality of columns of information comprises a serial number column, a playing time column, and a playing channel column.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein updating the information of the missed program in the local table of missed programs according to the EPG information comprises:

determining whether the missed program is played in a corresponding channel during a playing time segment;

updating a current schedule in the local table of missed series when the missed program is played and the missed program is in the series; and

deleting a relevant record of the missed program from the local table of missed common programs when the missed program is not in the series.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the brackets comprise “

( )”

type brackets.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the number in the brackets comprises a serial number associated with the program.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the name of the program is in a form comprising “

name of series”

plus “

(serial number of an episode).”

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising prompting the user to watch the missed program a second time when the user chooses not to watch the missed program.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising prompting the user to watch the missed program up to a preset number of times when the user chooses not to watch the missed program, wherein the preset number of times is determined based at least in part on a set policy.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising repeatedly prompting the user to watch the program, counting a number of times that the user chooses to not watch the program, and stop prompting the user to watch the program when the counted number of times reaches a certain number.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein prompting the user to choose whether to watch the missed program comprises displaying pop up information on a display screen before the missed program is played.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein displaying the pop up information comprises continuously displaying the pop up information on the display screen before the missed program is played.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein displaying the pop up information comprises displaying the pop up information in short-interval flashes before the missed program is played.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein prompting the user to choose whether to watch the missed program comprises providing the user with a sound prompt or a voice prompt.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein prompting the user to choose whether to watch the missed program comprises providing the user with a prompt that comprises a combination of visual and audio effects.