Identifying unique broadcasts

In a system that includes a multimedia device that receives programming content from one or more sources, and wherein the multimedia device is able to record programs from the programming content, a computer program product for implementing a method for identifying a unique program included in the programming content with respect to other programs, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing the method, the method comprising:
• obtaining at least one sample of a current program included in the programming content;
• comparing the at least one sample of the current program against one or more samples from the other programs;
• and
• determining that the current program is unique if the at least one sample of the current program does not substantially match the one or more samples from the other programs.

In a system that includes a multimedia device that receives broadcasts from one or more sources, and wherein the multimedia device is able to record programs included in the broadcasts, a method for recording a current program included in the programming content such that the current program is unique with respect to other programs that are recorded on the multimedia device or that are stored remotely from the multimedia device, the method comprising:

• obtaining at least one sample from a descriptive stream of a current program included in the broadcasts;
• comparing the at least one sample of the current program against one or more samples from the other programs, wherein the one or more samples of the other programs are taken from the descriptive streams of the other programs;
• and
• recording the current program if the at least one sample of the current program does not substantially match the one or more samples from the other programs.

In a system that includes a multimedia device that receives broadcasts from one or more sources, and wherein the multimedia device is able to record programs included in the broadcasts, a computer program product for implementing a method for recording a current program included in the programming content such that the current program is unique with respect to other programs that are recorded on the multimedia device or that are stored remotely from the multimedia device, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing the method, the method comprising:
• obtaining at least one sample from a descriptive stream of a current program included in the broadcasts;
• comparing the at least one sample of the current program against one or more samples from the other programs, wherein the one or more samples of the other programs are taken from the descriptive streams of the other programs;
• and
• recording the current program if the at least one sample of the current program does not substantially match the one or more samples from the other programs.

In a system that includes a multimedia device that receives broadcasts from one or more sources, and wherein the multimedia device is able to record programs included in the broadcasts, a method for recording a program included in the programming content when a start time of the program is unknown, the method comprising:

• obtaining at least one sample from a video stream of the broadcasts, wherein the multimedia device does not know if the video stream is the program;
• comparing each sample of the video stream against an introduction sample from an introduction portion of a recorded program, wherein an introduction portion of the program is similar to an introduction portion of the recorded program;
• when a sample of the video stream substantially matches the introduction sample of the recorded program, determining that the video stream is the program;
• and
• recording the program.

In a system that includes a multimedia device that receives broadcasts from one or more sources, and wherein the multimedia device is able to record programs included in the broadcasts, a method for recording each episode of a series program, the method comprising:

• recording an episode of a series program;
• comparing samples of the episode with samples of previously recorded episodes of the series program;
• comparing the samples of the episode with samples of each previously recorded episode of the series program;
• and
• ensuring that only one recording of each episode is stored on the multimedia device using the comparison.

In a system that includes a multimedia device that receives broadcasts from one or more sources, and wherein the multimedia device is able to record programs included in the broadcasts, a method for recording a program included in the programming content when an end time of the program is unknown, the method comprising:

• obtaining at least one sample of the program;
• comparing each sample of the program against an end sample from an end portion of a recorded program, wherein the end portion of the program is similar to the end portion of the recorded program;
• and
• when a sample of the video stream substantially matches the end sample of the recorded program, ending the recording of the program.

In a system that receives programming content from one or more sources and wherein the system is able to record at least some of the programming content, a method for recording a program, the method comprising:

• obtaining at least one sample of the closed captioning data from the program;
• comparing the at least one sample of the closed captioning data against one or more samples of closed captioning data from other programs;
• and
• recording the program if the at least one sample of the closed captioning data from the program does not substantially match the one or more samples of closed captioning data from the other programs.