Accessing meta information triggers automatic buffering

Abstract

A “content re-entry” feature is provided that allows a user to return to an indicated point in a content stream, after being “distracted” by meta-information. Each time a user, or application, begins to follow a related or alternative content (a distraction path), a re-entry point in the original content stream is recorded, thereby facilitating a return to the point at which the distraction occurred. In a broadcast presentation, an access to meta-information is integrated with the storage of content material. Each time a user requests access to meta-information, a recording device is automatically activated to record the content material and to store the location of the start of the recording. When the user terminates the presentation of the meta-information, the presentation of the content material is automatically resumed at the stored location. The recording of the content material continues while the content material is being viewed, so as to provide a continuous, albeit time-shifted, presentation of the content material after the presentation is resumed. In a controllable streaming presentation, the streaming is terminated while the distraction path is being followed, then resumed at the point at which it had been terminated.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.