# US 2012/0063744 A1 · System and method for recording related programs comprising media content related data > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2012/0063744 A1 - Document ID: US20120063744A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/320,335 - Filed: 2009-05-13 - Published: 2012-03-15 - Earliest claimed: 2009-05-13 - Assignees: Orca Interactive Ltd. - Inventors: Ofer Weintraub; Haggai Barel; Lior Master - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20120063744A1 ## CPC - H04N 5/782: on tape - G11B 27/034: on discs (G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence) - G11B 27/105: {of operating discs} - H04N 21/25891: {being end-user preferences (retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18)} - H04N 21/2747: Remote storage of video programmes received via the downstream path, e.g. from the server - H04N 21/4147: PVR [Personal Video Recorder] (H04N5/76 takes precedence {; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40}) - 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)} - 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)} - H04N 21/454: Content {or additional data} filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements - H04N 21/4622: {Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet (web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859)} - 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)} - H04N 21/6543: for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording {(remote booting in general G06F9/4416)} - H04N 21/6581: {Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application} - 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)} - H04N 5/765: Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus - H04N 5/781: on disks or drums - H04N 5/85: on discs or drums - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION - G11B: INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER (recording measured values in a way that does not require playback through a transducer G01D9/00; recording or playback apparatus using mechanically marked tape, e.g. punched paper tape, or using unit records, e.g. punched or magnetically marked cards G06K; transferring data from one type of record carrier to another G06K1/18; circuits for coupling output of reproducer to radio receiver H04B1/20; gramophone pick-ups or like acoustic electromechanical transducers or circuits therefor H04R) ## Abstract A system a method and a module for recording programs comprising media content data, transmitted by a media content provider via communication channels, where each program is associated with metadata containing details relating to the program. The method comprises: identifying related programs; online recording of programs of at least one predefined communication channel, that were identified as related programs, according to predefined recording rules, using a recording device and enabling at least one viewer to select and view recorded programs, using a video-audio display unit. The identification of related programs is carried out by analyzing the metadata associated with each transmitted program identifying at least one relation of at least one relation type between at least some of the programs. The identified related programs are associated with programs groups, each group representing the relation relating all programs in the group and the relation type associated therewith. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of recording programs comprising media content data, transmitted by a media content provider via at least one communication channel, wherein each program is associated with metadata containing details relating to the program, said method comprising: identifying related programs; online recording of programs of at least one predefined communication channel, wherein said programs were identified as related programs, according to predefined recording rules, using a recording device and enabling at least one viewer to select and view the recorded programs, using a video-audio display unit, wherein the identification of related programs is carried out by analyzing the metadata associated with each transmitted program identifying at least one relation of at least one relation type between at least some of the programs, wherein the identified related programs are associated with programs groups, each group representing the relation relating all programs in the group and the relation type associated therewith. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one identifiable relation type comprises a series relation, wherein the analysis enables identifying related programs that are associated episodes of series and the specific series, as a specific group, each identified related programs is associated with. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one relation type further comprises at least one relation type which is implicit, where the implicit relation type may include at least one of: creator association, relating programs according to at least one of the creators of one program is a creator in another program, wherein the creator includes at least one of: an actor, a producer, a director; schedule association, relating programs according to broadcasting schedule of programs; genre association, relating programs according to the genre of the program. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, further comprising identifying the order of the episodes within each identifies series. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the identification of the series is carried out by: retrieving a series ID and identifying titles of all previously recorded programs that have matching series ID; and identifying all programs that have the same matching series ID as episodes of the same series. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein the ID of each program is defined as at least one text part of the title of each program, wherein the identification of matching IDs of programs is carried out by identifying all programs that have matching text parts in their titles as episodes of the same series, thereby identifying the series and the series name as the matching text parts. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the recording rules include automatically recording all programs that are identified as related programs according to the schedule of broadcasting of the related programs. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, further comprising: transmitting a viewing offer to the at least one viewer; enabling the at least one viewer to enter a list of all recorded related programs sorted according to the groups the recorded related programs are associated with; enabling the at least one viewer to select a recorded related program of from the list; and playing the selected related program. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the recording rules include: assigning an indicator to each identified related program, indicating, for each related program, at least one of: that the program is a related program, the group the program is associated with, the relation type; presenting a representation of all identified related programs, the indicator and their schedules to the viewer; enabling the viewer to select related programs for viewing; and transmitting operation commands enabling to view the selected related programs. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, further comprising: displaying a list of groups of recorded related programs; selecting a group of related programs out of the list, wherein the at least one viewer carries out the selection; displaying all recorded related programs of the selected group; selecting a related program out of the list, wherein the at least one viewer carries out the selection of a related program; retrieving the selected related program; and playing the selected related program. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising deleting some of the recorded related programs according to deletion rules. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the deletions rules include at least one of related programs that were already played more than a predefined number of times; all related programs that were recorded before a predefined time limit; earliest recorded related programs, wherein the number of earliest recorded related programs that will be deleted is decided according to the memory volume of each of the earliest recoded related program in relation to the overall memory space available. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising defining communication channels from which related programs are to be recorded. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the recording is carried out by the recording device, enabling to store media content data and metadata associated with programs, which is embedded in a media content module connected to the video-audio display unit, and wherein the analysis of the metadata, the media content data and the identification of related programs is carried out by a remote main server, enabling to transmit data relating to identified related programs to the media content module. ### Claim 15 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the identification of programs as episodes in a series is carried out by: for each recorded program—identifying a part of the content of the program that is in at least one of: in the beginning or in the end of the program that is defined as a prologue or an epilogue of the programs, respectively; searching for matching at least one of prologues or epilogues of the recorded programs; and identifying all programs that have the same matching prologue or epilogue are associated with the same series. ### Claim 16 A system of recording programs transmitted through at least one communication channel, each program comprising media content, wherein each program is associated with metadata comprising details relating to the program, said system comprising: a media content provider, enabling to provide and distribute audio and video media content through at least one media distribution network; a video-audio display unit enabling presenting media content comprising audio and visual content; a media content module, enabling to receive media content data and metadata of programs through at least one communication channel and other data related to the programs and play the transmitted content data through the video-audio display unit; a main related programs module, enabling to identify programs that are related to one another as related to program groups and the group each related program is associated with, to operate and control recording commands to enable recording of the identified related programs, and to enable at least one viewer to select and view recorded related programs; and a recording device, enabling to record identified related programs, comprising and store the recorded content, wherein the recording device is operated by the main related programs module. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the media content module is a set top box (STB), which enables receiving signals from at least one receiver for television and radio transmissions, where the STB further connects to a video-audio display unit and turns the received signals into media content data to enable displaying the media content to viewers using the video-audio display unit, where the media content comprises programs, each associated with a communication channel, wherein the STB further enables the viewer to select a channel and display the program according to the selected channel and other programs related information. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the media content module is embedded within the video-audio display unit. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, further comprising a programs guide comprising metadata relating to each program that is to be transmitted. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The system of claim 19, wherein the metadata of each program to be transmitted comprises the title of each program, the channel each program is to be transmitted through and the schedule of each program's transmission, wherein the main related programs module enables retrieving the titles of all recorded programs from the programs guide, compare text parts of the titles of each recorded program and identify the related programs and their associated program groups as programs that have titles of matching text parts. ### Claim 21 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the main related programs module is embedded in the recording device, enabling to identify future related programs to be transmitted and record the identified future related programs according to predefined recording rules, according to the schedules of the identified programs that are to be recorded. ### Claim 22 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the recording device is a digital video recorder (DVR). ### Claim 23 (depends on 16) The system the recording device claim 16, wherein the recording device is located at remote server associated with the media content provider, such that at least one user may view content recorded at the remote recording device, wherein the main related programs module is located at the media content module, wherein the identification of related programs is carried out by the main related programs module at the media content module and the recording and storing of the media content data of the related programs is automatically carried out by the remote main server. ### Claim 24 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the main related programs module comprises: an analysis module, enabling identify at least one series, which defines a group of programs that are related to one another by being episodes of the series; a recording module, enabling to define the channels from which the identified related programs are to be recorded; and a presentation module, enabling to display lists of recorded episodes and series to allow the user to select episodes to watch and operate the playing of selected episodes. ### Claim 25 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the episodes and programs are at least one of: television programs comprising video content data; radio programs comprising audio content data. ### Claim 26 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, further comprising at least one recorded content database, in which all recorded programs and associated data are stored. ### Claim 27 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the main related programs module further enables deleting recorded related programs according to predefined deletions rules. ### Claim 28 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the system is implemented within a personal video recorder (PVR) thereby enabling personalized recoding of the identified related programs responsive to at least one of: viewer's preferences, viewer's profile, viewer's behavior. ### Claim 29 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the main related programs module further enables: assigning an indicator to each identified related program, indicating, for each related program, at least one of: that the program is a related program, the group the program is associated with, the relation type; presenting a representation of all identified related programs, the indicator of each related program and the schedule of each related program to the viewer; enabling the viewer to select related programs for recording; and transmitting recording operation commands to the recording device, enabling to record the selected related programs, according to the scheduling of the selected related programs. ### Claim 30 A main related programs module comprising: an analysis module enabling to identify related programs and identify a programs group each related program is associated with; and a recording module, enabling to operate a recoding device to record at least some of the identified related programs, according to predefined recording rules. ### Claim 31 (depends on 30) The main related programs module of claim 30, further comprising a presentation module, enabling to display a list of all identified groups of related programs and all identified related programs to allow at least one viewer to select at least one related program and to enable playing the selected at least one related program through a video-audio display unit. ### Claim 32 (depends on 30) The main related programs module of claim 30, wherein the analysis module further enables identifying program groups by: retrieving metadata including a title of each program that was identified as a related program; identifying titles of recorded programs that have matching text parts; and identifying all programs that have the same matching text parts as related programs of the same group, thereby identifying each group and the group name as the matching text parts. ### Claim 33 A system of recording programs transmitted through at least one communication channel, each program comprising media content, wherein each program is associated with metadata comprising details relating to the program, said system comprising: a media content provider, enabling to provide and distribute audio and video media content through at least one media distribution network; a video-audio display unit enabling presenting media content comprising audio and visual content; a media content module, enabling to receive media content data and metadata of programs through communication channels and other data related to the programs and play the transmitted content data through the video-audio display unit; a main related programs module, enabling to identify programs that are related to one another as related to program groups and the group each related program is associated with, to operate and control recording commands to enable recording of the identified related programs, and to enable at least one viewer to select and view recorded related programs; at least one remote main server, operatively associate with the video-audio display unit and with the media content module, enabling to record and store recorded related programs, details related to said recorded programs and operate said main related programs module to allow presenting recorded related programs through said video-audio display unit.