Real-time Interactive Personal Video Recorder Interface

An article comprising:

• a non-transitory storage medium having a plurality of machine accessible instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the instructions provide for interacting with a television program by;
• receiving a transmission including the television program and a cue;
• beginning playback of the program for perception by a user;
• analyzing the transmission to detect the cue transmitted with the television program;
• automatically pausing playback of the program without user input in response to detection of the cue;
• accepting user input data in response to the cue;
• and
• automatically resuming playback of the program without further user action in response to receipt of the user input data.

A recording and control device for recording and interacting with a television program comprising:

• a television tuner to receive a program;
• a recorder to record the program in digital form;
• and
• an application to begin playback of the program for perception by a user, to receive a transmission including the television program and a cue, to analyze the transmission to detect the cue transmitted with the television program, to automatically pause playback of the program without user input in response to detection of the cue, to accept user input data in response to the cue, and to automatically resume playback of the program without further user action in response to receipt of the user input data.