US 2014/0196099 A1 · METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING TRICK PLAY FUNCTIONS IN DEVICES WITHOUT LOCAL STORAGE

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for providing playback devices with trick play functionality are described. The system includes a playback device, e.g., without recording capability, and a gateway device with multiple tuner-demodulators and/or a cable modem and recording capability. During normal playback, in some embodiments, both the playback device and gateway receive content in parallel with the gateway recording content at the request of the playback device and supplying the content over the local network when a user of the playback device requests a trick play operation. A single gateway, with multiple tuner demodulator pairs and/or a cable modem, supports trick play functions. In some embodiments if the number of playback devices exceeds the number of tuner-demodulator pairs in the gateway, the playback device can stream content to the gateway for recording and to be returned via the local network in the event of a request for a trick play operation.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of supporting trick playback of a program at a customer premise comprising:

operating a playback device at the customer premise to send a message to a gateway device located at said customer premise to trigger recording of said program by said gateway device;
operating the playback device to receive program content corresponding to said program via a first network;
operating the playback device to output a first portion of said program;
operating the playback device to monitor for trick play commands during playback of said program content;
and
in response to said monitoring detecting a trick play command received from a user control device, sending a trick play message to the gateway device requesting said gateway device to provide a second portion of said program in accordance with said trick play command.

3 more elements

A system for supporting trick playback of a program at a customer premise comprising:

a gateway device;
and
a content play back device, said playback device comprising:
a request message generation module configured to generate a request message requesting recording of said program by said gateway device;
a first interface including a receiver configured to receive program content corresponding to said program via a first network;
a content output control module configured to output a first portion of said program;
an input detection module configured to monitor for trick play commands during playback of said content;
and
a trick play message generation module configured to generate a trick play message to send to the gateway device requesting said gateway device to provide a second portion of said program in accordance with said trick play command, said trick play message being sent to the gateway device in response to detecting a trick play command received from a user control device.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Methods and apparatus for supporting trick play functions in devices without local storage

Life of this patent

Methods and apparatus for supporting trick play functions in devices without local storage

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20