Method and apparatus for programming the playback of program information

A program information player comprising:

• a program sequence playback information generator operative to:
• receive recorded program history log information, including program identifier tag information and associated time stamp information that identifies channel changes during recording of a program on a channel of interest;
• receive selected program identifier information;
• generate program sequence playback information without user intervention, including a sequence of time stamp information associated with the selected program information in response to receiving the recorded program history log information and the selected program identifier information;
• and
• playing back a program based on the selected program identification information without playing back program information from intermediate channel changes.

A program information player comprising:

• a program sequence playback information generator operative to:
• receive program identifier information;
• receive recorded program history log information including program identifier tag information and associated time stamp information that identifies channel changes during recording of a program on a channel of interest;
• provide selectable program identifier information to a user in response to the received recorded program history log information;
• receive selected program identifier information;
• and
• generate program sequence playback information without user intervention, including a sequence of time stamp information associated with the selected program identifier information in response to receiving the recorded program history log information and the selected program identifier information;
• memory, operatively coupled to the program sequence playback information generator, wherein the memory is operative to:
• store the received program information in the memory;
• update recorded program history log information stored in the memory in response to storing the received program information;
• and
• generate playback program information according to the program sequence playback information that does not include program information from intermediate channel changes.