US 8,528,024 B2 · Alternate source conflict resolution

Abstract

A system and methods for acquiring scheduled television programs with coinciding program times. One method includes initially identifying that a conflict exists to acquire the scheduled television programs. Once the conflict is identified, the method identifies one or more alternate sources that contain the scheduled television programs. Acquisition schedules are generated and optimized. Then, at least one of the scheduled television programs are recorded from one of the alternate sources. A user may set user preferences to customize how the system will generate potential acquisition schedules.

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Claims15

Dependent claims

A method for acquiring scheduled broadcast content with coinciding program times using a digital recording device, comprising:

(a) receiving a selection from a user of broadcast content to record from a user guide;
(b) responsive to receiving a selection, determining that a conflict between two or more programs of scheduled broadcast content exists resulting in a conflict in acquiring the scheduled broadcast content, wherein determining that the conflict exists comprises:
determining whether the program times of the scheduled broadcast content overlap in time;
and if the programs times of the scheduled broadcast content overlap in time, determining whether each of the scheduled broadcast content may be acquired at a program time of each program of the scheduled broadcast content;
(c) identifying at least one broadcast television source and at least one or more alternate sources other than broadcast television that contain the scheduled broadcast content, wherein the at least one or more alternate sources identified comprise one of the following:
a digital download, streaming media or a digital recorder;
(d) generating possible acquisition schedules for recording at least one instance of each of the two or more programs the scheduled broadcast content, wherein the possible acquisition schedules each include recording one program from at least one alternate source identified in step (c) including combining the at least one or more alternate sources identified in step (c) into multiple possible acquisition schedules, and ranking the possible acquisition schedules;
wherein generating possible acquisition schedules in step (d) is based in part on, if present:
recording preferences if the recording preferences are set by the user or prior actions if the prior actions are performed by the user;
(e) if the user selects one or more of possible acquisition schedules, setting a recording schedule of the digital recording device to the possible acquisition schedule selected by the user;
(f) if the user does not select the possible acquisition schedules, setting the recording schedule of the digital recording device to a highest ranked possible acquisition schedule;
and
(g) recording at least one program of scheduled broadcast content and obtaining at least one program of the scheduled broadcast content from an alternate source other than broadcast television based on one of the possible acquisition schedules generated in step (d).

10 more elements

In a digital recorder for recording television programs, a method for acquiring broadcast content by resolving a conflict in recording a first television program having a broadcast time that overlaps with a broadcast time of another television program, comprising:

(a) receiving user input defining a selection to record at least the first television program and a second television program;
(b) responsive to the receiving user input, determining that a conflict between one of at least the first television program or the second television program exists with a third television program, resulting in a conflict in acquiring scheduled broadcast content of the first or second television program, wherein determining that the conflict exists comprises:
determining whether program times of the scheduled broadcast content overlap in time;
and if the programs times of the scheduled broadcast content overlap in time, determining whether each of the scheduled broadcast content may be acquired at a program time of each program of the scheduled broadcast content;
(c) identifying at least one alternate source that contains the first television program, wherein each alternate source containing the first television program is a source other than a broadcasting channel;
(d) identifying at least one alternate source that contains the second television program, wherein each alternate source containing the second television program is a source other than a broadcasting channel, wherein the at least one alternate source comprises one of:
streaming media, a digital download and a networked digital recorder;
(e) generating multiple acquisition schedules, combining the one or more alternate sources identified in step (c) into multiple potential acquisition schedules, wherein each potential acquisition schedule contains a different combination of the one or more alternate sources wherein each of the multiple acquisition schedules proposes to record each of the first, second and third television programs, at least one program being acquired from an alternate source other than a broadcasting channel;
wherein generating possible acquisition schedules in step (e) is based in part on, if present:
recording preferences if the recording preferences are set by the user or prior actions if the prior actions are performed by the user;
(f) ranking the multiple acquisition schedules;
(g) presenting the multiple acquisition schedules to a user in an order ranked in step (f);
(h) if the user selects one of the acquisition schedules presented in step (g), setting a recording schedule of the digital recording device to the acquisition schedule selected by the user;
(i) if the user does not select one of the acquisition schedules presented in step (g), setting the recording schedule of the digital recording device to a highest ranked acquisition schedule;
and
(j) recording at least one of the first, second or third program as scheduled broadcast content and obtaining at least one of the first, second or third program from an alternate source other than broadcast television based on one of the possible acquisition schedules generated in step (e).

13 more elements

A method of acquiring television programs from an alternate source when a digital recorder cannot record each of the television programs scheduled to be recorded by a viewer at the program's regularly scheduled broadcast time, comprising:

receiving the viewer selection of two or more programs of scheduled broadcast content, and responsive to the viewer selection, performing the sequential steps of:
(a) determining that a scheduling conflict between two or more programs of scheduled broadcast content exists resulting in a conflict in acquiring the scheduled broadcast content, wherein determining that the conflict exists comprises:
determining whether program times of the scheduled broadcast content overlap in time;
and if the programs times of the scheduled broadcast content overlap in time, determining whether each of the scheduled broadcast content may be acquired at a program time of each program of the scheduled broadcast content;
(b) identifying at least one alternate non-television source for at least one of the television programs scheduled to be recorded by the digital recorder, wherein the at least one alternate non-television source comprises one of:
streaming media, a digital download, a second digital recorder;
(c) generating potential acquisition schedules, wherein each acquisition schedule for recording at least one instance of each of the two or more programs the scheduled broadcast content, wherein the possible acquisition schedules each includes recording one program from at least one alternate source identified in step (b) and includes combining the at least one alternate sources identified in step (c) into multiple possible acquisition schedules, wherein each possible acquisition schedule contains a different combination of at least one alternate sources;
and ranking the possible acquisition schedules;
wherein generating potential acquisition schedules in step (c) is based in part on, if present:
recording preferences if the recording preferences are set by the viewer or prior actions if the prior actions are performed by the viewer;
(d) identifying any recording preferences set by the viewer;
(e) ranking the potential acquisition schedules generated in step (c) based on any recording preferences identified in step (d);
(f) displaying the potential acquisition schedules to the viewer in the order ranked in step (e);
(g) if the viewer selects one of the potential acquisition schedules displayed in step (e), setting a recording schedule of the digital recorder to the potential acquisition schedules selected by the viewer;
(h) if the viewer does not select one of the potential acquisition schedules displayed in step (e), setting a recording schedule of the digital recorder to the highest ranked potential acquisition schedule;
and
(i) recording at least one program of scheduled broadcast content and obtaining at least one program of the scheduled broadcast content from an alternate source other than broadcast television based on one of the possible acquisition schedules generated in step (c).

14 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Description7,855 words

Summary692 words

#It is now common for television programs to be recorded on hard disks in digital recorders associated with televisions. These digital recorders are often referred to as a personal video recorder (PVR) or a digital video recorder (DVR). Traditional PVRs and DVRs have a fixed number of tuners which can be used to record content from a broadcast source, which limits the number of shows that can be simultaneously recorded at any given time. If the user requests that too many shows be recorded at once, the only recourse is to prompt the user to ask which subset of those shows are most important to record and to fail to record the rest.

#Another recent development is the electronic program guide (EPG), which graphically displays television program's listings on television screens. Although there are various EPGs being used today, EPGs typically display programs in a grid format for multiple channels and various time slots. Accordingly, the viewer scrolls along both horizontal and vertical axis to identify television programs being broadcast at different times and on different channels. The EPG allows a viewer to easily learn what program is being broadcast on a specific channel during a specific time.

#While EPGs can assist the viewer in identifying when programs are being broadcast, they have also been used to streamline the process of programming recording systems. For instance, depending upon the user interface associated with the PVR that includes the EPG, a viewer can use specific features on the user interface (UI) of the PVR to program a recording. For example, the viewer may simply select a box or region corresponding to a program within the EPG in order to schedule the program for recording. Alternatively, the viewer may be required to go to a different user interface page or display to cause the recording system to be programmed appropriately.

Brief description of the drawings11 figures

#FIG. 1A-1B depict an exemplary electronic program guide that can be used to select various programs;

#FIG. 2 depicts an flow diagram displaying exemplary steps for resolving a recording conflict;

#FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary user interface for setting recording defaults;

Detailed description6,997 words

#The technology described herein is a mechanism allowing acquisition of broadcast content scheduled at the same or overlapping broadcast time. One example of the technology is a digital recorder. The digital recorder obtains broadcast content from alternate sources when more than one program is scheduled to be recorded and the digital recorder cannot record all the programs at the scheduled broadcast time. Another example is software for identifying the alternate sources containing the programs and assembling acquisition schedules for acquiring each of the broadcast content.

#For purposes of describing the technology only, many of the aspects of the present technology will be described in context of a digital recorder that may acquire television programs from sources other than a broadcast tuner. By way of example only, such acquisition could consist of persisting a link to a streaming video source, downloading the content from an Internet site, copying the content from another PVR, or scheduling the recording on the tuner of another PVR. By considering these alternate sources of content, alternate source conflict resolution allows the digital recorder to reduce the frequency with which the user must be prompted to resolve conflicts, and to successfully acquire a larger percentage of the shows requested by the user.

#FIGS. 1A-1B illustrates an electronic program guide (EPG) 100 for selecting scheduled programs. EPG 100 may be used for making recording requests for scheduled programs among a plurality of scheduled entries or programs. Suppose a viewer uses the EPG 100 to select the following four programs for making recording requests on a digital recorder that contains only one tuner: “That '70s Show”® 102, “SportsCenter”® 104, “Last Comic Standing”® 106 and “Good Eats”® 108. “That '70s Show” 102 is scheduled to be broadcast between 10:00 pm and 10:30 pm on Channel 36. “SportsCenter” 104 is scheduled to be broadcast between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm on Channel 38. “Last Comic Standing” 106 is scheduled to be broadcast between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm on Channel 703.“Good Eats” 108 is scheduled to be broadcast between 11:00 pm and 11:30 pm on channel 35.

Facts

Application

13/592,128Filed 22 Aug 2012 · continuation

Priority

1 Nov 2007

Published

US 2012/0315021 A113 Dec 2012

Granted

3 Sep 2013

Term ends

1 Nov 2027

Estimated · how

20 years from earliest known nonprovisional domestic filing plus recorded patent term adjustment. Maintenance-fee lapses, terminal disclaimers and statutory extensions have not been checked. The continuity chain may be incomplete; this is not an enforceability determination.

Classification9 codes

H04N 5/76
Details of television systems: television signal recording
H04N 5/782
Using magnetic recording: on tape
H04N 21/4532
Management of client data or end-user data: involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences
H04N 21/4583
Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating…:…

Family

Application11/933,843Parent of this continuation · filed 1 Nov 2007

US 2012/0315021 A1Pre-grant publication · published 13 Dec 2012

US 8,272,015 B2Parent of this continuation

US 2009/0119715 A1Published application

US 8,528,024 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Timeline

1 Nov 2007Priority claimedParent application 11/933,843
22 Aug 2012Application filedUS 13/592,128
28 Aug 2012Assigned to Microsoft Corporationassignment of assignor's interest
13 Dec 2012PublishedUS 2012/0315021 A1
3 Sep 2013GrantedUS 8,528,024 B2
9 Dec 2014Assigned to Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLCassignment of assignor's interest
12 Oct 2026TodayWithin its term
1 Nov 2027Term endsEstimated

Alternate source conflict resolution

Life of this patent

Alternate source conflict resolution

Life of this patent

Life of this patent

Abstract

Drawings

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Claims15

Description7,855 words

Drawings

Classification9 codes

Life of this patent

Description7,855 words