# US 8,787,733 B2 · Systems and methods for preventing duplicative media content recordings > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,787,733 B2 - Document ID: US8787733B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 12/842,417 - Filed: 2010-07-23 - Published: 2012-01-26 - Granted: 2014-07-22 - Earliest claimed: 2010-07-23 - Assignees: Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc. - Applicants: Ananthanarayanan Subramanian; Satish K. Singh; Venkata S. Adimatyam; Sachinder D. Reddy - Inventors: Ananthanarayanan Subramanian; Satish K. Singh; Venkata S. Adimatyam; Sachinder D. Reddy - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8787733B2 ## CPC - H04N 5/782: on tape - H04N 21/4583: {Automatically resolving scheduling conflicts, e.g. when a recording by reservation has been programmed for two programmes in the same time slot} - 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 21/47214: {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: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract Exemplary systems and methods for preventing duplicative media content recordings are disclosed. An exemplary method includes a media content access subsystem detecting that a media content instance is scheduled to be recorded, determining, based on an operations log of one or more past operations of the media access subsystem, that the scheduled recording of the media content instance is duplicative of a past recording, and selectively canceling the scheduled recording of the media content instance in response to the determination that the scheduled recording is duplicative of the past recording. Corresponding systems and methods are also disclosed. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by a media content access subsystem, a user input command to record a media content instance; scheduling, by the media content access subsystem in response to the user input command, a recording of the media content instance; determining, by the media content access subsystem, whether the user input command is a user input command to record a particular transmission of the media content instance or a user input command to automatically record any available media content instances in a series of related media content instances including the media content instance; determining, by the media content access subsystem based on an operations log of one or more past operations of the media content access subsystem, that the scheduled recording of the media content instance is duplicative of a past recording; and selectively canceling, by the media content access subsystem in response to the determining that the scheduled recording of the media content instance is duplicative of the past recording and in accordance with a cancelation heuristic, the scheduled recording of the media content instance, wherein the cancelation heuristic specifies a cancelation condition based on whether the user input command is determined to be the user input command to record the particular transmission of the media content instance or the user input command to automatically record all or any available media content instances in the series of related media content instances including the media content instance. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the scheduled recording of the media content instance is duplicative of the past recording comprises: searching the operations log for at least one operation associated with the media content instance; and detecting the at least one operation associated with the media content instance within the operations log. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the at least one operation associated with the media content instance comprises at least one of a recording of the media content instance, a playback of a recording of the media content instance, and a deletion of a recording of the media content instance. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining, by the media content access subsystem, the operations log locally at the media content access subsystem. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining, by the media content access subsystem, the operations log remotely of the media content access subsystem. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising prompting, by the media content access subsystem in response to the determining that the scheduled recording of the media content instance is duplicative of the past recording, a user for another input command to indicate whether to cancel the scheduled recording. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the selectively canceling comprises canceling the scheduled recording in response to another input command received from the user to cancel the scheduled recording. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the selectively canceling comprises preserving the scheduled recording in response to another input command received from the user to preserve the scheduled recording. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the cancelation heuristic specifies canceling the scheduled recording in response to a determination that the user input command is the user input command to automatically record any available media content instances in the series of related media content instances including the media content instance. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the cancelation heuristic specifies preserving the scheduled recording in response to a determination that the user input command is the user input command to record the particular transmission of the media content instance. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: providing, by the media content access subsystem, a graphical user interface including one or more user-configurable parameters for presentation to a user; and facilitating, by the media content access subsystem, a selection by the user of at least one user-configurable parameter included in the one or more user-configurable parameters by way of the graphical user interface. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the cancelation heuristic is based at least in part on the selection by the user of the at least one user-configurable parameter. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium. ### Claim 14 A method comprising: maintaining, by a media content access subsystem, an operations log of one or more past operations of the media content access subsystem; receiving, by the media content access subsystem, an input command provided by a user to automatically record all available episodes of a television program; scheduling, by the media content access subsystem in response to the input command, a recording of a particular episode of the television program; determining, by the media content access subsystem, that the scheduled recording of the particular episode of the television program is based on the input command provided by the user to automatically record all available episodes of the television program; determining, by the media content access subsystem based on the operations log, that the scheduled recording of the particular episode of the television program is duplicative of a past recording; and canceling, by the media content access subsystem in response to the determination that the scheduled recording is duplicative of the past recording and in accordance with a cancelation heuristic, the scheduled recording of the particular episode of the television program, wherein the cancelation heuristic specifies canceling the scheduled recording of the particular episode in response to the determining that the scheduled recording is based on the input command provided by the user to automatically record all available episodes of the television program. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, wherein the determining that the scheduled recording of the media content instance is duplicative of the past recording comprises: searching the operations log for at least one operation associated with the particular episode; and detecting the at least one operation associated with the particular episode within the operations log. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one operation associated with the particular episode comprises at least one of a recording of the particular episode, a playback of a recording of the particular episode, and a deletion of a recording of the particular episode. ### Claim 17 A computer-implemented method comprising: maintaining, by a media content access subsystem, a listing of currently available media content recordings, a listing of recently deleted media content recordings, and an operations log of one or more operations of the media content access subsystem; detecting, by the media content access subsystem, that a media content instance is scheduled to be recorded; searching, by the media content access subsystem, the listing of currently available media content recordings for a currently available recording of the media content instance; determining, by the media content access subsystem based on the searching of the listing of currently available media content recordings, that the scheduled recording is not duplicative of any of the currently available media content recordings; searching, by the media content access subsystem, the listing of recently deleted media content recordings for a recently deleted recording of the media content instance; determining, by the media content access subsystem based on the searching of the listing of recently deleted media content recordings, that the scheduled recording is not duplicative of any of the recently deleted media content recordings; searching, by the media content access subsystem, the operations log for at least one operation associated with the media content instance; determining, by the media content access subsystem based on the searching of the operations log, that the scheduled recording is duplicative of a past recording; and canceling, by the media content access subsystem in response to the determining that the scheduled recording is duplicative of the past recording, the scheduled recording. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the determining that the scheduled recording of the media content instance is duplicative of the past recording comprises detecting the at least one operation associated with the media content instance within the operations log. ### Claim 19 A system comprising: a detection facility configured to detect a user input command to record a media content instance and determine whether the user input command is a user input command to record a particular transmission of the media content instance or a user input command to automatically record any available media content instances in a series of related media content instances including the media content instance; a determination facility communicatively coupled to the detection facility and configured to determine, based on an operations log of one or more past operations of the system, that the scheduled recording of the media content instance is duplicative of a past recording; and a selective cancelation facility communicatively coupled to the determination facility and configured to selectively cancel the scheduled recording of the media content instance in response to the determination by the determination facility that the scheduled recording is duplicative of the past recording and in accordance with a cancelation heuristic specifying a cancelation condition based on whether the user input command is determined to be the user input command to record the particular transmission of the media content instance or the user input command to automatically record any available media content instances in the series of related media content instances including the media content instance.