Patent Application
20080092191
Aspects of this disclosure are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the accompanying drawings, wherein:
In operation 102, a user is unable to record and/or view a program due to unresolved viewing and recording conflicts, pre-emption, power loss or other conflicts or issues.
For example, if a user wants to record program A and B, both of which are playing at the same time but on different channels and the user is working with a single tuner DVR, a recording conflict is encountered.
Alternatively, the program recording may have been missed because of a power or equipment failure, because the DVR was off; or the program may not be recordable because it was preempted by news, sport or some other event or program.
In operation 104, the system determines if the program is available for rebroadcast at a later unconflicted time. According to one embodiment, the DVR will determine if either program A or B is available for retransmission at a later unconflicted time by sending a request to the television service provider to determine if and when program A and B are available for retransmission.
In another embodiment, the television service provider includes rebroadcast availability information in the program guide data.
The rebroadcast availability information will typically say that the program is or is not available for rebroadcast and, if it is available, the rebroadcast availability information will typically say how long the rebroadcast will be available for.
In another embodiment, all programs in the system are available for rebroadcast. In another embodiment, all programs in the system are available for rebroadcast at any time. Operation 104 may be optional for one or both of these embodiments.
For example, it might say that the desired program is available for rebroadcast for the next 24 hours.
If a rebroadcast is determined to not be available in operation 104, the system may, in operation 108, notify the user that the desired program is not available for rebroadcast. In other embodiments, the system may not notify the user.
If a rebroadcast is determined to be available in operation 104, the system may, in operation 106, negotiate a specific rebroadcast time for the desired program and set the program to record at the negotiated time.
For example, if it is determined in operation 104 that the desired program is available for rebroadcast for 24 hours from the time the check in operation 104 is done, the system may then select a specific time in the next 24 hours where there are no other recording conflicts to record the desired program and set the program to record at that time. The system may then communicate to the television service provider the desired rebroadcast time and the television service provider will transmit the desired program to the DVR at the negotiated time and the program will be recorded and/or viewed in operation 112.
In general, rebroadcast times can be scheduled any time after the moment the desired program starts.
In other embodiments, the system may first communicate to the television service provider the desired rebroadcast time and then set the program to record at that time.
In some embodiments, the system may, after operation 106, notify the user that the desired program is set for rebroadcast and recording in operation 110. In other embodiments, the user may not be notified.
In some embodiments, the system may rebroadcast the desired program on an available or currently un-used channel. In other embodiments, the system may rebroadcast the desired program over the Internet or other private network, satellite link or any other appropriate broadcast medium.
In any embodiment, the rebroadcast may happen at normal speed or at a speed other than normal.
