BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
This invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIGS. 1A and 1B are block diagrams of the coupling between a personal video recorder, a server and a storage system of the present invention; and
FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of the method of the present invention to obtain a missing portion of a recorded TV program.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In FIG. 1A is shown a block diagram of the present invention where a personal video recorder 10 is coupled to a server 11a, which provides a video recording service, through a network 12, for example the Internet or equivalent communication networks. The network 12 communicates data to the server 11a and receives from the server 11a non-video data as well as video data, in which the video data is at least a portion of a TV program that is broadcast from a producer/broadcaster 23. A TV program broadcast 13, i.e. cable, satellite or other means, from a producer/broadcaster 23 is delivered to a TV 14 of a viewer (user) and is recorded on storage system 16a contained within the server 11a. A storage system 17 contained within the personal video recorder 10 also records the TV program broadcast 13 when the viewer activates the personal video recorder to capture the TV program broadcast. A storage system 16a within the server 11a provides a source of TV programs recorded prior to or during the TV program broadcast 13 from which the user of the recorder 10 can download portions of TV programs that have been missed or were corrupted. A storage system 16x comprising TV program files can be remote from the server 11a regardless of whether the server comprises a storage system 16a. The remote storage system 16x may comprise one to N storage units that are physically located together or physically distributed. A storage time feedback 22 provides feedback to the producer/broadcaster 23 the length of time that a TV program is maintained on a storage system 16a and 16x, and provides a mechanism by which the producer/broadcaster 23 can erase TV programs from storage when the TV program storage exceeds any predetermined agreement with respect to the storage of TV programs on the storage system 16a and 16x.
In FIG. 1B is shown a block diagram of the present invention where a personal video recorder 10 is coupled through a network 12 to a plurality or servers 11a to 11m, which provide video recording services. Similar to FIG. 1A, the plurality of servers 11a to 11m record a TV program broadcast 13 and maintains storage of the TV program in storage systems 16a to 16m. It should be noted that storage capacity requirement is flexible and not demanding and duplicate copies of a particular TV program is needed only under rare extenuating circumstances, which might be done where bandwidth, storage problems or other special considerations were deemed important. An external storage system 16x comprising storage units (1-N) can be used to store TV programs broadcast from the producer/broadcaster 23. The external storage system 16x is shared between the servers (server 1 to server M) and is physically located separate from the servers. The storage units (1-N) of the external storage system may be located together or distributed separately. The storage systems 16a to 16m within servers 11a to 11m may or may not exist concurrently with the external storage system 16x, and the producer/broadcaster 23 monitors the storage of TV programs through the storage time feedback 22 on all active storage systems 16a to 16m and 16x storage units one to N.
Referring again to FIG. 1A, the personal video recorder is registered with the server 11a, and informational communication is carried out between the recorder agent 20 within the personal video recorder 10 and the server agent 21 within the server 11a. The communications between the recorder agent 20 and the server agent 21 is conducted through a network, i.e. the internet, private cable or phone network, or any other existing network comprising cellular, wireless and radio network, coupling between the recorder agent and the server agent.
As is often the case, a viewer may not have set the personal video recorder 10 to record a particular TV program broadcast or may have not been aware that a particular TV program was of interest, thus missing an initial portion of the broadcast. The viewer may also have been surfing the available TV channels looking for content of interest. In any case, when a viewer finds a TV program broadcast that is interesting after the beginning portion of the broadcast, the present invention provides the method and apparatus to obtain the portion of a TV program broadcast that is not initially included in the recording in the personal video recorder 10, such as the beginning portion within the time frame of the broadcast. Also if there are segments of the broadcast that have been corrupted by noise or other impediments, i.e. interference or power failure, the method and apparatus of the present invention provides a recovery mechanism for the corrupted segments.
For example; a viewer starts surfing the available TV channels and finds subject material on a particular channel that is interesting after the start of the program. Upon realizing that the content of the broadcast material is of interest, the viewer starts recording the TV program and requests the personal video recorder 10 to obtain the beginning portion of the TV program that has been missed. The recorder agent 20 sends a message through the network 12 to the server agent 21 indicating the TV program identification and the time range of the beginning segment that has been missed. The server agent 21 responds to the recorder agent with an address (such as a URL) and the range of data that is to be downloaded. The recorder agent then requests the storage system 16a or 16x to provide the beginning or other portions of the TV program. The storage system 16a or 16x provides the video data that has been requested to the recorder storage system 17. The obtaining of the video data of the missing portion of the TV program as well as the recording of the current portion of the TV program can be accomplished simultaneous or after the viewer watching the TV broadcast 13 on the TV set 14. The missed portion of the TV program is inserted or concatenated in a fashion that any replay of the TV program will appear as originally broadcast
If there is a corrupted and/or missing segment, the viewer (user) requests the personal video recorder to obtain a replacement for the corrupted segment. If there are multiple corrupted and/or missing segments, the personal video recorder, after receiving the recording request from the viewer (user), obtains a replacement for each of the corrupted and/or missing segment.
It should be noted, it is within the scope of this invention that the personal video recorder can be a handheld device or an integrated portion of the handheld device, and the TV can be a display on the handheld device or a display coupled to the hand held device
In FIG. 2 is shown a flow diagram for the method of the present invention to recover missed segments of broadcast TV programs. A personal video recorder is coupled to a server 60 through a network, i.e. the internet, private cable or phone network, or similar messaging networks. The personal video recorder is registered with the server 61 to insure identity of the user of the services and that proper payments are made for the services. A TV program as it is broadcast, which comprises advertisement and program content, is recorded on a storage system 62. The storage system is either integrated into the server or external to the server. The user (or viewer) while watching the TV program broadcast on a TV set 63, initiates the recording of the broadcast TV program on the personal video recorder 64. Either because the start of the recording of the TV program was initiated after the start of the broadcast, or because of perturbations in the broadcast, i.e. power failure of interference, there is a missed segment in the broadcasted TV program in the personal video recorder. The user decides there is a need to obtain the missed segment, or portion, of the broadcasted TV program 65, and the user requests the personal video recorder obtain the missed segment or portion of the broadcasted TV program 66. The recorder agent in the personal video recorder provides to the server agent, located in the server, the identifier of the TV program and the time of the missed segment, or portion, of the broadcasted TV program 67. The server agent responds to the recorder agent with an address (such as a URL) and range of the missed TV program data 68 that can be downloaded through the network, where the network comprises the internet, private cable or phone network, or any other existing network, comprising cellular, wireless and radio network. The personal video recorder requests the missing segment of the broadcast TV program from the storage system 69 using the address and the range of the missed TV program data that was sent by the server agent. Upon receipt of the data of the missing segment or portion of the broadcast TV program, the data is checked for integrity 70. If the data is found to be corrupted 71, the personal video recorder requests a retransmission of the download 72, and the storage system downloads the missing segment 69. If the download is found to be good 73, the missed portion of the broadcasted TV program is stored into the storage system of the personal video recorder 74. The TV program is erased from the storage system after a predetermined period of time from the completion of the broadcast of the TV program 75. During the time that the TV program is active on the storage system, the user of the personal video recorder may request a download of the TV program including the entire program, which allows a user who determines a need to have a copy at the very end of the TV program to obtain a copy. Storage time feedback is provided from the storage system to the producer/broadcaster to allow the producer/broadcaster to monitor the amount of time the TV program is maintained on the storage system 76. If the TV program is maintained on the storage system beyond the predetermined period of time, the producer/broadcaster issues a command through the storage time feedback to erase the TV program from the storage system 77.
Referring back to FIGS. 1A and 1B, it should be noted that it is within the scope of the present invention that the network 12 is an integral part of the TV program broadcast system 13 whereby a missed portion of a TV program broadcast is requested by the recorder 10 and downloaded to the recorder either simultaneous to the TV program broadcast or after the TV program broadcast is completed. For example, cable can provide the TV program broadcast as well as the two way communications necessary to request a missed portion of a TV program and to communicate the missed portion to the recorder, thus negating the need to have a separate network 12. In the case of a TV program broadcast 13, which is transmitted over a medium that does not provide two way communications, satellite for example, a separate communication medium, the Internet for example, can be used as the network 12 to request and receive a missed portion of a TV program. It is also within the scope of the present invention that a communication medium, such as satellite or cable, could provide the missed portion of the TV program while the internet or equivalent communication media is used to request the missed portion of the TV program.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Patent Application
20080086743
