US 2,002,174,430 · Filed 2002-02-21

The Patent That Made Recording TV Shows Smart and Personal

Imagine a DVR that learns what you like and remembers which shows you want to keep or delete. This patent describes a system where your TV guide and recording device work together, letting you schedule shows, manage recordings, and even pause live TV automatically when you're fiddling with menus.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers an interactive television system that combines program guides with personal video recording capabilities. What's protected here is the ability to display and manage recorded content, schedule future recordings, configure recording preferences, set deletion priorities, buffer live programming, handle multiple simultaneous recordings on different tuners, and automatically pause live TV when a user navigates the on-screen menus. The system also covers integrating pay-per-view options with PVR functions and sending user notifications about recording changes.

Why it matters

This patent describes core functionality that became standard in modern DVRs and streaming set-top boxes. By tying together program guides and recording management in a single interactive application, it established the template for how millions of people schedule and manage recorded content. The innovation of parallel buffering for multiple programs and automatic pause features addressed real user frustrations with early PVRs, making the technology more intuitive and commercially viable for mainstream television.

Real-world use

When you sit down with your cable or satellite remote, scroll through the program guide, and tap a button to record next week's episodes of your favorite show, you're using the exact workflow this patent describes.

Original USPTO abstract

Methods and systems that provide enhanced personal video recorder (“PVR”) and interactive television program guide (“IPG”) functionality are provided. An interactive television application (“application”) may be implemented to provide such functionality. The application may be used to display a list of PVR recordings, to schedule recordings to a PVR, to configure recordings, to view a list of scheduled recordings, to configure recording settings, or to select delete priority settings for recordings. The application may integrate pay-per-view and PVR functionality. The application may send user notifications for changes that are to be made to the recording content of a PVR. Live programming may be buffered by the application using a straight buffers that are created for each new program. Parallel buffers for concurrent programs may be implemented using multiple tuners. Straight buffers may be used in managing or controlling the flow of programming. Television content may be automatically paused when a user is engaged in using the application. Multiple IPGs for different users of a PVR may be implemented. Other PVR related features are also provided.

Patent details

Publication number: US 2,002,174,430
Filing date: 2002-02-21
Grant date: Application — not yet granted
Assignee: Ellis Michael D. / Gaydou Danny R. / Reichardt M. Scott / Baumgartner Joseph P. / Thomas William L.
Inventor(s): ELLIS MICHAEL D., GAYDOU DANNY R., REICHARDT M. SCOTT, BAUMGARTNER JOSEPH P., THOMAS WILLIAM L.
CPC class: H04N21/23406

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