Grouping and presenting content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10231009-B2
Application number	US-201615141304-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2016
Priority date	Aug 23, 2011
Publication date	Mar 12, 2019
Grant date	Mar 12, 2019

Abstract

A provider transmits instructions to a receiver to record multiple instances of content. The instances of content are included in the same frequency band of a broadcast signal transmitted via a first communication link and encoded utilizing a common encryption. The provider determines to supplement and transmits an instruction to record a supplemental instance of content from a second content provider via a second communication link. The receiver receives the instructions and accordingly receives, decodes, and stores the multiple instances of content and the supplemental content. A recorder in communication with the receiver determines whether a content selection is a member of a content group. The group determination is based on a tag of the content selection. If the content selection is a member of the content group, the recorder presents to a display device the content selection and at least one other member of the content group.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of presenting content stored on a content receiver, the method comprising:
receiving, by a content receiver, a content selection from a user of the content receiver, wherein the content selection includes an instruction to view an instance of programming content;
transmitting, by the content receiver, the instance of programming content, wherein when the instance of programming content is received, the instance of programming content is displayed on a display device;
determining, by the content receiver, a content group including multiple instances of programming content, wherein each member of the content group includes criteria met by each other member of the content group, and wherein different content that are members of the content group correspond to separate television events on separate television channels from separate content providers;
determining group criteria associated with the content group, wherein the group criteria is met by each member of the content group;
determining that the instance of programming content is included in the programming content group using the group criteria, and tagging the instance of programming content with the group criteria;
determining first additional content and second additional content that are members of the content group using the criteria, and tagging the first additional content and second additional content with the group criteria;
determining whether the first additional content and second additional content have previously been viewed by the user; and
determining that the first additional content has not been previously viewed by the user, wherein after determining that the first additional content has not been previously viewed by the user:
receiving, by the content receiver, the first additional content;
automatically recording and storing the first additional content based on determining that the first additional content has not been previously viewed by the user; and
after the instance of programming content being displayed on the display device is complete, automatically transmitting, by the content receiver, the first additional content, wherein after the first additional content is received, the first additional content is presented on the display device; and

determining that the second additional content has been previously viewed by the user, and skipping presentation of the previously viewed second additional content based on determining that the second additional content has been previously viewed by the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
retrieving, by the content receiver, the instance of programming content from a content provider.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content selection and the first and second additional content are all received by a single tuner of the content receiver.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content selection and the first and second additional content are encoded by a programming provider utilizing a same control word prior to being received at the content receiver.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the instance of programming content is tagged with the group criteria; and
tagging the instance of programming content with the group criteria if the instance of programming content is not tagged with the group criteria.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a second content selection in response to the first additional content being presented for selection on the display device; and
displaying a piece of programming content from the first additional content instead of the instance of programming content, wherein the piece of programming content is associated with the second content selection.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the content receiver, that the instance of programming content includes a tag that indicates membership in the content group.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the content receiver, that the instance of programming content is a member of the group based on a time slot that the instance of programming content was originally presented in.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein searching for additional content that is a member of the content group using the group criteria includes scanning data associated with each piece of content stored on the content receiver.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the first additional content is a member of the group by comparing the group criteria to additional data associated with the first additional content; and
determining that the first additional data is the same as the group criteria within a predetermined threshold.

11. A television receiver, comprising:
one or more processors;
a wireless transceiver communicatively coupled to the one or more processors;
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium includes instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:
receiving, by a content receiver, a content selection from a user of the content receiver, wherein the content selection includes an instruction to view an instance of programming content;
transmitting, by the content receiver, the instance of programming content, wherein when the instance of programming content is received, the instance of programming content is displayed on a display device;
determining, by the content receiver, a content group including multiple instances of programming content, wherein each member of the content group includes criteria met by each other member of the content group, and wherein different content that are members of the content group correspond to separate television events on separate television channels from separate content providers;
determining group criteria associated with the content group, wherein the group criteria is met by each member of the content group;
determining that the instance of programming content is included in the programming content group using the group criteria, and tagging the instance of programming content with the group criteria;
determining first additional content and second additional content that are members of the content group using the criteria, and tagging the first additional content and second additional content with the group criteria;
determining whether the first additional content and second additional content have previously been viewed by the user; and
determining that the first additional content has not been previously viewed by the user, wherein after determining that the first additional content has not been previously viewed by the user:
receiving, by the content receiver, the first additional content;
automatically recording and storing the first additional content based on determining that the first additional content has not been previously viewed by the user; and
after the instance of programming content being displayed on the display device is complete, automatically transmitting, by the content receiver, the first additional content, wherein after the first additional content is received, the first additional content is presented on the display device; and
determining that the second additional content has been previously viewed by the user, and skipping presentation of the previously viewed second additional content based on determining that the second additional content has been previously viewed by the user.

12. The television receiver

Assignees

• Dish Tech Llc

Inventors

• Martch Henry Gregg
• Gratton Max S

Classifications

• H04N21/84

  Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors {(systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73)} · CPC title

• H04N21/47214

  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) · CPC title

• H04N21/4334 Primary

  Recording operations (recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27) · CPC title

• H04N5/782

  on tape · CPC title

• H04N21/4332 Primary

  by placing content in organized collections, e.g. local EPG data repository (interfaces, Database management systems or updating for information retrieval G06F16/23; details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video database G06F16/739) · CPC title