Method and system for remote television replay control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10320503-B2
Application number	US-201615347548-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2016
Priority date	Aug 8, 2000
Publication date	Jun 11, 2019
Grant date	Jun 11, 2019

Abstract

A method, system, computer medium, and other embodiments for integrating unrelated web hosted services with stand-alone media-based devices are provided. Users can access and control the media-based device conveniently with a web-browser through various portals on the Internet. In one embodiment, users access the media-based device through one or more unrelated web portals, so as to control and to program the media-based device in a single web session, and to see information both stored on the media-based device and originating from third-party online sources of information and services in a single integrated presentation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device, comprising:
a processing system including a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
transmitting, to a middle-tier server, application program interface function calls, wherein the middle-tier server retrieves information pertaining to a client device via a client application operating on the client device when the middle-tier server performs the application program interface function calls, wherein the information comprises electronic program guide information received from a third-party online service;
generating a portal having access to and in communication with the middle-tier server and the client device to store the information;
receiving the information from the portal;
creating a presentation according to the information at the portal, wherein a format of the presentation is based on a capability of the client device, and wherein the information is arranged according to a format of the third-party online service;
forwarding the presentation via the portal to the client application, wherein the client device displays the presentation by way of the portal through the client application;
receiving an indication of interest in the presentation from the client application based on a frequency at which the client device accesses an item within the presentation from the portal; and
caching, at the portal, the information regarding the item at the middle-tier server responsive to the client device interacting with the presentation to provide the indication of interest, wherein the caching occurs at the frequency based on the receiving of the indication of interest for a time at which the indication of interest occurs.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the information includes a channel lineup specific to the client device.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the information does not include information pertaining to programs not available to the client device.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the information includes general information and specific information, wherein the general information is received from an online service that includes content information, broadcast information, show information, movie clips, and wherein the specific information includes data related to the capability of the client device.

5. The device of claim 4 , wherein caching the information comprises storing the general information and the specific information in a raw format.

6. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a processing system comprising a processor, application program interface function calls from a web-server;
generating, by the processing system, a portal having access to and in communication with the processing system and a client device;
instructing, by the processing system, the portal to provide the application program interface function calls to the client device;
retrieving, by the processing system, information pertaining to the client device, wherein the information comprises electronic program guide information received from a third-party online service;
providing, by the processing system, the information to the portal to be stored therein;
instructing, by the processing system, the portal to create a presentation according to the information, wherein a format of the presentation is based on a client application operating on the client device, and wherein the information is arranged according to a format of the third-party online service;
instructing, by the processing system, the portal to forward the presentation to the client application, wherein the client device displays the presentation through the client application;
receiving, by the processing system, an indication of interest in the presentation from the client application based on a frequency at which the client device accesses an item of the information within the presentation from the portal; and
instructing, by the processing system, the portal to cache the information regarding the item based on the frequency.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the information includes a channel lineup specific to the client device.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the information does not include information pertaining to programs not available to the client device.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein information further includes content information, broadcast information, show information, movie clips, chat rooms information, search-engine information, or any combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the cache of the information stores the information in a raw format.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein the portal creates the presentation by assembling the information into a flexible data format particular to the client application.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the assembling the information into the flexible data format particular to the client application comprises packaging data into one of an XML and a HTML format.

13. A non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
instantiating a portal to receive general information from an online service;
instructing the portal to receive specific information that is related to a media processor, wherein the specific information comprises electronic program guide information received from a third-party online service;
instructing the portal to store the general information and the specific information;
receiving an application program interface function call from a web server;
responsive to receiving the application program interface function call:
instructing the portal to retrieve the general information and the specific information as retrieved data;
instructing the portal to assemble the retrieved data into a flexible data format particular to the web server;
instructing the portal to create a presentation from the flexible data format configured for a graphical user interface of the media processor, wherein the portal transmits the presentation to the media processor, and wherein the media processor provides an indication of interest in an item from the presentation based on a frequency at which the media processor accesses the item from within the presentation from the portal; and
instructing the portal to cache the retrieved data including the item based on the frequency.

14. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the general information includes a channel lineup specific to the media processor.

15. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the specific information includes the channel lineup specific to the media processor and does not include information pertaining to programs not available to the media processor.

16. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the fportal assembles the presentation into a flexible data format particular to the media processor including one of an XML and an HTML format.

17. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise instructing the portal to store the general information and the specific information responsive to requests from the media processor.

Assignees

• Directv Group Inc

Inventors

• Sweatt Millard E
• Woodward Don
• Matichuk Chris E
• Regnier Alain
• Nudelman Mark
• Pignon Philippe
• Westerhoff Dave
• Voltmer F Andrew
• Self Matthew
• Mohan Sunil

Classifications

• H04N21/4782

  Web browsing {, e.g. WebTV} · CPC title

• H04N21/6581

  Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application · CPC title

• H04N21/4825

  using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists · CPC title

• 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

• H04N5/4401

  Electricity · mapped topic