(12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 8,316,399 B1 Nush (45) Date of Patent: Nov
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USOO831 6399B1 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 8,316,399 B1 Nush (45) Date of Patent: Nov. 20, 2012 (54) ENABLING PROGRAMMING OF 6,781,608 B1* 8/2004 Crawford ...................... 715/758 2002, 0087661 A1* 7, 2002 Matichuk et al. TO9.218 RECORDINGS 2002/014.4273 A1* 10, 2002 Reto ............................... 725/86 2003/0009766 A1 1/2003 Marolda ......................... 725/97 (75) Inventor: Peter G. Nush, Ashburn, VA (US) 2005/0028208 A1 2/2005 Ellis et al. ....................... 7.25/58 (73) Assignee: AOL Inc., Dulles, VA (US) OTHER PUBLICATIONS “What is UltimateTV,” http://www.ultimatetv.com, Sep. 4, 2002, 1 (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this page. patent is extended or adjusted under 35 “What is UltimateTV Features.” http://www.ultimatetv.com/ U.S.C. 154(b) by 3837 days. whatis.asp, Sep. 4, 2002, 1 page. About TiVo Inc. TiVo and ZDTV “Get Networked: Will Pursue (21) Appl. No.: 10/259,791 Delivery of Cyber-programming to TiVo's Personal TV Service'. http://www.tivo.com/about/O126336.html, Jan. 20, 1999, 2 pages. (22) Filed: Sep. 30, 2002 SONICblue Inc., “Price reduction and new service option on award 9 winning ReplayTV 4500 Digital Video Recorder!”, www.replaytv. Related U.S. Application Data com, Sep. 4, 2002, 1 page. (60) Provisional application No. 60/361,278, filed on Mar. * cited by examiner 4, 2002. s Primary Examiner — Pankaj Kumar (51) Int. Cl. Assistant Examiner — Charles N Hicks G06F 3/00 (2006.01) (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — Finnegan, Henderson, G06F I3/00 (2006.01) Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP H04N 5/445 (2011.01) (52) U.S. Cl. ............................................ 725/58; 72.5/55 (57) ABSTRACT (58) Field of Classification Search .................... 725/55, Enabling a first user to send to a second user a promotional 725/58, 83, 89, 100,109, 110, 120, 121 program icon used to enable recording of a program pro See application file for complete search history. moted by the icon includes enabling the first user to access a display of content accessible via a network environment. The (56) References Cited display of content includes the promotional program icon, and the first user is able to select the promotional program U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS icon and request presentation of the icon to a second user. 6,078,348 A * 6/2000 Klosterman et al. ............ 725/40 6,177,931 B1* 1/2001 Alexander et al. .............. 7.25/52 32 Claims, 11 Drawing Sheets 225 220 200 DISPLAY TV 296 MOBLE REMOTE oBo WDEO 270 PHONE PERSONAL t MUSIC RECORDER CLIENT APPLICATION(S) BROWSER APPLICATION(S) 280 U.S. Patent Nov. 20, 2012 Sheet 1 of 11 US 8,316,399 B1 HAAHAISÅHOWAW I"OIH U.S. Patent US 8,316,399 B1 s ºººJAVTVNOIINGANOO 9."OIH |S?JOM).9N OGSM0N U.S. Patent Nov. 20, 2012 Sheet 4 of 11 US 8,316,399 B1 U.S. Patent Nov. 20, 2012 Sheet 5 of 11 US 8,316,399 B1 505 PRESENT PROGRAMICON TO CLIENTSYSTEM RECEIVE NOTIFICATION OF 510 USER SELECTION OF PROGRAM ICON FROM CLIENTSYSTEM 515 IDENTIFY USER ENABLE USERTO RECORDA 520 PROGRAM PROMOTED BY THE PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMICON FIG. 5A U.S. Patent Nov. 20, 2012 Sheet 6 of 11 US 8,316,399 B1 505 PRESENT PROGRAMICON TO CLIENTSYSTEM RECEIVE NOTIFICATION OF USER SELECTION 510 OF PROGRAMICON FROM CLIENTSYSTEM IDENTIFYUSER PRESENT THE CLIENTSYSTEM WITH RECORDING OPTIONS, WHICH MAYBE CUSTOMIZED FOR USER RECEIVE USER OPTION SELECTION INFORMATION FROM THE CLIENT SYSTEM PROCESS OPTION SELECTION AND USER INFORMATION INTO A STANDARDIZED PACKET DELIVER THE PACKET TO ARECORDING DEVICE PROVISIONER OR DIRECTLY TO A RECORDING DEVICE OF THE USER RECEPT ACKNOWLEDGED SEND CONFIRMATION OF SENDERROR MESSAGE RECORDINGREQUEST TO CLIENTSYSTEM TO CLIENTSYSTEM FIG. 5B U.S. Patent Nov. 20, 2012 Sheet 7 of 11 US 8,316,399 B1 Setup Configuration Please check your setup configuration below. If any information is incorrect, you can change it here. My zip code is: 60S 90120 My type of service is: 610 G Cable R O Satellite/Dish 9 Broadcast / Antenna 61 have the following recording devices: \ Device 620 D 625 SOnV VCR C 620 1234567890 625 Select Type C 620 62 5 Select Type KC FIG. 6 U.S. Patent Nov. 20, 2012 Sheet 8 of 11 US 8,316,399 B1 FIG. 7 Setup Options ou have setup more than one recording device for your screen name. hich one should we send this request to? 705 GLiving Room VCR & OBedroom STB OFamily Room VCR Which program would you like to record? 7Q7 G Sopranos O) Friends What would you like to do? 710N Record this program 715 NOJust this episode 7'720-G 0 HighestGet a Season Priority Pass 730 O Lowest priority 735 Remind me about this program 740NOJust this episode TSNOEvery episode 2: O Add to my calendar NO Set a reminder 760-O Set an Alert 7 send this promotion to my friend 770 NG) in a Mail message 775-O in an instant Message 78 I cancel I U.S. Patent Nov. 20, 2012 Sheet 9 of 11 US 8,316,399 B1 800 Your request has been received Note: it will be sent to your recording device the next time it calls to check for new messages and events. Typically this happens once every 24 hours, but may be configured to occur more frequently. If your request is for a program that is airing before your recording device calls in to receive this request, it will not be able to record the program you selected. U.S. Patent Nov. 20, 2012 Sheet 10 of 11 US 8,316,399 B1 5Q. Present program icon to client System Receive notification of user 5.Q. selection of program icon from client system 515 53 Present the client system with recording options, which may be customized for user 905 920 O Record program and/or send 9 program icon to friend? Receive from client system Receive from client system user option selection user option selection information that includes Receive from client system information that includes user user selection of recording user option selection Selection of option to present options and does not include information that includes user program icon to friend and user selection of option to Selection of recording options does not include user present program icon to and user selection of options Selection of recording options friend to present program icon to friend 535 Process option selection and user information into a standardized packet S40 Deliver the packet to a recording device provisioner or directly to a recording device 925 Enable delivery of e-mail or of the user instant message containing program icon to a second user Yes 58. Receipt No acknowledged? Send confirmation of recording request to client FIG. 9 system 550 Send error message to client 545 system U.S. Patent Nov. 20, 2012 Sheet 11 of 11 US 8,316,399 B1 A Thought you might be interested in this TV show Subj. Thought you might be interested in this TV show. Date: 5/20/2002 11:43.38AMEastern Daylight Time O20 From: &LonColeman To: CarlMParsons 1025 Right click picture(s) to display picture options Carl, You've got to see the next episode of The Sopranos I'm hearing that this one is even better than last weeks show. Help US 8,316,399 B1 1. 2 ENABLING PROGRAMMING OF priority rating used to determine whether the program will be RECORDINGS recorded when a recording schedule of the program conflicts with a recording schedule of another program. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED The set of options may dynamically change based on iden APPLICATIONS tification data including user identification data and recording device identification data. The second user is also able to This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional perceive the set of options upon selecting the promotional Application No. 60/361.278, filed Mar. 4, 2002, and titled program icon. ENABLING PROGRAMMING OF PERSONAL VIDEO Implementations of the techniques described above may RECORDINGS, which is hereby incorporated by reference 10 include a method or process, an apparatus or a system, or in its entirety for all purposes. computer Software on a computer-accessible medium. Other features will be apparent from the description, the TECHNICAL FIELD drawings, and the claims. This document relates to enabling programming of per 15 DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Sonal recordings over a communications system. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communications system that BACKGROUND enables users to program personal recording devices over a network. Personal recording devices allow users to record programs FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the communications system of of interest for later viewing or listening. Such programs may FIG. 1 with a detailed view of an exemplary client system. include video programs (e.g., television programs) and/or FIG. 3 is a screen display of an exemplary conventional music programs (e.g., radio music or music playing from a electronic program guide. recording medium Such as a tape or a compact disc). FIG. 4. is a screen display of an exemplary display includ Examples of personal video recording devices include video 25 ing a promotional program icon. cassette recorders (VCRs), digital video disc (DVD) record FIG. 5A is a flow chart of an exemplary process used to ers, and digital recording set top boxes. Examples of personal enable recording of programs. music recording devices include tape players, CD players, FIG. 5B is a flow chart of the process of FIG. 5A with dictaphones, and MPEG layer 3 (MP3) players. Substeps exemplifying one method of enabling the user to The vast majority of personal recording devices are pro 30 record a program promoted by the promotional program icon.