Proactive rebooting in a set-top terminal and corresponding methods

1. A method for rebooting a set-top terminal, comprising:

detecting an indication of a critical condition associated with the set-top terminal;

determining based on a current status of resources in the set-top terminal if a current time provides an opportunity for a reboot of the set-top terminal in a manner that reduces user intrusiveness wherein determining based on the current status of the resources in the set-top terminal further comprises querying at least one of the resources to determine if the set-top terminal is in a powered-on state;

querying, in response to determining that the set-top terminal is in the powered-on state, the at least one of the resources to determine if a time window for rebooting has been configured;

determining whether the current time is within the configured time window;

querying, in response to determining that the current time is within the configured time window, the at least one of the resources to determine if a recording is scheduled; and

effecting a rebooting of the set-top terminal if the current time provides the opportunity, otherwise postponing the reboot.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the indication comprises polling a bit change associated with a module configured to detect the critical condition.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the indication comprises receiving an indication signal from a module configured to detect the critical condition.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein responsive to determining that the set-top terminal is in soft-power off state, querying the at least one of the resources to determine if the recording is scheduled.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein responsive to determining that the recording is not scheduled, determining that the current time provides the opportunity.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein responsive to determining that the recording is scheduled, determining that the current time does not provide the opportunity.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein querying, in response to determining that the set-top terminal is in the powered-on state, the at least one of the resources to determine if the time window for rebooting has been configured comprises querying the at least one of the resources to determine one of the following: if a headend has configured the time window for rebooting, if a user configuration process has configured the time window for rebooting, and if the headend and the user configuration process have configured the time window for rebooting.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein querying further comprises accessing a configuration file comprising information corresponding to the time window for rebooting.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein responsive to determining that the current time is not within the configured time window, determining that the current time does not provide the opportunity.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein responsive to determining that the recording is scheduled, determining that the current time does not provide the opportunity.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein responsive to determining that the recording is not scheduled, determining that the current time provides the opportunity.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein responsive to determining that the recording is not scheduled, providing a dialog box that enables the user to determine whether the current time provides the opportunity.

13. A set-top terminal comprising:

a memory with proactive reboot logic; and

a processor configured with the proactive reboot logic to:

detect an indication of a critical condition associated with the set-top terminal;

determine based on a current status of resources in the set-top terminal if a current time provides an opportunity for a reboot of the set-top terminal in a manner that reduces user intrusiveness;

effect a rebooting of the set-top terminal if the current time provides the opportunity, otherwise postponing the reboot;

query at least one of the resources to determine if the set-top terminal is in a powered-on state;

responsive to determining that the set-top terminal is in the powered-on state, query the at least one of the resources to determine if a headend has configured a time window for rebooting, if a user configuration process has configured the time window for rebooting, or if the headend and the user configuration process have configured the time window for rebooting;

determine whether the current time is within the configured time window;

responsive to determining that the current time is not within the configured time window, determine that the current time does not provide the opportunity; and

responsive to determining that the current time is within the configured time window, query the at least one of the resources to determine if a recording is scheduled.

14. The set-top terminal of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured with the proactive reboot logic to:

query the at least one of the resources to determine if the set-top terminal is in a soft power-off state;

responsive to determining that the set-top terminal is in the soft-power off state, query the at least one of the resources to determine if the recording is scheduled;

responsive to determining that the recording is not scheduled, determine that the current time provides the opportunity; and

responsive to determining that the recording is scheduled, determine that the current time does not provide the opportunity.

15. The set-top terminal of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured with the proactive reboot logic to:

responsive to determining that the recording is scheduled, determine that the current time does not provide the opportunity; and

responsive to determining that the recording is not scheduled, determine that the current time provides the opportunity or provide a dialog box that enables the user to determine whether the current time provides the opportunity.

16. A computer readable storage medium, wherein the medium is one of magnetic, electronic or optical, storing a proactive reboot program, the program including logic for:

detecting an indication of a critical condition associated with a set-top terminal;

determining based on a current status of resources in the set-top terminal if a current time provides an opportunity for a reboot of the set-top terminal in a manner that reduces user intrusiveness wherein determining based on the current status of the resources in the set-top terminal further comprises querying at least one of the resources to determine if the set-top terminal is in a powered-on state;

querying, in response to determining that the set-top terminal is in the powered-on state, the at least one of the resources to determine if a time window for rebooting has been configured:

determining whether the current time is within the configured time window;

querying, in response to determining that the current time is within the configured time window, the at least one of the resources to determine if a recording is scheduled; and

effecting a rebooting of the set-top terminal if the current time provides the opportunity, otherwise postponing the reboot.