System and method for bypassing an emergency alert break-in for a recorded event

1. A set top box for bypassing an emergency alert break-in for a recorded event, the set top box comprising:

a memory component for storing computer executable instructions;

a communication interface for receiving media content data from a cable service provider;

a decoder module for decoding the received media content data;

an emergency alert break-in monitoring module for identifying an emergency alert break-in from the received data, by determining whether the received data includes a tone-based attention signal associated with an emergency alert break-in;

a digital video recorder controller module for determining whether the identified emergency alert break-in affects a recording of a program on a recorded channel; and

an emergency alert break-in bypass module for bypassing the identified emergency alert break-in for enabling the digital video recorder controller module to record the program without the identified emergency alert break-in by requesting, in response to a determination to bypass the emergency alert break-in, the program from an Internet television source, and, responsive to receiving the program from the internet television source, recording the received program.

2. The set top box of claim 1 , wherein the communication interface receives both the recorded channel and a non-emergency alert break-in channel corresponding to the recorded channel.

3. The set top box of claim 2 , further comprising a data storage unit for storing a data structure that includes data indicating the non-emergency alert break-in channel corresponding to the recorded channel.

4. The set top box of claim 3 , wherein the emergency alert break-in bypass module identifies the non-emergency alert break-in channel corresponding to the recorded channel; and switches recording of the program from the recorded channel to recording of the program on the non-emergency alert break-in channel corresponding to the recorded channel.

5. The set top box of claim 2 , wherein the data storage unit stores user preferences associated with the recording of the program.

6. The set top box of claim 5 , wherein the user preferences associated with the recording of the program may be different from user preferences associated with the recording of a second program.

7. The set top box of claim 5 , wherein the emergency alert break-in bypass module retrieves the user preferences associated with the recording of the program to determine whether to bypass the identified emergency alert break-in for recording of the program.

8. The set top box of claim 1 , wherein the emergency alert break-in bypass module requests the program from the cable service provider in response to a determination that the identified emergency alert break-in affects the recording of the program on the recorded channel; and responsive to receiving the program from the cable service provider, the digital video recorder controller module records the received program.

9. The set top box of claim 1 , wherein the internet television source is a website associated with a network broadcasting the program.

10. A method executed by a set top box for bypassing an emergency alert break-in for a recorded event, the method comprising:

receiving media content data from a cable service provider;

determining a recording setting associated with the set top box;

determining whether the media content data includes an emergency alert break-in on a channel associated with the recording setting, by determining whether the media content data includes a tone-based attention signal associated with an emergency alert break-in; and

bypassing recording of the emergency alert break-in on the channel associated with the recording setting by:

requesting, in response to a determination to bypass an emergency alert break-in for a recording event, a regularly scheduled program corresponding to the channel associated with the recording setting from an Internet television source; and

modifying, responsive to receiving the regularly scheduled program from the Internet television source, the recording setting to record the received regularly scheduled program.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of bypassing recording of the emergency alert break-in on the channel associated with the recording setting further comprises:

retrieving user preferences associated with the recording setting; and

determining whether to bypass recording of the emergency alert break-in on the channel associated with the recording setting based on the user preferences.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the media content data received from the cable service provider includes a non-emergency alert break-in channel corresponding to the channel associated with the recording setting.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the non-emergency alert break-in channel may only be decoded for recording of the nonemergency alert break-in channel.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of bypassing recording of the emergency alert break-in on the channel associated with the recording setting further comprises:

identifying the non-emergency alert break-in channel corresponding to the channel associated with the recording setting; and

modifying the recording setting to record the non-emergency alert break-in channel.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of bypassing recording of the emergency alert break-in on the channel associated with the recording setting further comprises:

requesting a regularly scheduled program corresponding to the channel associated with the recording setting from the cable service provider; and

responsive to receiving the regularly scheduled program from the cable service provider, modifying the recording setting to record the received regularly scheduled program.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the Internet television source is a website associated with a network broadcasting the regularly scheduled program.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the request for the regularly scheduled program is transmitted to the Internet television source is performed after the regularly scheduled program has terminated.