Enabling communication connections related to received content
View Patent ↗A content receiver determines that a communication connection recipient identifier is associated with content received from a content provider. An associated communication device is identified by the content receiver. The content receiver then signals the communication device to initiate a communication connections utilizing the communication identifier. In some implementations, the content receiver may provide a user with a notification and may signal the communication device after receiving a responses to the notification. In one or more implementations, the communication connection recipient identifiers may be telephone numbers, the communication devices may be telecommunication devices, and the communication connections may be telephone connections. The content receiver may determine that a communication connection recipient identifier is associated with content based on analysis of metadata that accompanies or that otherwise corresponds to the received content or by audio and/or image recognition performed on the content.
1. A method for enabling communication connections related to received content at a content receiver, the method comprising:
determining, utilizing at least one processing unit, that at least one telephone number is associated with at least one instance of content stored in a digital video recorder by analyzing metadata related to the at least one instance of content, wherein the at least one telephone number is provided within the metadata and is extracted from the metadata by the content receiver, and wherein the metadata is provided to the content receiver separately from the at least one instance of content;
identifying at least one external telecommunication device, utilizing the at least one processing unit, that is separate from the content receiver but that is in communication with the content receiver, wherein the at least one external telecommunication device comprises a cellular telephone that is physically separate and apart from the content receiver;
providing at least one notification to at least one user regarding the at least one telephone number, wherein the at least one notification is displayed as an icon that does not include the at least one telephone number;
receiving at least one response to the at least one notification from the at least one user indicating to call the at least one telephone number, wherein the at least one response comprises a signal indicating a request for the at least one telephone number and is received from a user interface component that is separate from the at least one external telecommunication device; and
providing, utilizing the at least one processing unit and in response to the signal indicating the request for the at least one telephone number, the at least one telephone number extracted from the metadata to the external telecommunication device during playback of the at least one instance of content from the digital video recorder to initiate at least one telephone connection utilizing the at least one telephone number, wherein the signal indicating the request for the at least one telephone number is received after a user-initiated request for playback of the content and during playback of the at least one instance of content, and wherein the at least one telephone number is provided wirelessly to the cellular telephone in the form of a wireless signal using a wireless transmitter integrated with the content receiver, wherein the wireless signal is directed specifically to the cellular telephone.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said metadata related to the at least one instance of content is provided within electronic program guide data delivered to the content receiver in a separate band from the at least one instance of content.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said operation of identifying at least one telecommunication device, utilizing the at least one processing unit, that is associated with the content receiver further comprises retrieving associated telecommunication device information from at least one non-transitory storage medium.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
prompting at least one user for the associated telecommunication device information; and
storing the associated telecommunication device information received from the at least one user in the at least one non-transitory storage medium.
5. A content receiver system for receiving received content, the content receiver system comprising:
at least one receiver component that receives at least one instance of the received content;
a digital video recorder that stores the received content;
at least one wireless transmitter component;
at least one processing unit that: (a) extracts at least one telephone number associated with the at least one instance of the received content stored in the digital video recorder from metadata about the received content that is received at the content receiver system separately from the received content, (b) identifies that at least one external telecommunication device is in communication with the content receiver system, wherein the at least one external telecommunications device comprises a cellular telephone that is physically separate and apart from the content receiver, and (c) provides, in response to a signal indicating a request for the at least one telephone number and received from a user interface component that is separate from the at least one external telecommunication device and wherein the signal indicating the request for the at least one telephone number is received after a user-initiated request for playback of the received content and during playback of the received content, the extracted at least one telephone number to the at least one external telecommunication device via the at least one wireless transmitter component during playback of the received content from the digital video recorder to initiate at least one telephone connection utilizing the at least one telephone number extracted from the metadata provided separately from the received content; and
at least one user interface component that provides at least one notification to at least one user regarding the at least one telephone number, wherein the at least one notification is displayed as an icon that does not include the at least one telephone number, wherein the at least one user interface component receives at least one response to the at least one notification from the at least one user indicating to call the at least one telephone number prior to the at least one processing unit signaling the at least one external telecommunication device, and wherein the at least one response comprises the signal indicating a request for the at least one telephone number, and
wherein the at least one telephone number is provided wirelessly to the cellular telephone in the form of a wireless signal using the at least one wireless transmitter component, wherein the wireless signal is directed specifically to the identified cellular telephone.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the metadata related to the at least one instance of content is provided within electronic program guide data delivered to the content receiver system in a separate band from the received content.
7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the at least one processing unit identifies that the at least one external telecommunication device is associated with the content receiver system by retrieving associated telecommunication device information from at least one non-transitory storage medium of the at least one content receiver.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the content receiver system further comprises at least one user interface component that prompts at least one user for the associated telecommunication device information and the at least one processing unit stores the associated telecommunication device information received via the at least one user interface component in the at least one non-transitory storage medium.
9. A computer program product that is stored in at least one non-transitory machine readable medium, comprising:
a first set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory machine readable medium, executable by at least one processing unit to determine that at least one telephone number is provided in metadata associated with a television program received by a content receiver and stored in a digital video recorder, wherein the metadata is received by the content receiver separately from the television program;
a second set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory machine readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to identify an external telephone that is in communication with the content receiver, wherein the at least one external telephone comprises a cellular telephone that is physically separate and apart from the content receiver;
a third set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory machine readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to provide at least one notification to at least one user regarding the at least one telephone number, wherein the at least one notification is displayed as an icon that does not include the at least one telephone number;
a fourth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory machine readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to receive at least one response to the at least one notification from the at least one user indicating to call the at least one telephone number, wherein the at least one response comprises a signal indicating a request for the at least one telephone number and is received from a user interface component that is separate from the at least one external telecommunication device; and
a fifth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory machine readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit when the stored television program is being played back from the digital video recorder to provide, in response to the signal indicating the request for the at least one telephone number, wherein the signal indicating the request for the at least one telephone number is received after a user-initiated request for playback of the television program and during playback of the television program, the at least one telephone number to the external telephone to thereby allow the external telephone to initiate a telephone call to the at least one telephone number that is provided in the metadata associated with the television program that is provided separately from the television program, wherein the at least one telephone number is provided wirelessly to the cellular telephone in the form of a wireless signal using a wireless transmitter integrated with the content receiver, wherein the wireless signal is directed specifically to the cellular telephone.
10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the at least one telephone number is provided to the external telephone while the at least one telephone number is being displayed by the content receiver during playback of the stored television program from the digital video recorder.
11. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the metadata related to the television program is provided within electronic program guide data delivered to the content receiver in a separate band from the at least one instance of content.