Series reminders and series recording from an interactive television program guide
View Patent ↗An interactive television program guide system with program series reminder and recording capabilities is provided. The system allows a user to set a reminder or schedule a recording for a single episode or for each episode of a program series. In addition, other options may be provided that allow the user to determine, for example, whether to schedule reminders/recordings for episodes on all channels on which the program airs or only on a selected channels, whether to schedule reminders/recordings for all episodes including reruns or only new episodes, whether to schedule reminders/recordings for network or syndicated episodes, and whether to schedule reminders/recordings for episodes on all days or only on selected days of the week. Before the scheduled broadcast time of each episode of each selected program series, the system sends a reminder message to the user that reminds the user of the program episode or sends a record command to a videocassette recorder to initiate recording of the episode. The system allows a user to view a list of all currently requested program reminders and scheduled program recordings. The user may update, change, or cancel any entry in either list or the system may automatically update the lists to match new broadcast schedule information. If the user sets a reminder or schedules a recording that conflicts with an existing reminder or recording, the system may inform the user of the conflict and allow the user to resolve the conflict or the system may resolve the conflict.
1. A set top box comprising:
a receiver operatively communicating with a television distribution facility via a link and configured to:
receive a data stream from the television distribution facility including series information data for a plurality of programs that indicates which programs are episodes of a series of programs; and
receive a video stream of a program from the television distribution facility at a future scheduled time;
control circuitry configured to:
determine whether the program is an episode of the series of programs using the series information data;
cause a television monitor to display a program listing for the program; and
in response to a user selection of the program listing, cause the television monitor to display a first option to record only first run episodes of the series of programs, and display a second option to record all episodes of the series of programs; and
a recording device configured to initiate a recording of the video stream of the program at the future scheduled time in accordance with a user selection of the first option or the second option.
2. The set top box of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
determine a recording schedule in accordance with user selection of the first or second option; and
send a recording signal to the recording device to record the program in accordance with the recording schedule associated with the program.
3. The set top box of claim 2 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
receive an updated selection of the first option or the second option; and
determine an updated recording schedule in accordance with the updated selection.
4. The set top box of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
in response to the user selection of the first option, cause a search of a programming database to identify all episodes of the series of programs to be broadcast for a first time.
5. The set top box of claim 4 , wherein the programming database is accessed through the television distribution facility through the link.
6. The set top box of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
in response to the user selection of the second option, cause a search of a programming database to identify all episodes of the series of programs.
7. The set top box of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
cause the television monitor to display a cancel option to cancel a recording of the program; and
cause the television monitor to display an update option to update programming information related to the program.
8. The set top box of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
cause the television monitor to display an option to schedule a recording for particular episodes that are part of the series based on one or more of:
a selected channel on which the program is to be broadcast;
all channels;
a selected day of the week on which the program is to be broadcast; and
all days of the week;
determine a recording schedule in accordance with a user selection of the option; and
send a recording signal to the recording device to record the program in accordance with the recording schedule associated with the program.
9. The set top box of claim 1 , wherein the receiver is a high definition television (HDTV) receiver and the link is a high-bandwidth satellite link.
10. A user television equipment comprising:
a receiver configured to receive series information data for a plurality of programs that indicates a subset of programs of the plurality of programs that are episodes of a series of programs;
a recording device configured to record a program transmitted to the user television equipment over a high bandwidth link; and
control circuitry operatively coupled to the receiver and the recording device and configured to:
determine that the program is an episode of the series of programs using the series information data;
cause a television monitor to display a first option to record only first run episodes of the series of programs;
cause the television monitor to display a second option to record all episodes of the series of programs;
in response to a user selection of the first option or the second option, create a recording request having recording criteria;
cause a search of a program database via the link to identify a plurality of episodes that match the recording criteria;
determine a recording schedule for each episode of the plurality of episodes; and
send a recording signal to the recording device to record the program in accordance with the recording schedule associated with the program.
11. The user television equipment of claim 10 , wherein:
in response to a selection of the first option, the search of the program database identifies episodes of the series of programs that are scheduled to be broadcast for the first time; and
in response to a selection of the second option, the search of the program database identifies all episodes of the series of programs that are scheduled to be broadcast.
12. The user television equipment of claim 10 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
cause the display of a program recording update screen including a third option to cancel a recording of the program; and
in response to a user selection of the third option to cancel, cancel the recording schedule associated with the program.
13. The user television equipment of claim 10 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
cause the display of a program update screen including an option to update a recording of the program; and
in response to a user selection of the option to update the recording of the program:
determine updated recording criteria;
initiate an updated search of program database to identify episodes that match the updated recording criteria; and
determine an updated recording schedule for each episode of the plurality of episodes.
14. The user television equipment of claim 10 , wherein the recording schedule is determined by a remote television distribution facility and transmitted to the user television equipment via the link.
15. The user television equipment of claim 10 , wherein the program database is accessed through a television distribution facility via the link.
16. A television program distribution system comprising:
a television distribution facility configured to:
transmit data signals including series information data for a plurality of programs that indicates which programs are episodes of a series of programs; and
transmit video signals including a program of the plurality of programs;
user television equipment configured to receive the video signals from the television distribution facility, the television equipment comprising:
a remote control device for receiving user input commands;
a video output operatively coupled to a television display;
a recording device configured to record a program; and
control circuitry configured to:
determine whether the program is an episode of the series of programs using the series information data;
output a program guide screen to the television display including a first option to record only first run episodes of the series of programs and a second option to record all episodes of the series of programs;
receive a user selection of the first option or the second option via the remote control device;
determine a recording schedule for the program; and
send a recording signal to the recording device to record the program in accordance with the recording schedule.
17. The television program distribution system of claim 16 , wherein:
the television distribution facility provides access to a programming database; and
the control circuitry is further configured to:
determine recording criteria based on the user selection;
cause a search of the program database to identify a plurality of episodes that match the recording criteria; and
determine the recording schedule based on each episode of the plurality of episodes.
18. The television program distribution system of claim 17 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
in response to a user selection of the first option, causing a search of the programming database to identify all episodes of the series of programs to be broadcast for a first time.
19. The television program distribution system of claim 16 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
cause the display of a program update screen including an option to update a recording of the program; and
in response to a user selection of the option to update the recording of the program:
access a programming database via the television distribution facility to identify a plurality of episodes that match updated recording criteria; and
determine an updated recording schedule for each episode of the plurality of episodes.
20. The television program distribution system of claim 16 , wherein the television distribution facility is configured to:
transmit the data signals over a first link; and
transmit the video signals over a second link having a higher bandwidth than the first link.