Methods and apparatus for responding to inoperative commands
View Patent ↗Systems, apparatus, and methods are described for responding to inoperative commands on a server device. In some embodiments, the disclosed technology facilitates pausing of content being played on a device without creating a bookmark of the location in the content at which the content was paused. In response to receiving the request to pause the content from playing, the server device generates a pause instruction to pause the content from playing. Upon expiry of a timeout interval, the server device automatically transforms the pause instruction into a stop instruction, which when executed causes stopping the content from playing. In some embodiments, the server device detects an user interaction event, prior to expiry of the timeout interval. Non-limiting examples of the user interaction may be shutting down the server device, switching from the content to a live broadcast program, switching from the content to another content, or exiting from the content.
1. A method of responding to inoperative commands on a server device comprising:
outputting the content for display on a monitor coupled to the server device;
receiving a request to pause the content from playing on the server device;
in response to receiving the request to pause the content from playing:
generating a pause instruction to pause the content from playing;
in response to determining expiry of a timeout interval from a time stamp of generating the pause instruction:
transforming the pause instruction into a stop instruction to stop the content from playing;
executing the stop instruction to stop the content from playing;
in response to detecting a user interaction event prior to expiry of a timeout interval from a timestamp of executing the pause instruction:
outputting a message for display on the monitor coupled to the server device prompting user selection of an option for confirming stopping the content from playing;
upon receiving user selection of the option for stopping the content from playing:
generating a stop instruction to stop the content from playing;
executing the stop instruction to stop the content from playing;
saving, at a storage location, logical information corresponding to the stop instruction;
generating multiple options for resuming playback of the content, wherein a first option of the multiple options is for resuming the playback from a default position, and wherein a second option of the multiple options is for resuming playback of the content from a user-specified position, wherein the user specified position is prior to or subsequent to the default position;
receiving a user selection of the second option to resume playback of the content on the server device from the user-specified position, the user selection including the user-specified position; and
generating a resume instruction to resume the playback of the content at the server device from the user-specified position.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein no user interaction event is detected during the timeout interval.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logical information is (i) agnostic to a temporal position or a spatial index of a point where the stop instruction was executed and (ii) content-specific information usable for identifying a forward playback point that is at or subsequent to the point where the stop instruction was executed.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interaction event includes at least one of: shutting down the server device, switching from the content to a live broadcast program, switching from the content to another content, or exiting from the content.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user-specified position is at or subsequent to the point where the stop instruction was executed.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from a client device, a request to resume playback of the content on the client device, wherein the client device is different from the server device;
generating, at the server, a resume instruction including the forward playback point that is at or subsequent to the point where the stop instruction was executed at the server device; and
sending, to the client device, the content and the resume instruction to resume playing the content on the client device.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server device is a digital video recorder (DVR), and wherein the storage location is a remote server communicatively coupled to the DVR.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the remote server communicatively coupled to the DVR is a cloud server.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server device is a digital video recorder (DVR), and wherein the storage location is a database locally coupled to the DVR.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logical information corresponding to the stop instruction is expressed as at least one of: a percentage of the completion of the play of the content, a last-encountered commercial break in the content, a last-encountered chapter in the content, or a last-encountered segment of a game.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logical information corresponding to the stop instruction is expressed as a last-encountered video frame in the content.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the content is in MPEG format, and wherein the video frame includes one of: an I-frame, a P-frame, or a B-frame.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content is delivered in an online session from a content provider, wherein the session expires after a session timeout interval, further comprising:
communicating, to the content provider, a request for suspending the session, in response to executing the stop instruction.
14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving, prior to expiry of the session timeout interval, a request to resume playback of the content on the server device;
communicating, to the content provider, a resume instruction that causes joining the suspended session to resume playing the content.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein in response to executing the stop instruction includes:
outputting a message for display on the monitor coupled to the server device indicating an operation corresponding to the request to pause the content from playing on the server device.
16. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a processor of a server device, cause the processor to:
output content for display on a monitor coupled to the server device;
receive a request to pause the content from playing on the server device;
in response to receiving the request to pause the content from playing:
generate a pause instruction to pause the content from playing;
in response to determining expiry of a timeout interval from a time stamp of generating the pause instruction:
transform the pause instruction into a stop instruction to stop the content from playing, wherein no user interaction event is detected during the timeout interval;
execute the stop instruction to stop the content from playing;
in response to detecting a user interaction event prior to expiry of the timeout interval:
output a message for display on the monitor coupled to the server device prompting user selection of an option for confirming stopping the content from playing;
upon receiving user selection of the option for stopping the content from playing:
generate a stop instruction to stop the content from playing;
execute the stop instruction to stop the content from playing;
save, at a storage location, logical information corresponding to the stop instruction, wherein the logical information is (i) agnostic to a temporal position or a spatial index of a point where the stop instruction was generated and (ii) content-specific information representative of a forward playback point that is at or subsequent to the point where the stop instruction was generated;
generate multiple options for resuming playback of the content, wherein a first option of the multiple options is for resuming the playback from a default position, and wherein a second option of the multiple options is for resuming playback of the content from a user-specified position, wherein the user specified position is prior to or subsequent to the default position;
receive a user selection of the second option to resume playback of the content on the server device from the user-specified position, wherein the user selection includes the user-specified position; and
generate a resume instruction to resume the playback of the content at the server device from the user-specified position.
17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the user interaction event includes at least one of: shutting down the server device, switching from the content to a live broadcast program, switching from the content to another content, or exiting from the content.
18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein user-specified position is at or subsequent to the point where the stop instruction was generated.
19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
receiving, from a client device, a request to resume playback of the content on the client device, wherein the client device is different from the server device;
generating, at the server, a resume instruction including the forward playback point that is at or subsequent to the point where the stop instruction was generated at the server device; and
sending, to the client device, the content and the resume instruction to resume playing the content on the client device.
20. A method of responding to inoperative commands on a server device comprising:
outputting the content for display on a monitor coupled to the server device;
receiving a request to pause the content from playing on the server device;
in response to receiving the request to pause the content from playing:
generating a pause instruction to pause the content from playing;
in response to determining expiry of a timeout interval from a time stamp of generating the pause instruction:
transforming the pause instruction into a stop instruction to stop the content from playing, wherein no user interaction event is detected during the timeout interval;
executing the stop instruction to stop the content from playing;
in response to detecting a user interaction event prior to expiry of the timeout interval:
outputting a message for display on the monitor coupled to the server device prompting user selection of an option for confirming stopping the content from playing;
upon receiving user selection of the option for stopping the content from playing:
generating a stop instruction to stop the content from playing;
executing the stop instruction to stop the content from playing;
saving, at a storage location, logical information corresponding to the stop instruction, wherein the logical information is (i) agnostic to a temporal position or a spatial index of a point where the stop instruction was generated and (ii) content-specific information representative of a forward playback point that is at or subsequent to the point where the stop instruction was generated;
generating multiple options for resuming playback of the content, wherein a first option of the multiple options is for resuming the playback from a default position, and wherein a second option of the multiple options is for resuming playback of the content from a user-specified position, wherein the user specified position is prior to or subsequent to the default position;
receiving a user selection of the second option to resume playback of the content on the server device from the user-specified position, wherein the user selection includes the user-specified position; and
generating a resume instruction to resume the playback of the content at the server device from the user-specified position.