SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REMOTE RESUME OF VIDEO AND DVR CONTENT

1 . A media broker comprising:

a communication interface communicatively coupling the media broker to one or more renderers; and

a controller associated with the communication interface adapted to:

receive a request from a user of a renderer to play a media item;

retrieve at least one resume point associated with the user and the media item; and

enable viewing the media item at the renderer beginning at the at least one resume point.

2 . The media broker of claim 1 wherein the request comprises a user identifier and a media item identifier.

3 . The media broker of claim 1 wherein the controller is further adapted to:

transmit the at least one resume point to the renderer; and

receive a selection of one of the at least one resume point.

4 . The media broker of claim 1 wherein the at least one resume point is stored at the media broker.

5 . The media broker of claim 1 wherein the at least one resume point is stored in a user server.

6 . The media broker of claim 1 wherein the controller is further adapted to transmit a menu of available media items.

7 . The media broker of claim 6 wherein the menu of available media items is aggregated from a plurality of media storage devices.

8 . The media broker of claim 1 wherein each of the at least one resume point is a result of an action associated with the user while viewing the media item at one of the renderer and another renderer.

9 . A computer-readable medium embodied in an article of manufacture encoded with instructions for directing a processor of a media broker to:

receive a request from a user of a renderer to play a media item;

retrieve at least one resume point associated with the user and the media item; and

enable viewing the media item at the renderer beginning at the at least one resume point.

10 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the request comprises a user identifier and a media item identifier.

11 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the processor is further adapted to:

transmit the at least one resume point to the renderer; and

receive a selection of one of the at least one resume point.

12 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the at least one resume point is stored at the media broker.

13 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the at least one resume point is stored in a user server.

14 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the processor is further adapted to transmit a menu of available media items.

15 . The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein the menu of available media items is aggregated from a plurality of media storage devices.

16 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein each of the at least one resume point is a result of an action associated with the user while viewing the media item at one of the renderer and another renderer.

17 . A method comprising:

receiving a request from a user of a renderer to play a media item;

retrieving at least one resume point associated with the user and the media item; and

enabling viewing the media item at the renderer beginning at the at least one resume point.

18 . The method of claim 17 wherein enabling viewing the media item comprises directing a media storage device to stream the media item to the renderer.

19 . The method of claim 17 wherein each of the at least one resume point is a result of an action associated with the user while viewing the media item at one of the renderer and another renderer.

20 . A renderer comprising:

a communication interface communicatively coupling the renderer to a media broker; and

a controller associated with the communication interface adapted to:

transmit a request comprising a user identifier and a media item identifier associated with a media item to the media broker;

receive at least one resume point associated with the user identifier and the media item identifier;

display the at least one resume point;

receive a selection of one of the at least one resume point; and

transmit the selection to the media broker.

21 . The renderer of claim 20 wherein the controller is further adapted to:

receive a streaming broadcast of the media item beginning at the one of the at least one resume point; and

display the streaming broadcast.

22 . The renderer of claim 20 wherein the media item is one of a plurality of media items aggregated from a plurality of media storage devices and displayed for selection by a user.

23 . A computer-readable medium embodied in an article of manufacture encoded with instructions for directing a processor of a renderer to:

transmit a request comprising a user identifier and a media item identifier associated with a media item to a media broker;

receive at least one resume point associated with the user identifier and the media item identifier;

display the at least one resume point;

receive a selection of one of the at least one resume point; and

transmit the selection to the media broker.

24 . The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the processor is further directed to:

receive a streaming broadcast of the media item beginning at the one of the at least one resume point; and

display the streaming broadcast.

25 . The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the media item is one of a plurality of media items aggregated from a plurality of media storage devices and displayed for selection by a user.

26 . A method comprising:

transmitting a request comprising a user identifier and a media item identifier associated with a media item to a media broker;

receiving at least one resume point associated with the user identifier and the media item identifier;

displaying the at least one resume point;

receiving a selection of one of the at least one resume point; and

transmitting the selection to the media broker.

27 . The method of claim 26 wherein the media item is one of a plurality of media items aggregated from a plurality of media storage devices and displayed for selection by a user.