Series reminders and series recording from an interactive television program guide

摘要

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.

主权项

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; andreceive 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; andin 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.