Media content shifting

摘要

Embodiments of the disclosed invention include a system and method for recording media content. For example, in one embodiment, a method for recording media content is disclosed that includes communicating with a home gateway to determine whether a device connected to the home gateway has enough free storage space to store a media content in response to a determination that an internal data storage unit of a set top box does not have sufficient free storage space to store the media content. In one embodiment, the method routes the storage of the media content to the device via the home gateway in response to a determination that the device connected to the home gateway has sufficient free storage space to store the media content.

主权项

1. A method for recording media content, the method comprising:
receiving a request from a user to record a media content; determining an amount of storage space needed to store the media content; determining whether there is enough free storage space on an internal data storage unit to store the media content based on the amount of storage needed to store the media content; responsive to a determination that the internal data storage unit does not contain enough free storage space to store the media content, determining whether a network device connected to a home gateway has enough free storage space on a data storage unit associated with the network device to store the media content; responsive to a determination that the network device connected to the home gateway has enough free storage space on the data storage unit associated with the network device to store the media content, routing storage of a recording or the media content to the data storage unit associated with the network device via the home gateway, wherein the recording of the media content includes digital rights management (DRM) encoding that restricts playback of the recording of the media content, wherein the digital rights management (DRM) encoding includes an identifier associated with the home gateway, the DRM encoding enabling playback on any device communicatively coupled to the home gateway and restricts access or playback of the recording of the media content to any device not communicatively coupled to the home gateway; responsive to a determination that neither the internal data storage unit nor a network device connected to the home gateway have enough free storage space on a data storage unit associated with the network device to store the media content, determining based on a prespecified user-selectable option whether to delete content from a network device or from the internal data storage unit for enabling the storage of the recording of the media content; responsive to a determination that the prespecified user-selectable option indicates that content is to be deleted from a network device, deleting content from the data storage unit associated with the network device to create sufficient storage space for storing the recording of the media content and routing storage of the recording of the media content to the data storage unit associated with the network device via the home gateway; and responsive to a determination that the prespecified user-selectable option indicates that content is to be deleted from the internal data storage unit, deleting content from the internal data storage unit to create sufficient storage space for storing the recording of the media content and storing the recording of the media content to the internal data storage unit.