Management of digital memory during playback of moving images

摘要

Management of digital storage space during the playback of moving images in a broadcasted program or any other coherent moving image presentation involves marking already-viewed frames for deletion. The marking occurs before completion of the playback of the presentation so that memory space is made immediately available for additional recording of other broadcasted presentations or for other purposes before completion of the playback of the video. A latency time period between playback and authorization for deletion gives the viewer flexibility to replay parts of the presentation before deletion. The latency time period is optionally adaptable, and may be adjusted in accordance with automatic monitoring of whether the viewer is viewing the playback and in accordance with predefined parameters derived from the stored presentation. A count may be maintained of the number of times a frame is played back to refrain from marking until a particular count is reached.