Set-Top Box Roaming Pause Point Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current multimedia systems do not allow seamless pausing and resuming of live television or recorded content across different set-top boxes within a customer's premise without losing stored content or requiring users to manually resume playback from the same device.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system with a master set-top box that includes tuners, a control module, and a home network interface, which enables the creation of a television roaming pause (TVRP) point for paused content, allowing users to pause a program on one set-top box and resume it on another within the premise without losing stored content, using a program allocation table and index to manage content streaming and storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If users pause content on one set-top box, then playback can be stopped at a specific point, but users cannot resume playback on a different set-top box without losing stored content
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a copy of the paused content state (TVRP - Television Roaming Pause) that can be accessed from multiple set-top boxes. When content is paused on one STB, the pause point information is copied to the headend server, allowing any STB in the household to resume from the same pause point without losing the stored content state.
Solution Approach 2:
The headend server acts as an intermediary that stores and manages TVRP information between the set-top boxes. Instead of direct peer-to-peer communication between STBs, the headend mediates the pause and resume operations, ensuring content integrity while enabling cross-device resumption.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple set-top boxes are installed to allow content viewing in multiple rooms, then users can access content in different locations, but the amount of content available is limited by the number of tuners in each set-top box
Solution Approach 1:
The system makes the tuner resources universal across multiple set-top boxes. Instead of each STB needing its own dedicated tuners, the tuners at the headend serve all STBs in the household. Any STB can access and resume content from any other STB's pause points, effectively sharing the tuner pool across the entire network.
3Ease of operation
If users manually resume playback from the same device, then stored content can be maintained, but user convenience is reduced by requiring manual resumption on the original device
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides self-service functionality where the pause point information automatically follows the content across devices. Users don't need to manually transfer or remember pause points - the system automatically manages the TVRP information and makes it available on any STB, allowing users to simply select the content on any device and resume automatically.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatuses can be operable to facilitate pausing playback of recorded multimedia or live television on a multimedia player and resuming playback from the pause point on the same or a different multimedia player. A user can pause a channel on a multimedia player and resume play of the paused channel on a different multimedia player. A user can pause a channel on a multimedia player and tune the multimedia player to a different channel without losing content associated with the paused channel.