Universal Timer Schedule for Seamless LAN Tuner Allocation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users in households often face challenges in setting timers for future content reception across multiple devices within a local area network, as available tuners are not always allocated efficiently, leading to inaccessible content due to resource scarcity and overlapping timer settings.
Innovation Solution
A system and process that facilitate seamless timer management across multiple devices within a LAN by using a universal timer schedule, prioritizing requests based on types like auto-tune, pay-per-view, and original content, and allocating tuners dynamically to ensure timely tuning to content streams, even when resources are scarce.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If timers are set individually on each STB without coordination, then each user can set timers on their own device, but tuner resources are wasted and content becomes inaccessible due to resource scarcity and overlapping timer settings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines individual STB timer schedules into a unified household timer schedule by communicating timer information between devices on the network. This merging allows the system to see the big picture of tuner usage across all devices, preventing overlapping timers and ensuring content accessibility while preserving individual timer setting capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal timer schedule that functions across multiple STBs and tuners simultaneously. This universal schedule can allocate and manage tuner resources across the entire household network, making the timer system multi-functional and adaptable to various device configurations while ensuring reliable content delivery.
2Productivity
If multiple tuners are provided in STBs, then more content streams can be received simultaneously, but tuners are not utilized efficiently when multiple users have separate STBs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends timer management from the individual STB level to the household network level, adding a new dimension of coordination. By creating a universal timer schedule that spans multiple devices and tuners, the system optimizes resource utilization across the entire network, ensuring that tuners are efficiently allocated based on actual household needs rather than being siloed in individual devices.
3Reliability
If a timer is set on one STB, then that user can receive content, but other STBs in the household cannot access the same content stream due to tuner allocation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the household timer management system into individual STB timer schedules that are communicated and coordinated through a universal timer schedule. This segmentation allows each STB to maintain its own timer settings and content access rights while the universal schedule ensures that tuner allocations are coordinated across all devices, enabling multiple users to access different content streams simultaneously without conflicts.
Data Source
AI summary
Devices, systems, and processes are described for seamless use of timers across multiple user devices on a LAN. A system may include a first user device, communicatively coupled to the LAN, having at least one first tuner and a first hardware processor configured for facilitating a first timer manager. A second user device communicatively coupled to the LAN may include at least one second tuner and a second hardware processor configured for facilitating a second timer manager. Each of the first timer manager and the second timer manager may be configured to populate a universal timer schedule that identifies at least one of a future availability and a future use for each of the at least one first tuner and the at least one second tuner. The universal timer schedule is populated based upon a request type, such as an auto-tune, PPV, original content, re-run, and a Joey request type.