Tivo Corporation

Wijnand Van Stam

Robert Vallone

Kamal Mahmood Ali

David Avraham Brown

Howard Look

Ain McKendrick

Karen Bedard

A method and apparatus for secure transfer of previously broadcasted content enables the secure transfer of previously broadcasted content between DVRs on a computer network.

Method and apparatus for secure transfer of previously broadcasted content

A system and method for making program recommendations to users of a network-based video recording system utilizes expressed preferences as inputs to collaborative filtering and Bayesian predictive algorithms to rate television programs using a graphical rating system. The predictive algorithms are adaptive, improving in accuracy as more programs are rated.

Intelligent system and methods of recommending media content items based on user preferences

An automatic playback overshoot correction system predicts the position in the program material where the user expects to be when the user stops the fast forward or reverse progression of the program material. The invention determines the position where the program material was stopped. The media controller transitions to the new mode that the user selected, starting at the stopped position with an overshoot correction factor added or subtracted from it. The invention adapts to the user by remembering how much the user corrects after he stops the fast forward or reverse mode. Correction factors are calculated using the user's corrections and adjusting the correction factors if the user continues to make corrections. The invention also uses a prediction method to correctly place the user within the program upon transition out of either mode and determines if the speed of the fast forward or reverse modes and then automatically subtracts or adds, respectively, a time multiple to the frame where the transition was detected and positions the user at the correct frame. The time multiple is fine tuned if the user is consistently correcting after the fast forward or rewind mode stops. Another method initially tests the user's reaction time using a test video and asks the user to press the fast forward or reverse button on his control device during the test video and then asks the user to position the video to the place that he expected the system to have been. This time span is then used whenever the user uses the fast forward or reverse modes and is adjusted with a multiple for each speed. A final method allows the user to simply set a sensitivity setting that the system will use as a correction factor and a multiple is subtracted or added to the release frame whenever the user uses the fast forward or reverse modes, respectively.

Automatic playback overshoot correction system

A television viewer interface system provides a viewer interface that allows the viewer to access different functions of a system. The invention's construct allows items called video loopsets to be stored on a storage device and displays single or multiple video loopsets in the background area of the screen on a TV or monitor. Temporal elements are drawn onto the screen over the video loops. A highlight bar is responsive to the user's commands and is used to indicate the current menu item that can be selected by the user. Information is presented in a successive disclosure format where the user navigates through menus by moving the highlight bar to the right to obtain more information or to the left to see less information and return to the previous location. Whispering arrows are provided on each screen that tell the user that more information is available in that particular direction.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Wijnand Van Stam