CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application relates to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/885,972, which was co-filed herewith on May 28, 2020, in the name of inventors Yunfeng Yang, John Huynh, Gowtham Ramkumar, Mark Sokald, Jason Carlson and Seth Byerley, is entitled “Devices, Systems and Processes for Facilitating Seamless Digital Video Recording Of Content And Use Thereof Across Multiple Devices Within A Local Area Network” (herein, “Seamless DVRs”). The present application also relates to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/886,073, which was co-filed herewith on May 28, 2020, in the name of inventors Yunfeng Yang, John Huynh, Gowtham Ramkumar, Mark Sokald, Jason Carlson and Seth Byerley, is entitled “Devices, Systems and Processes For Facilitating Seamless Use Of Tuners Across Multiple Devices Within A Local Area Network” (herein, “Seamless Tuners”). The entire contents of each of the above identified applications are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The technology described herein generally relates to devices, systems, and processes for facilitating use of timers for facilitating the receiving of digital content. The technology described herein also generally relates to the use of multiple timers, spread across multiple devices interconnected across a local area network (“LAN”) and the use of such timers for activation of given tuners provided by the multiple devices interconnected across a LAN. The technology described herein also generally relates to the allocation of scarce resources, such as timers, across a local area network to facilitate the timely tuning of tuners to given content streams wherein, absent such allocation of resources, tuning to certain content streams may not be achievable.

BACKGROUND

Today, users commonly use content receiving devices, such as cable set top boxes, satellite set top boxes, streaming devices, such as those provided by ROKU, AMAZON, and others, and other devices to receive various forms of content. Herein and for purposes of efficient description only, such receiving devices are identified as each being an “STB”. STBs may receive various forms of content, including analog content and/or digitally encoded content. Such content may include video programs, television shows, movies, video clips, and the like, audio programs, and other forms of content. Often multiple users are associated together, such as members of a family, or other localized group of individuals. Such associations of user are each referred to herein as being within a “household.” Users in such households often desire to receive, often at a same time, given instances of content, such as a specific episode of a television show, a movie, or other content; such specific instances of content each being identifiable herein by a “title.” Often, an indication of interest in receiving such content, for then or later consumption, occurs before a time at which such content is available for reception.

Yet and despite the association of two or more users in a household, each user of a household commonly is required, with respect to their STB(s), to individually set timers to, in the future, receive and process separate instances of a given title using those resources provided by their STB. For example, a first user in a given household desiring to receive an instance of a title is commonly required to dedicate one or more resources in their STB to the reception, demodulation, decrypting, and otherwise processing of that content. For content to be received in the future, such dedication commonly occurs by specifying a timer. Such future instance may occur at any time other than a present time. Such desire later reception may occur on a repeat basis, as desired by a given user for a given title. For example, a title may include multiple episodes, receivable at different times. A user may desire to receive each such episode and may individually set one or more timers, on a given STB, to later receive such content. The received content may be then watched/consumed, while being received, or saved in a DVR or otherwise for later viewing/consumption.

When a timer is desired to be set, if one or more of needed resources on a given STB are not available for future allocation of such timer, the timer may not be set and future reception and access to the content may not be achievable. Or, the timer may be set by overriding an existing timer. This situation may occur even if other STBs within a given household have one or more needed resources for setting a desired timer.

As used herein, STB resources are commonly identified herein as each being, separately and/or in combination, a “tuner,” however, it is to be appreciated that such resources may be separately identifiable and/or useful to a given STB. Accordingly, as used herein a “tuner” refers to a hardware, software and/or combination of hardware and software resource that is provided within and/or accessible by a given user with respect to a given one or more STBs. A “tuner” resource may be accessible using an Internet or other server, or otherwise.

It is to be appreciated, however, that such tuners are often not available to a given user to receive a desired title, at a given future time. Thus, a timer, which instructs a given STB to allocate a tuner (and any other needed resources) to receive the title, may not be set. This scenario may arise even when multiple tuners are located within a household, and all of such tuners are not, at that given future time, dedicated for such future use by one or more timers.

To overcome such constraints, one approach content providers, such as cable and satellite TV companies, use is to provide additional tuners in a given STB, thereby facilitating the setting of additional timers. Some STBs include over a dozen tuners, such as the DISH Network HOPPER 3 STB, which includes 16 separate tuners. Thus, often multiple tuners are provided so that multiple timers may be executed at any given time. Yet, such tuners are not commonly used at the same time, and undue waste and expense often occurs because a user of another STB within a household is not able to access tuners, or set timers for future use thereof, in other STBs within a given household. Accordingly, devices, systems, and methods for addressing these and other concerns are needed.

SUMMARY

The various embodiments of the present disclosure relate in general to devices, systems, and processes for facilitating seamless use of timers across multiple devices within a local area network. In accordance with at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, a system may include a first user device communicatively coupled to a local area network (LAN). The first user device may include at least one first tuner and a first hardware processor configured to execute first, non-transient, computer instructions for facilitating a first timer manager. The system may include a second user device communicatively coupled to the LAN and including at least one second tuner and a second hardware processor configured to execute second, non-transient, computer instructions for facilitating a second timer manager. For at least one embodiment, each of the first timer manager and the second timer manager may be further configured to populate a universal timer schedule. The universal timer schedule may identify 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.

For at least one embodiment, the universal timer schedule is populated based upon a request type. For at least one embodiment, wherein the request type is a Joey request type, and where at least one of the at least one first tuner and the at least one second tuner may be configured as a linked main tuner; an available linked main tuner may be scheduled for future use by a Joey. For at least one embodiment, the request type may be one of an auto-tune request type, a pay-per-view (PPV) request type, an original content request type, and a re-run request type; wherein the auto-tune request type has a higher separate priority than the PPV request type. For at least one embodiment, the PPV request type has a higher priority than the original content request type. For at least one embodiment, the original content request type has a higher separate priority than the re-run request type.

For at least one embodiment, the system may include a third user device communicatively coupled to the LAN and having at least one third tuner; and a third hardware processor configured to execute third, non-transient, computer instructions for facilitating a third timer manager. The third timer manager may be configured to further populate the universal timer schedule by identifying at least one of a future availability and a future use for the at least one third tuner.

For at least one embodiment, the universal timer schedule may identify a priority for each scheduled future use of each of the at least one first tuner, the at least one second tuner, and the at least one third tuner.

For at least one embodiment, the first user device may include a first storage module that include a first user device schedule identifying any scheduled first uses for each of the at least one first tuners. The second user device may include a second storage module that includes a second user device schedule identifying any scheduled second uses for each of the at least one second tuners. The contents of each of the first user device schedule and the second user device schedule may be used to populate the universal timer schedule.

For at least one embodiment, the first timer manager and the second timer manager may cooperatively process a new timer request in view of the scheduled first uses, the scheduled second uses, and a priority of the new timer request. The new timer request may identify a desired future use of a tuner selected from at least one of the at least one of the first tuner and the at least one second tuner.

For at least one embodiment, the priority may be one of an auto-tune, a pay-per-view, an original content, and a rerun.

For at least one embodiment, when the new timer request is received from a Joey, the first user device may be further configured to determine whether a linked main tuner will be available.

For at least one embodiment, the first user device may include a first storage module configured to store user preference information in a user database. The first computer instructions may instruct the first timer manager to populate the universal timer schedule in view of the user preference information.

In accordance with at least one embodiment of the present disclosure a process, for seamless use of timer provided by multiple user devices within a local area network, may include operations of maintaining, by a first user device, a first user device schedule—the first user device including a first tuner. The operations may also include receiving, by the first user device and from a second user device, a second user device schedule—the second user device including a second tuner. The operations may also include populating, by the first user device, a universal timer schedule based on the first user device schedule and the second user device schedule. The universal timer schedule may identify one or more future scheduled uses of each of the first tuner and the second tuner.

For at least one embodiment, the second universal timer schedule may be populated by the second user device.

For at least one embodiment, the process may include prioritizing a new schedule request based on a request type. The request type may be selected from a highest to lowest ranked ordering having at least two or more of an auto-tune request, a PPV request, an original content request, a rerun request, and a Joey request. For at least one embodiment, the process may include second prioritizing the new request based on a user identifier. A first user identifier may be associated with the first user device and a second user identifier may be associated with the second user device. The process may further include giving the new request a highest priority when the new request is from the second user and for a future use of the second tuner.

In accordance with at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, a user device, configured for use in facilitating seamless timer use across multiple devices within a local area network, may include a first receiver module including a first tuner. The user device may also include a hardware processor configured to execute non-transient computer instructions for facilitating a timer manager; a storage module for storing a timer schedule; and an interface module configured to communicatively couple the user device with a second user device over a local area network (LAN). For at least one embodiment, the second user device may include a second tuner. For at least one embodiment, the timer manger facilitates operations including populating a universal timer schedule identifying any scheduled uses of each of the first tuner and the second tuner and establishing a session between the first user device and the second user device, via the LAN. During the session, scheduling of a future use of each of the first tuner and the second tuner may be prioritized based on at least a request type. For at least one embodiment, the request types may include at least one of an auto-tune request, a pay-per-view request, an original content request, a re-run request, and a Joey request.

