HK1161472A - Systems, methods, and apparatuses for resolving media content recording conflicts - Google Patents

Description

System, method and apparatus for resolving media content recording conflicts

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. patent application serial No.12/347,704, filed on 31/12/2008, and is hereby incorporated by reference in its respective entirety.

Background

Set top boxes ("STBs") have become important devices for accessing media content services and the media content within those services. It is not uncommon for STBs to include or be used in conjunction with digital video recording ("DVR") technology, which can be used to record media content to persistent storage (e.g., a hard disk) for subsequent local access.

A common problem experienced by users of conventional DVR technology is that of recording conflicts. For example, DVR devices typically have limited resources to record media content. Therefore, DVR devices can only record a limited number of media programs at a time. A recording conflict occurs if the number of media programs scheduled (schedule) to be recorded simultaneously exceeds the recording resources of the DVR device. Typically, a recording conflict results in at least one of the media programs scheduled for recording that is in conflict not being recorded.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings illustrate various embodiments and are a part of the specification. The illustrated embodiments are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the disclosure. The same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example of a media content access system.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary media content provider network.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary media content processing subsystem.

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary device implementation of the media content processing subsystem of fig. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary remote control user input device.

6-20 illustrate exemplary graphical user interfaces ("GUIs") in which exemplary media recording conflict resolution views are displayed.

FIG. 21 illustrates an exemplary method of facilitating resolution of media content recording conflicts.

Detailed Description

Exemplary systems, methods, and apparatus to facilitate resolving media content recording conflicts are disclosed herein. As described in more detail below, in some examples, media content recording conflicts between scheduled recordings of media content instances may be detected and data representing a graphical user interface including a media content recording conflict resolution view may be generated and output for display on a display device. The graphical user interface may include at least one option configured to help resolve media content recording conflicts. As one example, an exemplary method includes: the method includes detecting, on a media content recording device, a media content recording conflict between a plurality of scheduled recordings of a media content instance, and outputting, for display on a display device, data representing a graphical user interface including a plurality of graphical objects representing the plurality of scheduled recordings of the media content instance and at least one option configured to help resolve the media content recording conflict. Exemplary options configured to help resolve media content recording conflicts are disclosed herein.

The term "media content instance" as used herein may generally refer to any television program or episode, on-demand media program, pay-per-view media program, broadcast media program (e.g., a broadcast television program), IPTV content, commercial, advertisement, video, movie, song, video game, image, photo, sound, or any segment, component, or combination of these or other forms of media content that may be viewed or experienced by a user. In some embodiments, the media content instance comprises a television program configured to be transmitted (e.g., broadcast, multicast, or small-range broadcast) to the at least one media content processing device during a scheduled transmission time.

The components and functionality of exemplary systems, methods, and apparatuses for facilitating resolution of media content recording conflicts will now be described in more detail.

Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary media content access system 100 (or simply "system 100"). System 100 may include a media content processing subsystem 110, a media content provider subsystem 120, a display device 130, and a user input device 140 communicatively coupled to each other as shown in fig. 1. Media content processing sub-system 110 may be configured to communicate with media content provider sub-system 120 and receive signals and/or data streams containing data representing media content and/or program guide data from media content provider sub-system 120. Media content processing sub-system 110 and media content provider sub-system 120 may communicate using any suitable communication technology, device, network, medium, and protocol that supports remote data communication.

For example, as shown in fig. 2, the media content provider subsystem 120 may include or be implemented on at least one media content provider server 210, the media content provider server 210 being configured to communicate with the media content processing subsystem 110 over the network 220 (and its communication links). The network 220 may include one or more networks or network types capable of carrying communication and/or data signals between the media content provider server 210 and the media content processing sub-system 110. For example, the network 220 may include, but is not limited to, a cable network, a fiber network, a hybrid fiber coaxial network, a wireless network (e.g., Wi-Fi and/or mobile phone network), a satellite network, a wireless broadcast network (e.g., satellite media broadcast network or terrestrial broadcast network), a subscriber television network, a provider-specific network (e.g., Verizon)FIOSA network), the internet, an intranet, a local area network, any other suitable network, and any combination or sub-combination of such networks.

The media content processing sub-system 110 and the media content provider server 210 may communicate over the network 220 using any suitable communication technologies, devices, media and protocols that support remote data communication, including but not limited to: data transmission media, communication devices, transmission control protocol ("TCP"), internet protocol ("IP"), file transfer protocol ("FTP"), telnet, hypertext transfer protocol ("HTTP"), real-time protocol ("RTP"), user datagram protocol ("UDP"), ethernet, and any other suitable communication technology, device, medium, and protocol.

Returning to fig. 1, the media content processing subsystem 110 may be configured to process a media content stream received from the media content provider subsystem 120. The processing may include causing presentation of media content included in the stream for experience (e.g., viewing) by the user. The presentation of the media content may include, but is not limited to, displaying, playing back or presenting the media content, or one or more components of the media content, such that the media content may be experienced by a user. For example, media content processing subsystem 110 may provide one or more signals to display device 130 (e.g., a television screen, a computer monitor, etc.) so that display device 130 may present the media content for experience by a user.

As shown in fig. 1, and as will be described in more detail below, media content processing sub-system 110 may be controlled, at least in part, by a user input device 140 (e.g., a remote control device). In some examples, user input device 140 may include one or more input mechanisms by which a user may utilize and/or control features and/or services provided by media content processing subsystem 110.

Exemplary components, features, operations, and implementations associated with the media content processing subsystem 110 will now be described. Fig. 3 illustrates exemplary components of media content processing subsystem 110 (or simply "processing subsystem 110"). As shown in fig. 3, processing subsystems 110 may include communication facilities 310, processing facilities 320, data storage facilities 330, input/output ("I/O") facilities 340, program guide facilities 350, and media recording facilities 360. The components of system 100 may communicate with each other using any suitable communication technique, including transmitting data to each other and receiving data.

As described further below, media content processing subsystem 110 may be configured to record media content to persistent storage for subsequent access (e.g., subsequent playback). Accordingly, the media content processing subsystem 110 may be referred to as a "media content recording subsystem 110".

In certain embodiments, processing subsystem 110 or one or more components of processing subsystem 110 may include any computer hardware and/or computer-implemented instructions (e.g., software), or combination of computer-implemented instructions and hardware, configured to perform one or more of the processes described herein. In particular, it should be understood that processing subsystem 110 may be implemented on one physical computing device or may be implemented on more than one physical computing device. Thus, processing subsystem 110 may include any of a number of computing devices and may use any of a number of computer operating systems.

Accordingly, one or more of the processes described herein may be implemented, at least in part, as instructions executable by one or more computing devices. In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor) receives instructions from a computer-readable medium (e.g., a memory, etc.) and executes those instructions, thereby performing one or more processes, including one or more of the processes described herein. Such instructions may be stored and/or transmitted using any of a variety of known computer-readable media.

A computer-readable medium (also referred to as a processor-readable medium) includes any medium that participates in providing data (e.g., instructions) that may be read by a computer (e.g., by a processor of a computer). Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatile media may include, for example, optical or magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile media may include, for example, dynamic random access memory ("DRAM"), which typically constitutes a main memory. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can read.

While an exemplary processing subsystem 110 is shown in fig. 3, the components illustrated in fig. 3 are not intended to be limiting. Additional or alternative components may be used in other embodiments. The components of processing subsystem 110 shown in fig. 3 will now be described in additional detail.

The communications facility 310 may be configured to communicate with one or more external devices including one or more external media content sources. In particular, the communication facility 310 may be configured to communicate with the media content provider subsystem 120, including sending and/or receiving communication signals, content, and/or data to and/or from the media content provider subsystem 120. For example, the communication facility 310 may be configured to receive transmission data representing media content in any acceptable format from the media content provider subsystem 120. The media content may include one or more media content instances.

Typically, the media content provider subsystem 120 may transmit (e.g., broadcast, multicast, or small-scale play) one or more data streams containing data representing one or more instances of media content. The communication facility 310 may receive such a data stream such that the data representing the media content instance contained therein may be processed by the processing subsystem 110. To this end, the communication infrastructure 310 may include any device, logic, and/or other technology suitable for receiving signals, data streams, and/or data representing media content. The communications infrastructure 310 may be configured to interconnect with any suitable communications media, protocols, and formats, including any of those mentioned above.

In some embodiments, media content provider subsystem 120 may be configured to transmit and processing subsystem 110 may be configured to receive data streams or signals including data representing various media content instances, according to a transmission schedule. The transmission schedule may specify that particular media content instances are to be transmitted at scheduled transmission times and on certain content carrier channels. As used herein, the term "scheduled transmission time" or "scheduled transmission" may generally refer to any period of time during which an instance of media content is transmitted to processing subsystem 110. As used herein, the term "content carrier channel" or "content channel" may generally refer to any carrier of media content, including but not limited to a media (e.g., television) channel, stream, address, frequency, or other carrier of media content.

The communications facility 310 may be configured to selectively identify, receive, and/or process appropriate data streams and/or media content instances at scheduled transmission times and on appropriate content carrier channels. For example, in some implementations, the communication facility 310 may include a tuner configured to selectively receive media content carried on a particular content carrier channel. The tuner may be tuned to a particular content carrier channel such that content carried on the content carrier channel is received and may be processed by the processing subsystem 110.

In some examples, communication facility 310 may include multiple tuners (e.g., two tuners) such that content carried on different content carrier channels may be received simultaneously for processing by processing subsystem 110. For example, the communication facility 310 may include a first tuner configured to receive content carried on an analog video signal and a second tuner configured to simultaneously receive content carried on a digital compressed signal.

While one or more tuners may be used to receive various types of content-bearing signals transmitted by the media content provider subsystem 120, additionally or alternatively, the communication facility 310 may be configured to receive other types of signals (e.g., other types of media content-bearing signals) from the media content provider subsystem 120 and/or one or more other sources without the use of tuners. For example, the media content provider subsystem 120 may transmit a digital stream of data packets (e.g., internet protocol ("IP") based data packets) that can be received without the use of a tuner. For such types of signals, communication facility 310 may receive the signal directly and forward the signal to other components of processing subsystem 110 (e.g., processing facility 320) without the signal passing through the tuner. For example, for IP-based signals, the communication facility 310 may function as an IP receiver.

Processing facility 320 may include one or more processors and may be configured to perform and/or direct the performance of one or more processes or operations described herein. The processing facility 320 may direct the performance of operations according to computer-executable instructions, such as may be stored in the data storage facility 330 or another computer-readable medium. As one example, the processing facility 320 may be configured to process data, including demodulating, decoding, and parsing the acquired data (e.g., data representing media content received by the communications facility 310 from the media content provider subsystem 120), and encoding and modulating the data for transmission by the communications facility 310.

The data storage facility 330 may include one or more data storage media, devices, or configurations, and may use any type, form, and combination of data storage media and/or devices. For example, the data storage facility 330 may include, but is not limited to, a hard disk drive, a network drive, a flash memory drive, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, random access memory ("RAM"), dynamic RAM ("DRAM"), other non-volatile and/or volatile data storage units, or a combination or sub-combination thereof. Electronic data, including data described herein (e.g., media content data, program guide data, and recording schedule data), may be temporarily and/or permanently stored in data storage facility 330.

The I/O facility 340 may be configured to receive user input and provide user output, and may include any hardware, firmware, software, or combination thereof that supports input and output capabilities. For example, I/O facilities 340 may include one or more devices for capturing user input, including but not limited to a microphone, voice recognition technology, a keyboard or keypad, a touch screen component (e.g., a touch screen display), a receiver (e.g., an RF or infrared receiver), and one or more input buttons.

I/O facility 340 may include one or more devices for presenting output to a user, including, but not limited to, a graphics engine, a display device (e.g., a display screen), one or more output drivers (e.g., a display driver), one or more audio speakers, and one or more audio drivers. In certain embodiments, I/O facility 340 is configured to output graphical data to display device 130 for presentation to a user. Exemplary graphical user interfaces ("GUIs") and GUI views that may be output to display device 130 and displayed by display device 130 are described further below.

The program guide facility 350 may be configured to maintain and operate on program guide data. As described above, the media content instances may be transmitted by the media content provider subsystem 120 at scheduled transmission times and on certain content carrier channels. To assist processing subsystem 110 and/or a user of processing subsystem 110 in receiving media content instances at appropriately scheduled transmission times and on appropriate content carrier channels, program guide data may be received by communications facility 310 from media content provider subsystem 120 and/or from another source. The program guide data may be stored in a data storage facility 330.

The program guide data may include information describing the media content transmission schedule, including metadata describing the content carrier channels, scheduled transmission times (e.g., program schedule periods), media content instances, and relationships between content channels, transmission times, and media content instances. In some embodiments, the program guide data received and stored by processing subsystem 110 describes a media content transmission schedule covering a certain time period (e.g., a 24-hour time, a week, two weeks, or a month). Thus, processing subsystem 110 may be configured to periodically receive at least one update to the program guide data (i.e., updated program guide data) that describes a transmission schedule for a new time period. For example, processing subsystem 110 may be configured to receive updated program guide data every day (e.g., at some off-peak time every night).

The program guide facility 350 may be configured to arrange graphical data representing program guide views and provide the graphical data to the I/O facility 340 for inclusion in the GUI. I/O facility 340 may generate data representing a GUI that includes a program guide view and output the data to display device 130 for presentation to a user. The program guide view may include graphical arrangements of program guide data, one or more program guide tools (e.g., program guide navigation, search, and/or filter tools), one or more graphical selectors for navigating and highlighting selectable items, and/or other graphics. Typically, the program guide view presents at least a portion of the media content transmission schedule to the user. A user may utilize the program guide view to access information about media content instances and scheduled transmission times and channels associated with the media content instances.

The media recording facility 360 may be configured to record data representing media content to the data storage facility 330. As described above, recording of the instance of media content is typically performed during a transmission period in which data representing the instance of media content is received from the media content provider subsystem 120. For example, during transmission of the media content instance from the media content provider sub-system 120 to the processing device 110 over the content carrier channel, the communication facility 310 may receive data representing the media content instance over the content carrier channel, and the media recording facility 360 may direct storage of the received data representing the media content instance to the data storage facility 330. Once stored, the data representing the instance of media content may be accessed and processed as may be suitable for a particular application, including providing the data representing the instance of media content to the display device 130 for presentation to a user.

The media recording facility 360 may be configured to schedule recording of data representing instances of media content. Typically, media recording facility 360 is configured to schedule recordings based on a media content transmission schedule that may be represented by program guide data. As one example, the media recording facility 360 may schedule a recording of an instance of media content. When the scheduled transmission time of the media content instance arrives, the media recording facility 360 may initiate recording of the media content instance on the appropriate content carrier channel associated with the scheduled transmission of the media content instance.

The media recording facility 360 may be configured to maintain a schedule of one or more recordings, which may be referred to as a "recording schedule. The data indicating the recording schedule may be referred to as "recording schedule data". The recording schedule or entries included in the recording schedule may be created in response to user input (e.g., a user selecting an instance of media content to record) or automatically created by the media recording facility 360 in response to a predetermined event. These and additional features of the media recording facility 360 are described in additional detail further below.

The processing subsystem 110 and/or components of the processing subsystem 110 may be implemented as may be suitable for a particular application. Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary device 400 having a processing subsystem 110 implemented thereon. Device 400 may include one or more components of processing subsystem 110 shown in fig. 3 and may be configured to perform one or more processes and/or operations described herein. Device 400 may include, but is not limited to, a media content processing device, a communication device, a mobile device (e.g., a mobile telephone device), a handheld device, a personal computer, a telephone device (e.g., a Verizon Hub device), a personal digital assistant device, a set-top box, a gaming device, a digital video recording ("DVR") device (e.g., a personal video recording ("PVR") device), a television device, and/or any device configured to perform one or more of the processes and/or operations described herein. As described herein, device 400 may be configured to record media content to persistent storage for later access. Accordingly, the device 400 may be referred to as a "media content recording device 400".

As shown in fig. 4, device 400 may include a communication interface 405 configured to receive content (e.g., media content) and/or data (e.g., program guide data) in any acceptable format from media content provider subsystem 120 or from any other suitable external source. Communication interface 405 may include any device, logic, and/or other technology suitable for receiving signals and/or data representing media content and/or other types of content or data. The communication interface 405 may be configured to interconnect with any suitable communication medium, protocol, and format, including any of those described above.

The device 400 may further comprise a receiver 410 configured to receive a user input signal from the user input device 140. The user input device 140 may comprise, for example, a remote control device or any other suitable input device, and may be configured to communicate with the receiver 410 via a wireless link, an electrical connection, or any other suitable communication link.

An exemplary remote control user input device 140 is illustrated in fig. 5. In some examples, input device 140 may be configured to assist a user in controlling operations of processing subsystem 110, including controlling options for experiencing media content, viewing program guide data, scheduling recordings of media content, and resolving media content recording conflicts. For example, program guide button 510 may be configured to evoke presentation of a program guide GUI on display 130. May include a left button 520, a right button 530, an up button 540, a down button 550, and a select button 560, and may be configured to assist a user in evoking and/or navigating the various views, options, and GUIs displayed via display device 130. The input device 140 shown in FIG. 5 is merely illustrative of one of many different types of user input devices that may be used to provide input commands to the processing subsystem 110.

Returning to fig. 4, the device 400 may include a graphics engine 412 and an output driver 415. The graphics engine 412 may be configured to generate graphics to be provided to an output driver 415, which may be configured to interconnect with the display device 130 or drive the display device 130. Output driver 415 may provide output signals to display device 130 that include graphical content (e.g., media content and/or program guide content) generated by graphics engine 412 and to be rendered by display device 130 for experience by a user. For example, output driver 415 may output data representing a GUI including a program guide view to display device 130 for presentation to a user. An exemplary GUI that may be output for display on display device 130 is described further below. Graphics engine 412 and output driver 415 may include any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware that may service a particular application, as may service a particular application.

Storage device 420 may include one or more data storage media, devices, or configurations, and may use storage media of any type, form, and combination. For example, storage device 420 may include, but is not limited to, a hard disk drive, a network drive, a flash drive, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or other non-volatile storage unit. Media content, program guide data, recording schedule data, and other data may be temporarily and/or permanently stored in storage device 420.

Storage device 420 is shown in fig. 4 as part of device 400 for illustrative purposes only. It will be understood that the storage device 420 may additionally or alternatively be located external to the device 400.

The storage 420 may include one or more dynamic cache buffers (livecache buffers) 430. Additionally or alternatively, the dynamic cache buffer 430 may reside in the memory 425 or a storage device external to the device 400. In some examples, media content data may be temporarily stored in the dynamic cache buffer 430 to assist in viewing and/or recording media content.

The device 400 may include a memory 425. The memory 425 may include, but is not limited to, flash memory, random access memory ("RAM"), dynamic RAM ("DRAM"), other suitable computer-readable media, or any combination or sub-combination thereof. In some examples, one or more applications configured to run on device 400 may reside in memory 425.

Device 400 may include one or more tuners 435. As described above, tuner 435 may be configured to selectively receive media content carried on a particular content carrier channel so that the media content may be processed by device 400. In some examples, media content received by tuner 435 may be temporarily buffered or stored in dynamic cache buffer 430. If there are multiple tuners 435, there may be a dynamic cache buffer 430 corresponding to each tuner 435.

Although tuner 435 may be used to receive certain content-bearing signals transmitted by media content provider subsystem 120, device 400 may be configured to receive other types of content signals (including media content signals and/or program guide data signals) from media content provider subsystem 120 and/or one or more other sources without the use of a tuner. For example, the media content provider subsystem 120 may transmit a digital stream of data packets (e.g., internet protocol ("IP") based data packets) that can be received without the use of a tuner. For such types of content signals, communication interface 405 may receive the signal directly and forward the signal to other components of device 400 (e.g., processor 440 or signal processing unit 445) without the signal passing through tuner 435. For example, for IP-based signals, the signal processing unit 445 may function as an IP receiver.

Device 400 may include at least one processor, such as processor 440, configured to control and/or perform one or more operations of device 400. The device 400 may also include a signal processing unit 445 configured to process incoming media content. Signal processing unit 445 may be configured to, for example, demodulate and parse encoded digital media content. In some examples, device 400 may include one or more signal processing units 445 corresponding to each tuner 435.

The device 400 may include one or more applications (e.g., software applications) residing in the memory 425 or another computer-readable medium and configured to be executed by the processor 440 of the device 400. In fig. 4, device 400 includes a program guide application 450 and a media recording application 455 residing in memory 425. Program guide application 450 may be configured to execute or direct one or more other components of apparatus 400 to perform one or more of the program guide operations described herein. The media recording application 455 may be configured to execute or direct one or more other components of the device 400 to perform one or more of the media recording-related operations described herein. In some embodiments, the program guide facility 350 may be implemented in the device 400 as a program guide application 450, and the media recording facility 360 may be implemented in the device 400 as a media recording application 455.

As described above, the media recording facility 360 may be configured to maintain a schedule for recording of media content. The recording schedule may include data representing: one or more media content instances or series of media content instances scheduled for recording, one or more periods during which the media content instances are scheduled to be recorded, and one or more content carrier channels on which the media content instances are scheduled to be received for recording.

In some examples, there may be media content recording conflicts in the recording schedule. As used herein, a media content recording conflict may include any conflict between scheduled recordings of a media content instance that may cause at least one of the scheduled recordings to be unexecuted. For example, multiple media content instances may be scheduled to be recorded during a common or overlapping time period. However, typically, the resources used to record media content are limited on the media content recording subsystem or device. For example, processing subsystems 110 may have resources only sufficient to record a certain maximum number of media content instances at the same time. In the event that the resources of the processing system 110 are insufficient to support simultaneous recordings of media content instances scheduled for recording during a common or overlapping time, there is a recording conflict, and at least a portion of one or more of the scheduled recordings may not be recorded as scheduled.

As one example, processing subsystem 110 may be limited to simultaneously recording only a certain number of media content instances for which tuner 435 is available to receive data representing the media content instances from media providing subsystem 120. Where processing subsystem 110 includes only a single tuner 435, a single instance of media content may be recorded at the same time. Where processing subsystem 110 includes two tuners 435, two instances of media content may be recorded simultaneously. Tuner 435 is only one example of a resource that may limit the number of simultaneous recordings of media content. Other resources, such as transmission bandwidth, processing resources (e.g., signal processing resources), and memory resources, may similarly limit the number of media content instances that can be simultaneously recorded.

When there is a record conflict, the scheduled records that caused the conflict may be prioritized (priority) to determine which of the scheduled records are to be executed on schedule. The media recording facility 360 may be configured to prioritize conflict records based on a predefined prioritization heuristic (prioritization ranking). A prioritization heuristic may be defined that may be appropriate for a particular implementation. In some embodiments, media recording facility 360 may provide at least one tool configured to assist a user of processing subsystem 110 in customizing one or more settings of a prioritization heuristic.

In some embodiments, the prioritization heuristic may be configured to prioritize earlier scheduled records over later scheduled records. For example, if the recording of the first, second, and third instances of media content is scheduled in that order, and processing subsystem 110 includes resources to record no more than two instances of media content at the same time, media recording facility 360 may choose not to record the third instance of media content on schedule based on a prioritization heuristic. In other words, the scheduled recording of the third media content instance that conflicts is "bumped," meaning that the scheduled recording is not performed as scheduled.

The media recording facility 360 may be configured to detect media content recording conflicts between scheduled recordings of media content instances. The detection of media content recording conflicts may be accomplished in any suitable manner. For example, in certain embodiments, the media recording facility 360 may identify when sufficient resources will not be available to perform scheduled media content recording based on the recording schedule data. The media recording facility 360 may further identify scheduled recordings that cause conflicts to exist based on the recording schedule data. As one example, where processing subsystem 110 and/or device 400 is configured to simultaneously record no more than two media content instances, but three media content instances are scheduled for simultaneous or overlapping recording, media recording facility 360 may detect the conflict and identify scheduled recordings of the three media content instances that caused the conflict.

In response to detecting a media content recording conflict, the media recording facility 360 may provide at least one option configured to assist in resolving the conflict. For example, the media recording facility 360 may direct the processing subsystem 110 and/or the device 400 to generate and output data representing a GUI for display on the display device 130. The GUI may include information regarding the detected media content recording conflict and at least one option configured to help resolve the conflict.

Fig. 6-20 illustrate exemplary GUIs in which exemplary media recording conflict resolution views are displayed. The GUIs shown in FIGS. 6-20 are merely illustrative of the many different GUIs that may be used to help resolve one or more media recording conflicts in accordance with the systems, methods and apparatus described herein.

Fig. 6 illustrates a media content recording conflict resolution GUI 600 configured to facilitate resolution of one or more media recording conflicts. GUI 600 may include a plurality of graphical objects representing a plurality of scheduled recordings of media content instances. In FIG. 6, the scheduled records include records 610-1 through 610-3, which may be collectively referred to as "scheduled records 610".

Graphical objects representing scheduled records 610 are placed in rows, each having a corresponding time indicator, to visually indicate a period of time during which scheduled records 610 are to be executed. For example, scheduled recordings 610-1 and 610-3 are scheduled to be performed during a period of 5:00PM-5:30PM, while scheduled recording 610-2 is scheduled to be performed during a period of 5:00PM-6:00 PM.

GUI 600 is further configured to visually indicate which of scheduled records 610 are crashed if there are more scheduled records 610 than there are resources available for each of scheduled records 610 to perform concurrently. For example, there may be resources that are only sufficient to perform two of scheduled records 610 simultaneously. The resources associated with scheduled recording 610 may include any resources that may be used to record media content instances, including any media content recording resources of processing subsystem 110 and/or device 400. In some embodiments, the resources associated with scheduled recording 610 may include first and second tuners 435, respectively. Thus, as previously described, one of the scheduled records (e.g., scheduled record 610-2) may be knocked out according to the prioritization heuristic.

The graphical object representing the crashed record 610-2 may be graphically distinguished from the other scheduled records 610-1 and 610-3 to visually indicate that it was crashed. For example, the graphical object representing the bumped record 610-2 may include different fill patterns and/or any other distinguishing features (e.g., color, size, line width, etc.) as may serve a particular application, as shown in FIG. 6.

It will be appreciated that GUI 600 is merely illustrative of many different GUIs that may be used to display graphical objects representing conflicting scheduled records 610 in accordance with the systems, methods and apparatus described herein. For example, fig. 7 illustrates an alternative media content recording conflict resolution GUI 700 that may be used to display graphical objects representing conflicting scheduled recordings 610.

As shown in fig. 7, graphical objects representing scheduled recordings 610 may be placed along a time axis 710, and the time axis 710 may display time indicators indicating one or more time increments or intervals along the time axis 710. A graphical object representing the scheduled recording 610 may be placed relative to the timeline 710 to visually indicate a period of time during which the scheduled recording 610 is to be performed. In the illustrated example, scheduled recordings 610-1 and 610-3 are scheduled to be performed during a period of 5:00PM-5:30PM, and scheduled recording 610-2 is scheduled to be performed during a period of 5:00PM-6:00 PM. The time period associated with the scheduled recording 610 may be determined according to a transmission schedule that defines when the corresponding media content instance will be transmitted to the processing subsystem 110 or device 400 and is available for recording. It will be appreciated that although both GUIs 600 and 700 are configured to help resolve one or more media recording conflicts, for purposes of illustration only, certain examples given herein are described in connection with GUI 600.

GUI 600 may include at least one option configured to help resolve media content recording conflicts. For example, in some embodiments, such an option may include at least one selectable graphical object indicating at least one alternative recording opportunity for at least one of the scheduled recordings 610. In some examples, in response to a user selection of one of the graphical objects representing one of the scheduled records 610, data representing one or more such selectable graphical objects may be generated by the processing subsystem 110 and output for inclusion in the GUI 600.

For example, the user may provide an input in GUI 600 to instruct media recording facility 360 to cause selector 620 to move to a graphical object representing a scheduled recording (e.g., a crashed scheduled recording 610-2). Input may be provided and received in any suitable manner, including a user providing input with input device 140 and processing subsystem 110 receiving and processing signals representing the input. In some embodiments, the directional arrow buttons 520 and 550 and the selector button 560 on the user input device 140 shown in FIG. 5 may be utilized by a user to navigate and select from graphical objects displayed in the GUI 600.

FIG. 8 shows GUI 600 after a bumped scheduled record 610-2 is selected with selector 620. As shown in FIG. 8, the GUI 600 has been updated to display selectable graphical objects representing alternative recording opportunities 800-1 and 800-2 (collectively referred to herein as "alternative recording opportunities 800") for a crashed scheduled recording 610-2.

The alternate recording opportunity 800 represents an alternate scheduled transmission time for the media content instance associated with the bumped scheduled recording 610-2, during which time the media content instance may be recorded. To illustrate, the selectable graphical object representing the alternative recording opportunity 800 visually indicates that the media content instance associated with the crashed scheduled recording 610-2 has an alternative scheduled transmission time of 7:00PM-8:00PM on upcoming Wednesday and 9:00PM-10:00PM on upcoming Thursday. The user may select one of the alternative recording opportunities 800 to reschedule the recording of the crashed record 610-2 to an alternative time period that does not conflict with the scheduled records 610-1 and 610-3. In this manner, or the like, media content recording conflicts between scheduled recordings 610 may be resolved. In some examples, option 810 may be displayed in GUI 600 and may be selected to direct processing subsystem 110 or device 400 to search for and display additional alternative recording opportunities 800 for media content instances associated with a bumped scheduled recording 610-2.

An alternate recording opportunity 800 may be determined based on a transmission schedule that defines when a media content instance corresponding to a bumped scheduled recording 610-2 is scheduled for transmission to the processing subsystem 110 or device 400 and is available for recording. In some examples, the alternative recording opportunities 800 for the media content instance may be filtered such that only alternative recording opportunities 800 that would not cause conflicts with other scheduled recordings are presented in the GUI 600 for selection by the user.

In some examples, alternative recording opportunity 800 may represent an alternative recording opportunity for the same media content instance associated with a scheduled recording (e.g., a crashed scheduled recording 610-2). For example, the media content instance associated with the crashed scheduled recording 610-2 may include a particular episode within a television series (e.g., a particular episode of a program known as "Seinfeld"). Accordingly, the alternative recording opportunity 800 may represent an alternative recording opportunity for the particular Song Federation (Seinfeld) episode.

Alternatively, alternative recording opportunity 800 may represent an alternative recording opportunity for a media content instance that is related in some way to the media content instance associated with the scheduled recording (e.g., the bumped scheduled recording 610-2). For example, if the media content instance associated with the crashed scheduled recording 610-2 includes a particular episode within a television series, the alternative recording opportunity 800 may represent a recording opportunity for other episodes within the television series. As another example, if the example of media content associated with the crashed scheduled recording 610-2 includes a sporting event (e.g., a football game), the alternative recording opportunity 800 may represent a recording opportunity for other related sporting events (e.g., other football games).

It will be appreciated that any graphical object representing a scheduled recording 610 may be selected to initiate display of one or more alternative recording opportunities for any of the scheduled recordings 610. For example, FIGS. 9 and 10 show GUI 600 after selection of a graphical object representing scheduled records 610-1 and 610-3, respectively. As shown in FIG. 9, when the user selects scheduled recording 610-1, a graphical object representing alternative recording opportunities 900-1 and 900-2 may be displayed within GUI 600. Also, as shown in FIG. 10, when the user selects scheduled recording 610-3, a graphical object representing alternative recording opportunities 1000-1 and 1000-2 may be displayed within GUI 600. In this manner, an alternate recording time period may be selected for one of the scheduled recordings 610-1 and 610-3. This may resolve conflicts between scheduled records 610 by freeing resources, thereby facilitating the execution of the crashed record 610-2 during its original scheduled time.

Fig. 11 illustrates a GUI 1100 including another exemplary media content recording conflict resolution view displayed therein. As shown, GUI 1100 may include a two-dimensional matrix configured to include a plurality of graphical objects representing a plurality of scheduled recordings 610 of media content instances and one or more alternative recording opportunities 1110-1 through 1110-6 (collectively referred to herein as "recording opportunities 1110") corresponding to the scheduled recordings 610. Each alternate recording opportunity 1110 represents an alternate scheduled transmission time for its corresponding scheduled recording 610.

The GUI 1100 is configured to visually indicate multiple alternative recording opportunities 1110 for multiple scheduled recordings 610 within the same GUI view. To this end, each row within the matrix includes graphical objects arranged along a time axis 1115 that represent a particular scheduled recording (e.g., scheduled recording 610-1) and one or more alternate recording opportunities (e.g., alternate recording opportunities 1110-1 and 1110-2) corresponding to the particular scheduled recording. The time axis 1115 can be a roughly defined time axis 1115 ("coarse time axis") to accommodate periods of misalignment.

In some examples, one or more placeholder graphical objects (e.g., placeholder graphical objects 1120) may be placed between the graphical objects representing the scheduled recording and the alternate recording opportunity. For example, in GUI 1100, a placeholder graphical object 1120 is placed between the graphical object representing the scheduled recording 610-1 and the alternate recording opportunity 1110-1.

Each of the placeholder graphical objects in the GUI 1100 may visually indicate a time period between the scheduled recording 610 and the alternative recording opportunity 1110. For example, placeholder graphical object 1120 visually indicates that alternate recording opportunity 1110-1 is associated with a transmission period scheduled to begin three days after scheduled recording 610-1 is scheduled to be executed.

The user may utilize the input device 140 to browse the matrices provided in the GUI 1100 and select a non-conflicting recording time for any of the scheduled recordings 610. In response to a user selection of one or more of the selectable graphical objects representing one or more of the alternative recording opportunities 1110, the processing subsystem 110 or device 400 may re-schedule one or more of the scheduled recordings 610 to the time period associated with one or more of the alternative recording opportunities 1110, respectively.

Fig. 12 illustrates a GUI1200 including another exemplary media content recording conflict resolution view displayed therein. As shown, GUI1200 may include a plurality of graphical objects representing a plurality of scheduled recordings of media content instances. In FIG. 12, the scheduled records include scheduled records 1210-1 through 1210-5, which may be collectively referred to as "scheduled records 1210".

Graphical objects representing the scheduled recordings 1210 may be placed along the timeline 710, and the timeline 710 may display time indicators associated with one or more periods during which the scheduled recordings 1210 are scheduled to be executed. In the illustrative example, scheduled record 1210-1 is scheduled to be performed during the period of 5:30PM-6:00PM, scheduled records 1210-2, 1210-3, and 1210-5 are scheduled to be performed during the period of 6:00PM-6:30PM, and scheduled record 1210-4 is scheduled to be performed during the period of 5:00PM-6:05 PM. The period of time associated with the scheduled recording 1210 may be determined according to a transmission schedule that defines when the corresponding media content instance will be transmitted to the processing subsystem 110 or device 400 and is available for recording.

Graphical objects representing the scheduled records 1210 may also be placed along the prioritization axis 1220. The position of the graphical object representing the scheduled recording 1210 along the prioritization axis 1220 may visually indicate the priority order of the scheduled recordings. In some embodiments, higher priority scheduled records 1210 may be placed closer to one end (e.g., the top) of the prioritization axis 1220, and lower priority scheduled records 1210 may be placed farther from the end (e.g., the top) of the prioritization axis 1220. For example, in FIG. 12, the placement of scheduled records 1210-2, 1210-3, and 1210-5 relative to each other along prioritization axis 1220 may indicate that scheduled records 1210-2, 1210-3, and 1210-5 are prioritized in the form: scheduled record 1210-2 has a first priority, scheduled record 1210-3 has a second priority and scheduled record 1210-5 has a third priority.

The position of the scheduled record 1210 along the prioritization axis 1220 may provide a visual indication of the resource-based prioritization of the scheduled record 1210. The visual indication of resource-based prioritization of scheduled recordings 1210 may be at least part of an option included in GUI1200 and configured to help resolve media content recording conflicts.

The visual indication of resource-based prioritization of the scheduled records 1210 may visually indicate one or more resources scheduled for performing one or more of the scheduled records 1210. For example, in FIG. 12, a first portion 1230-1 along the prioritization axis 1220 may be associated with a particular resource. The location of the graphical object representing the scheduled records 1210-1 and 1210-2 within the first portion 1230-1 in the GUI1200 may indicate that the particular resource is scheduled for execution of the scheduled records 1210-1 and 1210-2. In FIG. 12, a second portion 1230-2 along the prioritization axis 1220 may be associated with another resource, and the position of the graphical object representing the scheduled record 1210-3 within the second portion 1230-2 may indicate that the other resource is scheduled for execution of the scheduled record 1210-3. Thus, the user can view which resources are scheduled for recording one or more scheduled recordings 1210 of media content instances.

The resources associated with portions 1230-1 and 1230-2 in FIG. 12 may include any resources that may be used to record instances of media content, including any media content recording resources of processing subsystem 110 and/or device 400. In some embodiments, the resources associated with portions 1230-1 and 1230-2 may include first and second tuners 435, respectively.

The visual indication of the resource-based prioritization of the scheduled record 1210 of the media content instance may include a first subset 1240-1 and a second subset 1240-2 of the scheduled record 1210. The first subset 1240-1 may include graphical objects representing one or more of the scheduled records 1210 associated with at least one resource scheduled for executing the scheduled records 1210. The second subset 1240-2 may include graphical objects representing one or more crashed out scheduled records 1210. That is, the resources are not scheduled for execution of the scheduled record 1210 in the second subset 1240-2. In FIG. 12, a first subset 1240-1 includes scheduled records 1210-1, 1210-2, and 1210-3, and a second subset 1240-2 includes scheduled records 1210-4 and 1210-5. Thus, from the visual indication of resource-based prioritization in GUI1200, the user can ascertain that scheduled records 1210-1, 1210-2, and 1210-3 are scheduled to be executed by available resources, and that scheduled records 1210-4 and 1210-5 are not associated with, nor scheduled to be executed by, any resources. In other words, scheduled records 1210-1, 1210-2, and 1210-3 are sorted in preference to scheduled records 1210-4 and 1210-5, while scheduled records 1210-4 and 1210-5 are "bumped" and therefore will not execute as scheduled.

As noted, GUI1200 may include at least one option configured to facilitate resolution of media content recording conflicts. For example, in some embodiments, such options may include a user tool configured to assist in re-prioritizing the scheduled records 1210. An example of a user utilizing a user tool to reprioritize the record 1210 of the resource-based prioritized schedule indicated in the GUI1200 will now be described.

For example, a user may want to sort scheduled record 1210-5 over scheduled record 1210-3 such that scheduled record 1210-5 will be executed and scheduled record 1210-3 will be knocked off. To this end, the user may provide input instructing the media recording facility 360 to cause the selector 1250 to move to the graphical object representing the scheduled recording 1210-5. The input may be provided and received in any suitable manner, including a user providing the input using input device 140, and processing subsystem 110 receiving and processing signals representing the input. In some embodiments, the directional arrow buttons 520 and the selector button 560 on the user input device 140 shown in FIG. 5 may be utilized by the user to navigate and select from graphical objects and options displayed in the GUI 1200.

FIG. 13 illustrates the GUI1200 of FIG. 12 with the selector 1250 placed at the graphical object representing the scheduled record 1210-5. Upon selection of a graphical object representing the scheduled record 1210-5, a user tool including one or more selectable items configured to facilitate reprioritizing the scheduled record 1210-5 may be displayed in the GUI 1200.

FIG. 14 illustrates the GUI1200 of FIG. 13 configured to facilitate reprioritizing the scheduled record 1210-5 in which a plurality of selectable items 1410 are displayed. Selectable options 1410 may be displayed in any suitable manner, such as in pop-up window 1420. As shown in fig. 14, selectable items 1410 may include an option to allocate scheduled recording 1210-5 to one or more resources (e.g., tuner 435) that may be used to perform the recording. In fig. 14, the options include an option to assign the scheduled recording 1210-5 to the first tuner 435 and an option to assign the scheduled recording 1210-5 to the second tuner 435. These options are merely illustrative. Other options configured to assist in re-prioritizing the scheduled records 1210-5 may additionally or alternatively be displayed in the GUI 1200. For example, the pop-up window 1420 may display an option to swap a scheduled record 1210-5 with another scheduled record 1210-2 or 1210-3 in terms of priority order.

When the user selects the option to assign the scheduled recording 1210-5 to the asset associated with the portion 1230-1 (e.g., to the first tuner 435), the media recording facility 360 may modify the asset-based prioritization and visually indicate the modified priority order in the GUI 1200. For example, FIG. 15 illustrates GUI1200 in which scheduled records 1210-2, 1210-3, and 1210-5 are reprioritized such that scheduled record 1210-5 is allocated to be executed using the resources associated with portion 1230-1. Scheduled record 1210-2 is moved from portion 1230-1 associated with the resource to portion 1230-2 associated with another resource. Thus, scheduled recording 1210-2 is now scheduled to be performed using another resource (e.g., second tuner 435). The scheduled record 1210-3 is knocked out as shown by the position of the graphical object representing the scheduled record 1210-3 in the second subset 1240-2. Scheduled record 1210-4 remains in the second subset 1240-2 and is now at the lowest priority position outside of scheduled records 1210-2 through 1210-5.

Instead of shifting the scheduled records 1210-2 through 1210-4 downward in priority order as illustrated in FIG. 15, the scheduled record 1210-5 may exchange priority with the scheduled record 1210-2. FIG. 16 illustrates GUI1200 after scheduled record 1210-5 has exchanged priorities with scheduled record 1210-2. In FIG. 16, the graphical objects representing the scheduled records 1210-2 and 1210-5 are swapped from those locations shown in FIG. 12.

In the above or similar manner, the user may prioritize conflicting scheduled records 1210 as may be appropriate for a particular preference. After the media recording facility 360 re-prioritizes the scheduled recordings 1210 in the recording schedule based on user input, the media recording facility 360 may mark the associated media content recording conflict as resolved and continue operation according to the recording schedule.

Additionally or alternatively, GUI1200 may include at least one other option configured to help resolve media content recording conflicts. For example, in some embodiments, such options may include a visual indication of a time period associated with the scheduled recording 1210 of the media content instance and a user tool configured to help modify one or more of the time periods associated with the scheduled recording 1210 of the media content instance.

For example, returning to FIG. 12, a graphical object representing a scheduled recording 1210 may be sized and placed along the timeline 710 in a manner that visually indicates a time period associated with the scheduled recording 1210. As described above, in the illustrated example, scheduled record 1210-1 is scheduled to be performed during the period of 5:30PM-6:00PM, scheduled records 1210-2, 1210-3, and 1210-5 are scheduled to be performed during the period of 6:00PM-6:30PM, and scheduled record 1210-4 is scheduled to be performed during the period of 5:00PM-6:05 PM. The use of the size and position of the graphical object representing the scheduled recording 1210 relative to the timeline 710 is only one way to visually indicate the period of time associated with the scheduled recording 1210. In other embodiments, any other suitable visual indication of the time period may be used.

FIG. 17 illustrates the GUI1200 of FIG. 12, where the selector 1250 is placed at a graphical object representing a scheduled record 1210-4, and the period associated with the scheduled record 1210-4 is identified by reference numeral 1710 ("period 1710"). When a graphical object representing a scheduled record 1210-4 is selected in FIG. 17, a user tool including one or more selectable items configured to facilitate modifying a period 1710 for the scheduled record 1210-4 may be displayed in the GUI 1200.

FIG. 18 illustrates the GUI1200 of FIG. 17 having a plurality of selectable items 1810 configured to facilitate modification of period 1710 associated with scheduled record 1210-4. Selectable items 1810 may be displayed in GUI1200 in any suitable manner, such as in pop-up window 1820. Selectable items 1810 may include an option to modify period 1710 of scheduled record 1210-4. As shown in FIG. 18, pop-up window 1820 may include a graphical object that represents scheduled recording 1210-4, and may indicate a start (e.g., 5:00PM) and end (e.g., 6:05PM) time for period 1710 of scheduled recording 1210-4. Alternative items 1810 may include: a start time shift option 1810-1, which when selected by a user will result in a forward shift in time of the start time of period 1710 to a later start time; and an end time shift option 1810-2, which when selected by the user will result in the end time of period 1710 being shifted back in time to an earlier end time. Accordingly, the user may utilize one or more of selectable items 1810 to crop the beginning and/or ending portions of period 1710, thereby shortening the length of period 1710 associated with scheduled recording 1210-4.

Any suitable user input may be used to select one or more of selectable items 1810. In some embodiments, each selection of the start time shift option 1810-1 or the end time shift option 1810-2 may result in the period 1710 being clipped for a predefined length of time (e.g., one minute).

FIG. 19 illustrates the GUI1200 of FIG. 18 after the user has selected the end time shift option 1810-2 to shorten the period 1710 by five minutes. A visual representation of the five minute shortened period 1710 may be illustrated in the GUI1200, such as by displaying the dashed line 1910 or other visual indication of a new ending time for the period 1710 of the scheduled recording 1210-4.

When the user accepts the modification to period 1710, period 1710 for scheduled record 1210-4 can be modified accordingly. Modifications to the scheduled record 1210-4 may be visually indicated in the GUI 1200. For example, FIG. 20 illustrates the GUI1200 of FIG. 18 with a graphical object displayed therein representing a scheduled recording 1210-4. As shown, the graphical object may be sized and placed in GUI1200 to indicate a modified period of time associated with a scheduled recording. The modified time period is denoted by reference numeral 2010 in fig. 20.

As further shown in fig. 20, the above-described modification of period 1710 to produce a modified period 2010 for scheduled recording 1210-4 may resolve a media content recording conflict. Prior to modification, period 1710 overlaps with other periods for scheduled records 1210-2 and 1210-3, making no resources available for recording the last five minutes of the media content instance associated with scheduled record 1210-4. As the last five minutes of scheduled record 1210-4 are clipped, conflicts with scheduled records 1210-2 and 1210-3 are resolved. As shown in FIG. 20, the graphical object representing the modified scheduled recording 1210-4 is placed within the portion 1230-2, meaning that a particular resource (e.g., a second tuner) is scheduled for execution of the modified scheduled recording 1210-4 during a modified period 2010 from 5:00PM to 6:00 PM. At 6:00PM, the asset may transition from recording the media content instance associated with scheduled recording 1210-4 to recording the media content instance associated with scheduled recording 1210-3.

Such a modification to the time period associated with the scheduled records may allow a user to prioritize overlapping records on a granular level basis. For example, the media content instance associated with the scheduled recording 1210-4 may be a movie. The user may know that the last portion of the movie will include a presentation of a list of movie employees. The user may not be concerned with viewing the cast list and the time period for scheduled recording 1210-4 may be tailored to resolve recording conflicts as described above.

FIG. 21 illustrates an exemplary method of handling a failed logged event. Although fig. 21 illustrates exemplary steps according to one embodiment, other embodiments may omit, add to, reorder, and/or modify any of the steps shown in fig. 21. In certain embodiments, one or more of the steps shown in fig. 21 are performed by media content processing subsystem 110 and/or device 400.

In step 2110, media content recording conflicts between scheduled recordings of media content instances are detected. Step 2110 may be performed in any of the ways described above, including the media recording facility 360 of the processing subsystem 110 detecting conflicts based on the recording schedule data.

In step 2120, data representing the GUI is output for display on a display device. Step 2120 may be performed in any of the ways described above, including processing subsystem 110 or device 400 outputting data representing a GUI to display device 130. As described above, the GUI may include a graphical object representing a plurality of scheduled recordings of media content instances and at least one option configured to help resolve media content recording conflicts. The options may include one or more of the above-mentioned options, including one or more options configured to assist a user in selecting one or more alternative recording opportunities for recording one or more instances of media content at different time periods, one or more options configured to assist in reprioritizing scheduled recordings, and one or more options configured to assist in modifying (e.g., cropping) the time periods associated with the scheduled recordings.

In step 2130, a user input associated with the option is received. Step 2130 may be performed in any of the ways described above, and may include receiving user input indicating a user selection of one or more options configured to help resolve media content recording conflicts.

In step 2140, media content recording conflicts are resolved based on user input associated with the options. Step 2140 may be performed in any of the manners described above, including re-scheduling scheduled recordings of media content instances for another time period, re-prioritizing conflicting scheduled recordings, and/or modifying (e.g., cropping) a time period for scheduled recordings.

The preceding description has been presented only to illustrate and describe example embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto, and additional embodiments may be implemented, without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The foregoing description and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Claims (24)

1. A method, comprising:

detecting, on a media content recording device, a media content recording conflict between a plurality of scheduled recordings of a media content instance; and

outputting, for display on a display device, data representing a graphical user interface comprising:

a plurality of graphical objects representing said plurality of scheduled recordings of said media content instance, and

at least one option configured to facilitate resolution of the media content recording conflict.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one option comprises a selectable graphical object indicating an alternate recording opportunity for one of the media content instances.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

detecting selection of the selectable graphical object indicating the alternate recording opportunity for the one of the media content instances; and

rescheduling the scheduled recording of the one of the media content instances to an alternate time period associated with the alternate recording opportunity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one option comprises at least one selectable graphical object indicating at least one alternative recording opportunity for at least one of the media content instances, and wherein the graphical user interface comprises a two-dimensional matrix comprising:

the plurality of graphical objects representing the plurality of scheduled recordings of the media content instance arranged in rows along a timeline based on a plurality of time periods associated with the media content instance; and

the at least one selectable graphical object indicative of the at least one alternative recording opportunity arranged along the time axis based on at least one alternative time period associated with the at least one alternative recording opportunity for the at least one of the media content instances.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the timeline comprises a coarse timeline, and wherein the two-dimensional matrix further comprises a placeholder graphical object placed between one of the at least one selectable graphical object and one of the graphical objects representing the scheduled recording of the one of the media content instances.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the placeholder graphical object indicates a time period between one of the scheduled recordings and one of the at least one alternative recording opportunity.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting a user selection of one of the graphical objects representing one of the scheduled recordings of one of the media content instances, wherein in response to the user selection, data representing the at least one option is output for inclusion in the graphical user interface.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one option comprises:

a visual indication of resource-based prioritization of the scheduled recording of the media content instance; and

a user utility configured to facilitate reprioritizing the scheduled recording of the media content instance in the resource-based prioritization.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the visual indication of the resource-based prioritization comprises:

a first subset of the scheduled recordings of the media content instance associated with at least one media content recording resource of the media content recording device; and

a second subset of the scheduled recordings of the media content instance not associated with any media content recording resource of the media content recording device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one option comprises:

a visual indication of a plurality of time periods associated with the scheduled recording of the instance of media content; and

a user tool configured to facilitate modification of at least one of the time periods associated with one of the scheduled recordings of one of the media content instances.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the modification comprises at least one of:

moving the start time of the period forward in time; and

moving the end time of the period backwards in time.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting and the outputting are performed by the media content recording device.

13. The method of claim 1, tangibly embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one computer-readable medium.

14. A method, comprising:

detecting, on a media content recording device, a media content recording conflict between a plurality of scheduled recordings of a media content instance;

displaying on a display device a graphical user interface comprising a plurality of selectable graphical objects representing the plurality of scheduled recordings of the media content instance;

detecting selection of one of the selectable graphical objects in the graphical user interface corresponding to one of the scheduled recordings of one of the media content instances; and

displaying, in the graphical user interface and in response to the selection, an alternative recording opportunity for the one of the media content instances.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting selection of the alternate recording opportunity in the graphical user interface; and

rescheduling said one of said scheduled recordings of said one of said media content instances as said alternative recording opportunity.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the alternative recording opportunity comprises an alternative time period for recording the one of the media content instances.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting selection of another one of the selectable graphical objects in the graphical user interface corresponding to another one of the scheduled recordings of another one of the media content instances; and

displaying, in the graphical user interface and in response to the selection of the other of the selectable graphical objects, an alternate recording opportunity for the other of the media content instances.

18. A system, comprising:

a communication facility configured to receive transmission data representing a plurality of media content instances according to a transmission schedule;

a processing facility communicatively coupled to the communication facility; and

a media recording facility communicatively coupled to the communication facility and the processing facility, the media recording facility configured to direct the processing facility

Scheduling a plurality of recordings of data representing a plurality of instances of media content to a data storage facility based on the transmission schedule,

detecting a media content recording conflict between said plurality of scheduled recordings of said media content instance, and

outputting, for display on a display device, data representing a graphical user interface comprising:

a plurality of graphical objects representing said plurality of scheduled recordings of said media content instance, and

at least one option configured to facilitate resolution of the media content recording conflict.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one option comprises at least one selectable graphical object indicating at least one alternative recording opportunity for at least one of the media content instances.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the media recording facility is configured to direct the processing facility to:

detecting a user selection of one of the graphical objects representing one of the scheduled recordings of one of the media content instances; and is

In response to the user selection, outputting, for inclusion in the graphical user interface, the at least one selectable graphical object indicative of the at least one alternative recording opportunity for the at least one of the media content instances.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein:

the at least one option includes a selectable graphical object indicating an alternate recording opportunity for one of the media content instances; and is

The media recording facility is configured to direct the processing facility

Detecting selection of the selectable graphical object indicating the alternate recording opportunity for the one of the media content instances; and is

Rescheduling the scheduled recording of the one of the media content instances to an alternate time period associated with the alternate recording opportunity.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one option comprises:

a visual indication of resource-based prioritization of the scheduled recording of the media content instance; and

a user utility configured to facilitate reprioritizing the scheduled recording of the media content instance in the resource-based prioritization.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one option comprises:

a visual indication of a plurality of time periods associated with the scheduled recording of the instance of media content; and

a user tool configured to facilitate modification of at least one of the time periods associated with one of the scheduled recordings of one of the media content instances.

24. The system of claim 18 implemented on a media content recording device.