Patent ID: 9681176
Date: 2017-06-13
CPC Classifications: H04N

Claim:
1. A method, comprising: generating, by a multi-tuner television receiver, a first output signal corresponding to an electronic programming guide, wherein the electronic programming guide includes a first menu item for configuring a content provisioning service for recording one or more television channels using one or more idle mode tuners of the television receiver, and wherein the content provisioning service allows for automatic and manual priority ranking of television channels; ranking a plurality of television channels according to recording priority, wherein a recording priority identifies an order of preference for recording a television channel for an indeterminate time period while a tuner of the television receiver is designated as in an idle mode, wherein ranking includes generating a listing that itemizes the plurality of television channels, wherein ranking includes determining that output usage time for one or more television channels is equal to or exceeds a predetermined and configurable threshold time period, wherein ranking includes identifying portions of total usage time for one or more television channels and populating the listing with the one or more television channels ranked according to the portions of total usage time, wherein ranking includes receiving input corresponding to a manual determination of recording priority, wherein an indeterminate time period corresponds to a time period that does not have an end time explicitly defined, and wherein tuners designated as in the idle mode correspond to tuners unused for actively providing access to live programming or actively recording broadcast programming according to a recording timer; designating a number of particular tuners of the multi-tuner television receiver to be in the idle mode, wherein the number of particular tuners is less than a total number of tuners of the multi-tuner television receiver; accessing the listing that itemizes the plurality of television channels; identifying a first particular television channel from the listing, wherein the first particular television channel corresponds to a first television channel of the plurality of television channels ranked higher than a threshold ranking; tuning a first particular tuner of the number of particular tuners to the first particular television channel, wherein the first particular tuner is a single particular tuner capable of simultaneously tuning multiple television channels; recording the first particular television channel while the first particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode, wherein recording the first particular television channel includes simultaneously recording multiple television channels of the plurality of television channels including the first particular television channel using the first particular tuner while the first particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode; outputting, for display within the electronic programming guide, a second menu item that, when selected, activates the television receiver to playback the recording of the first particular television channel; receiving input corresponding to selection of the second menu item; generating a second output signal corresponding to playback of the recording of the first particular television channel; identifying a second particular television channel from the listing, wherein the second particular television channel corresponds to a second television channel of the plurality of television channels ranked higher than the threshold ranking; tuning a second particular tuner of the number of particular tuners to the second particular television channel; recording the second particular television channel while the second particular tuner is designated as in the idle mode; and determining a change in status of the first particular tuner from the idle mode to an active mode, wherein determining includes receiving a command to tune the first particular tuner to live programming or to activate a recording timer using the first particular tuner, wherein tuners designated as in the active mode correspond to tuners used for actively providing access to live programming or actively recording programming according to a recording timer; discontinuing recording of the first particular television channel in response to determining the change in status.