Patent ID: 6714722
Filing Date: 2004-03-30
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
A method of managing recorded programs recorded in a recording medium in a broadcasting system comprising at least one transmitter and a plurality of terminals,wherein each transmitter broadcasts a data stream, each data stream comprising a multiplexed plurality of channels, each channel comprising a plurality of programs and each data stream including program information comprising program information (PI) records associated with respective programs available in the broadcasting system, the method comprising the steps of: each terminal permitting a user to select a desired one of said programs; adding said selected program to a recording queue that keeps program-identifying data sets in order of broadcast start time; recording on said recording medium a program identified by one of said program-identifying data sets in a first position of said recording queue; recording a program information record of said recorded program in a predetermined area on said recording medium; in response to reception of a playing request from the user, displaying a program guide for said recorded programs recorded on said recording medium; prompting the user to select one of said recorded programs for play; and in response to the user selecting said one of said recorded programs, playing said selected recorded program to provide video and/or audio output(s), wherein said step of permitting a user to select a desired one of said programs includes the step of permitting a user to select one of video channels and one of audio channels, said video and audio channels constituting said desired program, wherein said recording step includes the steps of: extracting video data of said selected video channel and audio data of said selected audio channel from a data stream including said video and audio channels; converting said video data and said audio data into a time-division-multiplexed packet stream in a same form as said data stream; and recording said time-division-multiplexed packet stream on said recording media, and wherein, if a program varies in its channel configuration in a middle of duration thereof, said PI record of the program includes time periods for respective channel configurations of the program and a channel configuration for each of said time periods, each channel configuration indicating: said video and audio channels that constitute the program for a time period associated with said each channel configuration; said displaying step displays said time periods and corresponding channel configurations; and said selecting one of video channels and one of audio channels includes selecting, for each time period, a video and a audio channel from a channel configuration associated with the time period.