Patent ID: 7765235

Claim:
A method for managing resources in a multimedia delivery network, the method comprising: scheduling on a personal video recorder (PVR) a local recording of a multimedia asset that is available during a first window of time from a first source; gathering information related to resources of the PVR and the multimedia delivery network; determining whether an equivalent multimedia asset with a same title and the same program content as the multimedia asset is available outside the first window of time from at least one alternative source, wherein the equivalent multimedia asset is stored remotely and the at least one alternative source is other than a broadcast source; and deciding, based upon the determining and applying other system and/or user-specified criteria, whether or not to record the multimedia asset locally, wherein when it is decided not to record the multimedia asset locally, the method further comprises: deferring the local recording of the multimedia asset beyond the first window of time; and storing a first multimedia asset pointer that allows access to the equivalent multimedia asset locally.