Patent ID: 8418194

Claim:
A method for conserving bandwidth for a data connection, the method comprising: detecting one of a plurality of televisions in direct wireless communication with a set-top box has been turned off utilizing a set-top box, a wireless connection between one of the plurality of televisions and the set-top box indicating the one of the plurality of televisions has been turned off; requesting recording information associated with the one of the plurality of televisions from a digital video recorder (DVR) integrated with the set-top box; and terminating a content stream corresponding to the one of the plurality of televisions to the DVR and the one of the plurality of televisions to increase available bandwidth to a network in response to receiving the recording information and determining the DVR is inactive for the one of the plurality of televisions, wherein the content stream is one of a plurality of content streams to the plurality of televisions, and wherein the set-top box manages bandwidth for each of the plurality of televisions through the direct wireless communication according to recording information and an activity status associated with each of the plurality of televisions; and reallocating the increased available bandwidth to one or more other of the plurality of content streams to provide better performance for one or more other connected and active televisions of the plurality of televisions.