Patent ID: 7853119

Claim:
An apparatus for recording a selected program, comprising: a) a means for selecting the selected program; b) a means for receiving a data stream, a start data packet and an end data packet for the selected program; c) a means for detecting the start data packet for the selected program and the end data packet for the selected program; and d) a means for recording the selected program, the recording being initiated in response to the detection of the start data packet for the selected program and terminated in response to the detection of the end data packet for the selected program, wherein the data stream includes one or more programs and a private stream, each program being represented by content data packets in the data stream, the private stream including the start data packet and the end data packet for the selected program and a start data packet and an end data packet for each additional program and the start data packet precedes the associated content data packets in the data stream for each program and the end data packet follows the associated content data packets in the data stream for each program and the end data packet of a preceding program and the start data packet for a following program are combined in a common data packet.