Patent ID: 8615161

Claim:
A method for recording viewer-selected broadcast television programs and for playing back such recorded television programs by a viewer comprising: enabling a viewer to record at least one television program having periodic commercial content units; sequentially sensing said at least one television program for a first commercial content unit; removing said first commercial unit from said television program; recording said first commercial unit in a separate first file; replacing said removed first commercial unit in said recorded television with a pointer to said recorded first file; sensing said television program for a next sequential commercial unit; determining if said next commercial unit has the same content as said first commercial unit; if said content is the same as the content of said first commercial unit, removing said next commercial unit from said television program, and replacing said removed unit with a pointer to said recorded first file; if said content is not the same as the content of said first commercial unit, removing said next commercial unit from said television program, and recording said next commercial unit in a separate second file; keeping a count of each time each of said stored commercial content files is pointed to during recording of the television program; during the play back of the recorded television program, when a pointer is reached, playing the recorded commercial in the file pointed to; decrementing said count of a stored commercial content file, each time each of said stored commercial content files is pointed to during the playback; deleting said recorded television program after said playback; and upon deletion of said recorded television program, also deleting each stored commercial content file having a count of zero.