Patent ID: 8204353

Claim:
An apparatus for tracking a sequence of events associated with a digital recording device, comprising: a processor to be in communication with a data bus that is between a second processor and a mass storage device of the digital recording device at a household; and a first memory coupled to the processor, wherein, while the digital recording device is recording media having been received over a broadcast medium, the processor executes instructions stored on the first memory to: read information as it is transmitted on the data bus from the second processor to the mass storage device; store, at a memory location separate from the mass storage device and the second processor, time information in association with an address at which the media is to be stored on the mass storage device, the address derived from the information read from the data bus, wherein storing the time information in association with the address comprises selectively storing the time information and the address in response to determining that the information transmitted on the data bus exceeds a data size threshold indicating that the recording of the media is to be tracked, and further comprising selectively ignoring second information transmitted on the data bus when the second information does not exceed the data size threshold; read third information transmitted on the data bus to determine that the media is to be retrieved from the mass storage device; read fourth information transmitted on the data bus to derive storage location information associated with the media; map the storage location information to the address; and associate a playback time of the media with the time information stored together with the address.