As with most patent applications, Scientific Atlanta’s usage of the English language here is barely comprehensible. Their topic appears pretty broad — covering VOD and multi-room PVR interfaces as both separate and integrated entities, though references to communication protocols are specific to cable company transmission technologies (QAM, for example).
Video-on-demand (VOD) services, which are well known in the art, enable viewers to request various media services from an operator. The requested media services, such as movies, etc., are then provided to the viewer’s set-top terminal (STT) for viewing. In the event that the STT includes a personal video recorder (PVR), the movie or other media content instance can be recorded on the PVR for later viewing. The PVR can be used in a multi-room (MR) setting, as described in the cross-referenced patent applications. In that regard, if the viewer has a television (TV) in different rooms at the viewer’s location (e.g., home, office, etc.), then each of the TVs at the viewer’s location can access the PVR, thereby enabling MR-PVR. The various embodiments, disclosed herein, provide approaches in which MR-PVR services and VOD services are integrated to provide a consolidated interface for a viewer to select either VOD services or MR-PVR services.