Systems and methods for automatically determining when a single party is playing or requesting conflicting content on two different devices, and resolving the conflict accordingly. Systems automatically identify when a single user is playing back a content stream on one device, then requests another content stream on another device. If the two content streams conflict, the conflict is automatically resolved in a number of ways, including by automatically pausing or redirecting one of the content streams. Conflict identification may also be carried out with the assistance of an added state flag that indicates a device or stream that has audio priority in a conflict. Thus, for example, when one user requests two conflicting content streams, and only one stream is associated with the conditional audio enabled flag, audio of the flagged stream may be played, while the other stream is muted.

A method for providing a personalized media stream includes receiving a signal from a user to launch a personalized media stream, determining a current time, identifying a first time slot of a schedule into which the current time falls, identifying a first channel that is associated with the first time slot, wherein viewing history for the user indicates that the user has viewed the first channel during the first time slot in the past, automatically tuning the display device to the first channel in response to the signal, receiving, subsequent to the automatically tuning, a command from the user to pause a program playing on the first channel, identifying a second channel associated with a second time slot, wherein the second time slot occurs later in time that the first time slot, and buffering a portion of a program being shown on the second channel during the second time slot.

Methods and systems are described for a media guidance application that limits the incentive for authorized users to share content with unauthorized users, while still allowing users to access content virtually anywhere. Specifically, the media guidance application allows an authorized user to receive only a portion of a media asset that he or she is authorized to access on a different device, after a designated time period, and/or when the remaining portion of the media asset is inaccessible.

A method of sharing recording capability on a network, the network having a server supporting at least a recording DVR and a receiving DVR, the recording and receiving DVRs being in different households, the method comprising: (a) determining that the receiving DVR is unable to record the content at a certain time; and (b) identifying that the recording DVR is able to provide the receiving DVR with a recording of the content; (c) recording the content on the recording DVR at the certain time; and (d) transmitting the content from the recording DVR to the receiving DVR after the certain time.

A method for providing a personalized media stream includes receiving a signal from a user to launch a personalized media stream, determining a current time, identifying a first time slot of a schedule into which the current time falls, identifying a first channel that is associated with the first time slot, wherein viewing history for the user indicates that the user has viewed the first channel during the first time slot in the past, automatically tuning the display device to the first channel in response to the signal, receiving, subsequent to the automatically tuning, a command from the user to pause a program playing on the first channel, identifying a second channel associated with a second time slot, wherein the second time slot occurs later in time that the first time slot, and buffering a portion of a program being shown on the second channel during the second time slot.

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture to monitor a media presentation are disclosed. An example method includes in response to receipt of a media identifier, extracting, by executing an instruction with a processor, a timestamp from the received media identifier. A time of receipt of the media identifier is determined. A difference between the time of receipt of the media identifier and the timestamp from the received media identifier is determined. A time shifted viewing code is calculated based on the difference The time shifted viewing code is transmitted to a media monitor that transmitted the media identifier, the time shifted viewing code to be reported when the media monitor reports monitoring information.

Embodiments described herein may involve queue versioning. An example implementation may involve a playback device initiating playback of a queue including one or more first audio streams. A queue identification token stored in data storage represents a current version of the queue. The playback device receives, from a computing system, data representing instructions to add one or more second audio streams to the queue, the instructions including an indication of the one or more second audio streams and a first token representing an expected queue version. The playback device determines whether the expected queue version represented by the first token matches the current version of the queue represented by the queue identification token. If not, the playback device foregoes adding the one or more second audio streams to the queue.

The present application discloses a display method and a display apparatus; and the display apparatus includes a controller configured to determine, on the basis of a schedule list and target program display information corresponding to a target EPG page, whether there is a schedule conflict; if there is a schedule conflict, determining a specified channel and specified time period corresponding to the schedule conflict; obtaining a specified schedule identifier corresponding to the specified channel in the specified time period, and displaying the specified schedule identifier on specified program information.

A method of processing playback content control commands generated at a client device and communicated by a backend server to the client device and a controlled device to control media content playback at the controlled device is provided. The method includes the following steps: sending, by the client device, a playback content control command to the backend server, wherein the backend server is configured to communicated the playback content control command to the client device and to the controlled device; initiating a buffer time period; and refraining from processing, at the client device, one or more subsequent playback content control commands from the backend server during the buffer time period.

Methods and apparatus for generating personalized menus and a media content interface are provided. In one example, different device specific media asset lists are generated at different user devices for the same user based on the media consumption history at each device. In another example, media asset listings are displayed for multicast and on-demand media assets determined to be of interest to the user. An on-demand media asset is listed at a time when no other multicast media assets are listed. In another example, media asset listings for successive episodes of a media series are displayed in sequential order in response to an input to view successive episodes of a media series. In another example, a text search for media content is performed in which the search priority of media provider results is decreased relative to the search priority of media asset results as additional characters are added to a search string.