Prioritized content recording and storage management

Abstract

A storage management system selectively reduces a quality level of previously stored content. When storage in the system is becoming full, selected content is converted to a lower quality or lower storage size, based at least one of priority or age. Such conversion is performed in a computing background to minimize interference with programs being currently viewed. A user interface provides a list of programs that are candidates for conversion. The user selects programs to be converted or deleted to create additional storage for the new programs.

1 . A system for managing storage of content in a storage device, the system comprising:
 a determining module tangibly embodied in a non-transitory recording medium that determines when the storage medium is approaching insufficient capacity;   an identifier module tangibly embodied in the non-transitory recording medium that identifies content stored on the storage medium for conversion to a format requiring less storage space;   a user interface facilitating identification of the content for conversion; and   a conversion module tangibly embodied in the non-transitory recording medium that converts the identified content to the format requiring less storage space;   wherein said determining module is configured to determine that the stored medium is approaching insufficient capacity upon detecting content to be added to said storage device that requires more storage space than is available; and   wherein said determining module is configured to determine that sufficient storage is available to perform the conversion.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the identifier module identifies further content and the conversion module converts the further content until storage space exists for additional content. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the identifier module identifies content for conversion based on priority. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  wherein identifier module identifies content for conversion based on a combination of age and user identified priority. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the conversion module converts high quality format content to medium or low quality format content, and medium quality format content to low quality format content. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5  wherein the high quality format requires the highest amount of storage space, and the low quality format requires the least amount of storage. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the determining module tracks available storage space and compares the amount available storage space with space required to store additional content. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the user interface is configured to display modifiable information about user-defined priority level for conversion and quality of the content stored on the storage medium; and wherein the user interface is configured to display user-selectable inputs for the content for conversion. 
     
     
         9 . A non-transitory recording medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a computer to execute a method comprising:
 determining when the storage medium is approaching insufficient capacity;   identifying content stored on the storage medium for conversion to a format requiring less storage space;   converting the identified content to the format requiring less storage space;   wherein a determination of insufficient capacity is reached upon detecting content to be added to said storage device that requires more storage space than is available; and   wherein said determining includes determining that sufficient storage is available to perform the conversion.   
     
     
         10 . The computer readable medium of  claim 9  wherein further content is identified and converted until storage space exists for additional content. 
     
     
         11 . The computer readable medium of  claim 9  wherein the content for conversion is identified based on priority. 
     
     
         12 . The computer readable medium of  claim 9  wherein the content for conversion is identified by a user. 
     
     
         13 . The computer readable medium of  claim 9  wherein the content for conversion is identified by a combination of age and user identified priority. 
     
     
         14 . The computer readable medium of  claim 9  wherein the user interface is configured to accept user inputs to select the identified content for the conversion, to specify a quality level which determines the format requiring less storage space and to specify a priority for said content in the storage device. 
     
     
         15 . The computer readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the user interface is configured to display modifiable information about user-defined priority level for conversion and quality of the content stored on the storage medium; and wherein the user interface is configured to display user-selectable inputs for the content for conversion. 
     
     
         16 . The computer readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein said conversion uses a known conversion routine to perform the conversion, the computer readable medium further comprising:
 determining that said sufficient storage is available to perform the conversion based on a given amount of storage required by the known conversion routine for the conversion.   
     
     
         17 . A system for managing storage of content in a storage device, the system comprising:
 a determining module tangibly embodied in a non-transitory recording medium that determines when the storage medium is approaching insufficient capacity;   an identifier module tangibly embodied in the non-transitory recording medium that identifies content stored on the storage medium for conversion to a format requiring less storage space;   a user interface to facilitate identification of the content for conversion;   a conversion module tangibly embodied in the non-transitory recording medium that converts the identified content to the format requiring less storage space;   a playback module tangibly embodied in the non-transitory recording medium for displaying content for viewing by a user of the system.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17  wherein the conversion module operates in a background mode to minimize affect on content currently being viewed. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17  wherein the user interface is configured to accept user inputs to select the identified content for the conversion to specify a quality level which determines the format requiring less storage space and to specify a priority for said content in the storage device. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17  wherein said determining module is configured to determine that the stored medium is approaching insufficient capacity upon detecting content to be added to said storage device that requires more storage space than is available. 
     
     
         21 . A system for managing storage of content in a storage device, the system comprising:
 a determining module tangibly embodied in a non-transitory recording medium that determines when the storage medium is approaching insufficient capacity;   an identifier module tangibly embodied in the non-transitory recording medium that identities content stored on the storage medium for conversion to a format requiring less storage space;   a user interface facilitating identification of the content for conversion; and   a conversion module tangibly embodied in the non-transitory recording medium that converts the identified content to the format requiring less storage space;   wherein said determining module is configured to determine that the stored medium is approaching insufficient capacity upon detecting content to be added to said storage device that requires more storage space than is available;   wherein said determining module is configured to determine that sufficient storage is available to perform the conversion; and   wherein the user interface is configured to accept user inputs to select the identified content for the conversion, to specify a quality level which determines the format requiring less storage space, and to specify a user-defined priority level for conversion for said content in the storage device.   
     
     
         22 . A system for managing storage of content in a storage device, the system comprising:
 a determining module tangibly embodied in a non-transitory recording medium that determines when the storage medium is approaching insufficient capacity;   an identifier module tangibly embodied in the non-transitory recording medium that identifies content stored on the storage medium for conversion to a format requiring less storage space;   a user interface facilitating identification of the content for conversion; and   a conversion module tangibly embodied in the non-transitory recording medium that converts the identified content to the format requiring less storage space;   wherein said determining module is configured to determine that the stored medium is approaching insufficient capacity upon detecting content to be added to said storage device that requires more storage space than is available;   wherein said determining module is configured to determine that sufficient storage is available to perform the conversion;   wherein said conversion module uses a known conversion routine that requires a given amount of available storage to perform the conversion; and   wherein said determining module is configured to determine that said sufficient storage is available to perform the conversion based on the given amount of storage required by the known conversion routine to perform the conversion and a minimum space requirement set to handle a largest size video.   
     
     
         23 . A system for managing storage of content in a storage device, the system comprising:
 a determining module tangibly embodied in a non-transitory recording medium that determines when the storage medium is approaching insufficient capacity;   an identifier module tangibly embodied in the non-transitory recording medium that identifies content stored on the storage medium for conversion to a format requiring less storage space;   a user interface facilitating identification of the content for conversion; and   a conversion module tangibly embodied in the non-transitory recording medium that converts the identified content to the format requiring less storage space;   wherein said determining module is configured to determine that the stored medium is approaching insufficient capacity upon detecting content to be added to said storage device that requires more storage space than is available;   wherein said determining module is configured to determine that sufficient storage is available to perform the conversion;   wherein the user interface is configured to display an estimate of an amount of time available for high quality video to be recorded based upon the identified content for conversion and a specified quality level; and   wherein the user interface is further configured to accept user inputs to specify a different quality level for the identified content for conversion requiring a different amount of storage space to provide a different amount of time available for high quality video to be recorded.