In the related art, linear services (e.g., cable television program providers) that provide scheduled programming sometimes offer a user an ability to restart a program if the user tunes to that program after its start time. The related art generally offers this option by recording the program at a server when the start time of the program begins and transmitting the missed, recorded portion to the user upon request, or by transmitting to the user an on-demand copy of the program upon receipt of a restart request. The related art, however, is limited to the same linear service providing both the scheduled programming and the restart copy. Thus, if the linear service does not have a restart copy available, no restart option will be available to the user.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds