31 results about "Alternative program" patented technology

A method and apparatus for selecting radio stations for reception based on a preferred program content. A list of radio station identifiers is stored in a memory and organized according to program content specifiers. When a presently received signal fades, the memory is searched for an alternate radio station with similar program content. If none is available, a prioritized list of alternative program content preferences is accessed and used to index other preferred radio stations for searching. In one embodiment, radio station geographic location information is stored in the memory, and the searching operation considers both program content preference and geographic proximity. The memory can be manually programmed, pre-programmed, updated by subscription, or programmed over-the-air by radio transmission. In one embodiment, a global positioning system receiver is employed to provide instantaneous radio location information.

In a method of enhancing a viewer's experience of a video program, a plurality of selectable alternative video program scenes are provided for a video program being viewed on a display. The selectable alternative program versions are pre-rendered video scenes. A user is prompted to select at least one of the selectable alternative video program scenes for viewing.

A program modification database and method for identifying a candidate entry within the correction database for a particular executable program are disclosed. The program modification database provides a general depository of program changes, referred to herein as substitute program segments, and a set of executable program entries containing program matching criteria and corresponding program changes. The program modification database includes an index. Each entry in the index includes a piece of identifying information for a referenced, corresponding executable program entry. The program modification database architecture is applicable to any type of program segment information for modifying either instruction code or data values within a program. The types of information, within a program matching criteria, taken from an executable program file used to identify a corresponding executable program entry within the program modification database are selectable on an individual basis from an extensible set of executable program information types.

Multi-processor computer systems with multiple levels of cache memories are slowed down in trying to process software locks for common functions. This invention obviates the problem for the vast majority of transactions by providing an alternate procedure for handling so-called communal locks differently from ordinary software locks. The alternative procedure is not used for ordinary (non communal software lock) data and instruction transfers. The function of the CSWL (Communal SoftWare Lock) is actually accomplished at a specific cache to which an individual CSWL is mapped to, rather than sending the lock to the requesting process, which also enhances efficiency.

A method is proposed to enable to automatically record a plurality of content programs that are listed for being broadcast. The method identifies alternative sources for supply of a specific one of the content programs; and conditionally selects a suitable one of the alternative sources for supply of the specific content program in order to avoid a scheduling conflict between recordings.

According to the invention, a method for suggesting alternative content for a video service in a content distribution system is disclosed. In one step, it is detected when a user stops viewing a program associated with a content provider. Alternative programs associated with the content provider are determined without considering content from other providers. Those alternative programs are presented to the user.

A method of embedding information in a computer program code, including a plurality of program statements. The method comprises: inserting a conditional program statement in the computer program code, the conditional program statement including a condition and a plurality of alternative program statements, the conditional program statement being adapted to cause a data processing system to evaluate said condition and, responsive to a result of said evaluating step, to selectively execute one of said plurality of alternative program statements; wherein said condition is indicative of at least a part of said information; and wherein the plurality of alternative program statements are adapted to cause the computer program code to produce the same program output irrespective of which of said alternative program statements is executed.

A technique for suspending transactional memory transactions without stack corruption. A first function that begins a transactional memory transaction is allocated a stack frame on a default program stack, then returns. Prior to suspending the transaction, or after suspending the transaction but prior to allocating any suspended mode stack frames, either of the following operations is performed: (1) switch from the default program stack to an alternative program stack, or (2) switch from a default region of the default program stack where the first function's stack frame was allocated to an alternative region of the default program stack. Prior to resuming the transaction, or after resuming the transaction but prior to allocating any transaction mode stack frames, either of the following operations is performed: (1) switch from the alternative program stack to the default program stack, or (2) switch from the alternative stack region to the default stack region.

The invention provides a firmware code execution method, a memory storage device and a memory control circuit unit. The method comprises the following steps: executing a firmware code in a read-only memory; after executing the first part of the firmware code, querying reference information in a reference memory according to index information in the firmware code; and determining to continue to execute the second part of the firmware code or switch to execute the alternative program code in the reference memory according to the reference information so as to finish the startup program. Therefore, the use flexibility of the memory storage device (or the memory control circuit unit) can be improved, and/or the service life of the memory storage device (or the memory control circuit unit) canbe prolonged.

The invention discloses a program recording method. The program recording method comprises the steps of after a program recording signal is received, obtaining the total channel number of effective program recording channels; taking the minimum value of the total channel number and the expected program recording number as the number of to-be-recorded programs; selecting the to-be-recorded programs from an alternative program list according to the number of to-be-recorded programs and obtaining channel information of the to-be-recorded programs; and obtaining data streams of the to-be-recorded programs according to the channel information of the to-be-recorded programs and starting the effective program recording channels to record the data streams. According to the scheme, different programs are recorded according to the number of the to-be-recorded programs and recording demands of a user for different programs; the problem that the favorite programs cannot be watched timely due to the difference between personal time of the user and the program playing time is solved; the user can watch the favorite programs conveniently at any time; and the user experience is good. The invention also discloses a program recording device.

The invention discloses a method for quickly inputting a program code, which belongs to the field of computer programs and comprises the following steps: 1, writing an alternative program; 2, writingthe replacement source code and the replacement target code into a replacement program replacement database; 3, obtaining a replacement target code; 4, programming in the replacement program by usingthe replacement target code; 5, running an alternative program to replace the alternative target code with the alternative source code; and 6, outputting an alternative source code program. Accordingto the method, the substitution program is pre-programmed by a programmer, then the substitution program is operated, the substitution target code is used for programming in the substitution program,and the length of the substitution target code is smaller than that of the substitution source code, so that the programmer memorizes the substitution target code conveniently, the program code inputspeed is increased, and code input errors are reduced.