When an trailer for a programme that you want to watch appears on digital TV push the "I might want to watch that" Button on your remote and the programme gets added to your diary.

Review your diary events to see which you want to record, which you want the televion to automatically turn on for/switch channel to and which you want to discard.

How it works: the digital TV channel already transmits text data as well as the image and sound. You could add a field to this that when a trailer comes on gives the details of the programme in a standard format. At the end of the trailer, this text is overwritten with something else or just a blank field. If you push the button during teh trailer the text is stored and by your satellite/cable/digital terrestrial decoder box for future use.
-- st3f, Mar 06 2002

Tivo patent http://patft.uspto....=AN/Tivo&RS=AN/Tivo
As many mentioned, this is baked by Tivo. See claim 16 in this patent. [krelnik, Oct 16 2002]

U.S. Patent #6,233,389 http://patft.uspto....33389&RS=PN/6233389
As many mentioned, this is baked by Tivo. See claim 16 in this patent. [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

An additional level of service would be to have the "I might want to watch that" button command your Tivo to record the programme (and, because of the way Tivos work, similar programmes).
"I might want to watch that" would probably have to be abbreviated to fit on the button - "IMWTWT"? or perhaps just a button marked "Hmm!?"
-- hippo, Mar 06 2002


I would need 2 IMWTWT buttons, as I am sure the first would get entirly worn out the first week! I never watch tv because there is never anything good on at a time when I want to watch. Great idea! Maybe the button could simply be !
-- Skyloo, Mar 06 2002


Rods: That would be the 'off' button.
-- st3f, Mar 06 2002


Rods, at my house, the TV would automatically switch to the Home & Garden channel.

Next we need a "I might want to watch that, but don't let me because I should be doing other things" button. When pushed, the TV will not function for that period of time.
-- waugsqueke, Mar 06 2002


The details are slightly different, but something like this is already in place for some of the digital viewing systems. A trailer comes on, you push a button, and the advertised episode is added to your recording schedule.
-- jutta, Mar 06 2002


...and I thought I was being original. You know when you're in trouble when you get a call of baked from jutta.
-- st3f, Mar 06 2002


So we adapt it for non-digital systems. Still a great idea [st3f].
-- phoenix, Mar 06 2002


I'm told in the olden days, the father of the household would go through a copy of the Radio Times making marks besides programs to be viewed that week. This ritual was, I am led to believe, popular in many organised households, before the days of pushy trailers and advertisements.
-- pottedstu, Mar 06 2002


<sarcasm>You mean, people in the household would then have to actually *talk* to each other about what they wanted to watch, and Father would have to *physically* mark a *piece of paper*? How quaint. No buttons or electronics at all, eh? And this worked? </sarcasm>

Could you program the IMWTWT to remind you when a show was coming up that day?
-- threeoutside, Mar 06 2002


I may be imagining this, but isn't there now the facility for some TV advertised products of an "I want to buy that" button? Your account is then debited & the service/item is delivered.
-- stupop, Mar 06 2002


Baked. On my cable box (Time Warner in NYC), I can set reminders for various programs. This highlights them in the listing, and one minute before the show starts, a dialog box pops up on the TV screen asking me if I want to switch over to that show. If I had a more modern VCR that communicated with the cable box, I could set them to automatically record instead. I don't know if it does recurrences (e.g., "highlight all non-rerun Buffy episodes"), though.
-- bookworm, Mar 06 2002


Tivos can sort of do that...you start it and there's a button for 'Don't record that episode again'.
-- StarChaser, Mar 08 2002


To Be Continued … and recorded. Now, there's an idea that makes sense.
¯threeoutside: It's worse than that. I actually would read the entire TVGuide for the week and just remembered to be at the TV. These days the same plan would require committing TheVsaurus to memory, with 6 providers on 120 bands and truly liking none of it.
-- reensure, Mar 10 2002


Already baked into Tivo. If you're watching an NBC show on Tivo, and they run a promo for another show, you'll get a Tivo icon in the upper corner, and you just press the Select button to record that show. As my dad says, it's slicker 'n snot.
-- SeattleBrad, May 29 2002



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