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Television viewing on gaming consoles

The presently disclosed subject matter is related to the following applications: U.S. application No. ______, filed Jan. 5, 2007 (Attorney Docket No.: MSFT-5861/ MS 319509.01), entitled “Recording Media on Gaming Consoles,” and U.S. application No. ______, filed Jan. 5, 2007 (Attorney Docket No.: MSFT-5862/MS 319510.01), entitled “Integration of Media on Gaming Consoles.”

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document may contain material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. The following notice shall apply to this document: Copyright® 2006, 2007 Microsoft Corp.

The presently disclosed subject matter relates to the field of computing, and more particularly, to fields such as gaming and media content, although these are merely exemplary and non-limiting fields.

Gaming consoles provide a rich audio and visual experience that is underwritten by extensive computing resources. However, these computing resources are often times not leveraged for non-gaming uses. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide, in addition to gaming entertainment, other media experiences, such as television viewing, recording of content (whether television, gaming, or otherwise), and so on. In short, it would be advantageous to provide systems, methods, computer readable media and the like that would allow for integrated gaming and media experience.

Various aspects disclosed herein provide for an integrated gaming and media experience. By way of example and not limitation, in one aspect, television viewing on a gaming console is made possible by using a client component. The client component can be installed via a bootstrap process that uses authentication and installation processes to set itself up. Once installed, it integrates itself into a typical gaming display in such a way as to provide users with a uniform experience (vis-à-vis pre-installation). Additionally, various details can be used to enable communication between the client component and downstream servers providing the content.

Once up and running, the client component allows users to watch television as if they were interacting with a set-top box. Thus, if a user pushes a button on a controller acting as a remote control for the gaming console/set-top box, a television client, such as IPTV, can be launched and displayed to a user. This lunching may include authenticating the gaming console with the downstream servers. Then, after launch, the client component may handle audio and video signals by leveraging resident gaming console resources to displaying any incoming signals.

It should be noted that this Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The foregoing Summary, as well as the following Detailed Description, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. In order to illustrate the present disclosure, various aspects of the disclosure are illustrated. However, the disclosure is not limited to the specific aspects shown. The following figures are included:

FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art system where an incoming signal is received at a set-top box, and this signal is processed by the set-top box;

FIG. 2, in contrast to FIG. 1, illustrates that gaming consoles can be used process and display media content a la set-top boxes;

FIG. 3 illustrates that once the gaming console is processing and/or displaying incoming signals, users can select, using a console menu, the service they want to use;

FIG. 4 illustrates that the gaming console also provides a program guide that is suitable for TV watching;