System and method for personalized presentation of video programming events

• US 20020152463A1
• Filed: 02/26/2001
• Published: 10/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: MeeVee, Inc. (LiveUniverse, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MeeVee, Inc. (LiveUniverse, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dudkiewicz, Gil Gavriel
• Application Number:
  US09/793,479
• Publication Number:
  US 20020152463A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/735 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/78 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/73 using meta-information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4661 Deriving a combined profile for a plurality of end-users of the same client, e.g. for family members within a home user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4665 involving classification methods, e.g. Decision trees
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 represented by keywords
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A device for providing alerts to a viewer concerning programming events is disclosed. The device determines preferred programming events from among available programming events using programming event metadata and a viewer profile. The metadata includes goodness of fit scores associated with categories of a classification hierarchy and the viewer profile includes preference scores associated with categories of the classification hierarchy. The device provides an alert concerning a preferred programming event to a communication device of the viewer. The alert may be provided by sending data to a set top box, a computer, a pager, an email address, an instant messaging application, or a wireless communication device. The alert may be provided in accordance with contact information contained in the viewer profile. The device may determine a time in advance of the preferred programming event for providing the alert from information in the viewer profile specifying an amount of time in advance for providing alerts, and then provide the alert at the determined time. Related embodiments of the invention may pertain to processes performed in a device for providing alerts to a viewer concerning programming events. Also disclosed is a device for providing programming events to viewers. The device determines a preferred programming event from among available programming events using programming event metadata and one or more viewer profiles. The metadata includes goodness of fit scores associated with categories of a classification hierarchy and the viewer profiles include preference scores associated with categories of the classification hierarchy. The device provides preferred programming events to viewers in accordance with the desirability determinations. The device may notify a viewer of a preferred programming event, and provide the programming event in response to a request from the viewer to receive the programming event. The device may determine the desirability of a programming event by determining categories of the classification hierarchy for which there is a goodness of fit score in the metadata of the programming event and a preference score in one or more of the viewer profiles, and then determining a desirability score for the programming event as a function of the goodness of fit scores and preference scores of the matched categories. That function may be weighted in accordance with the specificities of the matched categories. The device may determine the desirability score for a programming event by determining a score for each matched category that is a function of the goodness of fit score and a preference score of each category in a branch of the hierarchy terminating in the matched category, and then determining a maximum score among the matched category scores. The preference score of each category in a branch of the hierarchy may be weighted in accordance with its ordinal level within the hierarchy. Alternatively, the device may determine a desirability score for a programming event by determining a score for each matched category that is function of the goodness of fit score and a preference score for the matched category in each of the viewer profiles that is weighted in accordance with a priority of the respective viewer profile, and then determining a maximum score among the matched category scores. Alternatively, the device may determine a desirability score for a programming event by determining a score for each matched category that is function of the goodness of fit score, the preference score in each of the viewer profiles for the matched category, and a specificity weight of the matched category, and then determining a maximum score among the matched category scores.

Claims

1. A device for providing programming events to viewers, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory coupled to the at least one processor and having stored therein at least one viewer profile, metadata describing video programming events, and programming instructions for performing data processing,

wherein metadata describing a programming event comprises goodness of fit scores associated with categories of a classification hierarchy,

wherein the at least one viewer profile comprises preference scores associated with categories of the classification hierarchy, and

wherein said data processing comprises;

determining a desirability of each of said programming events with respect to viewing preferences represented in the at least one viewer profile using said goodness of fit scores of said metadata; and

providing programming events to viewers in accordance with said desirability determinations.

2. The device claimed in claim 1, wherein determining the desirability of each programming event comprises:

determining, for each of said programming events, matched categories of said classification hierarchy for which there is a goodness of fit score in the metadata of the programming event and a preference score in the at least one viewer profile; and

determining a desirability score for each programming event as a function of the goodness of fit scores and preference scores of the matched categories of the programming event.

3. The device claimed in claim 2, wherein said function is weighted in accordance with specificities of the matched categories.

4. The device claimed in claim 3, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score and a preference score of each category in a branch of the hierarchy terminating in the matched category; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

5. The device claimed in claim 4, wherein the preference score of said each category in a branch of the hierarchy is weighted in accordance with its ordinal level within the hierarchy.

6. The device claimed in claim 2, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score and a preference score for the matched category in each of the at least one viewer profiles that is weighted in accordance with a priority of the respective viewer profile; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

7. The device claimed in claim 2, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a desirability score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score, the preference score in each of the at least one viewer profile for the matched category, and a specificity weight of the matched category; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

8. The device claimed in claim 2, wherein said metadata further includes a time and duration of a programming event, and wherein providing programming events comprises:

determining a schedule of preferred programming events in accordance with desirability scores and times and durations of said programming events; and

providing programming events in accordance with the schedule.

9. The device claimed in claim 2, wherein providing programming events comprises:

notifying at least one viewer of programming events in accordance with the desirability scores;

receiving a request for a programming event from the at least one viewer; and

providing the requested programming event to the at least one viewer.

10. A method for providing programming events to consumers, comprising:

receiving metadata describing programming events, the metadata for a programming event comprising goodness of fit scores associated with categories of a classification hierarchy;

determining a desirability of each of said programming events with respect to viewing preferences represented in an at least one viewer profile using the goodness of fit scores of the metadata, the at least one viewer profile comprising preference scores associated with categories of the classification hierarchy; and

providing programming events to viewers in accordance with said desirability determinations.

11. The method claimed in claim 10, wherein determining a desirability of each programming event comprises:

determining matched categories of said classification hierarchy for which there is a goodness of fit score in the metadata of the programming event and a preference score in the at least one viewer profile; and

determining a desirability score for each programming event as a function of the goodness of fit scores and preference scores of the matched categories of the programming event.

12. The method claimed in claim 11, wherein said function is weighted in accordance with specificities of the matched categories.

13. The method claimed in claim 11, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score and a preference score of each category in a branch of the hierarchy terminating in the matched category; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

14. The method claimed in claim 13, wherein the preference score of said each category in a branch of the hierarchy is weighted in accordance with its ordinal level within the hierarchy.

15. The method claimed in claim 11, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score and a preference score for the matched category in each of the at least one viewer profiles that is weighted in accordance with a priority of the respective viewer profile; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

16. The method claimed in claim 11, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score, the preference score in each of the at least one viewer profiles for the matched category, and a specificity weight of the matched category; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

17. The method claimed in claim 11, wherein said metadata further includes a time and duration of a programming event, and wherein providing programming events comprises:

determining a schedule of preferred programming events in accordance with desirability scores and times and durations of said programming events; and

providing programming events in accordance with the schedule.

18. The method claimed in claim 11, wherein providing programming events comprises:

notifying at least one viewer of programming events in accordance with the desirability scores;

receiving a request for a programming event from the at least one viewer; and

providing the requested programming event to the at least one viewer.

20. The device claimed in claim 19, wherein determining a desirability of each programming event comprises:

determining matched categories of said classification hierarchy for which there is a goodness of fit score in the metadata of the programming event and a preference score in the at least one viewer profile; and

determining a desirability score for each programming event as a function of the goodness of fit scores and preference scores of the matched categories of the programming event.

21. The device claimed in claim 20, wherein said function is weighted in accordance with specificities of the matched categories.

22. The device claimed in claim 20, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score and a preference score of each category in a branch of the hierarchy terminating in the matched category; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

23. The device claimed in claim 22, wherein the preference score of said each category in a branch of the hierarchy is weighted in accordance with its ordinal level within the hierarchy.

24. The device claimed in claim 20, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score and a preference score for the matched category in each of the at least one viewer profiles that is weighted in accordance with a priority of the respective viewer profile; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

25. The device claimed in claim 20, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score, the preference score in each of the at least one viewer profiles for the matched category, and a specificity weight of the matched category; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

26. The device claimed in claim 20, wherein said metadata further includes a time and duration of a programming event, and wherein said means for providing programming events comprises:

means for determining a schedule of preferred programming events in accordance with desirability scores and times and durations of said programming events; and

means for providing programming events in accordance with the schedule.

27. The device claimed in claim 20, wherein said means for providing programming events comprises:

means for notifying at least one viewer of programming events in accordance with the desirability scores;

means for receiving a request for a programming event from the at least one viewer; and

means for providing the requested programming event to the at least one viewer.

29. The device claimed in claim 28, wherein providing an alert comprises sending data to at least one of a set top box, a computer, a pager, an email address, an instant messaging application, and a wireless communication device.

30. The device claimed in claim 28, wherein the alert is provided to the viewer'"'"'s communication device in accordance with contact information contained in the viewer profile.

31. The device claimed in claim 28, wherein providing an alert comprises:

determining a time in advance of the preferred programming event for providing the alert from information in the viewer profile specifying an amount of time in advance for providing alerts; and

providing the alert at the determined time.

32. The device claimed in claim 28, wherein determining a preferred programming event comprises:

determining, for each programming event, matched categories of said classification hierarchy for which there is a goodness of fit score in the metadata of the programming event and a preference score in the viewer profile; and

determining a desirability score for each programming event as a function of the goodness of fit scores and preference scores of the matched categories of the programming event.

33. The device claimed in claim 32, wherein said function is weighted in accordance with specificities of the matched categories.

34. The device claimed in claim 32, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score and a preference score of each category in a branch of the hierarchy terminating in the matched category; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

35. The device claimed in claim 32, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a desirability score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score, the preference score the viewer profile for the matched category, and a specificity weight of the matched category; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

37. The method claimed in claim 36, wherein providing an alert comprises sending data to at least one of a set top box, a computer, a pager, an email address, an instant messaging application, and a wireless communication device.

38. The method claimed in claim 36, wherein the alert is provided to the viewer'"'"'s communication device in accordance with contact information contained in the viewer profile.

39. The method claimed in claim 36, wherein providing an alert comprises:

determining a time in advance of the preferred programming event for providing the alert from information in the viewer profile specifying an amount of time in advance for providing alerts; and

providing the alert at the determined time.

40. The method claimed in claim 36, wherein determining a preferred programming event comprises:

determining matched categories of said classification hierarchy for which there is a goodness of fit score in the metadata of the programming event and a preference score in the viewer profile; and

determining a desirability score for each programming event as a function of the goodness of fit scores and preference scores of the matched categories of the programming event.

41. The method claimed in claim 40, wherein said function is weighted in accordance with specificities of the matched categories.

42. The method claimed in claim 40, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score and a preference score of each category in a branch of the hierarchy terminating in the matched category; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

43. The method claimed in claim 40, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a desirability score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score, the preference score the viewer profile for the matched category, and a specificity weight of the matched category; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

19. A system for providing programming events to consumers, comprising:

means for receiving metadata describing programming events, the metadata for a programming event comprising goodness of fit scores associated with categories of a classification hierarchy;

means for determining a desirability of each of said programming events with respect to viewing preferences represented in an at least one viewer profile using the goodness of fit scores of the metadata, the at least one viewer profile comprising preference scores associated with categories of the classification hierarchy; and

means for providing programming events to viewers in accordance with said desirability determinations.

28. A device for providing alerts to a viewer concerning programming events, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory coupled to the at least one processor and having stored therein a viewer profile, metadata describing programming events, and programming instructions to perform data processing,

wherein metadata describing a programming event comprises goodness of fit scores associated with categories of a classification hierarchy,

wherein the viewer profile comprises preference scores associated with categories of the classification hierarchy, and

wherein said data processing comprises;

determining a preferred programming event from among said programming events using the goodness of fit scores in the programming event metadata and the preference scores in the viewer profile; and

providing an alert of the preferred programming event to a communication device of the viewer.

36. A method for providing alerts to a viewer concerning programming events, comprising:

determining a preferred programming event from among programming events using goodness of fit scores associated with categories of a classification hierarchy in metadata corresponding to the individual programming events, and using preference scores associated with categories of the classification hierarchy in a viewer profile; and

providing an alert of the preferred programming event to a communication device of the viewer.

44. A device for providing alerts to a viewer concerning programming events, comprising:

means for determining a preferred programming event from among programming events using goodness of fit scores associated with categories of a classification hierarchy in metadata corresponding to the individual programming events, and using preference scores associated with categories of the classification hierarchy in a viewer profile; and

means for providing an alert of the preferred programming event to a communication device of the viewer.

45. The device claimed in claim 44, wherein providing an alert comprises sending data to at least one of a set top box, a computer, a pager, an email address, an instant messaging application, and a wireless communication device.

46. The device claimed in claim 44, wherein the alert is provided to the viewer'"'"'s communication device in accordance with contact information contained in the viewer profile.

47. The device claimed in claim 44, wherein providing an alert comprises:

determining a time in advance of the preferred programming event for providing the alert from information in the viewer profile specifying an amount of time in advance for providing alerts; and

providing the alert at the determined time.

48. The device claimed in claim 44, wherein determining a preferred programming event comprises:

determining, for each programming event, matched categories of said classification hierarchy for which there is a goodness of fit score in the metadata of the programming event and a preference score in the viewer profile; and

determining a desirability score for each programming event as a function of the goodness of fit scores and preference scores of the matched categories of the programming event.

49. The device claimed in claim 48, wherein said function is weighted in accordance with specificities of the matched categories.

50. The device claimed in claim 48, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score and a preference score of each category in a branch of the hierarchy terminating in the matched category; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.

51. The device claimed in claim 48, wherein determining a desirability score for a programming event comprises:

determining a desirability score for each matched category as a function of the goodness of fit score, the preference score the viewer profile for the matched category, and a specificity weight of the matched category; and

determining a maximum score among the scores for each matched category.