Interactive television tracking system

• US 20030051253A1
• Filed: 08/16/2002
• Published: 03/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MK Systems USA Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ericsson Television Incorporated (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Barone, Samuel T. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,861,259 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/112
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2408 Monitoring of the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. client requests monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; 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 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4438 Window management, e.g. event handling following interaction with the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4758 for providing answers, e.g. voting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• 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 7/088 the inserted signal being digital
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

An interactive television system tailoring delivery of interactive content. The system includes a request processing engine accepting user interactions with an interactive television (ITV) application. A user profiling engine associates the user interactions with an individual profile or profile group. The profile group defines events that may be triggered upon receipt of certain user interactions. A trigger/event engine monitors, in real-time, whether the user interactions correspond to any of the defined events. If an event is to be triggered, an action engine transmits an ITV command associated with the event to an encoder. The encoder performs a real-time of encoding of the ITV command for providing viewers with a dynamic ITV experience. The ITV experience provided to the viewers may also be customized based on the profile information obtained for each individual viewer.

Claims

1. A method for tailoring delivery of interactive content in an interactive television system comprising:

delivering a video program providing an interactive television program application to a viewer, the interactive television program application presenting the viewer with a first type of interactive experience;

monitoring interactions with the interactive television program application; and

dynamically providing a command to the viewer'"'"'s receiver based on the monitored interactions for presenting the viewer with a second type of interactive experience.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second type of interactive experience is customized based on the viewer receiving the interactive experience.

3. A method for tailoring delivery of interactive content in an interactive television system comprising:

transmitting a first portion of a video program providing an interactive television program application to a first viewer and a second viewer;

receiving an interaction with the interactive television application from the first viewer;

determining whether an event is to be triggered based on the interaction from the first viewer;

encoding a command associated with the event in a second portion of the video program; and

transmitting the second portion of the video program with the encoded command for providing the event to the first viewer and the second viewer.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the event is delivery of an interactive television content.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

delivering a first interactive television content to the first viewer based on profile information associated with the first viewer; and

delivering a second interactive television content to the second viewer based on profile information associated with the second viewer.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

identifying a profile for the first viewer, the profile defining a plurality of events that may be triggered; and

determining whether the interaction from the first viewer corresponds to one of the events defined for the profile.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the profile is a group-based profile for viewers satisfying a particular criteria.

8. A method for tailoring delivery of interactive content in an interactive television system comprising:

receiving a viewer interaction with an interactive television application provided by a video program;

identifying a profile for the viewer;

identifying a customized interactive television content based on the matched profile; and

providing the customized content to the viewer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the profile is an individual profile generated for the viewer.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the profile is a group profile for viewers satisfying a particular criteria.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the customized content is identified and provided during the video program.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the customized content is identified for and provided in a future video program.

13. An interactive television system tailoring delivery of interactive content, the system comprising:

means for delivering a video program providing an interactive television program application to a viewer, the interactive television program application presenting the viewer with a first type of interactive experience;

means for monitoring interactions with the interactive television program application; and

means for dynamically providing a command to the viewer'"'"'s receiver based on the monitored interactions for presenting the viewer with a second type of interactive experience.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the second type of interactive experience is customized based on the viewer receiving the interactive experience.

15. An interactive television system tailoring delivery of interactive content, the system comprising:

means for transmitting a first portion of a video program providing an interactive television program application to a first viewer and a second viewer;

a first engine receiving an interaction with the interactive television application from the first viewer;

a second engine determining whether an event is to be triggered based on the interaction from the first viewer;

an encoder encoding a command associated with the event in a second portion of the video program; and

means for transmitting the second portion of the video program with the encoded command for providing the event to the first viewer and the second viewer.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the event is delivery of an interactive television content.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

delivering a first interactive television content to the first viewer based on profile information associated with the first viewer; and

delivering a second interactive television content to the second viewer based on profile information associated with the second viewer.

18. The system of claim 15 further comprising:

identifying a profile for the first viewer, the profile defining a plurality of events that may be triggered; and

determining whether the interaction from the first viewer corresponds to one of the events defined for the profile.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the profile is a group-based profile for viewers satisfying a particular criteria.

20. An interactive television system tailoring delivery of interactive content, the system comprising:

a first engine receiving a viewer interaction with an interactive television application provided by a video program;

a second engine identifying a profile for the viewer and further identifying a customized interactive television content based on the matched profile; and

means for providing the customized content to the viewer.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the profile is an individual profile generated for the viewer.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the profile is a group profile for viewers satisfying a particular criteria.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the customized content is identified and provided during the video program.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the customized content is identified for and provided in a future video program.