Interface for collecting user preferences

• US 20040003096A1
• Filed: 01/30/2003
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Willis, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 7,370,276 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/337 Profile generation, learning or modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing

Abstract

Various techniques are disclosed for accepting preference information from a user, where the preference information is specific to content elements within a media asset, and the preference information is collected while the user is viewing a display of the media asset. These techniques allow a user to change his or her preference information quickly, easily, and efficiently, and to improve the use of, for example, a search engine, a portal page, a reverse-query portal page, or a video (for example, television) display. For example, the user may update/modify a search being performed by a search engine while viewing one of the media assets discovered during the search, without having to return to a search engine home page or a search results summary page.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

outputting a media asset for presentation to a user on a presentation device, based on preference information, the media asset including content;

identifying an element from within the content on the presentation device;

accepting a preference indication regarding the element; and

updating the preference information based on the preference indication.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein accepting the preference indication comprises accepting the preference indication while the content is being accessed by the user.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the element comprises highlighting the element within the content and on the presentation device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the element comprises reproducing the element apart from the content and within a designated area of the presentation device.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the designated area includes a designated frame within a browser.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the element comprises determining that the element is contextually important to the content.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the element comprises determining that the element appears frequently within the content.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the element comprises determining a correlation between the element and the preference information.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the element comprises applying a metadata enhancer to the content.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the element comprises recognizing the element as being previously selected by a metadata enhancer.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein accepting the preference indication comprises:

providing a preference range for accepting an extent of a like or dislike of the element; and

accepting a point within the preference range as the preference indication.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein accepting the preference information comprises providing a pop-up window within the presentation device and proximate to the element, the pop-up window operable to accept the preference information.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein outputting the media asset, identifying the element, accepting the preference indication, and updating preference information are performed during a session with a user.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the preference information is stored for a duration of the session.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the preference information is stored after a termination of the session.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein outputting the media asset comprises outputting a portal page, the portal page including a section operable to display the content and the element to the user, based on the preference information.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the section is operable to search data and to select the content from the searched data, based on a query specification associated with the preference information, thereby generating a portal-based media asset.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the portal-based media asset is included in an iView.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising modifying the query specification, based on the accepted preference indication.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein outputting the media asset comprises outputting a reverse-query portal page, and the media asset is selected from a pre-compiled pool of media assets.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein outputting the media asset comprises:

outputting a plurality of links to the presentation device, each of the links providing a connection to one of a plurality of media assets;

accepting a selection of a first link, the first link corresponding to the media asset; and

transmitting the media asset for presenting on the presentation device, in response to the selection.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the plurality of links are output as a search results page for displaying the links based on a relevance of the media assets to search terms selected by the user.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein accepting the preference indication comprises accepting the preference indication while the media asset is being presented, and updating the preference information comprises modifying the search terms, based on the preference information;

and the method further comprises updating the search results page, based on the modified search terms.

24. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

modifying the search terms, based on the preference information, to obtain modified search terms; and

outputting a modified search results page based on the modified search terms.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the media asset includes an audio-video media asset and the presentation device includes a video display, and further wherein identifying the element comprises reproducing on the video display, as text, a spoken portion of the audio-video media asset.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein identifying the element further comprises analyzing data associated with a sub-channel associated with a broadcast of the audio-video media asset.

27. The method of claim 1 wherein the media asset includes an audio media asset and the presentation device includes an audio presentation device, and further wherein identifying the element comprises reproducing the element aurally.

28. The method of claim 1 wherein the media asset includes an email.

29. A user interface comprising:

a first portion for displaying a media asset, based on preference information, the media asset comprising content;

a second portion for distinguishing an element of the content; and

a third portion for accepting preference information related to the element.

30. The user interface of claim 29, wherein the preference information is accepted while the media asset is being displayed.

31. The user interface of claim 29 wherein the second portion is a highlighted portion identifying the element within the content of the media asset and on the user interface.

32. The user interface of claim 29 wherein the second portion comprises a designated area of the user interface, the designated area displaying the element separately from the content of the media asset.

33. The user interface of claim 32 wherein the designated area includes a designated frame within a browser.

34. The user interface of claim 29 wherein the third portion comprises a preference range for accepting an extent of a like or dislike of the element.

35. The user interface of claim 29 wherein the third portion includes a pop-up window within the user interface and proximate to the element.

36. The user interface of claim 29 wherein the user interface displays a personalized portal page, the portal page including a section operable to display the content and the element to the user, based on the preference information.

37. The user interface of claim 36 wherein the section is operable to search data and to select the content from the searched data, based on a query specification associated with the preference information, thereby generating a portal-based media asset.

38. The user interface of claim 37 wherein the portal-based media asset is included in an iView.

39. The user interface of claim 36 wherein the query specification is modified, based on the accepted preference indication.

40. The user interface of claim 29 wherein the user interface displays a reverse-query portal page, and the media asset is selected from a pre-compiled pool of media assets.

41. The user interface of claim 29 wherein the user interface displays a search results page containing a plurality of media asset subsets pertaining to search terms selected by a user.

42. The user interface of claim 41 wherein the media asset subsets each contain a content subset and provide a connection to a corresponding media asset.

43. The user interface of claim 42 wherein the content subset contains the element.

44. The user interface of claim 41 wherein the media asset is associated with a first one of the media asset subsets.

45. The user interface of claim 44 wherein the preference information is used to modify the search terms.

46. The user interface of claim 29 wherein the media asset includes an audio-video media asset and the first portion includes a video display, and the second portion includes the element displayed on the video display, as text.

47. The user interface of claim 46 wherein the text is reproduced from a spoken portion of the audio-video media asset.

48. The user interface of claim 46 wherein the text is determined from analyzing data associated with a sub-channel associated with a broadcast of the audio-video media asset.

49. An apparatus comprising a storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions including:

a first code segment for presenting a media asset;

a second code segment for locating content elements of the media asset;

a third code segment for identifying the content elements within the media asset; and

a fourth code segment for accepting preference information related to a first content element from among the content elements.

50. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the fourth code segment accepts the preference information while the media asset is being presented.

51. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the second code segment comprises a fifth code segment for applying a metadata enhancer to the content.

52. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the second code segment comprises a fifth code segment for recognizing the content elements as being previously located.

53. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the third code segment comprises a fifth code segment for visually highlighting the content elements within the content.

54. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the third code segment comprises a fifth code segment for reproducing the content elements apart from the content and within a designated area of a presentation device.

55. The apparatus of claim 54 wherein the designated area includes a designated frame within a browser.

56. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the second code segment comprises a fifth code segment for determining that the content elements are contextually important to the content.

57. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the second code segment comprises a fifth code segment for determining that the content elements appear frequently within the content, relative to non-selected content elements.

58. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the second code segment comprises a fifth code segment for determining a correlation between the content elements and the preference information.

59. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the fourth code segment comprises:

a fifth code segment for providing a preference range for accepting an extent of a like or dislike of the element; and

a sixth code segment for accepting a point within the preference range as the preference indication.

60. The apparatus of claim 59 wherein the fifth code segment comprises a seventh code segment for providing a pop-up window within a presentation device and proximate to the element, the pop-up window providing the preference range.

61. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the fourth code segment comprises a fifth code segment for storing the preference information between multiple sessions of a user who is associated with the preference information.

62. The apparatus of claim 49 further comprising:

a fifth code segment for outputting a portal page, the portal page including a section operable to display the media asset to the user, based on the preference information.

63. The apparatus of claim 62 wherein the section is operable to search data and to select the media asset from the searched data, based on a query specification associated with the preference information, thereby generating a portal-based media asset.

64. The apparatus of claim 49 further comprising:

a fifth code segment for determining a search result set based on the preference information, wherein the preference information includes search terms; and

a sixth code segment for outputting a search results page based on the search result set.

65. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein:

the media asset includes an audio-video media asset,

the second code segment is for displaying the audio-video media asset on a video display, and

the third segment visually identifies the content element by reproducing on the video display, as text, a portion of the audio-video media asset.

66. The apparatus of claim 65, wherein the apparatus includes a television receiver connected to the video display.

67. The apparatus of claim 65 wherein the third code segment includes a fifth code segment for analyzing data associated with a sub-channel associated with a broadcast of the audio-video media asset.

68. A system comprising:

a preference database operable to store preference information associated with a user;

a media asset database operable to store media asset information; and

a server operable to interact with the preference database, the media asset database, and a display viewed by the user, to thereby display a media asset, based on preference information, for viewing by the user, the server comprising instructions for providing;

a metadata presentation system operable to distinguish content elements within the media asset on the display, and

a preference input system operable to input a user modification to the preference information with respect to a selected one of the content elements, while the media asset is being displayed on the display.

69. The system of claim 68 further comprising a metadata enhancer for locating the content elements.

70. The system of claim 68 wherein the metadata presentation system is further operable to locate the content elements based on an operation of a metadata enhancer that is external to the system.

71. The system of claim 68 wherein the preference input system is operable to provide a pop-up window on the display in the vicinity of a selected one of the content elements.

72. The system of claim 71 wherein the pop-up window displays a preference range for accepting an extent of like or dislike of the selected one of the content elements.

73. The system of claim 68 wherein the metadata presentation system is further operable to visually highlight the content elements on the display.

74. The system of claim 68 wherein the metadata presentation system is further operable to reproduce the content elements within a designated area of the display, apart from the media asset.

75. The system of claim 68 wherein the media asset information includes links to media assets stored externally to the system.

76. The system of claim 68 wherein the media asset information includes stored media assets.

77. The system of claim 68 wherein the system includes a personalized portal system, and the preference information is used to generate a plurality of media assets.

78. The system of claim 68 wherein the system includes a search system, and the preference information is used to determine search terms used by the search system to generate a set of search results.