Creation of a stereotypical profile via image based clustering

• US 20040098744A1
• Filed: 11/18/2002
• Published: 05/20/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Gutta, Srinivas
• Application Number:
  US10/298,976
• Publication Number:
  US 20040098744A1
• 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: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• 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 21/4661 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38

Abstract

In order to recommend items of interest to a user, such as television program recommendations, before a viewing or purchase history of the user is sufficiently developed to generate accurate recommendations, third party viewing or purchase histories are processed to generate stereotype profiles that reflect the typical patterns of items selected by representative viewers. To avoid being limited by the vocabulary of descriptive information associated with viewed programs, image content and/or image content features (mean, standard deviation, entropy) are employed as a basis for evaluating the viewing histories, alone or in combination with the descriptive information. A user can select the most relevant stereotype(s) from the generated stereotype profiles and thereby initialize his or her profile with the items that are closest to his or her own interests, with greater accuracy since the program content is employed directly in generating the stereotype profiles.

Claims

1. A system for initializing a program recommendation tool comprising:

a controller employing one or more stereotypical profiles derived from third party viewing histories,

wherein the third party viewing histories include, for each program represented therein, program content values extracted directly from program content for the respective program, and

wherein the stereotypical profiles are derived at least partially based upon the program content values.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the program content values comprise one or more of a mean, a standard deviation, and an entropy of image content for a program.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the program content values comprise one or more of key frames for a program and a mean, a standard deviation, and an entropy of image content within the key frames.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the program content values comprise one or more of:

an advertisement for a program;

a trailer for a program;

a mean, a standard deviation, and an entropy of image content within the advertisement; and

a mean, a standard deviation, and an entropy of image content within the trailer.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the controller derives the one or more stereotypical profiles derived from third party viewing histories based at least partially upon the program content values.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the controller employs the one or more stereotypical profiles to initialize the program recommendation tool.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more stereotypical profiles are derived based upon the program content values and program descriptive data relating to the program.

8. A method for initializing a program recommendation tool comprising:

employing one or more stereotypical profiles derived from third party viewing histories,

wherein the third party viewing histories include, for each program represented therein, program content values extracted directly from program content for the respective program, and

wherein the stereotypical profiles are derived at least partially based upon the program content values.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the program content values comprise one or more of a mean, a standard deviation, and an entropy of image content for a program.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the program content values comprise one or more of key frames for a program and a mean, a standard deviation, and an entropy of image content within the key frames.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein the program content values comprise one or more of:

an advertisement for a program;

a trailer for a program;

a mean, a standard deviation, and an entropy of image content within the advertisement; and

a mean, a standard deviation, and an entropy of image content within the trailer.

12. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

deriving the one or more stereotypical profiles derived from third party viewing histories based at least partially upon the program content values.

13. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

employing the one or more stereotypical profiles to initialize the program recommendation tool.

14. The method according to claim 8, wherein the one or more stereotypical profiles are derived based upon the program content values and program descriptive data relating to the program.

15. A data signal for initializing a program recommendation tool comprising:

one or more stereotypical profiles derived from third party viewing histories,

wherein the third party viewing histories include, for each program represented therein, program content values extracted directly from program content for the respective program, and

wherein the stereotypical profiles are derived at least partially based upon the program content values.

16. The data signal according to claim 15, wherein the program content values comprise one or more of a mean, a standard deviation, and an entropy of image content for a program.

17. The data signal according to claim 15, wherein the program content values comprise one or more of key frames for a program and a mean, a standard deviation, and an entropy of image content within the key frames.

18. The data signal according to claim 15, wherein the program content values comprise one or more of:

an advertisement for a program;

a trailer for a program;

a mean, a standard deviation, and an entropy of image content within the advertisement; and

a mean, a standard deviation, and an entropy of image content within the trailer.

19. The data signal according to claim 15, wherein the one or more stereotypical profiles are contained within a storage medium accessible to a recommendation tool.

20. The data system according to claim 15, wherein the one or more stereotypical profiles are derived based upon the program content values and program descriptive data relating to the program.