Channel dancer

• US 20050132295A1
• Filed: 01/24/2005
• Published: 06/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Andrews Kurth LLP, Andrews Kurth Kenyon LLP (Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP)
• Original Assignee: Andrews Kurth LLP
• Inventors: Grimes, Tom, Noll, Roland, Mai, Khanh
• Granted Patent: US 8,799,471 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/744
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2541 Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2542 for selling goods, e.g. TV shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• 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 21/42684 Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47805 Electronic banking banking in general G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system and method (the “Channel Dancer”) of delivering broadband content that has been personalized for a recipient user is disclosed. By excelling in the personalization of the user'"'"'s view of broadband content on the Internet and otherwise, the system and method develop “stickiness” with the user that maximizes the benefits and effectiveness of advertising and related activities. The system preferably comprises a network operations center (“NOC”) that receives and packages content, with promotional materials, on virtual channels, a transmission medium that transmits the virtual channels, a broadband ISP with a point-of-presence (“POP”) server that receives the virtual channels and routs virtual channels to a user machine, based on requests received from client software (the “client”) resident on the user machine and filtering performed by the client based on a personal profile of the user.

Claims

1. A method for customizing an interface to accommodate a user'"'"'s availability of content, comprising:

determining a link speed that a user machine can accommodate; and

using a control channel and the determined link speed, creating a display of content choices available to a user on the user machine.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the user machine is a personal computer and the step of determining determines a maximum bandwidth at which the personal computer receives content from an internet service provider (“

ISP”

).

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the display of content choices is a dynamic graphical user interface (“

GUI”

).

4. The method of claim 3 wherein a skin for the dynamic GUI is used.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the skin is personalized for the user.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the skin includes advertisements.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the creating step uses a personal profile of the user.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the content is filtered for the user using the personal profile.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the content is multimedia content.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the content is made available from a source using a satellite transponder to multicast the content.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the content includes infomercials with links to web sites.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the creating step is created to create an additional display.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the content is broadcast on virtual channels.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the content is routed to the user machine by a software module resident at an Internet Service Provider (“

ISP”

) or a dedicated server at the ISP.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining step and the creating step are performed by a software module resident on the user machine.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein software at an ISP location assists in performing the determining step.

17. A computer readable medium containing instructions for customizing an interface to accommodate a user'"'"'s availability of content, by performing the method of claim 1.

18. A method of delivering personalized broadband content, comprising:

receiving a plurality of virtual channels at a user machine, wherein each virtual channel comprises content;

filtering the plurality of virtual channels based on a user'"'"'s personal profile;

displaying the filtered virtual channels in a GUI, wherein a virtual channel may be selected; and

,

if a virtual channel is selected, displaying or storing content from the virtual channel.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising receiving a control channel that includes information about the virtual channels, wherein the filtering step is also based on the control channel information.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the content is stored in a user cache on the user machine.

21. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions for delivering personalized broadband content, by:

receiving a plurality of virtual channels at a user machine, wherein each virtual channel comprises content;

filtering the plurality of virtual channels based on a user'"'"'s personal profile;

displaying the filtered virtual channels in a GUI, wherein a virtual channel may be selected; and

,

if a virtual channel is selected, displaying or storing content from the virtual channel.