Recommender having display of visual cues to aid a user during a feedback process

• US 20060174260A1
• Filed: 03/02/2004
• Published: 08/03/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Pace PLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Gutta, Srinivas
• Application Number:
  US10/549,882
• Publication Number:
  US 20060174260A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/13
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/47 for recognising genres
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 for using the result on users' side
• 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 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• 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 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A method for generating recommendations, the method including: prompting a user for feedback on at least one preference for generating a recommendation, the at least one preference having two or more categories associated therewith; displaying at least one visual cue corresponding to each of the two or more categories; selecting one of the two or more categories based at least in part on the corresponding at least one visual cue; and generating a recommendation based at least in part on the selecting. Preferably, the generating generates a recommendation for video content, such as a television program and the at least one preference is the genre of the television program, such as action, drama, comedy-action, suspense-action, comedy, documentary, or romance.

Claims

1. A method for generating recommendations, the method comprising:

prompting a user for feedback on at least one preference for generating a recommendation, the at least one preference having two or more categories associated therewith;

displaying at least one visual cue corresponding to each of the two or more categories;

selecting one of the two or more categories based at least in part on the corresponding at least one visual cue; and

generating a recommendation based at least in part on the selecting.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating generates a recommendation for video content.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the video content is a television program.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one preference is the genre of the television program.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the two or more categories associated with the genre of the television program are selected from a group consisting of action, comedy-action, suspense-action, drama, comedy, documentary, and romance.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one visual cue is selected from a group consisting of a video clip of each genre, a trailer from each genre, textual information describing each genre, and specific examples of each genre.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying comprises:

displaying a selection means corresponding to each of the two or more categories; and

displaying the at least one visual cue corresponding to the two or more categories upon selection of the selection means.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the displaying of the selection means comprises providing a user interface having a button displayed proximate each of the two or more categories wherein the selection of the button is achieved through the user interface.

9. An apparatus for generating recommendations, the apparatus comprising:

means for generating a user interface for prompting a user for feedback on at least one preference for generating a recommendation, the at least one preference having two or more categories associated therewith;

means for displaying at least one visual cue corresponding to each of the two or more categories on the user interface;

means for selecting one of the two or more categories based from the user interface at least in part on the corresponding at least one visual cue; and

a recommender for generating a recommendation based at least in part on the selection.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the recommender generates a recommendation for video content.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the video content is a television program.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one preference is the genre of the television program.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the two or more categories associated with the genre of the television program are selected from a group consisting of action, comedy-action, suspense-action, drama, comedy, documentary, and romance.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one visual cue is selected from a group consisting of a video clip of each genre, a trailer from each genre, textual information describing each genre, and specific examples of each genre.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the means for displaying comprises:

means for displaying a selection means on the user interface corresponding to each of the two or more categories; and

means for displaying the at least one visual cue corresponding to the two or more categories upon selection of the selection means.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the means for displaying the selection means comprises displaying a button on the user interface proximate each of the two or more categories.

17. A computer program product embodied in a computer-readable medium for generating recommendations, the computer program product comprising:

computer readable program code means for prompting a user for feedback on at least one preference for generating a recommendation, the at least one preference having two or more categories associated therewith;

computer readable program code means for displaying at least one visual cue corresponding to each of the two or more categories;

computer readable program code means for selecting one of the two or more categories based at least in part on the corresponding at least one visual cue; and

computer readable program code means for generating a recommendation based at least in part on the selecting.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the computer readable program code means for displaying at least one visual cue corresponding to each of the two or more categories comprises:

computer readable program code means for displaying a selection means corresponding to each of the two or more categories; and

computer readable program code means for displaying the at least one visual cue corresponding to the two or more categories upon selection of the selection means.

19. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for generating reconimendations, the method comprising:

prompting a user for feedback on at least one preference for generating a recommendation, the at least one preference having two or more categories associated therewith;

displaying at least one visual cue corresponding to each of the two or more categories;

selecting one of the two or more categories based at least in part on the corresponding at least one visual cue; and

generating a recommendation based at least in part on the selecting.

20. The program storage device of claim 19, wherein the displaying comprises:

displaying a selection means corresponding to each of the two or more categories; and

displaying the at least one visual cue corresponding to the two or more categories upon selection of the selection means.