Content personalization for digital conent

• US 20060174264A1
• Filed: 03/09/2006
• Published: 08/03/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Candelore, Brant L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,988 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• 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 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

A method of providing personalized content to a user is disclosed. In particular, the method relates to receiving incoming content that includes primary content being content originally intended for use in a program and personalized replacement content being content for replacing the primary content in the program. If the personalized replacement content is determined to be more appropriate than the primary content, based upon personalization parameters, then the primary content is substituted with the personalized replacement content.

Claims

1. A method of providing personalized content comprising:

receiving incoming content including primary content being content originally intended for use in a program and personalized replacement content being content for replacing the primary content in the program;

determining if the personalized replacement content is more appropriate than the primary content based upon personalization parameters; and

substituting the primary content with the personalized replacement content if the personalized replacement content is determined to be more appropriate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received incoming primary content and personalized replacement content is from a digital broadcast stream.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the received incoming primary content and personalized replacement content is read from storage media by a storage device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the received personalized replacement content includes audio information including a name.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether personalization functionality is enabled, and, if not, rendering the primary content.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining if personalized replacement content is more appropriate than primary content includes determining if there is a match between personalization parameters and personalization descriptors of the personalized replacement content.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the personalization parameters are pre-programmed.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the pre-programmed personalization parameters include at least one of:

a name, sex, age, and ethnicity.

9. An apparatus to provide personalized content comprising:

a tuner/demodulation unit adapted to receive incoming content including primary content being content originally intended for use in a program and personalized replacement content being content for replacing the primary content in the program; and

a data processing unit including a personalization selector coupled to the tuner/demodulation unit, the personalization selector to determine if the personalized replacement content is more appropriate than the primary content based upon personalization parameters and to substitute the primary content with the personalized replacement content if the personalized replacement content is determined to be more appropriate.

10. The digital device of claim 9, wherein the received incoming primary content and personalized replacement content is from a digital broadcast stream.

11. The digital device of claim 9, wherein the received incoming primary content and personalized replacement content is read from storage media by a storage device.

12. The digital device of claim 9, wherein the received personalized replacement content includes audio information including a name.

13. The digital device of claim 9, wherein the data processing unit further determines whether personalization functionality is enabled, and, if not, renders the primary content.

14. The digital device of claim 13, wherein the personalization selector determines if personalized replacement content is more appropriate than primary content by determining if there is a match between personalization parameters and personalization descriptors of the personalized replacement content.

15. The digital device of claim 14, wherein the personalization parameters are pre-programmed.

16. The digital device of claim 15, wherein the pre-programmed personalization parameters include at least one of:

a name, sex, age, and ethnicity.

17. A machine-readable medium to store instructions, that if executed by logic, will cause a digital device to perform the following operations to provide personalized content comprising:

receiving incoming content including primary content being content originally intended for use in a program and personalized replacement content being content for replacing the primary content in the program;

determining if the personalized replacement content is more appropriate than the primary content based upon personalization parameters; and

substituting the primary content with the personalized replacement content if the personalized replacement content is determined to be more appropriate.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the received incoming primary content and personalized replacement content is from a digital broadcast stream.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the received incoming primary content and personalized replacement content is read from storage media by a storage device.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the received personalized replacement content includes audio information including a name.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions to determine whether personalization functionality is enabled, and, if not, rendering the primary content.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein determining if personalized replacement content is more appropriate than primary content includes determining if there is a match between personalization parameters and personalization descriptors of the personalized replacement content.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the personalization parameters are pre-programmed.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the pre-programmed personalization parameters include at least one of:

a name, sex, age, and ethnicity.