Providing community-based media item ratings to users

• US 20060288041A1
• Filed: 06/20/2005
• Published: 12/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Novak, Michael, Jha, Pradeep, Plastina, Daniel, Gausman, Edward T., Mullally, John P. IV
• Granted Patent: US 7,890,513 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Methods, computer-readable media, and systems for providing a user with media item ratings based upon media item ratings of a community of related users. The user sends information about herself to the system. The system places the user in a community of users based upon the user information and provides media item ratings to members of the community based upon media item ratings by other community members.

Claims

1. A method for providing a user with media item ratings based upon media item ratings of a community of related users, said method comprising:

presenting a user with a selection element for gathering information related to the user for categorizing the user in a community of related users;

receiving user-related information from the user in response to the presented selection element;

categorizing the user in a community of related users based upon said received user-related information; and

providing a community rating for a media item accessible by said user based upon ratings of said media item by said community of related users.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said receiving user-related information comprises receiving demographic information related to the user.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said receiving demographic information comprises receiving information related to at least one of an age of the user, a gender of the user, a preferred media item genre of the user, a country of the user'"'"'s residence, a mailing code of the user, a listening classification of the user, and a preferred language spoken by the user.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said categorizing the user comprises categorizing the user in a community of related users based upon the age of the user, the gender of the user, and the preferred media item genre of the user.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising collecting a user rating of a media item rated by said user when a user activity level exceeds a minimum threshold;

and

combining said collected user rating with said community rating for said rated media item.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said collecting a user rating of a media item rated by said user further comprises tagging said user rating with said received demographic information related to the user.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein said collecting further comprises collecting said user rating when said user activities comprise at least one of rating a media item, playing a media item, and skipping a media item at least X number of times within a time period T.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein said collecting further comprises collecting said user rating when said user activities comprise at least one of recording a number of media item ratings totaling to within a range R1 during a time period T1 and playing a number of media items totaling to within a range R2 during a time period T2.

9. The method of claim 3 further comprising rejecting collection of a user rating of a media item rated by said user when a user activity level exceeds a maximum threshold.

10. The method of claim 2 wherein said receiving demographic information comprises receiving a user refusal to submit demographic information.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said categorizing the user comprises categorizing the user in a community of related users refusing to submit demographic information.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said providing further comprises providing a trend indicator associated with said community rating indicating whether said community rating is trending upward over a time interval, trending downward over said time interval, or maintaining its position over said time interval.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising revising said community rating for at least one media item based upon a rating change by the community of users;

and

replacing said provided community rating with said revised community rating.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising revising said community rating for a media item when at least one of a time period passes, a user requests updated ratings, and a user meets one or more minimum activity thresholds.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising overriding said provided community rating with a rating expressed by the user.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating an automatic user rating for another media item based upon the playback experience of a user with said another media item;

and

replacing said automatic user rating for said another media item with a community rating for said another media item when said providing further comprises providing a community rating for said another media item.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein said providing said community rating for a media item comprises providing a community rating for at least one of a musical media item, a speech media item, an audio book, a news report, a motion picture, a movie trailer, an audio blog, a radio broadcast, a television broadcast, an image, and a comedy routine.

18. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for providing a user with media item ratings based upon media item ratings of a community of related users, said computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:

presenting instructions for presenting a user with a selection element for gathering information related to the user for categorizing the user in a community of related users;

receiving instructions for receiving user-related information from the user in response to the presented selection element;

categorizing instructions for categorizing the user in a community of related users based upon said received user-related information; and

providing instructions for providing a community rating for a media item accessible by said user based upon ratings of said media item by said community of related users.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 further comprising

revising instructions for revising said community rating for said media item based upon a rating change by the community of users;

and

replacing instructions for replacing said provided community rating with said revised community rating

20. A system for providing multiple users with media item ratings based upon media item ratings of a community of related users, said multiple users adapted for connection to said system via a network, said system comprising:

a server adapted for connection to said network, said server adapted for receiving said user-related information from each respective user; and

a database adapted for connection to the server for storing said information from each of the users, wherein said server is further configured to;

categorize each user in a respective community of related users based upon said received user-related information;

collect one or more user ratings of media items from one or more of said users;

tag the one or more collected user ratings with said received user-related information received from the respective user rating the respective media item;

store said collected one or more user ratings in said database;

calculate a community rating for each rated media item based upon only those ratings collected from users belonging to said community; and

provide one or more of said calculated community ratings for the media items to one or more users sharing the community with the rating.