Systems and methods for providing media guidance planners

• US 20080066106A1
• Filed: 07/31/2007
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: GuideWorks, LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Ellis, Michael, Craner, Michael
• Application Number:
  US11/888,637
• Publication Number:
  US 20080066106A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/254 Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server arrangements for maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00; network services using third party service providers H04L67/53
• 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 21/431 Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44218 Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV program methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45
• 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 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4583 Automatically resolving scheduling conflicts, e.g. when a recording by reservation has been programmed for two programs in the same time slot
• 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 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4823 using a channel name
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 : involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 : End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/50 : Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing media planners for planning a user'"'"'s media content viewing activities are provided. The media planner may include an interactive grid of content with scheduled viewing, recording, or reminders set within a user-selectable time window. The media planner may prioritize content within the planner grid and automatically resolve conflicts when the number of available tuners within the user equipment device has been exceeded. Programs matching a user'"'"'s viewing interests may also be automatically recorded in the user'"'"'s absence. Coming-soon announcements may be received for programming outside the current program schedule window. Conditional media guidance application functions may be scheduled based on preliminary availability and attribute data associated with a coming-soon asset.

Claims

1. A method for planning a user'"'"'s viewing activity on a user equipment device, the method comprising:

tagging a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period;

displaying an interactive grid comprising identifiers for the plurality of media assets, wherein one dimension of the interactive grid represents sources for the plurality of media assets and another dimension of the interactive grid substantially represents the time period on the particular date;

receiving a user indication of a preemption priority for at least one asset of the plurality of media assets relative to a second asset of the plurality of media assets;

reserving, as a function of the relative preemption priority of the at least one asset, a tuner for the at least one asset of the plurality of media assets; and

visually distinguishing identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do not have an available tuner reserved from the identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do have an available tuner reserved.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein tagging a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period comprises receiving an indication from the user to tag at least one of the plurality of media assets.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein tagging a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period comprises automatically tagging at least one of the plurality of media assets without an express user request to tag the at least one asset.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the sources is selected from the group consisting of a linear source, a video on-demand channel, a video on-demand service, and a locally-recorded source.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein tagging a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period comprises scheduling at least one of the plurality of media asset of interest for recording.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein tagging a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period comprises setting a reminder for at least one of the plurality of media assets of interest.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein tagging a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period comprises tagging at least one of the plurality of media assets of interest as of interest for recording.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein tagging a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period comprises tagging at least one of the plurality of media assets of interest as of interest for viewing.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein tagging a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period comprises adding at least one asset of the plurality of media assets to a favorites list.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein tagging a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period comprises adding a channel showing at least one asset of the plurality of media assets to a favorites list.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein tagging a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period comprises setting a bookmark for at least one of the plurality of media assets of interest.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a user request to change the preemption priority of one asset of the plurality of media assets; and

in response to receiving the user request to change the preemption priority, displaying the identifier for the one asset of the plurality of media assets in a new location within the interactive grid.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein receiving a user request to change the preemption priority of one asset of the plurality of media assets comprises receiving a user request to drag the identifier for the one asset to a new location in the interactive grid.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein receiving a user request to change the preemption priority of one asset of the plurality of media assets comprises:

receiving a user selection of the identifier for the one asset; and

after receiving the user selection, receiving a PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN command.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

in response to receiving the user request to change the preemption priority, automatically updating the display of the interactive grid.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a user request to remove the identifier for one asset of the plurality of media assets from the interactive grid;

removing the identifier for the one asset from the interactive grid; and

adjusting the relative preemption priority of at least one other asset that has an identifier remaining in the interactive grid.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein visually distinguishing identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do not have an available tuner reserved from the identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do have an available tuner reserved comprises displaying an icon within or near the identifiers for assets that do not have an available tuner reserved.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein visually distinguishing identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do not have an available tuner reserved from the identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do have an available tuner reserved comprises altering at least one of the font size or font color of a textual component of the identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do not have an available tuner reserved.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a user selection of one asset of the plurality of media assets; and

automatically displaying media content associated with the selected one asset in response to receiving the user selection.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a user selection of one asset of the plurality of media assets;

determining if the selected one asset is available for display without commercials; and

in response to determining that the one asset is available for display without commercials, prompting the user to display the one asset without commercials.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein determining if the selected one asset is available for display without commercials comprises parsing commercial status flags associated with the one asset.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

displaying the one asset without commercials based, at least in part, on data from the parsed commercial status flags.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein determining if the selected one asset is available for display without commercials comprises:

analyzing at least one black frame interval of the selected one asset;

determining, from the at least one black frame interval, a start time and a stop time of the commercials within the selected one asset; and

displaying the selected one asset without commercials based on the determined start time and the stop time of the commercials.

24. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

calculating the runtime of the selected one asset without commercials; and

updating the display of the interactive grid to reflect the calculated runtime of the selected one asset without commercials.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising, in response to updating the display of the interactive grid, automatically packing the interactive grid.

26. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a user request to change a planned viewing time of one asset of the plurality of media assets.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising scheduling the one asset for recording in response to the receiving a user request to change a planned viewing time of the one asset of the plurality of assets.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein receiving a user request to change the planned viewing time of the one asset of the plurality of media assets comprises dragging an edge of the identifier for the one asset in a direction of the dimension that substantially represents the time period on the particular date.

29. The method of claim 26 wherein receiving a user request to change the planned viewing time of the one asset of the plurality of media assets comprises extending the viewing time of the one asset.

30. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a user request to split a planned viewing time of one asset of the plurality of media assets; and

in response to receiving the user request to split the planned viewing time, displaying at least two segments for the planned viewing time of the one asset in the interactive grid.

31. A system for planning a user'"'"'s viewing activity on a user equipment device, the system comprising:

memory for storing identifiers for a plurality of media assets;

a display device; and

control circuitry configured to;

tag a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period;

display, on the display device, an interactive grid comprising the identifiers for the plurality of media assets, wherein one dimension of the interactive grid represents sources for the plurality of media assets and another dimension of the interactive grid substantially represents the time period on the particular date;

receive a user indication of a preemption priority for at least one asset of the plurality of media assets relative to a second asset of the plurality of media assets;

reserve, as a function of the relative preemption priority of the at least one asset, a tuner for the at least one asset of the plurality of media assets; and

visually distinguish identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do not have an available tuner reserved from the identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do have an available tuner reserved.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is configured to receive an indication from the user to tag at least one of the plurality of media assets.

33. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is configured to automatically tag at least one of the plurality of media assets without an express user request to tag the at least one asset.

34. The system of claim 31 wherein at least one of the sources is selected from the group consisting of a linear source, a video on-demand channel, a video on-demand service, and a locally-recorded source.

35. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is configured to tag a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period by scheduling at least one of the plurality of media asset of interest for recording.

36. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is configured to tag a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period by setting a reminder for at least one of the plurality of media assets of interest.

37. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is configured to tag a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period by tagging at least one of the plurality of media assets of interest as of interest for recording.

38. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is configured to tag a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period by tagging at least one of the plurality of media assets of interest as of interest for viewing.

39. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is configured to tag a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period by adding at least one asset of the plurality of media assets to a favorites list.

40. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is configured to tag a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period by adding a channel showing at least one asset of the plurality of media assets to a favorites list.

41. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is configured to tag a plurality of media assets of interest relative to a particular date and time period by setting a bookmark for at least one of the plurality of media assets of interest.

42. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

receive a user request to change the preemption priority of one asset of the plurality of media assets; and

in response to receiving the user request to change the preemption priority, display the identifier for the one asset of the plurality of media assets in a new location within the interactive grid.

43. The system of claim 42 wherein the control circuitry is configured to receive a user request to drag the identifier for the one asset to a new location in the interactive grid.

44. The system of claim 42 wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

receive a user selection of the identifier for the one asset; and

after receiving the user selection, receive a PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN command.

45. The system of claim 42 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

in response to receiving the user request to change the preemption priority, automatically update the display of the interactive grid.

46. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

receive a user request to remove the identifier for one asset of the plurality of media assets from the interactive grid;

remove the identifier for the one asset from the interactive grid; and

adjust the relative preemption priority of at least one other asset that has an identifier remaining in the interactive grid.

47. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is configured to visually distinguish identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do not have an available tuner reserved from the identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do have an available tuner reserved by displaying an icon within or near the identifiers for assets that do not have an available tuner reserved.

48. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is configured to visually distinguish identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do not have an available tuner reserved from the identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do have an available tuner reserved by altering at least one of the font size or font color of a textual component of the identifiers for assets of the plurality of assets that do not have an available tuner reserved.

49. The system of claim 31 the control circuitry is further configured to:

receive a user selection of one asset of the plurality of media assets; and

automatically display media content associated with the selected one asset in response to receiving the user selection.

50. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

receive a user selection of one asset of the plurality of media assets;

determine if the selected one asset is available for display without commercials; and

in response to determining that the one asset is available for display without commercials, prompt the user to display the one asset without commercials.

51. The system of claim 50 wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine if the selected one asset is available for display without commercials by parsing commercial status flags associated with the one asset.

52. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

display the one asset without commercials based, at least in part, on data from the parsed commercial status flags.

53. The system of claim 50 wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine if the selected one asset is available for display without commercials by:

analyzing at least one black frame interval of the selected one asset;

determining, from the at least one black frame interval, a start time and a stop time of the commercials within the selected one asset; and

displaying the selected one asset without commercials based on the determined start time and the stop time of the commercials.

54. The system of claim 50 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

calculate the runtime of the selected one asset without commercials; and

update the display of the interactive grid to reflect the calculated runtime of the selected one asset without commercials.

55. The system of claim 54 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to, in response to updating the display of the interactive grid, automatically pack the interactive grid.

56. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to receive a user request to change a planned viewing time of one asset of the plurality of media assets.

57. The system of claim 56 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to schedule the one asset for recording in response to the receiving a user request to change a planned viewing time of the one asset of the plurality of assets.

58. The system of claim 56 wherein the control circuitry is configured to receive a user request to change the planned viewing time of the one asset of the plurality of media assets by receiving a request to drag an edge of the identifier for the one asset in a direction of the dimension that substantially represents the time period on the particular date.

59. The system of claim 56 wherein the control circuitry is configured to receive a user request to change the planned viewing time of the one asset of the plurality of media assets by extending the viewing time of the one asset.

60. The system of claim 31 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

receive a user request to split a planned viewing time of one asset of the plurality of media assets; and

in response to receiving the user request to split the planned viewing time, display at least two segments for the planned viewing time of the one asset in the interactive grid.