SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RECOMMENDED EVENTS

• US 20080154696A1
• Filed: 12/22/2006
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo AD Tech LLC
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Spiegelman, Michael, White, William MacDonald
• Granted Patent: US 7,937,380 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Systems and methods have been developed for selecting and recommending events to a consumer of media content based on information known about the consumer, including the consumer'"'"'s interests, consumption history and preferences. In an embodiment, a system records a history of the media content accessed, purchased, viewed or otherwise consumed by a consumer. The system further includes an event database containing information about upcoming events. When a consumer interacts with the system, such as to access a media content item, the consumer is notified of one or more events based on the consumer'"'"'s history. In this way consumers are automatically provided with updated event recommendations based on the known interests of the consumer, without the need for the consumer to subscribe to an event recommendation service and maintain the subscription to accurately reflect the consumer'"'"'s current interests.

Claims

1. A method of notifying consumers of events comprising:

maintaining a consumer profile for a consumer, the consumer profile including a location associated with the consumer;

receiving a request from the consumer, the request for a media content item;

storing, in the consumer profile, interest data identifying the media content item as being associated with the consumer;

determining that the media content item is associated with a first event; and

transmitting, to the consumer in response to the request for the media content item, a notification of the first event based on the consumer'"'"'s location and the consumer'"'"'s interest data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the request from the consumer is a request to render the media content item on a device associated with the consumer and the method further comprises:

streaming the media content item to the device associated with the consumer.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the request from the consumer is a request to purchase a copy of the media content item and the method further comprises:

delivering a copy of the media content item to the consumer.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the request from the consumer contains a rating of the media content item indicative of a consumer'"'"'s evaluation of the content item and the method further comprises:

storing, in the consumer profile, interest data identifying the rating of media content item; and

if the rating of the media content item is greater than a predetermined threshold, transmitting the notification to the consumer.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving event data for the first event, the event data identifying an event location, an event date, and containing information associating the first event with the media content item; and

comparing the event data with the consumer profile; and

transmitting the notification if the event date for the first event is at a future time.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein determining further comprises:

identifying an author of the media content item; and

determining, based on the event data, that the author is associated with the first event.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein determining further comprises:

identifying a genre of the media content item; and

determining, based on the event data, that the genre is associated with the first event.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a party associated with the consumer; and

transmitting, to the party, the notification of the first event based on the consumer'"'"'s location and the consumer'"'"'s interest data.

9-10. -10. (canceled)

11. A method of recommending events to a consumer comprising:

transmitting, in response to a consumer request received via a user interface on a device associated with the consumer, one or more songs to the device;

storing information identifying the consumer including a consumer location of the consumer; and

selecting at least one upcoming event from a database of upcoming events, wherein each upcoming event is associated with an event location and an event description and wherein the selecting is based at least in part on the one or more songs transmitted to the device, the event location, the consumer location and the event description.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

displaying the event data to the consumer via the user interface on the device.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

receiving a consumer rating associated with a first song; and

selecting the at least one upcoming event based at least in part on the consumer rating, the event location, the consumer location and the event description.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

determining an author of the first song; and

selecting the at least one upcoming event based at least in part on the consumer rating, the event location, the consumer location, the author and the event description.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein each upcoming event is associated with an event promoter and the method further comprises:

transmitting the event data of the at least one upcoming event to the device; and

transmitting to the event promoter associated with the at least one upcoming event information indicating that event data of the at least one upcoming event was transmitted to a consumer.

17. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

receiving selections from the consumer identifying one or more favorite songs of the consumer via the user interface;

storing a record of the consumer'"'"'s selections; and

selecting the at least one upcoming event based at least in part on the consumer'"'"'s selections, the event location, the consumer location, and the event description.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

receiving selections from the consumer identifying one or more favorite music genres of the consumer via the user interface;

storing a record of the consumer'"'"'s selections; and

selecting the at least one upcoming event based at least in part on the consumer'"'"'s selections, the event location, the consumer location, and the event description.

12. (canceled)

19. A system for recommending events comprising:

a first datastore of media content items;

a second datastore of events, each event having an event location and event data associating the event with one or more media content items;

a third datastore of consumer profiles;

each consumer profile associated with a consumer and including a consumer location and consumption information, the consumption information identifying media content items requested by the associated consumer; and

a user interface module that, in response to a request from a first consumer for a first media content item in the first datastore, transmits a notification of a first event to the first consumer based on the event data in the second datastore associating the first event with the first media content item and the consumer profile of the first consumer in the third datastore.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the user interface module further retrieves the first media content item from the first datastore and transmits the first media content item to the first consumer in response to the request from the first consumer.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the user interface module further generates a renderable graphical user interface in the form of a web page through which the first consumer can render the first media content item and the notification.

22. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

a event logging module through which event promoters can submit events for addition to the second datastore.

24. The system of claim 21 wherein

each media content item is associated with an artist,

the event data identifies a first artist that is also associated with the first media content item and

the event location of the first event and the consumer location of the consumer are within a predetermined distance.

23. (canceled)

25. A computer-readable medium encoding computer-executable instructions for performing a method of recommending an event to a consumer, the method comprising:

receiving a request to access a media player via a consumer device;

retrieving a consumer profile containing consumer information including a consumer location and a consumption history of at least one media content item previously rendered by the media player to the consumer;

selecting a first event based on consumer location and the consumption history; and

generating a graphical user interface wherein at least a portion of the graphical user interface displays event data for the first event.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25 further comprising computer-executable instructions for:

transmitting the graphical user interface to the consumer device.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 25 further comprising computer-executable instructions for:

selecting at least one first event from a database of upcoming events, wherein each first event is associated with an event location and an event description and wherein the selecting is based at least in part on the one or more songs transmitted to the device, the event location, the consumer location and the event description.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 25 further comprising computer-executable instructions for:

receiving a render request to render a media content item; and

in response to the render request,

selecting a second event based on consumer location, the consumption history and the media content item requested; and

revising the graphical user interface so that the at least a portion of the graphical user interface displays event data for the second event.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 25 further comprising computer-executable instructions for:

receiving confirmation that the consumer attended the first event; and

billing an event promoter identified in the event data for the first event a pre-determined amount.