Authorable content rating system

• US 20080172689A1
• Filed: 01/03/2007
• Published: 07/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TiVo Solutions Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TiVo Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Stam, Wijnand Van, Beach, Brian, Feder, Adam
• Granted Patent: US 9,167,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• 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 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• 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 21/4751 for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4756 for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739

Abstract

Techniques for generating customized rating systems for use in a DVR are described. According to one technique, a user submits a rating system definition that comprises two or more different ratings of the user'"'"'s choosing. The rating system definition is stored. The rating system definition defines a customized ratings system. That system'"'"'s creator and other users may then associate various entities, such as channels, series, and episodes, with ratings from the customized rating system. DVRs may use these associations between entities and ratings for various purposes. For example, DVRs may use these associations to allow a user to search for entities that satisfy specified rating criteria. For another example, DVRs may use these associations to restricting which entities and information about those entities can be displayed or recorded when the DVR is in a restricted mode of operation. Customized rating systems may be modified by multiple users in collaboration.

Claims

1. A method for rating an entity based on a customized rating system, the method comprising:

receiving a rating system definition that a user submitted via a user interface at a client device, wherein the rating system definition comprises two or more ratings;

receiving a request to associate an entity with at least one particular rating of the two or more ratings; and

in response to receiving the request, storing an association between the entity and the particular rating.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the user interface at the client device is implemented as an Internet browser program.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the request is a request to associate the entity with multiple ratings of the two or more ratings, and further comprising:

in response to receiving the request, storing an association between the entity and one or more additional ratings, other than the particular rating, from the rating system definition.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the entity is at least one of (a) a television channel, (b) a television series that comprises two or more episodes, (c) an episode of a television series that comprises two or more episodes, (d) a movie, (e) a sporting event, (f) a television special program, (g) a television miniseries, (h) content downloadable over a network, and (i) a commercial.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the particular rating is allowable based on user-specified control criteria; and

in response to a determination that that particular rating is not allowable based on the user-specified control criteria, performing at least one of (a) preventing content contained within the entity from being played, and (b) preventing information about the entity from being displayed;

wherein preventing information about the entity from being displayed comprises at least one of (a) preventing information about the entity from being displayed in an electronic program guide, and (b) preventing a channel from being displayed in an electronic program guide; and

wherein the user-specified control criteria comprises at least one of (a) a most restrictive allowable rating selected from the two or more ratings, and (b) a least restrictive allowable rating selected from the two or more ratings.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the particular rating falls within a range of acceptable ratings that is specified within user-specified control criteria by both a least restrictive allowable rating and a most restrictive allowable rating; and

in response to a determination that the particular rating does not fall within the range of acceptable ratings that is specified within the user-specified control criteria, preventing content contained within the entity from being played;

wherein the least restrictive allowable rating corresponds to a maximum age and wherein the most restrictive allowable rating corresponds to a minimum age.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the particular rating in connection with information about the entity contained in an electronic program guide (EPG).

8. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving user input that specifies a selected rating of the two or more ratings;

based on the selected rating, and based on ratings that are associated with entities in a set of entities, automatically selecting one or more particular entities from among the set of entities; and

displaying a list of the one or more particular entities.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the rating system definition is a first rating system definition, and further comprising:

performing, at a DVR, one or more operations that are based on a second rating system definition that was created by someone other than a user of the DVR;

wherein the second rating system definition was (a) defined through a user interface at a client device and (b) stored at a server device at which the first rating system definition was stored.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

sending at least a part of the rating system definition to a DVR, wherein the DVR is owned by someone other than the user.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the request is a first request, and further comprising:

receiving a second request to associate an entity with a second rating of the two or more ratings, wherein the second rating differs from the particular rating; and

in response to receiving the second request, storing an association between the entity and the second rating while preserving the association between the entity and the particular rating;

wherein the first request originates from a first device, and wherein the second request originates from a second device that is separate from the first device.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the user is a first user, and further comprising:

receiving, from a second user who is separate from the first user, a request to modify the rating system definition; and

in response to the request to modify the rating system definition, modifying the rating system definition based on user input received form the second user;

wherein the step of modifying the rating system comprises at least one of (a) adding a rating to the two or more ratings, (b) deleting a rating from the two or more ratings, and (c) modifying an existing rating of the two or more ratings.

13. A method for rating an entity based on a customized rating system, the method comprising:

a DVR receiving a rating system definition that a user submitted via a user interface at a client device, wherein the rating system definition comprises two or more ratings;

the DVR receiving user input that indicates a user-selected rating from the rating system definition;

the DVR receiving user input that indicates a user-selected entity; and

the DVR causing the user-selected rating to be displayed with an identity of the user-selected entity.

14. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the identity of the user-selected entity is one of (a) a title of the user-selected identity, (b) a name of the user-selected identity, and (c) a channel number associated with the user-selected identity.

15. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the entity is at least one of (a) a television channel, (b) a television series that comprises two or more episodes, (c) an episode of a television series that comprises two or more episodes, (d) a movie, (e) a sporting event, (f) a television special program, (g) a television miniseries, (h) content downloadable over a network, and (i) a commercial.

16. A method as recited in claim 13, further comprising:

The DVR determining whether the user-selected rating is allowable based on user-specified control criteria; and

in response to a determination that that user-selected rating is not allowable based on the user-specified control criteria, the DVR performing at least one of (a) preventing content contained within the entity from being played, and (b) preventing information about the entity from being displayed;

wherein preventing information about the entity from being displayed comprises at least one of (a) preventing information about the entity from being displayed in an electronic program guide, and (b) preventing a channel from being displayed in an electronic program guide; and

wherein the user-specified control criteria comprises at least one of (a) a most restrictive allowable rating selected from the two or more ratings, and (b) a least restrictive allowable rating selected from the two or more ratings.

17. A method as recited in claim 13, further comprising:

the DVR determining whether the particular rating falls within a range of acceptable ratings that is specified within user-specified control criteria by both a least restrictive allowable rating and a most restrictive allowable rating; and

in response to a determination that the particular rating does not fall within the range of acceptable ratings that is specified within the user-specified control criteria, the DVR preventing content contained within the entity from being played;

wherein the least restrictive allowable rating corresponds to a maximum age and wherein the most restrictive allowable rating corresponds to a minimum age.

18. A DVR configured to:

receive a rating system definition that a user submitted via a user interface at a client device, wherein the rating system definition comprises two or more ratings;

receive user input that indicates a user-selected rating from the rating system definition;

receive user input that indicates a user-selected entity; and

cause the user-selected rating to be displayed with an identity of the user-selected entity.

19. The DVR of claim 18, wherein the entity is at least one of (a) a television channel, (b) a television series that comprises two or more episodes, (c) an episode of a television series that comprises two or more episodes, (d) a movie, (e) a sporting event, (f) a television special program, (g) a television miniseries, (h) content downloadable over a network, and (i) a commercial.

20. The DVR of claim 18, wherein the DVR is further configured to:

determine whether the user-selected rating is allowable based on user-specified control criteria; and

in response to a determination that that user-selected rating is not allowable based on the user-specified control criteria, perform at least one of (a) preventing content contained within the entity from being played, and (b) preventing information about the entity from being displayed;

wherein preventing information about the entity from being displayed comprises at least one of (a) preventing information about the entity from being displayed in an electronic program guide, and (b) preventing a channel from being displayed in an electronic program guide; and

wherein the user-specified control criteria comprises at least one of (a) a most restrictive allowable rating selected from the two or more ratings, and (b) a least restrictive allowable rating selected from the two or more ratings.

21. The DVR of claim 18, wherein the DVR is further configured to:

determine whether the particular rating falls within a range of acceptable ratings that is specified within user-specified control criteria by both a least restrictive allowable rating and a most restrictive allowable rating; and

in response to a determination that the particular rating does not fall within the range of acceptable ratings that is specified within the user-specified control criteria, preventing content contained within the entity from being played;

wherein the least restrictive allowable rating corresponds to a maximum age and wherein the most restrictive allowable rating corresponds to a minimum age.

22. A DVR configured to:

receive, over a network, a rating from a rating system definition that comprises two or more ratings, wherein the DVR'"'"'s user selected the rating from among the two or more ratings;

receive, over a network, an identity of an entity with which the DVR'"'"'s user associated the entity; and

store an association between the rating and the identity of the entity.

23. The DVR of claim 22, wherein the entity is at least one of (a) a television channel, (b) a television series that comprises two or more episodes, (c) an episode of a television series that comprises two or more episodes, (d) a movie, (e) a sporting event, (f) a television special program, (g) a television miniseries, (h) content downloadable over a network, and (i) a commercial.