Virtual Channels

• US 20080270446A1
• Filed: 04/24/2007
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Taylor, Thomas H., Brown, David A., Sahami, Mehran, Gupta, Neha, Blackburn, John, Gossweiler, Richard Carl, Zigmond, Daniel John, Patel, Manish Gordhan
• Granted Patent: US 8,799,952 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23109 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. EPG data repository details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2408 Monitoring of the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. client requests monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• 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 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4332 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. local EPG data repository interfaces, Database management systems or updating for information retrieval G06F16/23; details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video database G06F16/739
• 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 21/4532 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 21/47 End-user applications
• 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 21/4755 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 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4825 using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416

Abstract

A method and system for providing listings of multimedia events and for allowing a user to create virtual channels from the listings is described. The user can specify a headend or zip code and enter a search query to find multimedia events that are of interest to the user. In response, the system provides a list of multimedia events as the results of the user'"'"'s search query. If the user so desires, the user can create a virtual channel based on the search results, according to certain embodiments of the invention.

Claims

1. A method in a computing system, the method comprising:

identifying a set of time-bounded multimedia events;

executing a search submitted by a user on the identified set of time-bounded multimedia events to produce a set of search results ordered based on relevance; and

creating one or more virtual channels comprising time-bounded multimedia events that are selected by the user from the set of search results.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending information associated with the one or more created virtual channels to a client device for presentation in a grid having a first axis corresponding to units of time and a second axis.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the time-bounded multimedia events include one or more of a group consisting of:

television shows, radio shows, video shows, sporting events, motion pictures, and events referenced by metadata site summaries, and events referenced by multimedia messaging services.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising publishing respective virtual channels selected by the user for publication.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one time-bounded multimedia event includes content created by the user.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising scheduling for recording one or more time-bounded multimedia events.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein scheduling for recording includes sending commands to a recording device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending to a client device a first set of results that satisfy search terms of the user and a second set of results that are related to the first set of results.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second set of results is based on content similarity when compared to content associated with the first set of results.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the second set of results is based on a user profile of the user.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the second set of results is based on a group profile of a group of which the user is a member.

12. The method of claim 2, further comprising sending information related to the user'"'"'s existing virtual channels for presentation in the grid.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing one or more operations on the virtual channels wherein the one or more operations is selected from a group consisting of a delete operation, an add operation, and a re-arrange operation.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising arranging a list of the virtual channels in accordance with any one of:

arranging alphabetically, arranging based on a user-specified order, arranging based on genre, and arranging based on relevance to a search query.

15. A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising one or more computer programs that are stored on the computer readable medium and that are executable by a computer so as to perform a process, the one or more computer programs of the computer program product comprising:

instructions for identifying a set of time-bounded multimedia events;

instructions for executing a search submitted by a user on the identified set of time-bounded multimedia events to produce a set of search results ordered based on relevance; and

instructions for creating one or more virtual channels comprising time-bounded multimedia events that are selected by the user from the set of search results.

16. A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:

at a client computer or device, presenting information representing a plurality of subsets of time-bounded multimedia events as a plurality of rows on a grid having a first axis and a second axis, the first axis corresponding to units of time;

wherein at least one row of the plurality of rows displays time-bounded multimedia events in a virtual channel that corresponds to a user-specified query, wherein the displayed time-bounded multimedia events in the virtual channel comprise search results for the user-specified query corresponding to the virtual channel.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one row of the plurality of rows displays time-bounded multimedia events in a broadcast channel.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the time-bounded multimedia events include one or more of a group consisting of:

television shows, radio shows, video shows, sporting events, motion pictures, and events referenced by metadata site summaries, and events referenced by multimedia messaging services.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising presenting in the row corresponding to the virtual channel a first set of results that satisfy search terms in the user-specified query and a second set of results that are related to the first set of results.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the second set of results is based on content similarity when compared to content associated with the first set of results.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the second set of results is based on a user profile of the user.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the second set of results is based on a group profile of a group of which the user is a member.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising presenting an iframe for displaying medium resolution data in response to a user action on the at least one row associated with the virtual channel.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising presenting an iframe for displaying high resolution data in response to a user action on the at least one row associated with the virtual channel.

25. The method of claim 16, further comprising presenting information on published virtual channels that the user can select for inclusion in user'"'"'s collection of virtual channels.

26. The method of claim 16, further comprising presenting a user interface for managing user'"'"'s collection of virtual channels.

27. A server system, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory coupled to the one or more processors; and

one or more programs stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including;

instructions for identifying a set of time-bounded multimedia events;

instructions for executing a search submitted by a user on the identified set of time-bounded multimedia events to produce a set of search results ordered based on relevance; and

instructions for creating one or more virtual channels comprising time-bounded multimedia events that are selected by the user from the set of search results.

28. The server system of claim 27, including instructions for sending information associated with the one or more created virtual channels to a client device for presentation in a grid having a first axis corresponding to units of time and a second axis.

29. The server system of claim 27, wherein the time-bounded multimedia events include one or more of a group consisting of:

television shows, radio shows, video shows, sporting events, motion pictures, and events referenced by metadata site summaries, and events referenced by multimedia messaging services.

30. The server system of claim 27, including instructions for publishing respective virtual channels selected by the user for publication.

31. The server system of claim 27, wherein at least one time-bounded multimedia event in the set of search results includes content created by the user.

32. A client system, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory coupled to the one or more processors; and

one or more programs stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including;

instructions for presenting information representing a plurality of subsets of time-bounded multimedia events as a plurality of rows on a grid having a first axis and a second axis, the first axis corresponding to units of time;

wherein at least one row of the plurality of rows displays time-bounded multimedia events in a virtual channel that corresponds to a user-specified query, wherein the displayed time-bounded multimedia events in the virtual channel comprise search results for the user-specified query corresponding to the virtual channel.

33. The client system of claim 32, wherein at least one row of the plurality of rows displays time-bounded multimedia events in a broadcast channel.

34. The client system of claim 32, wherein the time-bounded multimedia events include one or more of a group consisting of:

television shows, radio shows, video shows, sporting events, motion pictures, and events referenced by metadata site summaries, and events referenced by multimedia messaging services.

35. The client system of claim 32, further comprising presenting in the row corresponding to the virtual channel a first set of results that satisfy search terms in the user-specified query and a second set of results that are related to the first set of results.