SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ASSIGNING USER PREFERENCE SETTINGS FOR A CATEGORY, AND IN PARTICULAR A MEDIA CATEGORY

• US 20090077499A1
• Filed: 04/04/2007
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concert Technology Corporation
• Original Assignee: Concert Technology Corporation
• Inventors: Svendsen, Hugh, Askey, Waymen
• Granted Patent: US 7,941,764 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/833
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/637 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialization, adaptation or distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/686 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title or artist information, time, location or usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/735 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/968 interface for database querying and retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/974 Slider control as on-screen object in operator interface

Abstract

A system and method for assigning user preference settings for fields in a category using selected settings for only a subset of the media category fields is disclosed. A subset of fields for a media category is defined. A base setting for each field in the subset of the category fields is established. The base setting may be a weight or preference value. The base setting may be established by the user selecting a base setting or may be a default base setting. Once a user selects the settings for the subset of category fields, a set weight for the fields in the category not in the subset is determined using the base setting. That is possible because the fields in the subset of category fields are chosen from fields that contain aspects and attributes of the other fields.

Claims

1. A method for assigning user preference settings to fields in a category, comprising the steps of:

defining a subset of the fields in the category;

establishing a base setting for one of more fields in the subset; and

determining a set weight for one or more of the fields not within the subset using the base setting.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing a base setting comprises setting a preference value selected by a user.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing a base setting comprises setting a default preference value.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a weighting coefficient corresponding to the fields in the subset.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein determining a set weight for the field not within the subset comprises employing the weighting coefficient.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining the weighting coefficient from information provided by a user, a user profile or a user play history.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining the weighting coefficient based on one or more attributes of the field in the subset.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the base setting comprises a value within a range of 0 to 10.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the base setting comprises a default value of 5.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein defining the subset of the fields comprises determining which of the fields in the category have attributes most prevalent in other fields in the category.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the set weight of the field to a user.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an assigned weight for one or more of the fields from a user; and

disregarding the set weight for the field having the assigned weight.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the assigned weight is within a range of 1 to 10.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying the field with the assigned weight to the user.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising differentiating the appearance of the field with the assigned weight from the appearance of the field with the set weight.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the assigned weight of the field is unaffected by the base setting.

17. A category preference setting system, comprising:

a user device; and

an application executing on the user device, the application adapted to;

define a subset of fields in a category;

establish a base setting for one or more of the fields in the subset; and

determine a set weight for one or more fields not within the subset using the base setting.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the application establishes the base setting by setting a preference value selected by a user.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the application establishes the base setting by setting a default preference value.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the application is further adapted to determine a weighting coefficient corresponding to the fields in the subset.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the application determines the set weight for the field not within the subset employing the weighting coefficient.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the application determines the weighting coefficient from information provided by a user, a user profile or a user play history.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the application determines the weighting coefficient based on one or more attributes of the field in the subset.

24. The system of claim 17 wherein the application defines the subset of fields by determining which of the fields in the category have attributes most prevalent in other fields in the category.

25. The system of claim 17 wherein the application is further adapted to display the set weight of the field to a user.

26. The system of claim 17 wherein the application is further adapted to:

receive from a user an assigned weight for one or more of the fields; and

disregard the set weight for the field with the assigned weight.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the application is further adapted to display the field with assigned weight to the user.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the application is further adapted to differentiate the appearance of the field with the assigned weight from the appearance of the field with the set weight.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein the assigned weight of the field is unaffected by the base setting.

30. A user interface generated by an application executing on a user device, comprising:

a base settings screen, comprising;

a display of a subset of fields in a category displaying a base setting established for each field in the subset;

a base setting selector for each field in the subset wherein the base setting selector is actionable to select the base setting for the field, and wherein the base setting selected is displayed on the display; and

a base settings done button adapted to initiate the determination of a set weight of one or more fields not within the subset using the base setting when actuated.

31. The user interface of claim 30 wherein the base setting comprises a preference value for the field.

32. The user interface of claim 30 wherein the base setting selector is a sliding bar.

33. The user interface of claim 30 further comprising an advanced button.

34. The user interface of claim 33 wherein the advanced button when actuated opens an advanced settings screen.

35. The user interface of claim 34, further comprising:

an advanced settings screen, comprising;

a display of one or more fields in a category having an advanced setting established for the field, wherein the advanced setting is the set weight; and

an advanced setting selector actionable to assign the advanced setting to the field, wherein the advanced setting assigned by the advanced setting selector is an assigned weight for the field and wherein the assigned weight replaces the set weight for the field.

36. The user interface of claim 35 wherein the advanced setting selector is a sliding bar.

37. The user interface of claim 35 wherein the advanced settings screen further comprises an advanced settings done button.

38. The user interface of claim 37 wherein the advanced settings done button when actuated establishes the advanced setting for the field.

39. The user interface of claim 38 wherein the appearance of the display of the field with the assigned weight is different from the appearance of the display of the field with the set weight.

40. The user interface of claim 38 wherein the base setting selector does not affect the advanced setting assigned by the advanced setting selector.