IDENTIFYING HIGHLY VALUED RECOMMENDATIONS OF USERS IN A MEDIA RECOMMENDATION NETWORK

• US 20090157795A1
• Filed: 12/18/2007
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concert Technology Corporation
• Original Assignee: Concert Technology Corporation
• Inventors: Black, Gary W.
• Granted Patent: US 9,224,150 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A system and method are provided for discovering new friends using recommendation paths in a media recommendation network. In general, media items are recommended among users in a media recommendation network. Use of media items by the users is monitored. If the use of a media item by a user exceeds a threshold, a determination is made as to whether the media item was recommended to the user. If so, that recommendation is identified as a highly valued recommendation for that user. Thereafter, when the user desires to identify new friends from which to receive recommendations and to which to send recommendations, a recommendation path for the highly valued recommendation is identified. Users in the recommendation path that are not already friends of the user are identified as potential new friends for the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

monitoring use of a media item by a first user associated with a first user device;

determining whether the use of the media item is greater than a threshold; and

identifying a recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user if the use of the media item is greater than the threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first user has an associated social network comprising the first user and at least one friend of the first user, and further comprising discovering at least one new friend for the social network of the first user using a recommendation path for the highly valued recommendation.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the social network is a media recommendation network wherein the first user sends recommendations to the at least one friend and receives recommendations from the at least one friend.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the recommendation path comprises an originating recommender and at least one intermediate recommender through which the highly valued recommendation was propagated to the first user.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein discovering the at least one new friend for the first user comprises:

identifying the recommendation path for the highly valued recommendation of the media item, the recommendation path comprising an originating recommender and at least one intermediate recommender through which the recommendation was propagated to the first user; and

identifying at least one user from the recommendation path that is not already a friend of the first user as a potential new friend for the first user.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein discovering the at least one new friend for the first user further comprises:

providing information identifying the at least one user identified as a potential new friend for the first user to the first user at the first user device; and

enabling the first user to select a new friend from the at least one user identified as a potential new friend for the first user.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein identifying the at least one user from the recommendation path that is not already a friend of the first user as a potential new friend for the first user comprises identifying a plurality of users from the recommendation path that are not already friends of the first user as a plurality of potential new friends for the first user, and discovering the at least one new friend for the first user further comprises:

comparing a user profile of the first user to a user profile of at least one of the plurality of potential new friends to select at least one recommended new friend for the first user.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein identifying the at least one user from the recommendation path that is not already a friend of the first user as a potential new friend for the first user comprises identifying a plurality of users from the recommendation path that are not already friends of the first user as a plurality of potential new friends for the first user, and discovering the at least one new friend for the first user further comprises:

comparing a user profile of the first user to a user profile of at least one of the plurality of potential new friends to select the at least one new friend for the first user.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring the use of the media item comprises monitoring a play count for the media item, the play count corresponding to a number of times that the media item has been played by the first user at the first user device.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein:

monitoring the use of the media item comprises;

receiving a play notification for the media item from the first user device in response to playback of the media item at the first user device; and

increasing a play count value for the media item maintained for the first user in response to the play notification;

determining whether the use of the media item is greater than the threshold comprises determining whether the play count value is greater than a play count threshold; and

identifying the recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user comprises identifying the recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user if the play count value is greater than the play count threshold.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring the use of the media item comprises monitoring a recommendation count for the media item, the recommendation count corresponding to a number of times that the media item has been recommended by the first user to at least one other user.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein:

monitoring use of the media item comprises;

receiving a recommendation from the first user device associated with the first user, the recommendation identifying a recommended media item to be recommended to at least one second user; and

increasing a recommendation count value for the recommended media item maintained for the first user in response to receiving the recommendation;

determining whether the use of the media item is greater than the threshold comprises determining whether the recommendation count value is greater than a recommendation count threshold; and

identifying the recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user comprises identifying the recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user if the recommendation count value is greater than the threshold.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising, for each user of the at least one second user, forwarding the recommendation to a second user device associated with the user.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user comprises:

determining whether the media item was previously recommended to the first user; and

if the media item was previously recommended to the first user, identifying the recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user if the use of the media item is greater than the threshold.

15. A system comprising:

a communication interface communicatively coupling the system to a plurality of user devices associated with a plurality of users via a network; and

a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to;

monitor use of a media item by a first user of the plurality of users associated with a first user device of the plurality of user devices;

determine whether the use of the media item is greater than a threshold; and

identify a recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user if the use of the media item is greater than the threshold.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the first user has an associated social network comprising the first user and at least one friend of the first user, each of the at least one friend being another user of the plurality of users and being associated with another user device of the plurality of user devices, and the control system is further adapted to discover at least one new friend for the social network of the first user from the plurality of users using a recommendation path for the highly valued recommendation.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the social network is a media recommendation network and, for each friend of the at least one friend of the first user, recommendations from the first user associated with the first user device are provided to the friend at the other user device and recommendations from the friend associated with the other user device are provided to the first user at the first user device.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the recommendation path comprises an originating recommender and at least one intermediate recommender through which the highly valued recommendation was propagated to the first user, each of the originating recommender and the at least one intermediate recommender being one of the plurality of users.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein in order to discover the at least one new friend for the first user, the control system is further adapted to:

identify the recommendation path for the highly valued recommendation of the media item, the recommendation path comprising an originating recommender and at least one intermediate recommender through which the recommendation was propagated to the first user, each of the originating recommender and the at least one intermediate recommender being one of the plurality of users; and

identify at least one user from the recommendation path that is not already a friend of the first user as a potential new friend for the first user.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein in order to discover the at least one new friend for the first user, the control system is further adapted to provide information identifying the at least one user identified as a potential new friend for the first user to the first user at the first user device, and the first user is enabled to select a new friend from the at least one user identified as a potential new friend for the first user.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein in order to monitor the use of the media item, the control system is further adapted to monitor a play count for the media item, the play count corresponding to a number of times that the media item has been played by the first user at the first user device.

22. The system of claim 15 wherein:

in order to monitor the use of the media item, the control system is further adapted to;

receive a play notification for the media item from the first user device in response to playback of the media item at the first user device; and

increase a play count value for the media item maintained for the first user in response to the play notification;

in order to determine whether the use of the media item is greater than the threshold, the control system is further adapted to determine whether the play count value is greater than a play count threshold; and

in order to identify the recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user, the control system is further adapted to identify the recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user if the play count value is greater than the play count threshold.

23. The system of claim 15 wherein in order to monitor the use of the media item, the control system is further adapted to monitor a recommendation count for the media item, the recommendation count corresponding to a number of times that the media item has been recommended by the first user to at least one other user.

24. The system of claim 15 wherein:

in order to monitor the use of the media item, the control system is further adapted to;

receive a recommendation from the first user device associated with the first user, the recommendation identifying a recommended media item to be recommended to at least one second user; and

increasing a recommendation count value for the recommended media item maintained for the first user in response to receiving the recommendation;

in order to determine whether the use of the media item is greater than the threshold, the control system is further adapted to determine whether the recommendation count value is greater than a recommendation count threshold; and

in order to identify the recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user, the control system is further adapted to identify the recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user if the recommendation count value is greater than the threshold.

25. The system of claim 15 wherein the control system is further adapted to:

determine whether the media item was previously recommended to the first user; and

if the media item was previously recommended to the first user and if the use of the media item is greater than the threshold, identify the recommendation of the media item to the first user as a highly valued recommendation of the first user.