METHOD FOR DISPLAYING SEARCH RESULTS IN A BROWSER INTERFACE

• US 20090234828A1
• Filed: 03/11/2008
• Published: 09/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cyberlink Corporation
• Original Assignee: Cyberlink Corporation
• Inventors: Tu, Pei-Hsuan
• Granted Patent: US 7,822,753 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/735 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/743 a collection of video files or sequences
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0263 based upon Internet or website rating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• 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 21/4662 characterized by learning algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4756 for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A level of affinity between a first user and many other users is considered when prioritizing content display when browsing, and ratings display when searching for programs in an electronic program guide or in a browser interface of a playback software application. Ratings from users who have high affinity with the first user are shown with priority over ratings from users who have low affinity with the first user. And, when browsing, programs rated highly by users having high affinity with the first user are shown with priority over programs rated poorly by the users having high affinity with the first user, and programs rated highly by users having low affinity with the first user.

Claims

1. A method of displaying search results of a search based on a ratings history in a browser interface of a playback software application comprising:

recording at least one first rating provided by a first user corresponding to a plurality of first content, and a plurality of second ratings provided by a plurality of second users corresponding to the plurality of first content; and

displaying at least one searched rating provided by the plurality of second users corresponding to second content according to a level of affinity between the first user and each of the plurality of second users when the first user searches for the second content;

wherein the level of affinity is determined according to the plurality of first ratings and the plurality of second ratings for the first content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the browser interface is implemented in an electronic program guide.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the browser interface is implemented in a web browser.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the level of affinity between the first user and one of the plurality of second users is determined to be higher when a third rating provided by the first user for a third content is approximately equal to a fourth rating provided by the one of the plurality of second users for the third content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the plurality of third ratings according to the level of affinity between the first user and each of the plurality of second users comprises displaying fourth ratings of the plurality of third ratings provided by third users of the plurality of second users having high affinity with the first user before displaying fifth ratings of the plurality of third ratings provided by fourth users of the plurality of second users having low affinity with the first user.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising requesting a user provide a rating for the second content when the user of the plurality of second users has a high level of affinity with the first user corresponding to the first content and has not provided a rating corresponding to the second content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content and the second content comprise a program, a movie, a book, an article, a forum, or music.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising comparing the plurality of first ratings and the plurality of second ratings to determine the level of affinity between the first user and each of the plurality of second users.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein comparing the plurality of first ratings and the plurality of second ratings comprises comparing keywords of the plurality of first ratings with keywords of the plurality of second ratings.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein comparing the plurality of first ratings and the plurality of second ratings comprises comparing level numbers of the plurality of first ratings with level numbers of the plurality of second ratings.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein comparing the plurality of first ratings and the plurality of second ratings comprises comparing view counts of the first users and the view counts of each of the plurality of second users of the first content.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein comparing the plurality of first ratings and the plurality of second ratings comprises comparing view rates of the first users and the view rates of each of the plurality of the second users.

13. A method of displaying search results of a search based on a ratings history in a browser interface comprising:

providing a first content and a second content, playable by a playback software application;

providing a rating history including a plurality of first ratings provided by a first user and a plurality of second users corresponding to the first content, and a plurality of second ratings provided by the second users corresponding to the second content;

when the first user queries the ratings history for ratings on the second content, determining level of affinity between the first user and each of the plurality of second users by comparing the ratings of the first user and the second users corresponding to the first content, and determining a group of second users having high level of affinity with the first user; and

displaying at least one rating of the group of second users corresponding to the second content.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the browser interface is implemented in an electronic program guide.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the browser interface is implemented in a web browser.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the level of affinity between the first user and one of the plurality of second users is determined to be high when a difference between the first rating provided by the first user for the first content and the first rating provided by the one of the plurality of second users for the first content is low.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein displaying at least one of the ratings of the group of second users corresponding to the second content comprises displaying the at least one of the ratings of the group of second users prioritized by the level of affinity.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising displaying an average rating of the group of second users corresponding to the second content.

19. A method of displaying information about digital programs in a browser interface comprising:

determining a level of affinity between a first user and each of a plurality of second users; and

displaying information about a plurality of digital programs in the browser interface according to the level of affinity between the first user and each of the plurality of second users.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the browser interface is implemented in an electronic program guide.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the browser interface is implemented in a web browser.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the level of affinity between the first user and one of the plurality of second users is determined to be high when a difference between a first rating provided by the first user for a content and a second rating provided by the one of the plurality of second users for the content is low.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein displaying the information about the plurality of digital programs in the browser interface according to the level of affinity between the first user and each of the plurality of second users comprises displaying a first digital program rated highly by one of the plurality of second users having high affinity with the first user before displaying a second digital program rated poorly by the one of the plurality of second users.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein displaying the information about the plurality of digital programs in the browser interface according to the level of affinity between the first user and each of the plurality of second users comprises displaying a first digital program rated highly by a third user of the plurality of second users before displaying a second digital program rated highly by a fourth user of the plurality of second users when the level of affinity between the first user and the third user is higher than the level of affinity between the first user and the fourth user.