Community Content Ratings System

• US 20090282438A1
• Filed: 05/09/2008
• Published: 11/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: White, Scott Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 8,943,536 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Community content ratings are provided to users for one or more multimedia programs. The community content ratings are generated from appropriateness data collected from members of one or more community groups. The members of the community groups may be selected automatically based on stored profiles that include demographic data. Alternatively, community group membership may occur by choice and at the request of potential members. The community content ratings may be presented using appropriateness indicators (e.g., checkmarks or numerical scores) that are presented to a user in response to the user selecting the multimedia program from an electronic programming guide.

Claims

1. A service for providing appropriateness data for multimedia programs, the service comprising:

collecting appropriateness data for a multimedia program from a plurality of members, wherein a portion of the plurality of members is associated with a community group; and

presenting an appropriateness indicator that is based on the appropriateness data to a user in response to the user selecting a representation of the multimedia program from an electronic programming guide.

2. The service of claim 1, wherein the user is a member of the community group.

3. The service of claim 1, wherein the appropriateness data includes ratings for sub-portions of the multimedia program.

4. The service of claim 1, wherein the appropriateness indicator includes a non-numeric graphical symbol.

5. The service of claim 1, wherein the appropriateness indicator includes a numeral that is based on an average rating of a portion of the plurality of members.

6. The service of claim 1, wherein the appropriateness indicator includes a numeral portion and a graphical portion.

7. The service of claim 1, wherein the appropriateness indicator is a comparison against the appropriateness indicators of other multimedia programs.

8. The service of claim 1, wherein the appropriateness indicator includes a percentile of the multimedia program compared to a plurality of other multimedia programs rated by the plurality of members.

9. A method of providing appropriateness indicators for multimedia programs, the method comprising:

collecting appropriateness data for at least one of the multimedia programs from a plurality of members; and

presenting at least one of the appropriateness indicators to a user in response to the user selecting a representation of the multimedia program from an electronic programming guide, wherein the appropriateness indicator is based on the appropriateness data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the method further includes:

receiving a request from the user to be associated with the community group.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one appropriateness indicator includes a non-numeric graphical indicator.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one appropriateness indicator is a numeral that is derived from an average rating of a portion of the plurality of members.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one appropriateness indicator includes a numeral and a graphical symbol.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one appropriateness indicator is a comparison against appropriateness indicators of multimedia programs other than the at least one multimedia program.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

accepting appropriateness data from the user.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one appropriateness indicator includes a percentile of the at least one multimedia program compared to a plurality of other multimedia programs rated by the plurality of members.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one appropriateness indicator includes at least one color of a plurality of colors, wherein the colors indicate degrees of appropriateness.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein the appropriateness data includes ratings for sub-portions of the at least one multimedia program.

19. An application server enabled by computer instructions that are stored on machine readable media, wherein the instructions are for:

receiving appropriateness data for a multimedia program, wherein the appropriateness data is collected from a plurality of members, wherein a portion of the plurality of members belong to a community group established within a server provider network; and

generating an appropriateness indicator for presentation to a user in response to the user selecting a representation of the multimedia program from an electronic programming guide, wherein the appropriateness indicator is based on the appropriateness data.

20. The application server of claim 19, wherein the instructions are further for:

receiving a request from the user to be associated with the community group.

21. The application server of claim 19, wherein the instructions are further for:

scanning a plurality of profiles, wherein individual profiles of the plurality of profiles are associated with individual members of the plurality of members; and

categorizing a portion of the members into the community group based on the scanning.

22. The application server of claim 19, wherein the instructions are further for:

collecting demographic data from a plurality of stored profiles for categorizing the members into community groups.