PREDICTIVE CONTENT PRESENTATION

• US 20090307731A1
• Filed: 06/10/2008
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Data Services LLC (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Beyabani, Syed Zafar
• Granted Patent: US 8,176,506 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/87
• 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 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• 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 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen

Abstract

A system may automatically send a request for a list of programs over a network, obtain, in response to the request, a user profile that includes a list of programs that a viewer has accessed, send information identifying at least one of the programs over the network, and output the at least one of the programs to a preview window of a display.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

automatically sending a request for a list of programs over a network;

obtaining, in response to the request, a user profile that includes a list of programs that a viewer has accessed;

sending information identifying at least one of the programs over the network; and

outputting the at least one of the programs to a preview window of a display.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving log records of viewer activities; and

obtaining the list of programs that the viewer has accessed based on at least one of the log records and a program guide.

3. The method of claim 2, where obtaining the list of programs includes:

obtaining a channel number and a time from each of the log records; and

looking up, for each of the log records, the channel number and the time in the program guide to identify a program provided, at the time, on a channel specified by the channel number.

4. The method of claim 2, where obtaining a list of programs includes at least one of:

determining, for each program, an aggregate amount of time that the viewer spent watching the program;

or

determining, for each program, number of times that the viewer accessed the program.

5. The method of claim 1, where outputting the at least one of the programs includes:

displaying the at least one of the programs in a picture-in-picture window within a main viewing area of the display.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

removing the picture-in-picture window after a particular amount of time from the main viewing area of the display;

or

removing the picture-in-picture window and recording contents of the picture-in-picture window in response to viewer input via a remote control.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scheduling the request for content to be sent at a particular time.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting another one of the programs to a picture-in-picture window or a split-screen window on the display;

or

outputting a portion of the list to a text box on the display.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

exchanging content in a main viewing area of the display with content in the preview window;

or

selecting, based on input from the viewer, either an audio that is associated with content in a main viewing area or an audio that is associated with content in the preview window.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

sending a message to a log device to indicate that the viewer is watching a channel at a particular time.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

entering a mode in which the request for content is automatically generated when a command to change a viewing channel is received.

12. A system comprising:

a database that includes information identifying a list of programs that a viewer accessed;

a preview server to;

receive a request over a network, from a controller, for at least a portion of the list of programs.

obtain the portion of the list of programs from the database, and

send the portion of the list of programs to the controller over the network.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

the controller, where the controller is configured to;

send the request for at least the portion of list of programs to the preview server;

receive the portion of the list of programs; and

present one of the portion of the list of programs in a preview window.

14. The system of claim 13, where the preview window includes:

a picture-in-picture window;

a split-screen window;

or

a text window.

15. The system of claim 13, where the controller is further configured to:

enter a predictive content preview mode in which the controller automatically sends a request for information identifying the portion of the list of programs to the preview server.

16. The system of claim 13, where the controller is further configured to:

accept viewer input to schedule the reception of information identifying programs previously accessed or watched.

17. The system of claim 13, where the controller includes at least one of:

a set-top box;

a cable card;

a computer;

or

a digital video disk (DVD) player.

18. The system of claim 12, where the system further includes:

a log device that records information identifying channels that the viewer is watching.

19. The system of claim 18, where log device is configured to:

receive a message from the controller when the viewer changes channels.

20. The system of claim 12, where the network includes:

a passive optical network (PON).

21. A system comprising:

means for receiving a request for a list of programs over a network;

means for obtaining the list of programs from a database in response to the request, the list of programs generated based on viewing habits of the viewer;

means for sending the list of programs over the network; and

means for presenting at least one of the list of programs in a predictive content preview window.