PRESENTATION OF AN AVATAR IN A MEDIA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20100083308A1
• Filed: 10/01/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LYFT Incorporated
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: CHANG, E-LEE, Schroeter, Horst, Roberts, Linda, Khandelwal, Madhur, Clayton, Darnell
• Granted Patent: US 8,869,197 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/37
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/431 Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• 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 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8146 involving graphical data, e.g. 3D object, 2D graphics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) system having a controller to retrieve a user profile associated with a user of the IPTV system, cause a set-top box (STB) operating in the IPTV system to present an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, receive from the STB one or more responses of the user, wherein the one or more responses are collected by the STB from a communication exchange between the avatar and the user, identify from the one or more responses a need to communicate with a content source, establish a communication session with the content source, receive from the content source an avatar profile, adapt the characteristics of the avatar to correlate at least in part to the avatar profile, and cause the STB to present the adapted avatar. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. An Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) system, comprising a controller to:

retrieve a user profile associated with a user of the IPTV system;

cause a set-top box (STB) operating in the IPTV system to present an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile;

receive from the STB one or more responses of the user, wherein the one or more responses are collected by the STB from a communication exchange between the avatar and the user;

identify from the one or more responses a need to communicate with a content source;

establish a communication session with the content source;

receive from the content source an avatar profile;

adapt the characteristics of the avatar to correlate at least in part to the avatar profile; and

cause the STB to present the adapted avatar.

2. The IPTV system of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to retain a portion of the characteristics of the avatar correlated to the user profile while adapting the characteristics of the avatar to the avatar profile.

3. The IPTV system of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to:

detect a termination of the communication session with the content source; and

restore the characteristics of the avatar correlated to the user profile and terminate the characteristics of the avatar correlated to the avatar profile responsive to said detection.

4. The IPTV system of claim 1, wherein the avatar profile comprises at least one of appearance aspects, a content search method, and a content presentation method.

5. The IPTV system of claim 1, wherein the user profile comprises at least one of demographic profiling information of the user, psychographic profiling information of the user, and user preferences supplied by the user.

6. The IPTV system of claim 5, wherein the controller is adapted to determine the demographic profiling information of the user from at least one of a subscriber account of the user and a media consumption behavior of the user.

7. The IPTV system of claim 5, wherein demographic profiling information of the user is based on at least one of age, gender, income, number of occupants in household, occupation, education, value of residential property, location of residential property, and fees paid for services rendered by the IPTV system.

8. The IPTV system of claim 5, wherein the psychographic profiling information of the user is determined from consumption behavior monitored by the IPTV system, and wherein the psychographic profiling information is based on at least one of user traits, user attitudes, user interests, and user lifestyles determined from the consumption behavior.

9. The IPTV system of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to:

retrieve one or more advertisements that correlate to the user profile; and

cause the STB to present the avatar with the one or more advertisements.

10. The IPTV system of claim 9, wherein the controller is adapted to retrieve the one or more advertisements responsive to the user accepting an exploitation of the user profile for advertising.

11. The IPTV system of claim 1, wherein the content source corresponds to at least one of a media on demand (MoD) source, an electronic programming guide (EPG) source, and a digital media recorder (DMR) source.

12. The IPTV system of claim 11, wherein each of the MoD source, EPG source, and DMR source supplies a corresponding avatar profile.

13. The IPTV system of claim 12, wherein the avatar profile of each source comprises at least one of appearance aspects, a content search method, and a content presentation method associated with said source.

14. The IPTV system of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to generate an avatar engine for controlling the presentation of the avatar.

15. The IPTV system of claim 14, wherein the user profile comprises health characteristics of the user, and wherein the avatar engine is adapted to take into consideration the health characteristics of the user during a communication exchange between the avatar and the user.

16. A computer-readable storage medium operating in an interactive television (iTV) system, comprising computer instructions for:

retrieving a user profile associated with a user of the iTV system;

presenting an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile;

detecting one or more responses of the user during a communication exchange between the user and the avatar;

establishing a communication session with a content source responsive to identifying from the one or more responses a need to communicate with the content source;

adapting the characteristics of the avatar to correlate at least in part with an avatar profile supplied by the content source; and

presenting the adapted avatar.

17. The storage medium of claim 16, comprising computer instructions for:

retaining a portion of the characteristics of the avatar correlated to the user profile while adapting the characteristics of the avatar to the avatar profile;

detecting a termination of the communication session with the content source; and

restoring the characteristics of the avatar correlated to the user profile and terminating the characteristics of the avatar correlated to the avatar profile responsive to said detection.

18. The storage medium of claim 16, wherein the avatar profile comprises at least one of appearance aspects, a content search method, and a content presentation method, and wherein the user profile comprises at least one of demographic profiling information of the user, psychographic profiling information of the user, and user preferences supplied by the user.

19. The storage medium of claim 18, comprising computer instructions for determining the demographic profiling information of the user from at least one of a subscriber account of the user and a media consumption behavior of the user.

20. The storage medium of claim 18, wherein demographic profiling information of the user is based on at least one of age, gender, income, number of occupants in household, occupation, education, value of residential property, location of residential property, and fees paid for services rendered by the iTV system, wherein the psychographic profiling information of the user is determined from consumption behavior monitored by the iTV system, and wherein the psychographic profiling information is based on at least one of user traits, user attitudes, user interests, and user lifestyle determined from the consumption behavior.

21. A set-top box (STB), comprising a controller to:

retrieve a user profile;

present on a media presentation device an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile;

detect one or more responses of a user during a communication exchange between the user and the avatar;

establish a communication session with a content source responsive to identifying from the one or more responses a need to communicate with the content source; and

adapt the characteristics of the avatar to correlate at least in part with an avatar profile supplied by the content source.

22. The STB of claim 21, wherein the controller is adapted to present on the media presentation device the adapted avatar.

23. The STB of claim 21, wherein the controller is adapted to:

retain a portion of the characteristics of the avatar correlated to the user profile while adapting the characteristics of the avatar to the avatar profile;

detect a termination of the communication session with the content source; and

restore the characteristics of the avatar correlated to the user profile and terminate the characteristics of the avatar correlated to the avatar profile responsive to said detection.

24. The STB of claim 21, wherein the avatar profile comprises at least one of appearance aspects, a content search method, and a content presentation method, and wherein the user profile comprises at least one of demographic profiling information of the user, psychographic profiling information of the user, and user preferences supplied by the user, and wherein the controller is adapted to monitor a consumption behavior of the user and determine therefrom at least a portion of the user profile.

25. A method, comprising:

presenting on a media presentation device an avatar having characteristics that correlate to a user profile;

detecting one or more responses of a user during a communication exchange between the user and the avatar;

establishing a communication session with a content source responsive to identifying from the one or more responses a need to communicate with the content source; and

adapting the characteristics of the avatar to correlate at least in part with an avatar profile supplied by the content source.