System and Method of Analyzing Internet Protocol Television Content Credits Information

• US 20110067077A1
• Filed: 09/14/2009
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: White, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 8,938,761 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/110
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/34 Recording or statistical evaluation of computer activity, e.g. of down time, of input/output operation ; Recording or statistical evaluation of user activity, e.g. usability assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/258 Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data arrangements for services using the result on the distributing side of broadcast systems H04H60/66; profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• 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 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82

Abstract

An Internet Protocol television (IPTV) system is disclosed. The system includes a selector module that is adapted to select a content item based upon metadata information associated with the content item and send the content item to a first set-top box. The content is recorded and video information associated with the content item is analyzed using a video interpretation algorithm, and credits information associated with the content item is obtained from the set-top-box.

Claims

1. An Internet Protocol television (IPTV) system comprising a selector module adapted to:

select a content item based upon metadata information associated with the content item;

send the content item to a first set-top box to;

record the content item; and

analyze video information associated with the content item using a video interpretation algorithm to obtain credits information associated with the content item; and

receive the credits information from the first set-top box.

2. The IPTV system of claim 1, wherein the selector module is further adapted to send an instruction to the first set-top box based upon the credits information, wherein, in response to receiving the instruction, the first set-top box erases the content item.

3. The IPTV system of claim 2, wherein the selector module includes a data mining module adapted to send the instruction to the first set-top box in response to receiving the credits information.

4. The IPTV system of claim 2, wherein the selector module comprises a recommendation module adapted to:

in response to receiving the credits information, make a first determination that the credits information includes a search term; and

in response to making the first determination, send a recommendation to a user of a second set-top box to view the content item.

5. The IPTV system of claim 4, wherein the recommendation module is further adapted to:

in response to receiving the credits information, make a second determination that the credits information does not include the search term; and

in response to making the second determination, send the instruction to the first set-top box.

6. The IPTV system of claim 1, wherein the credits information is displayed at the beginning or at the end of the content item.

10. The set-top box of claim 6, wherein a selection of the content item is made by a recommendation module adapted to:

make a first determination that the credits information includes a search term; and

in response to making the first determination, make a recommendation to view the content item to a user of the set-top box.

11. The set-top box of claim 10, wherein the recommendation module is further adapted to:

make a second determination that the credits information does not include the search term; and

in response to making the second determination, send the instruction to the analyzer module.

7. A set-top box comprising:

a network interface adapted to receive a content item from an Internet Protocol television (IPTV) network;

a recording device adapted to record the content item; and

an analyzer module adapted to;

receive the content item from the recording device;

analyze video information associated with the content item using a video interpretation algorithm to obtain credits information associated with the content item; and

send the credits information to a selector module on the IPTV network.

8. The set-top box of claim 7, wherein:

a selection of the content item is made by the selector module based upon metadata information associated with the content item; and

the analyzer module is further adapted to;

receive an instruction from the selector module based upon the credits information; and

in response to receiving the instruction, erase the content item from the recording device.

9. The set-top box of claim 8, wherein the selector module comprises a data analysis module associated with the IPTV network, the selector module operable to send the instruction in response to receiving the credits information.

12. The set-top box of claim 7, wherein the credits information is displayed at the beginning of the content item.

13. The set-top box of claim 7, wherein the credits information is displayed at the end of the content item.

14. A method comprising:

sending a content item to a set-top box from an Internet Protocol television (IPTV) network;

directing the set-top box to record the content item on a recording device of the set-top box;

directing the set-top box to analyze video information associated with the content item using a video interpretation algorithm to obtain credits information associated with the content item; and

receiving the credits information from the set-top box.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

before sending the content item, selecting the content item at a selector module of the IPTV network based upon metadata information associated with the content item; and

sending an instruction to the set-top box to erase the content item from the recording device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the selector module comprises a data analysis module associated with the IPTV network; and

the instruction is sent from the data analysis module in response to receiving the credits information.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

before sending the content item, selecting the content item at a recommendation module of the IPTV network;

determining at the recommendation module that the credits information includes a search term; and

in response to determining that the credits information includes the search term, sending a recommendation to view the content item to a user of the set-top box.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining at the recommendation module that the credits information does not include the search term; and

in response to determining that the credits information does not include the search term, sending the instruction to the set-top box.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the set-top box includes the recommendation module.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the credits information is displayed at the beginning or at the end of the content item.