Menuing Structure for Media Content

• US 20110099519A1
• Filed: 08/20/2010
• Published: 04/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Ma, Jeffrey, Chen, Elbert D., Robbin, Jeffrey, Pacurariu, Calin, Young, James A., Bachman, William Martin
• Application Number:
  US12/860,828
• Publication Number:
  US 20110099519A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/811
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• 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 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73

Abstract

Methods, systems, articles of manufacture, and apparatus for causing a computer system such as a media device to perform operations may include receiving input from the user selecting a media type category, identifying media content items within the selected media category that the user has previously selected for presentation, prioritizing the identified media content items based on a predetermined set of rules, and presenting to the user a menu of at least some of the identified media content items in an order based on a result of the prioritization.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computer system, the method comprising:

receiving input from a user selecting a media type category;

identifying media content items within the selected media category that the user has previously selected for presentation;

prioritizing the identified media content items based on a predetermined set of rules; and

presenting to the user a menu of at least some of the identified media content items in an order based on a result of the prioritization.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying indicia in the menu indicating to which of a plurality of different groups the presented media content items belong.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the groups vary with the selected media type category.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein at least one of the groups corresponds to items of media that are not yet completely played back.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein at least of the groups corresponds to items of media recently acquired.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein at least of the groups corresponds to items of media with upcoming expiration times.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein at least of the groups corresponds to items of media that have been recently accessed.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein at least of the groups corresponds to items of media that are popular according to a predefined metric.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein at least of the groups corresponds to items of media that the user has not yet acquired.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting a menu to the user comprises displaying at least two separate regions including a media type region in which a plurality of different media type categories are displayed and a shelf region in which individual media content items are displayed.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the media content items displayed in shelf region change in response to change in choice of media type category.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein when an insufficient quantity of media content items exists to fill the shelf, further comprising filling a remainder of the shelf with media content items selected by a third party.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising designing the set of predetermined rules to result in prioritization of media content items that the user is most likely to want to access.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising designing the set of predetermined rules to result in media content items that the user is most likely to want to access having a high priority.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising designing the set of predetermined rules to result in media content items that the user has most recently acquired having a high priority.

16. An article of manufacture comprising a machine-accessible medium including data that when accessed by a machine cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving input from a user selecting a media type category;

identifying media content items within the selected media category that the user has previously selected for presentation;

prioritizing the identified media content items based on a predetermined set of rules; and

presenting to the user a menu of at least some of the identified media content items in an order based on a result of the prioritization.

17. The article of claim 16 further comprising displaying indicia in the menu indicating to which of a plurality of different groups the presented media content items belong.

18. The article of claim 17 wherein the groups vary with the selected media type category.

19. The article of claim 17 wherein at least one of the groups corresponds to items of media that are not yet completely played back.

20. The article of claim 17 wherein at least of the groups corresponds to items of media recently acquired.

21. The article of claim 17 wherein at least of the groups corresponds to items of media with upcoming expiration times.

22. The article of claim 17 wherein at least of the groups corresponds to items of media that have been recently accessed.

23. The article of claim 17 wherein at least of the groups corresponds to items of media that are popular according to a predefined metric.

24. The article of claim 17 wherein at least of the groups corresponds to items of media that the user has not yet acquired.

25. The article of claim 16 wherein presenting a menu to the user comprises displaying at least two separate regions including a media type region in which a plurality of different media type categories are displayed and a shelf region in which individual media content items are displayed.

26. The article of claim 25 wherein the media content items displayed in shelf region change in response to change in choice of media type category.

27. The article of claim 25 wherein when an insufficient quantity of media content items exists to fill the shelf, further comprising filling a remainder of the shelf with media content items selected by a third party.

28. The article of claim 16 further comprising designing the set of predetermined rules to result in prioritization of media content items that the user is most likely to want to access.

29. The article of claim 16 further comprising designing the set of predetermined rules to result in media content items that the user is most likely to want to access having a high priority.

30. The article of claim 16 further comprising designing the set of predetermined rules to result in media content items that the user has most recently acquired having a high priority.

31. A media device comprising:

memory for storing instructions;

a processor for executing instructions stored in the memory to cause the media device to perform operations including;

receive input from a user selecting a media type category;

identify media content items within the selected media category that the user has previously selected for presentation;

prioritize the identified media content items based on a predetermined set of rules; and

present to the user a menu of at least some of the identified media content items in an order based on a result of the prioritization.