RECOMMENDING BROADCAST TRANSMISSIONS OF INTEREST TO A VIEWER

• US 20120084817A1
• Filed: 12/09/2011
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gula Consulting Limited Liability Company (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Wounder GmbH (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Barnes, Melvin L. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 8,799,097 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• 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: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

Systems and methods identify broadcast transmissions of interest to a user by comparing a user'"'"'s interest profile to characteristics, such as topic phrases, associated with available broadcast transmissions. The method comprises receiving from a viewing station via a communication network an interest profile associated with a user. The interest profile includes data representing a plurality of topics of interest to the user that relate to broadcast transmissions. After receiving the interest profile, a text-based search is performed to identify available broadcast transmissions that match at least one topic of interest included in the interest profile, and a list of one or more of the available broadcast transmissions that match at least one topic of interest included in the interest profile are transmitted to the viewing station so that one or more of the available broadcast transmissions can be selected from the list and presented via the viewing station.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving from a viewing station via a communication network an interest profile associated with a user, wherein the interest profile includes data representing a plurality of topics of interest to the user and the topics of interest relate to broadcast transmissions;

performing, via a processor, a text-based search for available broadcast transmissions that match at least one topic of interest included in the interest profile; and

transmitting to the viewing station via the communication network a list of one or more of the available broadcast transmissions that match at least one topic of interest included in the interest profile so that one or more of the available broadcast transmissions can be selected from the list and presented via the viewing station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor performs the text-based search automatically at regular intervals of time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor performs the text-based search in response to receiving from the viewing station via the communication network a request to perform the text-based search.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the text-based search comprises searching topic phrases that are stored in association with each of the broadcast transmissions.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the topic phrases comprise a summary of the associated broadcast transmission.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the topic phrases comprise phrases reflecting topics that are included in the associated broadcast transmission.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the text-based search comprises searching a text version of an audio portion of the broadcast transmissions.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

converting to text an audio portion of a broadcast transmission; and

storing the text in association with the broadcast transmission.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the interest profile further includes data representing additional broadcast information including one or more of a type of broadcast transmission, a length of a broadcast transmission, or a cost of a broadcast transmission.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein performing the text-based search comprises searching for available broadcast transmissions that satisfy the additional broadcast information, generating a data set that only includes the available broadcast transmissions that satisfy the additional broadcast information, and searching the data set for available broadcast transmissions that match at least one topic of interest included in the interest profile.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast transmissions comprise video broadcast transmissions.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast transmissions comprise audio broadcast transmissions.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting to the viewing station via the communication network a menu of selectable topics of interest and a prompt requesting the user to select one or more of the selectable topics of interest to generate the interest profile, wherein the interest profile is transmitted by the viewing station in response to a selection of one or more of the selectable topics of interest.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving a selection of one of the available broadcast transmissions from the list, transmitting to the viewing station via the communication network the selected one of the available broadcast transmissions.

15. A system comprising:

a communication module configured to communicate via a communications network;

a processor in operative association with the communication module, the processor configured to;

receive from a viewing station via the communication network an interest profile associated with a user, wherein the interest profile includes data representing a plurality of topics of interest to the user and the topics of interest relate to broadcast transmissions;

perform a text-based search for available broadcast transmissions that match at least one topic of interest included in the interest profile; and

transmit to the viewing station via the communication network a list of one or more of the available broadcast transmissions that match at least one topic of interest included in the interest profile so that one or more of the available broadcast transmissions can be selected from the list and presented via the viewing station.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to automatically perform the text-based search at regular intervals of time.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to perform the text-based search by searching topic phrases that are stored in association with each of the broadcast transmissions.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to perform the text-based search by searching a text version of an audio portion of the broadcast transmissions.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to, in response to receiving a selection of one of the available broadcast transmissions from the list, cause the selected one of the available broadcast transmissions to be transmitted to the viewing station via the communication network.

20. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving from a viewing station via a communication network an interest profile associated with a user, wherein the interest profile includes data representing a plurality of topics of interest to the user and the topics of interest relate to broadcast transmissions;

instructions for performing a text-based search for available broadcast transmissions that match at least one topic of interest included in the interest profile; and

instructions for transmitting to the viewing station via the communication network a list of one or more of the available broadcast transmissions that match at least one topic of interest included in the interest profile so that one or more of the available broadcast transmissions can be selected from the list and presented via the viewing station.