DYNAMIC USER INTERFACE RENDERING BASED ON USAGE ANALYTICS DATA IN A MEDIA CONTENT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

• US 20130061259A1
• Filed: 09/02/2011
• Published: 03/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Raman, Sampath, Babu, Narendra B., Somasundaram, Kokila
• Granted Patent: US 9,979,500 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/32 Arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations, e.g. malfunction or breakdown of receiving stations

Abstract

An exemplary method includes a media content access device, which is configured to access a media content service distributed over a media content distribution network, 1) detecting a request for a presentation of a user interface configured to facilitate usage of the media content service by a user of the media content access device, 2) determining, in response to the request, whether usage analytics data representative of a historical pattern of usage of the media content service is available, 3) rendering, if the usage analytics data is determined to be unavailable, a static default version of the user interface in accordance with data representative of a static default configuration of the user interface, and 4) rendering, if the usage analytics data is determined to be available, a dynamic version of the user interface based on the user analytics data. Corresponding methods, systems, and apparatuses are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by a media content access device configured to access a media content service distributed over a media content distribution network, a request for a presentation of a user interface configured to facilitate usage of the media content service by a user of the media content access device;

determining, by the media content access device in response to the request, whether usage analytics data representative of a historical pattern of usage of the media content service is available;

rendering, by the media content access device if the usage analytics data is determined to be unavailable, a static default version of the user interface in accordance with data representative of a static default configuration of the user interface; and

rendering, by the media content access device if the usage analytics data is determined to be available, a dynamic version of the user interface based on the user analytics data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the media content service comprises a subscriber television programming service.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the subscriber television programming service is configured to broadcast or multicast television programming over the media content distribution network in accordance with a predefined presentation schedule.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises a graphical user interface screen including one or more menu options each configured to be selected by the user to access a corresponding feature of the media content service.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the static default version of the user interface includes a static list of the one or more menu options arranged in a static order within the static list in accordance with the static default configuration of the user interface;

the dynamic version of the user interface includes a dynamic list of the one or more menu options arranged in a dynamic order within the dynamic list based on the usage analytics data; and

and the dynamic order is different from the static order.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the usage analytics data indicates historical frequency of user access of each of the one or more menu options or the corresponding feature of the media content service.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the static default version of the user interface includes a static set of menu options;

the dynamic version of the user interface includes a dynamic set of menu options; and

the dynamic set of menu options includes at least one menu option not included in the static set of menu options.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the static default version of the user interface includes a static property; and

the rendering of the dynamic version of the user interface based on the user analytics data dynamically modifies the static property in the dynamic version of the user interface.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage analytics data comprises:

local usage analytics data generated from usage data provided by the media content access device over time; and

global usage analytics data generated from usage data provided by one or more other media content access devices over time.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage analytics data indicates at least one of:

a frequency of access of a feature of the media content service;

a frequency of access of a user interface element included in the user interface;

a frequency of access of a type of media content channel; and

a frequency of access of a type of media content.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by the media content access device to a usage analytics server over time, raw usage data representative of usage of the media content service.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the transmitting includes indirectly transmitting the raw usage data to the usage analytics device by way of signaling associated with the media content access device accessing the media content service.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, by the usage analytics server, the raw usage data transmitted by the media content access device;

generating, by the usage analytics server, the usage analytics data from the raw usage data; and

maintaining, by the usage analytics server, the usage analytics data for access by the media content access device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the generating of the usage analytics data comprises:

identifying multiple distinct usage patterns from the raw usage data;

generating multiple usage profiles; and

storing the usage analytics data in the multiple usage profiles such that each usage profile includes a distinct set of usage analytics data representative of a distinct historical usage pattern.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, by the usage analytics server, a request for the usage analytics data from the media content access device; and

selecting, by the usage analytics server, a usage profile from the multiple usage profiles that includes a set of usage analytics data representative of a historical usage pattern that best fits a current pattern of usage of the media content service by the user of the media content access device; and

transmitting, by the usage analytics server, data representative of the set of usage analytics data included in the selected usage profile to the media content access device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the rendering of the dynamic version of the user interface based on the user analytics data comprises rendering the dynamic version of the user interface based on the set of usage analytics data transmitted by the usage analytics server to the media content access device.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the data representative of the static default configuration of the user interface is stored locally within the media content access device; and

the usage analytics data is stored remotely of the media content access device.

18. The method of claim 1, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

19. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a user interface facility that directs the processor to;

detect a request for a presentation of a user interface configured to facilitate usage, by a user of the apparatus, of a media content service distributed over a media content distribution network;

determine, in response to the request, whether usage analytics data representative of a historical pattern of usage of the media content service is available;

render, if the usage analytics data is determined to be unavailable, a static default version of the user interface in accordance with data representative of a static default configuration of the user interface, the static default version including a static user interface property; and

render, if the usage analytics data is determined to be available, a dynamic version of the user interface based on the user analytics data, the dynamic version including a custom user interface property that is rendered by dynamically modifying the static user interface property based on the usage analytics data.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein:

the media content service comprises a subscriber television programming service; and

the apparatus comprises a set-top box device configured to access the subscriber television programming service.

21. A system comprising:

a media content delivery subsystem configured to;

distribute a media content service over a media content distribution network, and

track end-user usage of the media content service, the tracking including generating and maintaining usage analytics data representative of one or more historical patterns of usage of the media content service; and

a media content access device communicatively coupled to the media content delivery subsystem and configured to

access the media content service distributed over the media content distribution network,

detect a request for a presentation of a user interface configured to facilitate usage of the media content service by a user of the media content access device;

determine, in response to the request, whether the usage analytics data is available;

render, if the usage analytics data is determined to be unavailable, a static default version of the user interface in accordance with data representative of a static default configuration of the user interface; and

render, if the usage analytics data is determined to be available, a dynamic version of the user interface based on the user analytics data.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein:

the static default version includes a static user interface property; and

the dynamic version includes a custom user interface property that is rendered by dynamically modifying the static user interface property based on the usage analytics data.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein:

the media content access device is further configured to transmit raw usage data representative of usage of the media content service by the media content access device to the media content delivery subsystem;

the media content delivery subsystem is further configured to

receive the raw usage data transmitted by the media content access device, and

generate the usage analytics data from the raw usage data.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the media content delivery subsystem is configured to generate the usage analytics data from the raw usage data by:

identifying multiple distinct usage patterns from the raw usage data;

generating multiple usage profiles; and

storing the usage analytics data in the multiple usage profiles such that each usage profile includes a distinct set of usage analytics data representative of a distinct usage pattern.

25. A system comprising:

media content distribution network equipment located at a super head-end, a video hub office, and a video service office and configured to distribute a subscriber television programming service over a subscriber television programming distribution network;

a usage analytics server communicatively coupled to the media content distribution network equipment located at at least one of the super head-end, the video hub office, and the video service office, the usage analytics server configured to track end-user usage of the subscriber television programming service, the tracking including generating and maintaining usage analytics data representative of one or more historical patterns of usage of the subscriber television programming service; and

a media content access device communicatively coupled to the video service office and the usage analytics server, the media content access device configured to;

access the subscriber television programming service distributed over the subscriber television programming network,

detect a request for a presentation of a user interface configured to facilitate usage of the subscriber television programming service by a user of the media content access device;

determine, in response to the request, whether the usage analytics data is available;

render, if the usage analytics data is determined to be unavailable, a static default version of the user interface in accordance with data representative of a static default configuration of the user interface; and

render, if the usage analytics data is determined to be available, a dynamic version of the user interface based on the user analytics data.