Selective Interactivity

• US 20140282653A1
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Ariantaj, Steve, Shapiro, Igor, Veeraraghavan, Vilas, Wiebe, Stephen, Thomas, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,414,114 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; 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 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• 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: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4725 using interactive regions of the image, e.g. hot spots details of information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94
• 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 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8545 for generating interactive applications

Abstract

A system may selectively deliver interactive portions of a piece of content, based for example on a recipient user'"'"'s historical tendency to use interactive portions of prior content. Multiple levels of interactivity may be defined for a given piece of content, such as an advertisement, and different users may receive different levels of interactivity based on how much they use interactive features. Some users may receive no interactive features at all, while others may receive the interactive features, and despite the fact that all of the users'"'"' devices may be perfectly capable of processing the interactive features for the user. The omission from transmission may conserve bandwidth and transmission resources.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

monitoring, by one or more computing devices, a user'"'"'s level of usage of interactive features that accompany first content consumed by the user;

using the user'"'"'s level of usage of interactive features to determine a future level of interactivity; and

transmitting second content to the user, said second content comprising interactive features corresponding to the determined level of future interactivity.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of different levels of interactivity for the second content, wherein the different levels of interactivity for the second content include;

a first level having no interactivity; and

a second level having an interactive option to request delivery of additional information relating to the second content.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the different levels of interactivity for the second content include a third level having an interactive option to allow the user to manipulate a graphical object in the second content.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the different levels of interactivity for the second content include:

a first level having an interactive option to request delivery of additional information relating to the second content; and

a second level having an interactive option to allow the user to manipulate a graphical object in the second content.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the different levels of interactivity for the second content include:

a first level having an interactive option to request delivery of additional information relating to the second content; and

a second level having an interactive option to allow the user to manipulate a graphical object in the second content.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the second content to a plurality of different user devices, wherein each of the different user devices includes resources needed to provide an interactive version of the second content; and

transmitting interactive features for the second content to some, but not all, of the plurality of different user devices, based on historical interactive feature usage data for respective ones of the plurality of different user devices.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing, for each of a plurality of interactive features in the levels of interactivity, information identifying one or more conditions for a user to receive the interactive features with the second content.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein one of the conditions identifies a frequency with which a user historically accesses interactive content.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein one of the conditions identifies a frequency with which a user historically uses an identified interface option with interactive content.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that two sequential pieces of content each have interactive options, and that the user is engaged with an interactive option for a first one of the sequential pieces of content; and

in response to the determining, determining that interactive features of the second one of the pieces of sequential content should not be transmitted to the user.

11. A method, comprising:

identifying, by a one or more computing devices, a video content;

identifying a plurality of interactive associated with the video content;

delivering the video content to a plurality of user devices; and

selectively delivering one or more of the plurality of interactive features to particular ones of the plurality of user devices based on corresponding users'"'"' probability of using interactive features with prior video content.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

selecting interactive features for a user based on a frequency with which the user has previously engaged in interactive features.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying one or more user interface options for a first one of the interactive features; and

determining a frequency with which the user has previously engaged in interactive features using the identified one or more user interface options.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying one or more user consumption devices for a user; and

determining a frequency with which the user has previously engaged in interactive features using the identified one or more user consumption devices.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising storing, for each of the plurality of interactive features, information identifying one or more conditions for a user to receive the interactive feature.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein one of the conditions identifies a frequency with which a user accesses interactive content.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein one of the conditions identifies a frequency with which a user uses an identified interface option with interactive content.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining that two sequential pieces of content each have interactive options, and that the user is engaged with an interactive option for a first one of the sequential pieces of content; and

in response to the determining, determining that interactive features of the second one of the sequential pieces of content should not be transmitted to the user.

19. A method, comprising:

identifying, by one or more computing devices, a first interactive feature of an advertisement;

determining a first user'"'"'s probability, based on historical usage, for engaging with the first interactive feature;

determining a second user'"'"'s probability, based on historical usage, for engaging with the first interactive feature;

transmitting the advertisement to the first user with the first interactive feature; and

transmitting the advertisement to the second user without the first interactive feature.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein determining a first user'"'"'s historical usage comprises determining that the first user is likely to engage with the interactive features, and that a second user is not likely to engage with the interactive features.