TELEVISION SERVICE PROVIDED SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICE

• US 20140282779A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Navarro, Carlos Garcia
• Granted Patent: US 10,142,700 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/110
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• 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 21/4756 for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82

Abstract

A social network service for use by a television service provider is disclosed. The social network service allows a subscriber to connect and interact with other subscribers based on program ratings or other criteria. The social network service may comprise correlating program ratings of different subscribers of the social network service in order to suggest possible subscribers to join a first subscriber'"'"'s social network. The social network service may allow for a subscriber or the television service provider to moderate the social network.

Claims

1. A system for providing a social networking service (SNS) by a television service provider (TSP), the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

non-transitory storage media communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processors and comprising instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

receive a communication from a first subscriber of the SNS, wherein the communication includes search parameters to be used to perform a correlation of program ratings of the first subscriber and a plurality of other subscribers of the SNS;

correlate the program ratings of the first subscriber with the program ratings of the plurality of other subscribers using the search parameters included in the communication received from the first subscriber;

generate a candidate member list for the first subscriber, wherein the candidate member list comprises information of a subset of the plurality of other subscribers, and the subset of the plurality of other subscribers is based on the correlation of the program ratings; and

cause the candidate member list to be transmitted to at least one transmitter-receiver (TR) associated with the first subscriber.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication received from the first subscriber includes instructions which cause the SNS to reserve part of the non-transitory storage media for storage of a social network associated to the first subscriber, and to perform social network hosting services.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the program ratings of the first subscriber are organized according to categories selected by the first subscriber.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the search parameters used for the correlation of the program ratings of the first subscriber with the program ratings of the plurality of other subscribers include restricting the correlation to within one or more categories of the program ratings of the first subscriber.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein responsive to the TSP receiving an invitee member list from at least one TR of the first subscriber, the instructions cause an invite-to-join message to be transmitted to at least one TR associated with a second subscriber on the invitee member list.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein upon reception by the TSP of an accept message from at least one TR associated with the second subscriber, the instructions cause information about the second subscriber to be added to a network member list in the social network of the first subscriber and social network services pertaining to the social network of the first subscriber to be provided for the second subscriber.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein upon reception by the TSP of a rejection message from at least one TR associated with the second subscriber, the instructions cause one or more social network services not to be provided for the second subscriber.

8. The system of claim 5 wherein upon not receiving by the TSP a response message from at least one TR associated with the second subscriber, the instructions cause one or more social network services not to be provided for the second subscriber.

9. A method for providing a social networking service (SNS) by a television service provider (TSP), the method comprising:

receiving a communication from a first subscriber of the SNS, wherein the communication includes search parameters to be used to perform a correlation of program ratings of the first subscriber and a plurality of other subscribers of the SNS;

correlating the program ratings of the first subscriber with the program ratings of the plurality of other subscribers of the SNS using the search parameters included in the communication received from the first subscriber;

generating a candidate member list for the first subscriber;

wherein the candidate member list comprises information of a subset of the plurality of other subscribers, and the subset of the plurality of other subscribers is based on the correlation of the program ratings; and

transmitting the candidate member list to at least one transmitter-receiver (TR) associated with the first subscriber.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the communication received from the first subscriber includes instructions for the SNS to reserve a part of a non-transitory storage media for storage of a social network associated to the first subscriber, and to perform social network hosting services.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the program ratings of the first subscriber are organized according to categories selected by the first subscriber.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the search parameters used for the correlation of the program ratings of the first subscriber with the program ratings of the plurality of other subscribers include restricting the correlation to within one or more categories of the program ratings of the first subscriber.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein responsive to the TSP receiving an invitee member list from at least one TR of the first subscriber, transmitting by the TSP an invite-to-join message to at least one TR associated with a second subscriber on the invitee member list.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein responsive to the TSP receiving an accept message from at least one TR associated with the second subscriber, adding information about the second subscriber to a network member list in the social network of the first subscriber and providing social network services pertaining to the social network of the first subscriber for the second subscriber.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein upon reception by the TSP of a rejection message from at least one TR associated with the second subscriber, not providing one or more social network services for the second subscriber.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein upon not receiving by the TSP a response message from at least one TR associated with the second subscriber, not providing one or more social network services for the second subscriber.

17. A computer program product embodied on a computer-readable medium and comprising code that, when executed, causes one or more processors of a television service provider (TSP) to:

provide a social networking service (SNS) to subscribers;

receive a communication from a first subscriber of the SNS comprising search parameters to be used to perform a correlation of program ratings of the first subscriber and a plurality of other subscribers of the SNS;

correlate the program ratings of the first subscriber with the program ratings of the plurality of other subscribers of the SNS using the search parameters included in the communication received from the first subscriber;

generate a candidate member list for the first subscriber comprising information of a subset of the plurality of other subscribers, wherein the subset of the plurality of other subscribers is based on the correlation of the program ratings; and

transmit the candidate member list to at least one transmitter-receiver associated with the first subscriber.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the code further comprises instructions that when executed cause the SNS to reserve part of a non-transitory storage media for storage of a social network associated to the first subscriber, and to perform social network hosting services.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein responsive to the TSP receiving an invitee member list from at least one TR of the first subscriber, the code causes an invite-to-join message to be transmitted to at least one TR associated with a second subscriber on the invitee member list.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein upon reception by the TSP of an accept message from the at least one TR associated with the second subscriber, the code causes the information about the second subscriber to be added to a network member list in the social network of the first subscriber and social networking services pertaining to the social network of the first subscriber to be provided to the second subscriber.