SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROL OF MEDIA ACCESS BASED ON CROWD-SOURCED ACCESS CONTROL DATA AND USER-ATTRIBUTES

• US 20150249864A1
• Filed: 02/28/2014
• Published: 09/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ROVI Product Corporation (Xperi Inc.)
• Original Assignee: United Video Properties Incorporated (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Tang, Young A., Stathacopoulos, Paul T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,380,342 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2407 Monitoring of transmitted content, e.g. distribution time, number of downloads arrangements for monitoring programmes for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25875 involving end-user authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; arrangements for secret or secure communication including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• 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 21/44213 Monitoring of end-user related data arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44218 Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV program methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44236 Monitoring of piracy processes or activities protecting computer platforms against harmful, malicious or unexpected behaviour or activities using intrusion detection and counter measures G06F21/566; computer virus detection and handling G06F21/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; 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 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4661 Deriving a combined profile for a plurality of end-users of the same client, e.g. for family members within a home user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• 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 21/475 End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4753 for user identification, e.g. by entering a PIN or password cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08

Abstract

Systems and methods for controlling media access based on crowd-sourced access control data and user attributes are provided. Crowd-sourced data is received from several sources in order to determine what media assets consumers are accessing, and catalog attributes of the media assets and attributes of the accessing consumers. A user-attribute-based access control function, such as a parental control feature of an interactive media guide, uses this data to control access to media assets provided by the system. When a user attempts to access a media asset, the access control function determines whether the media asset has an attribute similar to assets accessed by other users having one or more user-attributes similar to those of the accessing user. If the media asset is not sufficiently similar to assets accessed by other sufficiently-similar users, access to the media asset will be blocked unless an appropriate access code is entered.

Claims

1. A method for providing crowd-sourced media access control, the method comprising:

receiving, at a user equipment device, a request from a user to access a media asset;

retrieving a media attribute associated with the media asset;

determining whether access to media assets associated with the media attribute was denied for a plurality of users; and

in response to determining that access were denied, denying access to the media asset for the user based on the determining

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving a user attribute associated with the user; and

wherein the plurality of users are associated with the retrieved user attribute.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the user attribute is an age, age group, gender, profession, citizenship, marital status, security level, or priority level.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the media attribute is a title, genre, media rating, content keyword, performer, or release date.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether access to media assets associated with the media attribute was denied comprises:

retrieving, from a database, data associated with the media attribute and the plurality of users; and

comparing the retrieved data with a threshold value to determine if access was denied for the plurality of users.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein denying access comprises:

retrieving access control threshold associated with the user;

generating a statistical representation of a fraction of the plurality of users for which access to the media assets was denied; and

comparing the access control threshold to the statistical representation, wherein access to the media asset is denied when the access control threshold matches the statistical representation.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the access control threshold is a percentage of a plurality of users for which access to the media assets was denied.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether access to the media assets was denied by a ratings-based access control.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining that access were not denied, generating for display the requested media asset.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein denying access to the media asset comprises generating for display a prompt for the user to enter a passcode.

11. A system for providing crowd-sourced media access control, the system comprising:

user input interface circuitry configured to;

receive a request from a user to access a media asset;

storage circuitry configured to;

store a media attribute associated with the media asset; and

processing circuitry configured to;

retrieve the media attribute;

determine whether access to media assets associated with the media attribute was denied for a plurality of users; and

in response to determining that access were denied, deny access to the media asset for the user based on the determination.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the storage circuitry is further configured to:

store a user attribute associated with the user; and

wherein the plurality of users is associated with the user attribute.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the user attribute is an age, age group, gender, profession, citizenship, marital status, security level, or priority level.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the media attribute is a title, genre, media rating, content keyword, performer, or release date.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

retrieve, from storage circuitry, data associated with the media attribute and the plurality of users; and

compare the retrieved data with a threshold value to determine if access was denied for the plurality of users.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

retrieve access control threshold associated with the user;

generate a statistical representation of a fraction of the plurality of users for which access to the media assets was denied; and

compare the access control threshold to the statistical representation, wherein access to the media asset is denied when the access control threshold matches the statistical representation.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the access control threshold is a percentage of a plurality of users for which access to the media assets was denied.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

determine whether access to the media assets was denied by a ratings-based access control.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

in response to determining that access were not denied, generate for display the requested media asset.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to generate for display a prompt for the user to enter a passcode.

21-50. -50. (canceled)