WATCH NEXT SERVICE

• US 20160066040A1
• Filed: 08/29/2014
• Published: 03/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: WEBSTER, Christopher, HABLISTON, Christopher, NEKRESTYANOV, Igor
• Granted Patent: US 9,380,343 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• 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 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• 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 21/4532 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 21/4586 Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• 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 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies

Abstract

A device receives, from a media client, information associated with an event. The device identifies a user profile, associated with the event, including a tracking list which identifies one or more tracked series and a last watched list which identifies one or more last watched episodes associated with one or more watched series. The device determines a next available episode, associated with one of the one or more tracked series, based on the user profile, the information received from the media client, and content metadata which includes information associated with one or more available episodes associated with one or more available series. The device sends a suggestion identifying the next available episode to the media client for presentation to a user associated with the media client.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

one or more processors to;

receive, from a media client, information associated with an event;

identify a user profile, including a tracking list and a last watched list, associated with the event,

the tracking list identifying one or more tracked series,

the last watched list identifying one or more last watched episodes associated with one or more watched series;

determine a suggested episode, associated with one of the one or more tracked series and one of the one or more last watched episodes, based on the information received from the media client and content metadata,

the content metadata including information associated with one or more available episodes associated with one or more available series,

the suggested episode being determined based on satisfying an availability threshold, based on satisfying a ranking threshold, and based on an association between the suggested episode and the event,

the availability threshold indicating that the suggested episode is available to be watched within a particular time period,

the ranking threshold indicating that the one of the one or more tracked series, associated with the suggested episode, satisfies a particular ranking; and

send a suggestion identifying the suggested episode to the media client for presentation to a user associated with the media client.

2. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors are further to:

determine, based on the information received from the media client, if the event is associated with a watched episode; and

based on determining that the event is associated with a watched episode;

identify a watched series, from the one or more watched series, associated with the watched episode; and

update a watch history, associated with the watched series and included in the user profile, with the watched episode.

3. The device of claim 2, where the one or more processors, when determining that the event is associated with the watched episode, are to:

determine if the watched episode is more recent than a last watched episode, from the one or more last watched episodes, associated with the watched series and identified in the last watched list; and

update the last watched list with the watched episode based on determining that the watched episode is more recent than the last watched episode.

4. The device of claim 2, where the one or more processors, when determining that the event is associated with the watched episode, are to:

determine if a quantity of episodes, associated with the watched series and identified in the watch history, satisfies a threshold; and

add the watched series to the tracking list based on determining that the quantity of episodes satisfies the threshold.

5. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors, when determining the suggested episode, are to:

identify a tracked series from the one or more tracked series identified in the tracking list;

identify a last watched episode, associated with the tracked series, from the one or more last watched episodes identified in the last watched list; and

determine the suggested episode, more recent than the last watched episode, associated with the tracked series.

6. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors, when determining the suggested episode, are to:

identify a tracked series from the one or more tracked series identified in the tracking list;

identify subscription information, from the user profile, associated with one or more next episodes of the tracked series;

identify availability information, from the content metadata, associated with the one or more next episodes of the tracked series; and

determine the suggested episode, from the one or more next episodes, based on the subscription information and the availability information.

7. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors are further to:

receive the content metadata from a first device; and

receive the user profile from a second device,

the first device being different from the second device.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

receive, from a media client, a request

the request including information associated with an event;

identify a tracked series, from a tracking list, associated with the request,

the tracked series including a plurality of episodes;

identify a last watched episode, associated with the tracked series, from a last watched list identifying one or more last watched episodes associated with the media client;

identify content metadata associated with the tracked series,

the content metadata identifying an availability of one or more of the plurality of episodes associated with the tracked series;

determine, based on the last watched episode and the availability identified in the content metadata, a suggested episode, more recent than the last watched episode, associated with the tracked series,

the suggested episode being determined based on satisfying an availability threshold, based on satisfying a ranking threshold, and based on an association between the suggested episode and the event,

the availability threshold indicating that the suggested episode is available to be watched within a particular time period,

the ranking threshold indicating that the tracked series, associated with the suggested episode, satisfies a particular ranking; and

send, to the media client, a response identifying the suggested episode.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to identify the tracked series, cause the one or more processors to:

determine that the request is associated with the media client completing a watched episode;

identify a watched series associated with the watched episode;

determine whether a quantity of episodes, associated with the watched series and identified in a watch history, satisfies a threshold; and

add the watched series to the tracking list based on the quantity of episodes satisfying the threshold, the tracked series being the watched series added to the tracking list.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to identify the tracked series, cause the one or more processors to:

identify the tracked series based on determining that a ranking, associated with the tracked series, satisfies a threshold.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to identify the tracked series, cause the one or more processors to:

determine whether a ranking, associated with one of a plurality of series identified in the tracking list, satisfies the ranking threshold; and

identify the one of the plurality of series as the tracked series based on determining that the ranking satisfies the ranking threshold.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to determine the suggested episode, cause the one or more processors to:

identify, based on the content metadata, a next episode associated with the tracked series;

identify a content provider associated with both the next episode and the media client; and

determine the suggested episode based on identifying the content provider associated with both the next episode and the media client.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

receive another request that identifies a to-be-removed series; and

remove the to-be-removed series from the tracking list based on determining that the other request identifies the to-be-removed series.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

receive another request that identifies a to-be-added series; and

add the to-be-added series to the tracking list based on determining that the other request identifies the to-be-added series.

15. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a device, a request, associated with a visual or audio series, from a media client,

the request including information associated with an event;

determining, by the device, whether the request identifies completion, by the media client, of a segment of the visual or audio series;

updating, by the device, a first list identifying one or more completed segments associated with the media client, based on determining that the request identifies completion of the segment;

determining, by the device, whether the request is associated with modifying a tracking status associated with the visual or audio series;

updating, by the device, a second list identifying one or more tracked series associated with the media client, based on determining that the request is associated with modifying a tracking status associated with the visual or audio series,

the visual or audio series including a plurality of segments;

identifying, by the device, a last watched segment, associated with the visual or audio series, from the first list;

identifying, by the device, content metadata associated with the visual or audio series,

the content metadata identifying an availability of one or more of the plurality of segments associated with the visual or audio series;

determining, by the device and based on the last watched segment and the availability identified in the content metadata, a suggested segment, more recent than the last watched segment, associated with the visual or audio series,

the suggested segment being determined based on satisfying an availability threshold, based on satisfying a ranking threshold, and based on an association between the suggested segment and the event,

the availability threshold indicating that the suggested segment is available to be watched watch within a particular time period,

the ranking threshold indicating that the visual or audio series, associated with the suggested segment, satisfies a particular ranking; and

sending, by the device and to the media client, a response identifying the suggested segment.

16. The method of claim 15, where sending the response to the media client comprises:

determining whether the segment is more recent than a completed segment, associated with the visual or audio series, identified in a third list associated with the media client, based on determining that the request identifies completion of the segment;

updating the third list to identify the segment as the completed segment based on determining that the segment is more recent; and

sending the response to the media client identifying the suggested segment based on the third list.

17. The method of claim 15, where determining whether the request identifies completion of the segment comprises:

determining a completion level of the segment based on information included in the request;

determining whether the completion level satisfies a threshold; and

determining that the request identifies completion of the segment based on determining that the completion level satisfies the threshold.

18. The method of claim 15, where determining whether the request is associated with modifying the tracking status associated with the visual or audio series comprises:

determining a quantity of segments, associated with the visual or audio series, identified in the first list;

determining whether the quantity satisfies a threshold; and

determining that the request is associated with modifying the tracking status associated with the visual or audio series based on determining that the quantity satisfies the threshold.

19. The method of claim 18, where updating the second list comprises:

updating a ranking, included in the second list, associated with the visual or audio series based on determining that the quantity satisfies the threshold.

20. The method of claim 18, where updating the second list comprises:

updating the second list to identify the visual or audio series.