METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CUSTOMIZING TELEVISION CONTENT

• US 20160212464A1
• Filed: 01/15/2016
• Published: 07/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Multimedia Technologies Pte. Ltd. (Transpacific IP Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Flextronics America LLC (Flextronics International Limited)
• Inventors: Ricci, Christopher P.
• Application Number:
  US14/996,971
• Publication Number:
  US 20160212464A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/237 Communication with additional data server
• 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 21/2541 Rights Management protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10; 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 21/25875 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 21/25891 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 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 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 21/44218 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4756 for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4758 for providing answers, e.g. voting

Abstract

An intelligent television is provided that can collect viewer information for use by a rating service.

Claims

1-9. -9. (canceled)

10. A method, comprising:

determining that a viewer has failed to comply with at least one contractual restriction and/or requirement previously agreed to by the viewer, the agreement being in exchange for a discounted price on an intelligent television and/or software to be executed by the intelligent television; and

at least partially disabling the intelligent television and/or software until the viewer complies with the at least one contractual restriction and/or requirement.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining step is performed during provisioning of the intelligent television and/or software installation.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining step is based on records of a database, the records indicating one or more of a serial number associated with the intelligent television and an identification of the viewer purchaser, and wherein the at least one contractual restriction and/or requirement requires the viewer to provide a credential associated with one or more computational devices networked to the intelligent television and/or permission to collect viewer information from one or more of the intelligent television and one or more computational devices.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the viewer has failed to comply with at least one contractual restriction and/or requirement previously agreed to by the viewer and wherein a feature and/or operation of the intelligent television and/or software is disabled while at least one other feature and/or operation is enabled.

14. An intelligent television for performing the steps of claim 10.

15. A tangible and non-transient computer readable medium comprising microprocessor instructions that, when executed by the microprocessor, perform the steps of claim 10.

18. An intelligent television for performing the steps of claim 10.

19. A tangible and non-transient computer readable medium comprising microprocessor instructions that, when executed by the microprocessor, perform the steps of claim 10.

16. A method, comprising:

determining, by a microprocessor executable configuration module associated with an intelligent television, an identity of a viewer; and

determining, by a microprocessor executable configuration module, automatically based on the identity of the viewer one or more of a displayed configuration of one or more graphical identifiers presented to the viewer, which buttons and/or icons are presented to the viewer, which buttons and/or icons are not presented to the viewer, and a configuration of an on-screen directory containing programming and/or other content selectable by the viewer.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the configuration module determines the viewer identity based on one or more of receipt of identification information from the viewer, from an image of the viewer, from a voice of the viewer, from a retina of the viewer, from a finger print of the viewer, and an identity of a computational device used to control one or more intelligent television features and/or operations.

20. A method, comprising:

receiving, at an input, plural sets of collected viewer information from multiple different households, the collected viewer information comprising tags and associated viewer information;

based on the tags, organizing, by a microprocessor, the associated viewer information; and

applying, by the microprocessor to the organized viewer information, one or more audience measurement algorithms, to determine a popularity of selected content, wherein the viewer information from a selected household is time stamped information relating to a plurality of television programming viewed by the viewer, media and/or multimedia content accessed from a content distributor by a viewer in the selected household other than a television network service, internet browsing history of the viewer, a Web site visited by the viewer, an application accessed and/or loaded by the viewer, a frequency of application usage, a number and/or type of one or more computational devices in the selected household, name of the viewer in the selected household, a characteristic of the viewer, an interest of the viewer, and a socioeconomic status of the viewer.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the one or more computational devices comprises one or more of a cellular phone, tablet computer, laptop, personal computer, personal digital assistant, another television, and e-reader and further comprising:

removing, by the microprocessor, duplicated viewer information, the duplicated viewer information being associated with a common household.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the popularity is a rating and wherein the organizing step comprises identifying and grouping, for common content, different modalities of viewing the content.

23. A computational system for performing the steps of claim 20.

24. A tangible and non-transient computer readable medium comprising microprocessor executable instructions that, when executed, perform the steps of claim 20.