Automated selective programming guide

• US 5,758,259 A
• Filed: 03/11/1997
• Issued: 05/26/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lawler, Frank A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Peng, John K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Flynn, Nathan J.
• Application Number:
  US08/828,814
• Time in Patent Office: 441 Days
• Field of Search: 346/6, 346/7, 346/12, 346/13, 346/906, 346/553, 346/563, 346/564, 346/569, 346/570
• US Class Current: 725/45
• 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 21/44222 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 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• 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 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/445 for displaying additional information H04N5/50 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

This method includes a method of identifying for a selected viewer a preferred program available from an interactive television or televideo (IT) system at a selected time. The IT system establishes for each viewer a database or table of viewer preferences representing the particular characteristics of programming previously delivered to the viewer. The IT system compares the particular characteristics in the viewer preference table to predetermined characteristics of video programming available at the selected time. The IT system determines for the video programming available at the selected time degrees of correlation to the predetermined characteristics in the viewer preference table. The IT system identifies as the preferred program the video programming available at the selected time having a greatest degree of correlation.

Claims

1. In an interactive televideo system having a central control node in bidirectional communication with plural viewer stations that include video display sets operably coupled to interactive station controllers, the central control node delivering programming over multiple channels to the plural viewer stations and receiving information from the interactive station controllers, a method of identifying for a selected viewer a preferred program available at a selected time, comprising:

identifying automatically predetermined content characteristics of programming delivered to the selected viewer;

identifying automatically predetermined content characteristics of programming available at the selected time;

classifying the programming delivered to the selected viewer within one of plural programming categories that each has associated with it plural predetermined content characteristics, the plural programming categories including at least a movie programming category, a series programming category, and a sports programming category corresponding to movie programming, series programming, and sports programming, respectively;

identifying the plural predetermined content characteristics associated with the programming category from a characteristic template corresponding to the programming category, the characteristic templates for the movie programming and series programming categories each including a name type for a name of a person associated with the respective movie and series programming and the characteristic template for the sports programming category including a name type for a name of a sporting entity associated with the sports programming;

determining degrees of correlation between the predetermined content characteristics of programming delivered to the selected viewer and the predetermined content characteristics of programming available at the selected time; and

identifying as the preferred program the programming available at the selected time having a greatest degree of correlation.

2. The method of claim 1 in which at least a selected one of the steps is computer-executed within the central control node.

3. The method of claim 2 in which plural steps are computer-executed within the central control node, including identifying predetermined content characteristics of programming available at the selected time and determining degrees of correlation between the predetermined content characteristics of programming delivered to the selected viewer and the predetermined content characteristics of programming available at the selected time.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising communicating to the selected viewer the preferred program available at the selected time.

16. The method of claim 1 in which the plural programming categories further include a news programming category corresponding to news programming, a characteristic template for the news programming category including a name type for a name of a person associated with the news programming.

17. The method of claim 1 in which the names types included in the characteristic templates of the movie programming and series programming categories include names of persons who are involved in producing the programming, but who do not appear in the programming.

18. The method of claim 1 in which the characteristic templates include genre and subgenre types listing respective programming genres and subgenres for characterizing the subject matter of the programming.

5. In an interactive televideo system having a central control node in bidirectional communication with plural viewer stations that include video display sets operably coupled to interactive station controllers, the central control node delivering programming over multiple channels to the plural viewer stations and receiving information from the interactive station controllers, a method of identifying predetermined characteristics of selected programming delivered to a selected viewer at a selected viewer station, comprising:

delivering selected programming to the selected viewer station;

identifying automatically predetermined content characteristics of programming delivered to the selected viewer station;

transmitting to the central control node from the interactive station controller of the selected viewer station a selected viewer identifier corresponding to the selected viewer; and

recording at the central control node the predetermined content characteristics of the selected programming delivered to the selected viewer;

classifying the programming delivered to the selected viewer within one of plural programming categories that each has associated with it selected ones of plural predetermined content characteristics;

identifying the selected ones of the predetermined content characteristics associated with the programming category from a characteristic template corresponding to the programming category, the characteristic template for each category including plural characteristic types representing plural content-related aspects of programming within the programming category; and

identifying the selected ones of the predetermined content characteristics of the programming delivered to the selected viewer.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

determining a viewing duration during which the selected programming is delivered to the selected viewer; and

recording at the central control node the predetermined content characteristics of the selected programming delivered to the selected viewer whenever the viewing duration exceeds a predetermined threshold viewing duration.

7. The method of claim 5 in which the plural programming categories include a movie programming category, a sports programming category, and a news programming category.

8. The method of claim 5 in which the predetermined programming content characteristics of selected characteristic templates include a names field listing names of persons who are involved in producing the programming, but who do not appear in the programming.

9. In an interactive televideo system having a central control node in bidirectional communication with plural viewer stations that include video display sets operably coupled to interactive station controllers, the central control node delivering programming over multiple channels to the plural viewer stations and receiving information from the interactive station controllers, a method of identifying predetermined content characteristics of selected programming delivered to a selected viewer at a selected viewer station, comprising:

storing programming data in a memory associated with the interactive televideo system, the programming data representing predetermined content characteristics of programming for delivery to the selected viewer station;

storing in the memory programming characteristic template data representing programming content characteristics of plural programming categories;

identifying programming delivered to the selected viewer;

associating automatically the programming delivered to the selected viewer with a corresponding programming category;

retrieving from the memory programming characteristic template data representing the programming content characteristics of the corresponding programming category; and

retrieving from the memory the programming data corresponding to the programming content characteristics represented by the programming characteristic template data for the programming delivered to the selected viewer.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising storing in the memory as viewer history data the programming data corresponding to the programming characteristics represented by the programming characteristic template data for the programming delivered to the selected viewer.

11. The method of claim 9 in which the memory resides in the central control node.

12. In an interactive televideo system having a central control node in bidirectional communication with plural viewer stations that include video display sets operably coupled to interactive station controllers, the central control node delivering programming over multiple channels to the plural viewer stations, including selected programming delivered to a selected viewer at a selected viewer station, and receiving information from the interactive station controllers, a memory associated with the central control node, comprising:

viewer history data stored in the memory and representing predetermined content characteristics of programming delivered to the selected viewer at the selected viewer station; and

programming classification data stored in the memory and representing programming category classifications of the programming delivered to the selected viewer at the selected viewer station, each classification having associated with it selected ones of plural predetermined content characteristics representing plural content-related aspects of the programming delivered to the selected viewer.

13. The memory of claim 12 in which the programming category classifications stored in the memory include a movie programming category, a sports programming category, and a news programming category.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising characteristic classification data stored in the memory and representing programming characteristic classifications of the predetermined characteristics of the programming delivered to the selected viewer at the selected viewer station.

15. The memory of claim 14 in which the characteristic classification data stored in the memory include at least one of a names category listing names of persons in the programming, a genre category listing programming genres, and a sports team category listing sports teams in the programming.