Client-server based subscriber characterization system

• US 6,457,010 B1
• Filed: 12/03/1998
• Issued: 09/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E, LLC
• Original Assignee: Expanse Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Eldering, Charles A., Sylla, M. Lamine
• Primary Examiner(s): Metjahic, Safet
• Assistant Examiner(s): LE, UYEN T
• Application Number:
  US09/205,653
• Time in Patent Office: 1,391 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 707/10, 707/1, 707/2, 345/327, 348/10, 725/10, 725/14, 705/14
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A subscriber characterization system is presented in which the subscriber'"'"'s requests are transmitted to a server which fulfills those requests and performs monitoring of the subscriber requests for subsequent characterization of the subscriber. Monitoring includes maintaining records of the time duration programming is watched, the volume at which the programming is listened to, and any available information regarding the type of programming, including category and sub-category of the programming. The characterization system works across a network to extract textual information related to the programming from closed captioning data, electronic program guides, or other text sources associated with the programming. The extracted information is used to form program characteristics vectors. The programming characteristics vectors can be used in combination with the subscriber selection data to form a subscriber profile. Heuristic rules indicating the relationships between programming choices and demographics can be applied to generate additional probabilistic information regarding demographics and programming and product interests. The probabilistic information can be accessed at the server by other entities on the network.

Claims

1. A method for generating a subscriber profile, the method comprising:

monitoring subscriber interactions with a television;

processing the subscriber interactions to generate viewing characteristics that identify viewing traits associated with the subscriber;

retrieving heuristic rules associated with the viewing characteristics, wherein the heuristic rules predict traits about the subscriber not related to the viewing characteristics; and

generating the subscriber profile by applying the heuristic rules to the viewing characteristics.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the subscriber profile.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the heuristic rules are probabilistic in nature.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber profile is probabilistic in nature.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the heuristic rules predict demographic traits about the subscriber.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber profile identifies demographic traits of the subscriber.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the heuristic rules predict product interest traits about the subscriber.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber profile identifies product interest traits of the subscriber.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said monitoring includes monitoring at least some subset of channel changes, volume changes, record commands, and associated time.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said processing includes aggregating the subscriber interactions to generate the viewing characteristics.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said aggregating includes aggregating the subscriber interactions for a single viewing session to generate session viewing characteristics that identify viewing traits associated with the subscriber for that viewing session.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein

said retrieving includes retrieving heuristic rules associated with the session viewing characteristics; and

said generating includes generating a session subscriber profile by applying the heuristic rules to the session viewing characteristics.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said aggregating includes aggregating the subscriber interactions for multiple viewing sessions to generate average viewing characteristics that identify viewing traits associated with the subscriber for the multiple viewing sessions.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein

said retrieving includes retrieving heuristic rules associated with the average viewing characteristics;

and

said generating includes generating an average subscriber profile by applying the heuristic rules to the average viewing characteristics.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the viewing characteristics do not identify raw subscriber interaction data.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the viewing characteristics include at least some subset of

viewing time per channel, category, and network;

channel changes per time period;

average volume per time period, channel, category, and network; and

dwell time per channel, category, and network.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving source related information corresponding to requested source material, wherein the source related information includes at least some subset of title, category, subcategory, description, rating, and content.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said processing includes processing the subscriber interactions with respect to the source related information.

19. A method for generating a subscriber profile for a subscriber, the method comprising:

monitoring subscriber viewing activities including requests for source material;

retrieving source related information corresponding to requested source material, wherein the source related information includes descriptions of at least one aspect of the requested source material;

creating a first representation of the subscriber based on the subscriber viewing activities and the source related information;

retrieving a set of rules associated with at least a subset of information contained in the subscriber viewing activities and the source related information, wherein the set of rules relates at least one aspect of the subscriber viewing activities or at least one aspect of the source related information to at least one non-viewing parameter; and

processing the subscriber viewing activities with respect to the source related information and the set of rules to generate the subscriber profile, wherein the subscriber profile defines at least a second representation of the subscriber.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the set of rules define probabilities associated with the at least one non-viewing parameter and the subscriber profile is probabilistic in nature.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein at least one of the at least one non-viewing parameters is a demographic parameter and the subscriber profile defines at least a demographic representation of the subscriber.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein at least one of the at least one non-viewing parameters is a product interest parameter and the subscriber profile defines at least a product interest representation of the subscriber.

23. A method for generating a subscriber profile for a subscriber, the method comprising:

monitoring subscriber television viewing activities;

retrieving source related information corresponding to requested source material, wherein the source related information includes at least one description of the requested source material;

creating viewing characteristics based on the subscriber viewing activities and the source related information, wherein the viewing characteristics define a first representation of the subscriber;

retrieving a set of rules associated with at least some subset of the viewing characteristics, wherein the set of rules defines at least one aspect of the subscriber not defined in the viewing characteristics; and

generating the subscriber profile by applying the set of rules to the viewing characteristics, wherein the subscriber profile defines a second representation of the subscriber.

24. A system for generating a subscriber profile, the system comprising:

means for monitoring subscriber interactions with a television;

means for processing the subscriber interactions to generate viewing characteristics that identify viewing traits associated with the subscriber;

means for retrieving heuristic rules associated with the viewing characteristics, wherein the heuristic rules predict traits about the subscriber not related to the viewing characteristics; and

means for generating the subscriber profile by applying the heuristic rules to the viewing characteristics.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein said means for processing aggregates the subscriber interactions to generate the viewing characteristics.

26. The system of claim 24, further comprising means for retrieving source related information corresponding to requested source material, wherein the source related information includes descriptions of at least one aspect of the requested source material.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said means for processing processes the subscriber interactions with respect to the source related information.

28. A system for generating a subscriber profile for a subscriber, the method comprising:

means for monitoring subscriber viewing activities including requests for source material;

means for retrieving source related information corresponding to requested source material, wherein the source related information describes at least one aspect of the requested source material;

means for creating viewing characteristics based on the subscriber viewing activities and the source related information, wherein the viewing characteristics define a first representation of the subscriber;

means for retrieving a set of rules associated with at least some subset of the viewing characteristics, wherein the set of rules defines at least one aspect of the subscriber not defined in the viewing characteristics; and

means for generating the subscriber profile by applying the set of rules to the viewing characteristics, wherein the subscriber profile defines a second representation of the subscriber.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein

said means for retrieving a set of rules retrieves a set of rules that define probabilities associated with the at least one aspect of the subscriber; and

said means for generating the subscriber profile generates the subscriber profile as a probabilistic determination of the at least one aspect of the subscriber not defined in the viewing characteristics.

30. The system claim 28, wherein

said means for retrieving a set of rules retrieves a set of rules that define demographic parameters of the subscriber;

and

said means for generating the subscriber profile generates the subscriber profile as a demographic representation of the subscriber.

31. The system claim 28, wherein

said means for retrieving a set of rules retrieves a set of rules that define product interests of the subscriber;

and

said means for generating the subscriber profile generates the subscriber profile identifying product interests of the subscriber.

32. A method for generating a subscriber profile, the method comprising:

monitoring subscriber interactions with a television;

processing the subscriber interactions in order to characterize interaction traits associated with the subscriber;

retrieving heuristic rules associated with the interaction traits, wherein the heuristic rules predict non-interaction traits about the subscriber, the non-interaction traits not being limited to child/adult distinctions; and

generating the subscriber profile by applying the heuristic rules to the interaction traits.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein said generating the subscriber profile includes generating the subscriber profile having at least one non-interaction trait that is not child/adult distinction related.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the non-interaction traits are demographic traits.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the heuristic rules associate the interaction traits to the non-interaction traits.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein interaction traits to non-interaction traits associations include at least some subset of

channel change speed to gender, income level or a combination thereof;

programs is to gender, work status, or a combination thereof; and

program categories, program sub-categories, program content or some combination thereof to gender, age, income level, family size, or some combination thereof.

37. The method of claim 32, wherein the heuristic rules assign probabilities for the subscriber having certain non-interaction traits associated therewith.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the non-interaction traits having probabilities assigned thereto include at least some subset of age, income, family size and gender.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein each of the non-interaction traits are divided into categories and each category is assigned a probability.

40. The method of claim 32, wherein the subscriber profile assigns probabilities associated with the subscriber having certain non-interaction traits.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the each of the non-interaction traits of the subscriber profile are divided into subcategories and each category is assigned a probability.

42. The method of claim 32, wherein the non-interaction traits are product interests.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the product interests are not limited to products associated with children and products associated with adults.

44. The method of claim 32, wherein the subscriber profile may represent a single subscriber or a household of subscribers.

45. The method of claim 32, wherein the subscribers identity is not known.

46. A method for generating a subscriber profile, the method comprising:

processing subscriber interactions with a television in order to characterize interaction traits associated with the subscriber;

retrieving heuristic rules associated with the interaction traits, wherein the heuristic rules predict non-interaction trails about the subscriber; and

generating the subscriber profile by applying the heuristic rules to the interaction traits, wherein the subscriber profile is not limited to child adult distinctions, advertising associated with children or advertising associated with adults.

47. A method for generating a subscriber profile, the method comprising:

accessing interaction traits defining how a subscriber interacts with a television;

retrieving heuristic rules associated with the interaction traits, wherein the heuristic rules predict non-interaction traits about the subscriber, the non-interaction traits including at least some subset of gender, income level and family size; and

generating the subscriber profile by applying the heuristic rules to the interaction traits.

48. A method for generating a subscriber profile, the method comprising:

characterizing subscriber interactions with a television as interaction traits;

retrieving heuristic rules associated with the interaction traits, wherein the heuristic rules associate the interaction traits to non-interaction traits, the interaction traits to non-interaction traits associations including at least some subset of channel change speed to gender, channel change speed to income level, program genre to gender, program genre to income level and program genre to family size; and

generating the subscriber profile by applying the heuristic rules to the interaction traits.