Methods and systems for generating electronic program guides
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- collecting metadata that is associated with a particular piece of media content, wherein;
the metadata comprises content description metadata that describes the particular piece of media content;
the metadata does not comprise instance description metadata that indicates when or where the particular piece of media content is available; and
the metadata does not comprise the particular piece of media content itself;
generating composite metadata based on metadata from a plurality of metadata providers, wherein a first portion of the metadata comprises a first type of metadata and is collected from a first of the plurality of metadata providers and a second portion of metadata comprises a second type of metadata, different from the first type of metadata, and is collected from a second of the plurality of metadata providers;
calculating a program score for the particular pieces of media content according to a preference of a user, wherein calculating the program score on a user-by-user basis, wherein the program score is based on a significance file and at least one attribute score of the media content, the attribute score is determined by comparing a preferred attribute value designated in a user preference file with at least one attribute value of a content description file, wherein the preferred attribute value includes at least one preference value which indicates how much a particular user likes or dislikes a particular attribute value in a program, wherein the content description file is associated with the media content, wherein the user preference file is generated using information contained in at least a user viewing log, wherein the user viewing log includes at least a program attribute value, a program time, a list of media content watched by a viewer and media content listed for consumption;
optimizing the composite metadata based on a class designation of a client device and a user preference indicated by the client device,wherein the optimizing is configured to exclude metadata which is not useful to the client device because the client device lacks the resources to process and display the metadata and content associated with the metadata, andwherein the class designation comprises;
thin client, thick client and custom client, the class designation is indicated by the client or determined based on resources of the client for processing and displaying metadata and content associated with the metadata;
organizing the metadata into a content folder that is associated with the particular piece of media content; and
responsive to receiving the particular piece of media content, abstracting, by a client device, the particular piece of media content and the metadata of the content folder into an abstracted entity, wherein the abstracted entity is stored in a folder which is exchangeable over a network.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Various embodiments provide ways to collect, organize and process metadata associated with particular instances of media content. Metadata can be collected from a variety of metadata providers and organized in individual content folders that can be provided to various client devices. The client devices can process the content folders to provide an electronic program guide for its users. Methods and systems can also make use of user-specific data to evaluate various media content and then make recommendations as to which content a user would most likely wish to experience. Such user-specific data can comprise one or more user preference files that contain information associated with individual users, and one or more significance files that hold values, for individual users, that can be used to determine the significance of any matches found between the user preference files and media content.
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Citations
58 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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collecting metadata that is associated with a particular piece of media content, wherein; the metadata comprises content description metadata that describes the particular piece of media content; the metadata does not comprise instance description metadata that indicates when or where the particular piece of media content is available; and the metadata does not comprise the particular piece of media content itself; generating composite metadata based on metadata from a plurality of metadata providers, wherein a first portion of the metadata comprises a first type of metadata and is collected from a first of the plurality of metadata providers and a second portion of metadata comprises a second type of metadata, different from the first type of metadata, and is collected from a second of the plurality of metadata providers; calculating a program score for the particular pieces of media content according to a preference of a user, wherein calculating the program score on a user-by-user basis, wherein the program score is based on a significance file and at least one attribute score of the media content, the attribute score is determined by comparing a preferred attribute value designated in a user preference file with at least one attribute value of a content description file, wherein the preferred attribute value includes at least one preference value which indicates how much a particular user likes or dislikes a particular attribute value in a program, wherein the content description file is associated with the media content, wherein the user preference file is generated using information contained in at least a user viewing log, wherein the user viewing log includes at least a program attribute value, a program time, a list of media content watched by a viewer and media content listed for consumption; optimizing the composite metadata based on a class designation of a client device and a user preference indicated by the client device, wherein the optimizing is configured to exclude metadata which is not useful to the client device because the client device lacks the resources to process and display the metadata and content associated with the metadata, and wherein the class designation comprises;
thin client, thick client and custom client, the class designation is indicated by the client or determined based on resources of the client for processing and displaying metadata and content associated with the metadata;organizing the metadata into a content folder that is associated with the particular piece of media content; and responsive to receiving the particular piece of media content, abstracting, by a client device, the particular piece of media content and the metadata of the content folder into an abstracted entity, wherein the abstracted entity is stored in a folder which is exchangeable over a network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 57, 58)
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8. One or more server computers configured to implement a metadata collection method, the metadata collection method comprising:
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for each one of a plurality of individual pieces of media content; collecting multiple different types of metadata that is associated with the individual piece of media content, wherein; the metadata does not comprise the individual piece of media content itself; the metadata does not include data identifying when or where a particular instance of the individual piece of media content is scheduled to be available; and different portions of the metadata are collected from multiple different metadata providers; generating composite metadata based on metadata from the multiple different metadata providers; creating a content folder that is individually associated with the individual piece of media content; associating a unique identifier with the content folder, the unique identifier identifying the individual piece of media content, regardless of when or where the individual piece of media content may be made available to a consumer; responsive to receiving the individual piece of media content, abstracting, by a client device, the individual piece of media content and the composite metadata into an abstracted entity wherein the abstracted entity is stored in a folder which is exchangeable over a network; and storing the different portions of the metadata in the content folder, wherein the metadata comprises a plurality of individual files. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A method comprising:
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collecting metadata that is associated with media content, the metadata being configured for facilitating generation of an electronic program guide; calculating a program score for the media content according to a preference of a user, wherein calculating the program score on a user-by-user basis, wherein the program score is based on a significance file and at least one attribute score of the media content, the attribute score is determined by comparing a preferred attribute value designated in a user preference file with at least one attribute value of a content description file, wherein the preferred attribute value includes at least one preference value which indicates how much a particular user likes or dislikes a particular attribute value in a program, wherein the content description file is associated with the media content, wherein the user preference file is generated using information contained in at least a user viewing log, wherein the user viewing log includes at least a program attribute value, a program time, a list of media content watched by a viewer and media content listed for consumption; organizing the metadata into a content folder that is associated with the media content; wherein; the content folder does not comprise data that indicates when the media content is to be broadcast; the content folder does not comprise data that indicates a channel on which the media content is to be broadcast; the metadata does not comprise data that indicates when the media content is to be broadcast; the metadata does not comprise data that indicates a channel on which the media content is to be broadcast; and the metadata associated with a particular piece of the media content comprises a plurality of individual files; and abstracting, by a client device, the media content and the metadata of the content folder into an abstracted entity, wherein the abstracted entity is stored in a folder which is exchangeable over a network. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method comprising:
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generating a unique identifier; associating the unique identifier with a particular piece of media content that can be provided to any of a plurality of client devices; creating a content folder that is associated with the particular piece of media content; receiving a particular piece of media content and metadata associated with the particular piece of media content; incorporating the metadata into the content folder; responsive to receiving the particular piece of media content and metadata, abstracting, by a client device, the particular piece of media content and the metadata of the content folder into an abstracted entity, wherein the abstracted entity is stored in a folder which is exchangeable over a network; transmitting a first portion of the content folder to a first of the plurality of client devices; and transmitting a second portion of the content folder to a second of the plurality of client devices, wherein the second portion of the content folder is different than the first portion of the content folder. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. One or more server computers configured to implement a metadata collection process, the metadata collection process comprising:
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generating a unique identifier; associating the unique identifier with a particular piece of media content that can be provided to a client device; creating a content folder that is associated with the particular piece of media content; receiving metadata associated with the particular piece of media content; incorporating the metadata into the content folder; communicating with individual client devices to ascertain which metadata is of interest to particular client devices; optimizing the metadata based on a class designation of a particular client device and a user preference indicated by the particular client device, wherein the optimizing is configured to exclude metadata which is not useful to the particular client device because the particular client device lacks the resources to process and display the metadata and content associated with the metadata, and wherein the class designation comprises;
thin client, thick client and custom client, the class designation is indicated by the client or determined based on resources of the client for processing and displaying metadata and content associated with the metadata;abstracting the particular piece of media content and the metadata into an abstracted entity, wherein the abstracted entity is an abstract of the particular piece of media of media content with the metadata, wherein the abstracted entity is stored in a folder which is exchangeable over a network; and transmitting the abstracted entity that is of interest to the particular client devices. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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25. A method comprising:
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receiving multiple content folders, each content folder being associated with a particular piece of media content by virtue of a unique identifier that identifies the particular piece of media content, and each folder containing a collection of metadata that is associated with the particular piece of media content; responsive to receiving the multiple content folders and at least one particular piece of media content, abstracting, by a client device, the at least one particular piece of media content and the collection of metadata associated with the at least one particular piece of media into an abstracted entity, wherein the abstracted entity is stored in a folder which is exchangeable over a network; receiving a schedule file that describes when the particular pieces of media content are to be broadcast by providing an association between the unique identifier, a channel, a date, and a time, wherein the schedule file is distinct from the multiple content folders; using the content folders and the schedule file to construct an electronic program guide; and calculating a program score for the particular pieces of media content according to a preference of a user, wherein calculating the program score on a user-by-user basis, wherein the program score is based on a significance file and at least one attribute score of the media content, the attribute score is determined by comparing a preferred attribute value designated in a user preference file with at least one attribute value of a content description file, wherein the preferred attribute value includes at least one preference value which indicates how much a particular user likes or dislikes a particular attribute value in a program, wherein the content description file is associated with the media content, wherein the user preference file is generated using information contained in at least a user viewing log, wherein the user viewing log includes at least a program attribute value, a program time, a list of media content watched by a viewer and media content listed for consumption. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. One or more client devices configured to perform a method, the method comprising:
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receiving from one or more servers, multiple content folders, each content folder being associated with a particular piece of media content and containing a collection of metadata that is associated with the particular piece of media content, the content folder comprising an XML content description file that describes the particular piece of media content; receiving from a server, a schedule file that describes when the particular pieces of media content are to be broadcast, wherein the schedule file is independent of and distinct from the multiple content folders; calculating a program score for the particular pieces of media content according to a preference of a user, wherein calculating the program score on a user-by-user basis, wherein the program score is based on a significance file and at least one attribute score of the media content, the attribute score is determined by comparing a preferred attribute value designated in a user preference file with at least one attribute value of a content description file, wherein the preferred attribute value includes at least one preference value which indicates how much a particular user likes or dislikes a particular attribute value in a program, wherein the content description file is associated with the media content, wherein the user preference file is generated using information contained in at least a user viewing log, wherein the user viewing log includes at least a program attribute value, a program time, a list of media content watched by a viewer and media content listed for consumption; receiving a particular piece of media content; responsive to receiving the multiple content folders and at least one particular piece of media content, abstracting, by a client device, the at least one particular piece of media content and the collection of metadata associated with the at least one particular piece of media into an abstracted entity, wherein the abstracted entity is stored in a folder which is exchangeable over a network; and using the content folders, the schedule file, the program score, and one or more XML user preference files that describe a user'"'"'s preferences to construct an electronic program guide that is tailored to one or more users. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A method comprising:
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receiving multiple content folders, each content folder being associated with a particular piece of media content and containing a collection of metadata that is associated with the particular piece of media content; receiving a schedule file that describes when the particular pieces of media content are to be broadcast, wherein the schedule file is independent of and distinct from each of the multiple content folders; using the content folders and the schedule file to construct an electronic program guide; receiving media content that is associated with individual, previously-received content folders; and responsive to receiving the media content incorporating, by a client device, the media content into an associated content folder, wherein the incorporating includes abstracting the particular piece of media content and the metadata of the content folders into an abstracted entity wherein the abstracted entity is stored in a folder which is exchangeable over a network. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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Specification