Broadcasting system and reception apparatus

• US 7,908,619 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2000
• Issued: 03/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Oishi, Hiroaki, Yano, Hajime, Kanota, Keiji, Yokota, Junichi, Fujino, Toyomi, Yoshida, Tadao
• Primary Examiner(s): Shang; Annan Q
• Application Number:
  US09/726,867
• Publication Number:
  US 20010049822A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,757 Days
• Field of Search: 725/28, 725 34- 35, 725 44- 61, 725131-134, 725139-142, 725/88, 386/1, 386/83, 386/45, 386/46, 386/125, 386/126
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2353 specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• 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 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

A broadcasting system 1 provides a digital content to be broadcast with an attribute vector A thereof. A filter 12 is assigned with a selection vector S indicating user'"'"'s taste. The filter 12 performs a standardized inner product operation between the selection vector S and the attribute vector A for selecting and recording broadcast programs.
A=(a₁, a₂, a₃, . . . , a_n)
S=(s₁, s₂, s₃, . . . , s_n)

$P=\frac{A·S}{AS}$

Claims

1. A broadcasting system comprising:

a broadcasting station for broadcasting digital contents and attribute information indicating an attribute thereof and an electronic program guide (EPG); and

a plurality of reception apparatuses having;

reception means for receiving said digital contents and said attribute information broadcast from the broadcasting station,

output means for outputting the received digital contents, and

selection means for allowing a user to select the digital contents via a filtering process by comparing selection information indicating user preferences with attribute information assigned to the digital contents,

said selection information is expressed with an n-dimensional vector S comprising user preference items as elements,

wherein each element identifies a preference intensity,

wherein an element of vector S identifies a positive value as a preference intensity when the user has demonstrated a positive preference for the element and indentifies a negative value as a preference intensity when the user has demonstrated a negative preference for the element, and

wherein said plurality of reception apparatuses include a selection means for;

(1) performing a calculation between a vector A related to the attribute information and the vector S; and

(2) determining whether to select the digital content based on the result of the calculation,

wherein Vector S is generated by using Vector A for a program which is reproduced for a specified period of time or longer, and

wherein Vector S is generated by changing a weighting factor for a reserved program and a realtime reproduced program.

2. A reception apparatus comprising:

reception means for receiving digital contents and attribute information transmitted from a content provider;

output means for outputting the received digital content; and

selection means for allowing a user to select the digital contents via a filtering process by comparing selection information indicating user preferences with attribute information related to the digital content,

said selection information is expressed with an n-dimensional vector S comprising user preference items as elements,

wherein each element identifies a preference intensity,

wherein an element of vector S identifies a positive value as a preference intensity when the user has demonstrated a positive preference for the element and indentifies a negative value as a preference intensity when the user has demonstrated a negative preference for the element, and

wherein said selection means performs a calculation between a vector A related to the attribute information and the vector S, and determines whether to select the digital content based on the result of the calculation

wherein Vector S is generated by using Vector A for a program which is reproduced for a specified period of time or longer, and

wherein Vector S is generated by changing a weighting factor for a reserved program and a realtime reproduced program.

3. The reception apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said selection means finds a selection value P based on the following equation and selects the digital content based on a size of the selection value P as follows:

A=(a1, a2, a3, . . . , an)

S=(s1, s2, s3, . . . , sn)

4. The reception apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said selection information'"'"'s vector S is found from a vector A of attribute information attached to a plurality of digital contents selected by the user.

5. The reception apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said selection information'"'"'s vector S is found according to the following equation:

6. The reception apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said selection information'"'"'s vector S is found according to the following equation:

7. The reception apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said selection information'"'"'s vector S is found by averaging vectors A for attribute information attached to the plurality of digital contents reproduced by the user for a specified time.

8. The reception apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said selection information'"'"'s vector S is found by averaging vectors A for attribute information attached to the plurality of digital contents reserved by the user.

9. The reception apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said selection information'"'"'s vector S is found by averaging vectors A for attribute information attached to the plurality of digital contents reproduced by the user for a specified time, averaging vectors A for attribute information attached to the plurality of digital contents reserved by the user, assigning a weight to each average, and combining the weights.

10. The reception apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said selection means selects the digital content based on a vector S of the selection information corresponding to a plurality of users.

11. A reception method comprising:

receiving digital contents and attribute information transmitted from a content provider;

outputting the received digital content;

allowing a user to select the digital contents via a filtering process by comparing selection information indicating user preferences with attribute information related to the digital content;

expressing the selection information with an n-dimensional vector S comprising user preference items as elements,

identifying a preference intensity for each element

wherein an element of vector S identifies a positive value as a preference intensity when the user has demonstrated a positive preference for the element and indentifies a negative value as a preference intensity when the user has demonstrated a negative preference for the element, and

performing a calculation between a vector A related to the attribute information and the vector S; and

determining, based on calculation, whether to select the digital content,

wherein Vector S is generated by using Vector A for a program which is reproduced for a specified period of time or longer, and

wherein Vector S is generated by changing a weighting factor for a reserved program and a realtime reproduced program.