Methods, systems, and products for recommending social communities

• US 8,171,044 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2007
• Issued: 05/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Bls Intellectual Propety, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Daigle, Brian K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jalil, Neveen Abel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Young, Kevin L
• Application Number:
  US11/900,732
• Publication Number:
  US 20090077064A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,692 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104

Abstract

Methods, devices, and products are disclosed for recommending a social community. A “social community” may be any individual(s), clubs, and/or organizations that have expressed some affinity to terms or subject matter, such as a media identifier. The media identifier identifies some media that is scheduled for recording. A community database is queried for the media identifier, and the community database associates social communities to media identifiers. The social community associated with the media identifier is retrieved. The social community is then sent to a user.

Claims

1. A method for recommending a social community, comprising:

receiving a recording schedule at a server, the recording schedule having entries identifying content scheduled for recording by a user'"'"'s device, the recording schedule comprising a media identifier of the content to be recorded, a subject matter associated with the media identifier, a date and time of recording, and a channel from which the content may be retrieved;

discarding the date and time of recording and the channel from the recording schedule to leave only the media identifier of the content to be recorded;

extracting the media identifier from the recording schedule;

querying a community database that stores a table that maps social communities to different subject matters;

retrieving a listing of communities from the community database that is associated with the subject matter;

retrieving a website address for each social community in the listing of communities;

sending the website address to the user'"'"'s device;

receiving a minimum threshold rating for recommendations from a profile;

querying the social community for popular content that satisfies the minimum threshold rating;

retrieving a recommended media identifier that is recommended by the social community and that satisfies the minimum threshold rating;

creating a new entry in the recording schedule to record the popular content represented by the recommended media identifier;

tallying how many users are recording a media item;

querying a recording database for a popular media item scheduled for recording that satisfies the minimum threshold rating;

receiving a popular media identifier that corresponds to the popular media item and that satisfies the minimum threshold rating; and

creating another new entry in the recording schedule to record the popular media item identified by the popular media identifier.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising retrieving a domain name of the social community.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein retrieving the website address comprises retrieving a server address.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user identification associated with the recording schedule; and

querying a buddy database for the user identification.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising retrieving a buddy associated with the user identification.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a recording cancellation message indicating the content has been canceled for recording.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising retrieving a membership listing associated with the social community.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising sending an instruction to add the popular content to the recording schedule.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising removing an entry from the recording schedule.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

associating the media identifiers to media ratings in the community database;

querying the community database for a media rating; and

retrieving a list of media identifiers associated with the media rating.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising sending an instruction to the user'"'"'s device to add the list of media identifiers to the recording schedule.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising sending an instruction to the user device to download each media item listed in the list of media identifiers to populate the user'"'"'s device.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein when a response from the community database indicates that no community is associated with the subject matter, then prompting to create a new social community.

14. A system, comprising:

a processor;

memory; and

code stored in the memory that causes the processor at least to;

receive a recording schedule having entries identifying content scheduled for recording by a user'"'"'s device, the recording schedule comprising a media identifier of the content to be recorded, a subject matter associated with the media identifier, a date and time of recording, and a channel from which the content may be retrieved;

discard the date and time of recording and the channel from the recording schedule to leave only the media identifier of the content to be recorded;

extract the media identifier from the recording schedule;

query a community database that stores a table that maps social communities to different subject matters;

retrieve a listing of communities from the community database that is associated with the subject matter;

retrieve a website address for each social community in the listing of communities;

send the website address to the user'"'"'s device;

receive a minimum threshold rating for recommendations from a profile;

query a social community for popular content that satisfies the minimum threshold rating;

retrieve a recommended media identifier that is recommended by the social community and that satisfies the minimum threshold rating;

create a new entry in the recording schedule to record the popular content represented by the recommended media identifier;

tally how many users are recording a media item;

query a recording database for a popular media item scheduled for recording that satisfies the minimum threshold rating;

receive a popular media identifier that corresponds to the popular media item and that satisfies the minimum threshold rating; and

create another new entry in the recording schedule to record the popular media item identified by the popular media identifier.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the code further causes the processor to retrieve a server address associated with the social community.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein the code further causes the processor to:

query a buddy database for the user identification; and

retrieve a buddy'"'"'s user identification from the buddy database that is associated with the user identification.

17. The system according to claim 14, wherein the code further causes the processor to delete an entry from the recording schedule.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the code further causes the processor to query for a membership of the social community.

19. A computer readable non-transitory medium storing processor-executable code for performing a method of recommending a social community, the method comprising:

receiving a recording schedule at a server, the recording schedule having entries identifying content scheduled for recording by a user'"'"'s device, the recording schedule comprising a media identifier of the content to be recorded, a subject matter associated with the media identifier, a date and time of recording, and a channel from which the content may be retrieved;

discarding the date and time of recording and the channel from the recording schedule to leave only the media identifier of the content to be recorded;

extracting the media identifier from the recording schedule;

querying a community database that stores a table that maps social communities to different subject matters;

retrieving a listing of communities from the community database that is associated with the subject matter;

retrieving a website address for each social community in the listing of communities;

sending the website address to the user'"'"'s device;

receiving a minimum threshold rating for recommendations from a profile;

querying a social community for popular content that satisfies the minimum threshold rating;

retrieving a recommended media identifier that is recommended by the social community and that satisfies the minimum threshold rating;

creating a new entry in the recording schedule to record the popular content represented by the recommended media identifier;

tallying how many users are recording a media item;

querying a recording database for a popular media item scheduled for recording that satisfies the minimum threshold rating;

receiving a popular media identifier that corresponds to the popular media item and that satisfies the minimum threshold rating; and

creating another new entry in the recording schedule to record the popular media item identified by the popular media identifier.