Amalgamation of user data for geographical trending

• US 8,458,745 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2007
• Issued: 06/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DIRECTV, LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shanks, David E., Dean, Jon M., Feldstein, David E., Purpura, Richard F., Thompson, Matthew J., Shurgot, Mark A., Le, Craig
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, AN SON PHI
• Application Number:
  US11/707,496
• Publication Number:
  US 20070240180A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,300 Days
• Field of Search: 725/9, 725/14, 725/35, 725/40, 725/44, 725/46, 725/47, 725/59, 705/10
• US Class Current: 725/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/30 characterised by the use of a return channel, e.g. for collecting users' opinions, for returning broadcast space/time information or for requesting data
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/31 Arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/47 for recognising genres
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/52 of users
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 for using the result on users' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• 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 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• 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 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6143 involving transmission via a satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6187 involving transmission via a telephone network, e.g. POTS
• 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 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17345 Control of the passage of the selected programme

Abstract

The present invention comprises a viewership rating system presented on a monitor. A system in accordance with the present invention comprises a plurality of broadcast programs, each broadcast program in the plurality of broadcast programs given a rating, the rating based on a current viewership of the plurality of broadcast programs within a geographical area, and a control bar; displayed on the monitor, wherein a command displayed on the control bar selects a screen for display on the monitor, the screen comprising information related to at least one of the ratings of the plurality of broadcast programs.

Claims

1. A dynamic viewership rating system comprising:

a receiver, for receiving a plurality of broadcast programs and a rating for each broadcast program in the plurality of broadcast programs, the rating based on a current relative viewership share of the plurality of broadcast programs within a geographical area, wherein a smart card identification number is associated with the receiver;

an access center, coupled to the receiver, wherein the access center periodically receives viewership information from a plurality of receivers, wherein the viewership information comprises the smart card identification number associated with each of the plurality of receivers, channel number and a length of time each of the plurality of receivers has spent on a given channel, wherein the smart card identification number received in the viewership information is cross-referenced to a generalized geographical data point associated with each of the plurality of receivers, the smart card identification number is removed from the viewership information and is no longer accessible, the smart card identification number is replaced with the generalized geographical data point associated with each of the receivers by the access center to reports the current viewership;

the receiver displays, on a monitor, an interactive mosaic interface comprising a plurality of video cells and a control bar, each of the plurality of video cells comprises video programming content of a broadcast program and a channel identification, wherein a command displayed on the control bar selects a screen for display on the monitor via the receiver; and

the screen comprising a list of the plurality of broadcast programs, wherein the list is sorted based on the rating and the sorted list is updated based on a current viewership rating, the screen further comprising trend data for the at least one of the ratings wherein the trend data is transmitted with the plurality of broadcast programs.

2. The viewership rating system of claim 1, wherein the current viewership is determined by callback information gathered from a plurality of receivers that are receiving the broadcast programs.

3. The viewership rating system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of receivers are located in a second geographical area, the geographical area being a subset of the second geographical area.

4. The viewership rating system of claim 3, wherein the second geographical area is determined by zip code.

5. The viewership rating system of claim 3, wherein the second geographical area is determined by time zone.

6. The viewership rating system of claim 5, wherein a rating determined in a first time zone is used to predict a rating in a second time zone.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the receiver is further configured to:

receive a selection, on the screen, of one of the plurality of broadcast programs displayed in the list; and

in response to the selection, send the selected one of the plurality of broadcast programs to full screen on the monitor.

8. An apparatus for determining a dynamic viewership rating of a plurality of broadcast programs, comprising:

a broadcast delivery system, comprising a transmitter and a plurality of receivers, wherein a smart card identification number is associated with each of the plurality of receivers;

a feedback system, coupled to the plurality of receivers, for determining a rating of each of the plurality of broadcast programs, the rating based on a current relative viewership share of the plurality of broadcast programs within a geographical area, wherein;

the feedback system periodically receives viewership information from the plurality of receivers;

the viewership information comprises the smart card identification number associated with each of the plurality of receivers, channel number and a length of time each of the plurality of receivers has spent on a given channel;

the smart card identification number received in the viewership information is cross-referenced to a generalized geographical data point associated with each of the plurality of receivers;

the smart card identification number is removed from the viewership information and is no longer accessible;

the smart card identification number is replaced with the generalized geographical data point associated with each of the receivers by the feedback system to reports the current viewership; and

wherein;

a first receiver selectively displays, on a monitor, an interactive mosaic interface comprising a plurality of video cells and a control bar;

each of the plurality of video cells comprises video programming content of a broadcast program and a channel identification;

a command displayed on the control bar selects a screen for display on the monitor via the first receiver;

the screen comprises a list of the plurality of broadcast programs;

the list of the plurality of broadcast programs is sorted based on the rating;

the sorted list is updated based on a current viewership rating; and

the screen further comprises trend data for at least one of the ratings wherein the trend data is transmitted with the plurality of broadcast programs.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a control bar, displayed on the monitor, wherein a command displayed on the control bar selects a screen for display on the monitor, the screen comprising information related to at least one of the ratings of the plurality of broadcast programs.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the broadcast delivery system is a satellite television delivery system.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the information comprises a trend statistic for each of the plurality of broadcast programs.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the statistics further comprise an indication of a number of other viewers that are viewing each of the plurality of broadcast programs.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the current viewership is determined by callback information gathered from a plurality of receivers that are receiving the broadcast programs.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the plurality of receivers are located in a second geographical area, the geographical area being a subset of the second geographical area.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the second geographical area is determined by zip code.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the second geographical area is determined by time zone.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein a rating determined in a first time zone is used to predict a rating in a second time zone.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the feedback system is a telephone callback system.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the statistics are accessed by a selection of a remote control command button.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the plurality of broadcast channels are presented by genre.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the selection of the remote control button reaches a different default genre based on a channel being viewed when the selection of the remote control button is made.

22. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the receiver is further configured to:

receive a selection of one of the plurality of broadcast programs displayed in the list; and

in response to the selection, send the selected one of the plurality of broadcast programs to full screen on the monitor.