System and method for providing program recommendations through multimedia searching based on established viewer preferences

• US 8,712,218 B1
• Filed: 12/17/2002
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Begeja, Lee, Blewett, Charles Douglas, Gibbon, David Crawford, Liu, Zhu, Renger, Bernard S., Rosen, Kenneth H., Shahraray, Behzad
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUNN, MISHAWN N
• Application Number:
  US10/321,694
• Time in Patent Office: 4,151 Days
• Field of Search: 386/46, 386/124, 386/125, 386/126, 386/239, 386/248, 386/262, 386/291, 386/296, 386/297, 725 74-153, 725 44- 47, 725/53, 725 55- 61, 725/37, 725/40, 705/14.25, 707/999.001
• US Class Current: 386/262
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/11 by using information not detectable on the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• 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 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for processing viewer profiles and program metadata from a number of sources to provide viewing suggestions and recommendations to one or more viewers.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing, by a central program controller located in a network, a group profile based on a plurality of viewer user profiles, each of the plurality of viewer user profiles associated with a video recording device, each of the plurality of viewer user profiles based on reviewing a history of previously scheduled program recordings and user specified keywords and phrases, each of the plurality of viewer user profiles generated using a weighting algorithm that places more weight on the history of previously scheduled program recordings than the user specified keywords and phrases, the history of previously scheduled program recordings comprising identifiers for movie titles, names of actors, names of directors, and names of producers;

deriving metadata in real-time, by the central program controller, based on analysis of video and audio content of multimedia associated with a plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast according to a predefined broadcast schedule, the multimedia comprising a preview and a trailer for a program of the plurality of programs scheduled to be broadcast according to a predefined broadcast schedule, the analysis comprising speech recognition, text analysis, and scene analysis;

processing, by the central program controller, the metadata to select a particular program from the plurality of programs based on the group profile; and

transmitting a program recommendation over the network for the particular program to a video recording device associated with a viewer user profile of the plurality of viewer user profiles associated with the group profile,

wherein the deriving and processing are performed contemporaneously with a broadcasting of the particular program in a first geographic area, and

wherein the transmitting the program recommendation is to a video recording device located in a second geographic area prior to a broadcasting of the particular program in the second geographic area.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein deriving metadata, by the central controller, based on content of multimedia associated with a plurality of programs comprises accessing extended data service information associated with each of the plurality of programs.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein deriving metadata in real-time, by the central program controller, based on analysis of video and audio content of multimedia associated with the plurality of programs comprises reviewing introductory information associated with each of the plurality of programs.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein deriving metadata in real-time, by the central program controller, based on analysis of video and audio content of multimedia associated with the plurality of programs comprises reviewing closed captioning data associated with each of the plurality of programs.

5. A method for providing program recommendations, the method comprising:

deriving, at a central program controller located in a network, metadata in real-time based on analysis of video and audio content of multimedia associated with a plurality of program selections scheduled to be broadcast according to a predefined broadcast schedule, the multimedia comprising a preview and a trailer for a program of the plurality of program selections scheduled to be broadcast according to a predefined broadcast schedule, the analysis comprising speech recognition, text analysis, and scene analysis;

reviewing the metadata at the central program controller located in the network;

accessing, at the central program controller, a group profile based on a plurality of viewer user profiles, each of the plurality of viewer user profiles based on reviewing a history of previously scheduled program recordings and user specified keywords and phrases, each of the plurality of user viewer profiles generated using a weighting algorithm that places more weight on the history of previously scheduled program recordings than the user specified keywords and phrases, the history of previously scheduled program recordings comprising identifiers for movie titles, names of actors, names of directors, and names of producers;

selecting, based on the metadata, a particular program selection from the plurality of program selections which relates to the group profile; and

transmitting a program recommendation for the particular program selection via the network to a video recording device associated with a viewer user profile of the plurality of viewer user profiles associated with the group profile,

wherein the deriving and reviewing are performed contemporaneously with a broadcasting of the particular program selection in a first geographic area, and

wherein the transmitting the program recommendation is to a plurality of viewers in a second geographic area prior to a broadcasting of the particular program selection in the second geographic area.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the reviewing comprises reviewing a plurality of stored recordings.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein a particular viewer user profile is used to determine program selections for another viewer.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory to store computer program instructions, the computer program instructions when executed on the processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

deriving program metadata in real-time based on analysis of video and audio content of multimedia associated with a plurality of program selections scheduled to be broadcast according to a predefined schedule, the multimedia comprising a preview and a trailer for a program of the plurality of program selections scheduled to be broadcast, the analysis comprising speech recognitions, text analysis, and scene analysis;

reviewing the program metadata;

accessing and reviewing a group profile based on viewer profiles transmitted from a plurality of video recording devices, each of the viewer profiles based on reviewing a history of previously scheduled program recordings and user specified keywords and phrases, each of the viewer profiles generated using a weighting algorithm that places more weight on the history of previously scheduled program recordings than user specified keywords and phrases, the history of previously scheduled program recordings comprising identifiers for movie titles, names of actors, names of directors, and names of producers; and

selecting a particular program from the plurality of program selections scheduled to be broadcast based on the program metadata and the group profile,

wherein the deriving and reviewing program metadata are performed contemporaneously with a broadcasting of the particular program in a first geographic area, and

wherein the viewer provided with the recommendation is in a second geographic area and is provided with the recommendation prior to a broadcasting of the particular program in the second geographic area.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, the operations further comprising receiving information associated with future programming.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, the operations further comprising receiving program related information in real-time.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the selecting is further based on a weighting algorithm.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the selecting is further based on specific correlations between the viewer profiles and the program metadata.