Electronic program guide generation apparatus, systems, and methods

• US 9,055,260 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2007
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Miller, Kerry Philip
• Primary Examiner(s): FLYNN, RANDY A
• Application Number:
  US11/958,312
• Publication Number:
  US 20090158341A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,731 Days
• Field of Search: 725/9, 725/11, 725/14, 725 37- 61
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

Various embodiments determine electronic program guide information based on user viewing habits. One embodiment provides an electronic program guide generator that receives usage information that includes indications of a plurality of viewed channels, determines one or more channels of the plurality of viewed channels based on the received usage information, and provides indications of the determined one or more channels.

Claims

1. A method to determine electronic program guide information, the method comprising:

receiving, by a system for determining electronic program guide information, usage information of previous usage that includes indications of a plurality of video channels previously viewed via a set-top box operable to receive digital video programming via a broadcast network, the usage information including, for each of the plurality of video channels, one or more records, each record including a viewing time corresponding to the video channel and an identifier indicating whether the previous usage was by an identified user or an unknown user, wherein a value of the identifier is based on whether an identification of a user had occurred;

determining, by the system for determining electronic program guide information, one or more channels of the plurality of video channels based on the indications of the plurality of video channels previously viewed and, for each of the plurality of video channels, the viewing time corresponding to the video channel included in the received usage information;

ordering the determined one or more channels based on total viewing time;

providing, by the system for determining electronic program guide information, to a presentation device communicatively coupled to the set-top box indications of the determined one or more channels as part of an electronic program guide by at least generating a selectable list of the ordered determined one or more channels, with a channel having the highest total viewing time appearing at a top of the selectable list, and including the selectable list of the determined one or more channels in the electronic programming guide;

selecting, by the system for determining electronic program guide information, programming as suggested programming based on the usage information and whether the previous usage was by an identified user or an unknown user;

determining, by the system for determining electronic program guide information, one or more suggested channels having the suggested programming based at least in part on similarity between the one or more suggested channels and at least one of the determined one or more channels, and such that none of the one or more suggested channels are any of the determined one or more channels; and

adding, by the system for determining electronic program guide information, a selectable list of the suggested one or more channels to the electronic program guide in addition to the selectable list of the determined one or more video channels that were determined by the system based on the indications of the plurality of video channels previously viewed and, for each of the plurality of video channels, the viewing time corresponding to the video channel, such that the electronic program guide includes a list of channels that consists of the selectable list of the determined one or more video channels that were determined by the system based on the indications of the plurality of video channels previously viewed and, for each of the plurality of video channels, the viewing time corresponding to the video channel and of the selectable list of the suggested one or more channels, wherein the electronic program guide is a two-dimensional grid, with channels displayed along a first dimension and time displayed along a second dimension.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the one or more channels is based at least in part on the total viewing time corresponding to each of the one or more channels, each total viewing time reflecting how long the corresponding channel was selected for viewing.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the one or more channels is based at least on part on one or more criteria, the criteria including at least one of total channel viewing time, channel viewing frequency, channel category, channel rating, and channel viewer identity.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each record additionally includes a viewing date, a channel content category, a channel rating, and a program identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the one or more channels comprises selecting the one or more channels based on the viewing time corresponding to each of the one or more channels being not less than the viewing time corresponding to each of the plurality of video channels that is not one of the determined one or more channels.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recording indications of video channels viewed via the set-top box.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the indications of the determined one or more channels comprises displaying the electronic program guide on the presentation device communicatively coupled to the set-top box.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the none of the one or more suggested channels are any of the plurality of video channels previously viewed or a channel currently viewed.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input from the user specifying criteria to be used in generating a first additional electronic program guide;

receiving input from the user to specifically display the additional electronic program guide;

generating the first additional electronic program guide based on the electronic program guide that includes the selectable list of the determined one or more channels and includes the selectable list of the suggested one or more channels, wherein the generating includes;

filtering out channels from the electronic program guide that includes the selectable list of the determined one or more channels and includes the selectable list of the suggested one or more channels based on the received input from the user specifying criteria to be used in generating the first additional electronic program guide; and

including in the first additional electronic program guide, a selectable list of remaining channels of the determined one or more channels and of the suggested one or more channels listed in the filtered electronic program guide; and

in response to the received input from the user to specifically display the first additional electronic program guide, communicating the first additional electronic program guide to a presentation device to display the first additional electronic program guide.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the specified criteria to be used in generating the first additional electronic program guide based on the electronic program guide that includes the selectable list of the determined one or more channels and includes the selectable list of the suggested one or more channels includes criteria to filter the electronic program guide that includes the selectable list of the determined one or more channels and includes the selectable list of the suggested one or more channels based on channel category.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the specified criteria to be used in generating the first additional electronic program guide based on the electronic program guide that includes the selectable list of the determined one or more channels and includes the selectable list of the suggested one or more channels includes criteria to filter the electronic program guide that includes the selectable list of the determined one or more channels and includes the selectable list of the suggested one or more channels based on channels viewed within a particular time period.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving input from the user specifying criteria to be used in generating a second additional electronic program guide, wherein the received criteria to be used in generating the second additional electronic program guide includes criteria to filter the electronic program guide that includes the selectable list of the determined one or more channels and includes the selectable list of the suggested one or more channels based on usage history of another user that is a member of a same household as the user;

receiving input from the user to specifically display the second additional electronic program guide;

generating the second additional electronic program guide based on the electronic program guide that includes the selectable list of the determined one or more channels and includes the selectable list of the suggested one or more channels, wherein the generating includes;

filtering out channels from the electronic program guide that includes the selectable list of the determined one or more channels and includes the selectable list of the suggested one or more channels, based on the usage history of the other user that is a member of a same household as the user; and

including in the second additional electronic program guide, a selectable list of remaining channels of the determined one or more channels and the suggested one or more channels listed in the filtered electronic program guide that was filtered based on the usage history of the other user; and

in response to the received input from the user to specifically display the second additional electronic program guide, communicating the second additional electronic program guide to a presentation device to display the second additional electronic program guide.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting programming as suggested programming based on the usage information and whether the previous usage was by an identified user or an unknown user includes selecting programming as suggested programming based on payments received by a program distributor from a content provider that provides a channel which the suggested programming is on.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a good or service targeted to the user based on usage information associated with the user; and

including, as part of the electronic program guide that includes the selectable list of the determined one or more channels and includes the selectable list of the suggested one or more channels, an indication of the good or service targeted to the user determined based on usage information associated with the user.

15. An apparatus that determines electronic program guide information, the apparatus comprising:

a video processing system operable to present video programming; and

an electronic program guide generator communicatively coupled to the video processing system, the electronic program guide generator operable to;

determine one or more channels of video programming of interest based on indications of a plurality of video channels previously viewed and, for each of the plurality of video channels, a viewing time corresponding to the video channel included in usage information of previous usage that includes the indications of the plurality of previously viewed channels of video programming, and the usage information including, for each of the plurality of previously viewed channels, one or more records, each record including the viewing time corresponding to the video channel and an identifier indicating whether the previous usage was by an identified user or an unknown user, wherein a value of the identifier is based on whether an identification of a user had occurred;

order the determined one or more channels based on total viewing time;

provide indications of the determined one or more channels of video programming of interest to the video processing system by the program guide generator at least being operable to generate a selectable list of the ordered determined one or more channels of video programming of interest, with a channel having the highest total viewing time appearing at a top of the selectable list, and include the selectable list of the determined one or more channels of video programming of interest in the electronic programming guide;

select programming as suggested programming based on the usage information and based on whether the previous usage was by an identified user or an unknown user;

determine one or more suggested channels having the suggested programming based at least in part on similarity between the one or more suggested channels and at least one of the determined one or more video channels of video programming of interest; and

add a selectable list of the suggested one or more channels to an electronic program guide in addition to the selectable list of the determined one or more channels of video programming of interest that were determined based on indications of the plurality of video channels previously viewed and, for each of the plurality of video channels, the viewing time corresponding to the video channel included in the such that the electronic program guide includes a list of channels that consists of the selectable list of the determined one or more channels of video programming of interest that were determined by the system based on the indications of the plurality of video channels previously viewed and, for each of the plurality of video channels, the viewing tune corresponding to the video channel and of the selectable list of the suggested one or more channels, wherein the electronic program guide is a two-dimensional grid, with channels displayed along a first dimension and time displayed along a second dimension.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the electronic program guide generator is further operable to transmit the electronic program guide to a device other than the video processing system.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising an activity tracker, the activity tracker operable to:

receive an indication of a channel of video programming being presented by the video processing system;

record the indication of the channel as part of the usage information; and

provide the usage information to the electronic program guide generator.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the usage information includes a total viewing time corresponding to each of the previously viewed channels of video programming, each total viewing time reflecting how long the corresponding channel was selected for viewing.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the electronic program guide generator is further operable to determine the one or more channels of video programming of interest based on the total viewing time corresponding to at least some of the previously viewed channels of video programming.

20. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the electronic program guide generator includes instructions executed by the video processing system, and further comprising:

a memory communicatively coupled to the video processing system, the memory configured to store the electronic program guide generator.

21. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the apparatus is a receiving device configured to receive digital video programming via a satellite network.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents enable a computing system to determine electronic program guide information, by performing a method comprising:

recording indications of a plurality of video channels previously selected for viewing by one or more users, the plurality of video channels including digital video programming received via a broadcast network, the recorded indications including, for each of the plurality of video channels, one or more records, each record including a viewing time corresponding to the video channel and an identifier indicating whether the viewing time was by an identified user or an unknown user, wherein a value of the identifier is based on whether an identification of a user had occurred;

determining one or more of the plurality of video channels based on the recorded indications of the plurality of video channels previously viewed and, for each of the plurality of video channels, the viewing time corresponding to the video channel;

ordering the determined one or more channels based on total viewing time;

generating an electronic programming guide that includes indications of the determined one or more video channels, by at least generating a selectable list of the ordered determined one or more video channels, with a channel having the highest total viewing time appearing at a top of the selectable list, and including the selectable list of the determined one or more video channels in the electronic programming guide;

selecting programming as suggested programming based on the indications of the plurality of video channels previously selected for viewing and based on whether the viewing time was by an identified user or an unknown user;

determining one or more suggested video channels having the suggested programming based at least in part on similarity between the one or more suggested video channels and at least one of the determined one or more video channels, and such that none of the one or more suggested video channels are any of the determined one or more video channels;

adding a selectable list of the suggested one or more video channels to an electronic program guide in addition to the selectable list of the determined one or more video channels that were determined based on the recorded indications of the plurality of video channels previously viewed and, for each of the plurality of video channels, the viewing time corresponding to the video channel, such that the electronic program guide includes a list of channels that consists of the selectable list of the determined one or more video channels that were determined based on the recorded indications of the plurality of video channels previously viewed and, for each of the plurality of video channels, the viewing time corresponding to the video channel and of the selectable list of the suggested one or more video channels, wherein the electronic program guide is a two-dimensional grid, with channels displayed along a first dimension and time displayed along a second dimension; and

transmitting the electronic program guide for presentation by a presentation device.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the computer-readable medium is part of a receiving device operable to receive and present the digital video programming received via the broadcast network.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory in a computing device.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the contents are instructions that when executed cause the computing system to perform the method.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the transmitting includes transmitting the electronic program guide to a geographically remote location for presentation by a presentation device at the remote location.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 26 wherein the transmitting includes transmitting the electronic program guide from a program distributor to a geographically remote customer premises for presentation by a presentation device at the remote location.