Content recommendations based on communal preferences

• US 9,736,537 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2016
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Piepenbrink, David J., Chow, Lee M., Sofos, James T.
• Primary Examiner(s): LAZARO, DAVID R
• Application Number:
  US15/063,198
• Publication Number:
  US 20160192007A1
• Time in Patent Office: 526 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• 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

Abstract

A method and system for recommending multimedia content includes collecting consumption information for a plurality of consumers. The consumption information may be used to generate collections of recommended multimedia content, including obtainable multimedia assets. The collections may be offered to a consumer for purchase. The consumer may be provided access to the multimedia assets. A unified storefront application, providing access to multimedia content via an Internet-protocol television portal, a web portal, and a mobile portal, may be used to offer and provide access to the multimedia assets.

Claims

1. A content recommendation method, comprising:

retrieving, by a set top box, consumption information collected for a plurality of consumers, wherein the consumption information is;

associated with multimedia content available from a multimedia service provider; and

indicative of most demanded multimedia assets;

obtaining contextual information indicative of at least one of;

current browsing, current viewing, current recording, and current network account activity;

generating a collection of recommended multimedia content based on;

the contextual information;

the consumption information; and

multimedia asset rankings indicative of at least one of;

most purchased multimedia assets; and

most viewed multimedia assets;

making the collection accessible to a user via at least one of;

a web portal, a set top box portal provided by the service provider, and a mobile portal; and

providing the user access to a particular multimedia asset selected from the collection by the user via at least one of the web portal, the set top box portal, and the mobile portal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the collection includes generating the collection based on a portion of the consumption information selected based on a current time and day and geographical location of the user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the multimedia content ratings include ratings provided by at least some of the plurality of consumers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the consumption information comprises consumption information collected over a predefined time span.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection includes content selected based, at least in part, on the content'"'"'s inclusion of interactive features including polls, games, and product information queries.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection includes content selected based, at least in part, on a length of service the user has subscribed to the service provider of the user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

filtering the collection based on availability.

8. A set top box, comprising:

a processor; and

a network interface configured to connect to a multimedia content distribution network;

a computer readable medium including stored, processor executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

retrieving consumption information collected for a plurality of consumers, wherein the consumption information is;

associated with multimedia content available from a multimedia service provider; and

indicative of most demanded multimedia assets;

obtaining contextual information indicative of at least one of;

current browsing, current viewing, current recording, and current network account activity;

generating a collection of recommended multimedia content based on;

the contextual information;

the consumption information; and

multimedia asset rankings indicative of at least one of;

most purchased multimedia assets; and

most viewed multimedia assets;

making the collection accessible to a user via the set top box; and

providing the user access to a particular multimedia asset selected from the collection by the user via the set top box.

9. The set top box of claim 8, wherein generating the collection includes generating the collection based on a portion of the consumption information selected based on a current time and day and geographical location of the user.

10. The set top box of claim 8, wherein the multimedia content ratings include ratings provided by at least some of the plurality of consumers.

11. The set top box of claim 8, wherein the consumption information comprises consumption information collected over a predefined time span.

12. The set top box of claim 8, wherein the collection includes content selected based, at least in part, on the content'"'"'s inclusion of interactive features including polls, games, and product information queries.

13. The set top box of claim 8, wherein the collection includes content selected based, at least in part, on a length of service the user has subscribed to the service provider of the user.

14. The set top box of claim 8, further comprising:

filtering the collection based on availability.

15. A computer-readable memory including stored, processor executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

retrieving consumption information collected for a plurality of consumers, wherein the consumption information is;

associated with multimedia content available from a multimedia service provider; and

indicative of most demanded multimedia assets;

obtaining contextual information indicative of at least one of;

current browsing, current viewing, current recording, and current network account activity;

generating a collection of recommended multimedia content based on;

the contextual information;

the consumption information; and

multimedia asset rankings indicative of at least one of;

most purchased multimedia assets; and

most viewed multimedia assets;

making the collection accessible to a user via a set top box; and

providing the user access to a particular multimedia asset selected from the collection by the user via the set top box.

16. The computer-readable memory of claim 15, wherein generating the collection includes generating the collection based on a portion of the consumption information selected based on a current time and day and geographical location of the user, wherein the multimedia content ratings include ratings provided by at least some of the plurality of consumers.

17. The computer-readable memory of claim 15, wherein the consumption information comprises consumption information collected over a predefined time span.

18. The computer-readable memory of claim 15, wherein the collection includes content selected based, at least in part, on the content'"'"'s inclusion of interactive features including polls, games, and product information queries.

19. The computer-readable memory of claim 15, wherein the collection includes content selected based, at least in part, on a length of service the user has subscribed to the service provider of the user.

20. The computer-readable memory of claim 15, further comprising:

filtering the collection based on availability.