Multimedia mobile personalization system

• US 9,986,298 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2009
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: TiVo Solutions Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TiVo Solutions Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Lockett, David, Feder, Adam, Barton, James M., Klar, Michael F., Goodman, Andrew M., Platt, David C., Beach, Brian, Brown, David Avraham
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEN, CAI Y
• Application Number:
  US12/464,817
• Publication Number:
  US 20090256718A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,304 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42206 characterized by hardware details
• 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 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• 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 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4751 for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4753 for user identification, e.g. by entering a PIN or password cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08
• 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 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8547 involving timestamps for synchronizing content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/7605 on discs or drums H04N5/781, H04N5/805, H04N5/83, H04N5/85 take precedence

Abstract

A multimedia mobile personalization system provides a remote control that detects a user'"'"'s electronic tag, e.g. an RFID tag. The remote control notifies a multimedia device of the user'"'"'s identity. The multimedia devices tailors it operations to the user'"'"'s preferences stored locally. Multimedia content such as broadcast or recorded television programs, music play lists, and the like could be sorted, displayed, or restricted, depending on the user identifier.

Claims

1. A method for a multimedia personalization system, comprising:

receiving, by a multimedia device, an identifier identifying a remote control sent by the remote control, the identifier originating from a coded chip onboard the remote control and identifying the remote control, the identifier sent by the remote control whenever a button is pressed on the remote control;

associating, by the multimedia device, the identifier identifying the remote control with a particular user;

retrieving a preference file associated with the particular user, the preference file including bookmarks for programs set by the particular user, each bookmark allows a user to select the bookmark in order to jump to a location within an associated program;

causing display of a list of one or more stored programs that correspond to one or more bookmarks in the preference file; and

detecting that one or more bookmarks in the preference file is not associated with any stored programs and deleting the one or more bookmarks from the preference file based on the detection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia device configures its operations to the user based on the user'"'"'s preferences stored at the multimedia device that are associated with the identifier identifying the remote control.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia device implements parental controls based on the identifier identifying the remote control.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia device displays multimedia content based on the user'"'"'s preferences stored on the multimedia device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier identifying the remote control originating from the coded chip onboard the remote control uniquely identifies the remote control to the multimedia device.

5. An apparatus for a multimedia personalization system, comprising:

a subsystem, at a multimedia device, that receives an identifier identifying a remote control sent by the remote control, the identifier identifying the remote control originating from a coded chip onboard the remote control and identifying the remote control, the identifier sent by the remote control whenever a button is pressed on the remote control;

a subsystem, at the multimedia device, that associates the identifier identifying the remote control with a particular user;

a subsystem, at the multimedia device, that retrieves a preference file associated with the particular user, the preference file including bookmarks programs set by the particular user, each bookmark allows a user to select the bookmark in order to jump to a location within an associated program;

a subsystem, at the multimedia device, that causes display of a list of one or more stored programs that correspond to one or more bookmarks in the preference file; and

a subsystem, at the multimedia device, that detects that one or more bookmarks in the preference file is not associated with any stored programs and deletes the one or more bookmarks from the preference file based on the detection.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the multimedia device configures its operations to the user based on the user'"'"'s preferences stored at the multimedia device that are associated with the identifier identifying the remote control.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the multimedia device implements parental controls based on the identifier identifying the remote control.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the multimedia device displays multimedia content based on the user'"'"'s preferences stored on the multimedia device.

14. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the identifier identifying the remote control originating from the coded chip onboard the remote control uniquely identifies the remote control to the multimedia device.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for a multimedia personalization system, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving, by a multimedia device, an identifier identifying a remote control sent by the remote control, the identifier originating from a coded chip onboard the remote control and identifying the remote control, the identifier sent by the remote control whenever a button is pressed on the remote control;

associating, by the multimedia device, the identifier identifying the remote control with a particular user;

retrieving a preference file associated with the particular user, the preference file including bookmarks for programs set by the particular user, each bookmark allows a user to select the bookmark in order to jump to a location within an associated program;

causing display of a list of one or more stored programs that correspond to one or more bookmarks in the preference file; and

detecting that one or more bookmarks in the preference file is not associated with any stored programs and deleting the one or more bookmarks from the preference file based on the detection.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the multimedia device configures its operations to the user based on the user'"'"'s preferences stored at the multimedia device that are associated with the identifier identifying the remote control.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the multimedia device implements parental controls based on the identifier identifying the remote control.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the multimedia device displays multimedia content based on the user'"'"'s preferences stored on the multimedia device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the identifier identifying the remote control originating from the coded chip onboard the remote control uniquely identifies the remote control to the multimedia device.