System and method for creating and receiving personalized broadcasts

• US 20030014767A1
• Filed: 07/09/2001
• Published: 01/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sirius XM Radio Inc. (Liberty Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sirius Satellite Radio (Liberty Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Stumphauzer, William C. II
• Granted Patent: US 7,251,452 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/131
• 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 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4508 Management of client data or end-user data
• 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 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4825 using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists
• 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 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A system and method automatically plays programming selections corresponding to the user'"'"'s preferences as specified in a playlist. The user can create a playlist and transfer the playlist to a receiver. The receiver scans the content in all of the channels that are being broadcast to the receiver to determine if any of the programming matches the selections on the playlist. If there is a match, the receiver automatically tunes the receiver to the matching program.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code including

computer readable program code for receiving data relating to at least one of a plurality of broadcast channels, the data including a content identification signal for each of the plurality of broadcast channels;

computer readable program code for processing the data as a function of a playlist identifying a prioritized list of user selections; and

computer readable program code for generating an output for automatically tuning a receiver to a specific broadcast channel if the content identification signal for one of the plurality of broadcast channels matches a selection in the prioritized list of user selections.

2. The article of claim 1, wherein the receiver is located in a vehicle.

3. The article of claim 2, wherein the vehicle is an automobile.

4. The article of claim 1, wherein the plurality of broadcast channels are transmitted by at least one satellite.

5. The article of claim 1, wherein the plurality of broadcast channels are transmitted by at least one terrestrial transmitter.

6. The article of claim 1, wherein the playlist is created by a user accessing a website.

7. The article of claim 6, wherein the playlist is transferred from the website onto a portable storage medium.

8. The article of claim 7, wherein the portable storage medium includes one of a PCMCIA card, smart card, flash card, memory stick, compact disk, or floppy disk.

9. The article of claim 1, wherein the data including the content identification signal is transmitted in at least one service channel containing the content identification signal for each of the plurality of broadcast channels.

10. The article of claim 9, wherein the receiver scans the at least one service channel as a function of the playlist.

11. The article of claim 1, wherein the user selections of the playlist have at least one associated parameter used to determine the broadcast channel selected by the receiver.

12. The article of claim 11, wherein the at least one associated parameter includes a rank.

13. The article of claim 11, wherein the at least one associated parameter includes an interrupt permission.

15. The receiver of claim 14, wherein the plurality of broadcast channels is transmitted from one of a satellite and a terrestrial transmitter.

16. The receiver of claim 14, wherein the plurality of broadcast channels are transmitted in a plurality of clusters.

17. The receiver of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of clusters includes a content identification signal for each of the plurality of clusters.

18. The receiver of claim 14, wherein the content identification signal comprises a plurality of fields.

19. The receiver of claim 18, wherein the plurality of fields comprise text fields including descriptions of content being played on each of the broadcast channels.

20. The receiver of claim 18, wherein the plurality of fields includes a description of a music selection.

21. The receiver of claim 18, wherein the plurality of fields includes a description of a talk program.

14. A programmable receiver, comprising:

an antenna module receiving a plurality of broadcast channels; and

a receiver module coupled to the antenna module, the receiver module receiving at least one of the plurality of broadcast channels, the receiver module also receiving at least one content identification signal for each of the plurality of broadcast channels;

wherein the receiver module includes a memory, the memory including a playlist identifying a prioritized list of selections and the receiver automatically tunes to a specific broadcast channel if the content identification signal for one of the plurality of broadcast channels matches a selection in the playlist stored in the memory.

22. A method for receiving personalized broadcasts, comprising:

receiving a plurality of broadcast channels containing content in a receiver having a memory disposed therein;

receiving a content identification signal in the receiver for each of the plurality of broadcast channels;

storing a playlist of prioritized selections in the memory; and

automatically tuning the receiver to a respective one of the plurality of broadcast channels if the content identification signal for one of the plurality of broadcast channels matches a prioritized selection in the playlist.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising transferring the playlist into the memory from a portable storage medium.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising transferring the playlist into the memory using a wireless transmission method.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising generating the playlist by accessing a website.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the playlist includes at least one parameter associated with each prioritized selection.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the at least one parameter includes a rank.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the at least one parameter includes an interrupt permission.

29. The method of claim 22, wherein the receiver is located in a vehicle.