INTELLIGENT DEFAULT WEIGHTING PROCESS FOR CRITERIA UTILIZED TO SCORE MEDIA CONTENT ITEMS

• US 20090138505A1
• Filed: 11/26/2007
• Published: 05/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jolly Seven, Series 70 of Allied Security Trust I (Allied Security Trust)
• Original Assignee: Concert Technology Corporation
• Inventors: Purdy, Sean
• Granted Patent: US 8,224,856 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/639 using playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/683 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/735 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/738 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/78 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• 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: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4756 for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/916 Audio

Abstract

A system and method are provided for intelligently, or programmatically, assigning weights for one or more criterion utilized to score media content items based on an analysis of a group of media content items. In general, scoring criteria to be used to score media content items for a user are defined. A group of media content items associated with the user is then analyzed with respect to the criteria to provide results such as a number or percentage of media content items from the group of media content items that satisfy each of the scoring criteria. Based on the results of the analysis, a weight is assigned to each of the scoring criteria. Thereafter, media content items are scored for the user as a function of the weights assigned to the scoring criteria.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

defining a plurality of criteria;

analyzing a group of media content items with respect to the plurality of criteria to provide analysis results;

programmatically assigning weights to the plurality of criteria as a function of the analysis results; and

scoring at least one media content item as a function of the weights assigned to the plurality of criteria.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein scoring the at least one media content item comprises, for each media content item from the at least one media content item:

identifying at least one criterion from the plurality of criteria satisfied by the media content item; and

scoring the media content item as a function of the weight assigned to the at least one criterion.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the group of media content items are associated with a user, the weights are programmatically assigned to the plurality of criteria for the user as a function of the analysis results, and the at least one media content item is scored as a function of the weights assigned to the plurality of criteria for the user.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising enabling the user to manually adjust the weights assigned to the plurality of criteria.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein scoring the at least one media content item comprises scoring a plurality of media content items in a playlist of the user as a function of the weights assigned to the plurality of criteria to provide scores for the plurality of media content items in the playlist, the method further comprising sorting the plurality of media content items in the playlist based on the scores.

6. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

receiving, at a device associated with the user, a plurality of recommendations via a social recommendation system, wherein the recommendations identify a plurality of media content items;

wherein scoring the at least one media content item comprises scoring the plurality of media content items identified by the plurality of recommendations as a function of the weights assigned to the plurality of criteria to provide scores for the plurality of media content items.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising programmatically effecting playback of the plurality of media content items identified by the plurality of recommendations based on the scores for the plurality of media content items.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein scoring the at least one media content item comprises scoring a plurality of media content items available to the user via a media distribution service to provide scores for the plurality of media content items, the method further comprising:

identifying at least one media content item to recommend to the user from the plurality of media content items available to the user based on the scores; and

recommending the at least one media content item to the user.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of criteria is one of a group consisting of:

a user-defined criterion and a system-defined criterion.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing the group of media content items with respect to the plurality of criteria comprises:

determining a number of media content items from the group of media content items satisfying each of the plurality of criteria; and

providing the number of media content items from the group of media content items satisfying each of the plurality of criteria as the analysis results.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing the group of media content items with respect to the plurality of criteria comprises:

determining a percentage of media content items from the group of media content items satisfying each of the plurality of criteria; and

providing the percentage of media content items from the group of media content items satisfying each of the plurality of criteria as the analysis results.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the group of media content items comprises a media collection of a user.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the group of media content items comprises a plurality of media content items identified by at least one playlist of a user.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the group of media content items comprises a subset of a media collection of a user.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the group of media content items comprises a plurality of media content items previously obtained by a user from a media distribution service.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the analysis results are one of a group consisting of;

a number of media content items from the group of media content items satisfying each of the plurality of criteria and a percentage of media content items from the group of media content items satisfying each of the plurality of criteria; and

programmatically assigning the weights to the plurality of criteria as a function of the analysis results comprises translating the analysis results for the plurality of criteria into the weights for the plurality of criteria.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the group of media content items are associated with a user and the analysis results are indicative of a relevancy of each of the plurality of criteria to the user, and programmatically assigning the weights to the plurality of criteria as a function of the analysis results comprises:

assigning a maximum weight as the weight for a first criterion from the plurality of criteria having a greatest relevancy to the user; and

determining the weights for at least one remaining criterion from the plurality of criteria as a function of the relevancy of the at least one remaining criterion to the user as compared the relevancy of the first criterion to the user.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

presenting the analysis results to an associated user; and

enabling the associated user to take an action in response to the analysis results.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the action is one of a group consisting of:

viewing a list of media content items from the group of media content items satisfying a select one of the plurality of criteria and viewing a list of media content items from the group of media content items satisfying a select combination of at least two of the plurality of criteria.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the action is one of a group consisting of:

initiating playback of ones of the group of media content items satisfying a select one of the plurality of criteria and initiating playback of ones of the group of media content items satisfying a select combination of at least two of the plurality of criteria.

21. A system comprising:

a weight assignment function adapted to;

analyze a group of media content items with respect to a plurality of criteria to provide analysis results; and

programmatically assign weights to the plurality of criteria as a function of the analysis results; and

a scoring function adapted to score at least one media content item as a function of the weights assigned to the plurality of criteria.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the group of media content items is associated with a user, and:

the weight assignment function is adapted to programmatically assign the weights to the plurality of criteria for the user as a function of the analysis results; and

the scoring function is adapted to score the at least one media content item for the user as a function of the weights assigned to the plurality of criteria for the user.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein the system comprises a server, and the weight assignment function and the scoring function are implemented on the server.

24. The system of claim 21 wherein the system comprises a user device, and the weight assignment function and the scoring function are implemented on the user device.