Method and system to maintain relative statistics for creating automatically a list of favorites

• US 7,284,256 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2000
• Issued: 10/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Candelore, Brant, Guo, Zicheng
• Primary Examiner(s): Beliveau; Scott E.
• Application Number:
  US09/729,811
• Publication Number:
  US 20020104081A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,507 Days
• Field of Search: 725 14- 20, 725/38, 725/44, 725 45- 47, 725/50, 725/134, 725/142, 348/563, 348/564, 348/569, 348/731, 348/732, 348/906
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/43 for identifying broadcast channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 for using the result on users' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• 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 21/466 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies services using the results of monitoring in broadcast systems H04H60/61
• 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 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed in which a tuning event is detected. Relative statistics are maintained on one or more items related to the tuning event. A list of favorites is created automatically based on the maintained relative statistics. By using relative statistics, ranking of favorites can be maintained efficiently within limited system resources. Furthermore, a viewer can be presented with a selection of favorites based on a number of items without having to program manually the list of favorites.

Claims

1. A method for a broadcast system comprising:

detecting a tuning event;

maintaining relative statistics on one or more items related to the tuning event, the maintaining of the relative statistics includes eliminating any occurrence of rollover of count values by adjusting the relative statistics of each item of the one or more items in response to a count value of a first item of the one or more items reaching a predetermined value, the rollover being a condition where the count value of the first item of the one or more items, the count value being a relative statistics of the one or more items, reaches the predetermined value before being reset; and

creating a list of favorites based on the maintained relative statistics.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting a tuning event includes detecting a selected channel or program.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of favorites comprises a schedule listing consecutive weekly programs separated by time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the count value of the first item identifies an amount of time thata channel was viewed over a predetermined time interval.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating of the list of favorites includes (i) multiplying relative statistics for each item of the one or more items by a weighting factor assigned to the item, and (ii) ranking a predetermined number of items based on the highest weighted values as part of the list of favorites where the ranking is maintained due to prevention of rollover.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the multiplying of the relative statistics includes multiplying a count value for each item of the one or more items by the weighting factor associated with that item.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the preventing of rollover is conducted by adjusting the relative statistics of each item of the one or more items through subtraction of a predetermined value from each count value associated with each item of the one or more items.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the preventing of rollover is conducted by adjusting the relative statistics of each item of the one or more items through subtraction of a predetermined percentage of counts from each count value associated with each item of the one or more items.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the preventing of rollover is conducted by adjusting the relative statistics of each item of the one or more items through multiplication of each count value associated with each item of the one or more items by a percentage value less than one and greater than zero.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

auto-tuning the list of favorites without user interaction.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an alert if an item in the list of favorites is about to be shown or is being shown.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more items include at least two of a program, a channel featuring the program, an actor on the program, a director of the program, a theme of the program, and a year the program was produced.

13. A broadcast system comprising:

a display;

a receiver coupled to the display and to store relative statistics, to detect a tuning event, to maintain the relative statistics related to a plurality of items of the tuning event, to eliminate any occurrence of rollover of a count value by automatically adjusting the count value of each of the plurality of items relative to each other once one of the plurality of items reaches a maximum value so that an order of the plurality of items according to count value remains intact, and to create automatically a list of favorites based on the relative statistics in the memory.

14. The broadcast system of claim 13, wherein the receiver is to provide an alert if an item in the list of favorites is about to be shown or is being shown.

15. The broadcast system of claim 13, wherein the one or more items include a channel item, a program item, an actor item, a director item, a theme item, or a category item.

16. The broadcast system of claim 13, wherein the receiver is to detect the tuning event by detecting a selected channel or program.

17. The broadcast system of claim 13, wherein the list of favorites comprises a schedule listing consecutive weekly programs separated by time.

18. The broadcast system of claim 13, wherein the receiver is to auto-tune the list of favorites without user interaction.

19. The broadcast system of claim 13, wherein the list of favorites is accessible from more than one device.

20. The broadcast system of claim 13, wherein the receiver is to change the list of favorites using a changing time scale as the list matures.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a front-end including a tuner;

a memory to store relative statistics;

and a processor in communication with the front-end and the memory, the processor to (i) detect a tuning event, (ii) maintain the relative statistics on one or more items related to tuning events, the relative statistics include a count value identifying either a number of times or a time interval that the item has been tuned to and received by the front-end, (iii) eliminate any occurrence of rollover of the count value by at least adjusting the count value of each of the one or more items relative to each other upon reaching a predetermined value prior to being reset, and (iv) create a list of favorites based on the relative statistics in the memory.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor detecting the tuning event by detecting a selected channel or program.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the item includes at least one of a program, a channel number, an actor, a director, a theme, and a year that a selected program was produced.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the list of favorites is accessible by depressing a Favorite key of a remote controller.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the count value of the item identifies an amount of time that a channel was viewed over a predetermined time interval.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor creating the list of favorites by (i) multiplying the relative statistics on the item by a weighting factor assigned to the item, (ii) multiplying stored relative statistics on other items by a corresponding weighting factor assigned to each item, and (iii) ranking all of the items based on the highest weighted values.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor preventing rollover by adjusting the relative statistics on the item through subtraction of a predetermined value from the count value.

28. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor preventing rollover by adjusting the relative statistics on the item through subtraction of a predetermined percentage of counts from the count value.

29. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor preventing rollover by adjusting the relative statistics on the item through multiplication of the count value by a percentage value less than one and greater than zero.

30. An article of manufacture including a machine-readable medium having encoded thereon instructions that executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the operations comprising:

detecting a tuning event where a channel is continuously tuned in for over a selected period of time;

maintaining relative statistics on one or more items related to the tuning event by eliminating any occurrence of rollover of a count value through adjustment of the count value of each of the one or more items relative to each other upon the count value reaching a predetermined value and being reset when the count value is next incremented; and

creating automatically a list of favorites based on the maintained relative statistics.

31. The article of manufacture of claim 30, where the machine-readable medium further provides instructions, which, upon executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operations comprising:

providing an alert if an item in the list of favorites is about to be shown or is being shown.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 30, where the machine-readable medium further provides instructions, which, upon executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operations comprising:

maintaining relative statistics on one or more items that include a channel item, a program item, an actor item, a director item, a theme item, or a category item.

33. The article of manufacture of claim 30, where the machine-readable medium further provides instructions, which, upon executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operations comprising:

detecting a selected channel or program.

34. The article of manufacture of claim 30, where the machine-readable medium further provides instructions, which, upon executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operations comprising:

creating automatically the list of favorites to comprise a schedule listing consecutive weekly programs separated by time.

35. The article of manufacture of claim 30, where the machine-readable medium further provides instructions, which, upon executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operations comprising:

auto-tuning the list of favorites without user interaction.

36. The article of manufacture of claim 30, where the machine-readable medium further provides instructions, which, upon executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operations comprising:

providing access to the list of favorites from more than one device.

37. The article of manufacture of claim 30, where the machine-readable medium further provides instructions, which, upon executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operations comprising:

creating automatically the list of favorites using a changing time scale as the list matures.