Media content notification via communications network

• US 8,666,808 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2011
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panalogin LLC (Acacia Research Corporation), Customer Communications Group
• Original Assignee: Panalogin LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Inventors: Klug, John R., Peterson, Thad D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Application Number:
  US12/984,459
• Publication Number:
  US 20110161366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,155 Days
• Field of Search: 705 141- 1473, 705/44, 705 64- 67, 707/607, 707/609, 707705-706, 707781-788, 709223-232, 726 1- 21, 726 27- 31, 715741-745, 715/789, 715/811
• US Class Current: 705/14.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/41 where a single sign-on provides access to a plurality of computers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6272 by registering files or documents with a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements

Abstract

The notification system identifies media content based on personal preferences of individual users and provides notification of identified media content to the users. In one embodiment, the system includes a number of user nodes that communicate with a registration site and a notification site via the interne. The notification site includes a media content database and a processor running contents election logic. The processor accesses the media content database in order to identify content that may be of interest to particular users of the user nodes. In this regard, content for a particular user may be identified by matching interest information obtained from the registration site with the content information of the media content database.

Claims

1. At least one computer readable medium containing instructions for receiving, storing, and providing user information used to identify content of interest to a user, the instructions comprising:

accessing a first database comprising information about a user, the information about the user comprising user interest information and a user identifier;

accessing at least one second database comprising information related to available content;

matching the user interest information and the information related to available content to identify content of potential interest to the user; and

periodically transmitting a notification to the user, the notification comprising the identified content of potential interest and corresponding to a notification criteria obtained by receiving a user identifier from the user, communicating the user identifier to the first database, and receiving the notification criteria from the first database.

2. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first database is accessed at a registration site and the second database is accessed at a notification site.

3. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first database and the second database are collocated.

4. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the information provided via the first database is generated based upon one of at least user responses, user usage history, and user monitoring.

5. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 1, further containing second instructions comprising:

receiving the notification;

retrieving one or more of the identified content of potential interest; and

presenting the retrieved content to the user.

6. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the one or more of the identified content of potential interest is retrieved from at least one content database.

7. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the content database is collocated with an apparatus which utilizes the second instructions.

8. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the second instructions are executed by at least one of a television, a radio, a computer device, an Internet compatible device, a wired telephone, and a wireless telephone.

9. The at least one computer readable medium of 5, wherein the notification is received via at least one of a computer device, a wired or wireless telephone, a pager, regular mail, and a communications network device.

10. A data processing system configured to identify content of interest to at least one user, the system comprising:

one or more databases comprising user preference information and information related to available content;

a processor operable to match the user preference information and the information related to available content to identify content of potential interest to at least one user; and

periodically transmitting a notification to the at least one user, the notification comprising the identified content of potential interest and corresponding to a notification criteria obtained by receiving a user identifier from the user, communicating the user identifier to the one or more databases, and receiving the notification criteria from the one or more databases.

11. The data processing system of claim 10, wherein the user preference information is based upon demographic information associated with the at least one user.

12. The data processing system of claim 10, wherein the one or more databases comprise a first database comprising the user preference information and a second database comprising the information related to available content, and wherein at least two of the processor, the first database, and the second database are collocated.

13. The data processing system of claim 10, wherein the information related to available content comprises at least one of title information, schedule information, content information, series information, episode information, target demographics of the content, advertisers associated with the content, and derived information.

14. A system for notifying a user about content of potential interest, the system comprising:

a registrar system comprising

at least one first processor,

at least one registration database, and

at least one first executable program module that, when executed by the at least one first processor,

receives user information related to at least one user,

stores the user information in at least one registration database,

receives one or more requests for at least a portion of the user information from each of a plurality of third-party websites, and,

for each of the one or more requests, retrieves at least a portion of the user information from the at least one registration database, and sends the at least a portion of the user information to the requesting one of the plurality of third-party websites; and

a notification system comprising

at least one second processor,

at least one content database comprising information related to available content, and

at least one second executable program module that, when executed by the at least one second processor,

obtains at least a portion of the user information related to the at least one user, wherein the obtained at least a portion of the user information comprises user interest information,

matches the user interest information and the information related to available content to identify content of potential interest to the at least one user, and

periodically transmits a notification to the at least one user, wherein the notification comprises the identified content of potential interest and corresponds to a notification criteria obtained by receiving a user identifier from the user, communicating the user identifier to the registration system, and receiving the notification criteria from the registration system.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the registrar system and the notification system are collocated.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one first processor and the at least one second processor are the same processor.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein one of the plurality of third-party websites comprises the notification system.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one second executable program module further:

receives scheduling information from the at least one user; and

,

based on the scheduling information,

periodically matches the user interest information and the information related to available content to identify content of potential interest to the at least one user, and

periodically transmits the notification to the at least one user.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one second executable program module further:

receives event triggering information from the at least one user; and

,

based on the event triggering information, transmits the notification to the at least one user.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the information related to available content comprises one or more of title information, schedule information, content information, series information, episode information, target demographics of the content, advertisers associated with the content, and derived information.