KR20050024426A - Context and time sensitive profile builder - Google Patents

Abstract

User ratings in the explicit profile with respect to the content attributes are collected in a contextual manner, either by a question initiated with the presentation or execution of the selected content item, or by other user interactions. Upon detecting a null or invalid rating associated with at least one attribute value for the selected content item, the user interaction request rating is initiated sequentially during or following the presentation run of the selected content item. Profiles are thus accumulated over time, having user input in relation to the content being ranked, and having the potential to accommodate changes in the user's preferences over time.

Description

Context and time sensitive profile former {CONTEXT AND TIME SENSITIVE PROFILE BUILDER}

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention generally relates to an explicit profile for generating a suggestion or recommendation relating to content, and in particular to collecting user ratings or preference information about content for populating an explicit profile in the context of the content. will be.

The system used to generate guides or information about the available options associated with a particular activity may generate suggestions or recommendations for the user. Examples of such systems include online shopping or information retrieval systems and systems for providing entertainment content such as content, in particular audio or video program games. In the case of a system for providing entertainment content, automatic operation with the generation of a suggestion or recommendation, such as caching at least a portion of the entertainment content available for later presentation to the user during periods in which the entertainment content is not used by the user. This can be caused.

In generating a suggestion or recommendation, appropriate results are very often obtained by at least partially using explicit user profiles of likes and dislikes. Generally, such explicit user profiles are accessed by the user, where the user ranks various meta-data descriptors, such as genre (for video content), actor (s), director, title, etc. Created by completing the outline of the questionnaire.

Building or developing an explicit user profile should usually be initiated by the user, often requiring the user to enter (or allow) values independently of the meta-data descriptor, such as the actor's name or the title of the video content. . This forces the user to attempt to remember all relevant values relating to the meta-data descriptors upon which the profile-using operation should be based, upon creation of the profile, which is not impossible but difficult.

On the other hand, displaying a list of all possible meta-data descriptor values to the user, from which selections can be made to build a user profile, poses the risk of reviewing a list that is generally unwieldy or of losing the proper descriptor. Will be done. Especially in cross-media systems (ie, video, audio and / or other content), a user may be required to select and / or rate an item from a list containing tens of thousands of entries. Alternatives (such as requiring the user to think of related items or presenting a comprehensive list to the user) or even a combination of the two approaches require the user to be excessive and spend more time than the user is willing to spend on the work. To be asked, to be dissatisfied.

However, in addition to requiring the user to initiate profile development, this process is also typically separated from the medium or operation with which the profile is associated, such as shopping or watching video content.

Therefore, there is a need in the relevant field for an improved approach to developing explicit user profiles.

1 illustrates a system that uses a context-based system initiated user interaction to build an explicit profile in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system controller implementing context based system initiated user interaction to build an explicit profile in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

3 is a high level flow diagram of a process of context based system initiated user interaction to build an explicit profile in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

In order to address the above-mentioned deficiencies of the prior art, a primary object of the present invention is to open a question or other user interaction in connection with the presentation or execution of a selected content item for use in a system for the reception or execution of user-selected content. By providing a mechanism for gathering user ratings within an explicit profile for content attributes in a contextual manner. Upon detecting a null or invalid rating associated with at least one attribute value for the selected content item, the user interaction request rating is initiated either during or following the presentation or execution of that selected content item. A profile is thus constructed over time, with the possibility of accepting changes in the user's preferences over time with the values entered by the user in relation to the content being ranked.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that those skilled in the art may better understand the following detailed description of the invention. Further features and advantages of the invention, which form the subject of the claims of the invention, will be described hereinafter. Those skilled in the art will recognize that such concepts and specific embodiments, which are disclosed as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention, may be readily used. Those skilled in the art will also recognize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form.

Before entering the following detailed description of the invention, it may be advantageous to describe the definitions of specific words or phrases used throughout this patent specification. That is to say, the terms "include, comprise" and its derivatives include, but are not limited to, the term "or" means inclusive and / or "associated with, The phrase "associated therewith" and its derivatives include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, and be contained within. , Connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with , Interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of), and the term "controller" refers to any device that controls at least one operation. Scan, it means a system or a portion thereof, and such a device is implemented in hardware, firmware (firmware), software, or some combination of at least two thereof. It should be noted that the functions associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed locally or remotely. Definitions of specific words and phrases are provided throughout this patent specification, and those skilled in the art will understand that such definitions apply to many instances of the prior art as well as to future use of such defined words and phrases.

For a more complete understanding of the invention and its advantages, reference is made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like objects in which like numbers refer to like objects.

1-3 and various embodiments discussed below used to describe the principles of the invention in this patent specification are for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered in any way limiting the scope of the invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the principles of the present invention may be implemented in any suitably arranged device.

1 illustrates a system utilizing a context based system initiated user interaction to build an explicit profile in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Exemplary system 100 includes a video receiver and / or playback unit 101, such as a television, satellite, terrestrial or cable television broadcast decoder unit or digital video recorder; An audio content receiver and / or playback unit 102, such as a terrestrial or satellite radio receiver or a compact disc or digital audio player; And Internet access devices 103 such as set top boxes, personal computers, and the like. In the example shown, system 100 interacts with and can control the operation of one or more (preferably all) of video receiver 101, audio receiver 102, and internet access device 103. Further comprises a remote control unit 104.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the overall configuration and operation of a system using a context based system initiated user interaction to build an explicit profile is not shown or described herein. Instead, for the sake of simplicity and clarity, only the configuration and operation of the system which are unique to the invention or essential for understanding the invention are shown and described. The remainder of the configuration and operation of the system may follow conventional structures and implementations known in the art. In addition, although a video receiver, audio receiver, internet access device and remote control are shown in the exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art can apply the functionality described herein directly to other types of devices such as, for example, gaming devices. It will be appreciated that this may be used in conjunction with other forms of content or other activities.

2 illustrates a system controller that implements a context-based system initiated user interaction to build an explicit profile in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The controller hardware and programming 201 for the system controller 200 may be any of the video receiver 101, the audio receiver 102, the Internet access device 103, the remote controller 104, or similar device shown in FIG. 1. Can be implemented. Alternatively, controller hardware and programming 201 may include various portions within two or more devices forming video receiver 101, audio receiver 102, internet access device 103 and remote controller 104. Can be implemented in a distributed manner.

However, the implemented system controller 200 includes at least one input 202 for receiving content and user input control signals and at least one output 203 for indicating content and user interface display. The system controller 200 receives minimal information about the content available from one or more external sources (not shown), such as broadcast facilities or broadcast or Internet content servers. In an example embodiment, the system controller 200 also optionally receives some of the associated content.

The system controller 200 includes a control algorithm 204 for controlling the operation of one or more devices forming the video receiver 101, the audio receiver 102, the internet access device 103 and the remote controller 104. Include. In an example embodiment, the control algorithm 204 may include a recommendation utility 205 for generating suggestions based on an explicit user profile as described in more detail below, and a profile former utility 206 for collecting rating meta-data. ).

The control algorithm 204 includes a user interface controller 207 (eg, a button or key, an infrared receiver and / or a user interface display generator), a content (eg, program) guide or index 209 and one or Is operatively coupled to a memory 208 that optionally includes more user profiles 210. As shown, each user profile is an explicit profile, at least some of which have a rating associated with each particular item associated with a general class or type. At least some of the ratings are supplied by a user who is intermittently associated with an activity involving rated content as described in more detail below.

The controller 204 uses the meta-data associated with the content to initiate contextual user interaction to obtain a rating for the content. Based on context awareness and knowledge of the meta-data, the controller 204 prompts the user to answer questions about explicit profile information in a personalized environment. For example, if a user watches a video program with a predetermined number of meta-data descriptors, such as title, genre, actor (s), director (s), etc., the controller 204 may determine their level of interest with respect to each of the descriptors ( A user interface question requiring the user to comply with the rating).

The user rating may, for example, user select any integer within a predetermined range (e.g., 1 to 100), and the user may select from a predefined value (e.g., "very favorite" or "moderately dislike"). And / or can be set by the user operating a " slider " user control within a predetermined range.

By combining the collection of explicit profile information with the context of classified or graded information rather than waiting for a user to access the profile information input mechanism, the system of the present invention initiates a collection initiative based on current usage. ), Improve explicit profile data. Input may be required when the user watches or otherwise uses related content, or alternatively, input may be queued for future access unless the user initiates it in entering profile information. .

In operation, the controller 201 receives at least meta-data about one or more content items via input 202 and monitors for activities including such item of content, such as user selection of the item for receiving. . Upon detecting an item of received and / or presented content, the controller 201 determines whether the meta-data attribute for that item of content has been ranked into the explicit profile 210 for the currently active user. If the user profile 210 includes null (or “empty”) data relating to at least one meta-data attribute of the received or presented item of content, the profile former 206 may be configured for the explicit profile 201. Initiate user interaction to receive rating meta-data about the content item. User interaction occurs within a situation involving the presentation of an item. The term " presentation " is intended herein to include the execution of executable content.

In the example of a video receiving system, if a program is selected for viewing from a currently transmitted or pre-cached program, the system is rated for various attributes of the program, such as genre, actor (s), and the like. Optionally initiate user interaction to obtain. User interaction will be initiated if at least one meta-data attribute for the selected program includes null data in the manifest profile. Alternatively, user interaction may be defined as "stale" data about an attribute value previously entered by the user on one attribute, e.g., a date prior to the current time beyond a preselected time period. If it includes, it may be disclosed.

User interaction can occur concurrently with the presentation of the selected program (eg, within a small interface area along the bottom edge of the screen) or as soon as the presentation of the program is finished or immediately. If a remote control device having a display (eg, a liquid crystal display) is used in conjunction with the presentation of a selected video program on the television, user interaction may occur on the remote control display rather than (or in addition to) the television display. have.

The timing of initiation of user interaction (ie, during or after the presentation of the program) can be set by user preference. The user interaction initiated during the presentation of the program may include user control to postpone entry of the user class on the attribute until later time in the presentation or after the end of the presentation. The user may be allowed to refuse to enter a rating for one or all of the attribute values of the program, in which case the corresponding attribute value is special to prevent initiation of the next user interaction in order to obtain a rating for these attributes. This attribute value will not be used by the recommendation utility 205 in subsequent evaluation of the content.

The present invention supplements other profile mechanisms, such as user changes to existing ratings for program attributes and / or user-initiated ratings of program attributes.

3 is a high level flow diagram of a process for using context based system initiated user interaction to build an explicit profile in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Process 300 begins with an item of content that is selected for viewing, etc. (step 301). The attributes and attribute values for the selected item of content are then used to determine if the user profile (currently active) includes a null or invalid rank value associated with the attribute value for the selected content item (step 301).

If a null or invalid rank is detected for the attribute value, situation user interaction is initiated (step 302). The user interaction may be an interrupt viewing or execution of the selected content item, may occur concurrently with the presentation or execution of the content, or may be sequentially followed by the presentation or execution of the selected content. If user interaction occurs after the presentation or execution of the selected content item, this interaction preferably takes place as soon as the end of the content item is visible. After initiation of the user interaction, the process is idle until another content item is selected by the user (step 304).

Based on context awareness and knowledge of meta-data associated with the content, the present invention prompts the user to provide explicit profile information about a personalized environment in a contextual manner. In the example of a video program presentation, a user watching a particular program is prompted to have multiple meta-data descriptors and is required to respond to their level of interest with respect to each descriptor.

Although the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functional system, one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that at least some of the mechanisms of the present invention may be distributed in the form of machine usable media containing various forms of instructions, and the present invention may perform such distribution in practice. It is important to note that regardless of the particular type of signal carrier medium used to make the application, the application applies equally. Examples of machine usable media include, but are not limited to, nonvolatile, hard-coded types of media, such as read only memory (ROM) or erasable, electrically programmable read only memory (EEPROM), and floppies. Discs, hard disk drives and recordable types of media such as compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or digital versatile discs (DVD) and transmission type media such as digital and analog communication links.

Although the present invention has been described in detail, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes, substitutions, modifications, enhancements, nuances, step changes, fewer forms, adaptations, modifications, improvements, and knock-offs of the inventions described herein. It will be understood that can be made in the broadest form without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The present invention is generally available for collecting user ratings or preference information about content for building an explicit profile for generating suggestions or recommendations about the content, in particular an explicit profile in the context of the content.

Claims (20)

As a system 100 for developing an explicit profile, Input 202 for receiving meta-data about at least one or more content items; A recommendation unit (205) for evaluating one or more content items based on the received meta-data and an explicit profile (210); And Developing an explicit profile, comprising a profile former 206 for initiating user interaction in context involving presentation of the content item to receive rating data about the content item for the explicit profile 210. System. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interaction occurs during the presentation of the content item. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interaction occurs sequentially after the presentation of the content item. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interaction prompts a user to set rating data about the content item. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile former 206 initiates the user interaction in response to identifying null or stale rating data for the content item in the manifest profile 210. System for developing explicit profiles. As a system 200 for developing an explicit profile 210 in a video display system, A display device 101 for displaying a selected item of video content; A remote controller 104 for wirelessly controlling the operation of the display device; And And a controller 201 within at least one of the remote controller 104, the display device 101 and the remote controller 101 or a device that is interoperable with the display device 101, The controller 201 is Input 202 for receiving at least meta-data relating to one or more content items; A recommendation unit (205) for evaluating the one or more content items based on the received meta-data and an explicit profile (210); And A system for developing an explicit profile, comprising a profile shaper 206 that initiates user interaction in a context involving presentation of the content item to receive rating data about the content item for the explicit profile 210. . The system of claim 6, wherein the user interaction occurs during the presentation of the content item. 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the user interaction occurs sequentially after the presentation of the content item. 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the user interaction prompts a user to set rating data regarding the content item. The method of claim 6, wherein the profile former 206 initiates the user interaction in response to identifying null or invalid rating data for the content item in the explicit profile 210. system. As an explicit profile 210 development method, Receiving at least meta-data relating to one or more content items; Maintaining an explicit profile (210) containing a user rating for use in evaluating one or more content items based on the received meta-data; And Initiating user interaction in a context involving the presentation of a selected content item to receive rating data about the selected content item for the explicit profile (210). 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the user interaction occurs during the presentation of the content item. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the user interaction occurs sequentially after the presentation of the content item. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the user interaction prompts a user to set rating data regarding the content item. 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the user interaction is initiated in response to identifying null or invalid rating data for the content item in the explicit profile (210). A signal structure in a system 100 that receives at least meta-data about one or more content items and uses an explicit profile 210, wherein the signal is And a signal to initiate user interaction in a context involving presentation of the content item to receive rating data regarding the content item for the manifest profile. 17. The signal structure of claim 16, wherein said signal initiating said user interaction is transmitted during presentation of said content item. 17. The signal structure of claim 16, wherein the signal initiating the user interaction is transmitted sequentially after the presentation of the content item. 17. The signal structure of claim 16, wherein said signal initiating said user interaction prompts a user to set rating data about said content item. 17. The signal structure of claim 16, wherein the signal initiating the user interaction is transmitted in response to identifying null or invalid rating data for the content item in the manifest profile.