KR101718971B1 - Systems and methods for acquiring, categorizing and delivering media in interactive media guidance applications - Google Patents

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing guidance for Internet-facing media are discussed. In some embodiments, information about available media on the Internet is collected. The information is associated with existing media guidance data. The associations allow media guidance applications to identify related online media and display listings in a user-friendly manner. A user interface for the online media guidance application is also provided. The user interface allows the user to narrow down a large amount of internet-delivered media in a systematic manner according to criteria of interest to the user.

Description

[0001] SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACQUIRING, CATEGORIZING AND DELIVERING MEDIA INTERACTIVE MEDIA GUIDANCE APPLICATIONS FOR ACQUISITION, CATEGORIZING AND DELIVERING MEDIA IN INTERACTIVE MEDIA GUIDANCE APPLICATIONS [0002]

The present invention relates generally to media guidance applications, and more particularly to providing guidance for media obtained from the Internet.

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60 / 849,988, filed October 6, 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The Internet is a resource for acquiring popular entertainment media and information. There is a tremendous number of resources on the Internet that provide downloadable television episodes and movies, or various types of media such as streaming television previews and movie trailers. Moreover, almost all media and related information on the Internet is available on demand. Thus, users can be assured that the media of interest is always available.

However, the flooding of online media and media providers also pose difficulties in terms of locating media of interest. In order to locate specific online media content without a guide, a user may need to know a significant amount of information about the media. For example, if a user wants to find media associated with a particular episode of a television show, the user may need direct access to the media provider, in which case the media provider is the website of the television network. The user may then need to know the original broadcast date of the episode title or episode in order to efficiently locate the media on the network web site. This process is not only inconvenient to the user, but also does not provide any assistance to people who are not searching for specific media. Thus, the Internet-delivered media content needs to enable or help the user to easily and efficiently locate the media of interest.

Some forms of guidance for media content provided on the Internet are already available. Many guidance applications for online media are limited to providing keyword searches and listings of featured media. Neither of these technologies provides an efficient or systematic means for narrowing down the extremely large amount of media available on the Internet. Thus, users of existing guiding applications are often provided with excessive listings, many of which may not be of interest or inappropriate. Thus, there is a need for a guidance application that provides a systematic way to narrow down to a fairly small set of media that not only provides keyword search and displays distinctive online media, but also makes available online media appealing to the user.

Media listings generated by existing guide applications are often not helpful for browsing. Video retrieval can yield congested, unaligned, difficult to navigate, or non-focused results. Different types of videos may be displayed in similar formats to make them substantially unidentifiable. For example, professionally generated media content can be displayed in a format similar to user-generated media content, and high-quality media content can be displayed in a format similar to lower quality media content. Thus, users may need to spend a significant amount of time reviewing each media listing. Thus, there is a need for an online media guidance application that allows users to quickly browse a set of online media listings.

Moreover, many existing guiding applications only provide guidance for a limited set of videos on the Internet. Thus, the limited set may not include available online media of interest to the user. Some guidance applications are limited because they only provide guidance on the media content they are responsible for. Other applications that acquire media from third-party sites rely on a partnership with the media provider, which again results in a very limited set of media data. Thus, there is a need for a guidance application that provides guidance for a wide range of online media content.

Accordingly, a system and method are provided for identifying and obtaining information about a set of media provided on the Internet, and for displaying a subset of the identified media in the list. A system and method for systematically narrowing down a set of online media listings provided to a user based on criteria that are of interest to users is also provided.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the online media guidance application provides selectable reference elements (e.g., action / adventure, comedy, ABC, comedy center, etc.) in the user interface. By receiving one or more selections of selectable reference elements, the set of available online videos can be systematically narrowed down to a set of suitable-sized videos that appeal to the user. The selectable reference elements may be organized into categories (e.g., genres, channels, shows). The categories may also be displayed in a user interface, and corresponding selectable reference elements may be displayed in a window near or below the corresponding category. To prevent the user interface from becoming congested, one category of reference elements can be visualized at a given time. When the user selects a different category, the window of currently displayed reference elements can be terminated and a new window of selectable reference elements corresponding to the selected category is displayed.

When the user selection of the reference element is received by the guide application, the set of videos is identified based on the selected reference element and any previously selected reference elements. In some embodiments, the set of identified media may include available media that satisfy all of the selected reference elements. In other embodiments, the set of identified media may comprise available media that satisfy one or more of the selected reference elements. A set of media can be displayed as a list such as a video mosaic or a textual list. In some embodiments, each list is displayed in a selectable frame, and upon receiving a user selection of the frame, the guide application directs the user to the corresponding media provider's website.

In some embodiments of the invention, after narrowing the number of listings, the displayed reference elements may also be modified to reflect a new set of identified videos. For example, if a new window of selectable reference elements is displayed, the selection of the reference element may be displayed in the window only if the selection of the reference elements produces at least one video in the redefined set. In some cases, the reference element may be displayed in a window if there are videos in the set of identified videos that satisfy the reference element and all previously selected reference elements.

According to another principle of the present invention, a set of online media (at this time, the guide application provides guidance for this online media set) crawls a plurality of websites, Is obtained. The acquired information may include metadata (e.g., title, runtime, description, etc.) corresponding to each video.

For each video obtained from the Internet, the media guidance application associates the video metadata with, for example, media guidance application data from the media guidance application database. The association can be determined by comparing the guide data in the guide application database with the video metadata. The subset of available online videos may be selected based on the scope reduction mechanism described above, keyword search, user personalization data, or editor preferences. Selected online videos can be displayed as a media list, such as a video mosaic or a text list. The list for each video includes the associated guiding application data from the guiding application database.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a system and method for identifying and obtaining information about a set of media provided on the Internet, displaying a subset of the identified media in the list, A system and method for systematically narrowing down a set of online media listings provided to the user based on criteria.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout.
Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary display screen using a grid format that can be used to provide guidance for on-line video and other types of media.
Figure 2 shows an exemplary display screen using a mosaic that can be used to provide guidance for online video.
Figure 3 shows a more detailed view of the list in the mosaic of Figure 2;
Figures 4-5 are two exemplary embodiments of a portion of the display screen of Figure 2.
Figure 6 shows an exemplary display screen for viewing and updating user favorites and preferences.
Figure 7 shows a Venn diagram of the available online videos used by Figures 8a-8c, 9a, and 9b.
Figures 8A-8C are exemplary stages of a portion of the display screen of Figure 2 in a typical usage scenario.
Figures 9A and 9B are exemplary stages of a portion of the display screen of Figure 2 in a typical usage scenario.
10 illustrates an exemplary user equipment device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
11 illustrates an exemplary user equipment device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 12 and 13 illustrate details of an exemplary media guide source.
Figure 14 shows an exemplary flow chart for acquiring, selecting, and displaying lists.
15 is an exemplary flow chart for delivering a user to a provider of online media content.
Figure 16 illustrates an exemplary flow chart for acquiring, selecting, and displaying lists based on user-selected reference elements.
Figure 17 shows an exemplary flow chart for displaying reference elements and identifying online media.
Figure 18 shows an exemplary flow chart for selecting reference elements based on user-entered search terms.

The amount of media available to users in any given media delivery system can be significant. As a result, many users may want a form of media guidance through an interface that allows users to efficiently navigate media selections and easily identify the media they may want. An application providing such guidance is referred to herein as an interactive media guidance application or sometimes a media guidance application or a guidance application. Similarly, a media guidance application that provides guidance for Internet content and possibly other types of content is referred to herein as an online media guidance application or an online guidance application.

Various forms of interactive media guidance applications may provide guidance for media content on the Internet (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, webcasts, etc.). One common type of media guidance application that provides guidance for online media is the interactive television program guide. Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to as electronic program guides) are, among other things, known guide applications that allow users to search and locate many types of media content. In addition to online media, such content may include not only conventional television programming (provided via traditional broadcast, cable, satellite, or other means), but also pay-per-view programs, ) System) or other types of media or video content. The guiding applications also allow users to navigate and locate content related to video content including, for example, video clips, articles, advertisements, chat sessions, games, and the like.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speed wireless networks, users are able to access personal computers (PCs) and devices, such as handheld computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, , And users are accessing the media through other devices through which they have not yet accessed the media. On these devices, users can search and locate the same media available on the television. As a result, media guides are also needed for these devices. The provided announcements may be for media content available only via television, for media content available through only one or more of these devices, or for media content available through both the television and one or more of these devices Lt; / RTI > The media guidance applications may be provided as online applications (i.e., provided on a web site) or as standalone applications or clients on handheld computers, PDAs, mobile phones, or other mobile devices. The various devices and platforms capable of implementing media guidance applications are described in further detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to provide media lists and media information to users. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate media displays and exemplary display screens that can be used to provide media listings in particular. The display screens shown in Figures 1 and 2 may be implemented on any suitable device or platform. Although the displays of Figures 1 and 2 are shown as full screen displays, they may be overlaid entirely or partially on the media content being displayed. The user may press a remote control or other user input interface or a dedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE button) on the device or selectable options (e.g., menu options, list options, icons, hyperlinks, It is possible to indicate that it is desired to access the media information. In response to the display of the user, the media guidance application may display on the display screen, for example, by time and channel in grid form, by time, by channel, by media type, by category (e.g., News, children, or other program categories), or by some other predefined, user-defined, or other programming criteria.

Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary grid program list display 100 that is arranged by time and channel to enable access to different types of media content (e.g., online video) on a single display. Display 100 includes (1) a column of channel / media type identifiers 104 that identifies different channel or media types for which each channel / media type identifier is available (which is a cell in the column); And (2) each of the time identifiers (which are cells in a row) has a row of time identifiers 106 that identify a time block of programming. Grid 102 also includes cells of program listings, such as program listings 108, where each list provides the title of the program provided through the associated channel and time of the list. Using the user input device, the user can select the program listings by moving the highlight area 110. Information associated with the program list selected by the highlight area 110 may be provided in the program information area 112. [ Area 112 may include, for example, a program title, a program description, a time when a program is provided (if applicable), a channel on which the program is running (if applicable), a program rating, and other desired information .

In addition to providing access to the linear programming provided according to the schedule, the media guidance application also provides access to non-linear programming that is not provided according to the schedule. Nonlinear programming may be performed on a variety of media, such as Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, etc.) from a variety of online sources, on demand media content (e.g., VOD), locally stored media content Video content stored on a digital video disc (DVR), a digital video disc (DVD), a video cassette, a compact disc (CD), or the like) or other time-insensitive media content . On-demand content may include both original media content and movies provided by a particular media provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing "The Sopranos" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm"). HBO ON DEMAND, THE SOPRANOS, and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM are trademarks owned by Home Box Office. Internet content may include webcast events such as chat sessions or webcasts, or on-demand content such as Internet websites or other Internet accessible (e.g., FTP) downloadable media or streaming media.

The grid 102 may provide lists for non-linear programming, including an on-demand list 114, a recorded media list 116, and an Internet content list 118. Displays that combine lists of content from different types of media sources are sometimes referred to as "mixed-media" displays. Various permutations of the types of lists that can be displayed differently from the display 100 may be used for user selection or guiding application definitions (e.g., only on recorded and broadcasted lists, only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.) Can be based. As illustrated, the listings 114, 116, and 118 may be used to indicate that the selection of these lists may provide access to a display dedicated to each of the on-demand listings, the recorded listings, Is shown as spanning the entire time block displayed in the grid 102. As shown in FIG. 1, the information area 112 may display information about the type of display that may be provided when accessing such a list. In other embodiments, the lists for these media types may be included directly in the grid 102. Additional listings may be displayed in response to the user selecting one of the search icons 120. (Pressing the arrow keys on the user input device may affect the display in a manner similar to selecting the search icons 120.)

The display 100 may also include a video area 122, an advertisement 124, and an optional area 126. The video area 122 may allow a user to view and / or preview programs that are currently available, available, or available to the user. The content of the video area 122 may correspond to or be independent of one of the listings displayed in the grid 102. Grid displays, including video areas, are also sometimes referred to as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functions are described in more detail in U.S. Patent No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 to Satterfield et al., And U.S. Patent No. 6,239,794, May 29, 2001, by Yuen et al. , Which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. PIG displays may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the present invention.

The ad 124 may be available for viewing at the present time, may be available for viewing in the future, or may never be available for viewing, depending on the viewer's access rights (e.g., for a subscription program) And may correspond to, or be independent of, one or more of the media listings in the grid 102. In one embodiment, The advertisement 124 may also be for services or products associated with or not associated with the media content displayed on the grid 102. The advertisement 124 is selectable and further provides information about the media content, provides information about the product or service, enables the purchase of the media content, product or service, Can be provided. The ad 124 may be targeted based on the user's profile / preferences, the monitored user activity, the provided display type, or other suitable targeted ad bases.

Although the ad 124 is shown in a rectangular or banner shape, the ads may be provided in a guiding application display to any suitable size, shape, and location. For example, the advertisement 124 may be provided as a rectangular shape horizontally adjacent to the grid 102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. In addition, the advertisements may be superimposed on or contained within the display or media content. Advertisements may also include text, images, rotated images, video clips, or other types of media content. The advertisements may be stored in user equipment, in a database connected to the user equipment, at a remote location (including streaming media servers), or in other storage means or a combination of these locations, with a guiding application. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application is described, for example, in U.S. Patent Application No. 10 / 347,673, filed January 17, 2003, by Knudson et al., U.S. Patent No. U.S. Patent No. 6,756,997, and U.S. Patent No. 6,388,714, issued on May 14, 2002 by Schein et al., Which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. It should be appreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guide application display screens of the present invention.

Option area 126 may allow a user to access various types of media content (e.g., Internet content), media guide application displays, and / or media guide application features. Option area 126 may be part of display 100 (and other display screens of the present invention), or may be invoked by the user by pressing a dedicated or assignable button on the user input device or by selecting an on-screen option . The selectable options in the option area 126 may be related to features related to program listings in the grid 102 or may include options available from the main menu display. Features related to program listings may include, but are not limited to, searching for other broadcast times or receiving programs, program recording, enabling the recording of a series of programs, setting programs and / or channels as favorites, Lt; / RTI > The options available from the main menu display include search options, VOD options, parental control options, access to various types of list displays, subscription to premium services, editing of user profiles, access of browse overlays, or other options Lt; / RTI >

Another configuration for providing the guidance is shown in Fig. Display 200 provides guidance for Internet-delivered videos and may be provided as a display in an online media guidance application or as a display in a client server or standalone (e.g., set-top box based) guidance application . In some instances herein, Internet-delivered television programs are provided, although the disclosed embodiments can provide movies, user-generated content, or any other type of media content. In some embodiments, display 200 displays the result of user selection of list 118 in display 100 (FIG. 1). For clarity and configuration, the display 200 may be divided into three columns. The center column 204 includes media lists arranged in a mosaic 208. The left column 202 allows the user to define criteria (e.g., a particular genre, show, etc.) for the videos provided in the mosaic 208. The right column 206 provides suggestions to the user. Each of these columns will be discussed in more detail below with respect to Figures 2-7, 8A-8C, and 9A-9B.

The left column 202 allows the user to select videos based on criteria of interest. The left column 202 provides a list 210 of selectable categories. The categories may include genres, channels, shows, hot lists, types (e.g., television episodes, movies, etc.), or any other such category. One of the categories may be in a selected state. The category may be selected based on the user indication or may be selected by default. In the selected state, there may be a window 214 of selectable reference elements 212 corresponding to the selected category. The window may be placed under the category name to indicate which category is selected. Using the user input device, the user can select the reference element 212 in the window 214 (e.g., by moving the highlight area 216 to the desired reference element and pressing a key or directly clicking on the desired reference element) Can be selected. Once selected, as well as being displayed in window 214, the selected reference element may appear at 218. That is, the selected reference element may appear below its corresponding category 210 and above the window 214. This indicates to the user that the reference element has been successfully selected. When multiple reference elements are selected in the same category, each reference element may be listed in some order (e.g., in the order in which the reference elements are selected, in alphabetical order, etc.). The selected reference element may be listed under its corresponding category even when the category is not selected, as indicated by the selected reference element 222. [ A selectable button 220 may be provided next to each selected reference element 218 and 222. [ Selecting the button 220 may deselect the corresponding selected reference element.

An alternative way for the user to select the reference elements is to manually enter search terms / keywords. The user may enter one or more keywords into the search bar 224 using the user input device. A selectable button 226 may be selected to initiate a search using the entered keywords. The search bar 224 may be used in association with the left column 202 if desired (e.g., the user may select one or more search criteria based on the reference elements selected in the column 202 and the keywords entered into the search bar 224 Reference elements can be defined).

The central column 204 may display a set of videos of the mosaic form 208 wherein the set of videos is determined based on receipt of user input of the search bar 224 and / or the left column 202 . Unlike the listings in FIG. 1, the listing in the display 200 is not limited to simple text (e.g., a program title) and icons that describe the media. Rather, in display 200, the listings may include graphical images including cover art, still images from media content, video clip previews, live video from media content, or media content described by the list And may provide other types of media to display to the user. Each of the graphical listings may also be accompanied by text to provide additional information regarding the media content associated with the listing. A more detailed view of the list 228 of mosaics 208 is shown in FIG. 3 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a media listing 228 in the mosaic 208 (FIG. 2). The video may be represented by a graphic identifier 302 (e.g., thumbnail / screen hot of the video, preview of the video, video itself, etc.). The rating 304 for the video may be superimposed on a portion of the graph identifier 302. The rating may reflect rating assignments from all users rating the video from users' individual media guidance applications or related / subscription programs. The visual indicator may also be accompanied by a text box / overlay 306 to provide additional information about the media content. For example, the textual description 308 may include the media title, the date the video was made available, and the length of the video. In addition, the text box may include simple icons 310 and / or 312. If there is some cost to stream or download the media from the media provider, a simple dollar sign icon 310 may be displayed. If the icon 310 is not present, the video is free. Similarly, if the video is video recommended by an editor (e.g., a television or movie review), an icon, such as checkmark 312, may be displayed. Otherwise, the check mark 310 may not appear.

Returning to Fig. 2, the number of total identified videos is shown in area 230 after the selected or entered criteria are applied. The region 230 is shown as being in the left column 202, but may be displayed anywhere on the user interface 200. If more videos are identified than the videos currently visible in the mosaic 208, selectable arrows 234 and 236 may be used to show more available videos. Selectable arrow 234 allows the user to view a new subset of identified videos, and selectable arrow 236 returns the user to a subset of previously identified identified videos. The user may change the order in which the videos are displayed by selecting one of the classification links 238. [ The identified videos may be sorted according to the popularity of the video (e.g., based on the total number of times the video was selected by other users), the date the video was acquired (e.g., the most recent first or the oldest first) In a random order, or using any other mechanism for classifying a set of videos.

The user interface 200 also allows the users to display the desired maximum video length and the desired newness using the sliders 240 and 242. [ The slider 240 sets the maximum video length. When the slider 240 is on the far right side, there is no limitation on the video length. As the slider moves to the left, only shorter and shorter videos are included in the results. For example, if the slider 240 is at the midpoint of the scale, only video clips of less than 30 minutes are included in the results. If the slider is to the left, only video clips that are less than 5 minutes are included in the results. Similarly, the slider 242 sets the maximum date range. If the slider 242 is on the far right, there is no limit to how old the video is. As the slider is moved to the left, only the more recent videos can be included in the resulting display.

The mosaic 208 is a 2 x 2 grid of listings 228. However, any other configuration, such as a 3 x 2 or 2 x 3 grid, may be used. Moreover, although each list 228 is shown to be the same size, they may be of different sizes. Depending on the media provider's desires or based on user preferences, the listings may have different sizes or graphics to indicate the degree of user's interest and the relevance of each identified video after retrieval, It can be emphasized as an enemy. Various systems and methods for graphically highlighting media listings are discussed, for example, in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 11 / 324,202, filed on December 29, 2005, by Yates, . ≪ / RTI >

Each list 228 may be a selectable frame. In one embodiment of the present invention, upon user selection of a selectable frame, the user is directed to a website where the corresponding video can be downloaded or streamed. The website may be displayed on the overlay or on a new screen. In another embodiment of the present invention, upon user selection of the listing 228, additional information about the video, such as a description of the program, may be provided to the user in the overlay or in the right column 206. Based on the additional information, the user can select to be directed to the web site where the video is provided, add the video to my favorites video list, or add video to the viewing queue 244. [

The viewing queue 244 displays a list of videos that the user has selected for future viewing. Each video can be represented by a graphic identifier such as a screen hot / thumbnail, a preview of the video, or the video itself. In one embodiment of the invention, each video identifier 246 is selectable, which provides the user with easy access to the videos that the user wishes to view. When video from the viewing queue is selected, the user may be directed to the web site where the video is provided. If the video is selected, the video may be automatically removed from the viewing queue, or the user may manually remove the video from the viewing queue. In another embodiment of the present invention, the viewing queue 244 serves as a "playlist ". When the user is ready to view video from the viewing queue, the user is directed to the website of the first video in the viewing queue.

The right column 206 can display two types of information. This can either (1) provide the user with recommended videos, or (2) display additional information about the selected video. Figures 2 and 4 illustrate the rightmost column 206 performing the function of the electrons to display recommendations to the user. The latter function will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. Heading 250 of column 206 appears as "Today's Upper Choices" indicating that the recommendations are selected based on the most popular videos during the day. Other methods for providing recommendations to the user will be discussed below in connection with FIG. The recommended videos may be provided to the user by providing a format similar to the list 228 discussed above in connection with FIG. Alternatively, the recommended video may be displayed by a title 252 of the video, a graphic identifier 254 for the video with the rating overlay 256, and a brief program description 258 of the video. Other information for each video may be provided in column 202.

When the user first enters the guiding application, the superior selections may be based on the most popular videos of all available videos in any category. Since the user defines the video types of interest by searching for keywords or selecting the reference elements in the left column 202, the recommended videos in the right column 206 may be modified to reflect the user's behavior. For example, if a user selects the "action / adventure" reference element in window 214, the videos under "Today's Top Picks" May be changed to include videos.

The recommendations provided in the right column 206 may be based on non-popularity criteria. For example, recommendations may be based on an editor's recommendation, as shown in column 400 of FIG. Heading 402 is referred to as "editor's selections" to reflect how recommended videos are recommended. The editor may be a famous movie or television critic, or any other noun that the user can identify. Consistent with an embodiment of the present invention, column 400 may provide more information about each of the recommended videos than lists in mosaic 208 (FIG. 2). For example, for each recommended video, a title 404, a graphical identifier (e.g., thumbnail / screen hot, etc.) with a rating 408 overlay, and a brief description 410 are displayed. The rating (406) for each video is based on the user-input rating. Other information about the video may include the network symbol 412 (e.g., FOX), genre (e.g., action / adventure, drama, etc.), or type 414 from the network from which the video was originally broadcast. (E.g., television episodes, movies, etc.), length of video 416, and fees 418 for streaming or downloading the video. FOX is a registered trademark owned by FOX Broadcast Company. Column 400 is merely exemplary and therefore more or less information about the video may be displayed than those mentioned above.

Techniques can be used to select recommendations for users that are not based on popularity or editor selection. The recommendations may be based on user interest. The user's interest can be obtained by monitoring user behavior on the media guidance application, by indicating customizations, or from a user profile. For example, if the user does not like action / adventure videos, then the recommended videos may be the two most popular 2 or 3 videos excluding action / adventure videos. If the user typically watches a video highlighted by Roger Ebert, the recommended video may be two or three videos that were most recently highlighted by Roger Ebert.

When the user selects one video from the mosaics 208 or the recommended videos, the right column 206 (FIG. 2), as shown in FIG. 5, may display options to the user for the selected video . In addition, more information about the video may be displayed. FIG. 5 shows the result of selecting one of the videos of the mosaic 208 or the first video in FIG. Selectable options 504, 506, 508, 510, 516, and 518 as well as information content for the selected video are provided to the user. Selectable button 504 opens a new display or overlay and directs the user to the website where the video is provided. Selectable button 506 adds the current video to viewing queue 244 (FIG. 2), and selectable button 508 adds the video to the user's favorites list.

Options 510 provide links related to the currently displayed video. Thus, when a user enjoys video, the user can be directed to related videos. Related videos are provided as keywords 512 to the user. Keywords 512 may be actors or other celebrities associated with the video, the network on which the program is being broadcast, associated networks, or any other keywords associated with the video. Following each keyword in the list is a number 514 corresponding to the number of available videos associated with the keyword. For example, in FIG. 5, Kiefer Sutherland is the actor of the selected show, and there are 392 available videos from which the actor appears. If the user selects the selectable link 520, the mosaic 208 (FIG. 2) is reflected to include 392 videos. The rightmost column 206 then returns to provide recommendations to the user based on the selected keyword (FIG. 4).

Column 500 may provide other options for selected videos, including "send to a friend" 516 and a "blog about this video" Feature 516 allows the user to notify a friend about the current video. In one embodiment of the present invention, the URL of the website providing the video may be sent to a friend's email address, or may be sent to a friend using any other suitable means. In another embodiment of the present invention, the video may be added to a recommended list in a user's profile of a friend, the video being accessed by a friend, he or she accesses his or her account on the media guidance application When you do, you can access it. E-mail or any other method for distributing information may also be sent to the friend to notify the friend that a new recommendation has been added.

Feature 518 directs the user to a new display screen (not shown). The display screen may allow a user to enter his or her views and comments about the video after viewing the video. These views can be stored in a blog associated with the user. The blog may be a specific variety of entries, where each entry corresponds to a particular video or media information (e.g., a particular genre, show, channel, actor, etc.) associated with the video. In some embodiments, by selecting option 518, an entry for the video can be automatically started. The blog is stored in a user profile. The blog may be stored on the user device and only accessible to that user. Alternatively, the blog may be stored remotely, and the blog may be accessible to users designated as friends, or may be open to the public for viewing.

Other features not shown to avoid cluttering the drawing, which may be provided to the user by column 500, include rating the video, visiting a forum on the video, (wiki-able) pages. If desired, the user may be directed to a forum for discussing the video or a topic relating to the video (e.g., a television show, a network providing video, an actor of the video, etc.). The user can also go to a topic related to video to share information with wiki-able pages on video or with other guidance application users.

A media guidance application, such as an application that provides the display screen 200 of FIG. 2, may be personalized based on the user's preferences. The personalized media guidance application allows the user to customize displays and features to create a personalized "experience " with a media guidance application. This personalized experience can be generated by the media guidance application that monitors the user activity by allowing the user to enter these orders and / or to determine various user preferences. Users can access their personalized guiding applications by logging in, otherwise by identifying themselves to the guiding application. The order of the media guide application can be made according to the user profile. The order may include presentation methods (e.g., color scheme of displays, font size of text, etc.), aspects of displayed media content listings (e.g., recommended media content, etc.), displayed reference elements For example, ordering of categories or reference elements, etc.), parental control settings, and other desired orders.

The media guidance application may allow the user to provide user profile information or may automatically compile user profile information. For example, the media guidance application may monitor other interactions with the media the user is accessing and / or with the guide application that the user may have. In addition, the media guidance application may be able to receive (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet, accessed by a user, such as www.tvguide.com, from other media guidance applications that the user accesses, From the user's handheld device, etc.) to obtain some or all of the other user profiles associated with the particular user and / or obtain information about the user from other resources that the media guidance application can access. As a result, the user is provided with an integrated guidance application experience for the other devices of the user. This type of user experience is described in more detail below in connection with FIG. Additional personalized media guidance application features are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 11 / 179,410, filed July 11, 2005, by Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09 / 179,410, filed November 9, 1999, 437,304, and 10 / 105,128, filed February 21, 2002, by Ellis et al., Which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

The user may enter a preference to order the display provided by the guide application, such as via display 600 of FIG. The user preferences may be stored in a user profile associated with the user. The user interface 600 may display the user's favorite videos, the display preferences of the user, and allow the user to add or remove preferences. My favorite video list 602 is a list of videos where each video is marked as favorite by the user by, for example, selecting "Add to My Favorite List ", which is a selectable button 508 . Each entry on the list may be identified by a graphic identifier 604 (e.g., a screen hot / thumbnail) and text information 606. The textual information 606 may include the title of the video, the length of the video, the date the video is available, and any other associated information. A "close" indicator 608 following each video in the list 602 allows the user to remove individual videos from the list. My favorite video list 602 may be different from the viewing queue 246 for at least one reason that my favorite list 602 should be stored more permanently (e.g., within the user profile). Accordingly, the user can return to the application later without losing information stored in the display 600 by leaving the guidance application. Below the favorites list 602 is the "Send to a friend" link 610. The link 610 allows the user to transmit videos in the user's favorites list to a friend. Favorites list 602 may be sent to a friend using any of the techniques described in connection with link 516 in FIG.

The user may enter viewing preferences in my preference list 612. My preference list 612 may include one or more of the editors 614 that the user likes. My preference list 612 may include one or more types of videos 616. Any of the selectable reference elements available in the left column 202 (FIG. 2) of the user interface 200 may be included in the my preference list. Any of the preferences input by the user may be removed by selecting the button 618 corresponding to the preference and the preferences may be added by selecting the link 620. [ The link 620 may bring a new screen (not shown) or an overlay to the user that allows the user to select additional options to include in my preference.

The link 622 may be used to set an alert when a new video of interest is available to the user. The user may be notified when new video is available that meets one or more reference elements in my preference list 612. [ The user sets an alert, and all or any of the reference elements are used to trigger an alert. The alerts can be in any suitable form for delivering e-mails, text messages, or news that new videos of interest to the user are available.

The user interface 200 (FIG. 2) may be customized based on the preferences entered in the listings 624 and 626. List 624 excludes any videos that do not possess at least one of the reference elements in the list from being displayed. For example, in the exemplary user interface 600, the user indicates that he or she only wants to watch the results of the action / adventure genre. The filtering effect of list 624 may occur only if at least one reference element is selected.

List 626 may exclude videos that satisfy any of the reference elements in the list to be presented to the user. Thus, if list 620 is empty, list 620 has no effect on the videos provided to the user. By using list 624 or list 626, the user has considerable control over which types of videos can be answered at any search or not. The display 600 may also include other options for customizing the user interface 200. In some embodiments, the user may change the options or format of the left column 202. The user can exclude that the category is displayed from being included or displayed. The user can select the order in which the categories or reference elements are displayed.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary Venn diagram 700 of videos available in the news category. As shown in Venn diagram 700, 2000 videos are available for display to users in the genre of news 702. Of the 2000 news videos, 139 videos are associated with the channel, comedy center 704. Of course, 518 out of the 2000 are related to the channel C-SPAN 706. There are more videos associated with the two channels than are shown in the Venn Diagram, but they are not in the news genre. This is indicated by dotted lines 710 extending out of the news box 702. Finally, the 30 videos in the news genre are associated with both the Comedy Central and the C-SPAN, as indicated by box 708.

The exemplary display screens shown in FIGS. 8A-8C and FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate typical usage scenarios of the user interface 200, particularly the left column 202 (FIG. 2). The scenarios describe Venn diagram 700 in FIG. In various stages, column 202 (FIG. 2) may take the form of columns 800A-800C in FIGS. 8A-8C. In this scenario, column 202 (FIG. 2) is used as a range reduction mechanism whereby the number of videos identified thereby is reduced due to each selected reference element. Initially, column 202 may include categories for genres, channels, shows, and hotlists. The genre category can be selected by default, and the reference elements of the genre category are displayed (see FIG. 2). Upon user selection of the "news" 802 reference element in the genre category, the reference element is listed below the genre category heading and above the window of selectable elements. There is an "exit" button 806 next to the selected reference element 804, which can be used to deselect the reference element and removes the reference element from its position on the window 812. Following the user selection of the news genre, available online videos in the news genre are identified. The number of identified videos, i.e., number 2000, is displayed at reference numeral 708, which corresponds to the number of news videos available in Venn diagram 700.

When channel 810, which is a user selection of a category, is received, window 812 of selectable elements corresponding to the genre category is terminated. A window 814 corresponding to the channels category is shown below the channel category heading. Reference elements in window 814 each have videos in this news genre. Channels that do not include videos in the news genre are not included in window 814. [ When the user selection of the reference element 816 is received, as before, the reference element 818 is moved under the category heading, and the "end" button 820 is provided next to the reference element. Following the user selection of the comedy center channel reference element, the available online videos associated with the comedy center as well as the news genre are identified. The number of identified videos 139 is shown at 822. Thus, of the 2000 videos in the news genre, only 139 of them are associated with the comedy center, and thus the range of the video set is narrowed. Which is consistent with reference numeral 704 in Venn diagram 700.

Following the selection of the C-SPAN in the channel category, the remaining number of videos, number 30, is displayed at 824 in FIG. 8C. Thus, out of 139 videos meeting both news and comedy centric criteria, only 30 of these videos are also related to C-SPAN. This number is consistent with reference numeral 708 in the Venn diagram 700. When the show category is selected, window 814 is terminated and window 826, which is a new window corresponding to the television show, appears below the show category heading. Note that only one show, The Daily Show, is listed in the window. It is news-based and is associated with the Comedy Central, indicating that all 30 of the videos associated with C-SPAN are on air or at least associated with The Daily Show.

When the user indication is received to remove the comedy center reference element (e.g., when a user selection of button 820 is received), the identified videos need only satisfy the C-SPAN and news criteria, This will cause 818 videos, according to Venn diagram 700. Thereafter, this may be reflected on the user interface (not shown). The reference elements will be modified accordingly and will include shows containing usable videos meeting both the news and C-SPAN criteria.

Column 202 (FIG. 2) may also be taken of the shapes 900A and 900B of FIGS. 9A and 9B. In such usage scenarios, the scaling mechanism may occasionally increase the set of identified videos using subsequent selections of reference elements. The steps involved in reaching the configuration shown in FIG. 9A can be accomplished by the steps discussed above in connection with FIGS. 8A and 8B. Therefore, for convenience, FIG. 8B is reproduced as FIG. 9A. 9A, a new reference element of the genre category and a comedy center reference element of the channel category are selected and the reference elements of the channel category are displayed. This results in 139 videos, as is consistent with Venn diagram 700.

Following selection of the C-SPAN in the channel category, the identified videos are expanded to include news-related videos in the Comedy Central or C-SPAN. Thus, the number of identified videos increases from 139 to 627 videos, as shown at reference numeral 904. News related shows from both Comedy Central and C-SPAN are listed, as seen from observation from window 906 of selectable reference elements in the show category (e.g., by selecting a show category). Note that in window 906 the videos from each channel are separated to show that they satisfy other category elements in different categories (show 908 is from Comedy Central and show 910 is from C- SPAN). In some embodiments, the reference elements are displayed together (e.g., alphabetically), not for reference elements selected in different categories.

If a user indication is received that the comedy center reference element is to be removed (e.g., a user selection of button 914 is received), then the set of videos may be narrowed. In this case, the identified videos need to meet the news and C-SPAN criteria, which reduces the set of videos from 627 to 518, according to the Venn diagram 700. Thereafter, this may be reflected in a user interface (not shown). Thus, the reference elements are modified and include shows that include usable videos that satisfy both news and C-SPAN criteria.

Users can access media content and media guidance applications (and their display screens described above) from one or more of their user equipment devices. FIG. 10 illustrates a generalized embodiment of an exemplary user equipment device 1000. More specific implementations of user equipment devices are discussed below with respect to FIG. The user device 1000 may receive media content and data via an input / output ("I / O") path 1002. I / O path 1002 includes media content (e.g., broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, and other video or audio) to control circuitry 1004, including processing circuitry 1006 and storage 1008, And data. The control circuit 1004 may be used to transmit and receive commands, requests, and other appropriate data using the I / O path 1002. [ I / O path 1002 may connect control circuit 1004 (and specifically processing circuit 1006) to one or more communication paths (described below). The I / O functions may be provided by one or more of these communication paths, but are shown as a single path in Figure 10 to avoid over-complicating the drawing.

The control circuit 1004 may be based on any suitable processing circuit 1006, such as processing circuitry based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, and the like. In some embodiments, control circuitry 1004 executes instructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e., storage 1008). In the client-server based embodiments, the control circuit 1004 may include communication circuitry suitable for communicating with a pilot application server or other networks or servers. The communication circuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, or a wireless modem for communicating with other equipment. This communication includes at least the Internet for acquiring online media content, and may additionally include any other suitable communication networks or paths (described in more detail in connection with FIG. 11). In addition, the communications circuitry may include circuitry that enables peer-to-peer communications of user equipment devices or communications of user equipment devices at remote locations (described in more detail below).

(E.g., a random access memory, a read-only memory, or any other suitable memory), hard drives, optical drives, or any other fixed or removable storage device A CD recorder, a video cassette recorder, or other suitable recording device) may be provided as the storage 1008, which is part of the control circuitry 1004. The storage 1008 may include one or more of the above types of storage devices. For example, the user equipment device 1000 may include a DVR (sometimes referred to as a personal video recorder or PVR) as a second storage device and a hard drive for a DVD recorder. The store 1008 can be used to store various types of media and announcement application data described herein, including program information, guide application settings, user preferences or profile information, or other data used to operate a guide application . Non-volatile memory (to initiate boot-up routines and other commands) may also be used.

The control circuit 1004 may include one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2 decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-resolution tuners, or any other suitable tuning or video circuit or combination of such circuits. Generating circuit and a tuning circuit. (E.g., for converting over-the-air, analog or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided. The control circuit 1004 may also include a scaler circuit for up-converting and down-converting the media to a preferred output format of the user equipment 1000. The circuit 1004 may also include digital-to-analog converter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry for conversion between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encoding circuitry may be used by user equipment to receive, display, play back, or record media content. The tuning and encoding circuitry may also be used to receive the announcement data. For example, the circuitry described herein, including tuning, video generation, encoding, decoding, scaler, and analog / digital circuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or more general purpose or special purpose processors. Multiple tuners may be provided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., viewing and record functions, picture-in-pictire (PIP) functions, multi-tuner recording, etc.). When the storage 1008 is provided as a separate device from the user equipment 1000, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated with the storage 1008.

The user can control the control circuit 1004 using the user input interface 1010. [ The user input interface 1010 may be any suitable user interface such as a remote control, a mouse, a trackball, a keypad, a keyboard, a touch screen, a touchpad, a stylus input, a joystick, a speech recognition interface, . Display 1012 may be provided as a stand-alone device or may be integrated with other elements of user equipment device 1000. [ Display 1012 can be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display for a mobile device, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images. In some embodiments, the display 1012 may be an HDTV-capable capable. Speakers 1014 may be integrated with other elements of user equipment 1000 or may be stand-alone units. The audio components of the videos and other media content displayed on the display 1012 are reproduced through the speaker 1014. [ In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes the audio and outputs it via speakers 1014.

The user equipment device 1000 of Figure 10 may be any type of user equipment suitable for accessing media such as user television equipment 1102, user computer equipment 1104, wireless user communication device 1106, May be implemented in the system 1100 of FIG. 11 as a user equipment. For simplicity, these devices may be collectively referred to herein as user equipment or user equipment devices. The user equipment devices on which the media guidance application is implemented may function as a standalone device or may be part of a network of devices. Various network configurations of devices may be implemented and discussed in more detail below.

The user television equipment 1102 may be a set top box, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for processing satellite television, a television set, a digital storage device, a DVD recorder, a video cassette recorder (VCR), a local media server, . ≪ / RTI > One or more of these devices can be integrated into a single device, if desired. The user computer equipment 1104 may include a PC, a laptop, a tablet, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC / TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, or other user computer equipment. WEBTV is a trademark owned by Microsoft Corporation. The wireless user communication device 1106 may include PDAs, a mobile phone, a portable video player, a portable music player, a portable game machine, or other wireless devices.

Note that when the integration into a television tuner card for PC, WEBTV, and other user equipment devices of video emerges and the devices are to be classified as one of the devices, their boundaries are blurring. In fact, each of user television equipment 1102, user computer equipment 1104, and wireless user communication equipment 1106 may use at least some of the system features described above in connection with FIG. 10, Contains flexibility to the type of media content. For example, user television equipment 1102 may be of the Internet-enabled type that allows access to Internet content, while user computer equipment 1104 may include a tuner that allows access to television programming. The media guidance application may also have the same layout for a variety of different types of user equipment, or it may be tailored to the display capabilities of the user equipment. For example, on a user's computer equipment, the guiding application may be provided as a web site accessed by a web browser. In yet another example, the guiding application may be scaled down for a wireless user communication device.

In system 1100, there are typically more than one user equipment device for each type, but only one in each case is shown in FIG. 11 to avoid over-complicating the drawings. Further, each user may use more than one type of user equipment device (e.g., the user may have a television set and a computer) and may also have more than one user equipment device (e.g., A user may have a PDA and mobile phone and / or multiple television sets).

The user can also set various settings to maintain consistent media guide application settings for the on-premises devices and remote devices. The settings include those described herein and channel and program favorites, programming preferences used by the guidance application to make program recommendations, display preferences, and other desirable guidance settings. If a user sets up a channel as a favorite for the website www.tvguide.com, for example, on their personal computer in their office, the same channel may be placed on the user's premises device (e.g., User computer equipment) and, if desired, as a favorite on the user's mobile device. Thus changes made on the user equipment device can change the guiding experience on another user equipment device, regardless of whether they are the same type or different type of user equipment device. Additionally, the changes may be based on settings entered by the user and user activities monitored by the guide application.

The user equipment devices may be connected to the communication network 1114. The so-called user television equipment 1102, user computer equipment 1104, and wireless user communication device 1106 are connected to the communication network 1114 via communication paths 1108, 1110, and 1112, respectively. The communication network 1114 includes the Internet and may additionally include one or more other networks including a mobile telephone network, a mobile device (e.g., BlackBerry) network, a cable network, a public switched telephone network, Or combinations of communication networks. BLACKBERRY is a trademark owned by Research In Motion Limited Corp. The paths 1108,1110, and 1112 may include one or more communication paths, for example, a satellite path, a fiber path, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communication (e.g., IPTV) Or any other suitable wired or wireless communication path, or a combination of such paths, either separately or together. Route 1112 is shown in dashed lines to indicate that it is a radio path in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 11, and paths 1108 and 1110 (although these paths may be wireless paths if desired) It is shown in solid lines to indicate that it is a wired path. Communications with user equipment devices may be provided by one or more of these communication paths, but are shown as a single path in Fig. 11 to avoid overcomplicating the figures.

Although communication paths are not shown between user equipment devices, these devices are not limited to communication paths such as those described above in connection with paths 1108, 1110, and 1112, as well as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, (E.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or other short-range communications over wired or wireless paths, as well as other point-to-point communication paths have. BLUETOOTH is a Bluetooth SIG, INC. Lt; / RTI > The user equipment devices may also communicate directly with each other via an indirect path via communication network 1114. [

The system 1100 includes a web server 1116 and a media guidance data source 1118 that are connected to the communication network 1114 via communication paths 1120 and 1122, respectively. Paths 1120 and 1122 may include any of the communication paths described above in connection with paths 1108, 1110, and 1122. [ Communication with web server 1116 and media guidance data source 1118 may be interchanged using one or more communication paths, but is illustrated in FIG. 11 as a single path in order to avoid overcomplicating the figures. Also, there can be more than one web server 1116 and media guidance data source 1118 for each, but only one for each is shown in FIG. 11 to avoid over-complicating the views. (The various types of each of these sources are discussed below). If desired, the web server 1116 and the media guidance data source 1118 may be integrated as a single source device. Although communications between user equipment devices 1102,1104 and 1106 and sources 1116 and 1118 are shown through communication network 1114, in some embodiments, sources 1116 and 1118 may be coupled to paths 1104, and 1106 via communication paths (not shown), such as those described above, in connection with the wireless devices 1102, 1108, 1110, and 1112.

The online media may be provided by the web server 1116. Web server 1116 may provide a website for an online media provider (e.g., a television network website, an entertainment website, a movie website, or a website that aggregates content from multiple sources). Online media providers can provide a variety of content (e.g., full-length movies / television episodes, segments of movies / episodes, trailers / previews, interviews with actors / directors / producers, Network or program promotions, etc.). The online media provider may host media of various types (e.g., streaming, downloadable, user-generated, professionally generated, etc.). The provided online media may be stored locally at the web server 1116 or at a remote media server. In addition to the media content, the web server 1116 may store metadata (e.g., title, description, URL, etc.) for each provided media.

One or more of the other media sources (not shown) may also provide media content to the user equipment and may include any of the communication paths described above with respect to paths 1108, 1110, and 1112 And may be connected to the communication network by one or more routes. Other media sources may include a television distribution facility, a cable system headend, a satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g., television broadcasters such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediate distribution facilities and / , One or more types of media distribution devices, including on-demand media servers or other media content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by ABC, INC and HBO is a trademark owned by Home Box Office, Other media sources may be producers of media content (e.g., television broadcasters, webcast providers, etc.), or may not be producers of media content (e.g., on-demand media content providers, etc.). Other media sources may include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, or other providers of media content. Other media resources may include a remote media server used to store other types of media content (including video content selected by the user) at a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems and methods for remotely storing media content and providing remotely stored media content to user equipment are described in more detail in connection with U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09 / 332,244, filed June 11, 1999, by Ellis et al. Quot ;, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The media guidance data source 1118 may provide media guidance data for the media guidance application. The media guidance data source 1118 includes data stores 1124 and 1126 and can provide guidance data from any of the data stores. The guiding data may typically include program information such as program titles, episode titles, episode synopsis, editor comments, etc., found in TV guide magazines or www.tvguide.com, for example. Data stores 1124 and 1126 may be one or more relational databases or other appropriate storage mechanisms. Data stores 1124 and 1126 may be in local or remote locations (as shown in system 1100).

The data store 1126 stores media guidance data that may or may not be available online. The stored media guidance data may include media listings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast time, broadcast channels, media titles, media descriptions, rating information (e.g., parental control ratings, (E.g., MPEG), advertising information (e.g., text, images, media, etc.), genre or category information, actor information, logo data for broadcasters or providers' Clips, etc.) and any other type of instructional data that helps the user locate and locate desired media selections. The data store 1126 may also store identifiers in the data store 1124 that reference the relevant media.

The media guidance data source 1118 may also include a data store 1124. The data store 1124 stores information related to the videos available at the web servers 1116. Data store 1124 may store metadata (e.g., title, description, URL, etc.) associated with each video from web servers 1116, or may store information derived from the metadata. The data store 1124 may also store metadata (e.g., date entered in the data store 1124, popularity, user generated tags / keywords, etc.) not provided by the web servers 1116. The data store 1124 may store identifiers in the data store 1126 to display additional media announcement data associated with videos found from the web servers 1116. [ In some embodiments, the data store 1124 stores online media provided by the web servers 1116 with information about the media.

The media guidance application data may be provided to the user equipment devices using any suitable method. In some embodiments, the guiding application is a stand-alone interactive television program that receives program guide data through a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed, a trickle feed, or data in a vertical retrace interval of the channel) It can be a guide. Program schedule data and other announcement data may be generated using an in-band digital signal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitable data transmission technique , Within the vertical retrace interval of the television channel, to the user equipment via the television channel side band. Program schedule data and other announcement data may be provided to the user equipment via multiple analog or digital television channels. Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the user equipment at any suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, user-specified period, system-specified period, in response to a request from the user equipment, have. In some methods, the announcement data and / or other media sources from media guide data source 1118 may be provided to the user's equipment using a client-server method. For example, a guiding application client resident on the user equipment may initiate sessions using source 1118 to obtain guiding data when needed. The media guidance data source 1118 may provide the user equipment devices 1102, 1104, and 1106 with a software update for the media guidance application itself or a media guidance application.

The media guidance applications may, for example, be standalone applications implemented on user equipment devices. In other embodiments, the media guidance applications may be client-server applications in which only the client resides on the user equipment device. For example, the media guidance applications may be implemented as part of a client application on the control circuitry 1011 of the user equipment device 1000 and some as a server application (e.g., media guidance data source 1118) Lt; / RTI > The guiding application displays may be generated by the media guiding data source 1118 and transmitted to the user equipment devices. The media guidance data source 1118 also transmits data for storage on the user equipment, which then generates the guidance application displays based on the instructions processed by the control circuitry.

The media guidance system 1100 is intended to illustrate a number of methods or network configurations whereby the user equipment devices and sources of media content and announcement data can access media containing Internet- To communicate with each other. The present invention may be applied in any one or a subset of these methods, or in a system employing other methods for delivering media and providing media guidance. The following three methods provide specific examples of the generalized example of FIG.

In one method, user equipment devices may communicate with each other within a home network. The user equipment devices may communicate directly with each other via indirect paths through other similar devices provided on the hub or home network, or via the communication network 1114, via the short-range point-to-point communication scheme described above . Each of the plurality of individuals in a single home may be able to operate different user equipment devices on the home network. As a result, this may be desirable for various media guidance information, including media guidance information for Internet-forwarding content, or settings to be communicated between different user equipment devices. For example, as described in more detail in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 11 / 179,410, filed July 11, 2005, by Ellis et al., It is contemplated that users may use a consistent media guidance application It may be desirable to keep the settings. Other types of user equipment devices in the home network may also communicate with each other to transmit media content. For example, a user may transmit online media content from a user's computer equipment to a portable video player or a portable music player.

In a second method, users may have multiple types of user equipment that they access media content that includes Internet-facing media content to obtain a media guide. For example, some users may have home networks that are accessed by the premises and mobile devices. Users can control the on-premises devices through the media guidance application implemented on the remote device. For example, users can access an online media guidance application on a web site via a personal computer in their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA or web-enabled mobile phone. The user may set various settings (e.g., recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidance application to control the user's premises equipment. An online guide can control a user's equipment by directly controlling the user's equipment or communicating with the media application on the user's premises equipment. Various systems and methods for user equipment devices communication where the user equipment devices are in remote locations are discussed, for example, in U.S. Patent Application No. 10 / 927,814, filed August 26, 2004, by Ellis et al. Which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

In a third method, users of user equipment devices in and out of the home can access their media guidance applications to communicate directly with web servers 1116 or other media content sources to access internet-delivery and other media content Can be used. Specifically, within the home, users of the user television equipment 1104 and the user computer equipment 1106 can access the media guidance application to locate and locate desired media content. Users may also access the media guidance application external to the home using wireless user communication devices 1106 to search for and locate the desired media content.

Although the discussion of media content focuses on video content, it should be understood that the principles of media guidance can be applied to other types of media content, e.g., music, images, and the like.

A more detailed view of one embodiment of the media guidance data source 1118 is shown in FIG. In addition to the data stores 1124 and 1126, the media guidance data source 1118 may include a web crawler device 1202 and a web server 1204. Web crawler device 1202 and web server 1204 may each include one or more processing circuits 1214 and 1218 and depots 1216 and 1210. They may include any of the components and features of the user equipment device described above with respect to FIG. They may additionally include any circuitry or stored software (e.g., database drivers, web crawler device applications, web server applications, etc.). Web crawler device 1202 and web server 1204 interact with data stores 1124 and 1126 via I / O paths 1210, 1218, 1220 and 1222. [ Web crawler device 1202 and web server 1204 communicate with communication network 1114 via I / O paths 1206 and 1212, which are collectively referred to as link 1122 in FIG. I / O paths 1206, 1210, 1212, 1218, 1220 and 1222 may be any suitable communication paths described above in connection with reference numerals 1108, 1116 and 1112. While web crawler device 1202 and web server 1204 are shown as separate entities, their functions may be performed by a single unit.

In a typical scenario, web crawler device 1202 obtains online media information (e.g., metadata) and, in some embodiments, online media content originally provided from web servers 1116. That is, the web crawler device 1202 captures information about available online media on the Internet. 12, a dotted line is shown between link 1206 and web server 1116 to indicate that web crawler device 1202 requests media information and media directly from web server 1116. [ Web crawler device 1202 may then store information about available online media in data store 1124. To do so, the web crawler device 1202 accesses, retrieves, adds, updates, or removes data from the data store 1124. Web crawler device 1202 may store information on web servers 1116 in storage 1210. The web crawler device 1202 may store the captured information directly in the data store 1124 or may first process the captured information using the associated data in the data store 1126 and / can do.

In a typical scenario, the web server 1204 may access or retrieve data from the data stores 1124 and 1126. Web server 1204 may use data retrieved from one or both of the data stores to provide media guidance application data for the media guidance application. Web server 1204 may store user personalization data (e.g., user profiles) in storage 1216 and any other suitable information for preparing display and / or data. Web server 1204 may provide data over I / O link 1212 using any of the methods described above in connection with FIG. For example, the web server 1204 may send raw data, processed data, or may prepare a display according to the type of user equipment and / or the guiding application.

The system 1300 of FIG. 13 is another exemplary embodiment of a media guidance data source 1118. Figure 13 includes the components of Figure 12, but also includes data manager user equipment 1302, editor user equipment 1310, and editor's selection data store 1308.

Data manager user equipment 1302 may include processing circuitry 1304 and storage 1306. The data manager user equipment may be one of the user equipment devices 1102, 1104, or 1106. The data manager user equipment 302 may include any or all of the components of the user equipment devices. 13, data manager user equipment 1302 may be part of data store 1124 and may be coupled to data store 1124 via any path described in connection with I / O paths 1108, 1116, And data can be communicated. In some embodiments, the data manager user equipment is standard user equipment (e.g., laptop, mobile device, etc.) remote from the system 1300 and the data manager is accessed via the web crawler device 1202 or web server 1204 And can sign in to gain access. Typically, there are more than one data manager user equipment in system 1300, but only one is shown to avoid overcomplicating the drawings.

In a typical usage scenario, a data manager may use the data manager user equipment to access, retrieve, add, remove, or update entries in the data store 1124. Data administrators can correct erroneous information about online videos, remove unusable video, add online media information and / or online media content, add tags associated with entries in data store 1126, It may add any information that can be used by the web crawler device 1202 and the web server 1204. For example, data administrators may tag certain web servers 1116 so that any list from these tagged web servers is highlighted in the list.

The editor's selection data store 1308 may be one or more relational databases or other appropriate storage mechanisms. The editor's selection database 1308 may include a separate storage space for each editor. The editor's selection database 1308 may include editor preferences for individual online media. In addition, the editor's selection database 1304 may include hot lists for each editor, where the hot list is a list of editors' favorite or preferred media. The editor selection database 1308 may store links in the data stores 1124 and 1126 for editor preference designation in the editor's selection database 1308. [ The links may be used by the web server 1204 when collecting data for media guidance applications or creating displays. In some embodiments, the editor selection data store 1308 is part of the store 1216 in the web server 1204.

Editor user equipment 1310 may include processing circuitry 1312 and storage 1314. The editor user equipment 1310 may include the features and / or components discussed in connection with the data manager user equipment 1302. The editor user equipment may communicate remotely or locally with the editor selection data store 1308 via any of the paths described with respect to I / O paths 1108, 1116, and 1112. In some embodiments, the editor user equipment may have access to a portion of the repository 1216 in the web server 1214, and editor preferences assignments may be stored in the repository 1216. In typical usage scenarios, an editor may enter preference assignments in a manner similar to the way a user enters media into my favorites list (see FIG. 5). Typically, there are more editor user equipment than one in the system 1300, but only one is shown to avoid overcomplicating the drawings.

In the present invention, the online media guidance application can select a set of videos, and information about the selected videos can be displayed to the user. A flowchart 1400 of exemplary steps involved in obtaining and providing media guidance data is shown in FIG. At step 1402, online videos from one or more online media providers (e.g., web server 1116) are identified and accessed. Information about each identified video may be obtained from an online media provider. In some embodiments, multiple Internet sites are crawled and metadata corresponding to available videos is scrapped from Internet sites. Internet sites may include websites of online media providers. Video metadata may include video titles, descriptions, video URLs, source names, source URLs, genres, program types (e.g., clip, full-length episodes, online only, movie trailers), screenshots / thumbnails, (E.g., full screen, 320x240, etc.), running time, character name, video format (e.g., REAL, WMV, Flash, QuickTime, etc.), active / expiration date, stream / download, DRM, ).

The collected metadata for each identified video may be stored (e.g., in the data store 124) at step 1404. In addition, the collected metadata as well as other metadata not obtained from the media provider (e.g., keywords or tags added by the data manager (e.g., from data manager user equipment 1310), user ratings , Popularity, dates on which video was found on the Internet, editor preference assignments, wiki-enabled content data, etc.). The stored metadata may be updated continuously, at fixed or variable time intervals, or may not be updated at all. In some embodiments, the identified online video itself (e.g., the actual video file / clip / asset) is also stored.

In step 1406, the metadata for each of the videos may be associated with the media guidance data, wherein the media guidance data may be stored in the media guidance database. An association can be determined based on a comparison of the metadata in the media guidance database (e.g., data store 1126) and the video metadata, or the association can be added by the data manager. In some embodiments, some of the collected metadata is used to perform an association with the media guidance data and is not actually stored in step 1404. In yet other embodiments, only relevance may be stored instead of associations. For example, metadata can be compared, and a high degree of relevance can be given to online videos that match a larger percentage of the metadata.

In step 1406, each video may be associated with one or more entries in the media guidance database. For example, the metadata of a video of a television episode may be associated with a television show, a television episode, actors of the show, a television network, or any editors who commented on the episode or show. An association can be made by storing the video metadata together with a tag from the media guidance database. Alternatively, associations or links between stored metadata and media guidance data may be stored remotely.

A subset of the videos may be selected in step 1408. [ The subset may be automatically selected based on editor preferences (e.g., from editor selection database 1308) or based on user personalization data. User personalization data may be obtained from user profiles, by monitoring user behavior, or from express assignments made by the user (see FIG. 6). The set of videos can also be automatically selected based on criteria such as novelty or popularity of videos (see column 206 in FIG. 2).

A subset of videos may be selected in step 1408 in response to receipt of the user command. A user may enter one or more search items or keywords (at search bar 224), and the subset of videos may be determined based on a comparison of the stored metadata associated with each video with the keywords . The user may select particular reference elements (e.g., genre, show, channel, clip length, etc.) of interest (e.g., using column 202 of FIG. 2). The subset of videos may be one that meets the criteria and is determined based on an examination of the stored metadata.

There is metadata associated with media guidance data and online video. Thus, a subset of videos may be determined by comparing search terms or other criteria with one of the sources of metadata. In one embodiment, the search terms and / or other reference elements are compared to the metadata of the media guidance application. These comparisons provide relevant media guidance data. Since there is an association linking media guidance data to associated online videos, a subset of the videos may be determined. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a subset of videos is determined based on a comparison of metadata of videos with search keywords and / or other criteria. Depending on how the collected metadata is stored, the amount of metadata for each collected video, and how the associations are made, the two techniques may or may not yield the same set of videos.

In some embodiments, the media guidance database includes more than media guidance data. The media guidance database also includes media such as video media. In this case, the subset of videos identified in step 1408 may include videos identified from the Internet and / or videos stored in the media guidance database.

A display is generated at step 1410 to display each video of a subset of videos. The display for each video in the subset includes guiding application data from the guiding application database. The guidance application data is determined based on the associations generated in step 1406. [ The display may also include some of the collected and / or generated video metadata (e.g., in text box 308 of Figure 3, in column 400 of Figure 4, as keywords 512 of Figure 5, etc.) Or both. In some embodiments, the display is a mosaic in which each video in the subset is represented by at least a graphic identifier (e.g., a still image from video). In other embodiments, the display may be text-only. The displayed media listings can also indicate the association of each list, where the association is based on the data manager's display (see FIG. 13) or the degree of relevance that is evaluated when the list is associated with media guidance data in step 1406 ≪ / RTI >

In some embodiments, the online media guidance application may direct a user to media content of interest to the user. Flowchart 1500 of FIG. 15 illustrates exemplary steps for providing this feature. The online media information may be obtained and processed based on the strategies discussed in steps 1404 through 1406 of FIG. The subset of videos may include user personalization data, editor preferences assignments, user-entered search entries (e.g., at search bar 224 in FIG. 2), or user- May be identified at step 1502 using any of the techniques discussed in step 1408, including selecting videos based on user-selected reference elements. At step 1504, a display is generated using the frames from each of the identified videos. The display may be similar to the display screen 200 shown in FIG. The user selection of the frame is received by the online media guidance application at step 1506. Based on the selection, in step 1508, the guiding application guides the user to the web site that provides the selected media content. The web site may be provided as an overlay in a frame in a guide application or may be shown on a full screen.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a set of videos can be identified and further refined based on user selection of selectable reference elements. Flowchart 1600 of FIG. 16 illustrates this process. The online media information may be obtained and processed based on the strategies discussed in steps 1404-1406. The reference elements (e.g., action / adventure, news, ABC, comedy center, etc.) may be displayed to the user at step 1602, such as in window 214 of FIG. In some embodiments, the selectable reference elements may always be a predefined set of displayed reference elements. In yet other embodiments, the selectable reference elements may include only reference elements that satisfy the media identified from the Internet at step 1402. [

In step 1604, the media guidance application receives a user indication of one of the selectable reference elements. Based on the selected reference element, a subset of the identified media is selected in step 1606. [ Since the selected reference element is the first criterion selected by the user, the subset is selected based solely on the selected reference element. However, if other selected reference elements have already been received, a subset of the videos may be selected based on one or more of all selected reference elements. A subset of the identified videos may be selected based on any of the strategies discussed above with respect to step 1408 of FIG.

After a subset of videos are selected, a display may be generated that displays each video in the subset at step 1410, such as the mosaic 208 of FIG. This step may proceed by using any of the techniques discussed in connection with Fig. The media guidance application may then receive a user selection of another selectable reference element in step 1604. This refines the selected subset of videos at step 1606 and the modified subset is reflected in the display generated at step 1410. [

In some embodiments, the guiding application may display selectable reference elements grouped into categories. Based on the user selection, the videos of interest of the user can be identified, and thus the displayed reference elements can be updated. Thus, the identified videos may depend not only on which reference elements are selected, but which categories have the selected reference elements. Flow chart 1700 of FIG. 17 is an exemplary flowchart according to the principles of the present invention. As will be discussed in greater detail below, flowchart 1700 can be taken for many embodiments.

In one embodiment of the flowchart 1700, the set of identified videos depends only on the most recently selected reference element. If the user first enters the guide application, a number of categories may be displayed to the users at step 1702. For example, the categories may be genres, channels, shows, and hotlists (see column 202 in FIG. 2). In addition, one of the categories may be defaulted to a selected stage in which a window of reference elements within the category is displayed. In some embodiments, the reference element for the selected category is displayed only if at least one video in the database satisfies the reference element.

When receiving the user selection at step 1704, if the selection is a reference element (e.g., the reference element 212 of FIG. 2) in the selected category, videos that satisfy the selected criteria are identified at step 1706. The videos may be identified based on any of the strategies discussed with respect to FIG. The identified videos may be displayed as a mosaic, such as in the display screen 200 of FIG. The media guidance application may then receive a user selection of another criterion in the current category or a selection of different categories (step 1704).

When receiving the user selection in step 1704, if the selection is a category other than the currently selected category, the window of selectable reference elements corresponding to the currently selected category is terminated in step 1708. A new window is provided in step 1710 and selectable reference elements corresponding to the newly selected category are displayed in a new window. The window may be located directly under the category to indicate that the window corresponds to the category. The user interface then receives a user selection of the reference element in the newly selected category or a selection of another category (step 1704).

In another embodiment of the flowchart 1700, the media guidance application may keep track of the selected reference element and may use each selected reference element to narrow the range of identified videos. When the user first enters the guiding application, a number of categories are displayed to the user at step 1702. [ For example, the categories may be genres, channels, shows, and hotlists (see column 202, FIG. 2). In addition, one of the categories may be defaulted to a selected stage in which a window of reference elements within the category is displayed.

Upon receiving the user selection in step 1704, if the selection is a reference element in the selected category, videos that satisfy the selected criteria and all previously selected criteria are identified (step 1706). Selecting the reference element adds a condition that all identified videos must satisfy, so selecting the reference element narrows the video set and reduces the number of identified videos. As an example, a discussion of columns 800B and 800C of Figures 8B and 8C, where the set of identified videos is reduced from 139 (822 in Figure 8B) to 30 (824 in Figure 8C) Please refer. When multiple reference elements are selected from one or more categories, the identified videos satisfy a Boolean expression:

(SC1 AND SC2 AND ... AND newly selected criteria),

Where "SCX" represents "selected criterion X ". Alternatively, a number of other suitable selection criteria may be used, such as an inclusive selection of all identified videos within any one of the multiple selection criteria; The identified videos may satisfy the algebraic expressions (SC1 AND SC2 AND ... AND the newly selected criterion), where "SCX" represents "selected criterion X".

When receiving a user selection at step 1704, if the selection is an indication to "end" a previously selected reference element (e.g., by selecting button 220 of display screen 200) The corresponding criteria are deselected (step 1712). Thus, the set of identified videos is expanded to include all videos that satisfy the remaining selected reference elements, but not the de-selected reference element in step 1714. [

When receiving the user selection in step 1704, if the selection is a category other than the currently selected category, the window corresponding to the currently selected category (e.g. window 814 of FIG. 8B) may be terminated in step 1708 . A new window (window 826 of FIG. 8C) is displayed, and selectable reference elements corresponding to the newly selected category may be displayed in a new window (step 1710). The selectable reference elements, if selected, may include reference elements resulting in at least one identified video. That is, a selectable reference element in the newly selected category may be displayed if there are available videos that satisfy the reference element and all previously selected reference elements.

Similarly, upon user selection of a reference element in step 1704, the remaining selectable reference elements in the category may also be reduced with respect to narrowing the videos identified in step 1706. [ That is, after narrowing the set of identified videos, the selectable reference element may be removed from the list if no video exists that also satisfies a selectable reference element in the narrowed set.

In another embodiment of the flowchart 1700, selecting a plurality of reference elements may extend the identified video set. If the user first enters the guiding application, the media guiding application may display a plurality of categories at step 1702. For example, the categories may be genres, channels, shows, hot lists. Also, one of the categories may be defaulted to a selected step in which a window of reference elements within the category is displayed.

When receiving a user selection in step 1704, if the selection is a reference element in the selected step, each video is selected from (1) any of the previously selected reference elements of the selected reference element or of the same category, And (2) at least one selected reference element in each of the remaining categories including at least one selected reference element (step 1706). The video set may be expanded to include videos that only satisfy the newly selected reference element and do not satisfy any of the previously selected reference elements in the category. For one example, the columns of columns 900A and 900B of FIGS. 9A and 9C, where the set of identified videos extends from 139 (reference numeral 902 in FIG. 9A) to 627 (reference numeral 904 in FIG. 9B) See discussion on. Thus, if a plurality of reference elements are selected from one or more categories, the identified videos may be represented by a Boolean expression:

(SC1 _cat1 OR ... OR SCN _cat1 ) AND (SC1 _cat2 OR ... OR SCN _cat2 ) ...,

, Where "SCX _catY " represents "reference X selected in category Y ".

When receiving a user selection at step 1704, if the selection is an indication to "end" a previously selected reference element (e.g., by selecting button 220 of display screen 200) The criterion corresponding to the indication is deselected (step 1712). Videos in the subset are no longer identified and presented to the user since the subset of identified videos only satisfies the unselected criteria in the category and does not satisfy any of the remaining selected reference elements Step 1714). Thus, deselecting the reference element may narrow the video set and reduce the number of identified videos.

When receiving the user selection in step 1704, if the selection is a category other than the currently selected category, the window corresponding to the currently selected category is terminated in step 1708. A new window appears below the newly selected category, such as window 906 of FIG. 9B, and selectable reference elements corresponding to the newly selected category (e.g., reference numeral 908 or reference numeral 910 in FIG. 9B) (Step 1710). The list of selectable reference elements, if selected, may include reference elements that yield at least one video. That is, the selectable reference elements in the newly selected category include (1) a selectable reference element or any other previously selected reference element in the same category, and (2) each of the remaining categories having at least one selected element If there are videos in the database that satisfy at least one selected reference element.

In another embodiment of the flowchart 1700, the effect of selecting a reference element may vary depending on which category the reference element is in. For example, selecting a plurality of reference elements in some categories (e.g., genres) may cause the guide application to identify videos that satisfy all of the selected reference elements, at step 1706. Selecting multiple reference elements in another category (e.g., channels and shows) may allow the guide application to identify videos that satisfy any of the selected reference elements. In essence, this embodiment is a combination of the two embodiments discussed previously. Thus, if a plurality of reference elements are selected from one or more categories, the identified videos may be represented by a Boolean expression:

(SC1 _cat1 OR ... OR SCN _cat1 ) AND (SC1 _cat2 AND ... AND SCN _cat2 ) ...,

, Where "SCX _catY " represents "reference X selected in category Y ".

The media guidance application may also use keywords entered by the user to define a set of videos. 18 shows an exemplary flowchart 1800 for providing videos and reference elements following receipt of one or more keywords. At step 1802, one or more keywords are received by the media guidance application. A set of videos is identified in step 1804 based on the one or more keywords. The set can be described on the basis of any of the strategies described above with respect to FIG. A set of reference elements of a category (e.g., the category selected from step 1710 of FIG. 17) may be displayed at step 1806. The displayed reference elements may include only those that satisfy the set of videos identified in step 1804. The user may then continue to change the set of videos based on the strategies described in connection with flowchart 1700. [

The foregoing describes systems and methods for acquiring, categorizing, and delivering online media content using an interactive media guidance application. The foregoing embodiments of the invention are provided for purposes of illustration and not limitation.

Claims (10)

A method for notifying other users about media,
Receiving a selection of the media from a first user at a first user device;
Receiving a request from the first user at the first user device to notify a second user at a second user device of the selected media; And
Sending a notification of the media to the second user at the second user device,
Wherein the notification includes a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a website providing the selected media,
Wherein the step of transmitting the notification of the media further comprises adding the selected media to the recommended media list to be created for display to the second user based on the second user accessing the account of the second user And causing the media to be broadcast. The method of claim 1, wherein the media is video. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification is sent via e-mail. delete The method according to claim 1,
The method further comprises receiving a selection of the media to add to the favorites list of the first user,
Wherein the transmitting the notification comprises transmitting the media in the favorites list of the first user to the second user. A system for notifying other users about media,
Means for receiving a selection of media from a first user at a first user device;
Means for receiving a request from the first user at the first user device to notify a second user at a second user device of the selected media; And
Means for sending a notification of the selected media to the second user at the second user device,
Wherein the notification includes a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a website providing the selected media,
Wherein the means for transmitting the notification of the selected media further comprises means for adding the media to a list of recommended media to be created for display to the second user based on the second user accessing the account of the second user The media notification system comprising: 7. The media notification system of claim 6, wherein the media is video. 7. The media notification system of claim 6, wherein the notification is sent via e-mail. delete The method according to claim 6,
The system further comprises means for receiving a selection of the media to add to the favorites list of the first user,
Wherein the means for transmitting the notification comprises means for transmitting the media in the favorites list of the first user to the second user.

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