KR20200098608A - Systems and methods for modifying playback of media assets in response to verbal commands not related to playback of media assets - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method is described for converting a non-playback command into a playout modification and encouraging the recipient of the command to execute the command. The media guidance application may determine an instruction from the first user to the second user. The media guidance application may compare the command to a set of play operation commands for the media asset currently being played. The media guidance application may determine that the instruction is not included in the playback operation instruction set. In response to determining that the instruction is not included in the instruction set, the media guidance application can determine whether the second user executes the desired result of the instruction. And in response to determining that the second user does not execute the desired result of the command, the media guidance application may determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset.

Description

Systems and methods for modifying playback of media assets in response to verbal commands not related to playback of media assets

Modifying the playback of a media asset in response to a verbal command or detected sound is a technique used to help encourage the recipient of the command to perform an action based on the command. The related art describes various ways of modifying reproduction based on verbal commands related to reproduction. For example, the related technology detects a verbal command related to playback (eg, the user says "Alexa, pause the movie") and then modifies the playback based on the detected command. A typical media application looks for instructions related to a guiding operation, but does not consider how to behave when a non-guidance instruction is received. The related technology may also pick up ambient sound and perform a playback operation in response to the detected sound. However, the related art does not describe different modes of operation based on whether the user is authorized to perform an action that meets the goal of the sound.

A system and method is provided herein for encouraging a recipient of an instruction to execute an instruction by converting an instruction unrelated to playback into an appropriate playback modification. For example, if a first user is watching a movie and a second user shouts to the first user, "Dinner is ready!", the first user will stop watching the movie and try to encourage the first user to go for dinner. Playback can be paused.

For this and other purposes, in some aspects of the present disclosure, the media guidance application may detect an instruction from the first user to the second user. The first user may be a user who is not currently viewing playback of the media asset, and may be in an environment outside the viewing environment of the media asset. The second user may be a user currently viewing playback of a media asset within a viewing environment of the media asset. For example, a media guidance application uses an intelligent personal assistant device (eg, Amazon Echo) to receive a verbal command from a first user to a second user (eg, "Come to the table for dinner!"). Can be detected.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects a command from the first user to the second user, the media guidance application may detect verbal input from the first user. For example, a media guidance application may use an audio detection sensor to detect verbal input from a first user (eg, the user saying “dinner is ready!”).

The media guidance application can compare the verbal input to a database of instructions, where the database includes instructions corresponding to each verbal input. For example, a media guidance application might use verbal input (for example, the user saying "dinner is ready!") to commands (for example, eat dinner, go out to the front door, clean it, vacuum it). Etc.).

The media guidance application may determine, from the comparison, a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user. For example, a media guidance application uses pattern recognition between input and command, from a user profile, that verbal input (eg, "I'm ready for dinner!") corresponds to a command (eg, have dinner). You can decide.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determines, from the comparison, a command corresponding to the spoken input from the first user, the media guidance application may determine a match between the spoken input and the database of commands. For example, a media guidance application matches a verbal input (for example, "dinner is ready!") to a command (for example, because verbal input matches a keyword contained in the command (for example, "dinner")). Eat dinner). The media guidance application may determine that the command corresponding to the match (eg, eat dinner) is the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user.

The media guidance application may compare the command to a set of play operation commands for the media asset currently being played by the second user. For example, a media guidance application may issue a command (e.g., eat dinner) by a second user to a set of playback operation instructions (e.g., pause, or stop) for a media asset (e.g., a movie) that is currently playing. Fast forward, mute, etc.).

In response to the comparison, the media guidance application may determine that the instruction is not included in the playback operation instruction set. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the command (eg, eat dinner) is not included in the set of playback operation commands (eg, pause, fast forward, mute, etc.).

The media guide application may determine a desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command, based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user. For example, the media guidance application includes a user profile of a first user (eg, a profile may indicate that the first user is a mother) and a user profile of a second user (eg, a second profile is a second profile). Based on the user may be said to be the mother's son following the mother's command), the desired outcome of the command (eg, the second user stops watching the movie and eats dinner) can be determined.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determines the desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command, based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user, the media guidance application You can decide. For example, the media guidance application may determine the attributes of the command (eg, the speaker of the command, the tone of the command, the severity of the command, etc.) based on comparing the command to entries in a database of attributes.

The media guidance application may compare attributes of the command to attributes of a plurality of results of the command. For example, a media guidance application may determine the attributes of the command (e.g., the speaker of the command, the tone of the command, the severity of the command, the purpose of the command, etc.) It can be compared with the result of following, the result of ignoring the command, the result of following the command, the result of not following the command, etc.).

The media guidance application may determine, from the comparison, one of the plurality of results including the attributes of the command as the desired result. For example, a media guidance application may include, from the comparison, the attributes of the command (eg, the intended result of the command), including a result (eg, the user pausing a movie to go for dinner). Can be determined as the desired outcome.

The media guidance application may detect an action executed by the second user. For example, the media guidance application may detect, through the camera, that the user has left the viewing environment in which the movie is being played and entered the restaurant.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects an action executed by the second user, the media guidance application uses the sensor to view the viewing environment of the media equipment device for which the second user is presenting the media asset. It can detect leaving. For example, the media guidance application may detect, via a motion detection sensor, that the second user is leaving the viewing environment of the television in which the user is watching a movie.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects an action executed by the second user, the media guidance application may detect that the second user executes an instruction to modify the playback of the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may detect that the user presses an input command on the remote control device, for example, "pause" to pause playback of a movie the user is watching.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects an action executed by the second user, the media guidance application may detect, using a sensor, that the second user stays in the viewing environment of the media asset device. . For example, a media guidance application may use a thermal mapping sensor to detect that the second user has not left the sofa where the user is watching the playback of the movie.

The media guidance application may compare the action of the second user with the desired result of the command. For example, the media guidance application may compare an action (eg, a second user continuing to watch a movie) with a desired result of the command (eg, a second user going for dinner).

In some embodiments, when comparing the characteristics from the second user's retrieved characteristics to the command, the media guidance application consists of age, ranking within generations, relationships with other users, and time of day. A trait can be selected from a group of traits that are present, and the media guidance application can select an instruction from a group of instructions consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping.

The media guidance application may, from the comparison, determine whether the command shares the characteristics of the second user. For example, the media guidance application may determine, from the comparison, whether the command (eg, meal) shares the characteristics of the second user (eg, time of day).

In response to determining that the command shares the characteristic, the media guidance application may modify the playback of the media asset. For example, in response to determining that the command shares the characteristic, the media guidance application may pause playback of the media asset.

In response to determining that the second user's action does not correspond to the desired result of the command, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics (eg, age, relationship with a first user, user ranking within a household, etc.) from the user profile of the second user.

The media guidance application may determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user. For example, the media guidance application may have an instruction detected from a first user (e.g., eat dinner) and characteristics of a second user (e.g., that the second user must always follow the instructions from the first user). ), it is possible to determine whether to modify the playback (for example, pause, mute, rewind, fast forward, turn off, etc.).

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determines whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user, the media guidance application determines the ranking of the first user and The ranking of the second user can be searched. For example, the media guidance application may be the first user's ranking (e.g., the first user is ranked first among 5 users) and the second user's ranking (e.g., the second user is 5 Ranked fourth among users).

The media guidance application may determine, from the ranking, whether the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user. For example, the media guidance application may determine that a first user (eg, in a first ranking) is in a higher ranking than a second user (eg, in a second ranking).

In response to determining that the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user, the media guidance application may modify the playback of the media asset. For example, in response to determining that the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user, the media guidance application may modify the playback of the media asset (eg, pause the currently playing movie).

In response to determining that the second user is in a higher ranking than the first user, the media guidance application may continue to play the media asset. For example, in response to determining that the second user is in a higher ranking than the first user, the media guidance application may continue playing the media asset (eg, a movie the second user is watching).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect an instruction from the first user for the second user and the third user. For example, the media guidance application may detect a command (eg, have dinner) from a first user to a second user and a third user.

The media guide application may determine a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on the user profile of the first user, the user profile of the second user, and the user profile of the third user.

The media guide application may detect a first action executed by a second user and a second action executed by a third user. For example, the media guidance application may include a first action by a second user (e.g., a second user raising the volume of a movie) and a second action executed by a third user (e.g., motion sensor Detects that the third user leaves the viewing environment to go to eat dinner).

The media guidance application may compare the action of the second user and the action of the third user with a desired result of the command. For example, the media guidance application can be used for a second user's action (e.g., increasing the volume of a movie via a remote control) and a third user's action (e.g., a motion sensor may cause the third user to leave the viewing environment). Detection) can be compared to the desired result of the command (eg, a second user and a third user going for dinner).

In response to determining that the action of the second user and the action of the third user do not correspond to the desired result of the command, the media guidance application retrieves the characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user and The third user's characteristics can be retrieved from the profile.

The media guidance application may determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on a command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user. For example, the media guidance application may include a command detected from a first user (e.g., eat dinner) and retrieved characteristics of the first user (e.g., ranking, etc.) and retrieved characteristics of a third user (e.g. For example, it may be decided to modify the playback of the media asset based on the ranking, etc.) because the ranking of the first user is higher than the ranking of the second user and the ranking of the third user. As another example, the media guide application may include a command detected from a first user (e.g., eat dinner) and retrieved characteristics of the first user (e.g., ranking, etc.) and retrieved characteristics of the second user and the third user. It may be decided not to modify the playback of the media asset based on the s (eg, ranking, etc.) because the third user's ranking is higher than the command and the first user's ranking.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, systems and methods are provided herein for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of a sound. For example, in response to detecting the ringing of the doorbell, the user may or may not be allowed to pause playback of the movie the user is watching. If the user is a child and is at home alone, it may not be allowed to pause the playback of the movie to encourage the user not to go to the front door when at home alone. If the user is a child and their parents are at home, the user may be allowed to pause the playback of the movie in order to exit the front door.

For this and other purposes, in some aspects of the present disclosure, a media guidance application may detect a sound produced by a first device external to the media equipment device. For example, a media guidance application might use a sensor to detect a sound (e.g., a doorbell ringing) by a first device (e.g. a doorbell) external to a media equipment device (e.g. a television). I can.

The media guidance application may store a database associating a target of a plurality of targets with an action set of a plurality of actions and a sound of a plurality of sounds. For example, a media guidance application may convert one of a plurality of goals (e.g., going to the front door, answering a phone call, leaving the house, etc.) to a plurality of actions (e.g. For example, pausing the playback of a media asset to exit the front door, continuing to watch the playback of the media asset and ignoring the doorbell, etc.) Ignoring) and a database associated with a sound (eg, a doorbell ringing) among a plurality of sounds (eg, a doorbell ringing, a phone ringing, a smoke detector beep, etc.).

The media guidance application may compare the sound produced by the first device to a database to determine a target associated with the sound and a corresponding set of actions associated with the target. For example, the media guidance application compares the sound produced by the first device (e.g., ringing a doorbell) to a database to determine a goal associated with the sound (e.g., going to the front door) and a corresponding action associated with the goal. A set (eg, pausing the playback of a media asset, leaving the viewing environment to exit the door, etc.) can be determined.

In some embodiments, when comparing the sound produced by the first device to a database to determine a goal associated with the sound and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal, the media guidance application is based on the characteristics of the sound and within the database. Matches between entries can be determined. For example, a media guidance application may use the characteristics of the sound (eg, tone, loudness, frequency, etc.) to match the sound to its corresponding entry in the database.

The media guidance application can retrieve, from the entry, a target associated with the sound. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve, from the entry, a goal (eg, going out the front door) associated with a sound (eg, ringing a doorbell).

The media guidance application can retrieve, from the entry, a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application may, from the entry, be a corresponding set of actions (e.g., pausing the playback of the media asset, the volume of playback of the media asset) associated with the goal (e.g., going to the front door) To mute, etc.).

The media guidance application can detect the user in the viewing environment of the media equipment device. For example, a media guidance application may use a sensor (eg, a camera) to detect a user in the viewing environment of a media equipment device (eg, a television).

In some embodiments, when detecting a user in the viewing environment of the media device, the media guidance application may detect the presence of the user in the viewing environment, using a camera. For example, a media guidance application may use infrared sensors to detect a user in the viewing environment of a media equipment device (eg, a television).

The media guidance application may determine, from the user's user profile, whether the user is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application may determine, from an authorization database in the user's profile, whether the user is authorized to leave the viewing environment in association with an objective (e.g., going to the front door). .

In some embodiments, when determining from the user's user profile whether the user is authorized to perform an action in the determined set of actions associated with the goal, the media guidance application may retrieve, from the user profile, a ranking for the user. have. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve a ranking for the user (eg, 8 out of 10).

The media guidance application can search for an action ranking from a database. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve, from the database, a ranking (eg, 5 out of 10) for an action (eg, leaving the viewing environment).

The media guidance application may determine whether the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the ranking for the user (eg, 8 out of 10) exceeds the ranking for the action (eg, 5 out of 10).

In response to determining that the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action, the media guidance application may determine that the user is authorized to perform the action. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the user is authorized to leave the viewing environment.

In response to determining that the user is authorized to perform an action, the media guidance application may generate a notification to the user indicative of the detected sound. For example, the media guidance application may generate a sound notification (eg, a doorbell sound) to the user to be played in preference to playback of a media asset, representing the detected sound.

In some embodiments, upon generating a notification to the user indicating the detected sound, the media guidance application may create an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, wherein the overlay includes a notification to the user regarding the sound. do. For example, the media guidance application can create an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device (eg, an overlay that says "The doorbell is ringing!").

The media guidance application can modify the playback of the media asset to enable the user to perform an action associated with the goal. For example, a media guidance application modifies the playback of a media asset (e.g., to allow a user to perform an action (e.g., leaving the viewing environment) associated with an objective (e.g., going to the front door)). For example, a movie that the user is watching can be paused).

In some embodiments, when modifying the playback of a media asset to enable a user to perform an action associated with the goal, the media guidance application may retrieve, from the database, a set of playback modifications associated with the goal. For example, a media guidance application may retrieve, from a database, a set of playback modifications (eg, pause, play, fast forward, rewind, mute, on/off, etc.) associated with the goal.

The media guidance application can select a playback modification from the playback modification set based on the user's preferences. For example, a media guidance application may modify playback (eg, pause) from a set of playback modifications based on the user's preferences (e.g., the user does not want to miss any content while exiting the front door). You can choose.

The media guidance application can modify the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification. For example, the media guidance application may modify the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification (eg, pausing the playback of the media asset).

In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, the media guidance application can generate a notification to the second user to perform the action. For example, the media guidance application may generate a notification (eg, send an SMS message to a second user) to perform an action (eg, going out to the front door).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application can determine that the sound is within the audible range of the viewing environment. For example, a media guidance application can detect sound using a sensor (eg, a microphone) included within the viewing environment.

In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, the media guidance application can prevent the user from modifying the playback of the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may prevent the user from modifying the playback of the media guidance application (eg, do not allow the user to pause the playback of the media asset).

The media guidance application can modify the playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing an action associated with the goal. For example, a media guidance application may increase the volume of playback of a media asset in order to drown out the sound within the audible range of the user.

In some embodiments, when modifying the playback of a media asset, the media guidance application may determine a volume that attenuates the sound within the audible range. For example, the media guidance application may determine a volume equal to or higher than the determined volume of the sound within the audible range.

The media guidance application can adjust the volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset to a volume that attenuates the sound. For example, the media guidance application may adjust the playback volume of the media asset to a volume higher than the detected volume of sound within the audible range.

The following objects and advantages of the present disclosure and other objects and advantages will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout. .
1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of encouraging a recipient of an instruction to execute an instruction by converting an irrelevant instruction into an appropriate playback modification, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a display screen that can be used to provide media guidance application listings and other media guidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
3 shows another exemplary embodiment of a display screen that can be used to provide a media guide application listing, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
4 is a block diagram of an exemplary user equipment (UE) device, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
5 is a block diagram of an exemplary media system, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
6 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for encouraging a recipient of an instruction to execute an instruction by converting a non-playback instruction into an appropriate playback modification, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
7 depicts another exemplary flowchart of a process for encouraging a recipient of an instruction to execute an instruction by converting a non-playback instruction into an appropriate playback modification, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
8 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for determining an instruction based on characteristics of a second user, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
9 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for encouraging a recipient of an instruction to execute an instruction by converting a non-playback instruction into an appropriate playback modification, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
10 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for determining an instruction based on a first user's verbal input, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
11 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for determining a result based on attributes of an instruction, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
12 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for detecting whether a user is leaving a viewing area of a media equipment device presenting a media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
13 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for modifying the playback of a media asset based on users' rankings, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
14 shows an exemplary embodiment of determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of sound, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
15 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of sound, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
16 depicts another exemplary flowchart of a process for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of sound, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
17 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for identifying a target associated with a sound, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
18 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for detecting the presence of a user in a viewing environment, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
19 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for creating an overlay containing a notification, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
20 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for modifying the playback of a media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
21 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

A system and method is provided herein for encouraging a recipient of an instruction to execute an instruction by converting an instruction unrelated to playback into an appropriate playback modification. The media guidance application may determine an instruction from the first user to the second user. The media guidance application may compare the command to a set of play operation commands for the media asset currently being played. In response to the comparison, the media guidance application may determine that the instruction is not included in the playback operation instruction set. In response to determining that the instruction is not included in the playback operation instruction set, the media guidance application may determine whether the second user executes the desired result of the instruction. And in response to determining that the second user does not execute the desired result of the command, the media guidance application may determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset.

1 shows an exemplary embodiment of encouraging the recipient of the instruction to execute the instruction by converting an irrelevant instruction into an appropriate playback modification, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. 1 depicts an exemplary display 100 that may be presented by control circuitry running a media guidance application on any user equipment. The functionality of the user equipment, control circuitry and media guidance application is described in more detail with respect to FIGS. 2-5.

The media guidance application can detect that the first user 102 has issued the command 104. The command 104 may be a verbal input of a word or phrase. The media guidance application may detect that the command 104 is for the second user 106 (eg, the first user 102 will tell the second user 106, "It's time for dinner!" Can). The media guidance application may be playing media asset 108. The media guidance application may create a trick play bar 110 over the media asset 108 for display; The trick play bar 110 may include all trick play functionality (eg, play, pause, stop, rewind, fast forward, etc.). The media guidance application may generate an indicator 112 for display within the trick play bar 110, which may correspond to the current location of the playback of the media asset 108. The media guidance application corresponds to a trick play bar command (e.g., play, pause, stop, rewind, fast forward, volume up, volume down, on/off, etc.) where command 114 is applied to the media asset ( For example, media assets are paused). The media guidance application may determine that the volume 116 may correspond to the current volume of playback of the media asset 108. The media guidance application may modify the volume 116 in response to the command 114.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application can detect an instruction from the first user to the second user. The first user may be a user who is not currently viewing playback of the media asset, and may be in an environment outside the viewing environment of the media asset. The second user may be a user currently viewing playback of the media asset 108 within the viewing environment of the media asset. For example, a media guidance application uses a home entertainment system (eg, Amazon Echo) to detect a verbal command from a first user to a second user (eg, "Come to the table for dinner!"). can do.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects a command from the first user to the second user, the media guidance application may detect verbal input from the first user. The verbal input may be a spoken word or phrase from the first user corresponding to the command. For example, a media guidance application will use an audio detection sensor (eg, a microphone) to detect verbal input from a first user (eg, the user saying "It's ready for dinner!"). I can. The media guidance application compares the audio signal detected by the sensor (e.g., a microphone) with known audio samples from the first user, retrieved from the profile of the first user, so that the audio signal from the first user It can be determined that it is verbal input.

As another example, a media guidance application may use an intelligent personal assistant (IPA) (e.g., Amazon Echo, Siri, etc.) to detect verbal input from a first user, where the IPA can detect oral input from the user. Listens continuously for audio inputs in the environment around the IPA to detect.

The media guidance application can compare the verbal input to a database of instructions, where the database includes instructions corresponding to each verbal input. The media guidance application may retrieve a database of instructions from the profile of the first user. For example, the media guidance application retrieves a database of commands from the profile for the first user and makes verbal input (eg, the user says “dinner is ready!”) commands (eg, have dinner). You can compare it to a database that includes, go out the front door, clean it, vacuum it, etc.).

The media guidance application may determine, from the comparison, a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user. For example, a media guidance application uses pattern recognition between input and command, from a user profile, that verbal input (eg, "I'm ready for dinner!") corresponds to a command (eg, have dinner). You can decide.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determines, from the comparison, a command corresponding to the spoken input from the first user, the media guidance application may determine a match between the spoken input and the database of commands. The media guidance application can determine a potential match between verbal input and a database of commands through keyword matching. For example, a media guidance application may detect keywords in verbal input (eg, "dinner" and "prepare") and compare these keywords to a database of instructions. Each command in the database of commands may have a plurality of keywords associated with it (eg, the command "eat dinner" means the keywords associated with it "dinner", "food", "hungry", "eat", Can have "eating", etc.). The media guidance application may determine that the verbal input matches an instruction when a single or multiple keywords from the verbal input match a single or multiple keywords associated with the instruction in the database of instructions.

For example, a media guidance application matches a verbal input (for example, "dinner is ready!") to a command (for example, because verbal input matches a keyword contained in the command (for example, "dinner")). Eat dinner). The media guidance application may determine that the command corresponding to the match (eg, eat dinner) is the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determines multiple potential matches between the verbal input and the database of instructions (e.g., the verbal input may match a number of different instructions), the media guidance application It may be determined that the command corresponding to a match in potential matches containing the most keyword matches is the command corresponding to verbal input from the first user. For example, the media guidance application determines that verbal input (eg, "It's time to eat dinner!") matches multiple commands (eg, eat dinner, eat lunch, set a timer, etc.). When, the media guidance application may determine that the match (eg, eat dinner) contains the most keyword matches and is thus a command corresponding to the verbal input.

After determining the command given by the first user, the media guidance application can determine the context of the command and how the command relates to the playback operation. The media guidance application may compare the command to a set of play operation commands for the media asset currently being played by the second user. The media guidance application may retrieve a set of playback operation instructions from a database in the profile. For example, a media guidance application may send an instruction (e.g., have dinner) to a media asset (e.g., a movie) currently playing by a second user, a set of playback action instructions (e.g., a movie), retrieved from a profile. For example, pause, fast forward, mute, etc.).

In response to the comparison, the media guidance application may determine that the instruction is not included in the playback operation instruction set. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the command (eg, eat dinner) is not included in the set of playback operation commands (eg, pause, fast forward, mute, etc.).

The media guide application may determine a desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command, based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user. The media guidance application can use the attributes to determine the desired outcome, as detailed below. For example, the media guide application may use the methods described below to provide a user profile of a first user (e.g., the profile may say that the first user is a mother) and a user profile of the second user ( For example, the second profile may say that the second user is the mother's son following the mother's command), based on the desired result of the command (e.g., the second user stops watching a movie and To eat).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application can determine the desired outcome of the command by determining the attributes of the command. In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determines the desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command, based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user, the media guidance application You can decide. The media guidance application may analyze the command to determine individual attributes (eg, the prosody of the command (eg, determining meaning using the tone and rhythm of the voice)).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may analyze the audio characteristics of the instruction to determine individual attributes. In some embodiments, to determine individual attributes, the media guidance application compares the command to an audio sample of a plurality of audio samples, each audio sample associated with an individual user, to determine the user firing the command. I can. Media guidance applications use speech processing to provide the form of speech (e.g., statement, question, or command), the presence of satire or irony, emphasis, contrast, focus, and pitch of speech (e.g., low and Varying between high), the length of the sound (e.g., varying between short and long), loudness (e.g., varying between soft and loud), and the timbre of the sound. Properties, including the presence of infant-directed speech (eg, baby talk) using the same speech processing parameters, can be determined. For example, a media guidance application uses speech processing using the pitch, length of sound, loudness, and tonal speech processing variables corresponding to the command to determine the attributes of the command (e.g., the speaker of the command, the tone of the command, the command Severity, etc.). In response to determining the individual attributes of the command, the media guidance application may compare the attributes of the command to attributes of the plurality of results of the command to determine the desired result.

The media guidance application may compare attributes of the command to attributes of a plurality of results of the command. For example, a media guidance application may describe the attributes of a command (e.g., the form of speech, the presence of satire or irony, emphasis, contrast, focus, voice to the infant, etc.) For example, it can be compared with the result of following the command, the result of ignoring the command, the result of following the command, the result of not following the command, etc. The media guidance application can retrieve a plurality of results from a database in the profile.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve multiple results of the command from the profile. The media guidance application may determine that each command in the database of commands is linked to a result set corresponding to the command. For example, a media guidance application can use a pointer from an instruction entry in the database to a corresponding result set. Results corresponding to the command may be predetermined by the editor, and may also be updated and added by the media guidance application based on learned actions of users.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may add a result to be linked to the command based on the learned behavior. The media guidance application compares the new result with the corresponding result set and determines that there is no overlap between the two data, so that a new result occurring between the first user and the second user after the command is issued is in the result set corresponding to the command. It can be determined that it was not included. For example, a media guidance application may allow, from the comparison, a new result (e.g., a second user answering a call in response to a command) to the current corresponding result set (e.g., eating a meal, a movie). You can decide that it doesn't overlap with pausing (and doing nothing).

The media guidance application can retrieve the properties of a result among a plurality of results from the property database in the profile.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve attributes of the result from an attribute database including preset attributes, determined by the editor, corresponding to the result. The media guidance application, as detailed below, in response to determining a new attribute corresponding to the result, or to remove an attribute corresponding to the result (e.g., no longer an exact attribute of the result). You can update the property database. Each attribute can have a pointer to the corresponding result in the database. For example, a media guidance application might have attributes corresponding to the result (e.g., eating dinner) (e.g., a user goes to eat dinner, a user goes to a restaurant, a user goes to a table) Eating the food, the user pausing playback and leaving the room to go to the restaurant, etc.).

The media guidance application can determine that a new attribute corresponds to the result by determining that a result has occurred (eg, detecting it using a sensor), and by analyzing the generated result to determine the attributes of the result. The media guidance application can determine the attributes of the result based on the physical components and the audible components of the result. The media guidance application may determine the properties based on the audible components of the result generated using methods similar to those described above with respect to determining the properties of the command (eg, by determining the prosody of the command). have.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application can determine the properties of the result based on the physical components of the result that has been generated. Media guidance applications can use sensors to detect physical responses corresponding to results. For example, the media guidance application may use the camera to detect that the second user physically leaves the viewing environment of the playback of the media asset. As another example, a media guidance application uses an infrared sensor to determine a heat map of the viewing environment and indicates that a second user has not moved from its location in the viewing environment in response to hearing a command from the first user. Can be detected. The media guidance application may determine that the detected physical response is an attribute of the result that was generated. The media guidance application may compare the determined attributes of the generated result with attributes in the database corresponding to the result, and may add any attributes from the generated result that were not present in the attributes corresponding to the result.

For example, the media guidance application may determine that, from detecting via the camera, a result (eg, the second user leaving the viewing environment of the media asset) has occurred. The media guidance application analyzes the generated result (eg, the second user yelled at the first user “I’m not hungry!”) and analyzes (eg, the audible and physical components of the generated result). Based on) determine the properties of the result. The media guidance application is the result of the user's negative response (e.g., based on the user yelling and the context of the user's response) and the user's not leaving the viewing area (e.g., the user does not follow the command). It can be determined as the properties of (not).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may remove the attribute corresponding to the result in response to determining that the attribute was not present in the corresponding result after the same result occurred more than a threshold amount of times. The media guidance application may maintain a counter among a plurality of counters, where each counter is associated with an attribute for a particular result. The media guidance application may update (eg, add a value to the counter) a counter for an attribute for a specific result after the specific result has occurred and the attribute has been included. The media guide application can retrieve a threshold amount of times from the profile, and the threshold can be preset by the editor and updated based on user input. The media guidance application may compare the counter for a particular result to a threshold value, and in response to determining that the counter is greater than the threshold value, the media guidance application may remove the attribute as an attribute corresponding to the result.

For example, a media guidance application may have an attribute corresponding to the result (eg, a second user not eating dinner) (eg, a second user yelling “no” in response to a command) Can be removed. The media guidance application may determine that the attribute was not present in the corresponding result after the same result has occurred at least a threshold amount of times (eg, 10 times) or more. The media guidance application can retrieve from the profile a threshold amount of times (eg, 10 times) defined by the editor. The media guidance application may compare the number of times a threshold amount defined by the editor to a counter associated with the result, and respond to determining that the counter (eg, 11 times) is greater than the threshold amount (eg, 10 times). Thus, the media guidance application removes the attribute corresponding to the result (eg, the second user does not eat dinner) (eg, the second user yells “no” in response to the command). can do.

The media guidance application may determine, from the comparison, one of the plurality of results including the attributes of the command as the desired result. The media guidance application can use the ranking system to determine the desired result from the comparison. For example, a media guidance application may include, from the comparison, the attributes of the command (eg, the intended result of the command), including a result (eg, the user pausing a movie to go for dinner). Can be determined as the desired outcome.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine the result of the plurality of results including attributes of the command as the desired result based on the ranking of the result among the plurality of results. The media guidance application may rank a result among a plurality of results based on the amount of attributes the result has in common with the attributes of the command (eg, a percentage of attributes that are in common). The media guidance application may determine that the ranking directly corresponds to the percentage of attributes that are in common (eg, the ranking is higher when the percentage is higher).

For example, a media guide application may have a certain percentage of attributes (e.g., 18 out of 20 attributes) in common with the attributes of the command (e.g., by comparing the attributes of the result with the attributes of the command). (Or 90%), you can rank the results among multiple results. The media guidance application may determine that the ranking of the results directly corresponds to a percentage (eg, ranked 90 out of 100).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application, from the preferences of the first user (e.g., the first user has a preferred result for a particular command), a result corresponding to the preferred result of the first user. You can search. The preferred result for a particular command may cause the result among a plurality of results corresponding to the preferred result to be the highest ranked result. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve a result corresponding to the preferred result of the first user from the preferences of the first user (e.g., the second user standing up to go for dinner). . The media guidance application may determine that the preferred result has the highest ranking among all of the plurality of results (eg, has a ranking of 100 out of 100).

After determining the desired result of the command, the media guidance application may determine the reaction of the second user to the command to determine whether the command does not meet the desired result. The media guidance application may detect an action executed by the second user. For example, the media guidance application may detect, through the camera, that the user has left the viewing environment in which the movie is being played and entered the restaurant.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects an action executed by the second user, the media guidance application uses the sensor to view the viewing environment of the media equipment device for which the second user is presenting the media asset. It can detect leaving. For example, the media guidance application may detect, via a motion detection sensor, that the second user is leaving the viewing environment of the television in which the user is watching a movie.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects an action executed by the second user, the media guidance application may detect that the second user executes an instruction to modify the playback of the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may detect that the user presses an input command on the remote control device to "pause" playback of a movie the user is watching.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects an action executed by the second user, the media guidance application may detect, using a sensor, that the second user stays in the viewing environment of the media asset device. . For example, a media guidance application may use a thermal mapping sensor to detect that the second user has not left the sofa where the user is watching the playback of the movie.

The media guidance application may compare the action of the second user with the desired result of the command. For example, the media guidance application may compare an action (eg, a second user continuing to watch a movie) with a desired result of the command (eg, a second user going for dinner).

In response to determining that the second user's action does not correspond to the desired result of the command, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user. The media guidance application may retrieve the characteristics of the second user from a characteristic database in the user profile. The characteristic value stored in the database may be determined based on a user input (eg, a user inputs information through a user input device, such as a remote control). For example, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics (eg, age, relationship with a first user, user ranking within a household, etc.) from the user profile of the second user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may compare a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user to an instruction, wherein the characteristic is a characteristic consisting of age, rank, relationship with other users, and time of day. It is selected from the group, and the command is selected from a group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping.

The media guidance application may, from the comparison, determine whether the command shares the characteristics of the second user. For example, the media guidance application may determine, from the comparison, whether the command (eg, meal) shares the characteristics of the second user (eg, time of day).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application can determine whether the command shares the "age" characteristic of the second user. The media guidance application can retrieve, from the profile, age characteristics of the instruction. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve the age characteristics of the command (e.g., this command must be followed by any users under the age of 15 and may be overridden by any users over the age of 15) . The media guidance application may compare the age of the second user (e.g., the second user is 10 years old) to the age characteristics of the command, and the command shares the age characteristics of the second user (eg, the second user The age of the user can be determined to be within the age range of the users (under 15 years old) who must follow the order.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine whether the command shares the second user's "relationship with other users" characteristic. The media guidance application may retrieve the relationship of the second user with other users from the profile (eg, the second user is the son of the first user). The media guidance application may retrieve the relationship characteristics of the command (eg, a hierarchy of who should follow the command based on the relationship between the user providing the command and the user receiving the command). The media guidance application may determine, based on the hierarchy, whether the second user should follow the first user's instructions. In response to “Yes”, determining that the second user should follow the instructions of the first user, the media guidance application may determine that the instruction shares the “relationship with other users” characteristic with the second user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine whether the command shares the "time of day" characteristic of the second user. The media guidance application may retrieve a "time of day" characteristic from the profile of the second user (eg, the user following a command from the first user between 5 pm and 8 pm every day). The time of day characteristic may be a predetermined value generated from an input from the first user to the profile of the second user. The media guidance application may determine the time of day (eg, 7:02 pm) for which the command was issued by the first user. The media guidance application can compare this time to the time of day characteristic, and since the time the command was issued is within a time frame from the time of day characteristic, it can determine that the command shares the time of day characteristic with the second user. .

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determines whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user, the media guidance application determines the ranking of the first user and The ranking of the second user can be searched. The media guidance application can retrieve the rank of the first user and the rank of the second user from the profiles, where the rank is a preset value based on user input (e.g., the first user is all users with user accounts. Select the order of their ranking). For example, the media guidance application may be the first user's ranking (e.g., the first user is ranked first among 5 users) and the second user's ranking (e.g., the second user is 5 Ranked fourth among users).

The media guidance application may determine, from the ranking, whether the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user. For example, the media guidance application may determine that a first user (eg, in a first ranking) is in a higher ranking than a second user (eg, in a second ranking).

In response to determining that the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user, the media guidance application may modify the playback of the media asset. For example, in response to determining that the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user, the media guidance application may modify the playback of the media asset (eg, pause the currently playing movie).

In response to determining that the second user is in a higher ranking than the first user, the media guidance application may continue to play the media asset. For example, in response to determining that the second user is in a higher ranking than the first user, the media guidance application may continue playing the media asset (eg, a movie the second user is watching).

In response to determining that the command shares the characteristic, the media guidance application may modify the playback of the media asset. For example, in response to determining that the command shares a characteristic, the media guidance application may modify the playback of the media asset (eg, pause playback of the media asset).

The media guidance application may determine a particular type of playback modification (eg, pause, mute, rewind, fast forward, off, etc.) based on preferences for the first user. The media guidance application may retrieve the first user's preferences from the playback modification database in the first user's profile. The media guidance application can retrieve the playback modification from the database corresponding to the command. Playback modifications corresponding to each command may be preset by the editor or by input from the first user.

For example, the media guidance application may determine a particular type of playback modification based on the preferences of the first user. The media guidance application may retrieve the first user's preferences from the playback modification database in the first user's profile. The media guidance application may retrieve a playback modification (eg, turning off playback of a media asset) from a database corresponding to the command (eg, have dinner).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect an instruction from the first user for the second user and the third user. For example, the media guidance application may detect a command (eg, have dinner) from a first user to a second user and a third user. The media guidance application can detect the command using methods similar to those described above.

The media guide application may determine a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on the user profile of the first user, the user profile of the second user, and the user profile of the third user. The media guidance application can determine the desired outcome of the command using methods similar to those described above.

The media guide application may detect a first action executed by a second user and a second action executed by a third user. For example, the media guidance application may include a first action by a second user (e.g., a second user raising the volume of a movie) and a second action executed by a third user (e.g., motion sensor May detect that the third user leaves the viewing environment to go to eat dinner). The media guidance application may detect a first action executed by a second user and a second action executed by a third user using methods similar to those described above to detect actions.

The media guidance application may compare the action of the second user and the action of the third user with a desired result of the command. For example, the media guidance application can be used for a second user's action (e.g., increasing the volume of a movie via a remote control) and a third user's action (e.g., a motion sensor may cause the third user to leave the viewing environment). Detection) can be compared to the desired result of the command (eg, a second user and a third user going for dinner).

In response to determining that the action of the second user and the action of the third user do not correspond to the desired result of the command, the media guidance application retrieves the characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user and The third user's characteristics can be retrieved from the profile.

The media guidance application may determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on a command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user. For example, the media guidance application may include a command detected from a first user (e.g., eat dinner) and retrieved characteristics of the first user (e.g., ranking, etc.) and retrieved characteristics of a third user (e.g. For example, it may be decided to modify the playback of the media asset based on the ranking, etc.) because the ranking of the command is higher than that of the second user and that of the third user. As another example, the media guidance application may include a command detected from a first user (e.g., eat dinner) and retrieved characteristics of the first user (e.g., ranking, etc.) and retrieved characteristics of a third user (e.g. For example, it may be decided not to modify the playback of the media asset based on the ranking, etc., because the ranking of the second user and the ranking of the third user are higher than that of the command and the first user.

As another example, the media guidance application may include a command detected from a first user (e.g., eat dinner) and retrieved characteristics of the first user (e.g., ranking, etc.) and retrieved characteristics of a third user (e.g. For example, it may be decided to partially modify the playback of the media asset based on the ranking, etc.) because only the ranking of the third user is higher than the ranking of the command and the first user.

The amount of content available to users in any given content delivery system can be substantial. As a result, many users desire a form of media guidance through an interface that allows users to efficiently navigate content selections and allows users to easily identify the content they may want. Applications that provide such guidance are referred to herein as interactive media guidance applications or, sometimes, media guidance applications or guidance applications.

Interactive media guidance applications can take a variety of forms depending on the content they provide guidance. One typical type of media guide application is an interactive television program guide. Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to as electronic program guides) are, inter alia, a well-known guidance application that allows users to navigate and locate many types of content or media assets. The interactive media guidance application can create a graphical user interface screen that allows users to navigate, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms “media asset” and “content” refer to television programming as well as pay-per-view programs, as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems. Such) on-demand programs, Internet content (e.g. streaming content, downloadable content, webcast, etc.), video clips, audio, content information, pictures, rotated images, documents, playlists, websites, It should be understood to mean electronically consumable user property, such as articles, books, ebooks, blogs, chat sessions, social media, applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/or combinations thereof. . Guidance applications also allow users to navigate and locate content. As referred to herein, the term “multimedia” refers to content that uses at least two different content types described above, for example text, audio, image, video, or interactivity content form. It should be understood as meaning. Content may be recorded, played back, displayed or accessed by the user equipment device, as well as part of a live performance.

A media guidance application and/or any instructions for performing any of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes any media capable of storing data. Computer-readable media may be temporary, including, but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals, or hard disk, floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media card, register memory, processor cache, random It may be non-transitory, including, but not limited to, volatile and nonvolatile computer memory or storage devices such as access memory (“RAM”), and the like.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speed wireless networks, users who have not traditionally been accessing media on user equipment devices. As referred to herein, the phrases “user equipment device”, “user equipment”, “user device”, “electronic device”, “electronic equipment”, “media equipment device”, or “media device” means television, Integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling smart TVs, set-top boxes, satellite television, digital storage devices, digital media receivers (DMR), digital media adapters (DMAs), streaming Media device, DVD player, DVD recorder, connected DVD, local media server, BLU-RAY player, BLU-RAY recorder, personal computer (PC), laptop computer, tablet computer, WebTV box, personal computer television ( PC/TV), PC media server, PC media center, handheld computer, stationary telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile phone, portable video player, portable music player, portable gaming machine, smartphone, or It is to be understood to mean any device for accessing the content described above, such as any other television equipment, computing equipment, or wireless device, and/or combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing and rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angled screens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On such a user equipment device, a user can navigate and locate the same content available through a television. As a result, media guidance may also be available on such devices. The guidance provided is for content that is only available through a television, for content that is only available through one or more of the other types of user equipment devices, or through both of one or more of the televisions and other types of user equipment devices. It may be about possible content. The media guidance application may be provided as an online application (ie, provided on a website), or as a standalone application or client on a user equipment device. Various devices and platforms capable of implementing a media guidance application are described in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to provide media guidance data to the user. As referred to herein, the phrases “media guide data” or “guide data” should be understood to mean any data related to content or data used to operate a guide application. For example, the guide data includes program information, guide application settings, user preferences, user profile information, media listings, media related information (e.g., broadcast time, broadcast channel, title, description, rating information (e.g., Parental control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information, actor information, logo data for a broadcaster's or provider's logo, etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition ( standard definition), high definition, 3D, etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type of guidance data to help users navigate and locate their desired content selection. can do.

2 and 3 illustrate exemplary display screens that may be used to provide media guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 may be implemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. Although the displays of FIGS. 2 and 3 are illustrated as full screen displays, they may also be wholly or partially overlaid over the content being displayed. The user selects the selectable options provided on the display screen (e.g., menu options, listing options, icons, hyperlinks, etc.) or a remote control or other user input interface or a dedicated button on the device (e.g., a GUIDE button). You can display your desire to access the content information by pressing ). Responsive to the user's indication, the media guidance application can be used in the grid by time and channel, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category (e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other programming categories). Media guidance data configured in one of several ways, such as ), or other predefined, user-defined, or other configuration criteria may be provided to the display screen.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary grid of program listing displays 200 arranged by time and channel, which also allows access to different types of content on a single display. The display 200 may include: (1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 204-each channel/content type identifier (which is a cell within the column) identifying a different channel or content type available; And (2) a row of temporal identifiers 206-each temporal identifier (which is a cell within a row) identifies a time block of programming-and a grid 202. Grid 202 also includes a cell of program listings, such as program listing 208, where each listing provides a title of a program offered at the listing's associated channel and time. Using the user input device, the user can select a program listing by moving the highlight area 210. Information on the program listing selected by the highlight area 210 may be provided in the program information area 212. Area 212 may include, for example, a program title, a program description, a time when the program is provided (if applicable), a channel on which the program is being broadcast (if applicable), a rating of the program, and other desired information. have.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., content scheduled to be sent to a plurality of user equipment devices at a predetermined time and provided on a schedule), media guidance applications It also provides access to non-linear programming (eg, content that is accessible by the user equipment device at any time and is not provided on a schedule). Non-linear programming includes on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content (e.g., any user equipment device described above). Or content stored on another storage device), or other time-independent content, from different content sources. On-demand content may include movies or any other content provided by certain content providers (eg, HBO On Demand offering “The Sopranos” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a Time Warner Company L.P. And the like, and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM are trademarks owned by Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content may include content available on-demand as downloadable content or streaming content through a web event, such as a chat session or webcast, or through an Internet website or other Internet access (e.g., FTP). have.

The grid 202 can provide media guidance data for non-linear programming, including on-demand listings 214, recorded content listings 216, and Internet content listings 218. A display that combines media guidance data for content from different types of content sources is sometimes referred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of the types of media guidance data that may be displayed different from the display 200 are user selection or guidance application definitions (e.g., recorded and broadcast listings only, on-demand and broadcast listings only, etc. display). Can be based on As illustrated, listings 214, 216, and 218 indicate that selection of this listing may provide access to dedicated displays, respectively, to on-demand listings, recorded listings, or Internet listings. It is shown as spanning the entire block of time displayed in the grid 202 for use. In some embodiments, listings for this type of content may be included directly in grid 202. Additional media guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selecting one of the navigational icons 220. (Pressing an arrow key on the user input device can affect the display in a manner similar to selecting the navigation icons 220.)

Display 200 may also include a video area 222 and an option area 226. The video region 222 may enable a user to view and/or preview programs currently available, available, or available to the user. The content of the video area 222 may correspond to one of the listings displayed in the grid 202 or may be independent of that one. A grid display that includes a video area is sometimes referred to as a picture-in-guide (PIG) display. The PIG display and its functionality are described in more detail in U.S. Patent No. 6,564,378 to Satterfield et al., issued May 13, 2003, and U.S. Patent No. 6,239,794 to Yuen et al., issued May 29, 2001. Are hereby incorporated in their entirety herein by reference. The PIG display may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the embodiments described herein.

The option area 226 may allow a user to access different types of content, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidance application features. The option area 226 may be part of the display 200 (and other display screens described herein), or select an on-screen option or a dedicated or assignable button on a user input device. It can be invoked by the user by pressing. The selectable options in the options area 226 may relate to features related to program listings in the grid 202, or may include options available from the main menu display. Features related to program listings include searching for different broadcast times or methods of receiving programs, recording programs, enabling series recording of programs, setting programs and/or channels as favorites. It may include things, buying programs, or other features. Options available from the main menu display include navigation options, VOD options, parental control options, internet options, cloud-based options, device sync options, second screen device options, options to access various types of media guidance data displays, and premium services. It may include the option of signing up, editing the user's profile, accessing the browse overlay, or other options.

The media guidance application can be personalized based on the user's preferences. The personalized media guidance application allows the user to customize the display and features to create a personalized “experience” using the media guidance application. Such personalized experiences may be created by allowing the user to enter such customizations and/or by media guidance applications monitoring user activity to determine various user preferences. Users can access their personalized guidance application by logging into the guidance application or by otherwise identifying the guidance application. The customization of the media guide application can be made according to the user profile. Customization can be based on various presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of the display, font size of text, etc.), the aspect of the displayed content listing (e.g., HDTV only or 3D programming only, favorite channel selection). Custom broadcast channels, re-ordering of the channel's display, recommended content, etc.), desired recording characteristics (e.g. recording for a specific user or series recording, recording quality, etc.), parental control settings, Internet It may include customized presentation of content (eg, presentation of social media content, email, electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desired customizations.

The media guide application may allow a user to provide user profile information or may automatically compile user profile information. The media guidance application may, for example, monitor content accessed by the user and/or other interactions the user may have with the guidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application may be (e.g., from other websites on the Internet that the user accesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applications that the user accesses, other interactive applications that the user accesses. From, from the user's other user equipment device, etc.) to obtain all or part of other user profiles related to a particular user, and/or obtain information about the user from other sources accessible to the media guidance application. can do. As a result, the user can be provided with a unified guidance application experience across the user's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience is described in more detail below in connection with FIG. 5. Additional personalized media guidance application features include U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0251827 to Ellis et al, filed July 11, 2005, U.S. Patent No. 7,165,098 to Boyer et al., filed January 16, 2007, and It is described in more detail in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0174430 to Ellis et al, filed February 21, 2002, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown in FIG. 3. The video mosaic display 300 includes selectable options 302 for content information that is organized based on content type, genre, and/or other configuration criteria. At display 300, a television listing option 304 is selected, thus providing listings 306, 308, 310, and 312 as broadcast program listings. In display 300, the listing includes cover art, still images from the content, video clip previews, live video from the content, or other types of content that represent the content to the user as described by the media guidance data in the listing. You can provide a graphic image. Each of the graphical listings may also be accompanied by text to provide additional information about the content associated with the listing. For example, listing 308 may include more than one portion, including media portion 314 and text portion 316. Media portion 314 and/or text portion to view the content in full screen or to view information related to the content displayed in media portion 314 (e.g., to view a listing for the channel on which the video is displayed) 316 may be selectable.

Although the listings in display 300 have different sizes (ie listing 306 is larger than listings 308, 310, and 312), all listings can be the same size, if desired. Listings may have different sizes or may be graphically emphasized, as desired by the content provider or based on user preferences, to indicate a degree of interest to the user or to highlight specific content. Various systems and methods for graphically highlighting content listings are discussed, for example, in Yates' U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed on November 12, 2009, which U.S. application is hereby incorporated in its entirety. Is incorporated herein by reference.

Users can access the content and media guidance application (and its display screen described above and below) from one or more of their user equipment devices. 4 shows a generalized embodiment of an exemplary user equipment device 400. A more specific implementation of a user equipment device is discussed below in connection with FIG. 5. The user equipment device 400 may receive content and data through an input/output (hereinafter “I/O”) path 402. I/O path 402 includes content (e.g., broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, content available over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), and/or other content) and data. May be provided to the control circuit unit 404, including the processing circuit unit 406 and the storage 408. The control circuitry 404 may be used to transmit and receive commands, requests, and other suitable data using the I/O path 402. I/O path 402 may connect control circuitry 404 (and specifically processing circuitry 406) to one or more communication paths (described below). I/O functionality may be provided by one or more of these communication paths, but is shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the diagram.

Control circuitry 404 can be based on any suitable processing circuitry, such as processing circuitry 406. As referred to herein, the processing circuit unit refers to a circuit unit based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and the like. It should be understood that it is a multi-core processor (eg, dual core, quad core, hexa core, or any suitable number of cores) or a supercomputer. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry comprises a number of separate processors or processing units, e.g., a number of processing units of the same type (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or a number of different processors ( For example, it can be distributed across Intel Core i5 processors and Intel Core i7 processors). In some embodiments, the control circuitry 404 executes instructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (ie, storage 408). Specifically, the control circuitry 404 may be instructed by the media guidance application to perform the functions discussed above and below. For example, the media guidance application may provide an instruction to the control circuitry 404 to generate a media guidance display. In some implementations, any action performed by the control circuitry 404 may be based on an indication received from the media guidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, the control circuitry 404 may include communication circuitry suitable for communicating with the guidance application server or other networks or servers. Instructions for performing the above-mentioned functionality may be stored on the guidance application server. The communication circuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, an Ethernet card, or a wireless modem for communication with other equipment, or any other suitable communication circuitry. I can. Such communication may involve the Internet (described in more detail in connection with FIG. 5) or any other suitable communication networks or paths. In addition, the communication circuitry may include circuitry that enables peer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communication of user equipment devices located at remote locations (described in more detail below).

The memory may be an electronic storage device that is provided as a storage 408 that is part of the control circuit portion 404. As referred to herein, the phrase “electronic storage device” or “storage device” means random access memory, read-only memory, hard drive, optical drive, digital video disc (DVD) recorder, compact disc (CD) recorder, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorder, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorder, digital video recorder (DVR, sometimes called personal video recorder or PVR), solid state device, quantum storage device, It should be understood to mean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, or firmware, such as a gaming console, gaming medium, or any other suitable fixed or removable storage device, and/or any combination thereof. . Storage 408 may be used to store various types of content described herein as well as media guidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory can also be used (eg, to launch boot-up routines and other instructions). Cloud-based storage, described in connection with FIG. 5, may be used to supplement storage 408 or in place of storage 408.

Control circuitry 404 includes video generation circuitry and tuning circuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2 decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, a high-definition tuner, or any other suitable tuning or video circuit or combination of such circuits. It may include. An encoding circuitry (eg, for converting an over-the-air, analog, or digital signal to an MPEG signal for storage) may also be provided. The control circuitry 404 may also include scaler circuitry for upconverting and downconverting the content to the preferred output format of the user equipment 400. Circuitry 404 may also include digital-to-analog converter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry for converting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encoding circuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and display content, to play back, or to record. The tuning and encoding circuitry can also be used to receive the guidance data. Circuitry described herein, including, for example, tuning, video generation, encoding, decoding, encryption, decryption, scaler, and analog/digital circuitry may be implemented using software running on one or more general purpose or specialty processors. have. Multiple tuners may be provided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (eg, viewing and recording functions, picture-in-picture functions, multiple tuner recording, etc.). If storage 408 is provided as a separate device from user equipment 400, tuning and encoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated with storage 408.

The user may transmit an instruction to the control circuit unit 404 using the user input interface 410. User input interface 410 may be any suitable user interface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard, touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognition interface, or other user input interfaces. . Display 412 may be provided as a standalone device or may be integrated with other elements of user equipment device 400. For example, the display 412 may be a touch screen or a touch-sensitive display. In such situations, user input interface 410 may be integrated with display 412 or may be combined with display 512. The display 412 is a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, an amorphous silicon display, a low temperature polysilicon display, an electronic ink display, an electrophoretic display, an active matrix display, an electro-wetting display, Electrofluidic display, cathode ray tube display, light emitting diode display, electroluminescent display, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display, thin film transistor display, organic light emitting diode display, surface conduction electron emission display It may be one or more of a surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), a laser television, a carbon nanotube, a quantum dot display, an interferometric modulator display, or any other suitable equipment for displaying a visual image. In some embodiments, the display 412 may be HDTV-capable. In some embodiments, display 412 may be a 3D display, and interactive media guidance applications and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. A video card or graphics card may generate output to display 412. The video card can provide various functions such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be any processing circuitry described above with respect to the control circuitry 404. The video card can be integrated with the control circuitry 404. Speakers 414 may be provided as being integrated with other elements of user equipment device 400 or may be standalone units. Audio components of video and other content displayed on display 412 may be played through speakers 414. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes the audio and outputs it through speakers 414.

Guidance applications can be implemented using any suitable architecture. For example, this may be a standalone application implemented entirely on user equipment device 400. In such an approach, the instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., storage 408), and data for use by the application (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource). , Or using another suitable approach). The control circuitry 404 can retrieve the instructions of the application from the storage 408 and process the instructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based on the processed instructions, the control circuitry 404 can determine what action to perform when an input is received from the input interface 410. For example, when the input interface 410 indicates that the up/down button has been selected, the up/down movement of the cursor on the display may be indicated by the processed instructions.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-server based application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented on user equipment device 400 is retrieved on-demand by issuing a request to a server remote to user equipment device 400. In one example of a client-server based guidance application, the control circuitry 404 launches a web browser that interprets a web page provided by a remote server. For example, the remote server can store instructions for the application on a storage device. The remote server may process the stored instructions using circuitry (eg, control circuitry 404) and generate the displays discussed above and below. The client device may receive displays generated by the remote server and may display the contents of the displays locally on the equipment device 400. In this way, the processing of instructions is performed remotely by the server, while the resulting displays are provided locally on the equipment device 400. Equipment device 400 may receive inputs from a user via input interface 410 and transmit the inputs to a remote server to process and generate corresponding displays. For example, the equipment device 400 may transmit a communication indicating that the up/down button is selected to the remote server through the input interface 410. The remote server may process instructions according to the input and generate a display of the application corresponding to the input (eg, a display that moves the cursor up/down). The generated display is then transmitted to the equipment device 400 for presentation to a user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded and interpreted by an interpreter or virtual machine (executed by the control circuitry 404), or otherwise executed. In some embodiments, the guidance application is encoded in EBIF (ETV Binary Interchange Format), received by the control circuitry 404 as part of a suitable feed, and can be interpreted by a user agent running on the control circuitry 404. have. For example, the guidance application may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be defined by a series of Java-based files that are received and executed by a local virtual machine or other suitable middleware executed by the control circuitry 404. In some of such embodiments (e.g., those using MPEG-2 or other digital media encoding schemes), the guidance application is, for example, an MPEG-2 object carousel with MPEG audio and video packets of the program. MPEG-2 object carousel) can be encoded and transmitted.

User equipment device 400 of FIG. 4 can be used for content, such as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communication device 506, or a non-portable gaming machine in system 500 of FIG. 5. It can be implemented as any other type of user equipment suitable for accessing the. For simplicity, these devices may be collectively referred to herein as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may be substantially similar to the user equipment devices described above. User equipment devices on which a media guidance application may be implemented may function as a standalone device or may be part of a network of devices. Various network configurations of devices can be implemented and are discussed in more detail below.

User equipment devices that utilize at least some of the system features described above with respect to FIG. 4 may not be classified solely as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, or wireless user communication device 506. For example, user television equipment 502 may be Internet-enabled, such as some user computer equipment 504, to enable access to Internet content, while user computer equipment 504 , Such as some television equipment 502, may include a tuner that enables access to television programming. The media guidance application may have the same layout on a variety of different types of user equipment or may be customized to the display capabilities of the user equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 504, the guidance application may be presented as a web site accessed by a web browser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled down for the wireless user communication device 506.

In system 500, there are typically more than one of each type of user equipment device, but only one of each type is shown in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the diagram. In addition, each user may use more than one type of user equipment device and also more than one each type of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (eg, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communication device 506) may be referred to as a “second screen device”. For example, the second screen device may supplement content presented on the first user equipment device. The content presented on the second screen device can be any suitable content that supplements the content presented on the first device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides an interface for adjusting the settings and display preferences of the first device. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured to interact with other second screen devices or to interact with a social network. The second screen device may be located in the same room as the first device, in a different room than the first device but in the same house or building, or in a different building than the first device.

The user can also set various settings to maintain consistent media guidance application settings across home and remote devices. Settings include, as well as those described herein, channel and program favorites, programming preferences the guidance application uses to make programming recommendations, display preferences, and other desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channel as a favorite on his personal computer in his office, e.g. on the website www.Tivo.com, the same channel would be the user's home device (e.g. For example, user television equipment and user computer equipment), as well as if desired, will appear as favorites on the user's mobile device. Thus, changes made on one user equipment device may change the guided experience on another user equipment device, regardless of whether they are the same or different types of user equipment devices. In addition, changes made may be based on settings entered by the user as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment device can be coupled to the communication network 514. That is, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wireless user communication device 506 are coupled to communication network 514 via communication paths 508, 510, and 512, respectively. The communication network 514 includes the Internet, a mobile phone network, a mobile voice or data network (e.g., a 4G or LTE network), a cable network, a public switched telephone network, or another type of communication network or combination of communication networks. There may be more than one network. Paths 508, 510, and 512 may be a satellite path, a fiber optic path, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communication (eg, IPTV), a free space connection (eg, for broadcast or other wireless signal), or One or more communication paths may be included individually or together, such as any other suitable wired or wireless communication path or a combination of such paths. Path 512 is drawn with dashed lines to indicate that this is a wireless path, in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5, and paths 508 and 510 are drawn with solid lines to indicate that they are wired paths (but These paths can be wireless paths, if desired). Communication with user equipment devices may be provided by one or more of these communication paths, but is shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the diagram.

Although communication paths are not drawn between user equipment devices, these devices include communication paths, such as those described above with respect to paths 508, 510, and 512, as well as USB cable, IEEE 1394 cable, They may communicate directly with each other via other short range point-to-point communication communication paths, such as wireless paths (eg, Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or other short range communications over wired or wireless paths. Bluetooth is a certification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. User equipment devices may also communicate directly with each other via an indirect path via communication network 514.

The system 500 includes a content source 516 and a media guide data source 518 coupled to a communication network 514 via communication paths 520 and 522, respectively. Paths 520 and 522 may include any of the communication paths described above with respect to paths 508, 510, and 512. Communication with the content source 516 and the media guidance data source 518 may be exchanged over more than one communication path, but is shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the diagram. In addition, there may be more than one of each of the content source 516 and the media guide data source 518, but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to avoid overly complicating the drawing. (Each of these sources of different types are discussed below.) If desired, the content source 516 and the media guidance data source 518 may be integrated as one source device. Although communication between sources 516 and 518 and user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 is shown as via communication network 514, in some embodiments, sources 516 and 518 May communicate directly with user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 via communication paths (not shown) such as those described above with respect to paths 508, 510, and 512.

Content sources 516 include television distribution facilities, cable system headends, satellite distribution facilities, programming sources (e.g., television stations, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediate distribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, and -May include one or more types of content distribution equipment, including on-demand media servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by American Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by Home Box Office, Inc. The content source 516 may be an originator of the content (eg, a television station, a webcast provider, etc.) or may not be the creator of the content (eg, an on-demand content provider, for download). Internet providers of broadcast program content). Content sources 516 may include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers, over-the-top content providers, or other content providers. Content source 516 may also include a remote media server used to store different types of content (including video content selected by the user) at a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. have. Systems and methods for remote storage of content and for providing remotely stored content to user equipment are discussed in more detail in connection with U.S. Patent No. 7,761,892 to Ellis et al., issued on July 20, 2010. The patents are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

The media guide data source 518 may provide media guide data, such as the media guide data described above. Media guidance data may be provided to user equipment devices using any suitable approach. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be a standalone interactive television program guide that receives program guide data via a data feed (eg, a continuous feed or a trickle feed). Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to user equipment in the television channel sideband, using in-band digital signals, out-of-band digital signals, or by any other suitable data transmission technique. I can. Program schedule data and other media guidance data may be provided to user equipment on a number of analog or digital television channels.

In some embodiments, the guidance data from the media guidance data source 518 may be provided to the user's equipment using a client-server approach. For example, the user equipment device may pull media guidance data from the server, or the server may push the media guidance data to the user equipment device. In some embodiments, the guidance application client present on the user's equipment is informed when necessary, e.g., when the guidance data is out of date or when the user equipment device receives a request from the user to receive the data. Sessions with source 518 may be initiated to obtain data. Media announcements may be provided to the user equipment at any suitable frequency (eg, continuously, daily, every user specified time period, every system specified time period, in response to a request from the user equipment, etc.). The media guidance data source 518 may provide the media guidance application itself or a software update to the media guidance application to the user equipment devices 502, 504 and 506.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data. For example, viewer data may include current and/or past user activity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches, at what time of the day the user views the content, the user interacts with the social network). Whether it is working, at what time the user interacts with the social network to post information, what type of content the user typically watches (e.g. pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information, etc. ) Can be included. The media guidance data may also include subscription data. For example, subscription data may be based on which source or service a given user subscribes to and/or to which source or service a given user previously subscribed to but later ended access (e.g. whether the user subscribes to a premium channel). , Whether the user has added a premium-level service, whether the user has increased the internet speed) can be identified. In some embodiments, viewer data and/or subscription data may identify patterns of a given user over a period of more than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (eg, a survivor model) used to generate a score indicating the likelihood that a given user will terminate access to the service/source. For example, a media guidance application may use the model to process viewer data along with subscription data to generate a value or score indicating the likelihood of a given user ending access to a particular service or source. . Specifically, a higher score may indicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminate access to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the media guidance application can create a promotion that entices the user to maintain a particular service or source indicated by the score as likely to end access.

The media guidance application can be, for example, a standalone application implemented on user equipment devices. For example, the media guidance application may be implemented as a set of executable instructions or software that may be stored in storage 408 and executed by control circuitry 404 of user equipment device 400. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may be a client-server application where only the client application resides on the user equipment device and the server application resides on a remote server. For example, the media guidance application may be a server application (e.g., media guidance data source 518) running in part as a client application on control circuitry 404 of user equipment device 400 and partly on control circuitry on a remote server. )) can be implemented on a remote server. When executed by the control circuitry of a remote server (such as the media guidance data source 518), the media guidance application may instruct the control circuitry to generate a guidance application display and transmit the generated display to the user equipment device. The server application may direct the control circuitry of the media guidance data source 518 to transmit data for storage on the user equipment. The client application may instruct the control circuitry of the receiving user equipment to generate a guided application display.

The content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT content delivery allows an Internet-enabled user device, including any user equipment device described above, to receive content transmitted over the Internet, including the content described above, in addition to the content received via cable or satellite connection. Make it possible. OTT content is delivered through an Internet connection provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP may not be responsible for the viewing capability, copyright, or redistribution of the content, and may only transmit IP packets provided by the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers include YOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video over IP packets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is a trademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu, LLC. The OTT content provider may additionally or alternatively provide the media guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or media guidance data, providers of OTT content may distribute media guidance applications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications), or media guidance applications whose content is stored on user equipment devices. Can be displayed by

The media guidance system 500 is intended to describe a number of approaches or network configurations in which a user equipment device and a source of content and guidance data can communicate with each other for the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. The embodiments described herein may be applied in any or a subset of these approaches, or in a system that uses other approaches to deliver content and provide media guidance. The following four approaches provide specific examples of the generalized example of FIG. 5.

In one approach, user equipment devices can communicate with each other within a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with each other directly through the short-range point-to-point communication scheme described above, through an indirect path through a hub or other similar device provided on the home network, or through the communication network 514. have. Each of multiple individuals within a single home may operate different user equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may be desirable for various media guidance information or settings to be communicated between different user equipment devices. For example, a user can set up a consistent media guidance application on different user equipment devices within a home network, as described in more detail in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0251827 to Ellis et al. filed July 11, 2005. It may be desirable to maintain. Different types of user equipment devices within a home network can also communicate with each other to transfer content. For example, a user may transfer content from a user's computer equipment to a portable video player or portable music player.

In a second approach, a user may have multiple types of user equipment for the user to access content and obtain media announcements. For example, some users may have a home network that is accessed in-home and by mobile devices. The user can control the device in the home through the media guidance application implemented on the remote device. For example, a user can access an online media guidance application on a website through a personal computer in his office, or through a mobile device such as a PDA or web-enabled mobile phone. The user can set various settings (eg, recording, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidance application to control the user's home equipment. The online guide may control the user's equipment either directly or by communicating with a media guidance application on the user's home equipment. When user equipment devices are located in distant locations from each other, various systems and methods for user equipment devices to communicate are discussed, for example, in U.S. Patent No. 8,046,801 to Ellis et al. issued on October 25, 2011. , This US patent is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

In a third approach, a user of a user equipment device inside and outside the home can use their media guidance application to communicate directly with the content source 516 to access content. Specifically, within the home, users of user television equipment 502 and user computer equipment 504 can access media guidance applications to navigate and locate desirable content. Users can also access media guidance applications outside the home using the wireless user communication device 506 to navigate and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, the user equipment device can operate in a cloud computing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computing environment, various types of computing services (eg, video sharing sites or social networking sites) for content sharing, storage or distribution are network-accessible computing and storage resources, referred to as “cloud”. Provided by the collection of For example, the cloud is a server, which can be located in centrally or distributed locations, providing cloud-based services to various types of users and devices connected through a network such as the Internet through a communication network 514 It may contain a collection of computing devices. These cloud resources may include one or more content sources 516 and one or more media guidance data sources 518. Additionally or alternatively, the remote computing site may include other user equipment devices, such as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wireless user communication device 506. For example, other user equipment devices may provide access to streamed video or stored copies of video. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in a peer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides for user equipment devices, for example, access to services, such as content storage, content sharing, or social networking services, as well as access to any content described above. The service may be provided in the cloud through a cloud computing service provider or through another provider of online services. For example, a cloud-based service is a content storage service, content sharing site, social networking site, or other user-sourced content distributed for viewing by others on connected devices. May include services. Such cloud-based services may enable user equipment devices to store content in the cloud and receive content from the cloud, rather than storing content locally and accessing locally stored content.

A user can use a variety of content capture devices, such as camcorders, digital cameras with video modes, audio recorders, mobile phones, and handheld computing devices to record content. A user may upload content directly to a content storage service on the cloud, for example, from user computer equipment 504 or wireless user communication device 506 with a content capture feature. Alternatively, the user may first transmit the content to a user equipment device, such as user computer equipment 504. A user equipment device that stores the content uploads the content to the cloud using a data transfer service on the communication network 514. In some embodiments, the user equipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipment devices can access the content directly from the user equipment device where the user has stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by the user equipment device using, for example, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktop application, a mobile application, and/or any combination of access applications thereof. The user equipment device may be a cloud client that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or the user equipment device may have some functionality that does not have access to cloud resources. For example, some applications running on the user equipment device may be cloud applications, that is, applications delivered as services over the Internet, while other applications may be stored and executed on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, the user device can receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. For example, the user device may stream audio from one cloud resource while downloading content from the second cloud resource. Alternatively, the user device may download content from multiple cloud resources for more efficient download. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may use cloud resources for processing operations, such as processing operations performed by processing circuitry described in connection with FIG. 4.

As referred to herein, the term "in response to" refers to initiated as a result of. For example, that the first action is performed in response to the second action may include interstitial steps between the first action and the second action. As mentioned herein, the term "directly in response to" refers to caused by. For example, that the first action is performed directly in response to the second action may not include intermediate steps between the first action and the second action.

6 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for encouraging a recipient of an instruction to execute an instruction by converting a non-playback instruction into an appropriate playback modification, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 600, and any of the following processes, may be executed by control circuitry 404 (eg, in a manner directed to control circuitry 404 by a media guidance application). The control circuitry 404 is a user equipment that may have any or all of the functions of user equipment (e.g., user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and/or wireless communication device 506). (100)), or may be part of a remote server separate from the user equipment via the communication network 514, or distributed through a combination of both.

Process 600 begins at 602, where control circuitry 404 determines an instruction from first user 102 for second user 106. The control circuitry 404 detects the audio output 104 from the first user 102 using a sensor, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and/or wireless user communication device 512. Determine an instruction from the first user 102 for the second user 106. For example, the control circuit portion 404 uses an audio sensor to detect a verbal output from the first user 102 (eg, “It's time to eat dinner!”) to the second user 106 1 Can determine an order from user 102 (eg, eat dinner).

At 604, the control circuitry 404 compares the command to a set of play operation commands for the media asset currently being played. The control circuitry 404 retrieves a set of play operation instructions for the media asset from the storage 408 or via the communication network 514. The control circuitry 404 compares the command to the set of playback operations retrieved using the processing circuitry 406. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may issue a command (for example, "eat dinner") to a set of play operation commands (for example, pause, play, rewind, fast forward, Stop, mute, etc.).

At 606, the control circuitry 404 determines whether or not the instruction is included in the regeneration operation set. At 606, if the control circuitry 404 determines "Yes", and that the instruction is included in the regeneration operation set, the process 606 returns to the process 602.

If, at 606, the control circuitry 404 determines that "No", the instruction is not included in the regeneration operation set, then process 606 continues to process 608. At 608, the control circuitry 404 determines whether the second user 106 executes the desired result of the command. The control circuitry 404 determines whether or not the second user 106 executes the command using methods similar to those described above. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may detect an action executed by the second user 106 using the wireless user communication device 506 (eg, determine whether the user leaves the viewing environment or not. To track the user's phone).

At 610, in response to determining that the second user does not execute the desired result of the command, the control circuitry 404 determines whether to modify the playback of the media asset. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may search for a ranking of each of the users stored in the storage 408 or searched through the communication network 514. The control circuit unit 404 determines whether the first user 102 has a higher priority than the second user 106, and determines that the first user 102 has a higher priority than the second user 106 In response to doing so, the control circuitry 404 may modify the playback of the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may mute the volume of playback of media asset 108 via speakers 414. As another example, the media guidance application can turn off the display 412.

7 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for encouraging a recipient of an instruction to execute an instruction by converting a non-playback instruction into an appropriate playback modification, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 700 begins at 702, where control circuitry 404 detects an instruction from first user 104 for second user 106. The control circuitry 404 detects the audio output 104 from the first user 102 using a sensor, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and/or wireless user communication device 506. Detects an instruction from the first user 102 to the second user 106. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may detect a command from a first user to a second user by detecting a verbal output from a first user using an audio sensor.

At 704, the control circuitry 404 compares the command to a set of play operation commands for the media asset currently being played by the second user 106. Control circuitry 404 retrieves a set of playback operation instructions for media asset 108 from storage 408 or media guidance data source 518 or via communication network 514. The control circuitry 404 compares the command to the set of playback operations retrieved using the processing circuitry 406. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may retrieve a set of playback operation instructions (eg, pause, play, rewind, fast forward, stop, etc.) from a database in the storage 408. The control circuit unit 404 may compare the command with the retrieved playback operation command set.

At 706, the control circuitry 404 determines whether or not the instruction is included in the regeneration operation set. At 706, if the control circuitry 404 determines "Yes" and that the instruction is included in the set of playback operations, the process 706 returns to the process 702.

If, at 706, the control circuitry 404 determines that no, the instruction is not included in the set of playback operations, then process 706 proceeds to process 708. At 708, the control circuit portion 404 determines that the instruction is not included in the regeneration operation instruction set. For example, the control circuit unit 404 uses the processing circuit unit 406 to allow a command (e.g., eat dinner) to a playback operation instruction set (e.g., pause, play, stop, rewind, fast forward). Etc.).

At 710, the control circuitry 404 determines a desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command, based on the user profile of the first user 102 and the user profile of the second user 106. The control circuitry 404 retrieves the user profile of the first user 102 and the user profile of the second user 106 from the storage 408 or the media guidance data source 518, or through the communication network 514. . The control circuitry 404 determines the desired result of the command using methods similar to those described above.

At 712, the control circuit portion 404 detects an action executed by the second user 106. The control circuitry 404 determines an action to be performed by the second user 106 using methods similar to those described above. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may use the wireless user communication device 506 (e.g., a camera) to detect an action performed by the second user (e.g., when the user leaves the viewing environment). The user's movements to determine whether or not). At 714, the control circuitry 404 compares the action of the second user 106 with the desired result of the command. The control circuitry 404 compares the action of the second user with the desired result of the command using methods similar to those described above. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may compare an action (eg, that the user does not move from the sofa) with a desired result (eg, that the user goes to eat dinner).

At 716, in response to determining that the action of the second user 106 does not correspond to the desired result of the command, the control circuitry 404 determines the properties of the second user 106 from the user profile of the second user 106. Search for them. The control circuitry 404 retrieves the characteristics of the second user from a database in the storage 408 corresponding to the user profile or via the communication network 514. For example, the control circuit unit 404 searches for characteristics of the second user (eg, the second user is 10 years old) from a database in the storage 408 corresponding to the profile of the second user. At 718, the control circuitry 404 determines whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user 102 and the retrieved characteristics of the second user 106. The control circuitry 404 may determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command and retrieved characteristics using methods similar to those described above. For example, the control circuitry 404 may determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the ranking between the two users, as retrieved from a database corresponding to user profiles in the storage 408.

8 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for determining an instruction based on a characteristic of the second user 106, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 800 compares the characteristics from the retrieved characteristics of the second user with the command by the control circuitry 404, where the characteristics are characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship with other users, and time of day. Is selected from the group of commands, where the command begins at 802, which is selected from the group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking and sleeping. Control circuitry 404 retrieves properties from a database in storage 408. The control circuitry 404 compares the characteristic to the command using methods similar to those described above. For example, the control circuitry 404 may compare a characteristic (eg, age) from the retrieved characteristics with a command (eg, meal).

At 804, the control circuitry 404 determines, from the comparison, whether the command shares the characteristics of the second user 106. Control circuitry 404 retrieves the characteristics of the command from a database in storage 408 for use in comparison. For example, the control circuit unit 404, using the processing circuit unit 406, the command (eg, meal) is a characteristic of the second user 106 (eg, the time of the day corresponds to the dinner time) ) To share.

At 806, in response to determining that the command shares the characteristic, the control circuitry 404 modifies the playback of the media asset. For example, control circuitry 404 may pause playback of media assets on user television equipment 502. As another example, the control circuitry 404 may mute the sound (eg, volume 116) of the playback of the media asset through the speakers 414. As another example, the control circuitry 404 may turn off the power of the display 412 that was displaying the playback of the media asset.

9 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for encouraging a recipient of an instruction to execute an instruction by converting a non-playback instruction into an appropriate playback modification, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 900 begins at 902, where the control circuitry 404 detects commands from the first user 102 for the second user 106 and the third user. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may detect a command from a first user to a second user and a third user by detecting a verbal output from a first user using an audio sensor.

At 904, the control circuitry 404, based on the user profile of the first user 102, the user profile of the second user 106 and the user profile of the third user, the desired of the command from the plurality of results of the command. Determine the outcome. For example, the control circuitry 404 may determine the desired result of the command based on retrieving the attributes of the command from a database or media guidance data source 518 in storage 408 or via a communication network 514. .

At 906, the control circuit unit 404 detects a first action executed by a second user and a second action executed by a third user. The control circuit unit 404 determines an action to be executed by the second user and an action to be executed by the third user using methods similar to those described above. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may detect actions executed by the second user and the third user using the wireless user communication device 506 (eg, a camera) (eg, the user Tracking the user's movements to determine whether to leave the viewing environment).

At 908, the control circuitry 404 compares the action of the second user 106 and the action of the third user with the desired result of the command. For example, the control circuitry 404 may have an action of the second user 106 (e.g., still watching a media asset) and an action of a third user (e.g., still watching the media asset). Can be compared to the desired outcome of the command (for example, walking to the table).

At 910, in response to determining that the action of the second user and the action of the third user do not correspond to the desired result of the command, the control circuitry 404 determines the second user 106 from the user profile of the second user 106. ) And the third user's characteristics from the third user's user profile. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may retrieve characteristics of the second user from a database in the storage 408 corresponding to the profile of the second user, and the third user stored on the remote server through the communication network 514 The third user's characteristics can be retrieved from the user's profile.

At 912, the control circuitry 404 determines whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user 102 and the retrieved characteristics of the second user 106 and the retrieved characteristics of the third user. Decide. For example, the control circuitry 404 determines whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the ranking associated with each user.

10 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for determining an instruction based on verbal input 104 of a first user 102, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 1000 begins at 1002, where control circuitry 404 detects verbal input 104 from first user 102. For example, the control circuitry 404 may detect the verbal input 104 from the first user 102 using an audio sensor. In some examples, an audio sensor may be included within user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and/or wireless user communication device 506.

At 1004, the control circuitry 404 compares the verbal input 104 to a database of verbal instructions, where the database includes instructions corresponding to each verbal instruction. Control circuitry 404 retrieves a database of verbal commands from storage 408 or via communication network 514. For example, the control circuitry 404 compares the verbal input (eg, “dinner is ready!”) with a database of verbal commands received from the storage 408. At 1006, the control circuit unit 404 determines, from the user's profile, a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user 102. The control circuitry 404 determines the command corresponding to the verbal input using methods similar to those described above. For example, the control circuitry 404 may use the processing circuitry 406 to compare the spoken input to a database of spoken commands based on keyword matching.

11 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for determining a result based on attributes of an instruction, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 1100 begins at 1102, where control circuitry 404 determines the attributes of the instruction. For example, the control circuitry 404 may determine attributes of the command based on analyzing the audio associated with the command, as described above. At 1104, the control circuitry 404 compares the attributes of the command with attributes of the plurality of results of the command. For example, the control circuitry 404 may compare the attributes of the command to attributes of a plurality of results of the command, which may be retrieved from the storage 408.

At 1106, the control circuit unit 404 determines, from the comparison, one of the plurality of results including the attributes of the command as the desired result. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may determine one of a plurality of results having the highest priority as a desired result.

12 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for detecting whether a second user 106 is leaving the viewing area of a media equipment device presenting a media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 1200 begins at 1202, where control circuitry 404 detects that a second user is executing an instruction to modify the playback of the media asset. For example, the control circuitry 404 may provide a user input command (e.g., a "pause" command) that modifies the playback of the media asset (eg, pauses the media asset) to the user input interface 410 Can be received from

At 1204, control circuitry 404 determines whether the user leaves the viewing environment of the media equipment device that is presenting the media asset. At 1204, if the control circuitry 404 determines "Yes", and the second user 106 is leaving the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset, then process 1204 proceeds to process 1206. . At 1206, the control circuitry 404 uses the sensor to detect that the second user leaves the viewing environment of the media equipment device that is presenting the media asset. For example, the control circuitry 404 may be used to track the movements of the second user to detect when the second user leaves the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset. For example, a camera) can be used.

If, at 1204, the control circuitry 404 determines that “no”, the user is not leaving the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset, then the process 1204 proceeds to 1208. At 1208, the control circuitry 404 detects, using the sensor, that the second user stays in the viewing environment of the media asset device. For example, the control circuitry 404 may communicate with a wireless user to track the movements of the second user, via GPS, to detect that the second user has not left the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset. Device 506 (eg, a second user's cell phone) may be used.

13 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for modifying the playback of a media asset based on the ranking of users, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 1300 begins at 1302, where the control circuitry 404 retrieves the rank of the first user and the rank of the second user. The control circuit unit 404 retrieves the rank of the first user and the rank of the second user from a database corresponding to profiles of users in the storage 408. In some examples, the control circuitry 404 retrieves the rank from the communication network 514. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may search for a first user's ranking (eg, 1 out of 4) and a second user's ranking (eg, 3 out of 4).

At 1304, the control circuit unit 404 determines whether the ranking of the first user 102 is higher than the ranking of the second user 106. The control circuit unit 404 uses the processing circuit unit 406 to compare the ranking of the first user with the ranking of the second user. At 1304, if the control circuitry 404 determines that "Yes", the ranking of the first user is higher than that of the second user, the process 1304 proceeds to the process 1306. At 1306, the control circuitry 404 modifies the playback of the media asset. For example, control circuitry 404 may pause playback of media assets on user television equipment 502. As another example, the control circuit unit 404 may mute the sound of playback of the media asset through the speakers 414. As another example, the control circuitry 404 may turn off the power of the display 412 that was displaying the playback of the media asset.

At 1304, if the control circuitry 404 determines that "No", the rank of the first user is not higher than the rank of the second user, the process 1304 proceeds to the process 1308. At 1308, the control circuitry 404 continues to play the media asset.

Systems and methods are also provided herein for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of sound. The media guidance application may detect the sound generated by the first device external to the media equipment device. The media guidance application can retrieve, from the lookup table, a known target associated with the sound. The media guidance application can detect the user in the viewing environment. The media guidance application can determine the identity of the user. And the media guidance application can modify the playback to encourage the user to achieve a known goal based on the user's identity or to dissuade the user from achieving a known goal.

14 shows an exemplary embodiment of determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of sound, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. 14 depicts an exemplary display 1400 that may be presented by control circuitry running a media guidance application on any user equipment. The functionality of the user equipment, control circuitry and media guidance application is described in more detail with respect to FIGS. 2-5.

The media guidance application may output a sound 1406 from the first device 1402 in response to detecting the action 1404. For example, in response to detecting an action 1404 (e.g., a user pressing a doorbell, a smoke alarm detecting smoke, a cell phone ringing), the first device A sound 1406 (eg, a doorbell ringing, a smoke alarm, a ringtone, etc.) may be output from 1402 (eg, a doorbell, a smoke alarm, a cell phone, etc.). The media guidance application may determine that the first user 1408 and the second user 1410 are watching a playback of a media asset 1412, which may include playback audio 1414. The media guidance application may determine that the first user 1408 and the second user 1410 are viewing the media asset 1412 in the first physical environment 1416. The media guidance application may detect that the sound 1406 occurs in the second physical environment 1418, which may be a separate environment from the first environment 1416.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect sound generated by the first device external to the media equipment device. For example, a media guidance application might use a sensor to detect a sound (e.g., a doorbell ringing) by a first device (e.g. a doorbell) external to a media equipment device (e.g. a television). I can. The media guidance application can detect the sound produced by the first device using methods similar to detecting verbal input, as described above.

For example, the media guidance application may use IPA (intelligent personal assistant) (eg, Amazon Echo, Google Home, Siri, etc.) to detect sound generated by a first device outside the media equipment device, Here, the IPA continuously listens for audio inputs in the first physical environment 1416 and the second physical environment 1418.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that a network of connected IPAs exists, where each connected IPA exists in its own environment and communicates with other IPAs over the wireless network. For example, the media guidance application may determine that a network of connected IPAs (eg, Amazon Echo in the living room, Ring doorbell camera in the front door, etc.) exists and communicates with each other over a wireless network. In some examples, network IPAs can be configured with a slave/master setup.

The media guidance application is a goal associated with the sound (e.g., in the case of a doorbell ringing, the associated goal is the user exiting the front door) to help determine whether the user is authorized to perform an action that meets the goal of the sound. ) And potential user actions (eg, pausing playback of media asset 1412 to wake up and open a door). As mentioned herein, "a goal associated with a sound" is defined as being a desirable action taken by a user as a result of hearing the sound. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the goal associated with ringing the doorbell may be for the user to exit the front door. As another example, a media guidance application may determine that a goal associated with a smoke alarm beeping may be for a user to exit a house and/or environment that contains a smoke alarm. As another example, the media guidance application may determine that another goal associated with the smoke alarm beep may be for a user to replace the battery in the smoke alarm.

The media guidance application may store a database associating a target of a plurality of targets with an action set of a plurality of actions and a sound of a plurality of sounds. The media guidance application can store the database in the user profile. The values stored in the database (eg, targets, actions, sounds) can be preset by the editor and edited by user input.

For example, a media guidance application may match one of a plurality of objectives (e.g., going to the front door, not going to the front door, etc.) to multiple actions (e.g. , Pausing the playback of a media asset to get to the front door, continuing to watch the playback of the media asset and ignoring the doorbell, etc.) One) and a plurality of sounds (eg, a doorbell ringing, a phone ringing, a smoke detector beep, etc.) and a database associated with a sound (eg, a doorbell ringing).

The media guidance application may compare properties of the sound generated by the first device 1402 with entries in the database to determine a goal associated with the sound and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application compares the sound 1406 (e.g., the doorbell ringing) generated by the first device 1402 to the entries in the database and the target associated with the sound 1406 (e.g., Exiting the front door) and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal (eg, pausing playback of a media asset, leaving the viewing environment 1516 to exit the front door, etc.) may be determined.

In some embodiments, when comparing the sound 1406 generated by the first device 1402 to a database to determine a goal associated with the sound and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal, the media guidance application A match between sound 1406 and an entry in the database may be determined based on the characteristics. For example, the media guidance application may use the characteristics of the sound 1406 (eg, tone, loudness, frequency, etc.) to match the sound to its corresponding entry in the database.

For example, the media guidance application may use sound processing techniques to determine the properties (eg, properties) of the sound 1406, as described in more detail above. The media guidance application can determine whether there is a match between the sound and the entry by determining whether the sound and the entry of the plurality of entries have a threshold amount of characteristics in common. The media guidance application can retrieve the threshold amount from the profile, and the threshold amount can be preset by the editor and updated based on user input. For example, the media guidance application may have a sound 1406 (e.g., a doorbell ringing) among a plurality of entries (e.g., a doorbell sound, a fire alarm sound, a phone ringing, etc.) Sound) in common with a critical amount of characteristics (eg, there may be more than three characteristics).

In some embodiments, when comparing the sound produced by the first device to a database to determine a goal associated with the sound 1406 and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal, the media guidance application may perform a fingerprint of the sound 1406. fingerprint) to determine a match between sound 1406 and an entry in the database. As mentioned herein, a “fingerprint” of a sound is a condensed digital summary, deterministically generated from an audio signal, that can be used to identify audio samples. The media guidance application can compare the fingerprint of the sound to the fingerprints of the audio associated with each entry in the database. The media guidance application can determine a match between fingerprints when the fingerprints are the same within a tolerance range, where the tolerance range is stored in the profile and preset by the editor.

The media guidance application can retrieve, from the entry, a target associated with the sound. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve, from the entry, a goal (eg, going out the front door) associated with a sound (eg, ringing a doorbell).

The media guidance application can retrieve, from the entry, a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal. For example, a media guidance application may, from an entry, determine a corresponding set of actions (e.g., watching a playback of a media asset, a volume of playback of a media asset) associated with an objective (e.g., going out a front door). Elevating things, etc.).

The media guidance application can detect the user in the viewing environment 1416 of the media equipment device. For example, a media guidance application may use a sensor (eg, a camera) to detect a user in the first viewing environment 1416 of a media equipment device (eg, a television).

In some embodiments, upon detecting a user in the first viewing environment 1416 of the media device, the media guidance application uses a sensor to detect the presence of the first user 1408 in the first viewing environment 1416. Can be detected. For example, the media guidance application uses an infrared sensor to determine a thermal map of the first viewing environment 1416, and based on detecting the user's heat signature in the heat map. One can detect that the user 1408 is in the first viewing environment 1416 of a media equipment device (eg, a television).

In some embodiments, upon detecting the first user 1408 in the first viewing environment 1416 of the media device, the media guidance application may detect the presence of the user in the viewing environment, using a camera. For example, a media guidance application may use a camera to detect a user in the viewing environment of a media equipment device (eg, a television). Systems and methods for detecting a user in the viewing environment of a media equipment device are described in US Application No. 15/200,194 to Panchaksharaiah et al., filed July 1, 2016, Panchaksharaiah, filed July 1, 2016. 15/200,216 to Blake et al., filed on July 1, 2016, and 15/200,638 to Blake et al., which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Included in

In some embodiments, when detecting the first user 1408 in the first viewing environment 1416 of the media device, the media guidance application uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine the first viewing environment 1416 The presence of the first user 1408 may be detected at. For example, the media guidance application may detect the user's location through GPS associated with the user device (eg, the user's cell phone, wearable technology (eg, Apple Watch), etc.) associated with the user. . The media guidance application may determine from the user's location (eg, GPS coordinates) whether the user is in the viewing environment of the media device, based on a known location of the viewing environment.

The media guidance application can determine, from the user profile of the first user 1408, whether the user is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the goal. For example, a media guidance application might perform an action (e.g., leaving the viewing environment) associated with a goal (e.g., going out the front door) by the user, from an authorization database in the user's profile. You can search whether you are authorized to do so. The media guidance application can store the user's authorization status (e.g., either the user is authorized to perform an action or not) in the authorization database in the user profile, where authorization status is below It is determined using the methods described.

In some embodiments, when determining from the user's user profile whether the user is authorized to perform an action in the determined set of actions associated with the goal, the media guidance application may retrieve, from the user profile, a ranking for the user. have. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve a ranking for the user (eg, 8 out of 10).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that the user's ranking is dynamic and may be updated frequently in the user profile. The media guidance application may determine that the user's ranking is determined based on a number of factors, including the presence of other users in the viewing environment/home, the user's age, and the like. The media guidance application may determine that a value is dynamically assigned to each factor (e.g., values may be assigned by comparing the factor to a lookup table of values-the lookup table values were determined by the editor), It can be updated based on user input). For example, the media guidance application may determine that a user's ranking is higher when more users are in a viewing environment and as the user's age increases.

The media guidance application can calculate the user's rank from multiple factors by searching for the weight (eg, 0% to 100%) assigned to each factor. The media guide application may determine that a weight assigned to each factor is predetermined and assigned by the editor, and may be updated based on a user input. The media guidance application then uses the weight for each factor and the value for each factor (e.g., by summing the products of the weights and values for each factor for several factors), for the user. Ranks (eg, 0 to 100) can be calculated. For example, the media guidance application may include a weight of each factor (e.g., age weight of a user = 50%, weight of presence of other users in a viewing environment = 50%) and a value for each factor (e.g. For example, the user's age value = 15, the presence of other users in the viewing environment = 50) can be used to calculate a ranking for the user (eg, 0.5*15 + 0.5*50 = 32.5 out of 100).

The media guidance application can search for an action ranking from a database. The media guidance application may determine that the ranking for the action is preset by the editor and can be updated from user input. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve, from a database, a ranking (eg, 50 out of 100) for an action (eg, leaving a viewing environment).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application can dynamically rank the action. The media guidance application may determine the ranking using factors such as users' viewing environment/existence at home, the user's age, risk, and the like. For example, a media guidance application may use sensors to detect sound and then determine if any other users are in the viewing environment or at home. In response to determining that other users do not exist, this may indicate a situation in which the user should not complete the action (for example, the user is a child at home alone, and therefore should not be on the doorstep for strangers. Because), the media guidance application can place the action higher. The media guidance application may rank actions based on factors using methods similar to determining a user's ranking based on factors, as described above.

As another example, a media guidance application may rank actions according to the risks they pose. The media guidance application can determine the risk by analyzing the potential consequences of the action. For example, a media guidance application may use a camera to determine the identity of the person generating the sound using a user device (eg, a doorbell). The media guidance application (e.g., using images generated by the camera to compare the human face with faces associated with known users from the user profiles, there is no match between the human face and the known user's face). By deciding) if a person is determined to be a stranger, the media guidance application can rank the action high because the action has a higher risk. If the media guidance application determines that the person is not a stranger (e.g., by using the camera to identify the user based on comparing the user to a plurality of users with user profiles), the media guidance application You can rank it lower because the action is a lower risk.

The media guidance application may determine whether the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the ranking for the user (eg, 8 out of 10) exceeds the ranking for the action (eg, 5 out of 10).

In response to determining that the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action, the media guidance application may determine that the user is authorized to perform the action. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the user is authorized to perform an action (eg, leaving the viewing environment).

In response to determining that the user is authorized to perform an action, the media guidance application may generate a notification to the user indicative of the detected sound. For example, the media guidance application may generate a sound notification (eg, a doorbell sound) to the user to be played in preference to playback of a media asset, representing the detected sound. The media guidance application may play a sound notification, which is a clip of a detected sound (eg, ringing a doorbell, fire alarm, and a phone call), prior to playing, to audibly inform the user of the source of the detected sound.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may play the sound notification for a set amount of time (eg, 5 seconds) corresponding to a preset amount of time as determined by the editor or input by the user. For example, the media guidance application may play a doorbell ringing sound in preference to playback of the media asset for a set amount of time (eg, 3 seconds) as determined by the editor.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is more than playing the media asset until the media guidance application detects an action from the user (e.g., the user pauses playback, the user leaves the viewing environment, etc.). First, it is possible to reproduce the sound notification. For example, until the media guidance application detects an action from the user (e.g., until the media guidance application detects, via a camera, that the user leaves the viewing environment and exits the front door) Sound notifications (eg, ringing a doorbell) can be played in preference to playback of media assets.

In some embodiments, upon generating a notification to the user indicating the detected sound, the media guidance application may create an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, wherein the overlay includes a notification to the user regarding the sound. do. For example, the media guidance application may create an overlay for display (eg, an overlay that says "The doorbell is ringing!") to be displayed on the media equipment device.

The media guidance application can modify the playback of the media asset to enable the user to perform an action associated with the goal. For example, a media guidance application modifies the playback of a media asset (e.g., to allow a user to perform an action (e.g., leaving the viewing environment) associated with an objective (e.g., going to the front door)). For example, a movie that the user is watching can be paused).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may decide to modify the playback of the media asset after determining that the user has not performed an action associated with the goal after a threshold amount of time. The media guidance application can retrieve a threshold amount of time from a database in the profile, where the threshold amount of time is preset by the editor for each particular goal. The media guidance application can edit a threshold amount of time for each specific goal based on user input. For example, the media guidance application states that after a threshold amount of time (e.g. 30 seconds) retrieved from the database in the profile the user has not performed an action associated with the goal (e.g., leaving the viewing environment and going to the front door). After making the decision, you can decide to modify the playback of the media asset.

In some embodiments, when modifying the playback of a media asset to enable a user to perform an action associated with the goal, the media guidance application may retrieve, from the database, a set of playback modifications associated with the goal. For example, a media guidance application may retrieve, from a database, a set of playback modifications (eg, pause, play, fast forward, rewind, mute, on/off, etc.) associated with the goal.

The media guidance application can select a playback modification from the playback modification set based on the user's preferences. The media guidance application can retrieve the user's preferences from the user profile. The user's preferences may be preset based on user input, may be determined based on user behavior, or may be a combination of the two. For example, the media guidance application may track the user's command history to determine the user's favorite playing command in response to the user hearing a sound (eg, ringing a doorbell). The media guidance application may determine commands to be executed after the user hears the sound based on comparing timestamps of the commands with timestamps of the detected sound. For example, a media guidance application may modify playback (e.g., pause) from a set of playback modifications based on the user's preferences (e.g., always pausing the content before the user wakes up and goes to the front door). You can choose.

The media guidance application can modify the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification. For example, the media guidance application may modify the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification (eg, pausing the playback of the media asset). As another example, a media guidance application may be based on a playback modification selected by muting playback of a media asset, stopping playback of a media asset, turning off playback of a media asset, or any other similar playback modification. You can modify the replay of the asset.

In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, the media guidance application can generate a notification to the second user to perform the action. For example, the media guidance application may generate a notification to perform an action (e.g., going to the front door) (e.g., send an SMS message to the second user 1410, or send an audio alert). 2 Send to user 1410's personal device, or create an overlay with instructions for a second user 1410 to be displayed over the media asset).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine whether the user may hear the sound and thus may be willing to perform an action in response to the sound.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application can determine that the sound is within the audible range of the viewing environment. For example, a media guidance application can detect sound using a sensor (eg, a microphone) included within the viewing environment. The media guidance application can compare the loudness of the detected sound to the minimum loudness value (retrieved from the profile) that the sound can have and is still in the audible range.

In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, the media guidance application can prevent the user from modifying the playback of the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may prevent the user from modifying the playback of the media guidance application (eg, do not allow the user to pause the playback of the media asset).

The media guidance application can modify the playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing an action associated with the goal. For example, a media guidance application may increase the volume of playback of a media asset to make the sound inaudible from the user's audible range.

In some embodiments, when modifying the playback of a media asset, the media guidance application may determine a volume that attenuates the sound within the audible range. For example, the media guidance application may determine a volume equal to or higher than the determined volume of the sound within the audible range.

The media guidance application can adjust the volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset to a volume that attenuates the sound. For example, the media guidance application may adjust the playback volume of the media asset to a volume higher than the detected volume of sound within the audible range.

15 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of sound, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 1500 begins at 1502, where control circuitry 404 detects sound 1406 produced by first device 1402 external to the media equipment device. For example, the control circuit portion 404 may be a first device 1402 (e.g., a doorbell) external to a media equipment device (e.g., a television) or a sound 1406 (e.g. For example, a doorbell ringing) can be detected.

At 1504, the control circuitry 404 retrieves, from the lookup table, a known target associated with the sound. The control circuitry 404 may retrieve a known target from a lookup table stored in the storage 408 or the media guidance data source 518. Control circuitry 404 may also retrieve known targets from the lookup table via communication network 514. For example, the control circuitry 404 may retrieve a known goal (eg, going out the front door) associated with the sound 1406 (eg, ringing a doorbell). At 1506, the control circuitry 404 detects a user in the viewing environment. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may use a sensor to detect a user in a viewing environment. At 1508, the control circuitry 404 determines the identity of the first user 1408. The control circuitry 404 may determine the identity of the user using the methods described above. At 1510, the control circuitry 404 modifies the playback to encourage the first user 1408 to achieve a known goal based on the user's identity or to dissuade the first user 1408 from achieving a known goal. For example, the control circuitry 404 may allow the first user 1408 to achieve a known goal (e.g., going to the front door) based on the identity of the first user 1408 (e.g., homeowner). You can modify the playback (e.g., pause playback) to encourage it.

16 depicts an exemplary flow chart of a process for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets the goal of sound 1406, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. At 1602, the control circuitry 404 detects the sound 1406 generated by the first device external to the media equipment device. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may detect a sound 1406 (eg, a doorbell ringing) generated by the first device 1402 (eg, a doorbell) external to the media equipment device.

At 1604, the control circuitry 404 stores a database associating each of the plurality of goals with an action set of the plurality of actions and a sound of the plurality of sounds. The control circuitry 404 stores the database in the storage 408 or the media guide data source 518, or retrieves the database through the communication network 514.

At 1606, the control circuitry 404 compares the sound 1406 generated by the first device to the database to determine a target associated with the sound 1406 and a corresponding set of actions associated with the target. At 1608, the control circuitry detects a user in the viewing environment of the media equipment device. For example, the control circuitry 404 may detect a user in the viewing environment of the media equipment device using an infrared sensor. At 1610, the control circuitry 404 determines, from the user profile of the user 1408, whether the user 1408 is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the target. The control circuitry 404 determines whether the user is authorized to perform an action using methods similar to those described above.

At 1612, control circuitry 404 determines whether user 1408 is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the target. If, at 1612, the control circuitry 404 determines "Yes," that the user 1408 is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the target, then the process 1612 proceeds to the process 1614. At 1614, control 404 generates a notification to the user indicating detected sound 1406. For example, the control circuit unit may generate an overlay for a user indicating the detected sound on the display 412. At 1616, control circuitry 404 modifies the playback of the media asset to enable user 1408 to perform an action associated with the target. For example, the control circuitry 404 may be used to enable the user to perform an action (e.g., leaving the viewing environment) associated with a goal (e.g., going to the front door). You can mute the playback.

If, at 1612, the control circuitry 404 determines "No", and that the user 1408 is not authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the target, then the process 1612 proceeds to the process 1618. At 1618, the control circuitry 404 generates a notification to the second user 1410 to perform an action. For example, the control circuitry 404 may generate an SMS message to the wireless communication device 506 of a second user (e.g., an adult in the household) to perform an action (e.g., going out the front door). I can. At 1620, the control circuitry 404 determines that the sound is within the audible range of the viewing environment. For example, the control circuitry 404 may use a microphone to detect whether the sound is within the audible range of the viewing environment, as described above. At 1622, the control circuitry 404 may prevent the user 1408 from modifying the playback of the media asset. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may not respond to user 1408 commands input by the user through the user input interface 410.

At 1624, control circuitry 404 modifies the playback of the media asset to prevent user 1408 from performing an action associated with the target. At 1626, control circuitry 404 determines a volume to attenuate sound 1406 that is within the audible range. The control circuitry 404 determines the volume to attenuate the sound using methods similar to those described above.

At 1628, the control circuitry 404 adjusts the volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset (e.g., audio playback 1414) to a volume that attenuates the sound.

17 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for determining a goal associated with sound 1406, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 1700 begins at 1702, where control circuitry 404 determines a match between sound 1406 and an entry in the database based on the characteristics of the sound. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may determine a match between the sound 1406 (eg, a doorbell ringing) and an entry in the database based on the characteristics of the sound (eg, tone, loudness, etc.) . At 1704, the control circuitry 404 retrieves, from the entry, a target associated with the sound 1406. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may retrieve, from the entry, a target (eg, going to the front door) associated with a sound (eg, ringing a doorbell). At 1706, the control circuitry 404 retrieves, from the entry, a corresponding set of actions associated with the target. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may, from the entry, select a corresponding set of actions (e.g., pausing playback, exiting the front door, etc.) associated with the target (e.g., going to the front door). You can search.

18 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for detecting the presence of a user in a viewing environment, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 1800 begins at 1802, where control circuitry 404 detects the presence of user 1408 in a viewing environment using a sensor. The control circuit unit 404 may be connected to the sensor through the communication network 514. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may detect the presence of a user in a viewing environment using an infrared sensor.

19 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for creating an overlay containing a notification, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 1900 begins at 1902, where control circuitry 404 creates an overlay to be displayed on a media equipment device, where the overlay includes a notification to user 1408 regarding sound 1406. The control circuit unit 404 may generate an overlay to be displayed on the display 412. For example, the control circuitry 404 can create an overlay to be displayed on a media equipment device (e.g., a television), where the overlay is a notification to the user about the sound (e.g., "the doorbell rings and And an overlay with the text "have".

20 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for modifying the playback of a media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 2000 begins at 2002, in which the control circuit section 404 retrieves, from a database, a reproduction correction set associated with the target. The control circuitry 404 can retrieve the playback modification set from the storage 408 or a database stored in the media guidance data source 518 or via the communication network 514. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may, from the database, retrieve a set of playback corrections (eg, pausing playback, muting playback, etc.) associated with a target (eg, going to the front door). You can search.

In 2004, the control circuitry 404 selects a playback modification from the playback modification set based on the preferences of the user 1408. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may select a playback modification (e.g., to pause playback) based on the user's 1408 preferences (e.g., when the user goes to the front door) You don't want to miss the content). In 2006, the control circuitry 404 modifies the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification. For example, the control circuitry 404 may pause the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification (eg, to pause playback).

21 depicts an exemplary flowchart of a process for determining whether user 1408 is authorized to perform an action, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 2100 begins at 2102, where control circuitry 404 retrieves, from the user profile, a ranking for user 1408. The control circuitry 404 retrieves the ranking for the user 1408 from the user profile stored in the storage 408 or media guidance data source 518 or via the communication network 514. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve a ranking for the user 1408 (eg, 8 out of 10) from a user profile in storage 408. In 2104, the control circuit unit 404 retrieves a ranking for the action from the database. For example, the control circuit unit 404 may search for an action ranking (eg, 5 out of 10) from a database in the storage 408.

At 2106, the control circuitry 404 determines whether the priority of the user 1408 exceeds the priority of the action. At 2106, if the control circuitry 404 determines "Yes", the user's ranking exceeds the action's ranking, the process 2106 proceeds to 2108. At 2108, the control circuitry 404 determines that the user 1408 is authorized to perform an action. At 2106, if the control circuitry 404 determines that "No", the user's ranking does not exceed the action's ranking, the process 2106 proceeds to 2110. At 2110, control circuitry 404 determines that user 1408 is not authorized to perform an action.

It should be noted that processes 600-1300 and 1400-2100, or any step thereof, may be performed on or provided by any of the devices shown in FIGS. 1, 4, and 5. For example, any of the processes 600-1300 and 1400-2100 may include user equipment 502, 504, 506 (FIG. 5 ), and/or control circuitry implemented on the user equipment device to select a recommendation. It can be executed by the control circuit portion 404 (Fig. 4) as indicated by. In addition, one or more steps of processes 600-1300 and 1400-2100 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any other process or embodiment.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of each of FIGS. 6 to 13 and 14 to 21 may be used for any other embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, the steps and descriptions described in connection with FIGS. 6 to 13 and 14 to 21 may be done in alternative orders or in parallel to achieve the objectives of the present disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed in any order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce delay or increase speed of the system or method. In addition, note that any of the devices or equipment discussed with respect to FIGS. 1, 4 and 5 may be used to perform one or more of the steps in FIGS. 6-13 and 14-21. Should be.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the methods included in the present invention may be embodied in a computer program product comprising a computer usable and/or readable medium. For example, such computer usable media may include a read-only memory device, such as a CD-ROM disk or a conventional ROM device, or a random access device, such as a hard drive device or computer diskette, on which computer readable program code is stored. It can be made up of memory. It should also be understood that the methods, techniques, and processes included in the present disclosure may be performed using processing circuitry. For example, determining the location of the user may be performed, for example, by the processing circuitry 406 of FIG. 4. The processing circuitry may be, for example, a general purpose processor in user equipment 400, media content source 516, or media guidance data source 518, a customized integrated circuit (e.g., ASIC), or field programmable gate. It may be an array (FPGA). For example, the profile may be stored in and retrieved from storage 408 of FIG. 4 or media guidance data source 518 of FIG. 5, as described herein. In addition, the processing circuitry, or computer program, may update the settings of the user equipment 100 stored in the storage 408 of FIG. 4 or the media guidance data source 518 of FIG. 5.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Those of ordinary skill in the art may omit, modify, combine, and/or rearrange the steps of the processes discussed herein, and any additional steps may be performed without departing from the scope of the present invention. Will understand. More generally, the above disclosure is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. It is intended that only the following claims set the bounds as to what the present invention encompasses. In addition, features and limitations described in any one embodiment may apply to any other embodiment herein, and flowcharts or examples related to one embodiment may be combined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner. It should be noted that it can be done, it can be done in different orders, or it can be done in parallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may be performed in real time. It should also be noted that the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to, or used according to, other systems and/or methods.

While some portions of the present disclosure may refer to “related art” or “convention”, any such reference is intended to provide context for the invention(s) of the present disclosure. It is intended only, and does not form any recognition as to what constitutes the state of the art.

Claims (102)

In the way,
Determining an instruction from the first user for the second user;
Comparing the instruction with a set of playback operation instructions for the media asset currently being played;
In response to the comparing step, determining that the command is not included in the set of playing operation commands;
In response to determining that the command is not included in the set of playing operation commands, determining whether the second user executes a desired result of the command; And
In response to determining that the second user does not execute the desired result of the command, determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset.
Containing, method. A method for encouraging a recipient of the command to execute the command by converting an irrelevant command to an appropriate playback modification, comprising:
Detecting an instruction from the first user to the second user;
Comparing the instruction with a set of playback operation instructions for a media asset currently being played by the second user;
In response to the comparing step, determining that the command is not included in the set of playing operation commands;
Determining a desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user;
Detecting an action executed by the second user;
Comparing the action of the second user with the desired result of the command;
In response to determining that the action of the second user does not correspond to the desired result of the command, retrieving characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user; And
Determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user
Containing, method. The method of claim 2,
Determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user, comprising:
Comparing a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user with the command-the characteristic is selected from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship with other users, and time of day, the command Is selected from a group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking and sleeping -;
From the comparison, determining whether the command shares the characteristics of the second user; And
In response to determining that the command shares the property, modifying the playback of the media asset.
The method comprising a. The method of claim 2,
Detecting commands from the first user for the second and third users;
Determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on the user profile of the first user, the user profile of the second user, and the user profile of the third user;
Detecting a first action executed by the second user and a second action executed by the third user;
Comparing the action of the second user and the action of the third user with the desired result of the command;
In response to determining that the action of the second user and the action of the third user do not correspond to the desired result of the command, retrieve characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user, and Retrieving characteristics of the third user from the user profile of the third user; And
Determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user
The method further comprising. The method of claim 2,
Detecting the command from the first user includes:
Detecting a verbal input from the first user;
Comparing the verbal input with a database of instructions, the database including instructions corresponding to each verbal input; And
From the comparison, determining an instruction corresponding to the verbal input from the first user.
The method comprising a. The method of claim 5,
From the comparison, determining the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user:
Determining a match between the verbal input and the database of verbal commands; And
Determining a command corresponding to the match as the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user
The method comprising a. The method of claim 2,
Based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user, determining the desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command:
Determining attributes of the instruction;
Comparing the attributes of the command with attributes of the plurality of results of the command; And
From the comparison, determining a result of the plurality of results including attributes of the command as the desired result.
The method further comprising. The method of claim 2,
The step of detecting the action executed by the second user includes:
Detecting, using a sensor, that the second user leaves the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset.
The method comprising a. The method of claim 2,
The step of detecting the action executed by the second user includes:
Detecting that the second user executes an instruction to modify the playback of the media asset.
The method comprising a. The method of claim 2,
The step of detecting the action executed by the second user includes:
Detecting that the second user stays in the viewing environment of a media asset device using a sensor.
The method comprising a. The method of claim 2,
Determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user, comprising:
Searching for a ranking of the first user and a ranking of the second user;
Determining, from the ranking, whether the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user;
In response to determining that the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user, modifying the playback of the media asset; And
In response to determining that the second user is in a higher ranking than the first user, continuing to play the media asset.
The method comprising a. A system for encouraging a recipient of the command to execute the command by converting an irrelevant command to an appropriate playback modification, comprising:
Control circuit part
Including, the control circuit unit:
Detect an instruction from the first user to the second user;
Compare the instruction to a set of playback operation instructions for a media asset currently being played by the second user;
In response to the comparing, determining that the command is not included in the playing operation command set;
Determining a desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user;
Detecting an action executed by the second user;
Comparing the action of the second user with the desired result of the command;
In response to determining that the action of the second user does not correspond to the desired result of the command, retrieving characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user;
To determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user.
The system that is configured. The method of claim 12,
The control circuit part:
Comparing a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user with the command-the characteristic is selected from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship with other users, and time of day, the command Is selected from a group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking and sleeping -;
From the comparison, determining whether the command shares the characteristics of the second user; And
In response to determining that the command shares the property, modifying the playback of the media asset.
To determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user by
Consisting of a system. The method of claim 12,
The control circuit part also:
Detect an instruction from the first user to the second user and a third user;
Determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on the user profile of the first user, the user profile of the second user, and the user profile of the third user;
Detecting a first action executed by the second user and a second action executed by the third user;
Comparing the action of the second user and the action of the third user with the desired result of the command;
In response to determining that the action of the second user and the action of the third user do not correspond to the desired result of the command, retrieve characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user, and Retrieve characteristics of the third user from the user profile of the third user;
Determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user
The system that is configured. The method of claim 12,
The control circuit part:
Detecting verbal input from the first user;
Comparing the verbal input with a database of instructions, the database including instructions corresponding to each verbal input; And
From the comparison, determining a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user
And configured to detect the command from the first user. The method of claim 15,
The control circuit part:
Determining a match between the verbal input and the database of verbal commands; And
Determining a command corresponding to the match as the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user
Wherein, from the comparison, the system is configured to determine, from the comparison, the instruction corresponding to the verbal input from the first user. The method of claim 12,
The control circuit part also:
Determining attributes of the command;
Comparing the attributes of the command to attributes of the plurality of results of the command; And
From the comparison, determining a result of the plurality of results including attributes of the command as the desired result
Wherein based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user, the system is configured to determine the desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command. The method of claim 12,
The control circuit part:
And using a sensor to detect the action executed by the second user by detecting the second user leaving a viewing environment of a media equipment device presenting the media asset. The method of claim 12,
The control circuit part:
And configured to detect the action executed by the second user by detecting the second user executing an instruction to modify the playback of the media asset. The method of claim 12,
The control circuit part:
And using a sensor to detect the action executed by the second user by detecting the second user staying in the viewing environment of a media asset device. The method of claim 12,
The control circuit part:
Searching for a ranking of the first user and a ranking of the second user;
Determining, from the ranking, whether the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user;
In response to determining that the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user, modifying the playback of the media asset; And
In response to determining that the second user is in a higher ranking than the first user, continuing to play the media asset
And determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected by the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user. An apparatus for encouraging a recipient of the command to execute the command by converting an irrelevant command to an appropriate playback modification, comprising:
Means for detecting an instruction from the first user to the second user;
Means for comparing the instruction to a set of playback operation instructions for a media asset currently being played by the second user;
Means for determining, in response to the comparing, that the command is not included in the set of playing operation commands;
Means for determining a desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user;
Means for detecting an action executed by the second user;
Means for comparing the action of the second user with the desired result of the command;
Means for retrieving characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user in response to determining that the action of the second user does not correspond to the desired result of the command; And
Means for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user
Containing, device. The method of claim 22,
Means for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user:
Means for comparing a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user with the command-the characteristic is selected from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship with other users, and time of day, the The order is selected from the group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking and sleeping;
Means for determining, from the comparison, whether the command shares characteristics of the second user; And
Means for modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the command shares the characteristic
The device comprising a. The method of claim 22,
Means for detecting commands from the first user for the second and third users;
Means for determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on the user profile of the first user, the user profile of the second user and the user profile of the third user;
Means for detecting a first action executed by the second user and a second action executed by the third user;
Means for comparing the action of the second user and the action of the third user with the desired result of the command;
In response to determining that the action of the second user and the action of the third user do not correspond to the desired result of the command, retrieve characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user, and Means for retrieving characteristics of the third user from the user profile of the third user; And
Means for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user
The device further comprising. The method of claim 22,
Means for detecting the command from the first user are:
Means for detecting verbal input from the first user;
Means for comparing the verbal input with a database of instructions, the database comprising instructions corresponding to each verbal input; And
Means for determining, from the comparison, an instruction corresponding to the verbal input from the first user
The device comprising a. The method of claim 25,
From the comparison, means for determining the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user is:
Means for determining a match between the verbal input and the database of verbal commands; And
Means for determining an instruction corresponding to the match as the instruction corresponding to the verbal input from the first user
The device comprising a. The method of claim 22,
Based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user, means for determining the desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command comprises:
Means for determining attributes of the instruction;
Means for comparing the attributes of the command to attributes of the plurality of results of the command; And
Means for determining, from the comparison, a result of the plurality of results including attributes of the command as the desired result
The device further comprising. The method of claim 22,
Means for detecting the action executed by the second user are:
Means for detecting, using a sensor, that the second user leaves the viewing environment of a media equipment device that is presenting the media asset.
The device comprising a. The method of claim 22,
Means for detecting the action executed by the second user are:
Means for detecting that the second user is executing an instruction to modify the playback of the media asset
The device comprising a. The method of claim 22,
Means for detecting the action executed by the second user are:
Means for detecting, using a sensor, that the second user stays in the viewing environment of a media asset device
The device comprising a. The method of claim 22,
Means for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user:
Means for retrieving the rank of the first user and the rank of the second user;
Means for determining, from the ranking, whether the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user;
Means for modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user; And
Means for continuing to play the media asset in response to determining that the second user is in a higher ranking than the first user
The device comprising a. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a memory encoded with non-transitory computer readable instructions for converting an irrelevant instruction into an appropriate playback modification to encourage a recipient of the instruction to execute the instruction
The above commands are:
Instructions for detecting an instruction from the first user to the second user;
Instructions for comparing the instruction with a set of playback operation instructions for a media asset currently being played by the second user;
Instructions for determining, in response to the comparing, that the instruction is not included in the set of playback operation instructions;
Instructions for determining a desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user;
An instruction for detecting an action executed by the second user;
Instructions for comparing the action of the second user with the desired result of the instruction;
In response to determining that the action of the second user does not correspond to the desired result of the command, instructions for retrieving characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user; And
Instructions for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user
Containing, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 32,
The instructions for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the instruction detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user are:
A command for comparing a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user with the command-the characteristic is selected from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship with other users, and time of day, the The order is selected from the group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking and sleeping;
Instructions for determining, from the comparison, whether the instruction shares characteristics of the second user; And
In response to determining that the command shares the property, instructions for modifying the playback of the media asset
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 32,
The above commands are:
Instructions for detecting an instruction from the first user for the second user and the third user;
An instruction for determining a desired result of the instruction from a plurality of results of the instruction based on the user profile of the first user, the user profile of the second user, and the user profile of the third user;
An instruction for detecting a first action executed by the second user and a second action executed by the third user;
An instruction for comparing the action of the second user and the action of the third user with the desired result of the instruction;
In response to determining that the action of the second user and the action of the third user do not correspond to the desired result of the command, retrieve characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user, and Instructions for retrieving characteristics of the third user from the user profile of the third user; And
Instructions for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user
A non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising. The method of claim 32,
Instructions for detecting the instruction from the first user are:
Instructions for detecting verbal input from the first user;
Instructions for comparing the verbal input with a database of instructions, the database comprising instructions corresponding to each verbal input; And
From the comparison, instructions for determining an instruction corresponding to the verbal input from the first user
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 35,
From the comparison, instructions for determining the instruction corresponding to the verbal input from the first user are:
Instructions for determining a match between the verbal input and the database of verbal instructions; And
An instruction for determining an instruction corresponding to the match as the instruction corresponding to the verbal input from the first user
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 32,
Based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user, instructions for determining the desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command are:
Instructions for determining attributes of the instruction;
Instructions for comparing the attributes of the instruction with attributes of the plurality of results of the instruction; And
From the comparison, an instruction for determining a result of the plurality of results including attributes of the instruction as the desired result
The non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising. The method of claim 32,
Instructions for detecting the action executed by the second user are:
Instructions for detecting, using a sensor, that the second user leaves the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset.
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 32,
Instructions for detecting the action executed by the second user are:
Instructions for detecting that the second user executes an instruction to modify the playback of the media asset
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 32,
Instructions for detecting the action executed by the second user are:
Instructions for detecting that the second user stays in the viewing environment of a media asset device using a sensor
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 32,
The instructions for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the instruction detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user are:
A command for searching the rank of the first user and the rank of the second user;
Instructions for determining, from the ranking, whether the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user;
In response to determining that the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user, instructions for modifying the playback of the media asset; And
In response to determining that the second user is in a higher ranking than the first user, instructions for continuing to play the media asset
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. A method for encouraging a recipient of the command to execute the command by converting an irrelevant command to an appropriate playback modification, comprising:
Detecting, using the control circuitry, an instruction from the first user to the second user;
Comparing the instruction with a set of playback operation instructions for a media asset currently being played by the second user;
In response to the comparing step, determining that the command is not included in the set of playing operation commands;
Determining a desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user;
Detecting an action executed by the second user;
Comparing the action of the second user with the desired result of the command;
In response to determining that the action of the second user does not correspond to the desired result of the command, retrieving characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user; And
Determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user
Containing, method. The method of claim 42,
Determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user, comprising:
Comparing a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user with the command-the characteristic is selected from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship with other users, and time of day, the command Is selected from a group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking and sleeping -;
From the comparison, determining whether the command shares the characteristics of the second user; And
In response to determining that the command shares the property, modifying the playback of the media asset.
The method comprising a. The method of claim 42 or 43,
Detecting commands from the first user for the second and third users;
Determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on the user profile of the first user, the user profile of the second user, and the user profile of the third user;
Detecting a first action executed by the second user and a second action executed by the third user;
Comparing the action of the second user and the action of the third user with the desired result of the command;
In response to determining that the action of the second user and the action of the third user do not correspond to the desired result of the command, retrieve characteristics of the second user from the user profile of the second user, and Retrieving characteristics of the third user from the user profile of the third user; And
Determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user
The method further comprising. The method according to any one of claims 42 to 44,
Detecting the command from the first user includes:
Detecting a verbal input from the first user;
Comparing the verbal input with a database of instructions, the database including instructions corresponding to each verbal input; And
From the comparison, determining an instruction corresponding to the verbal input from the first user.
The method comprising a. The method of claim 45,
From the comparison, determining the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user:
Determining a match between the verbal input and the database of verbal commands; And
Determining a command corresponding to the match as the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user
The method comprising a. The method according to any one of claims 42 to 46,
Based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user, determining the desired result of the command from the plurality of results of the command:
Determining attributes of the instruction;
Comparing the attributes of the command with attributes of the plurality of results of the command; And
From the comparison, determining a result of the plurality of results including attributes of the command as the desired result.
The method further comprising. The method according to any one of claims 42 to 47,
The step of detecting the action executed by the second user includes:
Detecting, using a sensor, that the second user leaves the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset.
The method comprising a. The method according to any one of claims 42 to 48,
The step of detecting the action executed by the second user includes:
Detecting that the second user executes an instruction to modify the playback of the media asset.
The method comprising a. The method according to any one of claims 42 to 49,
The step of detecting the action executed by the second user includes:
Detecting that the second user stays in the viewing environment of a media asset device using a sensor.
The method comprising a. The method according to any one of claims 42 to 50,
Determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user, comprising:
Searching for a ranking of the first user and a ranking of the second user;
Determining, from the ranking, whether the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user;
In response to determining that the first user is in a higher ranking than the second user, modifying the playback of the media asset; And
In response to determining that the second user is in a higher ranking than the first user, continuing to play the media asset.
The method comprising a. In the way,
Detecting sound generated by a first device external to the media equipment device;
Retrieving, from a lookup table, a known target associated with the sound;
Detecting a user in a viewing environment;
Determining the identity of the user; And
Modifying a playback to encourage the user to achieve the known goal based on the identity of the user or to dissuade the user from achieving the known goal.
Containing, method. A method for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal corresponding to the sound, comprising:
Detecting sound generated by a first device external to the media equipment device;
Storing a database associating each of the plurality of goals with an action set of the plurality of actions and a sound of the plurality of sounds;
Comparing the sound generated by the first device with properties of entries in the database to determine a target corresponding to the sound and a corresponding set of actions associated with the target;
Detecting a user in a viewing environment of the media equipment device;
Determining, from a user profile for the user, whether the user is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the target;
In response to determining that the user is authorized to perform the action:
Generating a notification to the user indicative of the detected sound; And
Modifying the playback of a media asset to encourage the user to perform the action associated with the goal; And
In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, generating a notification to the second user to perform the action.
Containing, method. The method of claim 53,
Determining that the sound is within an audible range of the viewing environment; And
In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, preventing the user from modifying the playback of the media asset.
The method further comprising. The method of claim 54,
Modifying the playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing the action associated with the target.
The method further comprising. The method of claim 55,
Modifying the playback of the media asset comprises:
Determining a volume that attenuates the sound within the audible range; And
Adjusting the volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset to the volume to attenuate the sound
The method comprising a. The method of claim 53,
Comparing the sound generated by the first device to the database to determine a target associated with the sound and the corresponding set of actions associated with the target, comprising:
Determining a match between the sound and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the sound;
Retrieving, from the entry, the target corresponding to the sound; And
Retrieving, from the entry, the corresponding set of actions associated with the target.
The method comprising a. The method of claim 53,
Detecting the user in the viewing environment of the media device comprises:
Using a sensor, detecting the presence of the user in the viewing environment
The method comprising a. The method of claim 53,
Generating a notification to the user indicative of the detected sound comprises:
Creating an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, the overlay comprising a notification to the user regarding the sound
The method comprising a. The method of claim 53,
Wherein the sound is detected from a doorbell. The method of claim 53,
Modifying the playback of the media asset to enable the user to perform the action associated with the goal comprises:
Retrieving, from the database, a reproduction modification set associated with the target;
Selecting a playback modification from the playback modification set based on the user's preferences; And
Modifying the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification
The method comprising a. The method of claim 53,
Determining, from a user profile for the user, whether the user is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the goal:
Retrieving a ranking for the user from the user profile;
Retrieving a ranking for an action from the database;
Determining whether the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action; And
In response to determining that the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action, determining that the user is authorized to perform the action.
The method comprising a. A system for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal corresponding to the sound, comprising:
Control circuit part
Including, the control circuit unit:
Detecting sound produced by a first device external to the media equipment device;
Storing a database associating each one of the plurality of goals with an action set of the plurality of actions and a sound of the plurality of sounds;
Comparing the sound generated by the first device to properties of entries in the database to determine a target corresponding to the sound and a corresponding set of actions associated with the target;
Detect a user in the viewing environment of the media equipment device;
Determine from a user profile for the user whether the user is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the target;
In response to determining that the user is authorized to perform the action:
Generate a notification to the user indicative of the detected sound;
Modify the playback of the media asset to encourage the user to perform the action associated with the goal;
In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, generate a notification to the second user to perform the action.
Consisting of a system. The method of claim 63,
The control circuit part also:
Determine that the sound is within an audible range of the viewing environment;
In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, to prevent the user from modifying the playback of the media asset.
The system that is configured. The method of claim 64,
The control circuit part also:
Wherein the system is configured to modify the playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing the action associated with the goal. The method of claim 65,
The control circuit part:
Determining a volume attenuating the sound within the audible range; And
Adjusting the volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset to the volume to attenuate the sound
And modifying the playback of the media asset. The method of claim 63,
The control circuit part:
Determining a match between the sound and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the sound;
Retrieving, from the entry, the target corresponding to the sound; And
From the entry, retrieving the corresponding set of actions associated with the target
And comparing the sound generated by the first device to the database to determine a target associated with the sound by and the corresponding set of actions associated with the target. The method of claim 12,
The control circuit part:
Using a sensor to detect the user in the viewing environment of the media device by detecting the presence of the user in the viewing environment
The system that is configured. The method of claim 63,
The control circuit part:
By creating an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, the overlay including a notification to the user regarding the sound-to generate a notification to the user indicative of the detected sound.
The system that is configured. The method of claim 63,
Wherein the sound is detected from a doorbell. The method of claim 12,
The control circuit part:
Retrieving, from the database, a reproduction modification set associated with the target;
Selecting a playback modification from the playback modification set based on the user's preferences; And
Modifying the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification
Wherein the system is configured to modify the playback of the media asset to enable the user to perform the action associated with the goal. The method of claim 63,
The control circuit part:
Retrieving, from the user profile, a ranking for the user;
Retrieving, from the database, a ranking for an action;
Determining whether the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action; And
In response to determining that the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action, determining that the user is authorized to perform the action
Wherein, from a user profile for the user, to determine whether the user is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the goal. An apparatus for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies a goal corresponding to a sound, comprising:
Means for detecting sound produced by a first device external to the media equipment device;
Means for storing a database associating each of the plurality of goals with an action set of the plurality of actions and a sound of the plurality of sounds;
Means for comparing the sound produced by the first device to properties of entries in the database to determine a target corresponding to the sound and a corresponding set of actions associated with the target;
Means for detecting a user in a viewing environment of the media equipment device;
Means for determining, from a user profile for the user, whether the user is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the goal;
In response to determining that the user is authorized to perform the action:
Means for generating a notification to the user indicative of the detected sound; And
Means for modifying the playback of a media asset to encourage the user to perform the action associated with the goal; And
Means for generating a notification to a second user to perform the action in response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action
Containing, device. The method of claim 73,
Means for determining that the sound is within an audible range of the viewing environment; And
Means for preventing the user from modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action
The device further comprising. The method of claim 74,
Means for modifying the playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing the action associated with the target
The device further comprising. The method of claim 75,
Means for modifying the playback of the media asset are:
Means for determining a volume attenuating the sound within the audible range; And
Means for adjusting a volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset to the volume to attenuate the sound
The device comprising a. The method of claim 73,
The means for comparing the sound generated by the first device to the database to determine a target associated with the sound and the corresponding set of actions associated with the target comprises:
Means for determining a match between the sound and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the sound;
Means for retrieving, from the entry, the target corresponding to the sound; And
Means for retrieving, from the entry, the corresponding set of actions associated with the target
The device comprising a. The method of claim 73,
The means for detecting the user in the viewing environment of the media device comprises:
Means for detecting the presence of the user in the viewing environment using a sensor
The device comprising a. The method of claim 73,
Means for generating a notification to the user indicative of the detected sound:
Means for creating an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, the overlay comprising a notification to the user regarding the sound
The device comprising a. The method of claim 73,
Wherein the sound is detected from a doorbell. The method of claim 73,
Means for modifying the playback of the media asset to enable the user to perform the action associated with the target:
Means for retrieving, from the database, a reproduction modification set associated with the target;
Means for selecting a playback modification from the playback modification set based on the user's preferences; And
Means for modifying the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification
The device comprising a. The method of claim 73,
From a user profile for the user, means for determining whether the user is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the target is:
Means for retrieving, from the user profile, a ranking for the user;
Means for retrieving, from the database, a ranking for an action;
Means for determining whether the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action; And
Means for determining that the user is authorized to perform the action, in response to determining that the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action
The device comprising a. A non-transitory computer readable medium having encoded non-transitory computer readable instructions for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal corresponding to a sound, the instructions comprising:
Instructions for detecting sound generated by a first device external to the media equipment device;
Instructions for storing a database associating each of the plurality of goals with an action set of the plurality of actions and a sound of the plurality of sounds;
Instructions for comparing the sound generated by the first device to properties of entries in the database to determine a target corresponding to the sound and a corresponding set of actions associated with the target;
Instructions for detecting a user in a viewing environment of the media equipment device;
Instructions for determining, from a user profile for the user, whether the user is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the target;
In response to determining that the user is authorized to perform the action:
Instructions for generating a notification to the user indicative of the detected sound; And
Instructions for modifying the playback of a media asset to encourage the user to perform the action associated with the goal; And
In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, instructions for generating a notification to the second user to perform the action
Containing, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 83,
The above commands are:
Instructions for determining that the sound is within an audible range of the viewing environment; And
In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, instructions for preventing the user from modifying the playback of the media asset
A non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising. The method of claim 84,
The above commands are:
Instructions for modifying the playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing the action associated with the target
A non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising. The method of claim 85,
The command to modify the playback of the media asset is:
Instructions for determining a volume attenuating the sound within the audible range; And
Instructions for adjusting the volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset to the volume to attenuate the sound
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 83,
Instructions for comparing the sound generated by the first device to the database to determine a target associated with the sound and the corresponding set of actions associated with the target are:
Instructions for determining a match between the sound and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the sound;
Instructions for retrieving, from the entry, the target corresponding to the sound; And
From the entry, instructions for retrieving the corresponding set of actions associated with the target
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 83,
Instructions for detecting the user in the viewing environment of the media device are:
Using a sensor, a command for detecting the presence of the user in the viewing environment
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 83,
Instructions for generating a notification to the user indicative of the detected sound are:
Instructions for creating an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, the overlay comprising a notification to the user regarding the sound
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 83,
Wherein the sound is detected from a doorbell. The method of claim 83,
Instructions for modifying the playback of the media asset to enable the user to perform the action associated with the target are:
Instructions for retrieving, from the database, a playback modification set associated with the target;
Instructions for selecting a playback modification from the playback modification set based on the user's preferences; And
Instructions for modifying the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method of claim 83,
From a user profile for the user, instructions for determining whether the user is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the target is:
A command for retrieving a ranking for the user from the user profile;
Instructions for retrieving a ranking for an action from the database;
Instructions for determining whether the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action; And
In response to determining that the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action, instructions for determining that the user is authorized to perform the action
Including, a non-transitory computer-readable medium. A method for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal corresponding to the sound, comprising:
Detecting sound produced by a first device external to the media equipment device, using the control circuitry;
Storing a database associating each of the plurality of goals with an action set of the plurality of actions and a sound of the plurality of sounds;
Comparing the sound generated by the first device with properties of entries in the database to determine a target corresponding to the sound and a corresponding set of actions associated with the target;
Detecting a user in a viewing environment of the media equipment device;
Determining, from a user profile for the user, whether the user is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the target;
In response to determining that the user is authorized to perform the action:
Generating a notification to the user indicative of the detected sound; And
Modifying the playback of a media asset to encourage the user to perform the action associated with the goal; And
In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, generating a notification to the second user to perform the action.
Containing, method. The method of claim 93,
Determining that the sound is within an audible range of the viewing environment; And
In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, preventing the user from modifying the playback of the media asset.
The method further comprising. The method of claim 94,
Modifying the playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing the action associated with the target.
The method further comprising. The method of claim 95,
Modifying the playback of the media asset comprises:
Determining a volume that attenuates the sound within the audible range; And
Adjusting the volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset to the volume to attenuate the sound
The method comprising a. The method according to any one of claims 93 to 96,
Comparing the sound generated by the first device to the database to determine a target associated with the sound and the corresponding set of actions associated with the target, comprising:
Determining a match between the sound and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the sound;
Retrieving, from the entry, the target corresponding to the sound; And
Retrieving, from the entry, the corresponding set of actions associated with the target.
The method comprising a. The method according to any one of claims 93 to 97,
Detecting the user in the viewing environment of the media device comprises:
Using a sensor, detecting the presence of the user in the viewing environment
The method comprising a. The method according to any one of claims 43 to 98,
Generating a notification to the user indicative of the detected sound comprises:
Creating an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, the overlay comprising a notification to the user regarding the sound
The method comprising a. The method according to any one of claims 93 to 99,
Wherein the sound is detected from a doorbell. The method according to any one of claims 93 to 100,
Modifying the playback of the media asset to enable the user to perform the action associated with the goal comprises:
Retrieving, from the database, a reproduction modification set associated with the target;
Selecting a playback modification from the playback modification set based on the user's preferences; And
Modifying the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification
The method comprising a. The method according to any one of claims 93 to 101,
Determining, from a user profile for the user, whether the user is authorized to perform an action within the determined set of actions associated with the goal:
Retrieving a ranking for the user from the user profile;
Retrieving a ranking for an action from the database;
Determining whether the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action; And
In response to determining that the ranking for the user exceeds the ranking for the action, determining that the user is authorized to perform the action.
The method comprising a.

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