MXPA00004039A - Interactive program guide technique - Google Patents

Abstract

A viewer may enjoy viewing a program listing that indicates viewer preferences obtained by monitoring the viewers's viewing habits. For each program viewed, at least two characteristics of the program (e.g., viewing duration, viewing frequency and program content) are monitored, and if at least one characteristic meets a prescribed threshold, the identity of the program whose characteristic met the prescribed threshold is recorded. The recorded program preferences are employed to create a filter for application on a standard program listing to create a listing identifying user preferences.

Description

TECHNICAL INTERACTIVE PROGRAMMING GUIDE Technical Field This invention relates to a technique for displaying information to a viewer to allow the viewer to select one or more programs.

Background of the Technique Currently, several cable television companies, such as TCI, which is now part of AT &T 'Broadband and Internet Services Group, provide a greater number of channels to subscribers and thus offer a wide range of program options to the subscribers. When broadband transmission increases, subscribers can finally enjoy hundreds of different channels. The plethora of program options makes it difficult for a viewer to decide which program to watch. Absent from a specific program option in mind, a viewer can often "change channels" by watching each channel sequentially for a short interval before finally selecting one to watch. The channel changed is time consumed, and it annoys others of the group that watch the same television. REF .: 32799 Instead of changing the channel, some viewers consult a program guide displayed by their cable television provider on an unused channel or consult a printed program guide, such as the program guide printed by several newspapers. , to determine what programs are available and when. The usefulness of such program guides depends largely on how many of them are. Most program guide providers hardly copy the program listings listed on a weekly basis, considering that most cable television providers display a daily list. Trust in a published guide requires the viewer to ensure he or she has identified the program guide listed during the appropriate day and time, often it is not a trivial task to provide the largest number of listings contained in the program guides of the present day. While the program guide is displayed by most cable TV providers, it usually simplifies this problem, a viewer who looks at the program guide should normally wait for the program listings to unfold until the viewer has identified a program. program of interest, normally this is a frustrating experience. The effort to overcome these deficiencies has led to the development of interactive program guides such as the guidance technique described in U.S. Patent 5,465,113, issued under the name of Christopher P. Gilboy on November 7, 1995. The program guide technique described in the Gilboy '113 patent includes a cable controller that accepts a time limit and a time period entry for the viewer. A channel timer measures the period of time during which a program is deployed. Upon reaching the preset limit, the program's display is blocked. The channel chronometer resets the expiration of the reset time. Additionally, the cable controller described in the Gilboy '113 patent has the ability to list the programming and viewing preferences of a viewer to be applied against a listing of normal programming. In this way, the controller can display a written list of programs that reflect the user's preferences. While the programming guide technique described in the Gilboy '113 patent largely allows the viewer control over the selection of programming, the viewer must interact with the cable controller to create or alter program preferences. As the selection of programming continues to expand, the need increases for the intervention of the viewer to create and alter the preferences that will likely demonstrate the discomfort, if it is not annoying. Thus, there is a need for a technique to automatically establish the viewer's preferences.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Briefly, the present invention provides a technique for automatically instructing viewer preferences to allow a viewer to establish a personal profile while minimizing any required interaction. According to a preferred embodiment, programs viewed by the viewer are monitored, usually by means of an established box, which records the programming information (eg, the channel number, content and program title) when certain thresholds, such as the length of time and frequency of channel selection. Thus, for example, if the subscriber has seen a program for a particular period of time, ie for ten minutes, and has previously selected the program in a prescribed number of times within a given period of time, a record of this preference it is maintained, usually in the established box. When the viewer requests a list of programs, the information instructed is used to filter a complete program guide to present the user with a subset of programs likely to interest the viewer, based on previous experience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 describes a schematic block diagram of a cable television network architecture according to the prior art; Figure 2 depicts a schematic block diagram of an established box of the type found within the cable network architecture of Figure 1. Figure 3 depicts a graphical flow representation of the steps performed by the established box of Figure 2 to determine the preference of the spectator according to the invention; and Figure 4 describes a graphic representation of the flow of the steps performed by the established box of Figure 2 to filter the program listings to present the viewer with a list of program preferences according to the invention.

Detailed Description Figure 1 describes a schematic block diagram of the normal architecture of a cable television network 10 according to the prior art. The network 10 includes a main end 12 in which a cable television service provides, as TCI, which is now part of AT & Broadbanda and Internet Services Group, aggregates of television programming. For example, the main end 12 may include a first receiving satellite 14 for receiving the content from at least one transmission network, and a second receiving satellite 16 for receiving the encoded content from a program provider, such as Home Box Office or Similar. A transmit input 18 modulates the output of the satellite 18 in a fiber transport 20 while a receiver decoder modulator 22 describes and modulates the content received by the satellite to the fiber 20.

In the illustrated embodiment, the main end 12 also includes an application server 24, in the form of a computer or the like, capable of accessing a database 26 containing the subscriber information. A digital switch / multiplexer 28 couples the server 24 to the fiber carrier 20 to allow the server to send information downstream to, and receive information upstream of the subscribers served by the main end 12. Among the functions performed by the application server 24 It is the pay-per-event programming. A distribution center 30 couples the fiber 20 to a hybrid coaxial fiber (plant) distribution network 32 which serves a plurality of subscribers, each connected to the coaxial plant through a separate one of the established boxes 34? 34n / where n is an integer. Figure 2 describes a schematic block diagram of a conventional established box 34 :. The established box 34: includes a microprocessor 36 that controls the operation of the established box according to the instructions and data stored in a memory 38. The microprocessor 36 also responds to the information and data received through an interface 39 of a decoder 40 which serves to decode the information of the cable television provider for the output to an indicated television (not shown). An interface 46 couples the microprocessor 36 to a group of toggle switches 47 as well as an infrared sensor 8 »A subscriber can enter the program selections or other pertinent information by putting the toggle switches 47 into action or sending the infrared signals through means of a remote control (not shown) to receive it on the infrared sensor 48. The microprocessor 36 displays the output data to the subscriber by means of an LED display 49 directed by an LED driver 50. A power supply unit 51 provides the energy required for the components described above of the established box. Figure 3 depicts a flow chart of the steps executed by the microprocessor 36 of an "instruction" of the subscriber preferences to create an interactive filter to select a standard program listing to provide a subset of preferred enrollments to the subscriber. The process of instruction begins in the selection of a channel (stage 100) by the viewer, either by activating one of the bar switches 47 of Figure 2 or by activating a - ^ _ * _ ^^^^^ remote control for sending the infrared signals to the infrared sensor 48 of Figure 2. In the channel selection, the microprocessor 36 of Figure 2 supervises the selected channel (step 102). While the channel is monitored, the microprocessor 36 determines whether the selection of the viewer has activated one or more thresholds (step 104). For example, the microprocessor 36 monitors whether the viewer has seen the selected program for a prescribed duration. Additionally, the microprocessor 36 can also determine whether the viewer selected this same program previously a predetermined number of times, and whether the viewer selected other programs previously with similar content. If none of the frequency or content thresholds and program duration are met, the microprocessor 36 returns to step 102 and continues to monitor these parameters. On the other hand, when the threshold of at least one of the two or more parameters selected (program duration, frequency and content) is met, the microprocessor 36 of Figure 2 registers the preference of programs (eg, program identity). in memory 38 of Figure 2 (step 108). So, for example, if the duration of the program is a selected parameter and the viewer has . ^. h,., viewed a program for the prescribed duration, the microprocessor 36 will record the identity of the program for the purpose of tracking the client's preference for a future program that is filtered as described with respect to Figure 4. Similarly, if the The program selection frequency is a selected parameter, and the viewer has selected the particular program in at least a predetermined number of times, ie twice, the microprocessor 36 records the identity of the program. Additionally, if the content of the program is a selected parameter, and the viewer has seen other programs of the same content a predetermined number of times, that is twice, the microprocessor 36 records the identity of the program. Once the viewer has stopped looking, the execution of the program ends (step 108). The microprocessor 36 automatically records the viewer's preferences when one or more of the thresholds meet. Thus, the need of the viewer takes no other action than to select the normal channel. In fact, without taking into account how many different channels or different types of programs the viewer watches, the microprocessor 36 will track the preferences in the manner discussed above. The viewer can selectively adjust the thresholds discussed above with respect to the frequency, content and duration of the program. Thus, a viewer, by appropriate commands to the microprocessor 36, can establish whether the program duration threshold is 15 minutes, or some period that is shorter or longer. Similarly, the viewer, by entering the appropriate commands, may vary the content and frequency thresholds of the program. Additionally, the viewer can select which of the two (or more) parameters of the content and frequency, and duration of the program are monitored to establish the viewer's preference. Additionally, while the content, frequency and program duration thresholds are normally stored in the memory 38 of Figure 8, the thresholds could be stored in a conceivable way in the database 26 of Figure 1. With reference to Figure 4 , the microprocessor 36 of Figure 2 uses the preference information established in connection with the steps described in Figure 3 to filter the program listings in the manner described in Figure 4. Initially, the microprocessor 36 receives a list of programs, normally, but not necessarily, of the application server 24 of Figure 1 (Step 200). After this, the microprocessor 36 creates and applies a filter of preference to the program list during step 202. To this end, the microprocessor 36 first creates a preference list, based on the identities of the program recorded during step 106 of Figure 3. Next, the microprocessor 36 compares the received list of the program during step 200 to the registered list to identify those programs in the received list of programs that corresponds to the preferences. In this way, the microprocessor establishes a list of "filtered" programs for deployment during step 204. The displayed program list could include only pre-registered preferences, or it could include all program listings, with highlighted preferences or by another part distinguished, such as by the deployment at the head of the non-preferred programs. The aforementioned describes an interactive program guide technique that displays the preferences of the viewer of the selected spectator selections. The embodiments described above illustrate only the principles of the invention.

Those skilled in the art can make various modifications and changes that will include the principles of the invention and will fall within the spirit and scope thereof.

It is noted that in relation to this date, the best method known to the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is the conventional one for the manufacture of the objects or products to which it refers.

Claims (14)

1. Having described the invention as above, the content of the following claims is claimed as property: 1. A method for providing interactive program information based on the preferences of the viewer, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: monitoring at least two associated characteristics With each program selected by a viewer to look at and determine at least one characteristic, a prescribed threshold meets; and in this case; record an identifier for the program whose characteristic meets its corresponding threshold to establish a user preference; filter a standard list of the program according to the user's preference to establish a subgroup of the list of programs likely to interest the viewer; and deploy the subgroup of the program listing.
2. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that two features include at least two of: program content, duration of the viewed program, and frequency of program selection.
3. 3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that the content of the program, the duration of the viewed program, and the frequency of program selection are monitored.
4. 4. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that two characteristics of the program are monitored to determine to each characteristic whether a prescribed threshold associated with the characteristic is met.
5. 5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the content of the program, the duration of the viewed program, and the frequency of program selection are monitored to determine to each characteristic whether a prescribed threshold associated with the characteristic is met.
6. 6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that one of the two TO. characteristics is the duration of the program and where the prescribed threshold is fifteen minutes.
7. 7. The method of compliance with 5 claim 1, characterized in that one of the two characteristics is the frequency of the program and where the prescribed threshold is the same program seen twice.
8. 8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that one of the two characteristics is the content of the program and where the prescribed threshold is the programs seen twice from the same content.
9. 9. A method for providing interactive program information based on the preferences of the viewer, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: 20 monitoring, for each program viewed by a user, the characteristics that include the content of the program, duration of the viewed program and the frequency of the program seen, to determine at least one characteristic, meets a prescribed threshold; 25 and so too; «... -,» faith »a.- > 4fcj > . record an identifier for the program whose characteristic meets its corresponding threshold to establish a user preference; filter a standard list of programs according to the user's preference to establish a subgroup of the list of programs likely to interest the viewer; and deploy the subgroup of the program listing.
10. 10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the monitoring step includes determining at least two characteristics if a threshold is met for each characteristic.
11. 11. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the monitoring step includes fully determining the two characteristics if a threshold is met for each characteristic.
12. 12. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the prescribed threshold for the duration of the viewed program is fifteen minutes.
13. 13. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the prescribed threshold for the frequency of the viewed program is the same program seen twice.
14. 14. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the prescribed threshold for the content of the program are the twice viewed programs having the same content. * INTERACTIVE PROGRAMMING GUIDE TECHNIQUE SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A viewer can enjoy watching a list of programs that indicates the preferences of the viewer obtained by monitoring the observed habits of the viewer. For each program seen, at least two features of the program (for example, the duration, frequency and content of the viewed program) are monitored, and if at least one characteristic brings together 10 a prescribed threshold, the identity of the program whose characteristic meets the prescribed threshold is recorded. The registered preferences of the program are used to create a filter for the application in a standard list of programs to create a list that 15 identifies the user's preferences. & i S