US20180192137A1

US20180192137A1 - Systems and methods for predicting viewing behavior

Info

Publication number: US20180192137A1
Application number: US15/470,202
Authority: US
Inventors: Pratik Patel; Margret B. Schmidt; Vinay Chawla; Alexander W. Liston; Brendan Roche
Original assignee: Rovi Guides Inc
Current assignee: Adeia Guides Inc
Priority date: 2017-01-03
Filing date: 2017-03-27
Publication date: 2018-07-05
Also published as: US20190246180A1; US10848833B2; US20230142921A1; US20180192089A1; US20180192150A1; US10390098B2; US10104439B2; US20210105537A1; US11470398B2

Abstract

A method and system for predicting a media asset that the user will consume during a specific timeslot are described herein. The prediction may be made by identifying for a timeslot those media assets that may be of interest to a user. A determination may be made which of those media assets are first run episodes of their respective series. For each series, episodes associated with the previous season of the respective series may be identified and compared with media assets that the user has consumed. Based on that comparison, an amount of first run episodes for the previous season of each respective series the user has consumed may be determined and based on those amounts, a predication may be made of which media asset the user will consume during the timeslot.

Description

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/441,897, filed Jan. 3, 2017, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Various systems are available today for recommending media to a user. Some systems track media that the user consumes over time and based on that media try to predict future media the user may desire to consume. For example, if a user prefers action movies, currently available systems may search through media listings to find all available action movies to recommend to the user. However, these systems do not predict media asset consumption based on previous viewing history that is specific to a series that the media asset belongs to.

SUMMARY

Therefore, systems and methods are disclosed herein for predicting media asset consumption based on a user's media asset consumption history of a previous season of a series. Predictions of media asset consumption may be performed in different ways. For example, one way of predicting user consumption may be based on previous user behavior. Another way to predict media asset consumption may be based on popularity of a media asset. Some factors that may be used in predicting media asset consumption may include the user's favorite genre, shows that the user watches regularly, time of day, shows that the user recently watched, series that the user most frequently watches, shows that have been requested to be recorded for the first time, as well as other suitable factors. For example, if the user's consumption history includes an affinity for a particular sport or a particular sports team, a system may, when predicting user behavior, weight media assets associated with the specific sports higher than media assets associated with a different sport. If there is an affinity for a specific team, media assets associated with that team are weighed even more when predicting what the user is going to watch.
Furthermore, episodes of recently watched series may be weighted higher than episodes of series that have not recently been watched. For example, a system may determine that a user watched episodes of a specific for three weeks in a row, while the user watched fifty episodes of another series one year ago. Based on that information, the system may weigh the recently watched series higher in predicting user behavior.
A media guidance application may be used to perform actions to make predictions and all actions will be described in terms of the media guidance application. However, it should be noted that the actions described below may be performed outside of a media guidance application. Another way to recommend media assets is the user of collaborative filtering, where shows that are highly rated or liked by other users are recommended to the user.
The media guidance application may be configured to select programs for a specific timeslot that are part of a series that the user may be interested in. The media guidance application may narrow down the selection to programs that are being released for the first time. The media guidance application may determine how many episodes of those respective series of a previous season the user consumed when first released, and determine which program the user will consume based on the number of episodes of a previous season of the respective series that the user has consumed.
In some aspects, the media guidance application may predict, for a user, a media asset that the user will consume during a specific timeslot. The media guidance application may make the prediction by identifying, for a timeslot, those media assets that may be of interest to a user. The media guidance application may determine which of those media assets are first run episodes of their respective series. The media guidance application may identify, for each series, episodes associated with the previous season of the respective series and compare those episodes with media assets that the user has consumed. Based on that comparison, the media guidance application may determine an amount of episodes for each respective series the user has consumed and predict, based on those amounts, which media asset the user will consume during the timeslot.
The media guidance application may identify, for a timeslot, media assets that are part of a series that the user may be interested in. Specifically, the media guidance application may determine, for a timeslot, that each of a plurality of media assets is of interest to a user, where each of the plurality of media assets is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of users during the timeslot and is associated with a respective series of media assets. For example, the media guidance application may search through media guidance listings for all media assets that are part of a series and that will be transmitted between 7PM and 8PM.
The media guidance application may determine which of those media assets the user may be interested in (e.g., based on the user's media asset consumption history). In one example, the media guidance application may determine which genre the user is interested in, based on the genres of the shows that the user has consumed in the past. In another example, the media guidance application may determine which shows are more popular than others to determine which ones would be of interest to the user.
The media guidance application may identify those media assets that are being released for the first time during the timeslot. Although this process is described in relation to two media assets, the process may be performed on any number of media assets for the timeslot. Specifically, the media guidance application may retrieve, for a first media asset of the plurality of media assets, a release date associated with the first media asset and a season number within a first series that corresponds to the first media asset. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve the release date and the season number from metadata included with the media guidance listing associated with the first media asset. Additionally or alternatively, the media guidance application may retrieve the release date and season number from a database that stores information describing media assets. Please note that a release date may be used interchangeably with “original air date.”
The same retrieval process may be repeated for a second media asset being transmitted during the timeslot. Specifically, the media guidance application may retrieve, for a second media asset of the plurality of media assets, a release date associated with the second media asset and a season number within a second series that corresponds to the second media asset. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve the release date and the season number from metadata included with the media guidance listing associated with the second media asset. Additionally or alternatively, the media guidance application may retrieve the release date and season number from a database that stores information describing media assets.
The media guidance application may compare the release dates for both the first media asset and the second media asset to determine whether both are released for the first time (i.e., first run episodes) during the timeslot. It should be noted that the comparison described herein is for two media assets. However, any number of media assets transmitted during the timeslot may be compared to determine which are first run episodes of a respective series (i.e., are being released for the first time). Specifically, the media guidance application may compare the release date associated with the first media asset with a current date and the release date associated with the second media asset with the current date. For example, the media guidance application may have retrieved the release date of a specific media asset and the current date. If those dates are the same, the media asset is a first run episode of a corresponding series. The same process may be performed for the second media asset. It should be noted that this process may be performed for any number of media assets transmitted during the timeslot that are part of a series.
The media guidance application may determine, based on the comparing, that both the first media asset and the second media asset are first run episodes of the first series of media assets and the second series of media assets, respectively. For example, for those media assets where the release date matches the current date, the media guidance application may determine that those media assets are first run episodes of a respective series.
The media guidance application may proceed to identify, for each of the first series and the second series, episodes of a previous season of the respective series. Specifically, the media guidance application may generate a first set of media asset identifiers and a second set of media asset identifiers, where the first set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of a previous season of the first series and the second set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of a previous season of the second series. For example, the media guidance application may identify the first media asset as being a new episode of the series “The Big Bang Theory” and a second media asset being a new episode of the series “Suits.” The media guidance application may identify all episodes of the series “The Big Bang Theory” and of the series “Suits” associated with a previous season of each show, respectively.
The media guidance application may proceed to determine which episodes of the previous season of the respective series the user has consumed. Specifically, the media guidance application may compare each media asset identifier in the first set with media asset identifiers corresponding to media assets consumed by the user, and each media asset identifier in the second set with the media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user. For example, the media guidance application may compare all episodes of the series “The Big Bang Theory” of the previous season with all media assets that the user has consumed, and all episodes of the series “Suits” of the previous season with all media assets that the user has consumed.
The media guidance application may identify those media assets of the respective previous seasons that the user has previously consumed. Specifically, the media guidance application may generate a third set of media asset identifiers and a fourth set of media assets identifiers, where the third set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user consumed, and where the fourth set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of the previous season of the second series that the user consumed. The media guidance application may perform the generation based on comparing each media asset identifier in the first set with media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user and each media asset identifier in the second set with the media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the user consumed ten of twelve episodes of the previous season of “The Big Bang Theory,” and eleven of twelve episodes of the previous season of “Suits.” The media guidance application may include, in the third set, media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of the previous season of the series “The Big Bang Theory” that the user previously consumed, and, in the fourth set, media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of the previous season of the series “Suits” that the user previously consumed.
The media guidance application may proceed to identify those episodes, from all the episodes of the previous season of the respective series that the user consumed at first run. Specifically, the media guidance application may compare, for each media asset identifier in the third set, a release date associated with a corresponding media asset of the third set with a respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the third set. For example, the media guidance application may compare the release dates of all episodes of a previous season of the series “The Big Bang Theory” with the dates of when the user consumed the corresponding episode. The media guidance application may perform the same actions with respect to a previous season of “Suits.”
If the dates match, the media guidance application may determine that the user consumed the particular episodes on their release date (i.e., at first run). Specifically, the media guidance application may determine, based on comparing, for each media asset identifier in the third set, the release date associated with the corresponding media asset of the third set with the respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the third set, a first amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the user consumed ten of twelve first run episodes of the previous season of “The Big Bang Theory.” In some embodiments, the media guidance application may calculate a percentage of first run episodes of the previous season of the series “The Big Bang Theory” that the user consumed. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may calculate a ratio of first run episodes consumed to total episodes in the previous season.
The media guidance application may repeat the process described above for the fourth set of media asset identifiers. Specifically, the media guidance application may compare, for each media asset identifier in the fourth set, a release date associated with a corresponding media asset of the fourth set with a respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the fourth set, and determine, based on comparing, for each media asset identifier in the fourth set, the release date associated with the corresponding media asset of the fourth set with the respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the fourth set, a second amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the second series that the user previously consumed. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the user consumed ten of twelve first run episodes of “Suits.” In some embodiments, the media guidance application may calculate a percentage of first run episodes of the previous season of the series “Suits” that the user consumed. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may calculate a ratio of first run episodes consumed to total episodes in the previous season.
The media guidance application may determine based on the first and second amounts which of the two media assets the user will consume. It should be noted that the media guidance application may perform the actions described with respect to more than two media assets. Specifically, the media guidance application may determine, based on the first amount of first run episodes that the user previously consumed and the second amount of first run episodes that the user previously consumed, whether the user will consume the first media asset or the second media asset. For example, if the user consumed ten of twelve first run episodes of the previous season of “The Big Bang Theory,” and eleven of twelve first run episodes of the previous season of “Suits,” the media guidance application may determine that the user will consume the episode of the series “Suits” and not the episode of “The Big Bang Theory.”
Based on determining that the user will consume the first media asset, the media guidance application may generate for display an indicator of the first media asset, and based on the determining that the user will consume the second media asset, the media guidance application may generate for display an indicator of the second media asset. For example, if the media guidance application determines that the user will consume an episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” the media guidance application may generate for display graphics, text, or a combination of those. The media guidance application may, additionally or alternatively, generate an audio cue.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may utilize metadata associated with the media asset and a database to retrieve release date information and season information. Specifically, the media guidance application may, when retrieving, for the first media asset of the plurality of media assets, the release date associated with the first media asset and the season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset, retrieve, from metadata associated with the first media asset, a first media asset identifier associated with the first media asset. The media guidance application may transmit a query for (1) the release date associated with the first media asset and (2) the season number within the first series that corresponds to the first media asset, where the first query includes the first media asset identifier, and receive, in response to the query, the release date associated with the first media asset and the season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve from program listings an identifier associated with the episode of the “Big Bang Theory” that will be transmitted during the timeslot. The identifier may be a string of numbers, a string of letters and numbers, a title with a season number and episode number, or any other suitable identifier. The media guidance application may generate a query for the season number and release date that includes the identifier and transmit the query to a database.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate the first set of media asset identifiers and the second set of media asset identifiers by taking the following actions. The media guidance application may retrieve, from metadata associated with the first media asset, (1) a series identifier corresponding to the first series and (2) a season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may parse the metadata associated with the program listing for the episode of the “Big Bang Theory” that will be transmitted during the timeslot and retrieve the series identifier along with a season number. The series identifier may be the title of the series, a string of numbers, a string of numbers and letters, or another suitable identifier.
The media guidance application may use the series identifier to identify all episodes of the first series. Specifically, the media guidance application may transmit a request for episode metadata corresponding to episodes of the first series. For example, the media guidance application may generate a query that includes the series name (e.g., “The Big Bang Theory”) and transmit the query to a database that stores media asset information.
In response, the media guidance application may receive metadata associated with all episodes of the first series. Specifically, the media guidance application may receive, in response to the request, the episode metadata, where the episode metadata includes (1) a respective media asset identifier for each episode of the first series and a plurality of season numbers, each associated with a corresponding episode of the first series. For example, the media guidance application may receive metadata for all episodes of “The Big Bang Theory.”
The media guidance application may determine, based on the season number associated with the first media asset, a previous season number. For example, if the season number of the episode of the series “The Big Bang Theory” that will be transmitted during the timeslot is eleven, the media guidance application may determine that the previous season is season ten. The media guidance application may compare the previous season number with each of the plurality of season numbers. For example, the media guidance application may compare the season number of each episode of the series “The Big Bang Theory” with season ten to determine which episodes correspond to season ten.
The media guidance application may identify all episodes of the previous season of the first series and generate a set of the corresponding media asset identifiers. Specifically, the media guidance application may generate, based on comparing the previous season number with each of the plurality of season numbers, the first set that includes episodes with corresponding season numbers matching the previous season number. For example, the media guidance application may generate a set of all episodes of the series “The Big Bang Theory” that correspond to season ten. It should be noted that the same process may be performed for other media assets that will be transmitted during the timeslot to identify all episodes of the previous season for those media assets.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine an amount of first run episodes of the previous season of a series that the user previously consumed by performing the following actions. The media guidance application may calculate, for each first run episode of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed, a respective portion of a total length of each episode that the user previously consumed, and determine the first amount of the first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed based on the respective portion of the total length of each episode that the user previously consumed. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the user consumed ninety percent of each of the ten first run episodes of “The Big Bang Theory.” Therefore, the media guidance application may determine the amount of episodes that were consumed as nine.
In some embodiments, two or more media assets may have an identical amount of first run episodes of a previous season of a respective series that the user consumed. In those instances, the media guidance application may predict the media asset that the user will consume based on a number of episodes of the respective series that the user has consumed between the last first run episode of the previous season of the respective series and the current date. Specifically, the media guidance application may determine that the first amount and the second amount are identical. In response to determining that the first amount and the second amount are identical, the media guidance application may retrieve a first release date associated with a final episode of the previous season of the first series and a second release date associated with a final episode of the previous season of the second series. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the last episode of the previous season of the series “The Big Bang Theory” was first released (i.e., had its first run) on Jan. 1, 2017, and that the last episode of the previous season of the series “Suits” was first released (i.e., had its first run) on Feb. 1, 2017.
The media guidance application may determine for each series the respective number of episodes that the user consumed between the current date and those respective release dates. Specifically, the media guidance application may determine a first number of episodes of the first series that the user consumed between the first release date and the current date, and determine a second number of episodes of the second series that the user consumed between the second release date and the current date. For example, the media guidance application may determine, from media asset consumption history associated with the user, that the user consumed fifteen episodes of the series “The Big Bang Theory” and sixteen episodes of the series “Suits” between the respective last episodes of previous season of each respective series and the current date.
The media guidance application may determine whether the user will consume the first media asset or the second media asset based on the first number of episodes and the second number of episodes. To continue with the example above, if the user consumed fifteen episodes of the series “The Big Bang Theory” and sixteen episodes of the series “Suits” between the respective last episodes of previous season of each respective series and the current date, the media guidance application may determine that the user will consume the new episode of the series “Suits” and not the new episode of “The Big Bang Theory.”
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may take into account media asset consumption habits of another user that may be consuming media with the user during the timeslot. Specifically, the media guidance application may detect that a second user is consuming content with the user using a first device. The media guidance application may determine, based on media asset consumption history associated with the second user, a third amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series the second user previously consumed, and a fourth amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the second series that the second user previously consumed, and modify, based on the third amount and the fourth amount, the first amount and the second amount, respectively. For example, the media guidance application may determine, from media asset consumption history associated with the user, that the user consumed ten first run episodes of the previous season of the series “The Big Bang Theory” and nine first run episodes of the previous season of “Suits.” However, the media guidance application may determine that a second user will be consuming content with the user during the timeslot. The media guidance application may determine that the second user consumed four first run episodes of the previous season of the series “The Big Bang Theory” and seven first run episodes of the previous season of “Suits.” Thus, together those users consumed fourteen first run episodes of the previous season of the series “The Big Bang Theory” and sixteen first run episodes of the previous season of “Suits.” Therefore, the media guidance application may predict that the new episode of the series “Suits” will be chosen for consumption.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may take into account characteristics of the last media asset that the user has consumed when predicting a media asset for the timeslot. Specifically, the media guidance application may determine, based on series metadata, a first characteristic associated with the first series and a second characteristic associated with the second series. The media guidance application may retrieve a plurality of characteristics associated with a media asset that the user has consumed last, and determine whether the plurality of characteristics includes the first characteristic or the second characteristic. Based on determining that the plurality of characteristics includes the first characteristic, the media guidance application may increase the first amount of first run episodes. Based on determining that the plurality of characteristics includes the second characteristic, the media guidance application may increase the second amount of first run episodes.
For example, the media guidance application may determine that the last media asset the user has consumed is a comedy. The media guidance application may determine that the series “The Big Bang Theory” is also a comedy while the series “Suits” is a drama series. Thus, the media guidance application may increase the amount of first run episodes that the user has consumed of the series “The Big Bang Theory” by one or another suitable number.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine the amount of first run episodes of the previous season that the user has consumed based on a number of first run episodes that the user was consuming live versus those that are time-shifted. Specifically, the media guidance application may determine, for each media asset corresponding to a respective media asset identifier of the first set, whether the user consumed each respective media asset at transmission time. For example, the media guidance application may determine whether the user was consuming each first run episode live or whether the user recorded each first run episode and consumed it at a later time.
The media guidance application may calculate, based on determining whether the user consumed each respective media asset at transmission time, a number of media assets corresponding to media asset identifiers in the first set that the user did not consume at transmission time. For example, if the user consumed eight of the fifteen first run episodes live and recorded or time shifted two first run episodes, the media guidance application may calculate that two episodes were not consumed at transmission time.
The media guidance application may modify the total number of first run episodes consumed by the user based on the episodes that were recorded or time shifted. Specifically, the media guidance application may modify the first amount based on the number of media assets corresponding to media asset identifiers in the first set that the user did not consume at transmission time. For example, if the media guidance application determined that two first run episodes were recorded or time shifted, the media guidance application may subtract the two episodes from the total amount of first run episodes that the user consumed.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, when comparing, for each media asset identifier in the third set, release dates and consumption dates, perform the following actions. The media guidance application may search, using a first media asset identifier in the first set, a database that stores media asset consumption history associated with the user, for an entry associated with the first media asset identifier. For example, the media guidance application may query a database that stores media asset consumption history associated with one or more users in order to find an entry associated with the appropriate user. It should be noted that in this embodiment, or any other embodiment of this disclosure, a user may be equivalent to a household of users and a database entry may correspond to a household of users.
The media guidance application may retrieve, from a database, data corresponding to the user's media asset consumption history. Specifically, the media guidance application may retrieve, based on the searching, data of the entry. For example, the media guidance application may query the database for the appropriate user entry and receive back a data structure that includes a plurality of fields describing the user's media asset consumption history
The media guidance application may parse the data structure for the field that indicates when the user consumed a specific media asset (e.g., a first run episode that is being processed by the media guidance application). Specifically, the media guidance application may locate a field, in the data of the entry, that stores a first consumption date associated with a media asset corresponding to the first media asset identifier. For example, the media guidance application may search the user's media asset consumption history for a specific first run episode of the series “Suits” and retrieve a date corresponding to the first time that the user consumed the specific first run episode. When the appropriate field is located, the media guidance application may retrieve the first consumption date from the field, and compare the retrieved first consumption date with a release date associated with the media asset corresponding to the first media asset identifier. For example, the media guidance application may compare the consumption date associated with the specific first run episode of the series “Suits” with the release date associated with that episode of “Suits.”
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may inform the user why a specific media asset was predicted for consumption and why another media asset, or in some embodiments, multiple other media assets, will not be consumed. Specifically, the media guidance application may, based on determining that the user will consume the first media asset, generate for display an indicator of the second media asset, a first criterion used to predict that the user will consume the first media asset during the timeslot, and a second criterion used to predict that the user will not consume the second media asset during the timeslot. For example, if the media guidance application predicts that the user will consume a new episodes of the series “The Big Bang Theory” and not a new episode of the series “Suits” based on the user consuming more first run episodes of a previous season of the series “The Big Bang Theory” than “first run episodes of a previous season of “Suits,” the media guidance application may generate for display a title of each episode together with an amount of first run episodes of the previous season consumed for each series, visually distinguishing the new episode of the series “The Big Bang Theory” to indicate that it will be consumed.
In some embodiments, the actions above may be performed in relation to on-demand media asset. For example, a user may desire to consume an on-demand media asset and enter an on-demand application. The media guidance application may determine, for every series available to the user, a number associated with the latest season that is available. The media guidance application may determine a previous season that is available to the user based on the last available season. The media guidance application may perform actions similar to those described above to determine which series or episode to recommend to the user. For example, the media guidance application may identify, for each series available on demand, all episodes of a previous season (i.e., the season immediately prior to the last season available), and determine a number of first run episodes of the previous season that the user previously consumed. The media guidance application may perform these actions in a manner similar to the actions described above. The media guidance application may compare the results in order to determine the series with the highest amount of episodes of the previous season consumed by the user. The media guidance application may generate a prediction to the user based on the results of the comparison (e.g., select the series with the highest amount of consumed episodes of the previous season).
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may perform actions described above with respect to streaming programs, recorded programs, or programs otherwise stored for consumption that are part of a series. These actions may be performed in a manner similar to what has been described above. For example, the media guidance application may identify, for each series that will be streamed or is streaming, has been recorded, or otherwise stored, all episodes of a previous season (i.e., the season immediately prior to the last season available), and determine a number of first run episodes of the previous season that the user previously consumed. The media guidance application may compare the results in order to determine the series with the highest amount of episodes of the previous season consumed by the user. The media guidance application may generate a prediction to the user based on the results of the comparison (e.g., select the series with the highest amount of consumed episodes of the previous season).
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may predict which of multiple recorded episodes of various series the user will consume. For example, the media guidance application may determine that there are three episodes of two different shows that were previously recorded (e.g., two episodes of the series “Suits” and one episode of the series “The Big Bang Theory”). If the user prefers the series “Suits” over the series “The Big Bang Theory,” the media guidance application may predict that the user will consume both episodes of the series “Suits” before consuming the episode of the series “The Big Bang Theory.”
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate for display a series identifier associated with the predicted series. The series identifier may be selectable. In response to a user selection of the series identifier, the media guidance application may generate for display identifiers of specific episodes of the series that are available for the user. For example, the media guidance application may generate for display indicators of episodes of the series that have been recorded or are available from an on-demand application as well as those episodes that are currently airing.
In some embodiments, the actions described above may be performed in relation to any episodes of any series (i.e., not just first run episodes). For example, if two or more episodes of two or more different series are available to a user to consume, the media guidance application may predict which series the user may consume, based on the previous season's consumption. The media guidance application may determine, as described above, an amount of episodes of a previous season (e.g., the season previous to the season that the particular episode is associated with) the user has consumed and determine based on those amounts which series of the different series the user will consume.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate for display an ordered list of different series predicted for a user based the amount of episodes of a previous season of the corresponding series the user has previously consumed. For example, the media guidance application may determine that a number of episodes of different series are available to the user that include episodes that are airing at a current time, recordings/streaming content available from a DVR and/or a service provider or a streaming provider. The media guidance application may determine for each series, based on a respective amount of episodes of a previous season consumed by the user, an order in which the user is likely to consume the available episodes. The media guidance application may generate for display the ordered list for the user. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may prioritize, in the ordered list, media content that the user has set for recording. For example, if a user set to record a specific episode of the series “Suits,” the media guidance application may determine that another episode of the same series is currently available, and move that episode to the top of the list.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a media guidance display of a prediction made based on media asset consumption of first run episodes of a previous season of a series in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative example of a media guidance display for navigating and selecting media assets in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows another illustrative example of a media guidance display for navigating and selecting media assets in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is an illustrative process for predicting media asset consumption based on a viewing history of a user in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is an illustrative process for determining, for a media asset, a release date and season number within a series corresponding to the media asset in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 8 is an illustrative process for generating a set of media assets corresponding to episodes of a previous season of a series in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are disclosed herein for predicting media asset consumption based on a user's media asset consumption history of a previous season of a series. A media guidance application may be configured to select programs for a specific timeslot that are part of a series that the user may be interested in. The media guidance application may narrow down the selection to programs that are being released for the first time. The media guidance application may determine how many episodes of those respective series of a previous season the user consumed when first released, and determine which program the user will consume based on the number of episodes of a previous season of the respective series that the user has consumed.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may predict, for a user, a media asset that the user will consume during a specific timeslot. The media guidance application may identify, for a timeslot, media assets that are part of a series that the user may be interested in. Specifically, the media guidance application may determine, for a timeslot, that each of a plurality of media assets is of interest to a user, where each of the plurality of media assets is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of users during the timeslot and is associated with a respective series of media assets. For example, the media guidance application may identify all media assets that the user may be interested in.
FIG. 1 illustrates one display screen that may be presented to the user in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. The media guidance application may determine that the user is interested in media asset 104 and media asset 106 (e.g., because the user enjoys comedies and dramas), but is not interested in media assets 108 and 110 (e.g., because the user does not enjoy sci-fi media assets). Thus, the media guidance application may determine which genres the user is interested is (comedy and drama), based on the genres of media assets that the user has consumed in the past. In another example, the media guidance application may determine which shows are more popular than others to determine which ones would be of interest to the user. The media guidance application may identify (e.g., based on metadata stored with the media guidance listing for media assets that the user is interested in) those media assets that are part of a series. The media guidance application may search, for each identified media asset in a corresponding program listing, for a flag indicating that the corresponding media asset is part of a series. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may search the program listing for a season number and/or episode number in order to determine whether a media asset is part of a series.
The media guidance application may identify those media assets that are being released for the first time during the timeslot. Although this process is described in relation to two media assets, the process may be performed on any number of media assets for the timeslot. Specifically, the media guidance application may retrieve, for a first media asset of the plurality of media assets, a release date associated with the first media asset and a season number within a first series that corresponds to the first media asset. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve the release date and the season number from metadata included with the media guidance listing associated with the first media asset. Additionally or alternatively, the media guidance application may retrieve a media asset identifier associated with each respective media asset, and query a database that stores information describing media assets for the release date and season number using the retrieved media asset identifier. As referred here, the term “release date” for an episode of a series refers to an “original air date” for that episode of the series.
The same retrieval process may be repeated for a second media asset being transmitted during the timeslot. Specifically, the media guidance application may retrieve, for a second media asset of the plurality of media assets, a release date associated with the second media asset and a season number within a second series that corresponds to the second media asset.
The media guidance application may compare the release dates for both the first media asset and the second media asset to determine whether both are released for the first time (i.e., are first run episodes) during the timeslot. It should be noted that the comparison described herein is for two media assets. However, any number of media assets transmitted during the timeslot may be compared herein to determine which are first run episodes of a respective series (i.e., are being released for the first time). Specifically, the media guidance application may compare the release date associated with the first media asset with a current date and the release date associated with the second media asset with the current date. For example, the media guidance application may have retrieved the release date of a specific media asset and the current date. If those dates are identical, the media asset is a first run episode of a corresponding series. The same process may be performed for the second media asset. It should be noted that this process may be performed for any number of media assets transmitted during the timeslot that are part of a series. If the release dates match, the media guidance application may determine, based on the comparing, that both the first media asset and the second media asset are first run episodes of the first series of media assets and the second series of media assets, respectively.
The media guidance application may proceed to identify for each of the first series and the second series episodes of a previous season of the respective series. Specifically, the media guidance application may generate a first set of media asset identifiers and a second set of media asset identifiers, where the first set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of a previous season of the first series and the second set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of a previous season of the second series. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve metadata associated with each episode of the first series and also metadata associated with each episode of a second series. The media guidance application may determine a number associated with a previous season based on a number of the current season (e.g., subtract one from the current season number). The media guidance application may compare the previous season number with a season number stored in the metadata associated with each episode of the first series and also with each episode of the second series. The media guidance application may identify those episodes that have a season number in the metadata matching the previous season number.
The media guidance application may proceed to determine which episodes of the previous season corresponding to the respective media assets the user has consumed. Specifically, the media guidance application may compare each media asset identifier in the first set with media asset identifiers corresponding to media assets consumed by the user, and each media asset identifier in the second set with the media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve user's media asset consumption history. The user's media asset consumption history may include media asset identifiers (e.g., alphanumeric value, a combination of title, season, and episode number, or another suitable media asset identifier). The media guidance application may compare, for each of the first set and the second set, media asset identifiers with media asset identifiers in the user's media asset consumption history.
The media guidance application may identify those media assets of the respective previous seasons that the user has previously consumed. Specifically, the media guidance application may generate, based on comparing each media asset identifier in the first set with media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user and each media asset identifier in the second set with the media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user, a third set of media asset identifiers and a fourth set of media assets identifiers, where the third set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user consumed, and where the fourth set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of the previous season of the second series that the user consumed. For example, the media guidance application, upon comparing, as described above, the media asset identifiers of the respective sets with media asset identifiers in the user's media asset consumption history, stores the matching media asset identifiers in the third and the fourth set, respectively.
The media guidance application may proceed to identify those episodes, from all the episodes of the previous season of the respective series that the user consumed at first run. Specifically, the media guidance application may compare, for each media asset identifier in the third set, a release date associated with a corresponding media asset of the third set with a respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the third set. For example, the media guidance application may iterate through each media asset identifier in the third set and the fourth set, respectively, and compare the associated release dates with the dates that the user consumed those respective media assets.
If the corresponding dates match, the media guidance application may determine that the user consumed the particular episode on its release date (i.e., at first run). Specifically, the media guidance application may determine, based on comparing, for each media asset identifier in the third set, the release date associated with the corresponding media asset of the third set with the respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the third set, a first amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed. For example, the media guidance application may store in a data structure media asset identifiers from the third set that correspond to media assets that the user consumed at first run. The media guidance application may, additionally or alternatively, store a first amount (e.g., a number of media assets) of first run episodes of a first series that the user consumed.
The media guidance application may repeat the process described above for the fourth set of media asset identifiers. Specifically, the media guidance application may compare, for each media asset identifier in the fourth set, a release date associated with a corresponding media asset of the fourth set with a respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the fourth set, and determine, based on comparing, for each media asset identifier in the fourth set, the release date associated with the corresponding media asset of the fourth set with the respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the fourth set, a second amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed. For example, the media guidance application may store in a data structure media asset identifiers from the fourth set that correspond to media assets that the user consumed at first run. The media guidance application may, additionally or alternatively, store a first amount (e.g., a number of media assets) of first run episodes of a second series that the user consumed.
The media guidance application may determine based on the first and second amounts which of the two media assets the user will consume. It should be noted that the media guidance application may perform the actions described with respect to more than two media assets. For example, the media guidance application may compare a number of episodes of a previous season of a first series that the user consumed at first run with a number of episodes of a previous season of a second series that the user consumed at first run. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may compare a ratio of the number of episodes of a previous season of a first series that the user consumed at first run to a total number of episodes in the previous season with a ratio of the number of episodes of a previous season of a second series that the user consumed at first run to a total number of episodes in the previous season. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may compare percentages.
Based on determining that the user will consume the first media asset, the media guidance application may generate for display an indicator of the first media asset, and based on the determining that the user will consume the second media asset, the media guidance application may generate for display an indicator of the second media asset. For example, the media guidance application may generate for display graphics, text, or a combination of those. The media guidance application may, additionally or alternatively, generate an audio cue. In some embodiments the media guidance application may generate for display an indication 102 of FIG. 1 that indicates to the user the prediction associated with the specific timeslot.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may utilize metadata associated with the media asset and a database to retrieve release date information and season information. Specifically, the media guidance application may, when retrieving, for the first media asset of the plurality of media assets, the release date associated with the first media asset and the season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset, retrieve, from metadata associated with the first media asset, a first media asset identifier associated with the first media asset. For example, the media guidance application may access metadata corresponding to a program listing associated with the media asset. That metadata may include a field for storing a media asset identifier. The media guidance application may retrieve the media asset identifier from the field.
The media guidance application may transmit a query for (1) the release date associated with the first media asset and (2) the season number within the first series that corresponds to the first media asset, where the first query includes the first media asset identifier. For example, the media guidance application may generate a query to a database that stores information about media assets. The query may include the retrieved media asset identifier for looking up the proper record. The query may also include a request for the release date associated with the corresponding media asset and a season number within a series associated with the media asset.
The media guidance application may receive, in response to the query, the release date associated with the first media asset and the season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may receive the information and store it in a data structure.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate the first set of media asset identifiers and the second set of media asset identifiers by taking the following actions. The media guidance application may retrieve, from metadata associated with the first media asset, (1) a series identifier corresponding to the first series and (2) a season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may parse the metadata associated with the program listing for a corresponding media asset that will be transmitted during the timeslot and retrieve the series identifier along with a season number. The series identifier may be the title of the series, a string of numbers, a string of numbers and letters, or another suitable identifier. The metadata may be stored in a database format, or another file format (e.g., XML format)
The media guidance application may use the series identifier to identify all episodes of the first series. Specifically, the media guidance application may transmit a request for episode metadata corresponding to episodes of the first series. For example, the media guidance application may generate a query that includes the series name and transmit the query to a database that includes media asset information. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may transmit an alphanumeric identifier associated with a series or another suitable identifier.
In response, the media guidance application may receive metadata associated with all episodes of the first series. Specifically, the media guidance application may receive, in response to the request, the episode metadata, where the episode metadata includes (1) a respective media asset identifier for each episode of the first series and a plurality of season numbers each associated with a corresponding episode of the first series. For example, the media guidance application may receive metadata for all episodes of a first series. The metadata may be stored in a data structure for convenient access.
The media guidance application may determine, based on the season number associated with the first media asset, a previous season number. For example, the media guidance application may subtract one from the current season to arrive at the previous season number. The media guidance application may compare the previous season number with each of the plurality of season numbers. For example, the media guidance application may iterate through each episode of the first series, as stored in the metadata data structure described above, and identify all episodes where the corresponding season matches the previous season number.
The media guidance application may identify all episodes of the previous season of the first series and generate a set of the corresponding media asset identifiers. Specifically, the media guidance application may generate, based on comparing the previous season number with each of the plurality of season numbers, the first set that includes episodes with corresponding season numbers matching the previous season number. For example, the media guidance application may store in another data structure media asset identifiers that correspond to episodes of the previous season of the series being processed. It should be noted that the same process may be performed for other media assets that will be transmitted during the timeslot to identify all episodes of the previous season for those media assets.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine an amount of first run episodes of the previous season of a series that the user previously consumed by performing the following actions. The media guidance application may calculate, for each first run episode of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed, a respective portion of a total length of each episode that the user previously consumed, and determine the first amount of the first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed based on the respective portion of the total length of each episode that the user previously consumed. For example, the media guidance application may iterate through each episode of the previous season of the series that the user consumed. As the media guidance application iterates through each episode, the media guidance application may retrieve from the user's media asset consumption history an amount (e.g., a percentage, a length, a ratio of length consumed to total length, or another suitable amount) of the corresponding episode that the user consumed. The media guidance application may use that information to determine an amount of episodes of a previous season that the user has consumed at first run. For example, the user may add all the percentages and divide the resulting value by one hundred percent multiplied by the total number of episodes in the previous season. In another example, the user may add all the total lengths consumed and divide by the total length. In yet another example, the media guidance application may add all ratios.
In some embodiments, two or more media assets may have an identical amount of first run episodes of a previous season of a respective series that the user consumed. In those instances, the media guidance application may predict the media asset that the user will consume based on a number of episodes of the respective series that the user has consumed between the last first run episode of the previous season of the respective series and the current date. Specifically, the media guidance application may determine that the first amount and the second amount are identical. For example, the media guidance application may compare respective numbers of episodes of a previous season consumed at first run, ratios of those episodes, percentages of those episodes, or other suitable amounts.
In response to determining that the first amount and the second amount are identical, the media guidance application may retrieve a first release date associated with a final episode of the previous season of the first series and a second release date associated with a final episode of the previous season of the second series. For example, the media guidance application may use media asset identifiers associated with episodes of a previous season of a corresponding series (e.g., obtained above), and determine a release date associated with each episode. The media guidance application may identify the latest release date associated with an episode of a previous season of each respective series.
The media guidance application may determine for each series the respective number of episodes that the user consumed between the current date and those respective release dates. Specifically, the media guidance application may determine a first number of episodes of the first series that the user consumed between the first release date and the current date, and determine a second number of episodes of the second series that the user consumed between the second release date and the current date. For example, the media guidance application may use a series identifier for each respective series (e.g., a series identifier described above) and parse through the user's media asset consumption history. For each media asset identifier in the user's media asset consumption history that matches the respective series identifier, the media guidance application may compare the consumption date with the respective latest release date. If the consumption date is later than the release date (or in some embodiments later or equal to the release date), the media guidance application may update a respective counter that keeps track of the number of episodes of the respective series consumed between the respective latest release date and the current date.
The media guidance application may determine whether the user will consume the first media asset or the second media asset based on the first number of episodes and the second number of episodes. For example, each episode of the respective series consumed between the respective release date of the last episode of the previous season and the current date may be added to the first amount and the second amount respectively.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may take into account media asset consumption habits of another user that may be consuming media with the user during the timeslot. Specifically, the media guidance application may detect that a second user is consuming content with the user using a first device. For example, the media guidance application may reside on a device that includes a camera and may identify the second user using face recognition. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may reside on a device with a microphone. The media guidance application may identify the second user by recording and analyzing the second user's voice.
The media guidance application may determine, based on media asset consumption history associated with the second user, a third amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series the second user previously consumed, and a fourth amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the second series that the second user previously consumed. The media guidance application may make the determination in the same manner as making the determination for the user.
The media guidance application may modify, based on the third amount and the fourth amount, the first amount and the second amount, respectively. For example, the media guidance application may add to the first amount of media assets of the previous season of a first series consumed by the user the amount of media assets of the previous season of the first series consumed by the second user. The media guidance application may add to the amount of media assets of a second series consumed by the user the amount of media assets of the previous season of the second series consumed by the second user. It should be noted that in some embodiments, this process may be performed in response to determining that an identical amount of first run episodes of a previous season of a first series and a second series were consumed.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may take into account characteristics of the last media asset that the user has consumed when predicting a media asset for the timeslot. Specifically, the media guidance application may determine, based on series metadata, a first characteristic associated with the first series and a second characteristic associated with the second series. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve, for the first and second series, series metadata that may include one or more characteristics associated with the respective series. Those characteristics may include one or more genres associated with the series, names of actors, directors, creators, characters, description of a series, plot keywords, taglines, and other suitable characteristics. The media guidance application may retrieve the metadata from program listing information or from a remote database using a series identifier (e.g., a series identifier described above) to query the database.
The media guidance application may retrieve a plurality of characteristics associated with a media asset that the user has consumed last, and determine whether the plurality of characteristics includes the first characteristic or the second characteristic. For example, the media guidance application may access the user's media asset consumption history and retrieve a media asset identifier associated with the last media asset that the user has consumed. The media guidance application may use the media asset identifier to access media listing information (e.g., on a remote server or in a local program listing database) associated with the media asset identifier.
Based on determining that the plurality of characteristics includes the first characteristic, the media guidance application may increase the first amount of first run episodes. Based on determining that the plurality of characteristics includes the second characteristic, the media guidance application may increase the second amount of first run episodes. For example, if one of the characteristics associated with the last media asset consumed by the user (e.g., genre) matches a characteristic of the first series, the media guidance application may increase the first amount by a value of one. The media guidance application may perform the same action for the second series. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may increase the first amount and/or the second amount based on a number of characteristics that match. For example, if two characteristics associated with the last consumed media asset match the first series, the media guidance application may increase the first amount by the value of two. If three characteristics associated with last consumed media asset match the second series, the media guidance application may increase the second amount by the value of three. In some embodiments, this process may be performed responsive to determining that the first amount and the second amount are equal when originally calculated.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine the amount of first run episodes of the previous season that the user has consumed based on a number of first run episodes that the user was consuming live versus those that are time-shifted. Specifically, the media guidance application may determine, for each media asset corresponding to a respective media asset identifier of the first set, whether the user consumed each respective media asset at transmission time. For example, the media guidance application may store in the user's media asset consumption history data related to consumption for each media asset. For example, if the user consumed the media asset live (e.g., the channel was tuned to a tuner that is outputting a signal), the media guidance application may store an indication of that in the user's media asset consumption history. Likewise, if the user recorded a media asset and consumed it at another time, the media guidance application may store an indication of that in the user's media asset consumption history. The media guidance application may retrieve the stored indicator for each first run episode of the previous season of the respective series that the user consumed. The media guidance application may determine whether the user was consuming each first run episode live or whether the user recorded each first run episode and consumed it at a later time. For example, the media guidance application may make the determination based on the respective retrieved indicator.
The media guidance application may calculate, based on determining whether the user consumed each respective media asset at transmission time, a number of media assets corresponding to media asset identifiers in the first set that the user did not consume at transmission time. The media guidance application may modify the total number of first run episodes consumed by the user based on the episodes that were recorded or time shifted. Specifically, the media guidance application may modify the first amount based on the number of media assets corresponding to media asset identifiers in the first set that the user did not consume at transmission time. For example, the media guidance application may subtract a number of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user did not consume at transmission time from the first amount. The media guidance application may also subtract a number of first run episodes of the previous season of the second series that the user did not consume at transmission time from the second amount.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, when comparing, for each media asset identifier in the third set, release dates and consumption dates, perform the following actions. The media guidance application may search, using a first media asset identifier in the first set, for an entry associated with the first media asset identifier. The search may be performed in a database that stores media asset consumption history associated with one or more users. It should be noted that in this embodiment, or any other embodiment of this disclosure, a user may be equivalent to a household of users and a database entry may correspond to a household of users.
The media guidance application may retrieve, from a database, data corresponding to the user's media asset consumption history. Specifically, the media guidance application may retrieve, based on the searching, data of the entry. For example, the media guidance application may query the database for the appropriate user entry and receive back a data structure that includes a plurality of fields describing the user's media asset consumption history
The media guidance application may parse the data structure for the field that indicates when the user consumed a specific media asset (e.g., a first run episode that is being processed by the media guidance application). Specifically, the media guidance application may locate a field, in the data of the entry, that stores a first consumption date associated with a media asset corresponding to the first media asset identifier. When the appropriate field is located, the media guidance application may retrieve the first consumption date from the field, and compare the retrieved first consumption date with a release date associated with the media asset corresponding to the first media asset identifier.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application may inform the user why a specific media asset was predicted for consumption and why another media asset, or in some embodiments, multiple other media assets will not be consumed. Specifically, the media guidance application may, based on determining that the user will consume the first media asset, generate for display an indicator of the second media asset, a first criterion used to predict that the user will consume the first media asset during the timeslot, and a second criterion used to predict that the user will not consume the second media asset during the timeslot. For example, the media guidance application may generate for display a title of each episode together with an amount of first run episodes of the previous season consumed for each series, visually distinguishing the episode that will be consumed.
The amount of content available to users in any given content delivery system can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form of media guidance through an interface that allows users to efficiently navigate content selections and easily identify content that they may desire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to herein as an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a media guidance application or a guidance application.
Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms depending on the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type of media guidance application is an interactive television program guide. Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to as electronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that, among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many types of content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications may generate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigate among, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms “media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean an electronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadable content, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information, pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles, books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media, applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/or combination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users to navigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term “multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at least two different content forms described above, for example, text, audio, images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded, played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also be part of a live performance.
The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performing any of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computer readable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable of storing data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including, but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals, or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile and non-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk, floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processor caches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.
With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speed wireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment devices on which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase “user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronic device,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “media device” should be understood to mean any device for accessing the content described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-top box, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellite television, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), a digital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, a DVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, a BLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationary telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a portable video player, a portable music player, a portable gaming machine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computing equipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screen and a 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 these user equipment devices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same content available through a television. Consequently, media guidance may be available on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be for content available only through a television, for content available only through one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or for content available both through a television and one or more of the other types of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may be provided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or as stand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Various devices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications are described in more detail below.
One of the functions of the media guidance application is to provide media guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “media guidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any data related to content or data used in operating the guidance application. For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidance application settings, user preferences, user profile information, media listings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcast channels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parental control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information, actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D, etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type of guidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locate desired content selections.
FIGS. 2-3 show illustrative display screens that may be used to provide media guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 2-3 may be implemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While the displays of FIGS. 2-3 are illustrated as full screen displays, they may also be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A user may indicate a desire to access content information by selecting a selectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, a listings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user input interface or device. In response to the user's indication, the media guidance application may provide a display screen with media guidance data organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in a grid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category (e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories of programming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organization criteria.
FIG. 2 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 200 arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different types of content in a single display. Display 200 may include grid 202 with: (1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 204, where each channel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column) identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a row of time identifiers 206, where each time identifier (which is a cell in the row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 202 also includes cells of program listings, such as program listing 208, where each listing provides the title of the program provided on the listing's associated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can select program listings by moving highlight region 210. Information relating to the program listing selected by highlight region 210 may be provided in program information region 212. Region 212 may include, for example, the program title, the program description, the time the program is provided (if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), the program's rating, and other desired information.
In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., content that is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipment devices at a predetermined time and is provided according to a schedule), the media guidance application also provides access to non-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipment device at any time and is not provided according to a schedule). Non-linear programming may include content from different content sources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content (e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above or other storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demand content may include movies or any other content provided by a particular content provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time Warner Company L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM are trademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content may include web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or content available on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content through an Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).
Grid 202 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programming including on-demand listing 214, recorded content listing 216, and Internet content listing 218. A display combining 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 that are different than display 200 may be based on user selection or guidance application definition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings, only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings 214, 216, and 218 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayed in grid 202 to indicate that selection of these listings may provide access to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings, or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings for these content types 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 a user input device may affect the display in a similar manner as selecting navigational icons 220.)
Display 200 may also include video region 222, and options region 226. Video region 222 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs that are currently available, will be available, or were available to the user. The content of video region 222 may correspond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 202. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referred to as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the embodiments described herein.
Options region 226 may allow the user to access different types of content, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidance application features. Options region 226 may be part of display 200 (and other display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user by selecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignable button on a user input device. The selectable options within options region 226 may concern features related to program listings in grid 202 or may include options available from a main menu display. Features related to program listings may include searching for other air times or ways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling series recording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite, purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a main menu display may include search options, VOD options, parental control options, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronization options, second screen device options, options to access various types of media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premium service, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browse overlay, or other options.
The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user's preferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user to customize displays and features to create a personalized “experience” with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may be created by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by the media guidance application monitoring user activity to determine various user preferences. Users may access their personalized guidance application by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to the guidance application. Customization of the media guidance application may be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations may include varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays, font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g., only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channels based on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display of channels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g., recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality, etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internet content (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail, electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desired customizations.
The media guidance 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 the content the user accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with the guidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application may obtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to a particular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the user accesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applications the user accesses, from other interactive applications the user accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.), and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that the media guidance application may access. As a result, a 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 greater detail below in connection with FIG. 5. Additional personalized media guidance application features are described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown in FIG. 3. Video mosaic display 300 includes selectable options 302 for content information organized based on content type, genre, and/or other organization criteria. In display 300, television listings option 304 is selected, thus providing listings 306, 308, 310, and 312 as broadcast program listings. In display 300 the listings may provide graphical images including cover art, still images from the content, video clip previews, live video from the content, or other types of content that indicate to a user the content being described by the media guidance data in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also be accompanied by text to provide further 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 316 may be selectable to view content in full-screen or to view information related to the content displayed in media portion 314 (e.g., to view listings for the channel that the video is displayed on).
The listings in display 300 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 306 is larger than listings 308, 310, and 312), but if desired, all the listings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes or graphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user or to emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider or based on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphically accentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Users may access content and the media guidance application (and its display screens described above and below) from one or more of their user equipment devices. FIG. 4 shows a generalized embodiment of illustrative user equipment device 400. More specific implementations of user equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 5. User equipment device 400 may receive content and data via input/output (hereinafter “I/O”) path 402. I/O path 402 may provide 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 to control circuitry 404, which includes processing circuitry 406 and storage 408. Control circuitry 404 may be used to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable data using I/O path 402. I/O path 402 may connect control circuitry 404 (and specifically processing circuitry 406) to one or more communications paths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.
Control circuitry 404 may be based on any suitable processing circuitry such as processing circuitry 406. As referred to herein, processing circuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may include a multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or any suitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments, processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separate processors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same type of processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multiple different processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Core i7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 404 executes instructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e., storage 408). Specifically, 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 instructions to control circuitry 404 to generate the media guidance displays. In some implementations, any action performed by control circuitry 404 may be based on instructions received from the media guidance application.
In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 404 may include communications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidance application server or other networks or servers. The instructions for carrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on the guidance application server. Communications circuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card, or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or any other suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involve the Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths (which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 5). In addition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enables peer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communication of user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (described in more detail below).
Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 408 that is part of control circuitry 404. As referred to herein, the phrase “electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood to mean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, or firmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives, optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD) recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders, digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal video recorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gaming consoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storage devices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 408 may be used to store various types of content described herein as well as media guidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-based storage, described in relation to FIG. 5, may be used to supplement storage 408 or instead of storage 408.
Control circuitry 404 may include video generating circuitry and tuning circuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2 decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, or any other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of such circuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog, or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided. Control circuitry 404 may also include scaler circuitry for upconverting and downconverting content into 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 to display, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encoding circuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitry described herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating, encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digital circuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or more general purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may be provided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and record functions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording, etc.). If storage 408 is provided as a separate device from user equipment 400, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated with storage 408.
A user may send instructions to control circuitry 404 using 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 stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of user equipment device 400. For example, display 412 may be a touchscreen or touch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 410 may be integrated with or combined with display 412. Display 412 may be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature poly silicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, active matrix display, 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-emitter display (SED), laser television, carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulator display, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images. In some embodiments, display 412 may be HDTV-capable. In some embodiments, display 412 may be a 3D display, and the interactive media guidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. A video card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 412. The video card may offer 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 in relation to control circuitry 404. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 404. Speakers 414 may be provided as integrated with other elements of user equipment device 400 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component of videos 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 and outputs the audio via speakers 414.
The guidance application may be implemented using any suitable architecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application wholly-implemented on user equipment device 400. In such an approach, instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage 408), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodic basis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, or using another suitable approach). Control circuitry 404 may retrieve instructions of the application from storage 408 and process the instructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based on the processed instructions, control circuitry 404 may determine what action to perform when input is received from input interface 410. For example, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated by the processed instructions when input interface 410 indicates that an up/down button was selected.
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 requests to a server remote to the user equipment device 400. In one example of a client-server based guidance application, control circuitry 404 runs a web browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. For example, the remote server may store the instructions for the application in a storage device. The remote server may process the stored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 404) and generate the displays discussed above and below. The client device may receive the displays generated by the remote server and may display the content of the displays locally on equipment device 400. This way, the processing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server while the resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 400. Equipment device 400 may receive inputs from the user via input interface 410 and transmit those inputs to the remote server for processing and generating the corresponding displays. For example, equipment device 400 may transmit a communication to the remote server indicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 410. The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that input and generate a display of the application corresponding to the input (e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display is then transmitted to equipment device 400 for presentation to the user.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded and interpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (run by control circuitry 404). In some embodiments, the guidance application may be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received by control circuitry 404 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by a user agent running on control circuitry 404. 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 run by a local virtual machine or other suitable middleware executed by control circuitry 404. In some of such embodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital media encoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encoded and transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio and video packets of a program.
User equipment device 400 of FIG. 4 can be implemented in system 500 of FIG. 5 as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communications device 506, or any other type of user equipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gaming machine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to herein collectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may be substantially similar to 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 may be implemented and are discussed in more detail below.
A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system features described above in connection with FIG. 4 may not be classified solely as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, or a wireless user communications device 506. For example, user television equipment 502 may, like some user computer equipment 504, be Internet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while user computer equipment 504 may, like some television equipment 502, include a tuner allowing for access to television programming. The media guidance application may have the same layout on various different types of user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of the user equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 504, the guidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a web browser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled down for wireless user communications devices 506.
In system 500, there is typically more than one of each type of user equipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize more than one type of user equipment device and also more than one of each type of user equipment device.
In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communications device 506) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example, a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first user equipment device. The content presented on the second screen device may 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 settings and display preferences of the first device. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured for interacting with other second screen devices or for interacting with a social network. The second screen device can be located in the same room as the first device, a different room from the first device but in the same house or building, or in a different building from the first device.
The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent media guidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices. Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and program favorites, programming preferences that the guidance application utilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, and other desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channel as a favorite on, for example, the web site www.Tivo.com on their personal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as a favorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipment and user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, if desired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can change the guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless of whether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device. In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user, as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.
The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 514. Namely, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wireless user communications device 506 are coupled to communications network 514 via communications paths 508, 510, and 512, respectively. Communications network 514 may be one or more networks including the Internet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a 4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, or other types of communications network or combinations of communications networks. Paths 508, 510, and 512 may separately or together include one or more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g., IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wireless signals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path or combination of such paths. Path 512 is drawn with dotted lines to indicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5 it is a wireless path and paths 508 and 510 are drawn as solid lines to indicate they are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, if desired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.
Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipment devices, these devices may communicate directly with each other via communication paths, such as those described above in connection with paths 508, 510, and 512, as well as other short-range point-to-point communication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wireless paths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or other short-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is a certification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipment devices may also communicate with each other directly through an indirect path via communications network 514.
System 500 includes content source 516 and media guidance data source 518 coupled to communications network 514 via communication paths 520 and 522, respectively. Paths 520 and 522 may include any of the communication paths described above in connection with paths 508, 510, and 512. Communications with the content source 516 and media guidance data source 518 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of content source 516 and media guidance data source 518, but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The different types of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, content source 516 and media guidance data source 518 may be integrated as one source device. Although communications between sources 516 and 518 with user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 are shown as through communications 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 in connection with paths 508, 510, and 512.
Content source 516 may include one or more types of content distribution equipment including a television distribution facility, cable system headend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g., television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediate distribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demand media servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by the American Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Content source 516 may be the originator of content (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) or may not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand content provider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs for downloading, etc.). Content source 516 may include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers, over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Content source 516 may also include a remote media server used to store different types of content (including video content selected by a user), in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems and methods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely stored content to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connection with Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Media guidance data source 518 may provide media guidance data, such as the media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may be provided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-alone interactive television program guide that receives program guide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the user equipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digital signal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitable data transmission technique. Program schedule data and other media guidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog or digital television channels.
In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 518 may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. For example, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from a server, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipment device. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing on the user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 518 to obtain guidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of date or when the user equipment device receives a request from the user to receive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment with any suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specified period of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to a request from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 518 may provide user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 the media guidance application itself or software updates for the media guidance application.
In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data. For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical user activity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches, what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interacts with a social network, at what times the user interacts with a social network to post information, what types of content the user typically watches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information, etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. For example, the subscription data may identify to which sources or services a given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the given user has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g., whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user has added a premium level of services, whether the user has increased Internet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or the subscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period of more than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., a survivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihood a given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, the media guidance application may process the viewer data with the subscription data using the model to generate a value or score that indicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate access to a particular service or source. In particular, 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 may generate promotions that entice the user to keep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one to which the user will likely terminate access.
Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-alone applications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, the media guidance application may be implemented as software or a set of executable instructions which may be stored in storage 408, and executed by control circuitry 404 of a user equipment device 400. In some embodiments, media guidance applications may be client-server applications where only a client application resides on the user equipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. For example, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as a client application on control circuitry 404 of user equipment device 400 and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., media guidance data source 518) running on control circuitry of the remote server. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such as media guidance data source 518), the media guidance application may instruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance application displays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipment devices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry of the media guidance data source 518 to transmit data for storage on the user equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry of the receiving user equipment to generate the guidance application displays.
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 Internet-enabled user devices, including any user equipment device described above, to receive content that is transferred over the Internet, including any content described above, in addition to content received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content is delivered via 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 abilities, copyrights, or redistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets provided by the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers include YOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via 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. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively provide media guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or media guidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidance applications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications), or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored on the user equipment device.
Media guidance system 500 is intended to illustrate a number of approaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devices and sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each other for the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. The embodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset of these approaches, or in a system employing other approaches for delivering content and providing media guidance. The following four approaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example of FIG. 5.
In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each other within a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with each other directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemes described above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similar device provided on a home network, or via communications network 514. Each of the multiple individuals in 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 the different user equipment devices. For example, it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidance application settings on different user equipment devices within a home network, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types of user equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with each other to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content from user computer equipment to a portable video player or portable music player.
In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment by which they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, some users may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobile devices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidance application implemented on a remote device. For example, users may access an online media guidance application on a website via a personal computer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA or web-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g., recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidance application to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guide may control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with a media guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Various systems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where the user equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, is discussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issued Oct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outside a home can use their media guidance application to communicate directly with content source 516 to access content. Specifically, within a home, users of user television equipment 502 and user computer equipment 504 may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locate desirable content. Users may also access the media guidance application outside of the home using wireless user communications devices 506 to navigate among and locate desirable content.
In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloud computing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computing environment, various types of computing services for content sharing, storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networking sites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing and storage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloud can include a collection of server computing devices, which may be located centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-based services to various types of users and devices connected via a network such as the Internet via communications network 514. These cloud resources may include one or more content sources 516 and one or more media guidance data sources 518. In addition or in the alternative, the remote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wireless user communications device 506. For example, the other user equipment devices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamed video. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in a peer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.
The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, content sharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well as access to any content described above, for user equipment devices. Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing service providers, or through other providers of online services. For example, the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, a content sharing site, a social networking site, or other services via which user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others on connected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipment device to store content to the cloud and to receive content from the cloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-stored content.
A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders, digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, and handheld computing devices, to record content. The user can upload content to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, for example, from user computer equipment 504 or wireless user communications device 506 having content capture feature. Alternatively, the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, such as user computer equipment 504. The user equipment device storing the content uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmission service on communications 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 on which the user stored the content.
Cloud resources may be accessed by a 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 of the same. 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 without access to cloud resources. For example, some applications running on the user equipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications delivered as a service over the Internet, while other applications may be stored and run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user device may receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. For example, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource while downloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device can download content from multiple cloud resources for more efficient downloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloud resources for processing operations such as the processing operations performed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 4.
As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as a result of. For example, a first action being performed in response to a second action may include interstitial steps between the first action and the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly in response to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action being performed directly in response to a second action may not include interstitial steps between the first action and the second action.
FIG. 6 is an illustrative process 600 for predicting media asset consumption based on a viewing history of a user in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. At 602, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 404), for a timeslot, that each of a plurality of media assets is of interest to a user, where each of the plurality of media assets is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of users during the timeslot and is associated with a respective series of media assets. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve (e.g., from storage 408) a user's media asset consumption history. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve the user's media asset consumption history from a remote server (e.g., media content source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518). The media guidance application may compare (e.g., via control circuitry 404) characteristics of each of the plurality of media assets with characteristics of media that the user is interested in based on the user's media asset consumption history. The media guidance application may identify those media assets with matching characteristics.
At 604, the media guidance application retrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 404), for a first media asset of the plurality of media assets, a release date associated with the first media asset and a season number within a first series that corresponds to the first media asset. The media guidance application may retrieve the release date and a season number from program listing information associated with the first media asset. The program listing may reside in storage 408. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve the release date and season number from a remote server (e.g., media content source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518). The media guidance application may transmit a query to the remote server that includes a media asset identifier associated with the first media asset and receive in response the release date and the season number.
At 606, the media guidance application retrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 404), for a second media asset of the plurality of media assets, a release date associated with the second media asset and a season number within a second series that corresponds to the second media asset. The media guidance application may retrieve the release date and a season number from program listing information associated with the second media asset. The program listing may reside in storage 408. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve the release date and season number from a remote server (e.g., media content source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518). The media guidance application may transmit a query to the remote server that includes a media asset identifier associated with the second media asset and receive in response the release date and the season number.
At 608, the media guidance application compares (e.g., via control circuitry 404) the release date associated with the first media asset with a current date and the release date associated with the second media asset with the current date. For example, the media guidance application may execute a date comparison function that compares the two dates.
At 610, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 404), based on the comparing, that both the first media asset and the second media asset are first run episodes of the first series of media assets and the second series of media assets, respectively. The media guidance application may receive an output of the date comparison function, for each of the first media asset's release date and the second media asset's release date as compared with the current date) that indicates that two dates are identical. Thus, the media guidance application may determine that the media asset is a first run transmission.
At 612, the media guidance application generates (e.g., via control circuitry 404) a first set of media asset identifiers and a second set of media asset identifiers, where the first set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of a previous season of the first series and the second set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of a previous season of the second series. For example, the media guidance application may store a data structure in storage 408 that stores the first set and a second data structure also in storage 408 that stores the second set. Additionally or alternatively, the media guidance application may store both data structures on a remote server (e.g., media content source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518).
At 614, the media guidance application compares (e.g., via control circuitry 404) each media asset identifier in the first set with media asset identifiers corresponding to media assets consumed by the user and each media asset identifier in the second set with the media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve information (e.g., from storage 408, media content source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518) associated with the user's media asset consumption history. The information may include media asset identifiers (e.g., alphanumeric strings or a combination of any of title, episode number, and season, or another suitable identifier) associated with media assets that the user previously consumed. The media guidance application may compare those identifiers with media asset identifiers in the first set and also media asset identifiers in the second set. The media guidance application may determine if the identifiers match (e.g., alphanumeric strings are identical).
At 616, the media guidance application generates (e.g., via control circuitry 404), based on comparing each media asset identifier in the first set with media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user and each media asset identifier in the second set with the media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user, a third set of media asset identifiers and a fourth set of media assets identifiers, where the third set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user consumed, and where the fourth set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of the previous season of the second series that the user consumed. The media guidance application may store (e.g., in storage 408, at media content source 516, and/or media guidance data source 518) those media asset identifiers in the first set that match media asset identifiers consumed by the user. The media guidance application may generate a data structure to store the media asset identifiers and label the data structure as the third set. The media guidance application may perform the same actions for media asset identifiers in the second set.
At 618, the media guidance application compares (e.g., via control circuitry 404), for each media asset identifier in the third set, a release date associated with a corresponding media asset of the third set with a respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the third set. For example, the media guidance application may execute a date comparison function in order to determine if the dates match.
At 620, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 404), based on comparing, for each media asset identifier in the third set, the release date associated with the corresponding media asset of the third set with the respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the third set, a first amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed. The media guidance application may generate a data structure where all media asset identifiers with the matching dates as determined at 618 are to be stored. The media guidance application may store the data structure in storage 408, media content source 516, and/or media guidance data source 518.
At 622, the media guidance application compares (e.g., via control circuitry 404), for each media asset identifier in the fourth set, a release date associated with a corresponding media asset of the fourth set with a respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the fourth set. For example, the media guidance application may execute a date comparison function in order to determine if the dates match.
At 624, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 404), based on comparing, for each media asset identifier in the fourth set, the release date associated with the corresponding media asset of the fourth set with the respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the fourth set, a second amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed. The media guidance application may generate a data structure where all media asset identifiers with the matching dates as determined at 622 are to be stored. The media guidance application may store the data structure in storage 408, media content source 516, and/or media guidance data source 518.
At 626, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 404), based on the first amount of first run episodes that the user previously consumed and the second amount of first run episodes that the user previously consumed, whether the user will consume the first media asset or the second media asset. For example, the media guidance application may compare the first amount and the second amount using a mathematical function (e.g., a number comparison) to determine which amount is larger.
At 628, the media guidance application, based on determining that the user will consume the first media asset, generates for display (e.g., via control circuitry 404 on display 412) an indicator of the first media asset. The media guidance application may generate for display a title of the first media asset together with other information about the first media asset (e.g., series identifier, episode number, season number, and other suitable information).
At 630, the media guidance application, based on the determining that the user will consume the second media asset, generates for display (e.g., via control circuitry 404 on display 412) an indicator of the second media asset. The media guidance application may generate for display a title of the second media asset together with other information about the second media asset (e.g., series identifier, episode number, season number, and other suitable information).
FIG. 7 is an illustrative process 700 for determining, for a media asset, a release date and season number within a series corresponding to the media asset. At 702, the media guidance application retrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 404) a data structure storing metadata associated with the plurality of media assets, where the data structure includes a record for each media asset of the plurality of media assets. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve the data structure from storage 408. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve the data structure from a remote server (e.g., media content source 516 or media guidance data source 518).
At 704, the media guidance application selects (e.g., via control circuitry 404) a previously unselected record within the data structure. For example, the media guidance application may iterate through the data structure, selecting a record associated with each media asset. At 706, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 404) whether the previously unselected record corresponds to the first media asset. If the media guidance application determines that the previously unselected record does not correspond to the first media asset, process 700 proceeds to action 704. If the media guidance application determines that the previously unselected record corresponds to the first media asset, process 700 proceeds to 708.
At 708, the media guidance application retrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 404) from the selected record a first media asset identifier associated with the first media asset. The media guidance application may retrieve the first media asset identifier from a record that is stored in storage 408. In some embodiments, the record may be stored at a remote server (e.g., media content source 516 or media guidance data source 518) and may be retrieved by the media guidance application through an Application Programming Interface.
At 710, the media guidance application generates (e.g., via control circuitry 404) a query for (1) a release date and (2) a season number. For example, if the database that will execute the query is an SQL server database, the media guidance application may generate a query in an SQL language. At 712, the media guidance application (e.g., via control circuitry 404) updates the query to include the first media asset identifier. The media guidance application may modify the SQL language to search for records associated with the first media asset identifier.
At 714, the media guidance application transmits (e.g., via control circuitry 404 through I/O path 402) the query to a database. The database may reside at a remote server (e.g., media content source 516 or media guidance data source 518). In some embodiments the database may reside in storage 408 on the same device as the media guidance application resides. At 716, the media guidance application receives (e.g., via control circuitry 404 through I/O path 402), in response to the query, the release date associated with the first media asset and the season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset. The media guidance application may receive the query and store the received information in a data structure (e.g., in storage 408).
FIG. 8 is an illustrative process 800 for generating a set of media assets corresponding to episodes of a previous season of a series. At 802, the media guidance application retrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 404), from metadata associated with the first media asset, (1) a series identifier corresponding to the first series and (2) a season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset. The media guidance application may perform the retrieval from storage 408 or a remote server (e.g., media content source 516 or media guidance data source 518).
At 804, the media guidance application transmits (e.g., via control circuitry 404 through I/O path 402) a request for episode metadata corresponding to episodes of the first series. For example, the media guidance application may transmit a query to a database server (e.g., media content source 516 or media guidance data source 518) for episode metadata corresponding to all episodes of the first series. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may transmit one query per episode.
At 816, the media guidance application receives (e.g., via control circuitry 404 through I/O path 402), in response to the request, the episode metadata, wherein the episode metadata includes (1) a respective media asset identifier for each episode of the first series and a plurality of season numbers, each associated with a corresponding episode of the first series. The media guidance application may store the received data in a data structure (e.g., a multidimensional array, a collection, or another suitable data structure) so it can be accessed at a later time. At 808, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 404) a previous season number by subtracting one from the season number. The media guidance application may perform the subtracting via a computer mathematical operation.
At 810, the media guidance application selects (e.g., via control circuitry 404) a previously unselected episode from the episode metadata. The media guidance application may iterate through each episode in the episode metadata using a loop (e.g., a for loop, a while loop, or another suitable loop). At 812, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 404) whether a season number associated with a previously unselected episode matches the previous season number. The media guidance application may perform the determination by a function comparing two numbers. If the media guidance application determines that the season number associated with the previously unselected episode does not match the previous season number, process 800 proceeds to 816. However, if the media guidance application determines that the season number associated with the previously unselected episode matches the previous season number, process 800 proceeds to 814.
At 814, the media guidance application adds (e.g., via control circuitry 404) a media asset identifier associated with the previously unselected episode to a first set. For example, the media guidance application may generate a data structure for the first set and store the media asset identifiers where the season number matches the previous season number in the data structure. The media guidance application may store the data structure in storage 408. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may store the data structure at a remote server (e.g., media content source 516 or media guidance data source 518).
At 816, the media guidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 404) whether there are any more previously unselected episodes in the episode metadata. If there are more previously unselected episodes in the episode metadata, process 800 proceeds to 812. However, if there are no more previously unselected episodes in the episode metadata, process 800 proceeds to 818. At 818, the media guidance application stores (e.g. via control circuitry 404 in storage 408) the first set. Additionally or alternatively, the media guidance application may store the first set at a remote server (e.g., media content source 516 or media guidance data source 518).
It is contemplated that the actions or descriptions of FIGS. 6-8 may be used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the actions and descriptions described in relation to FIG. 6-8 may be done in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. For example, each of these actions may be performed in any order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase the speed of the system or method.
The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the present disclosure is limited only by the claims that follow. Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitations described in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may be combined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done in different orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may be performed in real time. It should also be noted, the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A method for predicting media asset consumption, the method comprising:

determining, for a timeslot, that each of a plurality of media assets is of interest to a user, wherein each of the plurality of media assets is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of users during the timeslot, and is associated with a respective series of media assets;

retrieving, for a first media asset of the plurality of media assets, a release date associated with the first media asset and a season number within a first series that corresponds to the first media asset;

retrieving, for a second media asset of the plurality of media assets, a release date associated with the second media asset and a season number within a second series that corresponds to the second media asset;

comparing the release date associated with the first media asset with a current date, and the release date associated with the second media asset with the current date;

determining, based on the comparing, that both the first media asset and the second media asset are first run episodes of the first series of media assets and the second series of media assets, respectively;

generating a first set of media asset identifiers and a second set of media asset identifiers, wherein the first set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of a previous season of the first series, and the second set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of a previous season of the second series;

comparing each media asset identifier in the first set with media asset identifiers corresponding to media assets consumed by the user, and each media asset identifier in the second set with the media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user;

generating, based on comparing each media asset identifier in the first set with media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user, and each media asset identifier in the second set with the media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user, a third set of media asset identifiers and a fourth set of media assets identifiers, wherein the third set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user consumed, and wherein the fourth set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of the previous season of the second series that the user consumed;

comparing, for each media asset identifier in the third set, a release date associated with a corresponding media asset of the third set with a respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the third set;

determining, based on comparing, for each media asset identifier in the third set, the release date associated with the corresponding media asset of the third set with the respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the third set, a first amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed;

comparing, for each media asset identifier in the fourth set, a release date associated with a corresponding media asset of the fourth set with a respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the fourth set;

determining, based on comparing, for each media asset identifier in the fourth set, the release date associated with the corresponding media asset of the fourth set with the respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the fourth set, a second amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the second series that the user previously consumed;

determining, based on the first amount of first run episodes that the user previously consumed and the second amount of first run episodes that the user previously consumed, whether the user will consume the first media asset or the second media asset;

based on determining that the user will consume the first media asset, generating for display an indicator of the first media asset; and

based on the determining that the user will consume the second media asset, generating for display an indicator of the second media asset.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein retrieving for the first media asset of the plurality of media assets, the release date associated with the first media asset and the season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset comprises:

retrieving, from metadata associated with the first media asset, a first media asset identifier associated with the first media asset;

transmitting a query for (1) the release date associated with the first media asset and (2) the season number within the first series that corresponds to the first media asset, wherein the query includes the first media asset identifier; and

receiving, in response to the query the release date associated with the first media asset and the season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the first set of media asset identifiers and the second set of media asset identifiers comprises:

retrieving, from metadata associated with the first media asset, (1) a series identifier corresponding to the first series and (2) a season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset;

transmitting a request for episode metadata corresponding to episodes of the first series;

receiving, in response to the request, the episode metadata, wherein the episode metadata includes (1) a respective media asset identifier for each episode of the first series and a plurality of season numbers each associated with a corresponding episode of the first series;

determining, based on the season number associated with the first media asset, a previous season number;

comparing the previous season number with each of the plurality of season numbers; and

generating, based on comparing the previous season number with each of the plurality of season numbers, the first set that includes episodes with corresponding season numbers matching the previous season number.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a first amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed comprises:

calculating, for each first run episode of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed, a respective portion of a total length of each episode that the user previously consumed; and

determining the first amount of the first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed based on the respective portion of the total length of each episode that the user previously consumed.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether the user will consume the first media asset or the second media asset comprises:

determining that the first amount and the second amount are identical; and

in response to determining that the first amount and the second amount are identical:

retrieving a first release date associated with a final episode of the previous season of the first series and a second release date associated with a final episode of the previous season of the second series;

determining a first number of episodes of the first series that the user consumed between the first release date and the current date;

determining a second number of episodes of the second series that the user consumed between the second release date and the current date; and

determining whether the user will consume the first media asset or the second media asset based on the first number of episodes and the second number of episodes.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

detecting that a second user is consuming content with the user using a first device;

determining, based on media asset consumption history associated with the second user, a third amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series the second user previously consumed, and a fourth amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the second series that the second user previously consumed; and

modifying, based on the third amount and the fourth amount, the first amount and the second amount, respectively.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining, based on series metadata, a first characteristic associated with the first series and a second characteristic associated with the second series;

retrieving a plurality of characteristics associated with a media asset that the user has consumed last;

determining whether the plurality of characteristics includes the first characteristic or the second characteristic;

based on determining that the plurality of characteristics includes the first characteristic, increasing the first amount of first run episodes; and

based on determining that the plurality of characteristics includes the second characteristic, increasing the second amount of first run episodes.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining, for each media asset corresponding to a respective media asset identifier of the first set, whether the user consumed each respective media asset at transmission time;

calculating, based on determining whether the user consumed each respective media asset at transmission time, a number of media assets corresponding to media asset identifiers in the first set that the user did not consume at transmission time; and

modifying the first amount based on the number of media assets corresponding to media asset identifiers in the first set that the user did not consume at transmission time.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein comparing, for each media asset identifier in the third set, the release date associated with the corresponding media asset of the third set with the respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the third set comprises:

searching, using a first media asset identifier in the first set, a database that stores media asset consumption history associated with the user, for an entry associated with the first media asset identifier;

retrieving, based on the searching, data of the entry;

locating a field, in the data of the entry, that stores a first consumption date associated with a media asset corresponding to the first media asset identifier; and

retrieving the first consumption date from the field; and

comparing the retrieved first consumption date with a release date associated with the media asset corresponding to the first media asset identifier.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising, based on determining that the user will consume the first media asset, generating for display an indicator of the second media asset, a first criterion used to predict that the user will consume the first media asset during the timeslot, and a second criterion used to predict that the user will not consume the second media asset during the timeslot.

12. A system for predicting media asset consumption, the system comprising:

control circuitry configured to:

determine, for a timeslot, that each of a plurality of media assets is of interest to a user, wherein each of the plurality of media assets is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of users during the timeslot, and is associated with a respective series of media assets;

retrieve, for a first media asset of the plurality of media assets, a release date associated with the first media asset and a season number within a first series that corresponds to the first media asset;

retrieve, for a second media asset of the plurality of media assets, a release date associated with the second media asset and a season number within a second series that corresponds to the second media asset;

compare the release date associated with the first media asset with a current date, and the release date associated with the second media asset with the current date;

determine, based on the comparing, that both the first media asset and the second media asset are first run episodes of the first series of media assets and the second series of media assets, respectively;

generate a first set of media asset identifiers and a second set of media asset identifiers, wherein the first set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of a previous season of the first series, and the second set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of a previous season of the second series;

compare each media asset identifier in the first set with media asset identifiers corresponding to media assets consumed by the user, and each media asset identifier in the second set with the media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user;

generate, based on comparing each media asset identifier in the first set with media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user, and each media asset identifier in the second set with the media asset identifiers corresponding to the media assets consumed by the user, a third set of media asset identifiers and a fourth set of media assets identifiers, wherein the third set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user consumed, and wherein the fourth set of media asset identifiers includes media asset identifiers corresponding to episodes of the previous season of the second series that the user consumed;

compare, for each media asset identifier in the third set, a release date associated with a corresponding media asset of the third set with a respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the third set;

determine, based on comparing, for each media asset identifier in the third set, the release date associated with the corresponding media asset of the third set with the respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the third set, a first amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed;

compare, for each media asset identifier in the fourth set, a release date associated with a corresponding media asset of the fourth set with a respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the fourth set;

determine, based on comparing, for each media asset identifier in the fourth set, the release date associated with the corresponding media asset of the fourth set with the respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the fourth set, a second amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the second series that the user previously consumed;

determine, based on the first amount of first run episodes that the user previously consumed and the second amount of first run episodes that the user previously consumed, whether the user will consume the first media asset or the second media asset;

based on determining that the user will consume the first media asset, generate for display an indicator of the first media asset; and

based on the determining that the user will consume the second media asset, generate for display an indicator of the second media asset.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is configured, when retrieving for the first media asset of the plurality of media assets, the release date associated with the first media asset and the season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset, to:

retrieve, from metadata associated with the first media asset, a first media asset identifier associated with the first media asset;

transmit a query for (1) the release date associated with the first media asset and (2) the season number within the first series that corresponds to the first media asset, wherein the query includes the first media asset identifier; and

receive, in response to the query the release date associated with the first media asset and the season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is configured, when generating the first set of media asset identifiers and the second set of media asset identifiers, to:

retrieve, from metadata associated with the first media asset, (1) a series identifier corresponding to the first series and (2) a season number within the first series that corresponds to the media asset;

transmit a request for episode metadata corresponding to episodes of the first series;

receive, in response to the request, the episode metadata, wherein the episode metadata includes (1) a respective media asset identifier for each episode of the first series and a plurality of season numbers each associated with a corresponding episode of the first series;

determine, based on the season number associated with the first media asset, a previous season number;

compare the previous season number with each of the plurality of season numbers; and

generate, based on comparing the previous season number with each of the plurality of season numbers, the first set that includes episodes with corresponding season numbers matching the previous season number.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is configured, when determining a first amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed, to:

calculate, for each first run episode of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed, a respective portion of a total length of each episode that the user previously consumed; and

determine the first amount of the first run episodes of the previous season of the first series that the user previously consumed based on the respective portion of the total length of each episode that the user previously consumed.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is configured, when determining whether the user will consume the first media asset or the second media asset, to:

determine that the first amount and the second amount are identical; and

retrieve a first release date associated with a final episode of the previous season of the first series and a second release date associated with a final episode of the previous season of the second series;

determine a first number of episodes of the first series that the user consumed between the first release date and the current date;

determine a second number of episodes of the second series that the user consumed between the second release date and the current date; and

determine whether the user will consume the first media asset or the second media asset based on the first number of episodes and the second number of episodes.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

detect that a second user is consuming content with the user using a first device;

determine, based on media asset consumption history associated with the second user, a third amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the first series the second user previously consumed, and a fourth amount of first run episodes of the previous season of the second series that the second user previously consumed; and

modify, based on the third amount and the fourth amount, the first amount and the second amount, respectively.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine, based on series metadata, a first characteristic associated with the first series and a second characteristic associated with the second series;

retrieve a plurality of characteristics associated with a media asset that the user has consumed last;

determine whether the plurality of characteristics includes the first characteristic or the second characteristic;

based on determining that the plurality of characteristics includes the first characteristic, increase the first amount of first run episodes; and

based on determining that the plurality of characteristics includes the second characteristic, increase the second amount of first run episodes.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine, for each media asset corresponding to a respective media asset identifier of the first set, whether the user consumed each respective media asset at transmission time;

calculate, based on determining whether the user consumed each respective media asset at transmission time, a number of media assets corresponding to media asset identifiers in the first set that the user did not consume at transmission time; and

modify the first amount based on the number of media assets corresponding to media asset identifiers in the first set that the user did not consume at transmission time.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is configured, when comparing, for each media asset identifier in the third set, the release date associated with the corresponding media asset of the third set with the respective consumption date when the user consumed the corresponding media asset of the third set, to:

search, using a first media asset identifier in the first set, a database that stores media asset consumption history associated with the user, for an entry associated with the first media asset identifier;

retrieve, based on the searching, data of the entry;

locate a field, in the data of the entry, that stores a first consumption date associated with a media asset corresponding to the first media asset identifier; and

retrieve the first consumption date from the field; and

compare the retrieved first consumption date with a release date associated with the media asset corresponding to the first media asset identifier.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is further configured, based on determining that the user will consume the first media asset, to generate for display an indicator of the second media asset, a first criterion used to predict that the user will consume the first media asset during the timeslot, and a second criterion used to predict that the user will not consume the second media asset during the timeslot.

22.-51. (canceled)