Patent Application
20100125658
1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to multimedia content delivery networks and, more particularly, to analyzing consumption of multimedia content.
2. Description of the Related Art
Users of multimedia content delivery networks (MCDNs) select multimedia content available for consumption. The multimedia content may be selected as part of a package available to the user.
In one aspect, a disclosed method for analyzing multimedia content provided by a MCDN includes collecting historical events describing multimedia content selected by a user of the MCDN, and analyzing the historical events to generate consumption statistics. The method may further include storing the consumption statistics, and enabling the display of the consumption statistics. The MCDN may be an Internet protocol (IP) compliant network. In certain instances, the collecting, analyzing, and enabling are performed by customer premises equipment (CPE). The user may select multimedia programs using an electronic programming guide (EPG), while the consumption statistics may be accessible using the EPG.
In some embodiments, the method may further include analyzing said historical events including classifying the selected multimedia content based on content type. evaluating the consumption statistics with respect to an MCDN subscription package, and generating a consumption metric based at least in part on said evaluating, wherein the consumption metric indicates a relationship between the consumption statistics and the MCDN subscription package. The method may further include recommending a modification of the MCDN subscription package to the user based on the consumption metric. The consumption metric may indicate at least one of undersubscribed, oversubscribed, or adequately subscribed multimedia content.
In some cases, analyzing the historical events may include classifying the selected multimedia content based on content type. The content type may be selected from the group consisting of: channel, channel type, intended audience, genre, duration, time of broadcast, and program ratings. The channel type may be at least one of: pay per view (PPV), video on demand (VOD), and scheduled programming.
In another aspect, a disclosed device, configured to analyze multimedia content provided by an MCDN, includes a processor, a network interface configured to receive multimedia content from the MCDN, and memory media accessible to the processor, including processor executable instructions. The instructions may be executable to record multimedia content user selection events to a historical consumption log, process the historical consumption log to reveal user consumption patterns, and display information visually indicative of the user consumption patterns. The device may further include a display device, and processor executable instructions to display a comparison of the user consumption patterns and an MCDN subscription package purchased by the user.
In some embodiments, an EPG of the MCDN may be used to generate the user selection events. An EPG of the MCDN may be used to display the information visually. The comparison may be made available by accessing the EPG. A result of the comparison may be at least one of undersubscribed, oversubscribed, or adequately subscribed multimedia content.
In some implementations, the processor executable instructions to process the historical consumption log may include instructions executable to send the historical consumption log to a remote server for analysis, and receive results of the analysis from the remote server, wherein the results include user consumption patterns. The processor executable instructions to process the historical consumption log include instructions executable to analyze the historical consumption log locally using the processor.
In yet another aspect, a disclosed computer-readable memory media includes program instructions for analyzing multimedia content provided to a user via an MCDN. The program instructions may be executable to receive a historical consumption log, wherein the historical consumption log includes information indicative of which multimedia content was selected for viewing by the user, analyze the historical consumption log and generate content consumption data based on the analysis, and analyze the historical consumption log using the processor. The program instructions may further be executable to send the content consumption data to a client of the MCDN.
In some cases, the content consumption data may include a comparison of actual consumption by the user with an MCDN subscription package purchased by the user. The comparison may further include a monetary difference between the value of the actual consumption and the value of the subscription package. The comparison may still further include information about different categories of multimedia content, while the categories of content may be selected from the group consisting of: channel, channel type, intended audience, genre, duration, time of broadcast, and program ratings.
In some embodiments, the memory media further includes instructions executable to include the content consumption data in an EPG provided to the client. The instructions may still further be executable to provide the content consumption data to a third party for data mining.
In the following description, details are set forth by way of example to facilitate discussion of the disclosed subject matter. It should be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the field, however, that the disclosed embodiments are exemplary and not exhaustive of all possible embodiments. Throughout this disclosure, a hyphenated form of a reference numeral refers to a specific instance of an element and the un-hyphenated form of the reference numeral refers to the element generically or collectively. Thus, for example, widget 12-1 refers to an instance of a widget class, which may be referred to collectively as widgets 12 and any one of which may be referred to generically as a widget 12.
Turning now to the drawings,
The elements of MCDN 100 illustrated in
As depicted in
Access network 130 demarcates clients 120 and service provider 121, and provides connection path(s) between clients 120 and service provider 121. In some embodiments, access network 130 is an IP compliant network. In some embodiments, access network 130 is, at least in part, a coaxial cable network. It is noted that in some embodiments of MCDN 100, access network 130 is owned and/or operated by service provider 121. In other embodiments, a third part may own and/or operate at least a portion of access network 130.
In IP-compliant embodiments of access network 130, access network 130 may include a physical layer of unshielded twisted pair cables, fiber optic cables, or a combination thereof MCDN 100 may include digital subscribe line (DSL) compliant twisted pair connections between clients 120 and a node (not depicted) in access network 130 while fiber, cable or another broadband medium connects service provider resources to the node. In other embodiments, the broadband cable may extend all the way to clients 120.
As depicted in
In
Thus, the content provided by service provider 121 encompasses multimedia content that is scheduled in advance for viewing by clients 120 via access network 130. Such multimedia content, also referred to herein as “scheduled programming,” may be selected using an EPG, such as EPG 316 described below with respect to
As will be discussed in detail below, “content selection events” related to multimedia content consumption by the user may be recorded and analyzed. These content selection events, also referred to as “user selection events,” may be “historical events” that include event information collected over a period of consumption and may be correlated with timestamp information. As used herein, “consumption” refers to viewing, listening, recording, copying, obtaining, selecting, or any other actions associated with receipt of multimedia content by the user. A recording of the content selection events themselves may be referred to as a “historical consumption log.” The content selection events may represent multimedia content that has been selected for consumption by the user, along with an actual duration of consumption by the user. Content selection events may selectively be recorded for content provided via the MCDN, or for content provided by other sources, for example, broadcast signals or tangible media.
Additional information indicative of the multimedia content associated with content selection events may be stored in the historical consumption log. Such information may be referred to as “content type” information, such as, channel, channel type, intended audience, genre, duration, time of broadcast, and program ratings, etc. The “channel type,” as referred to herein, may be indicative of PPV, VOD, or scheduled programming, among others.
Acquired content is provided to content delivery server 160 via backbone network 170 and switching network 140. Content may be delivered from content delivery server 160 to clients 120 via switching network 140 and access network 130. Content may be compressed, encrypted, modulated, demodulated, and otherwise encoded or processed at content acquisition resources 180, content delivery server 160, or both. Although
Although service provider 121 is depicted in
Applications provided by application server 150 may be downloaded and hosted on other network resources including, for example, content delivery server 160, switching network 140, and/or on clients 120. Application server 150 is configured with a processor and storage media (not shown in
Further depicted in
Turning now to
In
Clients 120 as depicted in
Clients 120 are further shown with their respective remote control 128, which is configured to control the operation of MHD 125 by means of a user interface (not shown in
MHD 125 is enabled and configured to process incoming multimedia signals to produce audio and visual signals suitable for delivery to display 126 and any that may be present speakers (not depicted). Incoming multimedia signals received by MHD 125 may be compressed and/or encrypted, digital or analog, packetized for delivery over packet switched embodiments of access network 130 or modulated for delivery over cable-based access networks. In some embodiments, MHD 125 may be implemented as a stand-alone set top box suitable for use in a co-axial or IP-based MCDN.
Referring now to
In the embodiment depicted in
In embodiments suitable for use in IP based content delivery networks, MHD 125, as depicted in
Video and audio streams 332 and 334, as output from transport unit 330, may include audio or video information that is compressed, encrypted, or both. A decoder unit 340 is shown as receiving video and audio streams 332 and 334 and generating native format video and audio streams 342 and 344. Decoder 340 may employ any of various widely distributed video decoding algorithms including any of the Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) standards, Windows Media Video (WMV) standards including WMV 9, which has been standardized as Video Codec-1 (VC-1) by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. Similarly decoder 340 may employ any of various audio decoding algorithms including Dolby® Digital, Digital Theatre System (DTS) Coherent Acoustics, and Windows Media Audio (WMA).
The native format video and audio streams 342 and 344 as shown in
Storage 310 encompasses persistent and volatile media, fixed and removable media, and magnetic and semiconductor media. Storage 310 is operable to store instructions, data, or both. Storage 310 as shown includes sets or sequences of instructions, namely, an operating system 312, a remote control application program identified as RC module 314, EPG 316, and a consumption application 318. Operating system 312 may be a UNIX or UNIX-like operating system, a Windows® family operating system, or another suitable operating system. In some embodiments, storage 310 is configured to store and execute instructions provided as services to client 120 by application server 150, as mentioned previously.
EPG 316 represents a guide to the multimedia content provided to client 120 via MCDN 100, and may be shown to the user as an element of the user interface. The user interface may include a plurality of menu items arranged according to one or more menu layouts, which enable a user to operate MHD 125. The user may operate the user interface, including EPG 316, using remote control 128 (see
Referring now to
In
Method 400 may then enable the user to access consumption statistics for display (operation 408). An EPG may be used to access and display consumption statistics on CPE in operation 408. In some embodiments, EPG 316, provided by CPE 122, is configured to record user selection events, as in operation 402, and to display consumption statistics and other related information to the user, as in operation 408. EPG 316 may display consumption statistics on a specially designed user interface, such as a separate page or screen view, on display 126.
Method 400 may then generate consumption patterns for the user (operation 410). The consumption patterns may be generated locally by CPE or by a server in operation 410, using the consumption statistics previously generated in method 400. The consumption patterns may describe, either visually or numerically, which content types the user consumes during a given time period.
The consumption statistics, or patterns, may then be compared with a subscription for multimedia content held by the user (operation 412). The subscription may be for multimedia content provided by MCDN 100. In operation 412, a monetary value associated with actual content consumed by the user may be compared with the monetary value of the subscription. A consumption metric may be generated based on the comparison in operation 412. In some embodiments, the consumption metric may be a numerical value, such as a positive or negative percentage, or an enumerated value from a list, such as “undersubscribed”, “oversubscribed”, or “adequately subscribed”.
In an exemplary implementation, undersubscribed, or a negative value, may indicate to the user that a more expansive subscription would better match the viewer's actual consumption habits, and may provide a net savings based on historical consumption. Similarly, oversubscribed, or a positive value, may indicate that that the user is not making the best use of the current subscription, and that a more restrictive subscription would suffice based on historical consumption. Accordingly, adequately subscribed, or a near zero value, may indicate that the user's current subscription is well matched to historical consumption. It is noted that the above example may be substituted for other forms of comparison, or may be selectively applied to individual content types and then aggregated, in different embodiments.
In method 400, a decision whether or not the user subscription is adequate may then be made (operation 414). In some embodiments, the decision in operation 414 is based on the consumption metric described above. If the result of the decision in operation 414 is YES, then the user's current subscription may be endorsed (i.e., validated as being in line with the user's consumption habits) (operation 418). If the result of the decision in operation 414 is NO, then the a corresponding change in the user's subscription may be recommended (operation 416). In some embodiments, a monetary value indicating the savings the user may accrue by accepting the recommendation in operation 416 is displayed to the user.
Referring now to
In
Next in method 500, a monetary difference between the actual value of multimedia content consumed by the user and the value of a user subscription is determined (operation 508). In one illustrative example, the user may have consumed supplementary PPV programs for a total of $48 in the last month, in addition to paying a base subscription package costing $12 per month. Thus, a total cost of $60 per month as an actual consumption value and $12 a month as the value of the user subscription, yielding a monetary difference of $48, may be determined in operation 508. In this case, the actual consumption is determined for the user in operation 508.
In a different example, an actual consumption of $60 for the past month may be compared with an extended subscription costing $36 per month, in operation 506. The extended subscription, however, includes unlimited access to the PPV programs selected by the user in the last month which alone cost $48. In this case, a total cost of $60 per month as an actual consumption value may be compared with the subscription value of $36 per month, yielding a monetary difference of negative $24, or a net savings for the extended subscription, in operation 508. In this example, the actual consumption is analyzed relative to a different subscription in operation 508.
The consumption data including the monetary difference may then be sent to the client (operation 510). As discussed above with respect to operation 416 in
Method 500 may then provide consumption data for one or more clients to third parties (operation 512). In some cases, third parties may perform data mining on the consumption data for a plurality of clients, in order to perform market analyses, program ratings evaluations, advertising analyses, etc, using the data provided in operation 512. It is also noted that operation 512 may include monetization of access to consumption data provided to third parties.
The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of the present disclosure is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.
