Patent Application
20120317085
Today, there are many separate catalogs and data sources for information about media content such as videos, books, music, and games. The quality of these catalogs varies dramatically, with different catalogs differing in their data structures, naming conventions, content domains covered, level of metadata detail, and accuracy. Previous efforts to aggregate multiple catalogs have relied on re-cataloging, standardizing and reconciling these disparate formats and data, often via automated pattern matching or manual effort by human editors. The challenge of aggregating these catalogs is compounded by the fact that many of these catalogs undergo constant updates with new media content and new metadata.
Described herein are systems and methods for cataloging content metadata from a variety of sources so that useful metadata can be quickly and accurately transmitted to individual users or user applications. These systems and methods may be used to import, store, manage and export content identifiers and metadata without loss of editorial control or decline in quality.
In some aspects, systems and methods are disclosed for resolving the differences between inconsistent data records (e.g., from multiple different data catalogs) in order to provide metadata descriptive of media content to one or more client devices. A processing device of a metadata cataloging system stores, in a memory, first and second data records that are representative of a common content element (e.g., a particular actor, a particular book, a particular genre of music, etc.). In some implementations, the processing device receives the first and second data records from two different cataloging systems. However, the data records are inconsistent; though both purport to represent the same content element and have metadata fields descriptive of the same attribute of the content element, the records include different values for those fields (e.g., two different years published, two different running times, two different plot summaries plot summary, etc.). In some implementations, the name of the metadata field in the first data record may be the same as the name of the metadata field in the second data record, or may be substantially the same, or similar. The processing device also stores a first confidence score for the metadata field of the first data record, and a second confidence score for the metadata field of the second data record. The processing device identifies which of the metadata fields has the greater confidence score, and when the processing device receives a request from a client device for metadata descriptive of the common content element, the processing device transmits the value of the identified metadata field to the client device for display. The value may be transmitted to the client device over a computer network, such as the Internet.
In some implementations, the processing device retains the value of the metadata field with the lesser confidence score in the memory device after selecting the value of the metadata field with the greater confidence score, and may change the confidence scores of metadata fields in response to an instruction from an administrator input device. In some implementations, the processing device receives a lock instruction directed to the first data record from an administrator input device, and in response, stores a locked status for the first data record, indicating that data included in the first data record will not be changed by subsequent change instructions.
In some implementations, the request from the client device is transmitted in response to receiving, at the client device, a request for a recommendation from a user device. The client device may be configured to transmit the value of the metadata field to a user device for display as a recommendation for the content element, for example.
The above and other objects and advantages of the systems and methods of the present disclosure will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:
As discussed above, aggregating catalogs of media data presents a number of challenges. As an illustrative example, consider two different content catalogs (e.g., one associated with an online streaming video service and the other curated by an online user community), each of which have a record for the movie “Wizard of Oz.” Each catalog will likely have a different identification number or code for this record, along with different metadata fields that describe the movie (e.g., “Title,” “Year Produced,” “Cast,” “Director,” “Run Time,” etc.). Some of these metadata fields may be used in both catalogs and referred to by the same field name (e.g., “Title”), some metadata fields may be used in both catalogs and referred to by different field names (e.g., “Year” and “Year Produced”), and some metadata fields may be used in only a single catalog. Moreover, the quality of the data may differ between the catalogs, and even between metadata fields within one catalog (e.g., the video service catalog has more reliable run time information, while the user-curated catalog has more complete cast information).
Described herein are systems and methods for making sense of this data in a way that improves the usability of metadata and maintains flexibility in the structure of the catalog. Different implementations of the content cataloging systems and methods provide one or more of the following advantages: allowing multiple records to be associated with a single content identifier that represents a content element (e.g., a movie, an author, a genre), allowing data from each record to be selectively provided to client applications interested in the content element, and maintaining separate identities for the different records to facilitate transfer of records between content identifiers when errors or better matches are discovered. The term “content element” is used herein to refer to any asset, category, feature, property or other characteristic of content that is catalogued by catalog and recommendation system 400 according to the methods described herein. Examples of content elements include particular assets (e.g., the Beatles' “White Album”), or descriptors such as categories (e.g., detective novels, role-playing games), attributes (e.g., actors, directors, language), or any other piece of information that may be catalogued or used to classify content.
The content cataloging systems and methods disclosed herein may be readily applied to any interactive application (e.g., interactive software, interactive websites, interactive television programs, and interactive presentations) or static application that includes aggregating data for transmitting recommendations to one or more users (e.g., a magazine feature providing product recommendations to different types of readers). As used herein, the term “recommendation” should be understood to mean information chosen to appeal to a user or group of users. Recommendations may be explicit (e.g., by presenting a particular book in a “Recommended For You” display on a website) or implicit (e.g., by presenting an advertisement for a particular product expected to appeal to a particular user or group of users). For illustrative purposes, this disclosure will often discuss exemplary embodiments of these systems and methods as applied in media guidance applications, but it will be understood that these illustrative examples do not limit the range of applications which may be improved by the use of the systems and methods disclosed herein.
The amount of information available to users in any given search, recommendation or 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. In particular, the cataloging techniques disclosed herein may be advantageously utilized by guidance applications (e.g., as part of the guidance data source from which the guidance application draws information).
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. As referred to herein, the term “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, advertisements, chat sessions, social media, applications, games, descriptions of media assets (e.g., year made, genre, ratings, reviews, etc.) 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 client devices, but can also be part of a live performance.
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, such as metadata, recommendations, 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.), advertisement information (e.g., text, images, media clips, 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.
Display 100 may also include advertisement 124, video region 122, and options region 126. The item advertised in advertisement 124 and/or the format of advertisement 124 (e.g., interactive or passive, animated or static) may be selected using the recommendation techniques described herein. Video region 122 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 122 may correspond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 102. 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 126 may allow the user to access different types of content, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidance application features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (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 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102 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, requesting programs similar to or recommended based on a program, recording a program, enabling series recording of a program, setting a program and/or a channel as a favorite, providing negative or positive feedback regarding the accuracy of program or channel information for use in adjusting confidence scores associated with metadata, as described in detail below), 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.
Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown in
In some implementations, a media guidance application is implemented on a client server, which receives data from a media guidance data source (such as media guidance data source 368) and uses that data to provide a media guidance application to one or more client devices. In some implementations, the media guidance application executes directly on the client device; in this case, the client device is itself a client of the media guidance data source. As used herein, the term “client” or “client device” should be understood to mean any device that receives media guidance data (such as recommendations) from a media guidance data source. A user device, then, is a particular example of a client device. Client devices 374 may be coupled to communications network 364. Namely, user television equipment 352, user computer equipment 354, and wireless user communications device 356 are coupled to communications network 364 via communications paths 358, 360, and 362, respectively. Client devices 374 may include client data server 376, which has additional client devices: user television equipment 378, user computer equipment 380, and wireless user communications device 382. Communications network 364 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 358, 360, 362, 388, 390, 392 and 394 may include any of the communication paths described above in connection with paths 370 and 372. Paths 362 and 394 are drawn with dotted lines to indicate that, in the exemplary embodiment shown in
Client devices 374 of
An operator may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using input interface 310. Input interface 310 may be any suitable interface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard, touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognition interface, or other input interfaces. Display 312 may be provided as a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of client device 300. Display 312 may be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images. In some embodiments, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. In some embodiments, display 312 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 312. 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 304. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 304. Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of client device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component of videos and other content displayed on display 312 may be played through speakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers 314. In some implementations, client device 300 may not include one or more of display 312 and speakers 314.
Information from database 414 may be transmitted (by one or more servers associated with database 414) to data mining processor 412. Data mining processor 412 is configured to extract information from database 414 and process the extracted information to reconcile information from multiple sources (e.g., data records from multiple catalog management systems). In some implementations, data mining processor 412 includes a memory device configured as a database for storing one or more tokens used in performing the domain-based tokenization techniques described in co-pending application Ser. No. ______, entitled “Systems and methods for domain-specific tokenization” (Attorney Docket No. 003597-0618-101), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Data mining processor 412 may also transmit the reconciled information to core content relations management (“CCRM”) module 408. As used herein, the term “module” should be understood to mean a processing device executing programming logic, such as source code, or higher-level code (e.g., Java code executed via a Java compiler), stored in a memory device (e.g., RAM, ROM, removable memory media, Flash memory, optical dishes, etc.). In some implementations, CCRM module 408 includes a MySQL database of reconciled data. Systems and methods for reconciling data in an aggregate catalog, which may be implemented by data mining processor 412 in conjunction with CCRM module 408 and the rest of offline component 402, are described in detail below.
CCRM module 408 may also receive information from editorial influence module 410. In some embodiments, editorial influence module 410 receives metadata from human or computer editors, and augments the information that is automatically catalogued with this “editorial” metadata. Editorial influence module 410 includes a server configured to provide a web-based interface between human editors and the database of CCRM module 408. In some implementations, editorial influence module 410 includes a Java application running on an Apache Tomcat web server, but may be executed on any processing device or devices with a user interface. Human editors may interact with the web-based interface using a personal computer connected to the Internet, a hand-held device, or any of the client devices (such as client device 300 of
Information from database 414 may also be transmitted (e.g., by one or more servers associated with database 414) to export/index processor 416. Export/index processor 416 queries CCRM module 408 to extract catalog information from CCRM module 408 and formats this information for use in different modules of real-time component 404 (as described in detail below). Export/index processor 416 may be configured to extract information in batches on a regular interval (e.g., every twenty-four hours) and format and transmit this batched information to a dependent module, or may be configured to extract information as it is updated in CCRM module 408. As shown in
Real-time service processor 418 receives information from domain relations module 420, metadata module 422 and search indices module 424, as described above, and provides recommendation information to client devices (such as client device 300). The components of catalog and recommendation system 400 may be distributed between multiple processing and storage devices; for example, the components of catalog and recommendation system 400 may be divided between media guidance data source 368, media content source 366 and client data service 376 (
Real-time service processor 418 also communicates with profiles database 426, which may include a data storage device configured as a database for storing information about client preferences (including preference values calculated by real-time service processor 418 as described herein with reference to
Clients may access their personalized guidance application by logging in, communicating with catalog and recommendation system 400 using a designated protocol over path 440, or otherwise identifying themselves to the guidance application. The media guidance application may allow a client to provide profile information for profiles database 426 or may automatically compile profile information. The media guidance application may, for example, monitor the content the client accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with the guidance application, including responses to and feedback based on recommended content. Profiles database 426 may communicate with event database 436, which may store event records that contain information about client interactions with catalog and recommendation system 400. Profiles database 426 may access event database 436 to reconstruct a client's history of use of catalog and recommendation system 400 and to determine content preferences. Additionally, the media guidance application may obtain all or part of other profiles that are related to a particular client (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the client accesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidance applications the client accesses, from other interactive applications the client accesses, from another device of the client, etc.), and/or obtain information about the client from other sources that the media guidance application may access. As a result, a client can be provided with a unified guidance application experience across the client's different devices. This type of experience is described in greater detail below. 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.
Real-time service 418 transmits information to and receives information from client devices by way of path 440 and device gateway 434. As described above with reference to paths 370 and 372 of
Dispatcher processor 506 is also in communication with a number of service modules in web service tier 532, including REST v1 service module 520, REST v2 service module 522, and SOAP service module 524. These different service modules provide interfaces and transport mechanisms for accessing the “back-end” processing and data of orchestration tier 532. REST and SOAP are two different ways of packaging input and output data, and any other such protocols may be used. In some embodiments, service processor 500 includes processing and networking hardware configured with a software platform for serving dynamically generated recommendations applications in XML and JSON.
In some embodiments, index/export module 416 (
The types and structure of data specified in a contract may take any of a number of forms. For example, a recommendation system may receive a search or other query and may return pointers to media assets and fields containing metadata about those media assets. Thus, in some configurations of service processor 500 (
The above systems may be configured to assemble and maintain catalogs of content metadata, and to transmit that metadata to users and client applications, according to the techniques described below. These systems are particularly advantageous when multiple sources of data records are aggregated into a single, global identification space. For example, these systems may assign a single global identifier to a content element (e.g., a movie) and reference multiple data records for that content element from multiple data sources to the single global identifier, while maintaining the ability to merge identifiers, split identifiers, remove records and extract the most useful data from the records to present to client devices or downstream applications. Although the techniques described below may be described as executed by data mining processor 412 (
In some embodiments of the data cataloging systems and methods described herein, data are stored in content data structures that associate each global content identifier (which identifies a particular content element, such as a movie or author) with one or more data records representative of the content element using three different types of associations: original references, references, and original relations. These reference types are illustrated in
At step 804, data mining processor 412 associates all of the records of the non-selected global identifier with the selected global identifier. This association is accomplished by including a reference from the selected global identifier to each of the records of the non-selected global identifier. At step 806, data mining processor 412 de-associates all records from the non-selected global identifier. If the non-selected global identifier was the original identifier for any of the records, CCRM module 408 continues to store, in memory, the original relation between the non-selected global identifier and those records.
In some embodiments, once a record is associated with a global identifier via an active reference (e.g., a reference or an original reference), the record may be split from the global identifier and returned to its original global identifier.
In some embodiments, a content catalog (such as CCRM module 408 and other databases that implement the content data structures and management techniques described above with reference to
At step 1204, catalog and recommendation system 400 receives, from content information database 414 (
At step 1206, data mining processor 412 stores, with an identifier for the content element (e.g., a global identifier as described above with reference to
At step 1210, data mining processor 412 assigns a second confidence score to the second metadata field of the second data record (e.g., using any of the techniques described above with reference to step 1208). At step 1212, data mining processor 412 identifies and responds to inconsistencies in the different data records and metadata fields that describe a particular content element in order to transmit information about that content element to a client device. To do so, data mining processor 412 may use the first and second confidence scores assigned at steps 1208 and 1210 as described in detail below with reference to
A technique for reconciling inconsistent data records using confidence scores is illustrated in flow diagram 1300 of
After indexing the metadata fields at step 1306, data mining processor 412 may initialize three variables. At step 1308, data mining processor 412 sets an INDEX variable equal to 1 (or any other suitable initial value). Data mining processor 412 may use the INDEX variable to keep track of which metadata field is currently being analyzed within the list of metadata fields indexed at step 1306. At step 1310, data mining processor 412 establishes an empty TEMP_WINNER variable (or sets the TEMP_WINNER variable to any predetermined default value). As the analysis of the different metadata fields progresses, data mining processor may use the TEMP_WINNER variable to store the metadata field (or a pointer to the metadata field) that provides the highest confidence information about the desired attribute. At step 1312, data mining processor 412 sets a TEMP_CONF variable equal to 0 (or any other suitable initial value). Data mining processor 412 may use the TEMP_CONF variable to store the confidence score of the metadata field stored in or pointed to by the TEMP_WINNER variable.
At step 1314, data mining processor 412 determines whether the metadata field associated with the index value INDEX is descriptive of the desired attribute. Data mining processor may make this determination using any of a number of techniques, including comparing the name of the desired attribute and the name of the metadata field (e.g., for an exact match, a partial match, or using any other matching heuristic). For example, if the desired attribute is “Title,” data mining processor may determine that a metadata field with name “Working Title” is descriptive of the desired attribute. If the metadata field associated with the index value INDEX is determined to be descriptive of the desired attribute at step 1314, data mining processor 412 determines whether the confidence score of the metadata field is greater than the value of the TEMP_CONF variable at step 1316. If yes, data mining processor 412 sets the TEMP_WINNER variable equal to (or pointing to) the metadata field associated with the index value INDEX at step 1318, and sets the TEMP_CONF variable equal to the confidence score of the metadata field associated with the index value INDEX at step 1320. In some implementations, the initial value of the TEMP_CONF value (set at step 1312) may be larger than the minimum possible confidence score; in such implementations, a metadata field must have confidence exceeding this initial threshold in order to be considered for transmission to the client device.
If data mining processor 412 determines at step 1314 that the metadata field associated with the index value INDEX is not descriptive of the desired attribute, or if data mining processor 412 determines at step 1316 that the confidence score of that metadata field is less than or equal to the value of the TEMP_CONF variable, data mining processor determines whether all metadata fields for the desired content element have been processed (step 1322). If no, data mining processor 412 increments the value of the INDEX variable at step 1324 and returns to step 1314 to evaluate the next metadata field in the list. If yes, data mining processor 412 transmits the value of the metadata field stored in or pointed to by the TEMP_WINNER variable to the client device at step 1326. Data mining processor 412 may transmit this value in conjunction with CCRM module 408, real-time service processor 418, and device gateway 434 (
In some implementations of the process of
The method of
In some embodiments, data mining processor 412 assigns a confidence score to a reference between a global identifier and a data record instead of or in addition to assigning a confidence score to metadata. This confidence score may indicate, for example, the likelihood that the data record is truly descriptive of the content element represented by the global identifier. In some embodiments of the method of
In some embodiments of catalog and recommendation system 400, an administrator or automated process can transmit an instruction to “lock” one or more portions of a content data catalog. Examples of lockable portions include references, data records, and metadata fields. When a lock instruction is issued for a portion, further changes to that portion (including removal of the portion) are prohibited until the lock instruction is revoked or overridden. In some embodiments, transmitting a lock instruction is equivalent to assigning a confidence score of 100% (or other score value indicating that the element is correct and should not be changed). Locked portions, then, may have the highest possible confidence, and will therefore “best” any other elements during an aggregation process like the metadata provision process of
One particular type of locked data is editorial metadata. Editorial metadata is metadata included in data records that are designated as locked (or as having the highest possible confidence as discussed above). Editorial metadata may be changed by catalog administrators, and may represent metadata that has been entered or validated by trusted human editors. Editorial metadata may be input to CCRM module 408 via editorial influence module 410 via a personal computer or other device such as client device 300 of
The following discussion addresses further embodiments of display screens, client devices and systems suitable for use with the asset cataloging, search, and recommendation techniques described herein. As noted above, the following discussion will often be presented in the context of media guidance applications, but it will be understood that these illustrative examples do not limit the range of interactive applications which may be improved by the use of the asset cataloging, search, and recommendation techniques of the present disclosure.
With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speed wireless networks, users are accessing media on client devices on which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase “client 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 client device may have a front facing screen and a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angled screens. In some embodiments, the client device may have a front facing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these client 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 client devices, or for content available both through a television and one or more of the other types of client 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 client devices. The various devices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications are described in more detail below.
In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., content that is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of client 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 client 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 client 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 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programming including on-demand listing 114, recorded content listing 116, and Internet content listing 118. A display combining media guidance data for content from different types of content sources is sometimes referred to as a “mixed-media” display. The various permutations of the types of media guidance data that may be displayed that are different than display 100 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 114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayed in grid 102 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 102. Additional media guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selecting one of the navigational icons 120. Pressing an arrow key on a user input device may affect the display in a similar manner as selecting navigational icons 120.
Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for content that, depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscription programming), is currently available for viewing, will be available for viewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, and may correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the content listings in grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products or services related or unrelated to the content displayed in grid 102. Advertisement 124 may be selectable and provide further information about content, provide information about a product or a service, enable purchasing of content, a product, or a service, provide content relating to the advertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 may be targeted based on a user's profile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of display provided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.
While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped, advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and location in a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may be provided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid 102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. In addition, advertisements may be overlaid over content or a guidance application display or embedded within a display. Advertisements may also include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other types of content described above. Advertisements may be stored in a client device having a guidance application, in a database connected to the client, in a remote location (including streaming media servers), or on other storage means, or a combination of these locations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application is discussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0110499, filed Jan. 17, 2003; Ward, III et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004; and Schein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will be appreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the embodiments described herein.
In an embodiment, display 200 of
As discussed above, the systems and methods of the present disclosure may be implemented in whole or in part by client 300 of
In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 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
Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 that is part of control circuitry 304. 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 308 may be used to store various types of content described herein as well as media guidance information, described above, and guidance application 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
Control circuitry 304 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 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconverting and downconverting content into the preferred output format of the client device 300. Circuitry 304 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 client 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 308 is provided as a separate device from client device 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated with storage 308.
The guidance application may be implemented using any suitable architecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application wholly implemented on client device 300. In such an approach, instructions of the application are stored locally, 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). In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-server based application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented on client device 300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests to a server remote to the client device 300. In one example of a client-server based guidance application, control circuitry 304 runs a web browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server.
In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded and interpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (run by control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance application may be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received by control circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by a user agent running on control circuitry 304. 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 304. 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 television equipment 352 may include a set-top box, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellite television, a television set, a digital storage device, a DVD recorder, a video-cassette recorder (VCR), a local media server, or other user television equipment. One or more of these devices may be integrated into a single device, if desired. User computer equipment 354 may include a PC, a laptop, a tablet, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, or other user computer equipment. WEBTV is a trademark owned by Microsoft Corp. Wireless user communications device 356 may include PDAs, a mobile telephone, a portable video player, a portable music player, a portable gaming machine, or other wireless devices.
A client device utilizing at least some of the system features described above in connection with
In system 350, there is typically more than one of each type of client device but only one of each is shown in
In some embodiments, a client device (e.g., user television equipment 352, user computer equipment 354, wireless user communications device 356) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example, a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first client 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.allrovi.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 client device can change the guidance experience on another client device, regardless of whether they are the same or a different type of client 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.
Although communications paths are not drawn between client devices, these devices may communicate directly with each other via communication paths, such as those described above in connection with paths 358, 360, and 362, as well 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 client devices may also communicate with each other directly through an indirect path via communications network 364.
System 350 includes content source 366 and media guidance data source 358 coupled to communications network 364 via communication paths 370 and 372, respectively. Paths 370 and 372 may include any of the communication paths described above in connection with paths 358, 360, and 362. Communications with the content source 366 and media guidance data source 358 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths, but are shown as a single path in
Content source 366 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 ABC, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by Home Box Office, Inc. Content source 366 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 366 may include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers, over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Content source 366 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 client devices. Systems and methods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely stored content to client devices 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 358 may provide media guidance data, such as the media guidance data described above. Media guidance application data may be provided to the client 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 client device 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 client devices on multiple analog or digital television channels.
In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 358 may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. For example, a client device may pull media guidance data from a server, or a server may push media guidance data to a client device. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing on the user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 358 to obtain guidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of date or when the client device receives a request from the user to receive data. Media guidance may be provided to the client device 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 a client device, etc.). Media guidance data source 358 may provide, to user equipment devices 352, 354, and 356, the media guidance application itself or software updates for the media guidance application.
Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-alone applications implemented on client devices. In some embodiments, media guidance applications may be client-server applications where only the client resides on the client device. For example, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as a client application on control circuitry 304 of client device 300 and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., media guidance data source 358). The guidance application displays may be generated by the media guidance data source 358 and transmitted to the client devices. The media guidance data source 358 may also transmit data for storage on the client, which then generates the guidance application displays based on instructions processed by control circuitry.
Content and/or media guidance data delivered to client devices 374, such as user equipment devices 352, 354, and 356 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT content delivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any client device described above, to receive content that is transferred over the Internet, including any content described above. 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. 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 client device.
Media guidance data source 358 may make asset cataloging or recommendation applications available to users. Such applications may be downloaded from media guidance data source 368 to a client device, or may be accessed remotely by a user. These applications, as well as other applications, features and tools, may be provided to users on a subscription basis or may be selectively downloaded or used for an additional fee. In an embodiment, media guidance data source 368 may serve as a repository for media asset data developed by users and/or third-parties, and as a distribution source for this data and related applications.
Media guidance system 350 is intended to illustrate a number of approaches, or network configurations, by which client 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
In one approach, client devices may communicate with each other within a home network. Client 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 364. Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate different client 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 client devices. For example, it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidance application settings on different client devices within a home network, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/179,360, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types of client 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 client devices 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 offices, 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 client devices communicating, where the client 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 client devices inside and outside a home can use their media guidance application to communicate directly with content source 366 to access content. Specifically, within a home, users of user television equipment 352 and user computer equipment 354 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 356 to navigate among and locate desirable content.
In a fourth approach, client 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 364. These cloud resources may include one or more content sources 366 and one or more media guidance data sources 358. In addition or in the alternative, the remote computing sites may include other client devices, such as user television equipment 352, user computer equipment 354, and wireless user communications device 356. For example, the other client devices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamed video. In such embodiments, client 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 client 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 client 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 354 or wireless user communications device 356 having content capture feature. Alternatively, the user can first transfer the content to a client device, such as user computer equipment 354. The client device storing the content uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmission service on communications network 364. In some embodiments, the client device itself is a cloud resource, and other client devices can access the content directly from the client device on which the user stored the content.
Cloud resources may be accessed by a client device using, for example, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktop application, a mobile application, and/or any combination of access applications or the same. The client device may be a cloud client that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or the client device may have some functionality without access to cloud resources. For example, some applications running on the client 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 client device. In some embodiments, a client device may receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. For example, a client device can stream audio from one cloud resource while downloading content from a second cloud resource. Or, a client device can download content from multiple cloud resources for more efficient downloading. In some embodiments, client devices can use cloud resources for processing operations such as the processing operations performed by processing circuitry described in relation to
It is to be understood that while the invention has been described in conjunction with the various illustrative embodiments, the forgoing description is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention. While several embodiments have been provided in the present disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, components, and methods may be embodied in many other specific forms without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
The intention is not to be limited to the details given herein or implemented in sub-combinations with one or more other features described herein. For example, a variety of systems and methods may be implemented based on the disclosure and still fall within the scope of the invention. Also, the various features described or illustrated above may be combined or integrated in other systems or certain features may be omitted, or not implemented.
Examples of changes, substitutions, and alterations are ascertainable by one skilled in the art and could be made without departing from the scope of the information disclosed herein. Certain particular aspects, advantages, and modifications are within the scope of the following claims. All references cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety and made part of this application.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/496,463, filed Jun. 13, 2011 and incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61496463 | Jun 2011 | US |
