U.S. patent application number 13/404574 was filed with the patent office on 2012-12-13 for systems and methods for transmitting content metadata from multiple data records.
This patent application is currently assigned to United Video Properties, Inc.. Invention is credited to Benjamin Green, Alex Helsinger, Michael Papish.
Application Number | 20120317085 13/404574 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 46000311 |
Filed Date | 2012-12-13 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120317085 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Green; Benjamin ; et
al. |
December 13, 2012 |
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRANSMITTING CONTENT METADATA FROM MULTIPLE
DATA RECORDS
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for cataloging content metadata
from a variety of sources and providing metadata to client devices.
A processing device receives inconsistent data records
representative of a common content element, with different values
for a metadata field descriptive of a common attribute of the
content element. The processor assign confidence scores metadata
fields from each data record, and use these confidence scores to
select the metadata that is transmitted to the client device.
Inventors: |
Green; Benjamin; (Cambridge,
MA) ; Helsinger; Alex; (Somerville, MA) ;
Papish; Michael; (Randolph Center, VT) |
Assignee: |
United Video Properties,
Inc.
Santa Clara
CA
|
Family ID: |
46000311 |
Appl. No.: |
13/404574 |
Filed: |
February 24, 2012 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61496463 |
Jun 13, 2011 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
707/704 ;
707/748; 707/E17.007; 707/E17.058 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/9535 20190101;
G06F 16/437 20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/704 ;
707/748; 707/E17.058; 707/E17.007 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30 |
Claims
1. A method of providing metadata to a client device based on
inconsistent data records, comprising: storing, with a processing
device in a memory device of, first and second data records
representative of a content element, the first data record
including a first metadata field with a first value for a first
attribute of the content element, the second data record including
a second metadata field with a second value for the first attribute
of the content element, and the data records being inconsistent in
that the first value is different from the second value; storing,
with the processing device in the memory device, a confidence score
for the first metadata field and a confidence score for the second
metadata field; receiving, at the processing device, a request from
a client device for metadata descriptive of the common content
element; identifying, with the processing device, which of the
first and second metadata fields has the greater confidence score;
and transmitting, from the processing device over a computer
network to the client device for display, the value of the
identified metadata field.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, at the
processing device, the first data record from a first cataloging
system; and receiving, at the processing device, the second data
record from a second cataloging system different from the first
cataloging system.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein a name of the first metadata
field is the same as a name of the second metadata field.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: retaining 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.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer network comprises
the Internet.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein 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.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the client device is configure to
transmit the value of the identified metadata field to a user
device for display as a recommendation for the content element.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data record further
includes a third metadata field with a third value for a second
attribute of the content element and the second data record further
includes a fourth metadata field with a fourth value for the second
attribute of the content element, and the third value is different
from the fourth value, and further comprising: storing, with the
processing device in the memory device, a confidence score for the
third metadata field and a confidence score for the fourth metadata
field; identifying, with the processing device, which of the third
and fourth metadata fields has the greater confidence score; and
transmitting, from the processing device to the client device for
display, the value of the identified metadata field.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, at the
processing device from an administrator input device of a metadata
cataloging system, an instruction to lock the first data record;
and in response to receiving the lock instruction, storing, with
the processing device, a locked status for the first data record in
the memory device, wherein the locked status indicates that data
included in the first data record will not be changed by subsequent
instructions to change the data.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, at the
processing device from an administrator input device of a metadata
cataloging system, a new confidence score for the first metadata
field; and storing, with the processing device in the memory
device, the new confidence score to replace the confidence score
for the first metadata field.
11. A system for providing metadata to a client device based on
inconsistent data records, comprising: an input device; a storage
device; an output device configured to transmit data to the client
device over a computer network; and a processing device in
communication with the input device, the storage device, and the
output device and configured to: store, in the storage device,
first and second data records representative of a content element,
the first data record including a first metadata field with a first
value for a first attribute of the content element, the second data
record including a second metadata field with a second value for
the first attribute of the content element, and the data records
being inconsistent in that the first value is different from the
second value; store, in the memory device, a confidence score for
the first metadata field and a confidence score for the second
metadata field; receive, via the input device, a request from a
client device for metadata descriptive of the common content
element; identifying which of the first and second metadata fields
has the greater confidence score; and transmit, via the output
device to the client device for display, the value of the
identified metadata field.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing device is
further configured to: receive, at the input device, the first data
record from a first cataloging system; and receive, at the input
device, the second data record from a second cataloging system
different from the first cataloging system.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein a name of the first metadata
field is the same as a name of the second metadata field.
14. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing device is
further configured to: retain 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.
15. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer network comprises
the Internet.
16. The system of claim 11, wherein 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.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the client device is configure
to transmit the value of the identified metadata field to a user
device for display as a recommendation for the content element.
18. The system of claim 11, wherein the first data record further
includes a third metadata field with a third value for a second
attribute of the content element and the second data record further
includes a fourth metadata field with a fourth value for the second
attribute of the content element, and the third value is different
from the fourth value, and wherein the processing device is further
configured to: store, in the memory device, a confidence score for
the third metadata field and a confidence score for the fourth
metadata field; identify which of the third and fourth metadata
fields has the greater confidence score; and transmit, to the
client device for display, via the output device, t the value of
the identified metadata field.
19. The system of claim 11, further comprising an administrator
input device in communication with the processing device, wherein
the processing device is further configured to: receive, from the
administrator input device, an instruction to lock the first data
record; and in response to receiving the lock instruction, store a
locked status for the first data record in the memory device,
wherein the locked status indicates that data included in the first
data record will not be changed by subsequent instructions to
change the data.
20. The system of claim 11, further comprising an administrator
input device in communication with the processing device, wherein
the processing device is further configured to: receive, from the
administrator input device, a new confidence score for the metadata
field of the first data record; and replace, in the memory device,
the first confidence score for the metadata field of the first data
record with the new confidence score.
21. A system for providing metadata to a client device based on
inconsistent data records, comprising: means for storing first and
second data records representative of a content element, the first
data record including a first metadata field with a first value for
a first attribute of the content element, the second data record
including a second metadata field with a second value for the first
attribute of the content element, and the data records being
inconsistent in that the first value is different from the second
value; means for storing a confidence score for the first metadata
field and a confidence score for the second metadata field; means
for receiving a request from a client device for metadata
descriptive of the common content element; means for identifying
which of the first and second metadata fields has the greater
confidence score; and means for transmitting, over a computer
network to the client device for display, the value of the
identified metadata field.
22. The system of claim 21, further comprising: means for receiving
the first data record from a first cataloging system; and means for
receiving the second data record from a second cataloging system
different from the first cataloging system.
23. The system of claim 21, wherein a name of the first metadata
field is the same as a name of the second metadata field.
24. The system of claim 21, further comprising: means for retaining
the value of the metadata field with the lesser confidence score
after selecting the value of the metadata field with the greater
confidence score.
25. The system of claim 21, wherein the computer network comprises
the Internet.
26. The system of claim 21, wherein 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.
27. The system of claim 26, wherein the client device is configure
to transmit the value of the identified metadata field to a user
device for display as a recommendation for the content element.
28. The system of claim 21, wherein the first data record further
includes a third metadata field with a third value for a second
attribute of the content element and the second data record further
includes a fourth metadata field with a fourth value for the second
attribute of the content element, and the third value is different
from the fourth value, and further comprising: means for storing a
confidence score for the third metadata field and a confidence
score for the fourth metadata field; means for identifying which of
the third and fourth metadata fields has the greater confidence
score; and means for transmitting, to the client device for
display, the value of the identified metadata field.
29. The system of claim 21, further comprising: means for receiving
an instruction to lock the first data record; and means for
storing, in response to receiving the lock instruction, a locked
status for the first data record in the memory device, wherein the
locked status indicates that data included in the first data record
will not be changed by subsequent instructions to change the
data.
30. The system of claim 21, further comprising: means for receiving
a new confidence score for the metadata field of the first data
record; and means for replacing the first confidence score for the
metadata field of the first data record with the new confidence
score.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] 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.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 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.
SUMMARY
[0003] 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.
[0004] 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.
[0005] 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.
[0006] 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.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] 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:
[0008] FIGS. 1A and 1B depict illustrative displays that may be
used to provide interactive application items;
[0009] FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative recommendation display;
[0010] FIG. 3A is a block diagram of an illustrative interactive
media system which may be used with various embodiments;
[0011] FIG. 3B depicts an illustrative client device;
[0012] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a catalog and recommendation
system;
[0013] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a service processor;
[0014] FIG. 6 depicts an example content data structure;
[0015] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a process for including new
records and creating new global identifiers in an media data
catalog;
[0016] FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a process for merging records
associated with two global identifiers;
[0017] FIGS. 9A-9D illustrate an example of the inclusion and
merging processes of FIGS. 7 and 8, respectively;
[0018] FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a process for splitting a
record from a global identifier;
[0019] FIGS. 11A-11B illustrate an example of the splitting process
of FIG. 10;
[0020] FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of a process for transmitting
content metadata;
[0021] FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of a process for transmitting
attribute information using confidence scores;
[0022] FIG. 14A depicts an example content data structure with
multiple global identifiers;
[0023] FIG. 14B depicts an example aggregate set of metadata
associated with one of the global identifiers of the example media
data structure FIG. 14A;
[0024] FIG. 15 depicts an example of a content data structure
including editorial metadata, locked global identifiers and locked
references; and
[0025] FIG. 16 is an illustrative administrator-facing display for
receiving locking instructions.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0026] 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).
[0027] 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.
[0028] 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.
[0029] 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).
[0030] 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.
[0031] 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.
[0032] FIGS. 1 and 2 show illustrative display screens that may be
used to provide media guidance data organized according to the
cataloging systems and techniques disclosed herein. The display
screens shown in FIGS. 1-2 may be implemented on any suitable
client device or platform. While the displays of FIGS. 1-2 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. The organization of
the media guidance data is determined by guidance application data.
As referred to herein, the phrase, "guidance application data"
should be understood to mean data used in operating the guidance
application, such as program information, guidance application
settings, user preferences, or user profile information. In some
implementations, the guidance application data is based on data
from a catalog of data assembled and maintained in accordance with
the techniques described herein. For example, information about the
particular channels displayed in FIG. 1 may be those channels for
which sufficient metadata is available in a catalog to which the
guidance application has access.
[0033] FIG. 1A shows illustrative grid program listings display 100
arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different
types of content in a single display. Display 100 may include grid
102 with: (1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 104,
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 106, where each time identifier
(which is a cell in the row) identifies a time block of
programming. Grid 102 also includes cells of program listings, such
as program listing 108, 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 110. Information relating to the program
listing selected by highlight region 110 may be provided in program
information region 112. Region 112 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.
Program and channel information used in grid 102 may come from a
content catalog assembled and maintained according to the
techniques described herein.
[0034] 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.
[0035] 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.
[0036] Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is
shown in FIG. 1B. Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable
options 202 for content information organized based on content
type, genre, and/or other organization criteria. In display 200,
television listings option 204 is selected, thus providing listings
206, 208, 210, and 212 as broadcast program listings. The
information in one or more of listings 206, 208, 210 and 212 may
include information from an aggregated content catalog, such as
those disclosed herein. In display 200 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 208 may include more than one portion,
including media portion 214 and text portion 216. Media portion 214
and/or text portion 216 may be selectable to view content in
full-screen or to view information related to the content displayed
in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for the channel on
which the video is displayed). A user may also select
recommendations option 218 to be provided with recommendations, as
discussed below.
[0037] FIG. 2 is an illustrative display for providing
recommendations which may be generated, for example, in response to
a user selection of recommendation option 218, or in response to
any other suitable user action (e.g., logging in to a search
service, or launching a media guidance application), and may be
based on the data stored in an aggregated catalog assembled and
maintained using the techniques described herein. Display 250
includes a set of navigation elements 260, each of which may be
selected by a user to change the information displayed (e.g.,
personal recommendations). In the current display, navigation
element 262 is highlighted, indicating that "For You" information
is displayed. In display 250, the "For You" information includes an
array of content element indicators 252, each of which indicates a
particular content element that is recommended for the user in an
associated content domain 254 (e.g., "movies," "music," "TV,"
etc.). Each content element indicator may indicate an asset (e.g.,
the movie "Top Gun"), a genre (e.g., the musical genre of "Death
Metal"), an artist (e.g., the author J. K. Rowling) or any other
content element that is expected to appeal to the user. A user may
select "more" icon 256 to view more recommendations on a display in
a particular content domain. In some embodiments, recommendations
are not displayed by content domain, but are displayed according to
chronology, in order of user preference, clustered by common
elements (e.g., common actions, common themes or common rating, or
are arranged randomly. Each of the indicators 252 may be
user-selectable (e.g., via mouse click, double-touch, or
hover-over), the recommendation systems described herein may
provide additional information about the content element and/or
allow the user to access assets associated with the content
element. Display 250 includes advertisement 258, which may
advertise a product, service or other purchasable item. As
described above with reference to advertisement 124 of FIG. 1A, the
item advertised by advertisement 258 may be selected based on a
user's preference or by a determination that the advertised item is
related to content elements that the media guidance application has
determined that a client may like. Further discussion of various
configurations for the display screens of FIG. 1-2, as well as
several other exemplary displays, are presented elsewhere
herein.
[0038] FIG. 3A is a block diagram of an illustrative interactive
media system 350. System 350 includes media content source 366 and
media guidance data source 368 coupled to communications network
364 via communication paths 370 and 372, respectively. Paths 370
and 372 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. Communications
with media content source 366 and media guidance data source 368
may be exchanged over one or more communications paths, but are
shown as a single path in FIG. 3A to avoid overcomplicating the
drawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of media
content source 366 and media guidance data source 368, but only one
of each is shown in FIG. 3A to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.
Different possible types of each of these sources are discussed
below. If desired, media content source 366 and media guidance data
source 368 may be integrated as one source device. Media content
source 366 and media guidance data source 358 include inputs 384
and 386, respectively, for receiving data from external sources.
The cataloging systems and techniques disclosed herein may be
implemented by media guidance data source 358, for example, which
may be configured to aggregate content metadata received from
multiple metadata sources via input 386.
[0039] 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 FIG. 3A, they are
wireless paths, and paths 358, 360, 388, 390 and 392 are drawn as
solid lines to indicate they are wired paths (although these paths
may be wireless paths, if desired). Various network configurations
of devices may be implemented and are discussed in more detail
below. Although communications between sources 366 and 368 and
client devices 374 are shown as through communications network 364,
in an embodiment, sources 366 and 368 may communicate directly with
client devices 374 via communication paths (not shown) such as
those described above in connection with paths 370 and 372.
Additional discussion of suitable configurations of system 350 is
presented elsewhere herein.
[0040] Client devices 374 of FIG. 3A can be implemented in system
350 as any type of equipment suitable for accessing content and/or
media guidance data, such as a non-portable gaming machine. Client
devices, on which a media guidance application may be implemented,
may function as standalone devices or may be part of a network of
devices. FIG. 3B shows a generalized embodiment of illustrative
client device 300. More specific implementations of client devices
are discussed below in connection with FIG. 3A. Client device 300
may receive content and data (such as metadata from a catalog) via
input/output (hereinafter "I/O") path 302. I/O path 302 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 (such as
media guidance data) to control circuitry 304, which includes
processing circuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may
be used to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable
data using I/O path 302. I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry
304 (and specifically processing circuitry 306) 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. 3B to avoid overcomplicating the
drawing. In some implementations, client device 300 is a user
device through which a user may access content and the media
guidance application (and its display screens described above and
below). In some implementations, client device 300 is a server or
other processing system that acts as an intermediary between media
guidance data (such as content metadata) and one or more user
devices.
[0041] 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.
[0042] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of catalog and recommendation
system 400, one embodiment of media guidance data source 368 of
FIG. 3A. In some implementations, the components of catalog and
catalog and recommendation system 400 are 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 server 376 (FIG. 3A). Catalog and recommendation
system 400 is illustrated as divided into three functional
components, each of which include one or more processing devices
and storage devices (such as these described above with reference
to client device 300 of FIG. 3B): orchestration component 406,
offline component 402 and real-time component 404. Offline
component 402 may be configured to perform many of the back-end
cataloging processes described herein. In particular, offline
component 402 includes content information database 414, which may
receive media data records from one or more data sources via input
438 (which may correspond to input 386 of media guidance data
source 368 of FIG. 3A). Content information database 414 includes
memory hardware configured to operate in any of a number of
database architectures, such as a relational database management
system or a document-based database architecture like NoSQL.
Content information database 414 also includes a processing engine
executed on one or more database servers to receive, store and
serve data stored in memory. Any of the database hardware and
architecture configurations described herein, including those
described above with reference to content information database 414,
may be used for any of the databases or data storage systems
described herein. In some embodiments, the media data records
received at input 438 are electronic signals representative of
media content or information about media content (referred to
herein as "content metadata" or "metadata"). Signals received at
input 438 may be provided by third-party data providers (such as
cable television head-ends, web-based data sources, catalog
management organizations, or real-time or other data feeds) or from
users supplying content or metadata to catalog and recommendation
system 400. Signals received at input 438 may take the form of a
file of multiple data records, or through a message bus that
provides new data records and updates to previous data records as
changes are made, for example. In some implementations, content
information database 414 is coupled with one or more processing
devices configured to extract metadata from data records arranged
in a tabular format and to store that metadata in content
information database 414. In some implementations, content
information database 414 may "catalog" the information received at
input 438 in a memory (e.g., local, remote or distributed)
according to a data structure, as described in additional detail
below.
[0043] 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.
[0044] 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 FIG. 3B)
described herein. Editorial metadata is described in additional
detail below with reference to FIG. 14.
[0045] 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 FIG. 4, export/index processor 416
transmits information to domain relations module 420, search
indices module 424, and metadata module 422. These modules serve as
"quick" sources of certain common types of information for
real-time service processor 418 (described in detail below);
instead of requiring real-time service processor 418 to query CCRM
module 408 whenever a particular kind of metadata is desired,
real-time service processor 418 may instead query one of these
modules to obtain the information. Domain relations module 420
includes a data storage device configured as a database for storing
metadata about relationships between media content and descriptors
of media content (such as genre, actors, media domain, rating,
etc.). Content metadata module 422 includes a data storage device
configured as a database for storing frequently requested metadata.
Additionally, metadata module 422 may include only those metadata
fields that are commonly used for the recommendation techniques
executed by real-time service processor 418. In some
implementations, metadata module 422 stores a subset of the data
stored in CCRM module 408 in a format that can be easily filtered
according to the parameters of a search or recommendation request
(e.g., a tabular format that can be quickly filtered to exclude
movies rated "R" and above). Search indices module 424 includes a
data storage device configured as a database for storing search
heuristics that may be used by real-time service processor 418 to
improve search performance. Many search techniques utilize
heuristics such as removing spaces from search queries,
transforming queries into lower-case characters, comparing a search
query against a list of common variations and misspellings, and
identifying one or more n-grams within a search query, among
others.
[0046] 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 (FIG. 3B) via device
gateway 434 in orchestration component 406. Device gateway 434 may
include any transmission path suitable for communicating
recommendation information, such as the path 372 between media
guidance data source 368 and communication network 364 and paths
358, 360, 362 and 388 between communication network 364 and client
devices 374 (FIG. 3A). In particular, real-time service processor
418 is configured to provide metadata in response to various types
of client queries (e.g., for metadata matching a search term, for
metadata on content related to a particular content element, etc.).
Real-time service processor 418 may provide, for example,
identifiers of particular content as well as metadata for that
content (e.g., album art in response to a music search request).
Real-time service processor 418 may execute any of a number of
recommendation techniques, such as those described in co-pending
application Ser. No. ______, titled "Systems and methods for
providing media recommendations" (Attorney Docket No.
003597-0603-101), which is incorporated by reference in its
entirety herein. Real-time service processor 418 may also query
CCRM module 408 directly, or provide feedback to CCRM module 408 as
an application on a client device interacts with catalog and
recommendation system 400 through device gateway 434. In some
implementations, real-time service processor 418 is implemented as
a web service executing on an Apache Tomcat or other server.
[0047] 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 FIG.
6), client equipment, client event history, or other information
relevant for transmitting recommendations and data to a client. In
some implementations, profiles database 426 stores profile
information individual users (who may be users of an intermediate
client service). Media guidance applications (such as
recommendation applications) may be personalized based on a
client's preferences as stored in profiles database 426. A
personalized media guidance application allows a client to
customize displays and features to create a personalized
"experience" with the media guidance application. The
customizations may include preferred sources of content metadata
(which may be assigned higher confidence scores in the cataloging
techniques described in detail below), 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, client-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. This personalized experience may be created by
allowing a client (such as a user) to input these customizations
and/or by the media guidance application monitoring user activity
to determine various user preferences.
[0048] 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.
[0049] 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 FIG. 3A, path 440 may include one or more communication paths
such as a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, a path
that supports Internet communications, free-space connections, or
any other suitable wired or wireless communications path or
combination of such paths. Device gateway 434 may be, for example,
a web service implemented on one or more server devices, configured
to receive requests from client devices via path 440. The client
devices that communicate with device gateway 434 may be client
devices 374 of FIG. 3A. These client devices may take the form of
client device 300 (FIG. 3B), for example, and may communicate with
device gateway 434 via I/O path 302 (FIG. 3B). The data provided to
client devices via path 440 may be supplemented by data from
supplemental database 428, which may store metadata and media
content that is provided along with the information transmitted
from real-time service processor 418 to device gateway 434.
Supplemental database 428 may include, for example, media content
source 366 (FIG. 3A), and may include or be in communication with
media guidance data source 358 or another content metadata catalog.
For example, in response to a call to device gateway 434 from a
client device, device gateway 434 may send a search or
recommendation request to real-time service processor 418.
Real-time service processor 418 may respond by sending a list of
content identifiers that satisfy the request back to device gateway
434, at which point device gateway 434 will request appropriate
supplementary information from supplemental database 428 (e.g.,
clips of videos whose identifiers are included in the data provided
to device gateway 434 by real-time service processor 418). In some
implementations, supplemental database 428 is populated with
information from content information database 414, domain relations
module 420, metadata module 422 or search indices module 422, or
may be the same as one or more of these databases or modules.
[0050] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of service processor 500, one
possible implementation of real-time service processor 418 (FIG.
4A) and media guidance data source 368 (FIG. 3A). Service processor
500 may be functionally organized into web service tier 532 and
orchestration tier 534. Orchestration tier 534 includes dispatcher
processor 506, one or more service context modules 508, sources 510
and cache 516. Dispatcher processor 506 manages the flow of data
between web service tier 532 and other components in orchestration
tier 534, and in particular, responds to requests from web service
tier 532 by checking to see whether data stored in cache 516
satisfies the request or determining which of service context
modules 508 to call to satisfy the request. Requests from web
service tier 532 may represent requests from client devices (such
as client devices 374 of FIG. 3A) received via path 440 and device
gateway 434 (FIG. 4), for example. In some implementations,
dispatcher processor 506 includes processing hardware configured to
execute a Java application to perform the operations described
herein. Cache 516 includes a memory device that stores data
recently received from or transmitted to the web service tier 532,
thus providing a "quick" source for data that may be requested or
used multiple times. Each of sources 510 includes
computer-executable code (e.g., Java code) for performing a
particular search or recommendation operation. For example, a
source may include code that may be executed to perform a search of
a particular database, or may include code that may be executed to
identify similar items to a specified item within a catalog.
Sources 510 include primary sources 512, which include basic or
common search or recommendation operations, and secondary sources
514, which include custom implementations of particular search or
recommendation operations (e.g., for particular clients) or
implementations of search or recommendation operations that build
on or use primary source operations stored as primary sources 512.
Collections of one or more sources 510 are stored as service
context modules 508, each of which specifies a particular set of
one or more of sources 510 to use when satisfying requests (e.g.,
from particular regions like North America or Europe, or from
particular customers). In some implementations, service context
modules 510 are represented as XML files.
[0051] 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.
[0052] In some embodiments, index/export module 416 (FIG. 4) or
service processor 500 (FIG. 5) includes one or more data contracts.
Data contracts are electronic data files, encoded in a data
definition language, that define a type and structure of data
available to an application that accesses a service that operates
according to the contract. When an application accesses a
contracted service, the application can parse the contract to
determine what data (e.g., assets, metadata, recommendations, etc.)
the service can provide. A single service may be instantiated
multiple times with different contracts, with each contract
governing a different type of data. A service may advertise the
data types and structures that, according to the contract, the
service can provide to applications. The application may receive
this information and determine which services provide data of a
type and structure that is compatible with the application's own
purpose and architecture. Multiple services, each with its own
contract or contracts, may communicate with each other, passing
data through the services and transforming the data, repackaging
the data, or adding content along the way. In some embodiments, a
service determines the contracts that it advertises based on the
contracts that it reads in from other services (indicating the data
types and structure to which the service has access), plus
additional fields and operations that represent additional
functionality provided by the service itself.
[0053] 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 (FIG.
5), each of services 520, 522 and 524 advertises the operations the
service supports, the types of data that the service can return per
operation, and the fields it can return per data type per
operation. A field may be single- or multi-valued, optional or
required, and stored as strings or more complex data objects (such
via a map to an internal object through JSON). The same contract
can also be used in different service contexts, which utilize
different sets of underlying source data (e.g., different
third-party metadata catalogs).
[0054] 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 (FIG. 4) for clarity of illustration, it will
be understood that the cataloging and metadata provision processes
of the present disclosure may be performed by any device or group
of devices configured to do so; for example, any special- or
general-purpose processing circuitry located within media guidance
data source 358 (FIG. 3A), client device 300 (FIG. 3B), or any
appropriately-configured component of catalog and recommendation
system 400 (FIG. 4) such as processing circuitry associated with
CCRM module 408. In some implementations, these processes are
performed by multiple processing devices operating in series, in
parallel, or a combination.
[0055] 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 FIG. 6, which depicts an example content data
structure 600 which may be maintained, for example, in CCRM module
408 of catalog and recommendation system 400 (FIG. 4). A detailed
discussion of how such content data structure may be created and
modified is given below with references to FIGS. 7-11. Content data
structure 600 includes global identifier 602 (representing the
movie "Titanic") which is associated with record 604 via original
reference 606. Original reference 606 indicates that global
identifier 602 was the identifier originally associated with record
604 when record 604 was first stored in CCRM module 408. Global
identifier 602 is also associated with record 610 via reference
608. Record 610 is associated with global identifier 612 via
original relation 614 and with global identifier 602 via reference
608. Original relation 614 indicates that global identifier 612 was
the global identifier associated with record 610 when record 610
was first stored in CCRM module 408 but that record 610 was
subsequently associated with a different global identifier (global
identifier 602) as indicated by reference 608. Original relation
614 is maintained in a memory of CCRM module 408.
[0056] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram 700 of a process for including new
records in a content data structure. At step 702, data mining
processor 412 creates a new global identifier. The global
identifier may be, for example, an entry in CCRM module 408
associated with a unique serial number or a pointer to a designated
database entry or memory location. At step 704, data mining
processor 412 associates the new global identifier created at step
702 with a new record to be included in CCRM module 408. This
association may occur, for example, by a common entry in a
database, a link in memory, or by any other data structure. At step
706, data mining processor 412 sets the new record as the original
record associated with the new global identifier created at step
702. Unless and until the new record is associated with a different
global identifier, CCRM module 408 will continue to store the
original reference between the new record and the new global
identifier as discussed above with reference to FIG. 6. If the new
record becomes associated with a different global identifier (i.e.,
through a merge operation as described below), the global
identifier will maintain an original relation with the record.
[0057] FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a process for merging records
associated with two global identifiers in CCRM module 408. At step
802, data mining processor 412 selects one of two candidate global
identifiers that are to be merged. In some embodiments, data mining
processor 412 selects the global identifier with the greater number
of references to data records. If the global identifiers are
associated with the same number of data records, data mining
processor 412 may select the older of the two global identifiers.
Though selecting the "larger" global identifier at step 802 allows
more rapid consolidation of data records associated with the same
content element than selecting the "smaller" global identifier, any
selection technique may be used.
[0058] 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.
[0059] FIGS. 9A-9D illustrate an example of the inclusion and
merging processes of FIGS. 7 and 8, respectively. To begin, FIG. 9A
represents the state of a portion of a data catalog in CCRM module
408 after five new records 922-930 are first imported. To catalog
the new records, data mining processor 412 creates five new global
identifiers 902-910 and associates each of the new records 922-930
with one of the new global identifiers 902-910 through an original
reference (original references 912-920). FIG. 9B depicts the result
of transferring a record from its original global identifier to a
different global identifier. In FIG. 9B, record 930 is associated
with global identifier 908 via reference 932. In lieu of original
reference 920, CCRM module 408 maintains original relation 934
between record 930 and global identifier 910 (e.g., by storing in a
memory).
[0060] FIG. 9C depicts the result of two additional transfers of
records between global identifiers. In FIG. 9C, record 924 is
associated with global identifier 902 via reference 936 (while
original relation 938 between record 924 and global identifier 904
is maintained), and record 926 has become associated with global
identifier 908 via reference 942 (while original relation 940
between record 926 global identifier 906 is maintained). In the
embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 9A-9D, each of the transfers of
records depicted in FIGS. 9B and 9C can also be thought of as
mergers between the associated global identifiers because merger
and transfer operations have the same result when both global
identifiers are each associated with a single record. FIG. 9D
depicts the result of merging two global identifiers, one of which
has more than one associated record. Here the records associated
with global identifier 902 and the records associated with global
identifier 908 have been merged under global identifier 908. In
this example, the global identifier with the larger number of
records prior to the merger (here, global identifier 908) is the
global identifier to which the new records are transferred in the
merger, though as discussed above with reference to FIG. 8, any
other transfer rule may be used. As a result of this merger,
records 922 and 924 are now associated with global identifier 908
via references 946 and 948, respectively, and the original relation
between global identifier 902 and record 922 is maintained in
memory.
[0061] 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. FIG. 10
is a flow diagram of a process for splitting a record from a global
identifier. At step 1002, data mining processor 412 identifies the
record to be split from a global identifier with which the record
is currently associated. This record may be identified by a human
editor as incorrectly associated with the global identifier, or may
be identified as such by an automated aggregation process (e.g.,
that uses pattern matching or other computational techniques). At
step 1004, data mining processor 412 determines which global
identifier serves as the original global identifier for the record
identified at step 1002. In other words, data mining processor 412
determines which global identifier has an original relation with
the record to be split. At step 1006, data mining processor 412
re-associates the record identified at step 1002 with its original
global identifier (as determined at step 1004). Thus, the original
reference between the identified record and its original global
identifier is restored as an active reference. At step 1008, data
mining processor 412 de-associates the identified record from its
former global identifier.
[0062] FIGS. 11A-11B illustrate an example of the splitting process
of FIG. 10. In FIG. 11A, global identifier 1108 is associated with
records 1122, 1126 and 1130 via references 1132, 1134 and 1136,
respectively. Global identifier 1108 is also associated with record
1128 via original reference 1118. Global identifier 1104 is
associated with record 1124 via original reference 1114, and global
identifiers 1102, 1106 and 1110 have original relations 1112, 1116
and 1120 with records 1122, 1126 and 1130, respectively. FIG. 11B
depicts the result of splitting record 1122 from global identifier
1108. In FIG. 11B, the reference between record 1122 and global
identifier 1108 is removed, and the original reference between
record 1122 and global identifier 1102 is reinstated.
[0063] 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 FIGS.
6-11) may transmit content data to media guidance applications
(such as those described herein with reference to FIGS. 1-3). In
some such embodiments, a client application requests information
from the catalog by global identifier, content element name,
attribute of a particular content element, metadata field name,
content element type, or any other characteristic, and the
requested data is retrieved and passed to the requesting
application (e.g., in accordance with a contract as described above
with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5). In some embodiments, the content
catalog stores additional confidence information that describes the
reliability and/or quality of different data records, metadata
fields and/or references. As discussed in detail below, confidence
scores may be assigned to many different elements in a content data
catalog and may be used in combination to transmit aggregate
metadata from multiple (potentially inconsistent) records. The
aggregate metadata and confidence scores may be stored in CCRM
module 408, and subsets of this data may be transmitted to domain
relations module 420 and asset metadata module 422 as discussed
above with reference to FIG. 4.
[0064] FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of a process for transmitting
content metadata, which may be executed by one or more of the
processing devices described herein, such as data mining processor
412 of FIG. 4. At step 1202, data mining processor 412 receives a
first data record representative of a content element from content
information database 414 (FIG. 4). The first data record may
identify a particular content element (e.g., by name; by ISBN or
other serial number; by URL; by time, date and channel information,
etc.) and includes a first metadata field with a value descriptive
of an attribute of the content element. For example, when the
content element is the movie "Titanic," the name of the first
metadata field may be "Title" and it may have a value of "Titanic."
Other examples of attributes include title, running time, synopsis,
price, format, maturity level, game type, or any characteristics or
descriptions of content elements that may be stored as metadata.
The first data record may also include additional metadata fields
with values descriptive of other attributes of the content
element.
[0065] At step 1204, catalog and recommendation system 400
receives, from content information database 414 (FIG. 4), a second
data record representative of the same content element as the first
data record. The second data record may come into catalog and
recommendation system 400 via input 438 from a different data
source than the first data record, such as a different website, a
different third party catalog, or a different television guide
system. The second data record may identify the content element in
the same way that the first data record did, or in a different way,
and includes a second metadata field with a value descriptive of
the same attribute of the content element as described by the first
metadata field of the first data record. The name of the second
metadata field may be the same as the name of the first metadata
field, or it may be different (e.g., the name of the second
metadata field may be "Working Title" or "Content Name"). In this
illustration of the process of FIG. 12, the value of the second
metadata field is different than the value of the first metadata
field (e.g., when the second data record is representative of the
movie "Titanic," the value of "Working Title" may be a variant such
as "Titanic: The Movie" or a completely incorrect title like
"Monsters, Inc.").
[0066] 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 FIG. 7), a first reference
between an identifier for the content element (e.g., a global
identifier as described above with reference to FIG. 7) and the
first data record, and a second reference between the identifier
for the content element and the second data record. These
references are stored in CCRM module 408 (FIG. 4). Data mining
processor 412 may store the references at step 1206 using any of
the processes and embodiments described herein (e.g., those
discussed above with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8). At step 1208,
data mining processor 412 assigns a first confidence score to the
first metadata field. A confidence score may take any of a number
of forms, such as a numerical value (e.g., between 0 and 1) or a
qualitative value (e.g., "good" or "bad"). In some embodiments, the
first confidence score represents the quality, accuracy, usefulness
or other characteristic of the first metadata field. The confidence
score may be manually entered into catalog and recommendation
system 400 via editorial influence module 410 (which may not
require the use of data mining processor 412), imported into
catalog and recommendation system 400 along with the first data
record via input 438 and content information database 414, assigned
to the first data record by a third-party service, determined by
data mining processor 412 by comparing the metadata to other
metadata for the content element and using similarity as a measure
of confidence, or any other method or combination of methods. Data
mining processor 412 may assign the confidence score at step 1208
in any of a number of ways, such as by storing the confidence score
in a designated portion of a memory of CCRM MODULE 408 with a
pointer to the first data record or including the confidence score
as additional metadata in the first data record, for example.
[0067] 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 FIG. 13. Metadata
for the content element may be transmitted to the client device via
CCRM module 408, real-time service processor 418 and device gateway
434, and may be supplemented by information from domains relations
module 420 and/or asset metadata module 422 (FIG. 4). In some
embodiments, data mining processor 412 transmits the metadata at
step 1212 via CCRM MODULE 408 by selecting different pieces of
metadata from each of the portions of the first and second metadata
according to the confidence scores. For example, data mining
processor 412 may be configured to include a particular attribute
in metadata transmitted at step 1212 (e.g., "Title") and may select
the corresponding metadata value from either the first data record
or the second data record according to which has the higher
confidence score assigned to the metadata fields associated with
the attribute "Title." In some embodiments, the metadata
transmitted at step 1212 includes each unique metadata field from
the first data record and each unique metadata field from the
second data record, and the confidence scores are used to determine
which value is included if both the first and second data records
have values for a particular attribute.
[0068] A technique for reconciling inconsistent data records using
confidence scores is illustrated in flow diagram 1300 of FIG. 13.
At step 1302, data mining processor 412 receives a request for
information about a particular attribute of a particular content
element (referred to as the "desired attribute" and the "desired
content element," respectively). This request may be part of a
request for information about multiple attributes of the desired
content element, and data mining processor 412 may be configured to
respond to the request by transmitting information attribute by
attribute, or as a batch. In some implementations, the request
received at step 1302 is a request from a client device received
via path 440 (FIG. 4). When the client device is part of an
intermediate service that provides content information to
downstream user devices, the request from the client device may be
sent in response to a request from a user device further
downstream. In some implementations, the request from the user
device may be a request for a recommendation; the client device may
transmit that request to catalog and recommendation system 400,
which may identify content elements (including the desired content
element) for the recommendation and provide attribute information
(including the desired attribute) for those content elements. At
step 1304, data mining processor 412 identifies the one or more
data records that represent the desired content element within CCRM
MODULE 408. Data mining processor may identify these data records
by looking for which data records are associated with a global
identifier for the content element, as described above with
reference to FIGS. 6-11. At step 1306, data mining processor 412
indexes the metadata fields within the data records identified at
step 1304 by assigning each metadata field an index value to form
an ordered list of index values. Data mining processor 412 uses
this index to sequentially analyze each metadata field in order to
determine the highest confidence information about the desired
attribute. Within the index, the ordering of the metadata fields
from a single data record or across multiple data records is
arbitrary, and may be assigned in any manner.
[0069] 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.
[0070] 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.
[0071] 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 (FIG. 4). In this manner, data mining processor 412 may
select, for eventual display on a client or user device, metadata
field values that have the highest confidence values among other
metadata field values descriptive of the same attribute.
[0072] In some implementations of the process of FIG. 13, data
mining processor 412 may index the metadata fields at step 1306 by
confidence score in descending order. In such implementations, when
data mining processor 412 first determines that a metadata field is
descriptive of the desired attribute (and has at least a threshold
confidence score, if one is specified), data mining processor 412
may proceed directly to step 1326 and transmit the value of that
metadata field to the client device. Because the remaining metadata
fields have confidence scores that are less than or equal to the
score of that metadata field, data mining processor 412 need not
consider additional metadata fields.
[0073] FIGS. 14A and 14B provide an illustrative example of the
processes of FIGS. 12 and 13. FIG. 14A depicts an example content
data structure with multiple global identifiers 1402 and 1404 and
multiple records 1406, 1408, 1410 and 1412. Content data structure
1400 also includes several sets of metadata from different metadata
sources associated with the records. In FIG. 14A, record 1406
includes Source1 Metadata 1414, Netflix Ratings 1416 and Wikipedia
Entry 1418; record 1408 includes Source2 Metadata 1420; record 1410
includes Source1 Metadata 1422, Amazon Reviews 1424 and Source1
Metadata 1426; and record 1412 includes Source1 Metadata 1426 and
Source1 Metadata 1428. As used herein, a record may include a set
of metadata by storing the metadata in a memory structure
associated with that record, or by pointing to the metadata from a
data structure associated with the record for example. As
illustrated by Source1 Metadata 1426 in FIG. 14A, it is possible
for a single set of metadata to be included in two or more data
records. Similarly, it is possible for a single data record to be
referenced by two or more global identifiers.
[0074] FIG. 14B depicts an example aggregate set of metadata 1430
associated with global identifier 1402 of FIG. 14A. Aggregate set
of metadata 1430 includes a list of metadata fields 1432, a list of
the records 1434 from which the metadata fields are drawn, a list
of metadata sources 1436 from which the metadata fields are drawn,
a list of values 1438 for the metadata fields, and a list of
confidence scores 1440 for each of the metadata fields. As shown in
FIG. 14B, different metadata fields from the same data record, or
from the same metadata source, can have different confidence
scores. Moreover, metadata fields with the same name (e.g., "Name")
may be included in different metadata sources associated with the
same or different data records. FIG. 14B also illustrates that
several of the metadata fields have been designated as "top"
fields. These fields have the highest confidence scores among all
fields with the same name (as determined, for example, using the
process illustrated in FIG. 13). In some embodiments, when catalog
and recommendation system 400 transmits metadata to a client device
at step 1212 of the flow diagram 1200 (FIG. 12), these "top" fields
are included in the transmitted metadata.
[0075] The method of FIG. 12 may be used with any number of data
records, any number of metadata fields, and may use confidence
scores to select and transmit an aggregate set of metadata in any
of a number of ways. In some embodiments, metadata is transmitted
to a processor of a content recommendation system (e.g., real-time
service processor 418 of FIG. 4, or media guidance data source 368
of FIG. 3B) and is used as the basis for transmitting a
recommendation for the content element. In some such embodiments,
the metadata is compared to a user input (e.g., a search query, a
"More Like This" request," a log-in, a user profile entry, or any
other input to which content data is transmitted in response). The
metadata may be displayed or otherwise communicated to the user
(e.g., via a media guidance application or other application
running on user equipment as described herein with reference to
FIGS. 1-3).
[0076] 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 FIG. 12, data mining processor 412
assigns a third confidence score to the first reference and a
fourth confidence score to the second reference. Then, at step
1212, data mining processor 412 draws the transmitted metadata from
the first set of metadata based on the first and third confidence
scores, and from the second set of metadata based on the second and
fourth confidence scores. For example, data mining processor 412
may multiply the first and third confidence scores to obtain an
aggregate confidence score for the portion of the first metadata,
or may apply thresholds to both the first and third confidence
scores and only use the portion of the first metadata if both
thresholds are exceeded (and analogously for the second and fourth
confidence scores). These techniques are simply illustrative, and
any techniques for using two or more confidence scores may be
used.
[0077] 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 FIG.
12.
[0078] 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 FIG.
3A.
[0079] FIG. 15 depicts an example of a content data structure
including editorial metadata, locked global identifiers and locked
references. Content data structure 1500 includes global identifiers
1502 and 1504. Global identifier 1502 is depicted as locked. A
locked global identifier may indicate that all data records
(including editorial metadata) with which the global identifier is
associated should not be changed, nor shall references be removed.
Content data structure 1500 also includes a locked reference 1512
from global identifier 1504 to record 1510. A locked reference may
not be removed or changed, for example. Content data structure 1500
also includes editorial metadata 1514 and editorial metadata 1516
(as described above). In some embodiments, instructions to perform
a prohibited operation to a locked portion may trigger an error
message or other warning. An administrator may be given the
opportunity to unlock the locked portion. In some embodiments, when
the content of locked metadata (e.g., editorial metadata) is in
conflict (e.g., two sets of editorial metadata associated with a
movie provide different view times for the movie), an administrator
may be prompted to reconcile the conflict.
[0080] FIG. 16 is an illustrative administrator-facing display 1600
for receiving locking instructions. This display may be presented
on display 312 of client device 300 of FIG. 3A, and locking
instructions may be received through user input interface 310 and
passed to CCRM module 408 or data mining processor 412 via I/O path
302. An administrator may specify one or more portions of the
content data catalog to lock (such as global identifiers,
references, and metadata sources or fields). The administrator may
specify these portions from one or more lists, or editorial
influence module 410 may automatically populate display 1600 using
information from portions selected prior to display 1600. In some
embodiments (as discussed above,) once a portion is designated as
"locked," it can only be unlocked or changed by an administrator or
other individual or process with unlocking/overriding
authority.
[0081] 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.
[0082] 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.
[0083] 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).
[0084] 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.
[0085] 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.
[0086] 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.
[0087] In an embodiment, display 200 of FIG. 2 may be augmented by
any of the items and features described above for display 100 of
FIG. 1. For example, advertisement 205 may take the form of any of
the embodiments described above for advertisement 124. The listings
in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 is larger
than listings 208, 210, and 212), 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 Dec. 29, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by
reference herein in its entirety.
[0088] As discussed above, the systems and methods of the present
disclosure may be implemented in whole or in part by client 300 of
FIG. 3B, which includes control circuitry 304. Control circuitry
304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitry such as
processing circuitry 306. 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 304 executes instructions for a
media guidance application stored in memory (i.e., storage
308).
[0089] 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 FIG. 3A). In
addition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that
enables peer-to-peer communication of client devices, or
communication of client devices in locations remote from each other
(described in more detail below). Server-centric and/or
peer-to-peer communication may enable the pooling of preferences
and behaviors between users, for use with the systems and
techniques disclosed herein.
[0090] 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 FIG. 3A, may be used to
supplement storage 308 or instead of storage 308.
[0091] 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.
[0092] 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.
[0093] 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.
[0094] 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.
[0095] A client device utilizing at least some of the system
features described above in connection with FIG. 3A may not be
classified solely as user television equipment 352, user computer
equipment 354, or a wireless user communications device 356. For
example, user television equipment 352 may, like some user computer
equipment 354, be Internet-enabled allowing for access to Internet
content, while user computer equipment 354 may, like some
television equipment 352, include a tuner allowing for access to
television programming. The media guidance application may have the
same layout on the various different types of client device or may
be tailored to the display capabilities of the client device. For
example, on user computer equipment 354, 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 356.
[0096] In system 350, there is typically more than one of each type
of client device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 3A to avoid
overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize
more than one type of client device and also more than one of each
type of client device.
[0097] 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.
[0098] 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.
[0099] 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.
[0100] 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 FIG. 3A to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In
addition, there may be more than one of each of content source 366
and media guidance data source 358, but only one of each is shown
in FIG. 3A to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The different
types of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired,
content source 366 and media guidance data source 358 may be
integrated as one source device. Although communications between
sources 366 and 358 with client devices 352, 354, and 356 are shown
as through communications network 364, in some embodiments, sources
366 and 358 may communicate directly with client devices 352, 354,
and 356 via communication paths (not shown) such as those described
above in connection with paths 358, 360, and 362.
[0101] 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.
[0102] 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.
[0103] 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.
[0104] 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.
[0105] 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.
[0106] 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.
[0107] 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 FIG. 3A.
[0108] 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.
[0109] 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.
[0110] 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.
[0111] 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.
[0112] 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.
[0113] 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.
[0114] 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 FIGS. 3A and 3B.
[0115] 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.
[0116] 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.
[0117] 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.
* * * * *
References