Method and apparatus for generating television program recommendations based on prior queries
View Patent ↗A method and apparatus are disclosed that generate television program recommendations based on queries that have previously been performed by a user on an electronic program guide. A conventional program recommender score for a given program is adjusted according to the degree of correlation between the attribute-value pairs that define the program and the attribute-value pairs that have previously been searched by the user. A historical search database indicates the number of times each attribute-value pair appears in a user query and provides additional information regarding the preferences of the user. Higher frequency counts for certain attribute-value pairs imply the user's preference for programs conforming to such criteria.
1. A method for recommending television programs, comprising the steps of:
obtaining a list of one or more programs;
obtaining a recommendation score, R, for said one or more programs based on a viewing history;
calculating an adjustment, A, to said recommendation score, R, for said one or more programs based on one or more queries that have been performed by a user on an electronic program guide, said one or more queries each comprising attribute-value pairs;
generating a combined recommendation score, C, based on said recommendation score, R, and said adjustment, A, for said one or more programs; and
providing said combined recommendation score, C, to the user.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said list of one or more programs is obtained from an electronic program guide.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said recommendation score, R, is provided by an explicit program recommender.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said recommendation score, R, is provided by an implicit program recommender.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said recommendation score, R, is defined as a weighted average of individual ratings of program features.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of presenting said combined recommendation score, C, for each of said one or more programs to a user.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said adjustment to said recommendation score, R, does not exceed a predefined value.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said adjustment to said recommendation score, R, is based on a degree of correlation between attribute-value pairs that define said one or more programs and said attribute-value pairs of said one or more queries that have been performed by a user on an electronic program guide.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of decomposing a query to identify said attribute-value pairs contained in said query and incrementing a counter indicating a number of times each of said attribute-value pairs appears in a user query.
10. A method for providing a recommendation score for a television program, comprising the steps of:
obtaining attributes of said program from an electronic program guide;
calculating a recommendation score based on a degree of correlation between said attributes and a viewing history and a search history, said search history comprising one or more user-performed queries, each of said one or more user-performed queries including attribute-value pairs; and
providing said recommendation score to the user.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein said degree of correlation between said attributes and said viewing history is provided by an explicit program recommender.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein said degree of correlation between said attributes and said viewing history is provided by an implicit program recommender.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein said degree of correlation between said attributes and said viewing history is defined as a weighted average of individual ratings of program features.
14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the steps of decomposing a query to identify attribute-value pairs contained in said query and incrementing a counter indicating a number of times each of said attribute-value pairs appears in a user query.
15. The method of claim 10 , wherein said viewing history evaluates attributes of programs that have previously been watched by a user.
16. A system for recommending television programs, comprising:
a memory for storing computer readable code; and
a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to:
obtain a list of one or more programs;
obtain a recommendation score, R, for said one or more programs based on a viewing history;
calculate an adjustment, A, to said recommendation score, R, for said one or more programs based on one or more queries that have been performed by a user on an electronic program guide, said one or more queries comprising attribute-value pairs;
generate a combined recommendation score, C, based on said recommendation score, R, and said adjustment, A; and
provide said combined recommendation score, C, to the user.
17. An article of manufacture for recommending television programs, comprising:
a computer readable medium having computer readable code means embodied thereon, said computer readable program code means comprising code adapted to:
obtain a list of one or more programs;
obtain a recommendation score, R, for said one or more programs based on a viewing history;
calculate an adjustment, A, to said recommendation score, R, based on one or more queries that have been performed by a user on an electronic program guide, said one or more queries each comprising attribute-value pairs;
generate a combined recommendation score, C, based on said recommendation score, R, and said adjustment, A; and
provide said combined recommendation score, C, to the user.