Systems and methods for episode tracking in an interactive media environment
View Patent ↗Systems and methods for monitoring a user's viewing progress of media in a series are provided. The user may setup a media profile containing a list of program series to be monitored. The interactive media monitoring application may track the user's viewing progress of programs in the program series on the user equipment and update the user's media profile. The user may request and watch programs in the series at the user's leisure while peripheral media content may be filtered to be consistent with the user's viewing progress in the series.
1. A method for presenting media content to a user at user equipment, the method comprising:
retrieving viewing progress of the media content from a user profile;
determining if the media content is serial programming;
in response to determining that the media content is serial programming, determining a current episode in the serial programming that corresponds to the viewing progress; and
presenting a viewing option to the user, wherein selection of the viewing option causes the current episode to be skipped, a subsequent episode to be presented, and the viewing progress in the user profile to be updated based on the current episode being skipped, and wherein the viewing option is presented before the media content is viewed by the user.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
in response to determining that the media content is not serial programming, presenting the media content.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining if the media content is serial programming comprises analyzing metadata associated with the media content.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the metadata associated with the stored media content indicates other media content that should be presented to the user before or after the media content.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining if the media content is serial programming comprises analyzing the type of media content.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the type of media content is selected from the group consisting of broadcast media, on-demand media, pay-per-view media, recorded media, and Internet media.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein a request for viewing media content is made on behalf of the user after some user event.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the user event is an event selected from the group consisting of powering on a device associated with the user equipment, creating a media profile reminder, logging onto an application running on the user equipment, logging off of an application running on the user equipment, a program selection, and a user equipment tuning event.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the viewing option to the user comprises presenting a display screen to the user including the viewing option.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the viewing option to the user comprises presenting an overlay to the user including the viewing option.
11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
scheduling the media content for viewing at the later time; and
automatically presenting the scheduled media content at the later time.
12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
presenting a summary of the media content to the user.
13. The method of claim 12 wherein the summary is derived from a data source.
14. The method of claim 12 wherein the summary is created from closed captioning data associated with the media content.
15. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
presenting the media content to the user after presenting the summary to the user.
16. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
skipping the media content and advancing to the subsequent serial programming associated with the media content after presenting the summary to the user.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein skipping the media content and advancing to the subsequent serial programming associated with the media content comprises viewing the subsequent serial programming associated with the media content.
18. The method of claim 16 wherein skipping the media content and advancing to subsequent serial programming associated with the media content comprises viewing a summary of the subsequent serial programming associated with the stored media content.
19. A system for presenting media content to a user at user equipment, the system comprising:
control circuitry for presenting a viewing option to the user, wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
retrieve a viewing progress of the media content from a user profile;
determine if the media content is serial programming;
in response to determining that the media content is serial programming, determine a current episode in the serial programming that corresponds to the viewing progress; and
present a viewing option to the user, wherein selection of the viewing option causes the current episode to be skipped, a subsequent episode to be presented, and the viewing progress in the user profile to be updated based on the current episode being skipped, and wherein the viewing option is presented before the media content is viewed by the user.
20. The system of claim 19 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
in response to determining that the media content is not serial programming, present the media content.
21. The system of claim 19 wherein the control circuitry is configured to analyze metadata associated with the media content to determine if the media content is serial programming.
22. The system of claim 21 wherein the metadata associated with the media content indicates other media content that should be presented to the user before or after the media content.
23. The system of claim 19 wherein the control circuitry is configured to analyze the type of media content to determine if the media content is serial programming.
24. The system of claim 23 wherein the type of media content is selected from the group consisting of broadcast media, on-demand media, pay-per-view media, recorded media, and Internet media.
25. The system of claim 19 wherein a request for viewing media content is made on behalf of the user after some user event.
26. The system of claim 25 wherein the user event is an event selected from the group consisting of powering on a device associated with the user equipment, creating a media profile reminder, logging onto an application running on the user equipment, logging off of an application running on the user equipment, a program selection, and a user equipment tuning event.
27. The system of claim 19 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to present a display screen to the user including the viewing option.
28. The system of claim 19 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to present an overlay to the user including the viewing option.
29. The system of claim 19 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
schedule the media content for viewing at the later time; and
automatically present the scheduled media content at the later time.
30. The system of claim 19 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
present a summary of the media content to the user.
31. The system of claim 30 wherein the summary is derived from a data source.
32. The system of claim 30 wherein the summary is created from closed captioning data associated with the media content.
33. The system of claim 30 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
present the media content to the user after presenting the summary to the user.
34. The system of claim 30 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
skip the media content and advance to the subsequent serial programming associated with the media content of the media content after presenting the summary to the user.
35. The system of claim 30 wherein skipping the media content and advancing to subsequent serial programming associated with the media content comprises viewing the subsequent serial programming associated with the media content.
36. The system of claim 30 wherein skipping the media content and advancing to the subsequent serial programming associated with the media content comprises viewing a summary of the subsequent serial programming associated with the stored media content.
37. An interactive program guide for presenting media content to a user at user equipment implemented by processing circuitry, the processing circuitry configured to:
retrieve a viewing progress of the media content from a user profile;
determine if the media content is serial programming;
in response to determining that the media content is serial programming, determine a current episode in the serial programming that corresponds to the viewing progress; and
present a viewing option to the user, wherein selection of the viewing option causes the current episode to be skipped, a subsequent episode to be presented, and the viewing progress in the user profile to be updated based on the current episode being skipped, and wherein the viewing option is presented before the media content is viewed by the user.
38. The interactive program guide of claim 37 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to present the media content in response to the determination that the media content is not serial programming.
39. The interactive program guide of claim 37 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to analyze metadata associated with the media content.
40. The interactive program guide of claim 39 wherein the metadata associated with the media content indicates other media content that should be presented to the user before or after the media content.
41. The interactive program guide of claim 37 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to analyze the type of media content.
42. The interactive program guide of claim 41 wherein the type of media content is selected from the group consisting of broadcast media, on-demand media, pay-per-view media, recorded media, and Internet media.
43. The interactive program guide of claim 37 wherein the request for viewing media content is made on behalf of the user after some user event.
44. The interactive program guide of claim 43 wherein the user event is an event selected from the group consisting of powering on a device associated with the user equipment, creating a media profile reminder, logging onto an application running on the user equipment, logging off of an application running on the user equipment, a program selection, and a user equipment tuning event.
45. The interactive program guide of claim 37 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to present a display screen to the user including the viewing option.
46. The interactive program guide of claim 37 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to present an overlay to the user including the viewing option.
47. The interactive program guide of claim 37 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
schedule the media content for viewing at the later time; and
automatically present the scheduled media content at the later time.
48. The interactive program guide of claim 37 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
present a summary of the media content to the user.
49. The interactive program guide of claim 48 wherein the summary is derived from a data source.
50. The interactive program guide of claim 48 wherein the summary is created from closed captioning data associated with the media content.
51. The interactive program guide of claim 48 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
present the media content to the user after presenting the summary to the user.
52. The interactive program guide of claim 48 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
skip the media content and advance to subsequent serial programming associated with the media content after presenting the summary to the user.
53. The interactive program guide of claim 37 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to view the subsequent serial programming associated with the media content.
54. The interactive program guide of claim 37 wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to view a summary of the subsequent serial programming associated with the media content.
55. The method of claim 1 , wherein serial programming comprises a recommended order of viewing of episodes.
56. The system of claim 19 , wherein serial programming comprises a recommended order of viewing of episodes.
57. The interactive program guide of claim 37 , wherein serial programming comprises a recommended order of viewing of episodes.