Methods and systems for selecting and presenting content based on a comparison of preference signatures from multiple users

1. A method of selecting and presenting a subset of content items to a user based on content item selections by other users having similar preferences as determined at least in part based on analyzing the weights of relative preferences and based on analyzing intervals of time occurring between user selection of similar content items, the method comprising:

providing access to a set of content items, each content item having at least one associated descriptive term to describe the content item;

receiving a plurality of incremental inputs, each incremental input being entered by a corresponding one of a plurality of users of an input device, wherein the incremental input includes at least one character in a series of characters;

in response to each character of the incremental input, presenting a corresponding subset of content items;

receiving selection actions of content items from the user who entered the incremental input for which the subset of content items was presented;

determining a geographic location of the user at the time of at least one of the selection actions;

analyzing the descriptive terms associated with the selected content items to identify sets of actions resulting in the selection of similar content items, wherein similarity is determined by comparing the descriptive terms associated with any one of the selected content items with any of the previously selected content items;

analyzing the date, day, and time of at least three of the individual selection actions of the sets of actions to learn arbitrary periodicities corresponding to a particular set of actions for selecting similar content items, wherein the arbitrary periodicities each comprise repeated similar intervals of time between user actions resulting in the selections of similar content items;

for each user of the plurality of users, learning the preferences of each user by associating a weight and arbitrary periodicity with each descriptive term associated with the selection actions of the user, said weight being indicative of the amount of use by the user of the selected content items associated with each of the descriptive terms and said arbitrary periodicity being the learned arbitrary periodicity of the descriptive terms associated with the set of similar content items, so that the user preferences are specified as a set of descriptive terms, each with associated weights and arbitrary periodicities, the learning the preferences of each user further including associating the geographic location with each descriptive term associated with the corresponding selection actions of the user;

identifying users with similar preferences by comparing sets of learned user preferences to determine if the sets of preferences of the users match within a specified threshold; and

presenting content items to at least one user of the plurality of users by identifying for presentation content items selected by users identified as having learned user preferences that are similar to the learned user preferences of said at least one user;

wherein at least one of receiving a plurality of incremental inputs, presenting the corresponding subset of content items, receiving selection actions, learning the preferences of each user, identifying users with similar preferences, and presenting content items is performed on a server system remote from the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presented content items are ordered by promoting the ranking of relatively more popular content items, the popularity of a content item indicating a relative measure of a likelihood that the content item is desired by the user.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of content items includes at least one of television program items, movie items, audio/video media items, music items, contact information items, personal schedule items, web content items, purchasable product items, and advertisements for purchasable product items.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of content items includes at least one of television program items, movie items, and audio/video media items and the descriptive terms includes at least one of title, cast, director, content description, and keywords associated with the content.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of content items is contained on at least one of a cable television system, a video-on-demand system, an IPTV system, and a personal video recorder.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the incremental input is entered by the user on an input constrained device.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the input constrained device has a plurality of overloaded keys, each of the overloaded keys representing two or more characters.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the incremental input is entered by the user on at least one of a telephone, a PDA, a computer, and a remote control.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presented content items are presented on at least part of a television screen.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presented content items are presented on a display constrained device.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the display constrained device is at least one of a telephone, a PDA, and a remote control.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the incremental input comprises at least one prefix of a word for describing the desired content items.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the incremental input comprises at least two prefixes of a phrase for describing the desired content items.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of receiving a plurality of incremental inputs, presenting the corresponding subset of content items, receiving selection actions, learning the preferences of each user, identifying users with similar preferences, and presenting content items is performed on a user client device.