METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CREATING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A USER

1 . A method for creating recommendations for a user, the method comprising:

receiving a user input relating to an item;

determining, from the metadata of the item, a hierarchy of categories;

receiving a rating of at least one category within any one level of the hierarchy; and

creating recommendations for the user based on at least the received rating of the at least one category.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining, comprises dynamically determining, from the metadata of the item, a hierarchy of categories.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising rendering the determined hierarchy of categories to the user.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising rendering at least one recommendation to the user based on the created recommendations.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the creating comprises updating a user profile and/or updating a blacklist based on the received rating of the at least one category.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user input includes at least one of an indication that the user likes or dislikes the item, a value from a rating scale of degrees of likeness for the item, an instruction to delete the item, and an instruction to remove the item.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining comprises determining, from the metadata of the item, a plurality of hierarchies of categories, and combining the plurality of hierarchies to determine the hierarchy.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the item is one of a webpage, a television program, an advert, an image, a video, and an audio file.

9 . A non-transitory computer program product comprising a plurality of program code portions for carrying out the method according to claim 1 .

10 . Apparatus for creating recommendations for a user, the apparatus comprising:

a user interface for receiving a user input relating to an item;

a processor for determining, from the metadata of the item, a hierarchy of categories;

a user interfaced for receiving a rating of at least one category within any one level of the hierarchy; and

a recommender for creating recommendations for the user based on at least the received rating of the at least one category.

11 . Apparatus according to claim 10 , the apparatus further comprising a rendering device for rendering the determined hierarchy of categories to the user.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

rendering the item;

receiving said user input relating to the item upon rendering the item;

determining the hierarchy upon receiving the user input relating to the item;

rendering the determined hierarchy of categories to the user; and

receiving the rating from the user via a user interface.

13 . The method according to claim 1 , comprising automatically inserting targeted advertisements between programs rendered on a TV using the recommendations.

14 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

rendering the item on the TV;

receiving said user input when the user views the item on the TV;

determining the hierarchy upon receiving the user input relating to the item;

presenting the hierarchy of categories to the user in the form of a graphical representation;

receiving the rating at any level of the presented hierarchy via a user interface; and

deciding which advertisements will not be inserted in a TV channel in the future based on the received rating.