Granted Patent B2

US 10,708,665 · App. 16/296,370 · Granted Jul 7, 2020

Inventors: Romulo Pontual (Palos Verdes Estates, CA); Sui-Ky Ringo Ling (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA); Raynold M. Kahn (Los Angeles, CA); Gordon H. Chen (Manhattan Beach, CA); Hans M. Hagberg (Redondo Beach, CA)

Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc.

H04N21/4826H04N21/44222H04N21/4668H04N21/8456

Abstract

Claims (32)

1. A method comprising:

determining a genre profile target representation based on program genre categories of previously watched program events over time and based on an amount of time a program is watched, said genre profile target determined for each time slot of a day which is adjusted based on whether the program is a recording playback and whether the program was watched more than a predetermined number of days prior;

determining a candidate program category representation for each program candidate of a plurality of program candidates from a plurality of program categories;

comparing the candidate program category representation for the plurality of program candidates to the genre profile target representation;

determining a numerical value for each of the plurality of program candidates based on comparing; and

displaying the program candidates ordered based of the numerical value for each.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising viewing a new watched program and updating the genre profile target representation in response to program categories of the new watched program.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the genre profile target representation comprises a genre profile target vector.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the candidate program category representation comprises a candidate program category vector.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the genre profile target representation comprises determining the genre profile target representation for a timeslot.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein further comprising determining the plurality of program candidates from a program guide within the timeslot.

7. A method comprising:

determining a genre profile target vector based on plurality of program genre categories of previously watched program events over time and based on an amount of time a program is watched, said genre profile target determined for each time slot of a day which is adjusted based on whether the program is a recording playback and whether the program was watched more than a predetermined number of days prior;

generating a candidate vector for respective ones of candidate programs based on program categories of the program candidates;

comparing the genre profile target vector and the candidate vector;

determining a numerical value for each of the plurality of program candidates based on comparing by determining an angle between the genre profile target vector and the candidate vector; and

displaying the program candidates ordered based on the numerical value representing the smallest angle for each.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising viewing a new watched program and updating the genre profile target vector in response to program categories of the new watched program.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein determining the genre profile target vector comprises determining the genre profile target vector for a timeslot.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein generating candidate vectors comprises generating candidate vectors for the timeslot.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein comparing comprises determining a dot product of the genre profile target vector and the candidate vector and wherein the numerical value corresponds to an angle between the target vector and the candidate vector.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein comparing comprises determining a dot product of the genre profile target vector and the candidate vector and wherein the numerical value corresponds to a numerical representation of a distance between the genre profile target vector and the candidate vector.

13. A system comprising:

a viewer tracking electronic circuit determining a genre profile target representation based on genre categories of previously watched program events over time and based on an amount of time a program is watched, said genre profile target determined for each time slot of a day which is adjusted based on whether the program is a recording playback and whether the program was watched more than a predetermined number of days prior;

a recommendation electronic circuit determining a candidate program category representation for each program candidate of a plurality of program candidates from a plurality of program categories, comparing the candidate program category representation for the plurality of candidates to the genre profile target representation, and determining a numerical value for each of the plurality of program candidates based on comparing; and

a display displaying the program candidates ordered based of the numerical value for each.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the viewer tracking electronic circuit updates the genre profile target representation in response to program categories of a new watched program.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the genre profile target representation comprises a genre profile target vector and the candidate program category representation comprises a candidate program category vector.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the numerical value comprises an angle between the genre profile target vector and the candidate program category vector.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the numerical value comprises a cosine of an angle between the genre profile target vector and the candidate program category vector.

18. The system of claim 13 wherein the genre profile target representation is for a timeslot.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein a program guide within the timeslot comprises the plurality of program candidates.

Assignments (6)