Selectively playing videos
This disclosure relates to selectively playing a video on a mobile communication device. The device monitors events and upon detecting a trigger event, determines whether to delay the playing of a first video or to attempt to play the first video. Upon determining to delay, the device stores a delay record. The device repeats the above steps to generate multiple delay records. Upon determining to attempt to play the first video, the device displays a user control to allow the user to reject the first video and stores an attempt record. Upon detecting user interaction with the user control element, the device calculates a relationship between the delay records, the attempt record, and the user interaction with the user control element. This allows the device to determine whether to delay the playing of a second video or to play the second video. Upon determining to play the second video, the device plays the second video.
1. A method for selectively playing a video on a mobile communication device, the method comprising:
monitoring events on the mobile communication device;
upon detecting a trigger event in the events, determining whether to delay the playing of a first video or to attempt to play the first video;
upon determining to delay the playing of the first video, storing on a data store a delay record indicative of a context of the mobile communication device in which the playing of the first video is delayed;
repeating the steps of monitoring events and upon determining to delay the playing of the first video, storing a delay record indicative of a context of the mobile communication device in which the playing of the first video is delayed, to generate multiple delay records representing multiple points in time when the playing of the first video is delayed and each of the multiple delay records indicates a respective context of the mobile communication device;
upon determining to attempt to play the first video, displaying a user control on the mobile communication device to allow the user to reject the first video;
storing an attempt record indicative of a context of the mobile communication device in which the playing of the first video is attempted;
upon detecting user interaction with the user control element indicative of the user rejecting the first video, calculating a first relationship between the context data of the multiple delay records, the attempt record, and the user interaction with the user control element;
determining whether to delay the playing of a second video or to play the second video based on the first relationship between the context data of the multiple delay records, the attempt record and the user interaction with the user control element and based on a current context of the mobile communication device; and
upon determining to play the second video, playing the second video.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring events comprises monitoring events generated by a user interacting with the mobile communication device.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the video comprises an advertisement video.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context is independent from the video and includes one or more of time of day, user activity, active apps and sensor data.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating a relationship comprises calculating one or more of a positive weight upon the video being played, a negative weight upon the video being rejected and a negative weight upon the video being delayed.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the relationship comprises calculating a value function that maps feature values to expected benefits of delaying and/or attempting to play the video.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the value function is based on a time elapsed since last played video.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein calculating the relationship comprises calculating a first value function and a second value functions, the first value function is in relation to attempting to play the video and the second value function is in relation to delaying the video.
9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the value function is linear.
10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the value function is based on parameters reflecting the relationship.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the relationship comprises reinforcement learning and/or linear regression.
12. The method claim 1 , wherein calculating the relationship and determining whether to delay the playing of the second video is based on an ensemble model of decision trees or on a neural network or both.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether to delay the playing of the second video is based on a predetermined number of times a video is to be played.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising allocating an incentive to the user upon playing the video.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising recording a video of the user and determining allocating the incentive based on a facial expression detected in the video.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the relationship comprises sending training data to a server and retrieving relationship parameters from the server.
17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the second video from multiple candidate videos.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein selecting the second video is based on meta-data of the second video and a second relationship between meta-data of the first video and the user interaction with the user control element.
19. A mobile communication device for selectively playing a video on a mobile communication device, the mobile communication device comprising:
a user interface to allow user interaction to generate events;
a network connector to receive videos over a wireless data network;
a non-volatile memory to store videos and to store program code; and
a processor configured by the program code to:
monitor the events on the mobile communication device;
upon detecting a trigger event in the events, determine whether to delay the playing of a first video or to attempt to play the first video;
upon determining to delay the playing of the first video, store on a data store a delay record indicative of a context of the mobile communication device in which the playing of the first video is delayed;
repeat the steps of monitoring events and upon determining to delay the playing of the first video, storing a delay record indicative of a context of the mobile communication device in which the playing of the first video is delayed, to generate multiple delay records representing multiple points in time when the playing of the first video is delayed and each of the multiple delay records indicates a respective context of the mobile communication device;
upon determining to attempt to play the first video, display a user control on the mobile communication device to allow the user to reject the first video;
store an attempt record indicative of a context of the mobile communication device in which the playing of the first video is attempted;
upon detecting user interaction with the user control element indicative of the user rejecting the first video, calculate a first relationship between the context data of the multiple delay records, the attempt record, and the user interaction with the user control element;
determine whether to delay the playing of a second video or to play the second video based on the first relationship between the context data of the multiple delay records, the attempt record and the user interaction with the user control element and based on a current context of the mobile communication device; and
upon determining to play the second video, play the second video on the user interface.