IP Library Granted Patent US 11,792,478
Granted Patent B2
US 11,792,478 · App. 17/572,821 · Granted Oct 17, 2023

System and method for delivering missed portions of media assets to interested viewers

Inventors: John Blake (Belmont, CA); Milan Patel (Santa Clara, CA); Rowena Young (Menlo Park, CA); Jean Michel Pierre Bourdon (Emerald Hills, CA)
Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc.
H04N21/44218G06F16/40H04H20/38H04H60/56H04H60/80H04N21/23113H04N21/252H04N21/4126H04N21/41265H04N21/431H04N21/4334H04N21/458H04N21/4532H04N21/47217H04N21/4821H04N21/83H04N21/845
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,792,478
App. No.
17/572,821
Granted
Oct 17, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and methods are described herein for efficiently “catching-up” a user that is interested in a media asset when that user has missed a portion of the media asset while consuming the media asset together with other people. The system may detect that multiple people are consuming a media asset and may determine, based on a respective profile of each person, whether that person is interested in the media asset. When the system detects that the user is disregarding the media asset, the missed portion of the media asset is stored if the user is interested in the media asset, and is not stored if the user is not interested in the media asset.

Claims (80)

1. A method for restricting initialization of a catch-up mechanism, the method comprising:

determining, based on image recognition data, that at least one user of a plurality of users consuming presentation of a media asset is disregarding the media asset; and

in response to determining the at least one user of the plurality of users is disregarding the media asset, and within a threshold period of time:

accessing a respective profile for each user of the plurality of users;

based on the image recognition data and the respective profiles, determining:

(i) a first subset of the plurality of users, wherein each user of the first subset is interested in the media asset and is disregarding the presentation of the media asset; and

(ii) a second subset of the plurality of users, wherein each user of the second subset is not interested in the media asset;

determining whether the first subset includes more users than the second subset; and

in response to determining that the first subset includes more users than the second subset, automatically storing a portion of the media asset, wherein the portion begins from an earliest time when the first subset started disregarding the presentation of the media asset, and wherein the threshold period of time begins immediately upon determining the at least one user of the plurality of users is disregarding the media asset and has a short duration such that automatically storing the portion of the media asset begins as soon as the at least one user begins disregarding the media asset.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining, based on the image recognition data and the respective profiles, the first subset and the second subset comprises:

based on the image recognition data and for each respective user of the plurality of users:

determining a visual field of the respective user; and

determining, based on the visual field of the respective user, whether the respective user is disregarding the media asset.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining, based on the image recognition data and the respective profiles, the first subset and the second subset comprises:

comparing metadata of the media asset to the respective profiles; and

determining, based on the comparing, users that are interested in the media asset and users that are not interested in the media asset.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a request to play the media asset; and

in response to receiving the request, causing to be played the stored portion of the media asset.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically storing the portion of the media asset comprises:

identifying a respective device for each user of the first subset; and

causing to be transmitted the portion of the media asset to the respective devices.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

determining whether the respective devices are capable of playing a type of media associated with the media asset; and

in response to determining that a first device of the respective devices is not capable of playing the type of media associated with the media asset:

determining a second device that is capable of playing the media asset and associated with the respective user of the first device; and

causing to be transmitted the portion of the media asset to the second device.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to determining that the second subset includes more users than the first subset, refraining from automatically storing the portion of the media asset.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

causing to be displayed on devices associated with the respective profiles a prompt to schedule the media asset for recording, wherein the prompt comprises a selectable option to begin recording.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting that each user of the first subset is no longer disregarding the media asset;

determining whether the first subset was disregarding the media asset for a total time period that is less than a second threshold time period; and

in response to determining that the first subset was disregarding the media asset for the total time period that is less than the second threshold time period, deleting the stored portion of the media asset.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining that the media asset is an audio-visual media asset;

determining that the portion of the media asset does not include dialogue; and

in response to determining that the portion of the media asset does not include dialogue, causing to be displayed video of the stored portion of the media asset at an increased speed.

11. A system for restricting initialization of a catch-up mechanism, the system comprising:

memory configured to store a media asset; and

control circuitry configured to:

determine, based on image recognition data, that at least one user of a plurality of users consuming presentation of a media asset is disregarding the media asset; and

in response to determining the at least one user of the plurality of users is disregarding the media asset, and within a threshold period of time:

access a respective profile for each user of the plurality of users;

based on the image recognition data and the respective profiles, determine:

(i) a first subset of the plurality of users, wherein each user of the first subset is interested in the media asset and is disregarding the presentation of the media asset; and

(ii) a second subset of the plurality of users, wherein each user of the second subset is not interested in the media asset;

determine whether the first subset includes more users than the second subset; and

in response to determining that the first subset includes more users than the second subset, automatically store, ion the memory, a portion of the media asset, wherein the portion begins from an earliest time when the first subset started disregarding the presentation of the media asset, and wherein the threshold period of time begins immediately upon determining the at least one user of the plurality of users is disregarding the media asset and has a short duration such that automatically storing the portion of the media asset begins as soon as the at least one user begins disregarding the media asset.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry, when determining, based on the image recognition data and the respective profiles, the first subset and the second subset, is configured to:

based on the image recognition data and for each respective user of the plurality of users:

determine a visual field of the respective user; and

determine, based on the visual field of the respective user, whether the respective user is disregarding the media asset.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry, when determining, based on the image recognition data and the respective profiles, the first subset and the second subset, is configured to:

compare metadata of the media asset to the respective profiles; and

determine, based on the comparing, users that are interested in the media asset and users that are not interested in the media asset.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

receive a request to play the media asset; and

in response to receiving the request, play the stored portion of the media asset.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry, when automatically storing the portion of the media asset, is configured to:

identify a respective device for each user of the first subset; and

cause to be transmitted the portion of the media asset to the respective devices.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine whether the respective devices are capable of playing a type of media associated with the media asset; and

in response to determining that a first device of the respective devices is not capable of playing the type of media associated with the media asset:

determine a second device that is capable of playing the media asset and associated with the respective user of the first device; and

cause to be transmitted the portion of the media asset to the second device.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

in response to determining that the second subset includes more users than the first subset, refrain from automatically storing the portion of the media asset.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

cause to be displayed on devices associated with the respective profiles a prompt to schedule the media asset for recording, wherein the prompt comprises a selectable option to begin recording.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

detect that each user of the first subset is no longer disregarding the media asset;

determine whether the first subset was disregarding the media asset for a total time period that is less than a second threshold time period; and

in response to determining that the first subset was disregarding the media asset for the total time period that is less than the second threshold time period, delete the stored portion of the media asset.

20. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine that the media asset is an audio-visual media asset;

determine that the portion of the media asset does not include dialogue; and

in response to determining that the portion of the media asset does not include dialogue, cause to be displayed video of the stored portion of the media asset at an increased speed.

Assignments (3)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Oct 2, 2024
From: ROVI GUIDES, INC.
To: ADEIA GUIDES INC.
Reel/Frame 069085/0755 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 3, 2023
From: ADEIA GUIDES INC.; ADEIA IMAGING LLC; ADEIA MEDIA HOLDINGS LLC; ADEIA MEDIA SOLUTIONS INC.; ADEIA SEMICONDUCTOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES INC.; ADEIA SEMICONDUCTOR BONDING TECHNOLOGIES INC.; ADEIA SEMICONDUCTOR INC.; ADEIA SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS LLC; ADEIA SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGIES LLC; ADEIA SOLUTIONS LLC
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 063529/0272 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 11, 2022
From: BLAKE, JOHN; PATEL, MILAN; YOUNG, ROWENA; BOURDON, JEAN MICHEL PIERRE
To: ROVI GUIDES, INC.
Reel/Frame 058700/0758 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation 16448262 · Jun 21, 2019
Continuation 15200634 · Jul 1, 2016
Provisional Application 62334202 · May 10, 2016
Related Publication 20220248085A1 · Aug 4, 2022