Methods and systems for recommending media assets based on the geographic location at which the media assets are frequently consumed

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10587917-B2
Application number	US-201816100378-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2018
Priority date	Mar 30, 2017
Publication date	Mar 10, 2020
Grant date	Mar 10, 2020

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided herein for recommending a media asset based on a geographic location at which that media asset was frequently consumed. For example, the system may monitor a location, such as New York City or Times Square, to determine popular media assets watched there, such as “The Avengers,” and when another user visits New York City, the system may then notify the user that the movie, such as “The Avengers,” is associated with New York City. The system stores the geographic locations associated with the media asset in the database based on the consumption of the media asset so that other users may be notified which media assets are associated with each geographic location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for recommending a media asset based on a geographic location at which the media asset was consumed, the method comprising:
determining a first number of users of a first plurality of users that consumed the media asset at a first geographic location;
defining a threshold based on the first number of users that consumed the media asset at the first geographic location;
determining a second number of users of a second plurality of users that consumed the media asset at a second geographic location;
determining whether the second number of users that consumed the media asset at the second geographic location exceeds the threshold determined based on the first number of users that consumed the media asset at the first geographic location; and
in response to determining that the second number of users that consumed the media asset at the second geographic location exceeds the threshold determined based on the first number of users that consumed the media asset at the first geographic location:
detecting a user at the second geographic location who is not a member of the second plurality of users; and
transmitting a recommendation of the media asset to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring consumption of media assets by the first plurality of users at the first geographic location; and
monitoring consumption of media assets by the second plurality of users at the second geographic location.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second geographic location is a virtual location within a virtual reality map.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the second number of users of the second plurality of users that consumed the media asset at the second geographic location comprises determining a number of users that consumed the media asset while accessing the virtual location within the virtual reality map.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the virtual reality map comprises a plurality of artificial locations.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein detecting the presence of the user at the second geographic location comprises detecting that the user is accessing the virtual location using the virtual reality map.

7. The method of claim 3 , further comprising monitoring consumption of the media asset by the plurality of users at the second geographic location by:
monitoring the consumption of the media asset by the second plurality of users at the virtual location in the virtual reality map; and
monitoring the consumption of the media asset by the first plurality of users at the first geographic location associated with virtual location in the virtual reality map, wherein the first geographic location is not a virtual location.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the user at the second geographic location comprises detecting that the user is within a threshold distance from the second geographic location.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the second number of users of the second plurality of users that consumed the media asset at the second geographic location comprises determining a number of users that consumed the media asset within a threshold distance from the second geographic location.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the second number of users of the second plurality of users that consumed the media asset at the second geographic location further comprises:
detecting that a user is consuming the media asset at the second geographic location; and
incrementing the number of users that consumed the media asset at the second geographic location in a database by one.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein defining a threshold based on the first number of users that consumed the media asset at the first geographic location comprises determining a proportion of a population of the first geographic location that consumed the media asset at the first geographic location.

12. A system for recommending a media asset based on a geographic location at which the media asset was consumed, the system comprising control circuitry configured to:
determine a first number of users of a first plurality of users that consumed the media asset at a first geographic location;
define a threshold based on the first number of users that consumed the media asset at the first geographic location;
determine a second number of users of a second plurality of users that consumed the media asset at a second geographic location;
determine whether the second number of users that consumed the media asset at the second geographic location exceeds the threshold determined based on the first number of users that consumed the media asset at the first geographic location; and
in response to determining that the second number of users that consumed the media asset at the second geographic location exceeds the threshold determines based on the first number of users that consumed the media asset at the first geographic location:
detect a user at the second geographic location who is not a member of the second plurality of users; and
transmit a recommendation of the media asset to the user.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
monitor consumption of media assets by the first plurality of users at the first geographic location; and
monitor consumption of media assets by the second plurality of users at the second geographic location.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the second geographic location is a virtual location within a virtual reality map.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the control circuitry configured to determine the second number of users of the second plurality of users that consumed the media asset at the second geographic location is configured to determine a number of users that consumed the media asset while accessing the virtual location within the virtual reality map.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the control circuitry configured to detect the user at the second geographic location is configured to detect that the user is accessing the virtual location using the virtual reality map.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the virtual reality map comprises a plurality of artificial locations.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the control circuitry configured to monitor consumption of the media asset by the second plurality of users at the second geographic location by:
monitoring the consumption of the media asset by the second plurality of users at the virtual location in the virtual reality system; and
monitoring the consumption of the media asset by the first plurality of users at the first geographic location associated with virtual location in the virtual reality system, wherein the first geographic location is not a virtual location.

19. The system of claim 12 , wherein the control circuitry configured to detect the user at the second geographic location is configured to detect that the user is within a threshold distance from the second geographic location.

20. The system of claim 12 , wherein the control circuitry configured to determine the second number of users of the second plurality of users that consumed the media asset at the second geographic location is configured to determine a number of users that consumed the media asset within a threshold distance from the second geographic location.

21. The system of claim 12 , wherein the control circuitry configured to determine the second number of users of the second plurality of

Assignees

• Rovi Guides Inc

Inventors

• Dalbec Gabriel C
• Logan Jonathan A
• Gupta Ajay Kumar
• Liston Alexander W
• Thomas William L
• Schmidt Margret B
• Burns Mathew C

Classifications

• G06Q30/0264

  based upon schedule · CPC title

• G06Q30/0631

  Recommending goods or services · CPC title

• H04N21/25841

  involving the geographical location of the client (retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00) · CPC title

• H04N21/4821

  using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time · CPC title

• H04N21/466

  Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies {(services using the results of monitoring in broadcast systems H04H60/61)} · CPC title