Personalized menus and media content interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10708661-B2
Application number	US-201916358080-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2019
Priority date	Nov 19, 2014
Publication date	Jul 7, 2020
Grant date	Jul 7, 2020

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for generating personalized menus and a media content interface are provided. In one example, different device specific media asset lists are generated at different user devices for the same user based on the media consumption history at each device. In another example, media asset listings are displayed for multicast and on-demand media assets determined to be of interest to the user. An on-demand media asset is listed at a time when no other multicast media assets are listed. In another example, media asset listings for successive episodes of a media series are displayed in sequential order in response to an input to view successive episodes of a media series. In another example, a text search for media content is performed in which the search priority of media provider results is decreased relative to the search priority of media asset results as additional characters are added to a search string.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
determine, based on a user viewing history, a user viewing schedule indicating:
a plurality of content items that a user is predicted to view, and
corresponding times at which the plurality of content items are to be transmitted;

determine, based on the user viewing schedule, a duration of a timeslot that is between scheduled transmission times of a first content item in the user viewing schedule and a second content item in the user viewing schedule;
determine, based on the user viewing history, one or more recommended content items;

determine, based on the duration of the timeslot, a third content item of the one or more recommended content items; and
cause output of a selectable option to output the third content item after the first content item and during the timeslot.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to determine the third content item based on:
monitoring, for each of a plurality of different user devices, viewing of content by the user; and
selecting different third content items to list in user viewing schedules of the plurality of different user devices, wherein the third content item listed in each user viewing schedule is based on content that has been viewed at a corresponding one of the plurality of different user devices.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to determine the third content item based on:
receiving a user input to view successive episodes of a recurring series of episodes corresponding to the second content item;
determining an unwatched episode that precedes the second content item in the recurring series of episodes; and
scheduling, in the user viewing schedule, the unwatched episode during the timeslot.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to:
determine, based on the user viewing history, one or more users with similar user viewing histories,
wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to determine the third content item further based on one or more consumption scores, of the one or more users, for the third content item.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to:
receive an indication of the timeslot; and
cause, based on the indication of the timeslot, output of the third content item after the first content item and during the timeslot.

6. An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
determine a user viewing history that indicates, for each of a plurality of different user devices, viewing of content by a user; and
for a first user device of the plurality of different user devices:
determine, based on the user viewing history, a user viewing schedule indicating a plurality of content items that the user is predicted to view;
determine, based on the user viewing schedule, a first duration of a time period between scheduled transmission times of a first content item in the user viewing schedule and a second content item in the user viewing schedule;
determine, based on the user viewing history, one or more recommended content items;
determine, based on a comparison of the first duration and a second duration of a third content item of the one or more recommended content items, the third content item; and
cause output of the third content item after the first content item and during the time period.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
cause output of a display of an interface comprising the user viewing schedule, the interface comprising content listings for the plurality of content items that the user is predicted to view and a listing for the third content item, wherein the listing for the third content item is arranged in the user viewing schedule at a position corresponding to the time period.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to determine the third content item based on:
receiving a user input to view successive episodes of a recurring series of episodes corresponding to the second content item; and
determining an unwatched episode that precedes the second content item in the recurring series of episodes; and
schedule, in the user viewing schedule, the unwatched episode during the time period.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
determine, based on the user viewing history, one or more users with similar user viewing histories, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to determine the third content item further based on one or more consumption scores, of the one or more users, for the third content item.

10. An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
determine a first content asset and a second content asset that are scheduled for future transmission and that a user is predicted to view;
determine a first duration of a time period between scheduled transmission times of the first content asset and the second content asset;
determine, based on the first duration, one or more recommended content assets;
determine a third content asset of the one or more recommended content assets based on a comparison of the first duration and a second duration of the third content asset; and
cause output of the third content asset after the first content asset and during the time period.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to determine the third content asset based on:
monitoring, for each of a plurality of different user devices associated with the user, viewing of content by the user at that user device; and
selecting a different third content asset for each user device of the plurality of different user devices, wherein each different third content asset is based on content that has been viewed at that user device.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to determine the third content asset based on:
receiving a user input to view successive episodes of a recurring series of episodes corresponding to the second content asset; and
determining an unwatched episode that precedes the second content asset in the recurring series of episodes.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause:
determining, based on a user viewing history, a user viewing schedule indicating:
a plurality of content items that a user is predicted to view, and
corresponding times at which the plurality of content items are to be transmitted;

determining, based on the user viewing schedule, a duration of a timeslot that is between scheduled transmission times of a first content item in the user viewing schedule and a second content item in the user viewing schedule;
determining,

Assignees

• Comcast Cable Comm Llc

Inventors

• Bagga Amit
• Cynkin Larry
• Neumann Jan
• Sayyadi Hans
• Younessian Ehsan
• Samarasinghe Mevan
• Curtis Brian
• Manickam Muthu
• Jojic Oliver
• Heck Jeanine

Classifications

• H04N21/47

  End-user applications · CPC title

• H04N21/4583

  Automatically resolving scheduling conflicts, e.g. when a recording by reservation has been programmed for two programmes in the same time slot · CPC title

• H04N21/4532

  involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences (monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18) · CPC title

• H04N21/4821

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

• H04N21/8456

  by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments · CPC title