Method and system for customizing television content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10958956-B2
Application number	US-201916564397-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 9, 2019
Priority date	Jun 14, 2012
Publication date	Mar 23, 2021
Grant date	Mar 23, 2021

Abstract

An intelligent television is provided that can collect viewer information for use by a rating service.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
detecting, by an intelligent television, a first stimulus from a user ID module;
based on the first stimulus, automatically determining, by a microprocessor executable configuration module associated with the intelligent television, a first identity of a first viewer;
determining, by the microprocessor executable configuration module, automatically based on the first identity of the first viewer, a first display configuration of an on-screen directory, the first display configuration defining a plurality of graphical identifiers, each graphical identifier of the plurality of graphical identifiers comprising a menu choice of a plurality of menu choices, the plurality of menu choices arranged in a tree-type menu structure defined by the first viewer;
detecting, by the intelligent television, a second stimulus from the user ID module;
based on the second stimulus, automatically determining, by the microprocessor executable configuration module associated with the intelligent television, a second identity of a second viewer;
determining, by the microprocessor executable configuration module, automatically based on the second identity of the second viewer, a second display configuration of the on-screen directory, the second display configuration defining a plurality of graphical identifiers, each graphical identifier of the plurality of graphical identifiers comprising a menu choice of a plurality of menu choices, the plurality of menu choices arranged in a tree-type menu structure defined by the second viewer and wherein the second display configuration is different from the first display configuration;
determining, by the microprocessor executable configuration module, a blended display configuration of the on-screen directory based on the first display configuration and the second display configuration, wherein a menu structure of the blended display configuration is different from the menu structure of the first display configuration and the menu structure of the second display configuration; and
presenting, by the microprocessor executable configuration module, the on-screen directory based on the blended display configuration.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the microprocessor executable configuration module determines the first identity of the first viewer based on one or more of receipt of identification information from the first viewer, from an image of the first viewer, from a voice of the first viewer, from a retina of the first viewer, from a finger print of the first viewer, and an identity of a computational device used to control one or more intelligent television features and/or operations.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining that a portable device associated with the first viewer is in spatial proximity of the intelligent television.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein spatial proximity is determined by signal strength received at the intelligent television.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein spatial proximity is determined by a signal to noise ratio at the intelligent television.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein spatial proximity is determined by a GPS receiver at the portable device.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the portable device controls functions of the intelligent television.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the intelligent television determines that the portable device is associated with the first viewer.

9. The method of claim 3 , further comprising, based on information about the portable device, identifying the first viewer.

10. The method of claim 3 , based on determining whether to provide the second display configuration, providing the second display configuration.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising, determining whether to provide the second display configuration, maintaining the first display configuration.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: awaiting a next stimulus.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second display configuration need not be provided if the same as the first display configuration.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first display configuration does not need to be reconfigured if a second display configuration has yet to be associated with the second viewer.

15. The method of claim 2 , wherein the user ID module receives an image of the first viewer from an image capture device associated with the intelligent television to identify the first viewer without input from the first viewer.

16. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: receiving an input from the first viewer; and based on the input, modifying the first display configuration, associated with the first viewer, by changing one or more graphical identifiers presented to the first viewer.

17. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first display configuration is part of a user-inputted rule set.

18. An intelligent television comprising:
a screen to present content to a first viewer and/or a second viewer;
a memory to store instructions and a configuration;
a processor in communication with the screen and the memory, the processor to:
detect a first stimulus from a user ID module;
detect a second stimulus from the user ID module;
execute a configuration module that:
based on the first stimulus, automatically determines a first identity of the first viewer; and
automatically determines, based on the first identity of the first viewer, a first display configuration of an on-screen directory, the first display configuration defining a plurality of graphical identifiers, each graphical identifier of the plurality of graphical identifiers comprising a menu choice of a plurality of menu choices, the plurality of menu choices arranged in a tree-type menu structure defined by the first viewer;
based on the second stimulus, automatically determines a second identity of the second viewer;
determines, based on the second identity of the second viewer, a second display configuration of the on-screen directory, the second display configuration defining a plurality of graphical identifiers, each graphical identifier of the plurality of graphical identifiers comprising a menu choice of a plurality of menu choices, the plurality of menu choices arranged in a tree-type menu structure defined by the second viewer and wherein the second display configuration is different from the first display configuration;
determines a blended display configuration of the on-screen directory based on the first display configuration and the second display configuration, wherein a menu structure of the blended display configuration is different from the menu structure of the first display configuration and the menu structure of the second display configuration; and

presents the on-screen directory based on the blended display configuration.

19. A tangible and non-transient computer readable medium comprising microprocessor instructions that, when executed by a microprocessor, cause the microprocessor to:
detect a first stimulus from a user ID module;
execute a configuration module, wherein the configuration module:
based on the first stimulus, automatically determine a first identity of a first viewer; and
automatically determines, based on the first identity of the first viewer, a first display configuration of an on-screen directory, the first display configuration defining a plurality of graphical identifiers, each graphical identifier of the plurality of graphical identifiers comprising a menu choice of a plurality of menu choices, the

Assignees

• Flextronics Ap Llc

Inventors

• Ricci Christopher P

Classifications

• H04N21/2668

  Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles {(information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063)} · CPC title

• H04N21/441

  Acquiring end-user identification {, e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card} · CPC title

• H04N21/251

  Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies (details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08) · CPC title

• H04N21/4756

  for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie · CPC title

• H04N21/25875 Primary

  involving end-user authentication (restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; arrangements for secret or secure communication including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06) · CPC title