Systems and methods for calculating a predicted time when a user will be exposed to a spoiler of a media asset

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12373711-B2
Application number	US-202217951933-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2022
Priority date	Mar 23, 2017
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

Methods and systems are described herein for calculating a predicted time when a first user will be exposed to a spoiler of a first media asset. A media guidance application may retrieve an initial transmission time of the first media asset and a transmission time of a second media asset that precedes the transmission time of the first media asset. The media guidance application may retrieve electronic communications from a second user whose electronic communications the first user has viewed, and determine a subset of the electronic communications that correspond to the second media asset. The media guidance application may calculate a length of time from the transmission time of the second media asset to the earliest availability time of an electronic communication in the subset. The media guidance application may calculate the predicted time based on the transmission time of the first media asset and the length of time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
accessing a first transmission time that a first media asset was initially released;
accessing a second transmission time that a second media asset was initially released, wherein the first transmission time of the first media asset precedes the second transmission time of the second media asset, and wherein the first media asset is distinct from the second media asset;
determining an availability time that an electronic communication was made available for viewing by a first user, wherein the electronic communication references the first media asset and was transmitted by a device associated with a second user, and wherein the availability time occurs after the first transmission time and prior to the second transmission time;
calculating a length of time between the first transmission time and the availability time;
calculating a predicted future time when the first user will be exposed to a spoiler of the second media asset based at least in part on the calculated length of time and the second transmission time, wherein the predicted future time occurs after the second transmission time; and
generating a notification for the first user, wherein the notification indicates that the first user is predicted to be exposed to the spoiler of the second media asset at the predicted future time.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first media asset was initially released by way of simultaneous transmission to a plurality of viewers at the first transmission time,
wherein the first media asset was not previously simultaneously transmitted to the plurality of viewers prior to the first transmission time,
wherein the second media asset was initially released by way of simultaneous transmission to the plurality of viewers at the second transmission time, and
wherein the second media asset was not previously simultaneously transmitted to the plurality of viewers prior to the second transmission time.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the availability time is a first availability time, wherein the electronic communication is a first electronic communication, and wherein calculating the predicted future time when the first user will be exposed to the spoiler of the second media asset based on the calculated length of time and the second transmission time comprises:
determining a second availability time that a second electronic communication that references a third media asset was made available for viewing by the first user, wherein the third media asset was initially released at a third transmission time that precedes the second transmission time;
calculating a second length of time from the third transmission time to the second availability time;
calculating a first weighted sum by adding the calculated length of time weighted by a first weight and the second length of time weighted by a second weight; and
adding the first weighted sum to the first transmission time.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein calculating the first weighted sum comprises:
comparing second keywords to first keywords, wherein the second keywords correspond to the second media asset and the first keywords correspond to the first media asset;
determining a first relative number of keywords that overlap between the first keywords and the second keywords;
comparing third keywords with the second keywords, wherein the third keywords correspond to the third media asset;
determining a second relative number of keywords that overlap between the third keywords and the second keywords;
determining that the second relative number of keywords is greater than the first relative number of keywords; and
based on determining that the second relative number of keywords is greater than the first relative number of keywords, adjusting the second weight to be greater than the first weight.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the availability time is a first availability time, wherein the electronic communication is a first electronic communication, and wherein calculating the predicted future time when the first user will be exposed to the spoiler of the first media asset based on the calculated length of time and the second transmission time comprises:
determining a third availability time of a third electronic communication that was made available for viewing by the first user from a third user, the third electronic communication referencing the first media asset;
calculating a third length of time from the first transmission time to the third availability time;
calculating a second weighted sum by adding the calculated length of time weighted by a first weight and the third length of time weighted by a third weight; and
adding the second weighted sum to the second transmission time.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein calculating the second weighted sum comprises:
determining a first relative number of electronic communications in a first plurality of electronic communications from the second user that the first user viewed during a first period of time;
calculating a first frequency by dividing the first relative number of electronic communications by the first period of time;
determining a second relative number of electronic communications in a second plurality of electronic communications from the third user that the first user viewed during a second period of time;
calculating a second frequency by dividing the second relative number of electronic communications by the second period of time;
determining that the second frequency is greater than the first frequency; and
based on determining that the second frequency is greater than the first frequency, adjusting the third weight to be greater than the first weight.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the availability time is a first availability time and wherein the electronic communication is a first electronic communication, the method further comprising:
retrieving a first plurality of electronic communications from the second user, wherein the first user has viewed at least one of the first plurality of electronic communications;
retrieving information regarding a respective time when each electronic communication in the first plurality of electronic communications was made available for viewing by the first user;
determining a first subset of the first plurality of electronic communications, wherein each electronic communication in the first subset references the first media asset, by:
comparing respective words from each respective electronic communication of the first plurality of electronic communications with first keywords, wherein the first keywords correspond to the first media asset;
determining that a word of the respective words matches a keyword of the first keywords; and
in response to determining that the word of the respective words matches the keyword of the first keywords, adding the respective electronic communication from which the respective words were derived to the first subset;
wherein the first electronic communication was made available for the viewing of the first user earliest among other electronic communications in the first subset;

wherein calculating the predicted future time when the first user will be exposed to the spoiler of the second media asset based on the calculated length of time and the second transmission time comprises:
selecting a fourth electronic communication from the first subset of the first plurality of electronic communications, wherein the fourth electronic communication has a fourth availability time and was made available for viewing by the first user latest among other electronic communications in the first subset;
calculating a fourth length of time from the first transmission time to the fourth availability time;
calculat

Assignees

• Adeia Guides Inc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• G06N5/04 Primary

  Inference or reasoning models · CPC title

• H04N21/8405

  represented by keywords · 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

• H04L65/60

  Network streaming of media packets · CPC title