Cross-platform schedule management interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9648369-B2
Application number	US-201213493414-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 11, 2012
Priority date	Jun 11, 2012
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

A method includes presenting a user interface providing access to content from multiple content providers and receiving, via the user interface, user input indicating selection criteria for recommending content. The selection criteria include an amount of time available to the user. The method includes providing, to a network device, an indication of the selection criteria and receiving, from the network device, information for providing recommended content options based on the selection criteria. The recommended content options are available from different content providers of the multiple content providers. The method includes presenting, to the user and via the interface, the recommended content options in association with the selection criteria.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
presenting, by a user device and to a user, an interface providing access to content from multiple content providers and allowing user input to define selection criteria for recommending content;
receiving, by the user device and via the interface, a first user input indicating the selection criteria, wherein the selection criteria includes a content duration corresponding to an amount of time available to the user for viewing the content, a number of blocks of time the user desires within the amount of time available, a duration of each of the blocks of time, and a content category relating to a mood of the user for each of the blocks of time;
providing, by the user device and to a network device, an indication of the selection criteria;
receiving, by the user device and from the network device, information providing recommended content options based on the selection criteria, wherein the recommended content options are available from different content providers of the multiple content providers;
presenting, to the user and via the interface, the recommended content options corresponding to the selection criteria, wherein the interface includes a schedule assembly graph to enable the user to populate each of the blocks of time with user selections from the recommended content options corresponding to the number of blocks of time selected by the user within the amount of time available, wherein each of the blocks of time is represented by one corresponding graphical representation in the schedule assembly graph;
receiving, by the user device and via the interface, a second user input to alter a duration of one of the blocks of time in the selection criteria by manipulating a visible size of the corresponding graphical representation of the one of the blocks of time in the schedule assembly graph;
automatically updating, by the user device and via the interface, the recommended content options presented corresponding to the altered duration of the one of the blocks of time;
receiving, by the user device and via the interface, a third user input to select and drag an image representing a content option from the updated recommended content options into the corresponding graphical representation in the schedule assembly graph;
presenting an indication of the selected content option by replacing the graphical representation with the image; and
including the selected content option within a series of scheduled content to fill the content duration in the schedule assembly graph.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presenting the recommended content options includes presenting thumbnail images of a portion of the recommended content options that correspond to a particular block of time, when the corresponding graphical representation for the particular block of time is selected by the user.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing an interactive user interface to enable the user to forward the schedule assembly graph or a link to the schedule assembly graph to another user.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selection criteria for the content category relating to the mood of the user includes a selection from a genre that factors in information from a user's profile.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selection criteria further includes a preferred device type from which to view the content.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selection criteria further includes one or more of a screen dimension, a memory capacity, or a video processing capability of a preferred device type from which to view the content.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selection criteria further includes event attendee information, and wherein the user device solicits user profile information for each of multiple attendees.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring content metadata from the multiple content providers; and
revising the recommended content options based on changes to the content metadata.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recommended content options are selected from items within one or more queues associated with the multiple content providers.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recommended content options include content from locally stored content, remotely stored content, live television content, or physical media.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing, in a memory associated with the user device, at least a portion of digital content associated with the recommended content options.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least a portion of digital content includes a preview of a full content presentation and wherein the method further comprises:
presenting, to the user, a link to access the full content presentation via one of the multiple content providers.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multiple content providers are selected from a group of subscription-based over-the-top (OTT) media providers.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions, the computer-readable medium comprising one or more instructions to:
present, to a user, a user interface providing access to content from multiple content providers and allowing user input to define selection criteria for recommending content, each of the multiple content providers having a separate subscription associated with the user;
receive, via the user interface, a first user input indicating the selection criteria, wherein the selection criteria includes a content duration corresponding to an amount of time available to the user for viewing the content, a number of blocks of time the user desires within the amount of time available, a duration of each of the blocks of time, and a content category relating to a mood of the user for each of the blocks of time;
provide, to a network device, an indication of the selection criteria;
receive, from the network device, information providing recommended content options based on the selection criteria, wherein the recommended content options are available from different content providers of the multiple content providers;
present, to the user via the user interface, the recommended content options corresponding to the selection criteria, wherein the user interface includes a schedule assembly graph to enable the user to populate each of the blocks of time with user selections from the recommended content options corresponding to the number of blocks of time selected by the user within the amount of time available, wherein each of the blocks of time is represented by one corresponding graphical representation in the schedule assembly graph;
receive, via the user interface, a second user input to alter a duration of one of the blocks of time in the selection criteria by manipulating a visible size of the corresponding graphical representation of the one of the blocks of time in the schedule assembly graph;
automatically update the recommended content options presented corresponding to the altered duration of the one of the blocks of time;
receive, via the user interface, a third user input to select and drag an image representing a content option from the updated recommended content options into the corresponding graphical representation in the schedule assembly graph;
present an indication of the selected content option by replacing the graphical representation with the image; and
include the selected content option within a series of scheduled content to fill the content duration in the schedule assembly graph.

15. The computer-readable medium of

Assignees

• Frazier Kristopher T
• Naggar Michael J
• Dornich Mitch
• Sureka Ashutosh K
• Allen Alison Kay
• Khanna Nitin
• Evans Ryan
• Charania Rahim
• Katai Lonnie Hiroshi
• Patel Shuchi
• Crum Kristi D
• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc
• Cellco Partnership Dba Verizon

Inventors

• Frazier Kristopher T
• Naggar Michael J
• Dornich Mitch
• Sureka Ashutosh K
• Allen Alison Kay
• Khanna Nitin
• Evans Ryan
• Charania Rahim
• Katai Lonnie Hiroshi
• Patel Shuchi
• Crum Kristi D

Classifications

• G06F16/903

  Querying (for retrieval from the web G06F16/953) · 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

• H04N21/4756

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

• H04N21/26258 Primary

  for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list (retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40) · CPC title

• H04N21/4668

  for recommending content, e.g. movies · CPC title