Creating and managing portable user preferences for personalizion
Contents
1. sasn SOV Jan 2 2003 Sheet 5 of 8 US 2003 0004934 A1 Patent Application Publication gp e1n6i4 Orr JezAjeuy ssy sazAjeuy Gap Sor cov e pue juowobeuey eas 2 ee be nv geq Stt JezAjeuy K L uoneolnu pi uogeoynuep 00r WajsAg 027 DER aoned sev Jesn Patent Application Publication Jan 2 2003 Sheet 6 of 8 US 2003 0004934 A1 User inserts the smart card into a device of choice 505 Identify the user 510 Identify the device 515 Identify user preferences associated with the device 520 Track user pattern and gather usage data 525 Analyze the data 530 Manage and configure the analyzed data meta description and manually entered data if any Yes by analyzed 540 Update user preference s 545 Figure 5 Store data 550 Jan 2 2003 Sheet 7 of 8 US 2003 0004934 A1 Patent Application Publication 9 089 ndul 5 669 l 919 2 pue jouwobeuen eq S69 abesoys 989 J03eJ69ju Aejdsiq eyeq 069 eead 869 929 ndul 1 sn 009 Wa sks 099 UOISIA sauer 299 lnpOlN uogeoynuep 299 099 yeldul L uoneounu pi ASIH JOS ol q 029 Je2. 1088020 221 z q IDDUOCH 8 Teese pol RI S LOL sng m SL lit zan 90 70i Suen Kiowa Howay abel10 S SSE N AlUO peey UlEVN m Aejdsiq Patent Application Publication Jan 2 2003 Sheet 2 of 8 US 2003 0004934 A1 Patent Application Publication ore suayndwog dl dO L OMETE us 092 SOU SS9 8JIAA z oInbiy Jojesstuupy JOMYON ul8js S evo1 092 seoMeg Patent Application Publication Jan 2 2003 Sheet 3 of 8 US 2003 0004934 A1 Computers 320 Televisions 325 PDA s 330 Figure 3 315 Smart Cards Card Issuing System 310 300 Jan 2 2003 Sheet 4 of 8 US 2003 0004934 A1 Patent Application Publication suue A y poueg ulesen e 10 payoje AA JON payage M pueoes peyoje M 1S0 N D al suJeJ60Jg BIPSOW y Burjoei L so A10 SIH Jesn 90 vy amb IZEN dnog saweg B9 juejuo9 y DUDU Joyuny pjejuois suaye7 G a suua Aoy swooys jeqiexseg Dal Alobajeg uoe3 Jepun 1s8J9juj jeroodg Apawog sods s uoB 1eo U9 UOD s 5Su 1 J iqd Jasn Oir p1omsseq JequinN uoneoynuep Dal uoneuuoJu JOUIO JequnN ed Dal uoneuoJu PIED PPAO Jepuab abe G a uoneurojuj oludesSoul q WeN
3. Portland Trail blazers games of which only one was against the Lakers three times in one week Following that week the user stops watching the Lakers for three weeks According to one embodiment of the present invention the Trailblazers will be added to user preferences 410 at the end of the week in which the user watched the Trailblazers three times In other words user preferences 410 will be updated to have both the Lakers and Trailblazers listed However three weeks later if this pattern continued the Lakers would be dropped from user preferences 410 as one of the least watched programs 0035 In the example set forth above according to one embodiment of the present invention the text analyzer 445 first analyzes closed caption information if available noting the key terms such as Lakers Trailblazers dunk assist The audio analyzer 450 simultaneously searches for key terms in the audio of the program to determine with what frequency e g how many times a week the program is being watched The video analyzer 455 meanwhile analyzes motion activity of the program to determine the type of programming For instance a basketball game has a left right right left motion as opposed to basketball news com mentary A combination of the video analyzer 455 the ext analyzer 445 and the audio analyzer 450 provides enough information to determine specifically what program the user is watching 0036 The database management and con
4. The integrator then integrates the data using the integrated tem plate by filtering sorting and prioritizing the data having the common descriptor in processing block 725 The integrated data is used to update user preferences in processing block 730 Further the integrated data is stored for future use in processing block 735 A user may choose to display the integrated data on a display device of the user s choice in processing block 740 If the data is not to be integrated the segregated data is used to update user preferences in pro cessing block 745 Further the segregated data is also stored for future use in processing block 750 As with the integrated data the user may choose to display the segregated data on a display device of his or her choice in processing block 755 Jan 2 2003 What is claimed is 1 A method comprising identifying a user wherein the user inserting a smart card into a device selected from a plurality of devices identifying the device identifying user preferences associated with the device tracking user pattern and gathering usage data analyzing the usage data configuring the analyzed data and updating the user preferences 2 The method of claim 1 further comprising retrieving an identification template from a template database for the identifying the user and the identifying the device 3 The method of claim 1 further comprising retrieving a user preference template corresponding to
5. different display choices may be expressed using various emerging standards such as CC PP and XSL from W3C 100451 According to one embodiment of the present inven tion the data is not required to be integrated and may be stored 695 and displayed 697 in a segregated form 698 699 This allows the user to watch the entire interview and or read the entire website story separately and even follow the hyperlinks in the article if the user chooses to do so 100461 FIG 7 is a flow diagram illustrating the process of personalizing and integrating user information in a media consumption system according to one embodiment of the present invention First the data from multiple devices along with data manually entered if any by the user is analyzed using corresponding device templates in processing block 705 The outcome of the analysis meta description is then transferred to the data management and configuration mod ule for further processing in processing block 710 At processing block 710 in the data management and configu ration module the data is parsed configured and translated into a common descriptor to be used for updating user preferences storage for future use display and integration if necessary 100471 At decision block 715 the user decides whether to integrate the data received from the management and con figuration module If the data is to be integrated an inte grated template is retrieved in processing block 720
6. embodiment depicted the analyzer 440 comprises three components a text analyzer 445 an audio analyzer 450 and a video analyzer 455 where either one or any combination of the components may be used The text analyzer 445 analyzes text such as closed caption information of a program to determine user patterns based on the criteria set forth in user preferences 410 either by the user or by the issuer The audio analyzer 450 analyzes audio information associated with a program searching for key words phrases and categories defined in the criteria set forth in the user preferences 410 Finally the video analyzer 455 analyzes the sequence of motions in a program in order to determine the category of the program as defined in user preferences The outcome of the analyzer 440 is a meta description 462 about the semantic meaning of contents that in turn is fed into a data management and configuration module 465 along with any user manual input 460 0034 As illustrated as an example in user preferences 410 the user likes watching sports but limits his interest to watching only the Los Angeles Lakers basketball games Let us suppose that the user history 415 sets the criteria accord ing to which watching a program three times a week is defined as a most watched program while a program cur rently in the user preferences but not watched for three weeks is categorized as the least watched program For example the user in this case watches the
7. user manually entered any information If no such information was entered the analyzed data is parsed and configured in the database management and configura tion module 465 having priority and importance over the analyzed data in processing block 535 The resulting data is then used to update user preferences at processing block 545 Finally the data is stored for future reference in processing block 550 If the user elected to enter informa tion such information is transferred to data management and configuration module 465 in processing block 535 along with the analyzed data The resulting data is then used to update user preferences in processing block 545 Finally the data is stored for future reference in processing block 550 100391 FIG 6 is a block diagram illustrating components of a personalized media consumption system including integration of data according to one embodiment of the present invention As illustrated for example the user first Jan 2 2003 accesses a computer 605 to access NBA com to find out about the Lakers performance against the Trailblazers dur ing the first round of the NBA Playoffs 2000 01 using a smart card The system 600 identifies and verifies the user 610 and identifies the device 615 The user reads the text and statistics detailing the performance of the Lakers Once the device the computer 605 is identified 615 a user preference template containing user preferences associated with the
8. MAN Inn n ATA US 20030004934A1 av United States a Patent Application Publication co Pub No US 2003 0004934 A1 Qian 43 Pub Date Jan 2 2003 54 CREATING AND MANAGING PORTABLE Publication Classification USER PREFERENCES FOR PERSONALIZION OF MEDIA 51 mt Cl G06F 7 00 CONSUMPTION FROM DEVICE TO DEVICE 52 US 2 te en eee 707 3 76 Inventor Richard Qian Camas WA US 57 ABSTRACT Correspondence Address A method and apparatus are provided for creating and BLAKELY SOKOLOFF TAYLOR amp ZAFMAN managing portable user preferences for personalized media LLP consumption According to one embodiment of the present Seventh Floor invention a set of user information is captured and stored on 12400 Wilshire Boulevard a portable medium such as a smart card compatible with Los Angeles CA 90025 1026 US various media devices Such use of a portable medium makes the information accessible to multiple devices 21 Appl No 09 895 431 Finally the portable medium may used to tailor user pref erences according to the device chosen by the user and may 22 Filed Jun 29 2001 be dynamically updated as user preferences change Display Read Only Mass Storage Keyboard Cursor Control Device 123 Processor Communication Device 125 US 2003 0004934 A1 Jan 2 2003 Sheet 1 of 8 eun6i J OlA Q uoneolunuluo2
9. ata into a common descriptor The common descriptor is used for the integration module 685 to recognize and process the data The parsed data and all its associated content may be sent to the integration module 685 through an Application Program ming Interface API or using an extensible markup lan guage XML Further the integration module 685 may include a content filter for filtering out unwanted or over lapping information or even when integrating the data The integration module 685 may sort and or prioritize the data for the user based for instance on user preferences or criteria set forth by the user 0042 Using the Lakers example the data management and configuration module 630 may use a common descrip tor such as Lakers and the website information and Phil Jackson s interview as content associated with the common descriptor Lakers The integration module 685 then filters the unwanted or overlapping information for example general interview questions regarding Phil Jackson s career as a coach prior to joining the Lakers which may not include any Lakers related discussion and therefore is classified as unwanted information Finally the filtered data may be sorted and prioritized for instance into a set of user defined topics retrieved from the criteria set forth by the user or by tracking user history 0043 A separate multipurpose template 690 is retrieved for maintaining the integrated data whic
10. computer 605 is retrieved 620 for identifying the user preferences Similarly a user history template suited for tracking website usage history 622 is retrieved The data transferred to or from the website is then analyzed 625 and the resulting meta description 627 is transferred to the database management and configuration module 630 along with the data manually entered by the user 635 if any The combined data is then parsed and configured in the database management and configuration module 630 0040 The user then uses a different device for example a television set 650 to learn more about the Lakers perfor mance in the first round of the playoffs on NBC which broadcasts an interview with the Lakers coach Phil Jack son Following the same process as described above the meta description or the analyzed data is transferred to the database management and configuration module 675 along with data manually entered by the user 680 if any The combined data is then parsed and configured in the database management and configuration module 675 0041 According to one embodiment of the present inven tion the parsed and configured data is then transferred to the integration module 685 for integration The data manage ment and configuration module 630 receives the meta description and user data in different formats such as MPEG 7 RDF and TV AnyTime and parses the data using parsers for different formats and then translates the d
11. ed as a computer program prod uct wherein the program may be transferred from a remote computer to a requesting computer by way of data signals embodied in a carrier wave or other propagation medium via a communication link e g a modem or network connec tion 0020 FIG 1 is a block diagram of a typical computer system upon which one embodiment of the present invention may be implemented Computer system 100 comprises a bus or other communication means 101 for communicating information and a processing means such as processor 102 coupled with bus 101 for processing information Computer system 100 further comprises a random access memory RAM or other dynamic storage device 104 referred to as main memory coupled to bus 101 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 102 Main memory 104 also may be used for storing temporary vari ables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processor 102 Computer system 100 also comprises a read only memory ROM and or other static storage device 106 coupled to bus 101 for storing static information and instructions for processor 102 100211 A data storage device 107 such as a magnetic disk or optical disc and its corresponding drive may also be coupled to computer system 100 for storing information and instructions Computer system 100 can also be coupled via bus 101 to a display device 121 such as a cathode ray tube CRT or Liquid Crysta
12. ed user history template by integrating the plurality of corresponding user history templates and filter the integrated data we
13. edium of claim 21 wherein the plurality of devices comprises multiple types of media devices including a television a computer a PDA a cellular phone a portable media player a web terminal and a set top box 27 The machine readable medium of claim 21 wherein the update the user preferences comprises dynamically update the user preferences 28 A machine readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions the sequences of instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to identify a user wherein the user inserting a smart card into a plurality of devices identify the plurality of devices identify user preferences associated with the plurality of devices Jan 2 2003 track user pattern and gathering usage data analyze the usage data configure the analyzed data integrate the configured data and update the user preferences 29 The machine readable medium of claim 28 wherein the sequences of instructions further cause the processor to parse the analyzed data and associate the parsed data with a common descriptor wherein the common descriptor is a word or a phrase descriptive of the content associated with the parsed data 30 The machine readable medium of claim 28 wherein the sequences of instructions further cause the processor to retrieve a plurality of user history templates correspond ing to the plurality of devices generate an integrat
14. figuration mod ule 465 then receives the analyzed data meta description from the analyzer 440 and any data that the user inputs manually 460 Once collected the data is managed and configured For instance the database management and US 2003 0004934 Al configuration module 465 parses the metadata which may be expressed using different standards or formats e g RDF MPEG 7 TV AnyTime Further the database management and configuration module 465 configures the data by first querying for any conflicts between the data received from the analyzer 440 and received via the user s manual input 460 According to one embodiment in the event that there is a conflict between the two sets of data the data entered by the user 460 outweighs the analyzed data For instance if the analyzed data determines that the Lakers should be removed from user preferences 410 but the user realizing that the Lakers will be removed from the list reenters the term Lakers the term will remain part of the user preference template 410 Based on such information the system tracks user history 415 and dynamically updates user preferences 410 and stores it 475 for future use 100371 FIG 5 a flow diagram illustrating personalized media consumption system processing according to one embodiment of the present invention First the issuer issues a smart card to a user may be with initial information such as user identification information and user prefere
15. h is used to update user preferences and is stored 695 for future use According to one embodiment of the present invention the user may US 2003 0004934 Al choose to display 697 the integrated data on any of the compatible devices such as computers televisions with without a set top box kiosks web terminals PDAs por table media players cellular phones For example when the user accesses his set top box or computer with broadband connection among stories of other interests he will see the Lakers first round performance story containing the broad cast quality television video highlights of the coach s inter view seamlessly integrated with the summary of the website story 100441 According to one embodiment of the present inven tion the integrated data may be accessed at anytime and from anywhere For example the data may be stored at a service center or cached by a local storage of the client device to achieve the timesharing functionality The data may also be accessed using various devices such as personal computers PDAs kiosks web terminals portable media players televisions with without a set top box cellular phones However the data may be displayed in a form in accordance with the display device chosen by the user For example both full motion video and text story may be rendered simultaneously on a PC with a broadband connec tion while a PDA may only display the text The device capability profiles and
16. he smart card automatically updating user preferences the user may also manually update user preferences using the device 325 Further the user may use the same smart card 315 with a different device such as a computer 320 100301 FIGS 4A and 4B illustrate components of a per sonalized media consumption system according to one embodiment of the present invention FIG 4A illustrates three templates 405 415 residing within the system the system 400 according to one embodiment of the present invention An issuer may input user identification informa tion 405 and user preferences 410 in a smart card at the time of issuance The system 400 may retrieve an identification template 405 from a template database for obtaining the user information 405 Similarly the system 400 may obtain a user preference template 410 corresponding to the device chosen by the user from the template database for indenti fying user preferences 410 for the device chosen Further a blank user history template my reside with the system however it is typically populated 415 only after the smart card is used at least once Upon activating the smart card into a device such as television the identification module 420 is activated 100311 In the example illustrated in FIG 4B the identi fication module 420 performs two forms of identification First the user is identified 425 based on user identification such as userid or password Then the system 400 identifies
17. ith the media program a management and configuration module for configuring the analyzed data updating the user preferences and storing the configured data Jan 2 2003 18 The system of claim 17 further comprising the management and configuration module for parsing the analyzed data the management and configuration module for associating the parsed data with a common descriptor wherein the common descriptor is a word or a phrase descriptive of the content associated with the parsed data an integration module for filtering and integrating the configured data using an integrated user history tem plates updating the user preferences and storing the integrated data 19 The system of claim 17 wherein the template database is associated with at least one of a plurality of sources including the smart card the issuer and the plurality of devices 20 The system of claim 17 wherein the plurality of devices comprising multiple types of media devices includ ing a television a computer a PDA a cellular phone a portable media player a web terminal and a set top box 21 A machine readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions the sequences of instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to identify a user wherein the user inserts a smart card into a device selected from a plurality of devices identify the device identify user preferences as
18. l Display LCD for displaying information to an end user Typically an alphanumeric input device 122 including alphanumeric and other keys may be coupled to bus 101 for communicating information and or command selections to processor 102 Another type of user input device is cursor control 123 such as a mouse a trackball or cursor direction keys for communicating direc tion information and command selections to processor 102 and for controlling cursor movement on display 121 100221 Acommunication device 125 is also coupled to bus 101 The communication device 125 may include a modem a network interface card or other well known interface devices such as those used for coupling to Ethernet token ring or other types of physical attachment for purposes of providing a communication link to support a local or wide area network for example In this manner the computer system 100 may be coupled to a number of clients and or servers via a conventional network infrastructure such as a company s Intranet and or the Internet for example 100231 It is appreciated that a lesser or more equipped computer system than the example described above may be desirable for certain implementations Therefore the con figuration of computer system 100 will vary from imple mentation to implementation depending upon numerous factors such as price constraints performance requirements technological improvements and or other circumstances 100241 I
19. nal and a set top box 10 The method of claim 9 further comprising displaying the stored data using the plurality of devices wherein the stored data is adjustable in accordance with display require ments of the plurality of devices 11 The method of claim 1 wherein the updating the user preferences comprising dynamically updating the user pref erences 12 A method comprising identifying a user wherein the user inserting a smart card into a plurality of devices identifying the plurality of devices identifying user preferences associated with the plurality of devices US 2003 0004934 Al tracking user pattern and gathering usage data analyzing the usage data configuring the analyzed data integrating the configured data and updating the user preferences 13 The method of claim 12 wherein the configuring the analyzed data further comprising parsing the analyzed data and associating the parsed data with a common descriptor wherein the common descriptor is a word or a phrase descriptive of the content associated with the parsed data 14 The method of claim 12 further comprising retrieving a plurality of user history templates correspond ing to the plurality of devices generating an integrated user history template by integrat ing the plurality of corresponding user history tem plates for integrating the configured data and filtering the integrated data 15 The method of claim 12 further comp
20. nces The user inserts the smart card into a device choosing from multiple media devices in processing block 505 The system first identifies the user in processing block 510 and then identifies the device in processing block 515 An identifi cation template retrieved from a template database with the user and device information may be used for identification purposes The system retrieves a user preference template corresponding to the chosen device from the template data base User preferences associated with the device are iden tified using the corresponding user preference template in processing block 520 A user history template is retrieved from a template database corresponding to the device chosen by the user The template is used to track user pattern and gather usage data in processing block 525 As mentioned above with reference to FIG 4 that a template including the user history template may by stored in and retrieved from any combination of sources and databases including but not limited to the issuer the smart card and the device The analyzer analyzes the data read listened to and or viewed by the user using an analyzer comprising one or more of a text analyzer an audio analyzer and a video analyzer in processing block 530 The analyzed data meta description is transferred to the database management and configuration module 465 in processing block 535 100381 At decision block 540 the system determines whether the
21. onents of a per sonalized media consumption system according to one embodiment of the present invention 0012 FIG 5 a flow diagram illustrating personalized media consumption system processing according to one embodiment of the present invention 100131 FIG 6 is a block diagram illustrating components of a personalized media consumption system including integration of data according to one embodiment of the present invention 100141 FIG 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of personalizing and integrating user information in a media consumption system according to one embodiment of the present invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION 100151 A method and apparatus are described for creating and managing portable user preferences for personalized media consumption Broadly stated embodiments of the present invention allow user preferences to be dynamically updated for personalized media and support portability from device to device 0016 According to one embodiment of the present inven tion a set of user information is captured and stored on a portable medium such as a smart card compatible with various media devices Such use of a portable medium makes the information accessible to multiple devices Fur ther the portable medium may be used to tailor user pref erences according to the device chosen by the user and may be dynamically updated as user preferences change 100171 In the following description for the purp
22. or terminal 220 to monitor and maintain the network The devices 250 may include network attached storage devices or other types of non terminal devices or devices for the users to use that are compatible with smart cards The wireless I O devices 260 may include remote controls helping certain devices communicate with the sys tem The number and arrangement of this equipment may vary depending on the application 0027 FIG 3 is a block diagram illustrating an overview of a process for communicating user preferences using a smart card according to one embodiment of the present invention As illustrated the card issuing system issuer 310 issues smart cards 315 to users A user may use a smart card 315 with any of the compatible devices such as computers 320 television sets 325 and PDAs 330 The smart cards available today typically only include user demographic and preference information as tailored by the issuer for use with only one designated device such as an ATM Thus using the smarts cards available today if any of the user information or preferences needs to be updated a user would have to request the issuer to re configure the smart card or issue a new smart card containing the updated information Never theless the smart card would remain compatible with only one device 0028 According to one embodiment of the present inven tion the issuer 310 issues a smart card 315 with basic user demographic and preference informa
23. oses of explanation numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present inven tion It will be apparent however to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details In other instances well known struc tures and devices are shown in block diagram form 100181 The present invention includes various steps which will be described below The steps of the present invention may be performed by hardware components or may be embodied in machine executable instructions which may be used to cause a general purpose or special purpose processor or logic circuits programmed with the instructions to perform the steps Alternatively the steps may be per formed by a combination of hardware and software 0019 The present invention may be provided as a com puter program product which may include a machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions which may be used to program a computer or other electronic US 2003 0004934 Al devices to perform a process according to the present invention The machine readable medium may include but is not limited to floppy diskettes optical disks CD ROMs and magneto optical disks ROMs RAMs EPROMs EEPROMs magnetic or optical cards flash memory or other type of media machine readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions Moreover the present inven tion may also be download
24. pplicable to TIVO and used for marketing purposes 100061 To obtain portability typically a card can be used as a portable media Cards with magnetic tapes however only hold limited information Microprocessor embedded smart cards can be programmed and personalized with users information However the smart cards available today are also limited in at least the following three ways 1 information on a smart card is limited to what the issuer wants to input 2 the information is maintained and updated by the issuer and 3 accessibility is limited to one type of device such as an AIM selected by the issuer and therefore the smart card is not portable BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 100071 The appended claims set forth the features of the invention with particularity The invention together with its advantages may be best understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accom panying drawings of which Jan 2 2003 0008 FIG 1 is a block diagram of a typical computer system upon which one embodiment of the present invention may be implemented 0009 FIG 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary network upon which the present invention may be imple mented 100101 FIG 3 is a block diagram illustrating an overview of a process for communicating user preferences using a smart card according to one embodiment of the present invention 0011 FIGS 4a and 4b illustrate comp
25. rising storing the integrated data 16 The method of claim 15 further comprising displaying the stored data using a plurality of devices wherein the stored data is adjustable in accordance with display require ments of the plurality of devices 17 Asystem for updating user preferences for personal ization media consumption from device to devices compris ing an identification template retrieved from a template data base for identifying a user wherein the user inserting a smart card issued by an issuer into at least one of a plurality of devices the identification template for identifying the at least one of the plurality of devices a user preference template corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of devices from a plurality of user preference templates corresponding to the plurality of devices retrieved from the template database for iden tifying user preferences associated with the device a user history template corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of devices from a plurality of user history templates corresponding to the plurality of devices from the template database for tracking user pattern and gathering usage data an analyzer for analyzing the usage data wherein the analyzer comprising a text analyzer for analyzing text associated with a media program an audio analyzer for analyzing audio associated with the media program and a video analyzer for analyzing sequence of motion associated w
26. sociated with the device track user pattern and gather usage data analyze the usage data configure the analyzed data and update the user preferences 22 The machine readable medium of claim 21 wherein the sequences of instructions further cause the processor to retrieve an identification template from a template data base 23 The machine readable medium of claim 21 wherein the sequences of instructions further cause the processor to retrieve a user preference template corresponding to the device from a plurality of user preference templates corresponding to the plurality of devices from the template database 24 The machine readable medium of claim 21 wherein the sequences of instructions further cause the processor to retrieve a user history template corresponding to the device from a plurality of user history templates cor responding to the plurality of devices from the template database 25 The machine readable medium of claim 21 wherein the sequences of instructions further cause the processor to analyze text associated with a media program wherein the text includes closed caption information and articles US 2003 0004934 Al analyze audio associated with the media program wherein the audio includes words phrases and audio expressions analyze video associated with the media program wherein the video includes sequence of motion asso ciated with the media program 26 The machine readable m
27. t should be noted that while the steps described herein may be performed under the control of a programmed Jan 2 2003 processor such as processor 102 in alternative embodi ments the steps may be fully or partially implemented by any programmable or hard coded logic such as Field Pro grammable Gate Arrays FPGAs TTL logic or Application Specific Integrated Circuits ASICs for example Addition ally the method of the present invention may be performed by any combination of programmed general purpose com puter components and or custom hardware components Therefore nothing disclosed herein should be construed as limiting the present invention to a particular embodiment wherein the recited steps are performed by a specific com bination of hardware components 0025 FIG 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary network upon which the present invention may be imple mented In this example an Ethernet network 210 is shown Such a network may utilize Transmission Control Protocol Internet Protocol TCP IP Of course many other types of networks and protocols are available and are commonly used However for illustrative purposes Ethernet and TCP IP will be referred to herein 0026 Connected to this network 210 are computers 220 240 devices 250 and wireless Input Output I O devices 260 The computers 220 240 may include a network admin istrator terminal 220 A human operator could use this network administrat
28. the device 430 in order to conform to the requirements of the device 325 For example an identification template 405 may be retrieved from template database corresponding to the device chosen by the user 100321 The templates may be obtained from and stored in a variety of sources such as the issuer the smart card or the device For instance the template database may reside with the issuer and the issuer may provide the applicable tem plates as they are needed The smart card may also contain a set of templates which may be retrieved as they are needed Further a device may be configured to store corre sponding templates for retrieval and future use The system may have any combination of the issuer the smart card the device or any other source or database for storing and retrieving templates For example the user may retrieve a template from the issuer or smart card and at anytime after that may choose to save the template on the device for retrieving the saved information in the future The user may choose to save only a copy of the template on the device and keep the original on the smart card or vice versa for Jan 2 2003 portability The analyzer 440 then works to analyze the data such as television programming to generate usage history 415 0033 The analyzer 440 based on the retrieved template analyzes the behavior pattern of the user in order to auto matically update user preferences 410 for future use In the
29. the device from a plurality of user preference templates corresponding to the plurality of devices from the template database for the identifying the user preferences and for the updating the user preferences by updating the corresponding user preferences template using the configured data 4 The method of claim 1 further comprising retrieving a user history template corresponding to the device from a plurality of user history templates corresponding to the plurality of devices from the template database for the tracking the user pattern and the gathering the usage data 5 The method of claim 1 wherein the tracking the user pattern is based on a predetermined criteria 6 The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing the usage data comprising analyzing text associated with a media program wherein the text including closed caption infor mation and articles 7 The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing the usage data comprising analyzing audio information associated with the media program wherein the audio information including words phrases and audio expressions 8 The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing the usage data comprising analyzing video wherein the video com prising sequence of motion associated with the media pro gram 9 The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of devices comprising multiple types of media devices including a television a computer a PDA a cellular phone a portable media player a web termi
30. the field of personalized media and more specifically to dynamically updating user preferences and transporting such preferences from one entertainment device to another BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 100031 Setting user preferences on an electronic device is nothing new There are several ways to update and store user preferences on a given device and the devices are becoming increasingly smart and easy to use However the methods and devices available today are not mature enough to dynamically update user preferences Additionally the pref erence settings are not from device to device 100041 For instance a user s favorite television TV net work or channel settings cannot be transferred between two or more television sets or set top boxes Similarly a user s preferences or favorite settings for web browsing or MP3 music selection may not be transferred when the user switches devices or even the program for surfing the web Moreover the methods and devices available today do not dynamically update user preferences and therefore require manual updating 100051 An example of a user preference setting device is TIVO TIVO uses a centralized system to collect informa tion on users and updates such information from time to time However TIVO fails to recognize individual users and instead maintains information on a household basis Further the information maintained by TIVO is not portable from device to device and is only a
31. tion and user history templates compatible with multiple devices 320 330 A user may insert the smart card 315 in any of the compatible devices 320 330 of his or her choice The user history templates according to one embodiment of the present invention are compatible with multiple corresponding devices 320 330 and can be used to store and update user preferences The user may choose to manually update user preferences using any one of the devices 320 330 or let the smart card 315 or devices 320 330 detect user patterns and update user preferences automatically based on the detected pattern US 2003 0004934 Al 100291 For example a user inserts the smart card into a slot in a television set 325 Upon inserting the smart card 315 the system 300 identifies the user using the identifica tion information such as userid password assigned by the issuer 310 Upon user identification user preferences are identified and are translated into the format recognized by the device 325 Similarly the smart card 315 identifies the device 325 and may communicate with the issuer 310 if necessary Upon identifying the device 325 the smart card 315 generates a template to compile maintain and store user history and automatically update user preferences based on the criteria initially set by the user and or issuer 310 The criteria may track for information such as how many times a television program was watched in a given time period In addition to t
32. zAjeuy KE 99 ejejdwaj oo2uelojaJg Jesn SS9 uoneoynuep Jesn 219 SINPOW uoneolnu p i 229 919 uone unu pi AJO SIH Joen a4 29 q JezAjeuv 0z9 019 uogeopnuepy Jesn Jesn S09 JojnduJo 991A9q Patent Application Publication Jan 2 2003 Sheet 8 of 8 US 2003 0004934 A1 Analyze data using separate templates corresponding to each device 705 NN Manage and configure the analyzed data 710 Integration of data 715 Generate an integrated template 720 Update user preferences 745 Integrate the data using the integrated template 725 Store the segregated data 750 Display the segregated data 755 Update user preferences 730 Store the integrated data 735 Figure 7 Display the integrated data 740 US 2003 0004934 Al CREATING AND MANAGING PORTABLE USER PREFERENCES FOR PERSONALIZION OF MEDIA CONSUMPTION FROM DEVICE TO DEVICE COPYRIGHT NOTICE 100011 Contained herein is material that is subject to copyright protection The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction of the patent disclosure by any person as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records but otherwise reserves all rights to the copyright whatsoever FIELD OF THE INVENTION 100021 This invention generally relates to
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