System and method for modifying playback of media asset in response to verbal command unrelated to playback of media asset

Abstract

To provide systems and methods for modifying the playback of a media asset in response to a verbal command unrelated to the playback of the media asset.SOLUTION: Systems and methods are described for translating a non-playback command into a playback modification to encourage a recipient of the command to execute on the command. A media guidance application may determine a command from a first user to a second user. The media guidance application may compare the command to a set of playback operation commands for a media asset that is currently being played back. The media guidance application may determine that the command is not contained within the set of playback operation commands. In response to a step of determining that the command is not contained within the set of commands, the media guidance application may determine whether the second user executes a desired outcome of the command.SELECTED DRAWING: None

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] Modifying playback of a media asset in response to a verbal command or detected voice is a technique used to help prompt the recipient of the command to perform an action based on the command. The related art describes various ways of modifying playback based on a verbal command related to playback. For example, the related art describes a system that detects a verbal command related to playback (e.g., a user uttering "Alexa, pause the movie") and then modifies playback based on the detected command. A typical media application looks for commands related to guided actions, but cannot consider how to act when a non-guided command is received. The related art can also pick up ambient audio and perform playback actions in response to detected audio. However, the related art does not describe different modes of operation based on whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies the goal of the voice. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0002] Systems and methods are provided herein for converting playback-unrelated commands into relevant playback modifications and prompting the recipient of the command to execute the command. For example, if a first user is watching a movie and a second user calls out to the first user, "Dinner's ready!", the playback of the movie may be paused to prompt the first user to stop watching the movie and go eat dinner.

[0003] To this and other ends, in some aspects of the disclosure, a media guidance application may detect commands from a first user to a second user. The first user may be a user not currently viewing a playback of the media asset and may be in an environment outside the viewing environment of the media asset. The second user may be a user currently viewing a playback of the media asset within the viewing environment of the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may use an intelligent personal assistant device (e.g., an Amazon Echo) to detect verbal commands from the first user to the second user (e.g., "Dinner is ready, take a seat!").

[0004] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects a command from a first user to a second user, the media guidance application may detect verbal input from the first user. For example, the media guidance application may use an audio detection sensor to detect verbal input from the first user (e.g., the user saying, "Dinner's ready!").

[0005] The media guidance application may compare the verbal input to a database of commands, the database containing a command that corresponds to each verbal input. For example, the media guidance application may compare the verbal input (e.g., a user uttering "Dinner is ready!") to a database containing commands (e.g., eat dinner, answer the door, clean, vacuum, etc.).

[0006] The media guidance application may determine from the comparison a command that corresponds to the verbal input from the first user. For example, the media guidance application may use pattern recognition between the input and the command from the user profile to determine that the verbal input (e.g., "Dinner is ready!") corresponds to a command (e.g., eat dinner).

[0007] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determines from the comparison a command that corresponds to the verbal input from the first user, the media guidance application may determine a match between the verbal input and a database of commands. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the verbal input (e.g., "Dinner is ready!") corresponds to a command (e.g., eat dinner) because the verbal input matches a keyword (e.g., "dinner") contained within the command. The media guidance application may determine that the command that corresponds to the match (e.g., eat dinner) is the command that corresponds to the verbal input from the first user.

[0008] The media guidance application may compare the command to a set of playback operation commands for the media asset currently being played by the second user. For example, the media guidance application may compare the command (e.g., eat dinner) to a set of playback operation commands (e.g., pause, fast forward, mute, etc.) for the media asset (e.g., a movie) currently being played by the second user.

[0009] In response to the comparison, the media guidance application may determine that the command is not contained within the set of playback operation commands. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the command (e.g., eat dinner) is not contained within the set of playback operation commands (e.g., pause, fast forward, mute, etc.).

[0010] The media guidance application may determine a desired outcome of the command from multiple outcomes of the command based on a user profile of the first user and a user profile of the second user. For example, the media guidance application may determine a desired outcome of the command (e.g., that the second user stop watching a movie and eat dinner) based on a user profile of the first user (e.g., the profile may describe the first user as a mother) and a user profile of the second user (e.g., the second profile may describe the second user as the mother's son who follows the mother's commands).

[0011] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is determining a desired outcome of a command from multiple outcomes of the command based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of the second user, the media guidance application may determine attributes of the command. For example, the media guidance application may determine attributes of the command (e.g., who spoke the command, the tone of the command, the severity of the command, etc.) based on comparing the command to entries in a database of attributes.

[0012] The media guidance application may compare attributes of a command to attributes of multiple outcomes of the command. For example, the media guidance application may compare attributes of a command (e.g., who spoke the command, the tone of the command, the severity of the command, the purpose of the command, etc.) to attributes of multiple outcomes of the command (e.g., the outcome if the command is followed, the outcome if the command is ignored, the outcome of following the command, the outcome of not following the command, etc.).

[0013] The media guidance application may determine from the comparison that a result among the multiple results that contains the attributes of the command is the desired result. For example, the media guidance application may determine from the comparison that a result (e.g., the user pauses the movie and goes to eat dinner) that contains the attributes of the command (e.g., the intended outcome of the command) is the desired result.

[0014] The media guidance application may detect an action performed by a second user. For example, the media guidance application may detect via the camera that the user has left the viewing environment where the movie playback is occurring and entered the dining room.

[0015] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects an action performed by a second user, the media guidance application may use a sensor to detect the second user exiting a viewing environment of a media equipment device that is presenting a media asset. For example, the media guidance application may detect via a motion detection sensor that the second user is exiting a television viewing environment where the user is watching a movie.

[0016] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is detecting actions performed by a second user, the media guidance application may detect the second user executing a command that modifies the playback of a media asset. For example, the media guidance application may detect the user pressing an input command, such as “pause,” on a remote control device to pause playback of a movie that the user is watching.

[0017] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is detecting an action performed by a second user, the media guidance application may use a sensor to detect that the second user remains within the viewing environment of the media asset device. For example, the media guidance application may use a heat mapping sensor to detect that the second user has not left the couch where the user is watching the movie playback.

[0018] The media guidance application may compare the second user's action to the desired outcome of the command. For example, the media guidance application may compare the action (e.g., the second user continuing to watch the movie) to the desired outcome of the command (e.g., the second user going out to dinner).

[0019] In some embodiments, when comparing characteristics from the retrieved characteristics of the second user to the commands, the media guidance application may select a characteristic from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank in the household, relationship to other users, and time of day, and the media guidance application may select a command from a group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping.

[0020] The media guidance application may determine from the comparison whether the command shares a characteristic of the second user. For example, the media guidance application may determine from the comparison whether the command (e.g., meal) shares a characteristic (e.g., time of day) of the second user.

[0021] In response to determining that the command shares the characteristic, the media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset. For example, in response to determining that the command shares the characteristic, the media guidance application may pause playback of the media asset.

[0022] In response to determining that the second user's action does not correspond to the desired result of the command, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics of the second user from a user profile of the second user. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics (e.g., age, relationship to the first user, household user rank, etc.) from the user profile of the second user.

[0023] The media guidance application may determine whether to modify playback of a media asset based on commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user. For example, the media guidance application may determine whether to modify playback of a media asset (e.g., pause, mute, rewind, fast forward, turn off, etc.) based on commands detected from the first user (e.g., eat dinner) and characteristics of the second user (e.g., the second user must always obey commands from the first user).

[0024] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is determining whether to modify playback of a media asset based on commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user, the media guidance application may retrieve the rank of the first user and the rank of the second user. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve the rank of the first user (e.g., the first user is ranked first out of five users) and the rank of the second user (e.g., the second user is ranked fourth out of five users).

[0025] The media guidance application may determine from the ranks whether a first user is ranked higher than a second user. For example, the media guidance application may determine that a first user (e.g., ranked first) is ranked higher than a second user (e.g., ranked second).

[0026] In response to determining that the first user is ranked higher than the second user, the media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset. For example, in response to determining that the first user is ranked higher than the second user, the media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset (e.g., pausing a currently playing movie).

[0027] In response to determining that the second user is ranked higher than the first user, the media guidance application may continue to play the media asset. For example, in response to determining that the second user is ranked higher than the first user, the media guidance application may continue to play the media asset (e.g., a movie that the second user is watching).

[0028] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect commands from a first user to a second user and a third user. For example, the media guidance application may detect a command (e.g., eat dinner) from a first user to a second user and a third user.

[0029] The media guidance application may determine a desired outcome of the command from multiple outcomes of the command based on a user profile of the first user, a user profile of the second user, and a user profile of the third user.

[0030] The media guidance application may detect a first action performed by a second user and a second action performed by a third user. For example, the media guidance application may detect a first action performed by a second user (e.g., the second user turns up the volume of a movie) and a second action performed by a third user (e.g., a motion sensor detects that the third user leaves the viewing environment to go to dinner).

[0031] The media guidance application may compare the second user's action and the third user's action to the desired outcome of the command. For example, the media guidance application may compare the second user's action (e.g., turning up the volume on a movie via a remote) and the third user's action (e.g., a motion sensor detecting a third user exiting the viewing environment) to the desired outcome of the command (e.g., the second and third users going out for dinner).

[0032] In response to determining that the second user's actions and the third user's actions do not correspond to the desired outcome of the command, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics of the second user from a user profile of the second user and characteristics of the third user from a user profile of the third user.

[0033] The media guidance application may determine whether to modify playback of a media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user. For example, the media guidance application may determine to modify playback of a media asset based on the command detected from the first user (e.g., eat dinner) and the retrieved characteristics (e.g., rank, etc.) of the first user and the retrieved characteristics (e.g., rank, etc.) of the third user because the rank of the first user is higher than the ranks of the second and third users. As another example, the media guidance application may determine not to modify playback of a media asset based on the command detected from the first user (e.g., eat dinner) and the retrieved characteristics (e.g., rank, etc.) of the first user and the retrieved characteristics (e.g., rank, etc.) of the second and third users because the rank of the third user is higher than the command and rank of the first user.

[0034] In some aspects of the disclosure, systems and methods are provided herein for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies a voice goal. For example, in response to detecting a ringing doorbell, the user may or may not be allowed to pause the playback of a movie the user is watching. If the user is a child and is alone at home, the user may not be allowed to pause the playback of the movie to encourage the user not to answer the door when alone at home. If the user is a child and their parent is at home, the user may be allowed to pause the playback of the movie and answer the door.

[0035] To this and other ends, in some aspects of this disclosure, the media guidance application may detect audio generated by a first device external to the media equipment device. For example, the media guidance application may use a sensor to detect audio (e.g., the doorbell ringing) by a first device (e.g., a doorbell) external to the media equipment device (e.g., a television).

[0036] The media guidance application may store a database that associates a goal among a plurality of goals with a set of actions among a plurality of actions and a sound among a plurality of sounds. For example, the media guidance application may store a database that associates a goal (e.g., answer the door) among a plurality of goals (e.g., answer the door, answer a phone call, exit a home, etc.) with a set of actions (e.g., continue watching the playback of the media asset and ignore the doorbell) among a plurality of actions (e.g., pause playback of the media asset and answer the door, continue watching the playback of the media asset and ignore the doorbell, etc.) and a sound (e.g., the doorbell ringing) among a plurality of sounds (e.g., the doorbell ringing, the phone ringing, the smoke detector beeping, etc.).

[0037] The media guidance application may compare a sound generated by the first device to a database and determine a goal associated with the sound and a set of corresponding actions associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application may compare a sound generated by the first device (e.g., a doorbell ringing) to a database and determine a goal associated with the sound (e.g., answer the door) and a set of corresponding actions associated with the goal (e.g., pause playback of the media asset, exit the viewing environment to answer the door, etc.).

[0038] In some embodiments, when comparing a sound generated by the first device to a database and determining a set of goals associated with the sound and corresponding actions associated with the goals, the media guidance application may determine a match between the sound and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the sound. For example, the media guidance application may use characteristics of the sound (e.g., tone, volume, frequency, etc.) to match the sound with its corresponding entry in the database.

[0039] The media guidance application may retrieve a goal associated with the sound from the entry. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve a goal (e.g., answer the door) associated with the sound (e.g., the doorbell ringing) from the entry.

[0040] The media guidance application may retrieve from the entry a set of corresponding actions associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve from the entry a set of corresponding actions (e.g., pause playback of the media asset, mute the volume of playback of the media asset, etc.) associated with the goal (e.g., answer the door).

[0041] The media guidance application may detect a user within the viewing environment of a media equipment device. For example, the media guidance application may use a sensor (e.g., a camera) to detect a user within the viewing environment of a media equipment device (e.g., a television).

[0042] In some embodiments, when detecting a user within the viewing environment of a media equipment device, the media guidance application may use a sensor to detect the presence of the user within the viewing environment. For example, the media guidance application may use an infrared sensor to detect the user within the viewing environment of a media equipment device (e.g., a television).

[0043] The media guidance application may determine from the user's user profile whether the user is authorized to perform an action in the determined set of actions associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application may determine from an authorization database in the user's profile whether the user is authorized to exit the viewing environment associated with the goal (e.g., answer the door).

[0044] In some embodiments, when determining from the user's user profile whether the user is authorized to perform an action in a determined set of actions associated with a goal, the media guidance application may retrieve a rank for the user from the user profile. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve a rank for the user (e.g., 8 out of 10).

[0045] The media guidance application may retrieve a rank for an action from the database. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve a rank (e.g., 5 out of 10) for an action (e.g., exit the viewing environment) from the database.

[0046] The media guidance application may determine whether the rank for the user exceeds the rank for the action. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the rank for the user (e.g., 8 out of 10) exceeds the rank for the action (e.g., 5 out of 10).

[0047] In response to determining that the rank for the user exceeds the rank for the action, the media guidance application may determine that the user is authorized to perform the action. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the user is authorized to exit the viewing environment.

[0048] In response to determining that the user is authorized to perform the action, the media guidance application may generate a notification for the user indicating the detected sound. For example, the media guidance application may generate an audio notification (e.g., a doorbell sound) to play over the playback of the media asset for the user to indicate the detected sound.

[0049] In some embodiments, when generating a notification for the user indicating the detected sound, the media guidance application may generate an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, the overlay containing a notification for the user about the sound. For example, the media guidance application may generate an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device (e.g., an overlay that says, "The doorbell is ringing!").

[0050] The media guidance application may modify the playback of media assets and allow the user to perform actions associated with goals. For example, the media guidance application may modify the playback of media assets (e.g., pausing a movie the user is watching) and allow the user to perform actions (e.g., exit the viewing environment) associated with goals (e.g., answer the door).

[0051] In some embodiments, when modifying playback of a media asset to enable a user to perform an action associated with a goal, the media guidance application may retrieve from the database a set of playback modifications associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve from the database a set of playback modifications associated with the goal (e.g., pause, play, fast forward, rewind, mute, turn on / off, etc.).

[0052] The media guidance application may select a playback modification from a set of playback modifications based on preferences for the user. For example, the media guidance application may select a playback modification (e.g., pause) from a set of playback modifications based on preferences for the user (e.g., the user does not want to miss any content while answering the door).

[0053] The media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification. For example, the media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification (e.g., pausing playback of the media asset).

[0054] In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, the media guidance application may generate a notification for the second user to perform the action. For example, the media guidance application may generate a notification for performing the action (e.g., sending an SMS message to the second user) (e.g., answering the door).

[0055] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that sound is within audible range of the viewing environment. For example, the media guidance application may detect sound using a sensor (e.g., a microphone) contained within the viewing environment.

[0056] In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, the media guidance application may prevent the user from modifying playback of the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may prevent the user from modifying playback of the media guidance application (e.g., not allowing the user to pause playback of the media asset).

[0057] The media guidance application may modify the playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing an action associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application may increase the volume of the playback of the media asset to drown out sounds within the user's hearing range.

[0058] In some embodiments, when modifying playback of a media asset, the media guidance application may determine a volume at which to attenuate sounds that are in the audible range. For example, the media guidance application may determine a volume that is equal to or higher than the determined volume of sounds that are in the audible range.

[0059] The media guidance application may adjust a volume corresponding to the playback of a media asset to be at a volume that attenuates the sound. For example, the media guidance application may adjust the playback volume of a media asset to be at a higher volume than the detected volume of the sound within the audible range. The present invention provides, for example, the following: (Item 1) 1. A method comprising: determining a command from a first user to a second user; comparing the command with a set of playback operation commands for the currently playing media asset; determining, in response to said comparing, that said command is not contained within said set of playback operation commands; determining whether the second user performs a desired result of the command in response to determining that the command is not included within the set of playback operation commands; and determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset in response to the second user determining that the second user did not execute a desired outcome of the command; and A method comprising: (Item 2) 1. A method for converting unrelated commands into relevant playback modifications and prompting a recipient of said commands to execute said commands, said method comprising: Detecting a command from a first user to a second user; comparing the command to a set of playback operation commands for a media asset currently being played by the second user; determining, in response to said comparing, that said command is not contained within said set of playback operation commands; determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user and a user profile of the second user; Detecting an action performed by the second user; and comparing the second user's actions to a desired outcome of the command; retrieving a characteristic of the second user from a user profile of the second user in response to determining that an action of the second user does not correspond to a desired result of the command; determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user; A method comprising: (Item 3) determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user; comparing a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user with the command, the characteristic being selected from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship with other users, and time of day, and the command being selected from a group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping; determining from the comparison whether the command shares a characteristic of the second user; and modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the commands share the characteristic; The method according to item 2, comprising: (Item 4) Detecting commands from the first user to the second user and to a third user; determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user, a user profile of the second user, and a user profile of the third user; Detecting a first action performed by the second user and a second action performed by the third user; comparing the second user's actions and the third user's actions to a desired outcome of the command; retrieving characteristics of the second user from a user profile of the second user and characteristics of the third user from a user profile of the third user in response to determining that actions of the second user and actions of the third user do not correspond to a desired outcome of the command; determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user; The method according to item 2, further comprising: (Item 5) Detecting the command from the first user includes: Detecting a verbal input from the first user; comparing the verbal input to a database of commands, the database containing a command corresponding to each verbal input; determining from the comparison a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user; and The method according to item 2, comprising: (Item 6) determining from the comparison a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user; determining a match between the verbal input and the database of verbal commands; determining a command corresponding to the match as the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user; The method according to item 5, comprising: (Item 7) Determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user and a user profile of the second user further comprises: determining attributes of the command; comparing an attribute of the command to attributes of a plurality of results of the command; determining from said comparison that a result among said plurality of results that contains an attribute of said command is said desired result; The method according to item 2, comprising: (Item 8) 3. The method of claim 2, wherein detecting the action performed by the second user includes using a sensor to detect the second user exiting a viewing environment of a media equipment device presenting the media asset. (Item 9) 3. The method of claim 2, wherein detecting the action performed by the second user includes detecting the second user executing a command that modifies the playback of the media asset. (Item 10) 3. The method of claim 2, wherein detecting the action performed by the second user includes detecting, using a sensor, that the second user remains within the viewing environment of a media asset device. (Item 11) determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user; Retrieving a rank of the first user and a rank of the second user; determining from the ranks whether the first user is ranked higher than the second user; modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the first user is ranked higher than the second user; continuing to play the media asset in response to determining that the second user is ranked higher than the first user; and The method according to item 2, comprising: (Item 12) 1. A system for converting unrelated commands into relevant playback modifications and prompting a recipient of said commands to carry out said commands, said system comprising: A control circuit comprising: Detecting a command from a first user to a second user; comparing the command to a set of playback operation commands for a media asset currently being played by the second user; determining, in response to said comparing, that said command is not contained within said set of playback operation commands; determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user and a user profile of the second user; Detecting an action performed by the second user; and comparing the second user's actions to a desired outcome of the command; retrieving a characteristic of the second user from a user profile of the second user in response to determining that an action of the second user does not correspond to a desired result of the command; determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user; a control circuit configured to: A system comprising: (Item 13) The control circuit includes: comparing a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user with the command, the characteristic being selected from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship with other users, and time of day, and the command being selected from a group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping; determining from the comparison whether the command shares a characteristic of the second user; and modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the commands share the characteristic; 13. The system of claim 12, further configured to determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user. (Item 14) The control circuit further comprises: Detecting commands from the first user to the second user and to a third user; determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user, a user profile of the second user, and a user profile of the third user; Detecting a first action performed by the second user and a second action performed by the third user; comparing the second user's actions and the third user's actions to a desired outcome of the command; retrieving characteristics of the second user from a user profile of the second user and characteristics of the third user from a user profile of the third user in response to determining that actions of the second user and actions of the third user do not correspond to a desired outcome of the command; determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user; Item 13. The system of item 12, configured to perform the following: (Item 15) The control circuit includes: Detecting a verbal input from the first user; comparing the verbal input to a database of commands, the database containing a command corresponding to each verbal input; determining from the comparison a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user; and Item 13. The system of item 12, configured to detect the command from the first user by: (Item 16) The control circuit includes: determining a match between the verbal input and the database of verbal commands; determining a command corresponding to the match as the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user; Item 16. The method of item 15, further comprising determining from the comparison a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user. (Item 17) The control circuit further comprises: determining attributes of the command; comparing an attribute of the command to attributes of a plurality of results of the command; determining from said comparison that a result among said plurality of results that contains an attribute of said command is said desired result; determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user and a user profile of the second user. Item 13. The system according to item 12. (Item 18) Item 13. The system of item 12, wherein the control circuitry is configured to detect the action performed by the second user by using a sensor to detect the second user exiting a viewing environment of a media equipment device presenting the media asset. (Item 19) Item 13. The system of item 12, wherein the control circuitry is configured to detect the action performed by the second user by detecting the second user executing a command that modifies the playback of the media asset. (Item 20) Item 13. The system of item 12, wherein the control circuitry is configured to detect the action performed by the second user by detecting, using a sensor, that the second user remains within the viewing environment of a media asset device. (Item 21) The control circuit includes: Retrieving a rank of the first user and a rank of the second user; determining from the ranks whether the first user is ranked higher than the second user; modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the first user is ranked higher than the second user; continuing to play the media asset in response to determining that the second user is ranked higher than the first user; and 13. The system of claim 12, further configured to determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user. (Item 22) 1. An apparatus for converting unrelated commands into relevant playback modifications and prompting a recipient of said commands to execute said commands, said apparatus comprising: means for detecting a command from a first user to a second user; means for comparing the command with a set of playback operation commands for a media asset currently being played by the second user; means for determining, in response to said comparing, that said command is not contained within said set of playback operation commands; means for determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user and a user profile of the second user; means for detecting an action performed by the second user; means for comparing the second user's actions with a desired result of the command; means for retrieving a characteristic of the second user from a user profile of the second user in response to determining that an action of the second user does not correspond to a desired result of the command; means for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user; An apparatus comprising: (Item 23) The means for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristic of the second user, comprising: means for comparing a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user with the command, the characteristic being selected from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship with other users, and time of day, and the command being selected from a group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping; means for determining from the comparison whether the command shares a characteristic of the second user; means for modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the command shares the characteristic; 23. The apparatus according to item 22, comprising: (Item 24) means for detecting commands from the first user to the second user and to a third user; means for determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user, a user profile of the second user, and a user profile of the third user; means for detecting a first action performed by the second user and a second action performed by the third user; means for comparing the second user's actions and the third user's actions with a desired outcome of the command; means for retrieving characteristics of the second user from a user profile of the second user and characteristics of the third user from a user profile of the third user in response to determining that actions of the second user and actions of the third user do not correspond to a desired outcome of the command; means for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user; 23. The apparatus of item 22, further comprising: (Item 25) The means for detecting the command from the first user comprises: means for detecting verbal input from the first user; means for comparing the verbal input to a database of commands, the database containing a command corresponding to each verbal input; and means for determining from the comparison a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user; 23. The apparatus according to item 22, comprising: (Item 26) The means for determining from the comparison a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user comprises: means for determining a match between said verbal input and said database of verbal commands; means for determining a command corresponding to the match as the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user; 26. The apparatus according to item 25, comprising: (Item 27) The means for determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user and a user profile of the second user further comprises: means for determining attributes of the command; means for comparing attributes of the command to attributes of a plurality of results of the command; means for determining from said comparison that a result among said plurality of results containing an attribute of said command is said desired result; 23. The apparatus according to item 22, comprising: (Item 28) 29. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the means for detecting the action performed by the second user comprises means for detecting, using a sensor, the second user exiting a viewing environment of a media equipment device presenting the media asset. 23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the means for detecting the action performed by the second user comprises means for detecting the second user executing a command that modifies the playback of the media asset. (Item 30) 23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the means for detecting the action performed by the second user comprises means for detecting, using a sensor, that the second user remains within the viewing environment of a media asset device. (Item 31) The means for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristic of the second user, comprising: means for retrieving a rank of the first user and a rank of the second user; means for determining from the ranks whether the first user is ranked higher than the second user; means for modifying the media asset playback in response to determining that the first user is ranked higher than the second user; means for continuing to play the media asset in response to determining that the second user is ranked higher than the first user; 23. The apparatus according to item 22, comprising: (Item 32) 1. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a memory having non-transitory computer readable instructions encoded thereon for converting unrelated commands into relevant playback modifications and prompting a recipient of the commands to execute the commands, the instructions comprising: instructions for detecting a command from a first user to a second user; instructions for comparing the command with a set of playback operation commands for a media asset currently being played by the second user; instructions for determining, in response to said comparing, that the command is not contained within the set of playback operation commands; instructions for determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user and a user profile of the second user; instructions for detecting an action performed by the second user; instructions for comparing the second user's action to a desired outcome of the command; instructions for retrieving a characteristic of the second user from a user profile of the second user in response to determining that an action of the second user does not correspond to a desired outcome of the command; and instructions for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user; 1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising: (Item 33) The instructions for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user include: instructions for comparing a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user with the command, the characteristic being selected from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship to other users, and time of day, and the command being selected from a group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping; instructions for determining from the comparison whether the command shares a characteristic of the second user; and instructions for modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the commands share the characteristic; 33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of item 32, comprising: (Item 34) The instructions further include: instructions for detecting commands from the first user to the second user and to a third user; instructions for determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user, a user profile of the second user, and a user profile of the third user; instructions for detecting a first action performed by the second user and a second action performed by the third user; instructions for comparing the second user's action and the third user's action to a desired outcome of the command; instructions for retrieving characteristics of the second user from a user profile of the second user and characteristics of the third user from a user profile of the third user in response to determining that actions of the second user and actions of the third user do not correspond to a desired outcome of the command; instructions for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user; 33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of item 32, comprising: (Item 35) The instructions for detecting the command from the first user include: instructions for detecting verbal input from the first user; instructions for comparing the verbal input to a database of commands, the database containing a command corresponding to each verbal input; instructions for determining from the comparison a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user; 33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of item 32, comprising: (Item 36) The instructions for determining from the comparison a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user include: instructions for determining a match between the verbal input and the database of verbal commands; instructions for determining a command corresponding to the match as the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user; Item 36. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of item 35, comprising: (Item 37) The instructions for determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user and a user profile of the second user further include: instructions for determining attributes of the command; instructions for comparing an attribute of the command to attributes of a plurality of results of the command; instructions for determining from the comparison a result among the plurality of results that contains an attribute of the command as the desired result; 33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of item 32, comprising: (Item 38) 33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the instructions for detecting the action performed by the second user comprise instructions for detecting, using a sensor, the second user exiting a viewing environment of a media equipment device presenting the media asset. (Item 39) 33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the instructions for detecting the action performed by the second user comprise instructions for detecting the second user executing a command that modifies the playback of the media asset. (Item 40) 33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the instructions for detecting the action performed by the second user comprise instructions for detecting, using a sensor, that the second user remains within the viewing environment of a media asset device. (Item 41) The instructions for determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user include: instructions for retrieving a rank of the first user and a rank of the second user; instructions for determining from the ranks whether the first user is ranked higher than the second user; instructions for modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the first user is ranked higher than the second user; instructions for continuing to play the media asset in response to determining that the second user is ranked higher than the first user; and 33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of item 32, comprising: (Item 42) 1. A method for converting unrelated commands into relevant playback modifications and prompting a recipient of said commands to execute said commands, said method comprising: detecting a command from a first user to a second user using a control circuit; comparing the command to a set of playback operation commands for a media asset currently being played by the second user; determining, in response to said comparing, that said command is not contained within said set of playback operation commands; determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user and a user profile of the second user; Detecting an action performed by the second user; and comparing the second user's actions to a desired outcome of the command; retrieving a characteristic of the second user from a user profile of the second user in response to determining that an action of the second user does not correspond to a desired result of the command; determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user; A method comprising: (Item 43) determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user; comparing a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user with the command, the characteristic being selected from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship with other users, and time of day, and the command being selected from a group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping; determining from the comparison whether the command shares a characteristic of the second user; and modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the commands share the characteristic; 43. The method according to item 42, comprising: (Item 44) Detecting commands from the first user to the second user and to a third user; determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user, a user profile of the second user, and a user profile of the third user; Detecting a first action performed by the second user and a second action performed by the third user; comparing the second user's actions and the third user's actions to a desired outcome of the command; retrieving characteristics of the second user from a user profile of the second user and characteristics of the third user from a user profile of the third user in response to determining that actions of the second user and actions of the third user do not correspond to a desired outcome of the command; determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user; 44. The method according to any one of items 42-43, further comprising: (Item 45) Detecting the command from the first user includes: Detecting a verbal input from the first user; comparing the verbal input to a database of commands, the database containing a command corresponding to each verbal input; determining from the comparison a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user; and 45. The method according to any one of items 42-44, comprising: (Item 46) determining from the comparison a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user; determining a match between the verbal input and the database of verbal commands; determining a command corresponding to the match as the command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user; Item 46. The method according to item 45, comprising: (Item 47) Determining a desired result of the command from a plurality of results of the command based on a user profile of the first user and a user profile of the second user further comprises: determining attributes of the command; comparing an attribute of the command to attributes of a plurality of results of the command; determining from said comparison that a result among said plurality of results that contains an attribute of said command is said desired result; 47. The method according to any one of items 42-46, comprising: (Item 48) A method as described in any of items 42-47, wherein detecting the action performed by the second user includes using a sensor to detect the second user leaving a viewing environment of a media equipment device presenting the media asset. (Item 49) 49. The method of any of claims 42-48, wherein detecting the action performed by the second user includes detecting the second user executing a command that modifies the playback of the media asset. (Item 50) 50. A method according to any of items 42-49, wherein detecting the action performed by the second user includes detecting using a sensor that the second user remains within the viewing environment of a media asset device. (Item 51) determining whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user; Retrieving a rank of the first user and a rank of the second user; determining from the ranks whether the first user is ranked higher than the second user; modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the first user is ranked higher than the second user; continuing to play the media asset in response to determining that the second user is ranked higher than the first user; and The method according to any one of items 42-50, comprising: (Item 52) 1. A method comprising: Detecting audio generated by a first device external to the media equipment device; retrieving a known target associated with the sound from a lookup table; Detecting a user within a viewing environment; determining an identity of the user; modifying the playback to encourage or hinder the user from achieving the known goal based on the identity of the user; A method comprising: (Item 53) 1. A method for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies a goal corresponding to a voice, comprising: Detecting audio generated by a first device external to the media equipment device; storing a database associating each goal among the plurality of goals with a set of actions among the plurality of actions and a sound among the plurality of sounds; comparing the speech generated by the first device to characteristics of entries in the database to determine a goal corresponding to the speech and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal; Detecting a user within a viewing environment of the media equipment device; determining from a user profile for the user whether the user is authorized to perform actions in the determined set of actions associated with the goal; in response to determining that the user is authorized to perform the action; generating a notification for the user indicating the detected audio; and modifying the playback of a media asset to prompt the user to perform the action associated with the goal; in response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, generating a notification for a second user to perform the action; A method comprising: (Item 54) determining that the sound is within audible range of the viewing environment; in response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, preventing the user from modifying the playback of the media asset; 54. The method of claim 53, further comprising: (Item 55) 55. The method of claim 54, further comprising modifying the playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing the action associated with the goal. (Item 56) Modifying the playback of the media asset includes: determining a volume to attenuate the sounds within the audible range; adjusting a volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset such that the volume attenuates the audio; 56. The method according to item 55, comprising: (Item 57) Comparing the audio generated by the first device to the database and determining a goal associated with the audio and the set of corresponding actions associated with the goal includes: determining a match between the voice and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the voice; retrieving the target corresponding to the sound from the entry; retrieving from the entry the set of corresponding actions associated with the goal; 54. The method according to item 53, comprising: (Item 58) 54. The method of claim 53, wherein detecting the user within the viewing environment of the media device includes detecting the presence of the user within the viewing environment using a sensor. (Item 59) 54. The method of claim 53, wherein generating a notification for the user indicating the detected sound includes generating an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, the overlay containing a notification for the user about the sound. (Item 60) Item 54. The method of item 53, wherein the sound is detected from a doorbell. (Item 61) Modifying the playback of the media asset to enable the user to perform the action associated with the goal, Retrieving from the database a set of reproduction modifications associated with the target; selecting a playback modification from the set of playback modifications based on a preference for the user; modifying the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modifications; and 54. The method according to item 53, comprising: (Item 62) Determining from a user profile for the user whether the user is authorized to perform actions in the determined set of actions associated with the goal includes: Retrieving a rank for the user from the user profile; Retrieving a rank for the action from the database; determining whether a rank for the user exceeds a rank for the action; determining that the user is authorized to perform the action in response to determining that the rank for the user exceeds a rank for the action; 54. The method according to item 53, comprising: (Item 63) 1. A system for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action to satisfy a goal corresponding to a voice, comprising: A control circuit comprising: Detecting audio generated by a first device external to the media equipment device; storing a database associating each goal among the plurality of goals with a set of actions among the plurality of actions and a sound among the plurality of sounds; comparing the speech generated by the first device to characteristics of entries in the database to determine a goal corresponding to the speech and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal; Detecting a user within a viewing environment of the media equipment device; determining from a user profile for the user whether the user is authorized to perform actions in the determined set of actions associated with the goal; in response to determining that the user is authorized to perform the action; generating a notification for the user indicating the detected audio; and prompting the user to modify the playback of a media asset to perform the action associated with the goal; in response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, generating a notification for a second user to perform the action; a control circuit configured to: A system comprising: (Item 64) The control circuit further comprises: determining that the sound is within audible range of the viewing environment; in response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, preventing the user from modifying the playback of the media asset; Item 64. The system of item 63, configured to perform the following: (Item 65) 65. The system of claim 64, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to modify playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing the action associated with the goal. (Item 66) The control circuit includes: determining a volume to attenuate the sounds within the audible range; adjusting a volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset such that the volume attenuates the audio; configured to modify the playback of the media asset by Item 66. The system according to item 65. (Item 67) The control circuit includes: determining a match between the voice and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the voice; retrieving the target corresponding to the sound from the entry; retrieving from the entry the set of corresponding actions associated with the goal; Item 64. The system of item 63, configured to compare the audio generated by the first device with the database and determine a goal associated with the audio and a set of corresponding actions associated with the goal. (Item 68) Item 13. The system of item 12, wherein the control circuitry is configured to detect the user within the viewing environment of the media device by using a sensor to detect the presence of the user within the viewing environment. (Item 69) Item 64. The system of item 63, wherein the control circuitry is configured to generate a notification for the user indicating the detected sound by generating an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, the overlay containing a notification for the user about the sound. (Item 70) Item 64. The system of item 63, wherein the sound is detected from a doorbell. (Item 71) The control circuit includes: Retrieving from the database a set of reproduction modifications associated with the target; selecting a playback modification from the set of playback modifications based on a preference for the user; modifying the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modifications; and 13. The system of claim 12, further configured to modify playback of the media asset to enable the user to perform the action associated with the goal. (Item 72) The control circuit includes: Retrieving a rank for the user from the user profile; Retrieving a rank for the action from the database; determining whether a rank for the user exceeds a rank for the action; determining that the user is authorized to perform the action in response to determining that the rank for the user exceeds a rank for the action; Item 64. The system of item 63, configured to determine from a user profile for the user whether the user is authorized to perform an action in the determined set of actions associated with the goal. (Item 73) 1. An apparatus for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action to satisfy a goal corresponding to a voice, the apparatus comprising: means for detecting audio generated by a first device external to the media equipment device; means for storing a database associating each goal among the plurality of goals with a set of actions among the plurality of actions and a sound among the plurality of sounds; means for comparing the speech generated by the first device with characteristics of entries in the database to determine a goal corresponding to the speech and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal; means for detecting a user within a viewing environment of the media equipment device; means for determining, from a user profile for the user, whether the user is authorized to perform actions in the determined set of actions associated with the goal; in response to determining that the user is authorized to perform the action; means for generating a notification for the user indicative of the detected audio; means for prompting the user to modify the playback of a media asset to perform the action associated with the goal; means for generating a notification for a second user to perform the action in response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action; and An apparatus comprising: (Item 74) means for determining that the sound is within audible range of the viewing environment; means for preventing the user from modifying the playback of the media asset in response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action; 74. The apparatus of item 73, further comprising: (Item 75) 75. The apparatus of claim 74, further comprising means for modifying the playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing the action associated with the goal. (Item 76) The means for modifying the playback of the media assets further comprises: means for determining a volume at which to attenuate said sounds within said audible range; means for adjusting a volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset such that the volume attenuates the audio; Item 76. The apparatus of item 75, comprising: (Item 77) The means for comparing the audio generated by the first device to the database and determining a goal associated with the audio and a set of corresponding actions associated with the goal, comprising: means for determining a match between the voice and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the voice; means for retrieving from said entry said target corresponding to said voice; means for retrieving from the entry the set of corresponding actions associated with the goal; Item 74. The apparatus of item 73, comprising: (Item 78) 74. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the means for detecting the user within a viewing environment of the media device comprises means for detecting the presence of the user within the viewing environment using a sensor. (Item 79) 74. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the means for generating a notification for the user indicating the detected sound comprises means for generating an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, the overlay containing a notification for the user about the sound. (Item 80) Item 74. The apparatus of item 73, wherein the sound is detected from a doorbell. (Item 81) The means for modifying the playback of the media asset to enable the user to perform the action associated with the goal, comprising: means for retrieving from said database a set of reproduction modifications associated with said target; means for selecting a playback modification from the set of playback modifications based on a preference for the user; means for modifying the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modifications; Item 74. The apparatus of item 73, comprising: (Item 82) The means for determining from a user profile for the user whether the user is authorized to perform an action in the determined set of actions associated with the goal, comprising: means for retrieving a rank for the user from the user profile; means for retrieving a rank for an action from the database; means for determining whether a rank for the user exceeds a rank for the action; means for determining, in response to determining that a rank for the user exceeds a rank for the action, that the user is authorized to perform the action; Item 74. The apparatus of item 73, comprising: (Item 83) A non-transient computer readable medium having non-transient computer readable instructions encoded thereon for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies a goal corresponding to a voice, the instructions comprising: instructions for detecting audio generated by a first device external to the media equipment device; instructions for storing a database associating each goal among the plurality of goals with a set of actions among the plurality of actions and a sound among the plurality of sounds; instructions for comparing the speech generated by the first device to characteristics of entries in the database to determine a goal corresponding to the speech and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal; instructions for detecting a user within a viewing environment of the media equipment device; instructions for determining, from a user profile for the user, whether the user is authorized to perform actions in the determined set of actions associated with the goal; in response to determining that the user is authorized to perform the action; instructions for generating a notification for the user indicating the detected sound; instructions for modifying the playback of a media asset to prompt the user to perform the action associated with the goal; instructions for generating a notification for a second user to perform the action in response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action; and 1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising: (Item 84) The instructions further include: instructions for determining that the sound is within audible range of the viewing environment; in response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, instructions for preventing the user from modifying the playback of the media asset; Item 84. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of item 83, comprising: (Item 85) 85. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 84, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for modifying playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing the action associated with the goal. (Item 86) The instructions for modifying the playback of the media asset include: instructions for determining a volume at which to attenuate the sounds within the audible range; instructions for adjusting a volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset such that the volume attenuates the audio; Item 86. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of item 85, comprising: (Item 87) The instructions for comparing the audio generated by the first device to the database and determining a goal associated with the audio and a set of corresponding actions associated with the goal, comprising: instructions for determining a match between the voice and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the voice; instructions for retrieving the target corresponding to the sound from the entry; instructions for retrieving from the entry the set of corresponding actions associated with the goal; Item 84. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of item 83, comprising: (Item 88) 84. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein the instructions for detecting the user within a viewing environment of the media device comprise instructions for detecting the presence of the user within the viewing environment using a sensor. (Item 89) 84. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein the instructions for generating a notification for the user indicating the detected sound comprise instructions for generating an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, the overlay containing a notification for the user about the sound. (Item 90) Item 84. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of item 83, wherein the sound is detected from a doorbell. (Item 91) The instructions for modifying the playback of the media asset to enable the user to perform the action associated with the goal, instructions for retrieving from the database a set of regeneration modifications associated with the target; instructions for selecting a playback modification from the set of playback modifications based on a preference for the user; instructions for modifying the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modifications; Item 84. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of item 83, comprising: (Item 92) The instructions for determining, from a user profile for the user, whether the user is authorized to perform an action in the determined set of actions associated with the goal, comprising: instructions for retrieving a rank for the user from the user profile; instructions for retrieving a rank for an action from the database; instructions for determining whether a rank for the user exceeds a rank for the action; instructions for determining, in response to determining that a rank for the user exceeds a rank for the action, that the user is authorized to perform the action; Item 84. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of item 83, comprising: (Item 93) 1. A method for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies a goal corresponding to a voice, comprising: Detecting, using a control circuit, audio generated by a first device external to the media equipment device; storing a database associating each goal among the plurality of goals with a set of actions among the plurality of actions and a sound among the plurality of sounds; comparing the speech generated by the first device to characteristics of entries in the database to determine a goal corresponding to the speech and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal; Detecting a user within a viewing environment of the media equipment device; determining from a user profile for the user whether the user is authorized to perform actions in the determined set of actions associated with the goal; in response to determining that the user is authorized to perform the action; generating a notification for the user indicating the detected audio; and modifying the playback of a media asset to prompt the user to perform the action associated with the goal; in response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, generating a notification for a second user to perform the action; A method comprising: (Item 94) determining that the sound is within audible range of the viewing environment; in response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, preventing the user from modifying the playback of the media asset; Item 94. The method of item 93, further comprising: (Item 95) 95. The method of claim 94, further comprising modifying the playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing the action associated with the goal. (Item 96) Modifying the playback of the media asset includes: determining a volume to attenuate the sounds within the audible range; adjusting a volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset such that the volume attenuates the audio; Item 96. The method according to item 95, comprising: (Item 97) Comparing the audio generated by the first device to the database and determining a goal associated with the audio and the set of corresponding actions associated with the goal includes: determining a match between the voice and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the voice; retrieving the target corresponding to the sound from the entry; retrieving from the entry the set of corresponding actions associated with the goal; 97. The method according to any one of items 93-96, comprising: (Item 98) 98. The method of any of claims 93-97, wherein detecting the user within the viewing environment of the media device includes detecting the presence of the user within the viewing environment using a sensor. (Item 99) A method as described in any of items 43-98, wherein generating a notification for the user indicating the detected sound includes generating an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, the overlay containing a notification for the user about the sound. (Item 100) 99. The method of claim 93, wherein the sound is detected from a doorbell. (Item 101) Modifying the playback of the media asset to enable the user to perform the action associated with the goal, Retrieving from the database a set of reproduction modifications associated with the target; selecting a playback modification from the set of playback modifications based on a preference for the user; modifying the playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modifications; and The method according to any of items 93-100, comprising: (Item 102) Determining from a user profile for the user whether the user is authorized to perform actions in the determined set of actions associated with the goal includes: Retrieving a rank for the user from the user profile; Retrieving a rank for the action from the database; determining whether a rank for the user exceeds a rank for the action; determining that the user is authorized to perform the action in response to determining that the rank for the user exceeds a rank for the action; The method according to any one of items 93-101, comprising: [Brief description of the drawings]

[0060] The following and other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout.

[0061] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of converting unrelated commands into relevant playback modifications and prompting the recipient of the command to carry out the command, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0062] [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may be used to provide media guidance application listings and other media guidance information in accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure.

[0063] [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may be used to provide a media guidance application listing in accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure.

[0064] [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment (UE) device in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

[0065] [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

[0066] [Figure 6] FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for converting a non-playback command into an associated playback modification and prompting a recipient of the command to execute the command, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0067] [Figure 7] FIG. 7 depicts another illustrative flowchart of a process for converting a non-playback command into an associated playback modification and prompting a recipient of the command to carry out the command, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0068] [Figure 8] FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining a command based on a characteristic of a second user according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0069] [Figure 9]FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for converting a non-playback command into an associated playback modification and prompting a recipient of the command to execute the command, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0070] [Figure 10] FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining a command based on a first user's verbal input, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0071] [Figure 11] FIG. 11 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining an outcome based on attributes of a command, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0072] [Figure 12] FIG. 12 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for detecting whether a user exits a viewing area of ​​a media equipment device presenting a media asset, according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

[0073] [Figure 13] FIG. 13 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for modifying media playback based on a user's ranking, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0074] [Figure 14] FIG. 14 shows an illustrative embodiment of determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies a voice goal, according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

[0075] [Figure 15] FIG. 15 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies a voice goal, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0076] [Figure 16] FIG. 16 depicts another illustrative flowchart of a process for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies a voice goal, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0077] [Figure 17] FIG. 17 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for identifying a target associated with a sound, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0078] [Figure 18] FIG. 18 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for detecting the presence of a user within a viewing environment, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0079] [Figure 19] FIG. 19 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for generating an overlay containing a notification, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0080] [Figure 20] FIG. 20 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for modifying playback of a media asset according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

[0081] [Figure 21] FIG. 21 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies a voice goal, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0082] Systems and methods are provided herein for converting commands that are unrelated to playback into relevant playback modifications and prompting recipients of the commands to execute the commands. A media guidance application may determine a command from a first user to a second user. The media guidance application may compare the command to a set of playback operation commands for the currently being played media asset. In response to the comparison, the media guidance application may determine that the command is not contained within the set of playback operation commands. In response to determining that the command is not contained within the set of playback operation commands, the media guidance application may determine whether the second user executes a desired result of the command. And, in response to determining that the second user does not execute a desired result of the command, the media guidance application may determine whether to modify playback of the media asset.

[0083] FIGURE 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of converting unrelated commands into relevant playback modifications and prompting a recipient of the command to execute the command according to some embodiments of this disclosure. FIGURE 1 depicts an illustrative display 100 that may be presented by control circuitry executing a media guidance application on any user equipment. The functionality of the user equipment, control circuitry, and media guidance application are described in further detail with respect to FIGURES 2-5.

[0084] The media guidance application may detect that a first user 102 has issued a command 104. Command 104 may be a verbal input of a word or phrase. The media guidance application may detect that command 104 is directed towards a second user 106 (e.g., first user 102 may say to second user 106, “It's time for dinner!”). The media guidance application may be playing a media asset 108. The media guidance application may generate to display a trick playbar 110 over the media asset 108, which may contain all trick play functionality (e.g., play, pause, stop, rewind, fast forward, etc.). The media guidance application may generate to display an indicator 112 within trick playbar 110, which may correspond to the location of the current playback of the media asset 108. The media guidance application may determine that command 114 corresponds to a trick playbar command (e.g., play, pause, stop, rewind, fast forward, volume up, volume down, on / off, etc.) to be applied to the media asset (e.g., the media asset is paused). The media guidance application may determine that volume 116 may correspond to the volume of the current playback of media asset 108. The media guidance application may modify volume 116 in response to command 114.

[0085] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect a command from a first user to a second user. The first user may be a user who is not currently viewing playback of the media asset and may be in an environment outside the media asset's viewing environment. The second user may be a user who is currently viewing playback of the media asset 108 within the media asset's viewing environment. For example, the media guidance application may use a home entertainment system (e.g., an Amazon Echo) to detect a verbal command from the first user to the second user (e.g., "Dinner is ready, take a seat!").

[0086] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects a command from a first user to a second user, the media guidance application may detect verbal input from the first user. The verbal input may be a spoken word or phrase from the first user that corresponds to the command. For example, the media guidance application may use an audio detection sensor (e.g., a microphone) to detect the verbal input from the first user (e.g., the user saying "Dinner is ready!"). The media guidance application may compare the audio signal detected by the sensor (e.g., a microphone) to known audio samples from the first user retrieved from the first user's profile and determine that the audio signal is verbal input from the first user.

[0087] As another example, the media guidance application may detect verbal input from a first user using an intelligent personal assistant (IPA) (e.g., Amazon Echo, Siri, etc.), where the IPA constantly listens for audio input in the environment surrounding the IPA and detects verbal input from the user.

[0088] The media guidance application may compare the verbal input to a database of commands, the database containing a command corresponding to each verbal input. The media guidance application may retrieve the database of commands from a profile for the first user. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve the database of commands from a profile for the first user and compare the verbal input (e.g., the user uttering "Dinner is ready!") to the database containing commands (e.g., eat dinner, answer the door, clean, vacuum, etc.).

[0089] The media guidance application may determine from the comparison a command that corresponds to the verbal input from the first user. For example, the media guidance application may use pattern recognition between the input and the command from the user profile to determine that the verbal input (e.g., "Dinner is ready!") corresponds to a command (e.g., eat dinner).

[0090] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determines from the comparison a command that corresponds to the verbal input from the first user, the media guidance application may determine a match between the verbal input and a database of commands. The media guidance application may determine a potential match between the verbal input and a database of commands through keyword matching. For example, the media guidance application may detect keywords (e.g., “dinner” and “done”) in the verbal input and compare these keywords to the database of commands. Each command in the database of commands may have multiple keywords associated with it (e.g., the command “have dinner” may have the keywords “dinner,” “food,” “hungry,” “eat,” “meal,” etc. associated with it). The media guidance application may determine that the verbal input matches a command when a single or multiple keywords from the verbal input match a single or multiple keywords associated with the command in the database of commands.

[0091] For example, the media guidance application may determine that a verbal input (e.g., "Dinner is ready!") corresponds to a command (e.g., eat dinner) because the verbal input matches a keyword contained within the command (e.g., "dinner." The media guidance application may determine that the command corresponding to the match (e.g., eat dinner) is the command that corresponds to the verbal input from the first user.

[0092] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determines multiple potential matches between the verbal input and a database of commands (e.g., the verbal input may match multiple different commands), the media guidance application may determine that the command corresponding to the match among the potential matches that contains the most keyword matches is the command that corresponds to the verbal input from the first user. For example, when the media guidance application determines that the verbal input (e.g., "It's time to eat dinner!") matches multiple commands (e.g., eat dinner, eat lunch, set a timer, etc.), the media guidance application may determine that the match (e.g., eat dinner) contains the most keyword matches and therefore is the command that corresponds to the verbal input.

[0093] After determining the command given by the first user, the media guidance application may determine the context of the command and how it relates to playback behavior. The media guidance application may compare the command to a set of playback behavior commands for the media asset currently being played by the second user. The media guidance application may retrieve the set of playback behavior commands from a database in a profile. For example, the media guidance application may compare the command (e.g., eat dinner) to a set of playback behavior commands (e.g., pause, fast forward, mute, etc.) retrieved from a profile for the media asset (e.g., a movie) currently being played by the second user.

[0094] In response to the comparison, the media guidance application may determine that the command is not contained within the set of playback operation commands. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the command (e.g., eat dinner) is not contained within the set of playback operation commands (e.g., pause, fast forward, mute, etc.).

[0095] The media guidance application may determine a desired outcome of the command from multiple outcomes of the command based on a user profile of the first user and a user profile of the second user. The media guidance application may use attributes to determine the desired outcome, as described in more detail below. For example, the media guidance application may determine a desired outcome of the command (e.g., that the second user stop watching a movie and eat dinner) based on a user profile of the first user (e.g., the profile may describe the first user as a mother) and a user profile of the second user (e.g., the second profile may describe the second user as the mother's son who follows the mother's commands) using methods described below.

[0096] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine the desired outcome of a command by determining attributes of the command. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine attributes of the command when the media guidance application is determining the desired outcome of a command from multiple outcomes of the command based on a user profile of a first user and a user profile of a second user. The media guidance application may analyze the command and determine distinct attributes, such as the prosody of the command (e.g., using the tone and cadence of speech to determine meaning).

[0097] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may analyze audio characteristics of the command to determine distinct attributes. In some embodiments, to determine distinct attributes, the media guidance application may compare the command to an audio sample in a plurality of audio samples, each audio sample being associated with a distinct user to determine the user speaking the command. The media guidance application may use speech processing to determine attributes including the form of utterance (e.g., statement, question, or command), the presence of sarcasm or irony, emphasis, contrast, focus, and the presence of child-directed speech (e.g., baby talk) using speech processing variables such as voice pitch (e.g., varying between low and high), voice length (e.g., varying between short and long), volume (e.g., varying between weak and strong), and voice timbre. For example, the media guidance application may use speech processing in conjunction with pitch, voice length, volume, and timbre speech processing variables corresponding to the command to determine attributes of the command (e.g., who is speaking the command, the tone of the command, the severity of the command, etc.). In response to determining distinct attributes of the command, the media guidance application may compare the attributes of the command to attributes of multiple outcomes of the command to determine the desired outcome.

[0098] The media guidance application may compare attributes of a command to attributes of multiple outcomes of the command. For example, the media guidance application may compare attributes of a command (e.g., form of speech, presence of sarcasm or irony, emphasis, contrast, focus, child-directed speech, etc.) to attributes of multiple outcomes of the command (e.g., outcome if the command is followed, outcome if the command is ignored, outcome of following the command, outcome of not following the command, etc.). The media guidance application may retrieve multiple outcomes from a database in the profile.

[0099] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve multiple results for a command from the profile. The media guidance application may determine that each command in a database of commands is linked to a set of corresponding results for that command. For example, the media guidance application may use a pointer from the command entry in the database to the set of corresponding results. The corresponding results for the command may be pre-determined by an editor and may be updated and added to by the media guidance application based on the user's learned behavior.

[0100] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may add outcomes to be linked to a command based on learned behavior. The media guidance application may determine that a new outcome that occurred between the first user and the second user after the command was issued was not included in the set of corresponding outcomes to the command by comparing the new outcome with the set of corresponding outcomes and determining that there is no overlap between the two. For example, the media guidance application may determine from the comparison that a new outcome (e.g., the second user answers the phone in response to the command) does not overlap with the current set of corresponding outcomes (e.g., eat, pause the movie, do nothing).

[0101] The media guidance application may retrieve attributes of a result in the multiple results from an attribute database in the profile.

[0102] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve attributes of a result from an attribute database that contains pre-set attributes, determined by an editor, that correspond to the result. The media guidance application may update the attribute database in response to determining new attributes that correspond to a result or removing an attribute that corresponds to a result (e.g., that is no longer an accurate attribute of the result), as described in more detail below. Each attribute may have a pointer in the database that is directed to the corresponding result. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve attributes (e.g., user goes to eat dinner, user goes to dining room, user eats food from plate on dinner table, user pauses playback, leaves room and goes to dining room, etc.) that correspond to a result (e.g., eat dinner).

[0103] The media guidance application may determine that a new attribute corresponds to an outcome by determining that an outcome has occurred (e.g., by detecting it using a sensor) and analyzing the outcome to determine attributes of the outcome. The media guidance application may determine the attributes of the outcome based on the physical and auditory components of the outcome. The media guidance application may determine the attributes based on the auditory components of the outcome that has occurred using methods similar to those described above in connection with determining attributes of a command (e.g., by determining the prosody of the command).

[0104] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine attributes of the outcome based on a physical component of the outcome. The media guidance application may use a sensor to detect a physical response corresponding to the outcome. For example, the media guidance application may use a camera to detect a second user physically exiting the viewing environment of the playback of the media asset. As another example, the media guidance application may use an infrared sensor to determine a heat map of the viewing environment and detect that the second user has not moved from its position in the viewing environment in response to listening for a command from the first user. The media guidance application may determine that the detected physical response is an attribute of the outcome. The media guidance application may compare the determined attributes of the outcome to attributes in a database corresponding to the outcome and may add any attributes from the outcome that were not among the attributes corresponding to the outcome.

[0105] For example, the media guidance application may determine that an outcome occurred (e.g., a second user exiting a viewing environment for a media asset) from detecting via a camera. The media guidance application may analyze the outcome that occurred (e.g., the second user yelling "I'm not hungry!" to the first user) and determine an attribute of the outcome (e.g., based on the auditory and physical components of the outcome). The media guidance application may determine that a negative response of the user (e.g., based on the context of the user yelling and the user's response) and the user's inability to exit the viewing area are attributes of an outcome that occurred (e.g., the user not following a command).

[0106] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may remove an attribute corresponding to a result in response to determining that the attribute was not present in the corresponding result after the same result occurred at least a threshold amount of times. The media guidance application may maintain a counter among a plurality of counters, each counter being associated with an attribute of a specific result. The media guidance application may update a counter for an attribute of a specific result (e.g., add a value to the counter) after the specific result occurs and contains the attribute. The media guidance application may read the threshold amount of times from the profile, which may be preset by an editor or updated based on user input. The media guidance application may compare the counter for the specific result to a threshold, and in response to determining that the counter exceeds the threshold, the media guidance application may remove the attribute as an attribute corresponding to the result.

[0107] For example, the media guidance application may remove an attribute (e.g., the second user yells “no” in response to a command) corresponding to an outcome (e.g., the second user does not eat dinner). The media guidance application may determine that the attribute was not present in the corresponding outcome after the same outcome has occurred at least a threshold amount of times (e.g., 10 times). The media guidance application may retrieve the editor-defined threshold amount of times (e.g., 10 times) from the profile. The media guidance application may compare the editor-defined threshold amount of times to a counter associated with the outcome, and in response to determining that the counter (e.g., 11 times) exceeds the threshold amount (e.g., 10 times), the media guidance application may remove an attribute (e.g., the second user yells “no” in response to a command) corresponding to the outcome (e.g., the second user does not eat dinner).

[0108] The media guidance application may determine from the comparison that a result among the multiple results that contains the attributes of the command is the desired result. The media guidance application may use a ranking system to determine the desired result from the comparison. For example, the media guidance application may determine from the comparison that a result (e.g., the user pauses the movie and goes to eat dinner) that contains the attributes of the command (e.g., the intended conclusion of the command) is the desired result.

[0109] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that a result among the multiple results that contains the attribute of the command is the desired result based on the rank of the result among the multiple results. The media guidance application may determine the rank of a result among the multiple results based on the amount of attributes the result has in common with the attribute of the command (e.g., the percentage of common attributes). The media guidance application may determine that the rank corresponds directly to the percentage of common attributes (e.g., the higher the percentage, the higher the rank).

[0110] For example, the media guidance application may determine the rank of a result among multiple results by determining that the result has a percentage of attributes in common with the attributes of the command (e.g., 18 out of 20 attributes, or 90%) (e.g., by comparing the attributes of the result to the attributes of the command). The media guidance application may determine that the rank of the result corresponds directly to the percentage (e.g., ranked 90 out of 100).

[0111] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve a result that corresponds to a preferred result of the first user from the first user's preferences (e.g., the first user has a preferred result for the specific command). The preferred result for the specific command may cause the result among the plurality of results that corresponds to the preferred result to be the highest ranked result. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve a result that corresponds to a preferred result of the first user from the first user's preferences (e.g., the second user gets up and goes to dinner). The media guidance application may determine that the preferred result is the highest ranked among all the plurality of results (e.g., is ranked 100 out of 100).

[0112] After determining the desired outcome of the command, the media guidance application may determine the second user's response to the command and whether it satisfies the desired outcome. The media guidance application may detect an action performed by the second user. For example, the media guidance application may detect via a camera that the user has exited a viewing environment in which a movie is playing and entered a dining room.

[0113] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects an action performed by a second user, the media guidance application may use a sensor to detect the second user exiting a viewing environment of a media equipment device that is presenting a media asset. For example, the media guidance application may detect via a motion detection sensor that the second user is exiting a television viewing environment where the user is watching a movie.

[0114] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is detecting actions performed by a second user, the media guidance application may detect the second user executing a command that modifies the playback of a media asset. For example, the media guidance application may detect the user pressing an input command on a remote control device to “pause” the playback of a movie that the user is watching.

[0115] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is detecting an action performed by a second user, the media guidance application may use a sensor to detect that the second user remains within the viewing environment of the media asset device. For example, the media guidance application may use a heat mapping sensor to detect that the second user has not left the couch where the user is watching the movie playback.

[0116] The media guidance application may compare the second user's action to the desired outcome of the command. For example, the media guidance application may compare the action (e.g., the second user continuing to watch the movie) to the desired outcome of the command (e.g., the second user going out to dinner).

[0117] In response to determining that the second user's action does not correspond to the desired result of the command, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics of the second user from a user profile of the second user. The media guidance application may retrieve the characteristics of the second user from a characteristic database in the user profile. The characteristic values ​​stored in the database may be determined based on user input (e.g., a user entering information via a user input device such as a remote controller). For example, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics (e.g., age, relationship to the first user, household user rank, etc.) from the user profile of the second user.

[0118] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may compare a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user to the command, where the characteristic is selected from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship to other users, and time of day, and the command is selected from a group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping.

[0119] The media guidance application may determine from the comparison whether the command shares a characteristic of the second user. For example, the media guidance application may determine from the comparison whether the command (e.g., meal) shares a characteristic (e.g., time of day) of the second user.

[0120] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine whether the command shares an “age” characteristic of the second user. The media guidance application may retrieve the age characteristic of the command from the profile. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve the age characteristic of the command (e.g., this command must be followed by any user under 15 years old and may be ignored by any user over 15 years old). The media guidance application may compare the second user's age (e.g., the second user is 10 years old) with the age characteristic of the command and may determine that the command shares the age characteristic of the second user (e.g., the second user's age is within the age range (under 15 years old) of users who must follow the command).

[0121] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine whether the command shares a “relationship with other users” characteristic of the second user. The media guidance application may retrieve from the profile the second user's relationship with other users (e.g., the second user is the son of the first user). The media guidance application may retrieve a relationship characteristic of the command (e.g., a rank of those who must obey the command based on the relationship of the user giving the command with the user receiving the command). The media guidance application may determine whether the second user must obey the first user's command based on the rank. In response to determining “yes”, i.e., that the second user must obey the first user's command, the media guidance application may determine that the command shares a “relationship with other users” characteristic with the second user.

[0122] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine whether the command shares a “Time of Day” characteristic with the second user. The media guidance application may retrieve a “Time of Day” characteristic from the second user's profile (e.g., a user must follow commands from a first user between 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM every day). The time of day characteristic may be a predetermined value created in the second user's profile from input from the first user. The media guidance application may determine the time the command was issued by the first user (e.g., 7:02 PM). The media guidance application may compare this time to the time of day characteristic and determine that the command shares the time of day characteristic with the second user because the time the command was issued falls within the time window from the time of day characteristic.

[0123] In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is determining whether to modify playback of a media asset based on commands detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user, the media guidance application may retrieve the rank of the first user and the rank of the second user. The media guidance application may retrieve the ranks of the first user and the second user from the profile, where the ranks are preset values ​​based on user input (e.g., the first user selects a ranking order for all users with a user account). For example, the media guidance application may retrieve the rank of the first user (e.g., the first user is ranked first out of five users) and the rank of the second user (e.g., the second user is ranked fourth out of five users).

[0124] The media guidance application may determine from the ranks whether a first user is ranked higher than a second user. For example, the media guidance application may determine that a first user (e.g., ranked first) is ranked higher than a second user (e.g., ranked second).

[0125] In response to determining that the first user is ranked higher than the second user, the media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset. For example, in response to determining that the first user is ranked higher than the second user, the media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset (e.g., pausing a currently playing movie).

[0126] In response to determining that the second user is ranked higher than the first user, the media guidance application may continue to play the media asset. For example, in response to determining that the second user is ranked higher than the first user, the media guidance application may continue to play the media asset (e.g., a movie that the second user is watching).

[0127] In response to determining that the command shares the characteristic, the media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset. For example, in response to determining that the command shares the characteristic, the media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset (e.g., pause playback of the media asset).

[0128] The media guidance application may determine a specific type of playback modification (e.g., pause, mute, rewind, fast forward, turn off, etc.) based on preferences for the first user. The media guidance application may retrieve the first user's preferences from a playback modification database in the first user's profile. The media guidance application may retrieve playback modifications corresponding to the command from the database. The playback modifications corresponding to each command may be preset by an editor or by input from the first user.

[0129] For example, the media guidance application may determine a specific type of playback modification based on a first user's preferences. The media guidance application may retrieve the first user's preferences from a playback modification database in the first user's profile. The media guidance application may retrieve a playback modification (e.g., turn off playback of a media asset) from the database that corresponds to a command (e.g., eat dinner).

[0130] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect commands from a first user to a second user and a third user. For example, the media guidance application may detect a command from a first user to a second user and a third user (e.g., eat dinner). The media guidance application may detect the command using a similar method as described above.

[0131] The media guidance application may determine a desired outcome of the command from multiple outcomes of the command based on a user profile of the first user, a user profile of the second user, and a user profile of the third user. The media guidance application may determine the desired outcome of the command using similar methods as described above.

[0132] The media guidance application may detect a first action performed by a second user and a second action performed by a third user. For example, the media guidance application may detect a first action performed by a second user (e.g., the second user turns up the volume of a movie) and a second action performed by a third user (e.g., a motion sensor may detect that the third user leaves the viewing environment to go to dinner). The media guidance application may detect the first action performed by the second user and the second action performed by the third user using a similar method for detecting actions as described above.

[0133] The media guidance application may compare the second user's action and the third user's action to determine a desired outcome of the command. For example, the media guidance application may compare the second user's action (e.g., turning up the volume on a movie via a remote) and the third user's action (e.g., a motion sensor detecting a third user exiting the viewing environment) to determine a desired outcome of the command (e.g., the second and third users going out for dinner).

[0134] In response to determining that the second user's actions and the third user's actions do not correspond to the desired outcome of the command, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics of the second user from a user profile of the second user and characteristics of the third user from a user profile of the third user.

[0135] The media guidance application may determine whether to modify playback of a media asset based on the command detected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrieved characteristics of the third user. For example, the media guidance application may determine to modify playback of a media asset based on the command detected from the first user (e.g., eat dinner) and the retrieved characteristics (e.g., rank, etc.) of the first user and the retrieved characteristics (e.g., rank, etc.) of the third user because the rank of the command is higher than the rank of the second and third users. As another example, the media guidance application may determine not to modify playback of a media asset based on the command detected from the first user (e.g., eat dinner) and the retrieved characteristics (e.g., rank, etc.) of the first user and the retrieved characteristics (e.g., rank, etc.) of the third user because the rank of the second and third users is higher than the command and rank of the first user.

[0136] As yet another example, the media guidance application may decide to partially modify the playback of a media asset (e.g., mute the audio of the playback but play the audio through Bluetooth headphones for user 3) based on a command detected from the first user (e.g., eat dinner) and the retrieved characteristics (e.g., rank, etc.) of the first user and the retrieved characteristics (e.g., rank, etc.) of the third user because the rank of only the third user is higher than the command and rank of the first user.

[0137] The amount of content available to users in any given content delivery system can be staggering. As a result, many users desire a form of media guidance through an interface that allows them to efficiently navigate content selections and easily identify content that may be desired. Applications that provide such guidance are referred to herein as interactive media guidance applications, but may also sometimes be referred to as media guidance applications or guidance applications.

[0138] Interactive media guidance applications may take a variety of forms depending on the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type of media guidance application is an interactive television program guide. Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to as electronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that, among other things, allow users to navigate among and identify many types of content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications may generate graphical user interface screens that allow users to navigate among, identify and select content. As referred to herein, the terms "media assets" and "content" should be understood to mean television programs and electronically consumable user assets such as pay programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadable content, webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information, photos, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles, books, e-books, blogs, chat sessions, social media, applications, games, and / or any other media or multimedia, and / or combinations thereof. Guidance applications also allow users to navigate among and identify content. As referred to herein, the term "multimedia" should be understood to mean content that utilizes at least two of the different content forms described above, e.g., text, audio, image, video, or interactive content forms. The content may be recorded, played, displayed, or accessed by a user equipment device, but may also be part of a live performance.

[0139] The media guidance application and / or any instructions for implementing any of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on a computer-readable medium. A computer-readable medium includes any medium capable of storing data. A computer-readable medium may be transient, including, but not limited to, the propagation of electrical or electromagnetic signals, or non-transient, including, but not limited to, volatile and non-volatile computer memory or storage devices, such as hard disks, floppy disks, USB drives, DVDs, CDs, media cards, register memory, processor cache, random access memory ("RAM"), and the like.

[0140] With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speed wireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment devices that they had not traditionally used. As referred to herein, the terms “user equipment device”, “user equipment”, “user device”, “electronic device”, “electronic device”, “media equipment device”, or “media device” should be understood to mean any device for accessing the content described above, such as a television, a smart TV, a set-top box, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for supporting satellite television, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), a digital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, a DVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY® player, a BLU-RAY® recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a Web TV box, a personal computer television (PC / TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, a handheld computer, a landline phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a portable video player, a portable music player, a portable gaming console, a smartphone, or any other television equipment, computing equipment, or wireless device, and / or combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the user equipment devices may have front and rear screens, multiple front screens, or multiple angled screens. In some embodiments, the user equipment devices may have front and / or rear cameras. On these user equipment devices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same content available through a television. As a result, media guides may also be available on these devices. The guides provided may be for content available only through a television, for content available only through one or more of the other types of user equipment devices, or for content available both through a television and one or more of the other types of user equipment devices.The media guidance application may be provided on a user equipment device, as an online application (i.e., provided on a website), or as a stand-alone application or client. Various devices and platforms on which the media guidance application may be implemented are described in more detail below.

[0141] One of the functions of the media guidance application is to provide media guidance data to a user. As referred to herein, the phrases "media guidance data" or "guide data" should be understood to mean any data related to content or data used in operating the guidance application. For example, the guide data may include program information, guide application settings, user preferences, user profile information, media listings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast time, broadcast channel, title, content, rating information (e.g., parental control rating, critics' rating, etc.), genre or category information, actor information, logo data of a broadcaster or provider logo, etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D, etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type of guide data that helps a user navigate among and identify desired content selections.

[0142] FIG. 2-3 shows illustrative display screens that may be used to provide media guidance data. The display screens shown in FIG. 2-3 may be implemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. Although the displays in FIG. 2-3 are illustrated as full-screen displays, they may also be fully or partially overlaid on the displayed content. A user may indicate a desire to access content information by selecting a selectable option provided on the display screen (e.g., a menu option, a list option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or by pressing a dedicated button (e.g., a “Guide” button) on a remote control or other user input interface or device. In response to the user's indication, the media guidance application may provide the display screen with media guidance data organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in a grid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category (e.g., movies, sports, news, kids, or other programming categories), or other predetermined, user-defined, or other organization criteria.

[0143] FIG. 2 shows an illustrative grid of program listings display 200 arranged by time and channel that also allows access to different types of content within a single display. Display 200 may include a grid 202 with: (1) columns of channel / content type identifiers 204, where each channel / content type identifier (cell in the column) identifies a different channel or type of content available; and (2) rows of time identifiers 206, where each time identifier (cell in the row) identifies a time slot for a program. Grid 202 also includes cells of program listings, such as program listing 208, where each listing provides the title of the program provided above the listing's associated channel and time. Using a user input device, a user can select a program listing by moving highlight region 210. Information about the program listing selected by highlight region 210 may be provided in program information region 212. Region 212 may include, for example, the program title, program content, the time the program is offered (if applicable), the channel the program is broadcast on (if applicable), the program's rating, and other desired information.

[0144] In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., content scheduled for transmission to multiple user equipment devices at predetermined times and provided according to a schedule), the media guide application also provides access to nonlinear programming (e.g., content that is accessible to user equipment devices at any time and is not provided according to a schedule). Nonlinear programming may include content from different content sources, including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content (e.g., content stored on any of the user equipment devices described above or other storage devices), or other content that is not time-constrained. On-demand content may include movies or any other content provided by a particular content provider (e.g., HBO On Demand, which provides "The Sopranos" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm"). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time Warner Company LP et al., and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM are trademarks owned by Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content may include web events such as chat sessions or webcasts, or content available on demand as streaming or downloadable content through an Internet website or other Internet access (eg, FTP).

[0145] Grid 202 may provide media guide data for non-linear programming, including on-demand listings 214, recorded content listings 216, and Internet content listings 218. Displays that combine media guidance data for content from different types of content sources are sometimes referred to as "mixed media" displays. Various permutations of the types of media guidance data that may be displayed, other than display 200, may be based on user selection or guide application definition (e.g., displaying only recorded and broadcast listings, displaying only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings 214, 216, and 218 are shown as spanning the entire time period displayed in grid 202 to indicate that selection of these listings may provide access to a dedicated display of on-demand listings, recorded listings, or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings for these content types may be included directly in grid 202. In response to a user selecting one of navigation icons 220, additional media guidance data may be displayed (pressing an arrow key on a user input device may affect the display in a similar manner to selecting navigation icon 220).

[0146] Display 200 may also include a video region 222 and an options region 226. Video region 222 may allow a user to watch and / or preview programs that are currently available, will be available, or have been available to the user. The content of video region 222 may correspond to or be independent of one of the listings displayed in grid 202. Grid displays that include a video region are sometimes referred to as picture-in-guide (PIG) ​​displays. PIG displays and their functionality are described in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 to Satterfield et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001 to Yuen et al., which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the embodiments described herein.

[0147] Options region 226 may allow a user to access different types of content, media guidance application views, and / or media guidance application features. Options region 226 may be part of display 200 (and other display screens described herein) or may be invoked by a user by selecting an option on the screen or by pressing a dedicated or assignable button on a user input device. The selectable options in options region 226 may relate to features related to program listings in grid 202 or may include options available from a main menu display. Features related to program listings may include finding other air times or methods of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling continuous recording of a program, setting a program and / or channel as a favorite, purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a main menu display may include search options, VOD options, parental control options, Internet options, cloud-based options, device sync options, second screen device options, options to access various types of media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to premium services, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browser overlay, or other options.

[0148] The media guidance application may be personalized based on user preferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user to customize displays and features to create a personalized “experience” with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may be created by allowing the user to input these customizations and / or by the media guidance application monitoring user activity to determine various user preferences. Users may access their personalized guidance application by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to the guidance application. Customizations of the media guidance application may be created according to a user profile. Customizations may include changing the presentation scheme (e.g., color scheme of the display, font size of text, etc.), aspects of the content listings displayed (e.g., only HDTV programs or only 3D programs, user-specified broadcast channels based on favorite channel selections, sorting of channel display, recommended content, etc.), desired recording characteristics (e.g., recording or continuous recording for a particular user, recording quality, etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internet content (e.g., presentation of social media content, email, electronically distributed articles, etc.), and other desired customizations.

[0149] The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profile information or may automatically compile user profile information. The media guidance application may, for example, monitor the content the user accesses and / or other interactions the user may have with the guidance application. In addition, the media guidance application may obtain all or part of other user profiles associated with a particular user (e.g., from other websites on the Internet the user accesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applications the user accesses, from other interactive applications the user accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.) and / or obtain information about the user from other sources to which the media guidance application may have access. As a result, the user can be provided with a unified guidance application experience across the user's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience is described in more detail below in connection with FIG. 5. Additional personalized media guide application features are described in more detail in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005 / 0251827 to Ellis et al., filed July 11, 2005, U.S. Patent No. 7,165,098 to Boyer et al., issued January 16, 2007, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002 / 0174430 to Ellis et al., filed February 21, 2002, which are incorporated by reference in their entireties herein.

[0150] Another display arrangement for providing a media guide is shown in FIG. 3. Video mosaic display 300 includes selectable options 302 for content information organized based on content type, genre, and / or other organization criteria. In display 300, television listings option 304 is selected, thus providing listings 306, 308, 310, and 312 as broadcast program listings. In display 300, the listings may provide graphic images including cover art, still images from the content, previews of video clips, live video from the content, or other types of content that indicate to the user the content described by the media guide data in the listing. The graphic listings may also be accompanied by text, respectively, to provide further information about the content associated with the listing. For example, listing 308 may include more than one portion, including media portion 314 and text portion 316. Media portion 314 and / or text portion 316 may be selectable to watch the content full screen or to view information related to the content displayed in media portion 314 (e.g., to view listings for the channel on which the video is displayed).

[0151] The listings in display 300 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 306 is larger than listings 308, 310, and 312), although all listings could be the same size, as desired. The listings may be different sizes or graphically highlighted to indicate a degree of user interest or to highlight certain content, as desired by the content provider or based on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphically highlighting content listings are discussed, for example, in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010 / 0153885 to Yates, filed Nov. 12, 2009, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0152] A user may access content and media guidance applications (and their display screens, described above and below) from one or more of their user equipment devices. FIG. 4 shows a generalized embodiment of an illustrative user equipment device 400. A more specific implementation of a user equipment device is discussed below in connection with FIG. 5. User equipment device 400 may receive content and data via input / output (hereinafter “I / O”) path 402. I / O path 402 may provide content (e.g., broadcast programs, on-demand programs, Internet content, content available over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), and / or other content) and data to control circuitry 404, which includes processing circuitry 406 and storage device 408. Control circuitry 404 may be used to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable data using I / O path 402. I / O path 402 may connect control circuitry 404 (specifically, processing circuitry 406) to one or more communication paths (described below). An I / O function may be provided by one or more of these communication paths, but is shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

[0153] Control circuitry 404 may be based on any suitable processing circuitry, such as processing circuitry 406. As referred to herein, processing circuitry is understood to mean circuitry based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may include multi-core processors (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or any suitable number of cores) or supercomputers. In some embodiments, processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separate processors or processing units, such as multiple processing units of the same type (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multiple different processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Core i7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 404 executes instructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e., storage device 408). In particular, control circuitry 404 may be instructed by the media guidance application to perform the functions discussed above and below. For example, the media guidance application may provide control circuitry 404 with instructions to generate a media guidance display. In some implementations, any actions performed by control circuitry 404 may be based on instructions received from a media guidance application.

[0154] In a client-server based embodiment, control circuitry 404 may include suitable communications circuitry for communicating with a guide application server or other network or server. Instructions for implementing the functionality described above may be stored on the guide application server. The communications circuitry may include a cable modem, an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) modem, a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, an Ethernet card, or a wireless modem for communication with other equipment, or any other suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involve the Internet or any other suitable communications network or path (described in more detail in connection with FIG. 5). In addition, the communications circuitry may include circuitry to enable peer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communication of user equipment devices at locations remote from each other (described in more detail below).

[0155] The memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage device 408 that is part of control circuitry 404. As referred to herein, the phrase "electronic storage device" or "storage device" should be understood to mean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, or firmware, such as random access memory, read-only memory, hard drive, optical drive, digital video disc (DVD) recorder, compact disc (CD) recorder, BLU-RAY® Disc (BD) recorder, BLU-RAY® 3D Disc recorder, digital video recorder (DVR, or sometimes called personal video recorder or PVR), solid state device, quantum storage device, game console, game media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storage device, and / or any combination thereof. Storage device 408 may be used to store various types of content described herein, as well as media guidance data described above. Non-volatile memory may also be used (e.g., to initiate boot-up routines and other instructions). Cloud-based storage, as described in connection with FIG. 5, may be used to supplement storage 408 or in place of storage 408.

[0156] The control circuitry 404 may include video generation and tuning circuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2 decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high definition tuners, or any other suitable tuning or video circuitry, or a combination of such circuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog, or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided. The control circuitry 404 may also include scaling circuitry for up-converting and down-converting content to a preferred output format of the user equipment 400. The circuitry 404 may also include digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversion circuitry for converting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encoding circuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and display, play, or record content. The tuning and encoding circuitry may also be used to receive guide data. For example, the circuitry described herein, including tuning, video generation, encoding, decoding, encryption, decryption, scaling, and analog / digital circuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or more general-purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may be provided to accommodate simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and record functions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multi-tuner recording functions, etc.) If storage 408 is provided as a device separate from user equipment 400, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated with storage 408.

[0157] A user may send instructions to control circuitry 404 using user input interface 410. User input interface 410 may be any suitable user interface, such as a remote control, a mouse, a trackball, a keypad, a keyboard, a touch screen, a touch pad, a stylus input, a joystick, a voice recognition interface, or other user input interface. Display 412 may be provided as a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of user equipment device 400. For example, display 412 may be a touch screen or a touch-sensitive display. In such situations, user input interface 410 may be integrated or combined with display 412. Display 412 may be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, an amorphous silicon display, a low temperature polysilicon display, an electronic ink display, an electrophoretic display, an active matrix display, an electrowetting display, an electrofluidic display, a cathode ray tube display, a light emitting diode display, an electroluminescent display, a plasma display panel, a high performance addressing display, a thin film transistor display, an organic light emitting diode display, a surface conduction electron emitter display (SED), a laser television, a carbon nanotube, a quantum dot display, an interferometric modulator display, or any other suitable device for displaying visual images. In some embodiments, display 412 may be HDTV compatible. In some embodiments, display 412 may be a 3D display, and the interactive media guide application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. A video card or graphics card may generate output to display 412. The video card may provide various functions such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2 / MPEG-4 decoding, a TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors.The video card may be any of the processing circuitry described above in association with control circuitry 404. The video card may be integrated with control circuitry 404. Speakers 414 may be provided as integrated with other elements of user equipment device 400 or may be a stand-alone unit. Audio components of video and other content displayed on display 412 may be played through speakers 414. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the sound via speakers 414.

[0158] The guidance application may be implemented using any suitable architecture. For example, it may be a standalone application implemented entirely on user equipment device 400. In such an approach, the application's instructions are stored locally (e.g., in storage 408) and data for use by the application is periodically downloaded (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, or using another suitable approach). Control circuitry 404 may read the application's instructions from storage 408 and process the instructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based on the processed instructions, control circuitry 404 may determine an action to perform when input is received from input interface 410. For example, movement of a cursor up / down on a display may be indicated by the processed instructions when input interface 410 indicates that an up / down button has been selected.

[0159] In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-server based application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented on user equipment device 400 is retrieved on demand by issuing requests to a server remote from user equipment device 400. In one example of a client-server based guidance application, control circuitry 404 launches a web browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. For example, the remote server may store instructions for the application in a storage device. The remote server may use circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 404) to process the stored instructions and generate the displays discussed above and below. The client device may receive the displays generated by the remote server and display the contents of the displays locally on equipment device 400. In this manner, the processing of instructions is performed remotely by a server, while the resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 400. Equipment device 400 may receive inputs from a user via input interface 410 and transmit those inputs to the remote server for processing and generating corresponding displays. For example, the appliance device 400 may transmit a communication to a remote server indicating that an up / down button was selected via the input interface 410. The remote server may process instructions according to the input and generate a display of the application corresponding to the input (e.g., a display that moves a cursor up / down). The generated display is then transmitted to the appliance device 400 for presentation to the user.

[0160] In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded and interpreted or otherwise invoked by an interpreter or virtual machine (invoked by control circuitry 404). In some embodiments, the guidance application may be encoded in ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) and received by control circuitry 404 as part of a suitable feed and interpreted by a user agent running on control circuitry 404. For example, the guidance application may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files that are received and invoked by a local virtual machine or other suitable middleware executed by control circuitry 404. In some such embodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital media encoding schemes), the guidance application may be encoded and transmitted, for example, in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the program's MPEG audio and video packets.

[0161] User equipment devices 400 of FIG. 4 may be implemented in system 500 of FIG. 5 as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communications devices 506, or any other type of user equipment suitable for accessing content, such as non-portable gaming consoles. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to collectively herein as user equipment or user equipment devices and may be substantially similar to the user equipment devices described above. The user equipment devices on which the media guidance application may be implemented may function as stand-alone devices or may be part of a network of devices. Various network configurations of devices may be implemented and are discussed in more detail below.

[0162] User equipment devices utilizing at least some of the system features described above in connection with FIG. 4 may not simply be classified as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, or wireless user communications device 506. For example, user television equipment 502, like some user computer equipment 504, may be Internet-enabled allowing access to Internet content, while user computer equipment 504, like some television equipment 502, may include a tuner allowing access to television programs. The media guidance application may also have the same layout on various different types of user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of the user equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 504, the guidance application may be provided as a website accessed by a web browser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled down for wireless user communications device 506.

[0163] In system 500, there will typically be more than one of each type of user equipment device, although to avoid overcomplicating the drawing, only one of each is shown in Figure 5. In addition, each user may utilize more than one type of user equipment device and also more than one of each type of user equipment device.

[0164] In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communications device 506) may be referred to as a "second screen device." For example, the second screen device may complement the content presented on the first user equipment device. The content presented on the second screen device may be any suitable content that complements the content presented on the first device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides an interface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the first device. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured to interact with other second screen devices or to interact with a social network. The second screen device may be located in the same room as the first device, in a different room from the first device but in the same home or building, or in a different building from the first device.

[0165] A user may also set various settings to maintain consistent media guidance application settings across in-home and remote devices. Settings include those described herein as well as favorite channels and programs, program preferences that the guidance application utilizes to recommend programs, display preferences, and other desired guide settings. For example, if a user sets a channel as a favorite on his or her office personal computer, e.g., on the website www.Tivo.com, the same channel will be displayed as a favorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipment and user computer equipment) and, if desired, on the user's mobile devices. Thus, changes made on one user equipment device can change the guide experience on another user equipment device, whether the same or a different type of user equipment device. In addition, changes made may be based on settings entered by the user and user activity monitored by the guidance application.

[0166] User equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 514. That is, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wireless user communications device 506 are coupled to communications network 514 via communications paths 508, 510, and 512, respectively. Communications network 514 may be one or more networks including the Internet, a cellular network, a mobile voice or data network (e.g., a 4G or LTE network), a cable network, a public switched telephone network, or other types of communications networks, or combinations of communications networks. Paths 508, 510, and 512, separately or together, may include one or more communications paths, such as satellite paths, fiber optic paths, cable paths, paths supporting Internet communications (e.g., IPTV), free space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wireless signals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications paths, or combinations of such paths. Path 512 is depicted in the exemplary embodiment shown in Figure 5 as a dashed line to indicate that it is a wireless path, and paths 508 and 510 are depicted as solid lines to indicate that they are wired paths (although these paths may also be wireless paths, if desired). Communication with a user equipment device may be provided by one or more of these communication paths, but are shown in Figure 5 as a single path to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

[0167] Although communication paths are not depicted between the user equipment devices, these devices may communicate directly with each other via communication paths such as those described above in connection with paths 508, 510, and 512, and other short-range point-to-point communication paths, such as a USB cable, an IEEE 1394 cable, wireless paths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or other short-range communications via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is a certification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. User equipment devices may also communicate directly with each other through an indirect path via communications network 514.

[0168] System 500 includes a content source 516 and a media guidance data source 518 coupled to a communications network 514 via communications paths 520 and 522, respectively. Paths 520 and 522 may include any of the communications paths described above in connection with paths 508, 510, and 512. Communications with content source 516 and media guidance data source 518 may be exchanged via one or more communications paths, but are shown in FIG. 5 as a single path to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of content source 516 and media guidance data source 518, but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (Each of these different types of sources is discussed below.) If desired, content source 516 and media guidance data source 518 may be integrated as one source device. Although communications between sources 516 and 518 and user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 are shown as being through communications network 514, in some embodiments sources 516 and 518 may communicate directly with user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 via communications paths (not shown) such as those described above in connection with paths 508, 510, and 512.

[0169] The content sources 516 may include one or more types of content distribution equipment, including television distribution facilities, cable system head ends, satellite distribution facilities, program sources (e.g., television broadcasting companies such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediate distribution facilities and / or servers, Internet providers, on-demand media servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by American Broadcasting Company, INC., and HBO is a trademark owned by Home Box Office, Inc. The content sources 516 may be content origins (e.g., television broadcasting companies, webcast providers, etc.) or may not be content origins (e.g., on-demand content providers, Internet providers of broadcast program content for download, etc.). The content sources 516 may include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers, over-the-top content providers, or other content providers. The content sources 516 may also include remote media servers used to store different types of content (including video content selected by a user) at locations remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems and methods for remote storage of content and for providing remotely stored content to user equipment are discussed in more detail in connection with U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892 to Ellis et al., issued July 20, 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0170] Media guidance data source 518 may provide media guide data, such as the media guide data described above. The media guide data may be provided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. In some embodiments, the guide application may be a stand-alone interactive television program guide that receives program guide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or a trickle feed). Program schedule data and other guide data may be provided to the user equipment on a sideband of a television channel, using an in-band digital signal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitable data transmission technique. Program schedule data and other media guide data may be provided to the user equipment over multiple analog or digital television channels.

[0171] In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 518 may be provided to the user's equipment using a client-server approach. For example, the user equipment device may pull the media guidance data from a server, or the server may push the media guidance data to the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a guidance application client resident on the user's equipment may initiate a session with source 518 and obtain the guidance data as needed, for example, when the guidance data is out of date or when the user equipment device receives a request from the user to receive the data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment at any suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, at a user-defined period, at a system-defined period, in response to a request from the user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 518 may provide the media guidance application itself, or software updates for the media guidance application, to user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506.

[0172] In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data. For example, the viewer data may include current and / or historical user activity information (e.g., the content a user typically watches, the time of day the user watches content, whether the user interacts with social networks, the time the user interacts with social networks and posts information, the type of content the user typically watches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information, etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. For example, the subscription data may identify sources or services to which a given user subscribes and / or sources or services to which a given user previously subscribed but subsequently discontinued access (e.g., whether the user subscribed to a premium channel, whether the user added a premium level of service, whether the user accelerated their Internet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and / or subscription data may identify a given user's patterns for a period of more than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., a survivor model) that is used to generate a score indicative of the likelihood that a given user will discontinue access to a service / source. For example, the media guidance application may process the viewer data along with the subscription data using a model to generate a value or score that indicates the likelihood that a given user will terminate access to a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score may indicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminate access to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the media guidance application may generate promotions that encourage the user to maintain the particular service or source indicated by the score as one that the user will likely terminate access to.

[0173] The media guidance application may be, for example, a stand-alone application implemented on a user equipment device. For example, the media guidance application may be implemented as software or a set of executable instructions that may be stored in storage 408 and executed by control circuitry 404 of user equipment device 400. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may be a client-server application, where only the client application resides on the user equipment device and the server application resides on a remote server. For example, the media guidance application may be implemented partially as a client application on control circuitry 404 of user equipment device 400 and partially on the remote server as a server application (e.g., media guidance data source 518) running on control circuitry of the remote server. When executed by the control circuitry of the remote server (such as media guidance data source 518), the media guidance application may instruct the control circuitry to generate a guidance application display and transmit the generated display to the user equipment device. The server application may instruct control circuitry of media guidance data source 518 to transmit data for storage on the user equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry in the receiving user equipment to generate a guide application display.

[0174] The content and / or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT content delivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any of the user equipment devices described above, to receive content transmitted over the Internet, including any of the content described above, in addition to content received over a cable or satellite connection. OTT content is delivered over an Internet connection provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP), although third parties also distribute content. ISPs may not be responsible for viewing capabilities, copyright, or redistribution of content, and may only transmit IP packets provided by OTT content providers. Examples of OTT content providers include YOUTUBE®, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video over IP packets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is ​​a trademark owned by Netflix, Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu, LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively provide media guidance data as described above. In addition to the content and / or media guidance data, a provider of OTT content may distribute a media guidance application (e.g., a web-based application or a cloud-based application) or the content may be displayed by a media guidance application stored on the user equipment device.

[0175] Media guidance system 500 is intended to illustrate several approaches or network configurations whereby user equipment devices and sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each other for purposes of accessing content and providing media guidance. The embodiments described herein may be applied in any one or some of these approaches, or in systems employing other approaches for delivering content and providing media guidance. The following four approaches provide specific illustrations of the generic example of FIG. 5:

[0176] In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each other within a home network. The user equipment devices may communicate with each other directly via the short-range point-to-point communication scheme described above, via an indirect path through a hub or other similar device provided on the home network, or via communications network 514. Multiple individuals within a household may each operate different user equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may be desirable for various media guidance information or settings to be communicated between the different user equipment devices. For example, as described in more detail in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005 / 0251827, filed July 11, 2005, to Ellis et al., it may be desirable for a user to maintain consistent media guidance application settings on different user equipment devices within a home network. Different types of user equipment devices within a home network may also communicate with each other and transfer content. For example, a user may transfer content from a user computer equipment to a portable video player or a portable music player.

[0177] In a second approach, a user may have multiple types of user equipment through which they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, some users may have a home network that is accessed by in-home and mobile devices. The user may control the in-home devices through a media guidance application implemented on a remote device. For example, the user may access an online media guidance application on a website through a personal computer in their office or a mobile device such as a PDA or web-enabled cell phone. The user may set various settings (e.g., recording, reminders, or other settings) on the online guide application to control the user's in-home devices. The online guide may control the user's equipment directly or by communicating with the media guide application on the user's in-home devices. Various systems and methods for communication of user equipment devices, where the user equipment devices are located remotely from one another, are discussed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issued Oct. 25, 2011 to Ellis et al., which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0178] In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outside the home may use their media guidance application to communicate directly with content sources 516 and access content. Specifically, within the home, users of user television equipment 502 and user computer equipment 504 may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locate desired content. Users may also use wireless user communications devices 506 to access the media guidance application outside the home to navigate among and locate desired content.

[0179] In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate within a cloud computing environment and access cloud services. In a cloud computing environment, various types of computing services for content sharing, storage, or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networking sites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing and storage resources, referred to as a "cloud." For example, a cloud may include a collection of server computing devices, which may be located in central or distributed locations, that provide cloud-based services to various types of users and devices, connected through a network, such as the Internet via communications network 514. These cloud resources may include one or more content sources 516 and one or more media guidance data sources 518. Additionally or alternatively, the remote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wireless user communications devices 506. For example, the other user equipment devices may provide access to stored copies of videos or streamed videos. In such an embodiment, the user equipment devices may operate in a peer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

[0180] The cloud provides access to services such as content storage, content sharing, or social networking services, among other examples, for user equipment devices, and access to any of the content described above. Services can be provided in the cloud, through a cloud computing service provider, or through other providers of online services. For example, cloud-based services can include content storage services, content sharing sites, social networking sites, or other services through which user-supplied content is distributed for viewing by others on connected devices. These cloud-based services may enable user equipment devices to store content in the cloud and receive content from the cloud, rather than storing content locally and accessing the locally stored content.

[0181] Users may record content using a variety of content capture devices, such as camcorders, digital cameras with video modes, audio recorders, mobile phones, and handheld computing devices. Users can upload content to a content storage service on the cloud, for example, directly, either from user computing equipment 504 or from a wireless user communication device 506 with content capture features. Alternatively, users can first transfer content to a user equipment device, such as user computing equipment 504. The user equipment device that stores the content uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmission service on communication network 514. In some embodiments, the user equipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipment devices can access the content directly from the user equipment device where the user stored the content.

[0182] Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, for example, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktop application, a mobile application, and / or any combination of those access applications. A user equipment device may be a cloud client that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or the user equipment device may have some functionality without accessing cloud resources. For example, some applications that run on a user equipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications that are delivered as a service over the Internet, while other applications may be stored and run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user device may receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. For example, a user device may stream audio from one cloud resource while downloading content from a second cloud resource. Or, a user device may download content from multiple cloud resources for more efficient downloading. In some embodiments, a user equipment device may use cloud resources for processing operations, such as the processing operations performed by the processing circuitry described in connection with FIG. 4.

[0183] As referenced herein, the term "in response to" refers to "initiated as a result of." For example, a first action being performed in response to a second action may include an intervening step between the first and second action. As referenced herein, the term "in direct response to" refers to "caused by." For example, a first action being performed in direct response to a second action may not include an intervening step between the first and second action.

[0184] 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for converting a non-playback command into an associated playback modification and prompting a recipient of the command to execute the command according to some embodiments of this disclosure. Process 600 and any of the following processes may be performed by control circuitry 404 (e.g., in a manner instructed to control circuitry 404 by a media guidance application). Control circuitry 404 may be part of user equipment (e.g., user equipment 100, which may have any or all of the functionality of user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and / or wireless communication device 506), or a remote server separated from the user equipment via communications network 514, or distributed across a combination of both.

[0185] Process 600 begins at 602 where control circuitry 404 determines a command from a first user 102 to a second user 106. Control circuitry 404 determines a command from a first user 102 to a second user 106 by detecting audio output 104 from the first user 102 using sensors, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and / or wireless user communications devices 512. For example, control circuitry 404 may determine a command from a first user 102 to a second user 106 (e.g., eat dinner) by detecting a verbal output from the first user 102 (e.g., "It's time for dinner!") using an audio sensor.

[0186] At 604, the control circuitry 404 compares the command to a set of playback operation commands for the currently playing media asset. The control circuitry 404 retrieves a set of playback operation commands for the media asset from the storage device 408 or via the communication network 514. The control circuitry 404, using the processing circuitry 406, compares the command to the retrieved set of playback operations. For example, the control circuitry 404 compares the command (e.g., "have dinner") to the set of playback operation commands for the currently playing media asset (e.g., pause, play, rewind, fast forward, stop, mute, etc.).

[0187] At 606, the control circuitry 404 determines whether the command is contained within the set of play operations. If at 606 the control circuitry 404 determines "yes", i.e., the command is contained within the set of play operations, then process 606 returns to process 602.

[0188] If at 606 the control circuitry 404 determines "no", i.e., the command is not contained within the set of playback actions, then process 606 continues to process 608. At 608, the control circuitry 404 determines whether the second user 106 executes the desired result of the command. The control circuitry 404 determines whether the second user 106 executes the command using a similar method as described above. For example, the control circuitry 404 may use the wireless user communications device 506 to detect actions the second user 106 executes (e.g., track the user's phone call and determine whether the user exits the viewing environment).

[0189] At 610, in response to determining that the second user does not execute the desired result of the command, control circuitry 404 determines whether to modify the playback of the media asset. For example, control circuitry 404 may retrieve the respective ranks of the users stored in storage 408 or retrieved via communication network 514. Control circuitry 404 may determine whether first user 102 is of a higher rank than second user 106, and in response to determining that first user 102 is of a higher rank than second user 106, control circuitry 404 may modify the playback of the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may mute the volume of the playback of media asset 116 through speaker 414. As another example, the media guidance application may turn off display 412.

[0190] 7 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for converting a non-playback command into an associated playback modification and prompting a recipient of the command to execute the command, according to some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 700 begins at 702, where control circuitry 404 detects a command from a first user 104 to a second user 106. Control circuitry 404 detects the command from the first user 104 to the second user 106 by detecting audio output 104 from the first user 102 using sensors, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and / or wireless user communications devices 512. For example, control circuitry 404 may detect the command from the first user to the second user by detecting verbal output from the first user using an audio sensor.

[0191] At 704, control circuitry 404 compares the command to a set of playback operation commands for the media asset currently being played by the second user. Control circuitry 404 retrieves a set of playback operation commands for the media asset 108 from storage device 408 or media guidance data source 518, or via communications network 514. Control circuitry 404 compares the command to the retrieved set of playback operations using processing circuitry 406. For example, control circuitry 404 may retrieve a set of playback operation commands (e.g., pause, play, rewind, fast forward, stop, mute, etc.) from a database in storage device 408. Control circuitry 404 may compare the command to the retrieved set of playback operation commands.

[0192] At 706, the control circuitry 404 determines whether the command is contained within the set of play operations. If at 706 the control circuitry 404 determines "yes", i.e., the command is contained within the set of play operations, then process 706 returns to process 702.

[0193] If at 706 the control circuitry 404 determines "no", i.e., the command is not contained within the set of playback actions, then process 706 proceeds to process 708. At 708, the control circuitry 404 determines that the command is not contained within the set of playback action commands. For example, the control circuitry 404 may use the processing circuitry 406 to determine that the command (e.g., eat dinner) is not contained within the set of playback action commands (e.g., pause, play, stop, rewind, fast forward, etc.).

[0194] At 710, control circuitry 404 determines a desired outcome of the command from multiple outcomes of the command based on the user profile of first user 102 and the user profile of second user 106. Control circuitry 404 retrieves the user profile of first user 102 and the user profile of second user 106 from storage 408 or media guidance data source 518, or via communications network 514. Control circuitry 404 determines the desired outcome of the command using similar methods as described above.

[0195] At 712, the control circuitry 404 detects an action performed by the second user 106. The control circuitry 404 determines the action performed by the second user 106 using similar methods as described above. For example, the control circuitry 404 may use the wireless user communications device 506 (e.g., a camera) to detect the action performed by the second user (e.g., track the user's movements and determine whether the user exits the viewing environment). At 714, the control circuitry 404 compares the action of the second user 106 to the desired outcome of the command. The control circuitry 404 compares the action of the second user to the desired outcome of the command using similar methods as described above. For example, the control circuitry 404 may compare the action (e.g., the user not moving from the couch) to the desired outcome (e.g., the user going out to dinner).

[0196] At 716, in response to determining that the second user's 106 actions do not correspond to the desired result of the command, the control circuitry 404 retrieves the characteristics of the second user 106 from a user profile of the second user 106. The control circuitry 404 retrieves the characteristics of the second user from a database in the storage device 408 corresponding to the user profile or via the communication network 514. For example, the control circuitry 404 retrieves the characteristics of the second user (e.g., the second user is 10 years old) from a database in the storage device 408 corresponding to the profile of the second user. At 718, the control circuitry 404 determines whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command detected from the first user 102 and the retrieved characteristics of the second user 106. The control circuitry 404 may determine whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the command and the retrieved characteristics using a similar method as described above. For example, control circuitry 404 may determine whether to modify the playback of a media asset based on a ranking between two users, as retrieved from a database corresponding to user profiles in storage device 408 .

[0197] 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining a command based on a characteristic of a second user 106, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 800 begins at 802, where the control circuit 404 compares a characteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user with a command, where the characteristic is selected from a group of characteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship with other users, and time of day, and the command is selected from a group of commands consisting of eating, cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping. The control circuit 404 retrieves the characteristic from a database in the storage device 408. The control circuit 404 compares the characteristic with the command using a similar method as described above. For example, the control circuit 404 may compare a characteristic (e.g., age) from the retrieved characteristics with a command (e.g., eating).

[0198] At 804, control circuitry 404 determines from the comparison whether the command shares a characteristic of second user 106. Control circuitry 404 retrieves the characteristic of the command from a database in storage 408 and uses it in the comparison. For example, control circuitry 404 may use processing circuitry 406 to determine that the command (e.g., eat) shares a characteristic of second user 106 (e.g., the time of day corresponds to dinner time). At 806, in response to determining that the command shares a characteristic, control circuitry 404 modifies the playback of the media asset. For example, control circuitry 404 may pause the playback of the media asset on user television equipment 502. As another example, control circuitry 404 may mute the audio (e.g., volume 116) of the playback of the media asset through speaker 414. As yet another example, control circuitry 404 may turn off display 412 that was displaying the playback of the media asset.

[0199] 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for converting a non-playback command into an associated playback modification and prompting a recipient of the command to execute the command, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 900 begins at 902, where the control circuitry 404 detects a command from the first user 102 to the second user 106 and the third user. For example, the control circuitry 404 may detect the command from the first user to the second user and the third user by detecting verbal output from the first user using an audio sensor.

[0200] At 904, control circuitry 404 determines a desired result of the command from multiple results of the command based on the user profile of first user 102, the user profile of second user 106, and the user profile of a third user. For example, control circuitry 404 may determine the desired result of the command based on retrieving attributes of the command from storage device 408 or a database in media guidance data source 518, or over communications network 514.

[0201] At 906, the control circuitry 404 detects a first action performed by the second user and a second action performed by the third user. The control circuitry 404 determines the action performed by the second user and the action performed by the third user using a similar method as described above. For example, the control circuitry 404 may use the wireless user communications device 506 (e.g., a camera) to detect the actions performed by the second and third users (e.g., track the users' movements and determine whether the users exit the viewing environment).

[0202] At 908, the control circuitry 404 compares the action of the second user 106 and the action of the third user to the desired outcome of the command. For example, the control circuitry 404 may compare the action of the second user 106 (e.g., still viewing the media asset) and the action of the third user (e.g., still viewing the media asset) to the desired outcome of the command (e.g., walking to the dinner table).

[0203] At 910, in response to determining that the second user's actions and the third user's actions do not correspond to the desired outcome of the command, the control circuitry 404 retrieves characteristics of the second user 106 from a user profile of the second user 106 and characteristics of the third user from a user profile of the third user. For example, the control circuitry 404 may retrieve the characteristics of the second user from a database in the storage device 408 that corresponds to the profile of the second user, and may retrieve the characteristics of the third user from a profile of the third user stored on a remote server via the communications network 514.

[0204] At 912, the control circuitry 404 determines whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on the commands detected from the first user 102 and the retrieved characteristics of the second user 106 and the retrieved characteristics of the third user. For example, the control circuitry 404 determines whether to modify the playback of the media asset based on a rank associated with each user.

[0205] 10 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining a command based on verbal input 104 of a first user 102, according to some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 1000 begins at 1002, where control circuitry 404 detects verbal input 104 from first user 102. For example, control circuitry 404 may use an audio sensor to detect verbal input 104 from first user 102. In some instances, the audio sensor may be contained within user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and / or wireless user communications device 506.

[0206] At 1004, the control circuitry 404 compares the verbal input 104 to a database of commands, the database containing commands corresponding to each verbal input. The control circuitry 404 retrieves the database of verbal commands from the storage device 408 via the communication network 514. For example, the control circuitry 404 compares the verbal input (e.g., "Dinner is ready!") to the database of verbal commands received from the storage device 408. At 1006, the control circuitry 404 determines from the user's profile a command corresponding to the verbal input from the first user 102. The control circuitry 404 determines a command corresponding to the verbal input using a similar method as described above. For example, the control circuitry 404 may use the processing circuitry 406 to compare the verbal input to the database of verbal commands based on keyword matching.

[0207] 11 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining an outcome based on attributes of a command, according to some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 1100 begins at 1102, where control circuitry 404 determines attributes of the command. For example, control circuitry 404 may determine the attributes of the command based on analyzing audio associated with the command, as described above. At 1104, control circuitry 404 compares the attributes of the command to attributes of multiple results of the command. For example, control circuitry 404 may compare the attributes of the command to attributes of multiple results of the command, which may be retrieved from storage device 408.

[0208] At 1106, the control circuitry 404 determines from the comparison that a result among the plurality of results that contains the attribute of the command is the desired result. For example, the control circuitry 404 may determine that a result among the plurality of results with the highest rank is the desired result.

[0209] 12 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for detecting whether a second user 106 exits a viewing area of ​​a media equipment device presenting a media asset, according to some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 1200 begins at 1202, where the control circuitry 404 detects the second user executing a command to modify the playback of the media asset. For example, the control circuitry 404 may receive a user input command (e.g., a "pause" command) from the user input interface 410 that modifies the playback of the media asset (e.g., pausing the media asset).

[0210] At 1204, the control circuitry 404 determines whether the user exits the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset. If at 1204 the control circuitry 404 determines "yes", i.e., the second user 106 exits the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset, the process 1204 proceeds to process 1206. At 1206, the control circuitry 404 uses a sensor to detect the second user exiting the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset. For example, the control circuitry 404 may use the wireless user communication device 506 (e.g., a camera) to track the second user's movements to detect when the second user exits the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset.

[0211] If, at 1204, the control circuitry 404 determines "no," i.e., the user does not exit the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset, then the process 1204 proceeds to process 1208. At 1208, the control circuitry 404 uses a sensor to detect that the second user remains within the viewing environment of the media asset device. For example, the control circuitry 404 may use the wireless user communication device 506 (e.g., the second user's mobile phone) to track the second user's movements through GPS and detect that the second user has not exited the viewing environment of the media equipment device presenting the media asset.

[0212] 13 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for modifying media playback based on a user's rank, according to some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 1300 begins at 1302, where control circuitry 404 retrieves a first user's rank and a second user's rank. Control circuitry 404 retrieves the first user's rank and the second user's rank from a database corresponding to a profile for the users in storage device 408. In some instances, control circuitry 404 retrieves the ranks from communication network 514. For example, control circuitry 404 may retrieve the first user's rank (e.g., a rank of 1 out of 4) and the second user's rank (e.g., a rank of 3 out of 4).

[0213] At 1304, control circuitry 404 determines whether the rank of first user 102 is higher than the rank of second user 106. Control circuitry 404, using processing circuitry 406, compares the rank of the first user to the rank of the second user. If at 1304 control circuitry 404 determines "yes", i.e., the rank of the first user is higher than the rank of the second user, process 1304 proceeds to process 1306. At 1306, control circuitry 404 modifies the playback of the media asset. For example, control circuitry 404 may pause the playback of the media asset on user television equipment 502. As another example, control circuitry 404 may mute the audio of the playback of the media asset through speaker 414. As yet another example, control circuitry 404 may turn off display 412 that was displaying the playback of the media asset.

[0214] If, at 1304, the control circuitry 404 determines "no", i.e., the first user's rank is not higher than the second user's rank, then process 1304 proceeds to process 1308. At 1308, the control circuitry 404 continues playing the media asset.

[0215] Systems and methods are also provided herein for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies a goal of the audio. A media guidance application may detect audio generated by a first device external to the media equipment device. The media guidance application may retrieve a known goal associated with the audio from a lookup table. The media guidance application may detect a user within the viewing environment. The media guidance application may determine the identity of the user. The media guidance application may then modify the playback to encourage or hinder the user from achieving the known goal based on the identity of the user.

[0216] 14 shows an illustrative embodiment of determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies an audio goal according to some embodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 14 depicts an illustrative display 100 that may be presented by control circuitry executing a media guidance application on any user equipment. The functionality of the user equipment, control circuitry, and media guidance application are described in further detail with respect to FIGS. 2-5.

[0217] The media guidance application may output audio 1406 from first device 1402 in response to detecting action 1404. For example, the media guidance application may output audio 1406 (e.g., a doorbell ringing, a smoke alarm, a ringtone, etc.) from first device 1402 (e.g., a doorbell, a smoke alarm, a cell phone, etc.) in response to detecting action 1404 (e.g., a user pressing a doorbell, a smoke alarm detecting smoke, a cell phone ringing). The media guidance application may determine that first user 1408 and second user 1410 are viewing a playback of media asset 1412, which may include playback audio 1414. The media guidance application may determine that first user 1408 and second user 1410 are viewing media asset 1412 in first physical environment 1416. The media guidance application may detect that sound 1406 occurs in a second physical environment 1418, which may be an environment separate from first environment 1416.

[0218] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect audio generated by a first device external to the media equipment device. For example, the media guidance application may use a sensor to detect audio (e.g., the doorbell ringing) generated by a first device (e.g., a doorbell) external to the media equipment device (e.g., a television). The media guidance application may detect audio generated by the first device using methods similar to detecting verbal input, as described above.

[0219] For example, the media guidance application may use an intelligent personal assistant (IPA) (e.g., Amazon Echo, Google Home, Siri, etc.) to detect audio generated by a first device external to the media equipment device, and the IPA always listens to audio input in the first physical environment 1416 and the second physical environment 1418.

[0220] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that a network of connected IPAs exists, with each connected IPA residing in its own environment and communicating with the other IPAs via a wireless network. For example, the media guidance application may determine that a network of connected IPAs exists (e.g., an Amazon Echo in the living room, a Ring doorbell camera at the front door, etc.) and communicate with each other via a wireless network. In some instances, the network IPAs may be configured in a slave / master configuration.

[0221] The media guidance application may use a goal associated with the sound (e.g., for a doorbell ringing, the associated goal may be for the user to answer the door) and a potential user action (e.g., pause playback of media asset 1412 and get up to open the door) to help determine whether the user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies the goal of the sound. As referenced herein, a “goal associated with a sound” is defined to be a preferred action taken by a user as a result of being notified of the sound. For example, the media guidance application may determine that a goal associated with a doorbell ringing may be for the user to answer the door. As another example, the media guidance application may determine that a goal associated with a smoke alarm beeping may be for the user to exit a home and / or environment containing the smoke alarm. As yet another example, the media guidance application may determine that another goal associated with a smoke alarm beeping may be for the user to replace the battery in the smoke alarm.

[0222] The media guidance application may store a database that associates goals among the multiple goals with sets of actions among the multiple actions and sounds among the multiple sounds. The media guidance application may store the database in a user profile. The values ​​stored in the database (e.g., goals, actions, sounds) may be pre-set by an editor or edited by user input.

[0223] For example, the media guidance application may store a database that associates a goal (e.g., answer the door) among a plurality of goals (e.g., answer the door, do not answer the door, etc.) with a set of actions (e.g., continue watching the media asset playback and ignore the doorbell) among a plurality of actions (e.g., pause playback of the media asset and answer the door, continue watching the media asset playback and ignore the doorbell, etc.) and a sound (e.g., the doorbell ringing) among a plurality of sounds (e.g., the doorbell ringing, the phone ringing, the smoke detector beeping, etc.).

[0224] The media guidance application may compare attributes of the sound generated by the first device 1402 with entries in the database to determine a goal associated with the sound and a set of corresponding actions associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application may compare the sound 1406 generated by the first device 1402 (e.g., the doorbell ringing) with entries in the database to determine a goal associated with the sound 1406 (e.g., answer the door) and a set of corresponding actions associated with the goal (e.g., pause playback of the media asset, exit the viewing environment 1516 to answer the door, etc.).

[0225] In some embodiments, when comparing the voice 1406 generated by the first device 1402 to a database to determine a goal associated with the voice and a set of corresponding actions associated with the goal, the media guidance application may determine a match between the voice 1406 and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the voice 1406. For example, the media guidance application may use characteristics of the voice 1406 (e.g., tone, volume, frequency, etc.) to match the voice with its corresponding entry in the database.

[0226] For example, the media guidance application may determine characteristics (e.g., attributes) of sound 1406 using sound processing techniques, as described in more detail above. The media guidance application may determine whether a match exists between the sound and an entry by determining that the sound and the entry in the plurality of entries have a threshold amount of characteristics in common. The media guidance application may read the threshold amount from a profile, which may be preset by an editor, which may be updated based on user input. For example, the media guidance application may determine that sound 1406 (e.g., a doorbell ringing) has a threshold amount of characteristics (which may be three or more characteristics) in common with an entry (e.g., a doorbell sound) in the plurality of entries (e.g., a doorbell sound, a fire alarm sound, a phone ringing, etc.).

[0227] In some embodiments, when comparing the audio produced by the first device to a database to determine a goal associated with the audio 1406 and a set of corresponding actions associated with the goal, the media guidance application may determine a match between the audio 1406 and an entry in the database based on a fingerprint of the audio 1406. As used herein, an audio “fingerprint” is a condensed digital summary deterministically generated from an audio signal that can be used to identify an audio sample. The media guidance application may compare the audio fingerprint to an audio fingerprint associated with each entry in the database. The media guidance application may determine a match between the fingerprints when the fingerprints are identical within a tolerance range, which is stored in the profile and preset by an editor.

[0228] The media guidance application may retrieve a goal associated with the sound from the entry. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve a goal (e.g., answer the door) associated with the sound (e.g., the doorbell ringing) from the entry.

[0229] The media guidance application may retrieve from the entry a set of corresponding actions associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve from the entry a set of corresponding actions (e.g., watch playback of a media asset, turn up the volume of playback of a media asset, etc.) associated with a goal (e.g., answer the door).

[0230] The media guidance application may detect a user within a media equipment device's viewing environment 1416. For example, the media guidance application may use a sensor (e.g., a camera) to detect a user within a first viewing environment 1416 of a media equipment device (e.g., a television).

[0231] In some embodiments, when detecting a user within the first viewing environment 1416 of the media device, the media guidance application may use a sensor to detect the presence of the first user 1408 within the first viewing environment 1416. For example, the media guidance application may use an infrared sensor to detect that the first user 1408 is within the first viewing environment 1416 of the media equipment device (e.g., a television) based on determining a thermal map of the first viewing environment 1416 and detecting a thermal signature of the user in the thermal map.

[0232] In some embodiments, when detecting a first user 1408 in a first viewing environment 1416 of a media device, the media guidance application may use a camera to detect the presence of the user in the viewing environment. For example, the media guidance application may use a camera to detect a user in the viewing environment of a media equipment device (e.g., a television). Systems and methods for detecting a user in a viewing environment of a media equipment device are described in more detail in U.S. Application No. 15 / 200,194, filed July 1, 2016, to Panchaksharaiah et al., U.S. Application No. 15 / 200,216, filed July 1, 2016, to Panchaksharaiah et al., and U.S. Application No. 15 / 200,638, filed July 1, 2016, to Blake et al., which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

[0233] In some embodiments, when detecting a first user 1408 within a first viewing environment 1416 of a media device, the media guidance application may use a global positioning system (GPS) to detect the presence of the first user 1408 within the first viewing environment 1416. For example, the media guidance application may detect the user's location via a GPS associated with a user device associated with the user (e.g., the user's mobile phone, wearable technology (e.g., Apple Watch), etc.). The media guidance application may determine from the user's location (e.g., GPS coordinates) whether the user is within the viewing environment of the media device based on the known location of the viewing environment.

[0234] The media guidance application may determine from the user profile of the first user 1408 whether the user is authorized to perform an action in the determined set of actions associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application may read from an authorization database in the user's profile whether the user is authorized to perform an action (e.g., exit the viewing environment) associated with the goal (e.g., answer the door). The media guidance application may store the user's authorization status (e.g., whether the user is authorized or not authorized to perform the action) in the authorization database in the user profile, where the authorization status is determined using the methods described below.

[0235] In some embodiments, when determining from the user's user profile whether the user is authorized to perform an action in a determined set of actions associated with a goal, the media guidance application may retrieve a rank for the user from the user profile. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve a rank for the user (e.g., 8 out of 10).

[0236] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that a user's rank is dynamic and may be updated frequently within the user profile. The media guidance application may determine that a user's rank is determined based on multiple factors, including the presence of other users in the viewing environment / home, the user's age, etc. The media guidance application may determine that a value is dynamically assigned to each factor (e.g., values ​​may be assigned by comparing the factor to a lookup table of values, where the lookup table values ​​may be determined by an editor and updated based on user input). For example, the media guidance application may determine that a user's rank is higher when more users are present in the viewing environment and as the user's age increases.

[0237] The media guidance application may calculate a rank for the user from multiple factors by retrieving the weighting assigned to each factor (e.g., 0% to 100%). The media guidance application may determine that the weighting assigned to each factor is predetermined and assigned by an editor, which may be updated based on user input. The media guidance application may then calculate a rank for the user (e.g., 0 to 100) using the per-factor weightings and per-factor values ​​(e.g., by summing the products of the weightings and values ​​per factor for some factors). For example, the media guidance application may use the weightings of each factor (e.g., user's age weighting = 50%, presence of other users in the viewing environment weighting = 50%) and per-factor values ​​(e.g., user's age value = 15, presence of other users in the viewing environment = 50) to calculate a rank for the user (e.g., 0.5 out of 100). * 15+0.5 * 50=32.5).

[0238] The media guidance application may retrieve a rank for an action from a database. The media guidance application may determine that the rank for an action is predetermined by an editor and can be updated from user input. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve a rank (e.g., 50 out of 100) for an action (e.g., exit the viewing environment) from a database.

[0239] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may dynamically determine the rank of an action. The media guidance application may use factors such as users present in the viewing environment / home, the age of the users, riskiness, etc. to determine the rank. For example, the media guidance application may use sensors to determine whether any other users are present in the viewing environment or home after detecting a voice. In response to determining that no other users are present, the media guidance application may rank the action higher because it may indicate a situation in which the user should not complete the action (e.g., the user is a child home alone and therefore should not answer the door to a stranger). The media guidance application may determine the rank of an action based on factors using methods similar to those used to determine a user's rank based on factors, as described above.

[0240] As another example, the media guidance application may rank actions according to the risk they present. The media guidance application may determine the risk by analyzing the sporadic results of the action. For example, the media guidance application may use a camera to determine the identity of an individual generating a sound using a user device (e.g., a doorbell). If the media guidance application determines that the individual is a stranger (e.g., by using an image generated by the camera to compare the individual's face with faces associated with known users from a user profile and determining that there is no match between the individual's face and the known user's face), the media guidance application may rank the action higher as it has a higher risk. If the media guidance application determines that the individual is not a stranger (e.g., by using a camera to identify the user based on comparing the user to multiple users with user profiles), the media guidance application may rank the action lower as it has a lower risk.

[0241] The media guidance application may determine whether the rank for the user exceeds the rank for the action. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the rank for the user (e.g., 8 out of 10) exceeds the rank for the action (e.g., 5 out of 10).

[0242] In response to determining that the rank for the user exceeds the rank for the action, the media guidance application may determine that the user is authorized to perform the action. For example, the media guidance application may determine that the user is authorized to perform the action (e.g., exit the viewing environment).

[0243] In response to determining that the user is authorized to perform the action, the media guidance application may generate a notification for the user indicating the detected sound. For example, the media guidance application may generate an audio notification for the user (e.g., a doorbell sound) to play over the playback of the media asset to indicate the detected sound. The media guidance application may play an audio notification that is a clip of the detected sound (e.g., a doorbell ringing, a fire alarm, a phone ringing) over the playback to audibly alert the user to the source of the detected sound.

[0244] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may play an audio notification for a set amount of time (e.g., 5 seconds) that corresponds to a preset amount of time as determined by an editor or input by a user. For example, the media guidance application may play a doorbell ringing sound to override the playback of a media asset for a preset amount of time as determined by an editor (e.g., 3 seconds).

[0245] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may play an audio notification to override playback of a media asset until the media guidance application detects an action from the user (e.g., the user pauses playback, the user exits the viewing environment, etc.). For example, the media guidance application may play an audio notification (e.g., a doorbell ringing) to override playback of a media asset until the media guidance application detects an action from the user (e.g., the media guidance application detects, via the camera, the user exiting the viewing environment and answering the door).

[0246] In some embodiments, when generating a notification for the user indicating the detected sound, the media guidance application may generate an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, the overlay containing a notification for the user about the sound. For example, the media guidance application may generate an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device (e.g., an overlay that says, "The doorbell is ringing!").

[0247] The media guidance application may modify the playback of media assets and allow the user to perform actions associated with goals. For example, the media guidance application may modify the playback of media assets (e.g., pausing a movie the user is watching) and allow the user to perform actions (e.g., exit the viewing environment) associated with goals (e.g., answer the door).

[0248] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may decide to modify playback of a media asset after determining that the user has not performed an action associated with a goal after a threshold amount of time. The media guidance application may retrieve the threshold amount of time from a database in the profile, where the threshold amount of time is pre-set by an editor for each specific goal. The media guidance application may edit the threshold amount of time for each specific goal based on user input. For example, the media guidance application may decide to modify playback of a media asset after determining that the user has not performed an action associated with a goal (e.g., exiting the viewing environment and answering the door) after a threshold amount of time (e.g., 30 seconds) retrieved from the database in the profile.

[0249] In some embodiments, when modifying playback of a media asset to enable a user to perform an action associated with a goal, the media guidance application may retrieve from the database a set of playback modifications associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve from the database a set of playback modifications associated with the goal (e.g., pause, play, fast forward, rewind, mute, turn on / off, etc.).

[0250] The media guidance application may select a playback modification from a set of playback modifications based on preferences for the user. The media guidance application may retrieve the preferences for the user from a user profile. The preferences for the user may be preset based on user input, or determined based on user behavior, or a combination of both. For example, the media guidance application may track the user's command history and determine the user's favorite playback commands in response to the user hearing a voice (e.g., the doorbell ringing). The media guidance application may determine a command to be performed after the user hears the voice based on comparing the command's timestamp to the timestamp of the detected voice. For example, the media guidance application may select a playback modification (e.g., pause) from a set of playback modifications based on preferences for the user (e.g., the user always pauses content before getting up to answer the door).

[0251] The media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification. For example, the media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification (e.g., pausing playback of the media asset). As another example, the media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification by muting playback of the media asset, stopping playback of the media asset, turning off playback of the media asset, or any other similar playback modification.

[0252] In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, the media guidance application may generate a notification for the second user to perform the action. For example, the media guidance application may generate a notification to perform an action (e.g., answer the door) (e.g., send an SMS message to the second user 1410, send an audio alert to the second user's 1410 personal device, or generate an overlay with instructions for the second user 1410 to be displayed over the media asset).

[0253] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine whether the user hears the audio and therefore may be motivated to perform an action in response to the audio.

[0254] In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that a sound is within the audible range of the viewing environment. For example, the media guidance application may detect a sound using a sensor (e.g., a microphone) contained within the viewing environment. The media guidance application may compare the volume of the detected sound to a minimum volume value (read from the profile) that a sound can have and still be within the audible range.

[0255] In response to determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action, the media guidance application may prevent the user from modifying playback of the media asset. For example, the media guidance application may prevent the user from modifying playback of the media guidance application (e.g., not allowing the user to pause playback of the media asset).

[0256] The media guidance application may modify the playback of the media asset to prevent the user from performing an action associated with the goal. For example, the media guidance application may increase the volume of the playback of the media asset to drown out sounds within the user's hearing range.

[0257] In some embodiments, when modifying playback of a media asset, the media guidance application may determine a volume at which to attenuate sounds that are in the audible range. For example, the media guidance application may determine a volume that is equal to or higher than the determined volume of sounds that are in the audible range.

[0258] The media guidance application may adjust a volume corresponding to the playback of a media asset to be at a volume that attenuates the sound. For example, the media guidance application may adjust the playback volume of a media asset to be at a higher volume than the detected volume of the sound within the audible range.

[0259] 15 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies an audio goal, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 1500 begins at 1502, where the control circuitry 404 detects a sound 106 generated by a first device 102 external to the media equipment device. For example, the control circuitry 404 may detect a sound 106 (e.g., a doorbell) generated by a first device 102 (e.g., a doorbell ringing) external to the media equipment device (e.g., a television) or a speaker 414.

[0260] At 1504, control circuitry 404 retrieves from a lookup table a known target associated with the sound. Control circuitry 404 may retrieve the known target from a lookup table stored in storage 408 or media guidance data source 518. Control circuitry 404 may also retrieve the known target from a lookup table from communications network 514. For example, control circuitry 404 may retrieve a known target (e.g., answering the door) associated with sound 1406 (e.g., a doorbell ringing). At 1506, control circuitry 404 detects a user within the viewing environment. For example, control circuitry 404 may detect a user within the viewing environment using a sensor. At 1508, control circuitry 404 determines the identity of first user 1408. Control circuitry 404 may determine the identity of the user using the methods described above. At 1510, the control circuitry 404 modifies the playback to prompt or discourage the first user 1408 from achieving a known goal based on the identity of the first user 1408. For example, the control circuitry 404 may modify the playback (e.g., pause the playback) to prompt the first user 1408 to achieve a known goal (e.g., answer the door) based on the identity of the first user 1408 (e.g., a homeowner).

[0261] FIG. 16 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that satisfies a goal of a sound 1406, according to some embodiments of the disclosure. At 1602, control circuitry 404 detects sound 1406 generated by a first device external to the media equipment device. For example, control circuitry 404 may detect sound 1406 (e.g., a doorbell ringing) generated by a first device 1402 (e.g., a doorbell) external to the media equipment device. At 1604, control circuitry 404 stores a database that associates each goal in the plurality of goals with a set of actions in the plurality of actions and a sound in the plurality of sounds. Control circuitry 404 stores the database in storage 408 or media guidance data source 518, or retrieves the database via communications network 514.

[0262] At 1606, the control circuitry 404 compares the sound 1406 generated by the first device to the database and determines a goal associated with the sound 1406 and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal. At 1608, the control circuitry detects a user within the viewing environment of the media equipment device. For example, the control circuitry 404 may use an infrared sensor to detect a user within the viewing environment of the media equipment device. At 1610, the control circuitry 404 determines from a user profile of the user 1408 whether the user 1408 is authorized to perform an action in the determined set of actions associated with the goal. The control circuitry 404 determines whether the user is authorized to perform an action using a similar method as described above.

[0263] At 1612, the control circuitry 404 determines whether the user 1408 is authorized to perform an action in the set of determined actions associated with the goal. If at 1612 the control circuitry 404 determines "yes", i.e., the user 1408 is authorized to perform an action in the set of determined actions associated with the goal, then process 1612 proceeds to process 1614. At 1614, the control circuitry 404 generates a notification for the user indicating the detected sound 1406. For example, the control circuitry may generate an overlay on the display 412 for the user indicating the detected sound. At 1616, the control circuitry 404 modifies the playback of the media asset to enable the user 1408 to perform the action associated with the goal. For example, the control circuitry 404 may mute the playback of the media asset 1412 and enable the user to perform the action associated with the goal (e.g., answer the door) (e.g., exit the viewing environment).

[0264] If, at 1612, the control circuitry 404 determines "no," i.e., that the user 1408 is not authorized to perform an action in the set of determined actions associated with the goal, the process 1612 proceeds to process 1618. At 1618, the control circuitry 404 generates a notification for the second user 1410 to perform an action. For example, the control circuitry 404 may generate an SMS message to the wireless communication device 506 for the second user (e.g., an adult in the household) to perform an action (e.g., answer the door). At 1620, the control circuitry 404 determines that a voice is within the audible range of the viewing environment. For example, the control circuitry 404 may use a microphone, as described above, to detect whether a voice is within the audible range of the viewing environment. At 1622, the control circuitry 404 may prevent the user 1408 from modifying the playback of the media asset. For example, the control circuitry 404 may not respond to a user 1408 command entered by the user via the user input interface 410.

[0265] At 1624, the control circuitry 404 modifies the playback of the media asset to prevent the user 1408 from performing the action associated with the goal. At 1626, the control circuitry 404 determines a volume 1406 at which to attenuate sounds that are within an audible range. The control circuitry 404 determines a volume at which to attenuate sounds using a similar method as described above. At 1628, the control circuitry 404 adjusts a volume corresponding to the playback of the media asset (e.g., audio playback 1414) to be at a volume that attenuates the user 1408.

[0266] FIG. 17 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for identifying a goal associated with a sound 1406, according to some embodiments of the disclosure. The process 1700 begins at 1702, where the control circuitry 404 determines a match between the sound 1406 and an entry in a database based on characteristics of the sound. For example, the control circuitry 404 may determine a match between the sound 1406 (e.g., a doorbell ringing) and an entry in a database based on characteristics of the sound (e.g., tone, volume, etc.). At 1704, the control circuitry 404 retrieves from the entry a goal associated with the sound 1406. For example, the control circuitry 404 may retrieve from the entry a goal (e.g., answer the door) associated with the sound (e.g., a doorbell ringing). At 1706, the control circuitry 404 retrieves from the entry a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal. For example, control circuitry 404 may retrieve from an entry a corresponding set of actions (eg, pause playback, answer the door, etc.) that are associated with a goal (eg, answer the door).

[0267] 18 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for detecting the presence of a user in a viewing environment according to some embodiments of the disclosure. The process 1800 begins at 1802, where the control circuitry 404 detects the presence of a user 1408 in the viewing environment using a sensor. The control circuitry 404 may connect to the sensor via the communication network 514. For example, the control circuitry 404 may detect the presence of a user in the viewing environment using an infrared sensor.

[0268] 19 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for generating an overlay containing a notification according to some embodiments of the disclosure. The process 1900 begins at 1902, where the control circuitry 404 generates an overlay to be displayed on a media equipment device, the overlay containing a notification for the user 1408 about the sound 1406. The control circuitry 404 may generate the overlay to be displayed on the display 412. For example, the control circuitry 404 may generate an overlay to be displayed on a media equipment device (e.g., a television), the overlay containing a notification for the user about the sound (e.g., an overlay with text that reads "The doorbell is ringing").

[0269] 20 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for modifying playback of a media asset according to some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 2000 begins at 2002, where control circuitry 404 retrieves a set of playback modifications associated with a goal from a database. Control circuitry 404 may retrieve the set of playback modifications from a database stored in storage device 408 or media guidance data source 518, or via communications network 514. For example, control circuitry 404 may retrieve a set of playback modifications (e.g., pause playback, mute playback, etc.) associated with a goal (e.g., answer a door) from a database.

[0270] In 2004, the control circuitry 404 selects a playback modification from the set of playback modifications based on a preference for the user 1408. For example, the control circuitry 404 may select a playback modification (e.g., pause playback) based on a preference for the user 1408 (e.g., the user prefers not to miss content when answering the door). In 2006, the control circuitry 404 modifies playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification. For example, the control circuitry 404 may pause playback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification (e.g., pause playback).

[0271] FIG. 21 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining whether a user 1408 is authorized to perform an action according to some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 2100 begins at 2102, where control circuitry 404 retrieves a rank for user 1408 from a user profile. Control circuitry 404 may retrieve the rank for user 1408 from a user profile stored in storage 408 or media guidance data source 518, or via communications network 514. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve a rank for user 1408 (e.g., 8 out of 10) from a user profile in storage 408. At 2104, control circuitry 404 retrieves a rank for the action from a database. For example, control circuitry 404 may retrieve a rank for the action (e.g., 5 out of 10) from a database in storage 408.

[0272] At 2106, the control circuitry 404 determines whether the rank of the user 1408 exceeds the rank for the action. If at 2106 the control circuitry 404 determines "yes", i.e., the rank of the user exceeds the rank of the action, the process 2106 proceeds to 2108. At 2108, the control circuitry 404 determines that the user 1408 is authorized to perform the action. If at 2106 the control circuitry 404 determines "no", i.e., the rank of the user 1408 does not exceed the rank of the action, the process 2106 proceeds to 2110. At 2110, the control circuitry 404 determines that the user 1408 is not authorized to perform the action.

[0273] It should be noted that processes 600-1300 and 1400-2100, or any steps thereof, may be implemented on or provided by any of the devices shown in Figures 1 and 4-5. For example, any of processes 600-1300 and 1400-2100 may be executed by control circuitry 404 (Figure 4) as instructed by user equipment 502, 504, 506 (Figure 5) and / or control circuitry implemented on the user equipment device for selecting recommendations. In addition, one or more steps of processes 600-1300 and 1400-2100 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any other process or embodiment.

[0274] It is contemplated that each step or description of Figures 6-13 and 14-21 may be used in conjunction with any other embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, the steps and descriptions described in connection with Figures 6-13 and 14-21 may be performed in alternate orders or in parallel to further the objectives of the present disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed in any order, in parallel, or substantially simultaneously to reduce delays or increase speed of the system or method. Additionally, it is noted that any of the devices or equipment discussed in connection with Figures 1 and 4-5 may be used to perform one or more of the steps of Figures 6-13 and 14-21.

[0275] It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the methods involved in the present invention may be embodied in a computer program product including a computer usable and / or readable medium. For example, such a computer usable medium may consist of a read-only memory device, such as a CD-ROM disk or a conventional ROM device, or a random access memory, such as a hard drive device or a computer diskette, having computer readable program code stored thereon. It should also be understood that the methods, techniques, and processes involved in the present disclosure may be performed using processing circuitry. For example, determining the user's location may be performed, for example, by processing circuitry 406 of FIG. 4. The processing circuitry may be, for example, a general-purpose processor, a customized integrated circuit (e.g., ASIC), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA) within user equipment 400, media content source 516, or media guidance data source 518. For example, a profile as described herein may be stored in and retrieved from storage device 408 of FIG. 4 or media guidance data source 518 of FIG. 5. In addition, the processing circuitry or computer program may update settings of user equipment 100 stored in storage device 408 of FIG. 4 or media guidance data source 518 of FIG.

[0276] The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Those skilled in the art will understand that the steps of the processes discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and / or rearranged, and any additional steps may be implemented, without departing from the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure is illustrative and not intended to be limiting. Only the following claims are intended to set boundaries as to what the invention encompasses. Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitations described in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and that the flow charts or examples of one embodiment may be combined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, performed in a different order, or performed in parallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may be performed in real time. It should also be noted that the systems and / or methods described above may be applied to or used in accordance with other systems and / or methods.

[0277] Some portions of this disclosure may refer to the "related art" or "practice," although any such reference is merely for the purpose of providing context to the invention(s) of the present disclosure and does not constitute any admission as to what constitutes the state of the art.

Claims

1. A method for detecting audio generated by a first device external to a media device; detecting a user within a viewing environment of the media device using one or more sensors of the media device; determining that the sound is within audible range of the viewing environment; determining from a user profile of the user whether the user is authorized to perform an action associated with the voice; generating a notification for a second user to perform the action based at least in part on determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action; and The method includes:

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising preventing the user from modifying playback of the media asset based at least in part on determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving user input attempting to modify playback of the media asset, wherein modifying the playback of the media asset is still prevented based at least in part on receiving the user input.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising increasing the volume of the media asset based at least in part on determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device is a doorbell and the sound is the doorbell ringing.

6. Comparing the speech generated by the first device with entries in a database; determining a match between the voice and the entry in the database based on characteristics of the voice; determining the action associated with the audio based at least in part on determining the match; and The method of claim 1 further comprising:

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the determined action is to answer a door.

8. Based at least in part on determining that the user is authorized to perform the action, generating a notification for the user indicating the detected audio; and modifying the playback of the media asset to prompt the user to perform the action associated with the audio; The method of claim 1 further comprising:

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: detecting the user within the viewing environment of the media device, the method comprising: The method of claim 1 , comprising using a sensor to detect the presence of the user in the viewing environment.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the sound is within audible range of the viewing environment is based on an audio signal received via a microphone of the media device.

11. An input / output circuit, comprising: Detecting audio generated by a first device external to the media device; Detecting a user within a viewing environment of the media device; and an input / output circuit configured to: A control circuit comprising: determining that the sound is within audible range of the viewing environment; determining from a user profile of the user whether the user is authorized to perform an action associated with the voice; generating a notification for a second user to perform the action based at least in part on determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action; and a control circuit configured to: A system comprising:

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to prevent the user from modifying playback of the media asset based at least in part on determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action.

13. The control circuit comprises: receiving user input attempting to modify the playback of the media asset; 13. The system of claim 12, further configured to: modify the playback of the media asset still be prevented based at least in part on receiving the user input.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to increase the volume of the media asset based at least in part on determining that the user is not authorized to perform the action.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the first device is a doorbell and the sound is the doorbell ringing.

16. The control circuit comprises: comparing the speech generated by the first device with entries in a database; determining a match between the voice and the entry in the database based on characteristics of the voice; determining the action associated with the audio based at least in part on determining the match; and The system of claim 11 , further configured to:

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the determined action is to answer a door.

18. The control circuit comprises: based at least in part on determining that the user is authorized to perform the action; generating a notification for the user indicating the detected audio; and modifying the playback of the media asset to prompt the user to perform the action associated with the audio; The system of claim 11 , further configured to:

19. The control circuitry, upon detecting the user within the viewing environment of the media device, Using a sensor to detect the presence of the user within the viewing environment The system of claim 11 further configured to:

20. The system of claim 11, wherein determining that the sound is within audible range of the viewing environment is based on an audio signal received via a microphone of the media device.

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