DVR Content Recommendation System with Entity-to-List Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
DVR users face difficulty in determining which televised content to record due to the vast volume and variety of programming available, leading to a lack of guidance in navigating available content.
Innovation Solution
A system where recommending entities, such as organizations or individuals, provide lists of recommended recording and downloading suggestions to DVR service providers, which users can subscribe to, allowing the DVR to automatically select and prioritize content based on these suggestions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users manually browse and select content to record from available programming, then users can choose specific content, but users are overwhelmed by the vast volume and variety of programming and cannot determine what to record
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an electronic program guide as an intermediary system between the vast programming options and the user. This guide aggregates, organizes, and presents content information in a manageable format, mediating the overwhelming complexity of available programming into selectable recommendations without losing essential content information.
Solution Approach 2:
The electronic program guide segments the vast programming content into organized categories, time slots, and recommended groups. By dividing the overwhelming volume of programming into manageable segments with metadata and descriptors, users can navigate content more easily without being confronted by the total volume of available programming.
2Extent of automation
If DVRs provide many automated recording options, then recording convenience is improved, but users still feel lost without reliable guidance on what content to record
Solution Approach 1:
The electronic program guide implements feedback mechanisms by analyzing user viewing patterns, preferences, and interactions with the guide itself. This feedback loop enables the system to refine and personalize content recommendations, providing increasingly accurate guidance on what content users should record while maintaining automated functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service by allowing users to configure their preferences, select categories of interest, and customize the electronic program guide to automatically generate recommendations. Users set up the system once, and it autonomously provides tailored content guidance without requiring continuous manual intervention.
3Reliability
If users manually review all available programming options, then users can make informed decisions, but users spend excessive time navigating content
Solution Approach 1:
The electronic program guide performs preliminary actions by pre-processing, organizing, and pre-filtering programming content based on user preferences, viewing history, and relevance criteria before users need to make selections. This advance preparation presents users with curated, relevant content options, ensuring reliable selection accuracy while eliminating time-consuming manual browsing of irrelevant programming.
Data Source
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AI summary
Techniques for recommending recording and/or downloading suggestions to a DVR user are provided. According to one technique, a list of suggestions is received from a recommending entity. Each of the suggestions identifies either to-be-broadcasted content or downloadable content. The entity is mapped to the list, thereby establishing an entity-to-list mapping. Data, which indicates a user's selection of a list, is received. The user's DVR is mapped to the selected list, thereby establishing a DVR-to-list mapping. Based on this mapping, one or more candidate items are automatically selected from among a set of items. Identities of the candidate items are sent to the DVR. The recommending entity does not own or operate the DVR.