Program Guide Relevance Ranking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional television program guides are inefficient and counterintuitive, as they require users to memorize channel numbers and present all content from a channel simultaneously, lacking personalization and relevance ranking, which makes it difficult for users to find interesting programs based on time remaining or user preferences.
Innovation Solution
An enhanced program guide that ranks programs based on relevance scores, allowing titles with higher scores to be listed first and positions them independently of a channel or time axis, using factors like genre, time remaining, user preferences, and real-time popularity to determine relevance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional program guides display all content from a channel simultaneously in a two-dimensional grid, then complete channel information is provided, but users must memorize channel numbers and cannot easily find relevant programs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the channel dimension from the traditional two-dimensional grid layout, removing channel numbers as a primary organizational axis. Programs are displayed in a single scrolling list ordered by relevance rather than being constrained to channel-specific rows, allowing users to discover programs without memorizing channel numbers while channel information remains accessible in program metadata
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic relevance-based ordering where program positions in the guide are not fixed but continuously adjusted based on calculated relevance scores. The guide adapts to user behavior by updating rankings in real-time based on interactions, making the most relevant programs consistently visible without requiring users to navigate through fixed channel structures
2Adaptability or versatility
If programs are arranged by channel in traditional guides, then all content from each channel is visible, but personalization and relevance ranking are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter for program ordering from fixed channel assignment to dynamic relevance scoring. Multiple parameters including user preferences, viewing history, program metadata, and interaction data are combined to calculate a relevance score that determines program position in the guide, enabling personalization without complex multi-dimensional navigation structures
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the program guide into dynamically ordered program entries rather than fixed channel blocks. Each program is an independent unit that can be positioned anywhere in the list based on its relevance score, allowing the guide to be segmented and reorganized continuously based on user behavior and program characteristics
3Loss of information
If channel number is used as primary organization, then broadcast source is clear, but content relevance to user preferences is obscured
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback loops where user interactions with programs (viewing, skipping, rating) are continuously monitored and used to update relevance scores. This feedback mechanism ensures that programs matching user preferences rise to the top of the guide while maintaining awareness of program source information through metadata and contextual displays
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods described herein relate to an enhanced program guide for programs that are broadcast according to a defined schedule. Program titles included in the guide can be ordered based on a relevance rank or score, potentially with no other parameter employed in determining a position of a program title within the guide. Presentation of the guide can be independent of a time axis or dimension and a channel axis or dimension. Titles can be displayed in a manner that is independent of a start time or running length of the associated program.