HK1214707B - Framework for delivering a plurality of content and providing for interaction with the same in a television environment - Google Patents

Description

A framework for delivering and interacting with multiple content in a television environment

This application is a divisional application of Chinese patent application No. 200680007228.7 filed on January 5, 2006, entitled “Framework for delivering multiple contents and providing interaction with the contents in a television environment”.

Copyright Notice

A portion of the disclosure of this invention contains material which is subject to copyright. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

Priority claim and related applications

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Application No. 11/261,436, filed October 27, 2005, entitled "FRAMEWORK FOR PROVIDING DIGITAL HOMESERVICES" (Attorney Docket No. 7344/22).

The present invention also claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/641,787, filed on January 5, 2005, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXTENDING ONLINE SERVICES TO OTHER PLATFORMS” (Attorney Docket No. 7344/7P), and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/641,717, filed on January 5, 2005, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCESSING PERSONALIZED MULTIMEDIA CONTENT” (Attorney Docket No. 7344/8P), which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

This application is also related to the following patent applications owned by the same applicant, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety:

an application entitled “INFORMATIONAL ALERT MESSAGING FOR DIGITAL HOMESERVICES,” filed on January 5, 2006 (attorney docket number 7344/31);

Application number pending, entitled “FRAMEWORK FOR PROVIDING ANCILLARY CONTENT IN ATELEVISION ENVIRONMENT,” filed on January 5, 2006 (attorney docket number 7344/32); and

Application No. 10/752,819, filed January 6, 2004, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCESSING SPECIALIZED CONTENT ASSOCIATED WITH BROADCAST CONTENT" (Attorney Docket No. 7344/20).

Technical Field

The present invention generally provides methods and systems for facilitating the delivery and interaction with content items in a television environment. More specifically, the present invention provides methods and systems for facilitating the simultaneous delivery of multiple pieces of content, including content associated with one or more users in a given social network, and interaction between one or more users in a television viewing environment.

Background Art

The system for distributing TV content is generally well known to those skilled in the art. Over the past several decades, the number of systems designed for the distribution and consumption of TV content has increased dramatically, and the number of available channels for TV content has also skyrocketed. For example, viewers can now consume TV content by cable, by wireless broadcasting, satellite, optical fiber and other one-to-multipoint (and multipoint-to-multipoint) distribution systems, each of which may be able to provide hundreds of channels of arranged and on-demand TV content. Due to the lack of a useful tool for analyzing program arrangement to determine the most pleasing or most relevant TV content for the user, consumers are difficult to effectively utilize the library of available TV content. In addition, up to now, except watching TV content with another person in the same location, watching TV content is basically a lonely experience.

To overcome these shortcomings and other problems associated with existing devices and technologies for viewing TV content, embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method for a shared viewing experience of TV content and for providing a messenger and messenger-related services and content within the framework of viewing TV content. In addition, embodiments of the present invention enable interaction between multiple users of a group viewing environment.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention provides a messaging capability in conjunction with functionality for viewing and interacting with multiple content items in a television environment. More specifically, the present invention allows a user to receive and interact with a variety of content while also utilizing messaging capabilities to provide the user with the ability to interact with individuals in the user's social network.

The present invention allows a user to select to receive television content, game applications, Internet content, etc., while also viewing contextual representations of one or more of the user's "friends." In addition, the user of the present invention can receive personalized recommendations for content items and personalized advertisements based on the user's viewing behavior, ratings of content items, characteristics in the user's profile, and the viewing behavior, ratings, and characteristics of the user's friends.

The messaging and interaction capabilities of the present invention provide users with the ability to enjoy multiple pieces of content with one or more users in the user's social network. For example, a user might be participating in a gaming application while enjoying television content and monitoring the context of one or more of the user's friends. Similarly, a user might be participating in a movie viewing environment with one or more of the user's friends while also participating in one or more instant messaging or chat sessions. Furthermore, a user can tag content items and deliver the tags (possibly including the tagged content) to one or more of the user's friends to provide the friends with direct access to a specific piece of content or location within a piece of content (e.g., a favorite scene from a movie or television show).

According to one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a method for providing a given user with a plurality of content, including content selected based on the context of one or more users in the given user's social network. One or more pieces of content are retrieved for the given user and delivered to the user's client device. In addition, contextual representations of one or more friends associated with the user, as indicated in the user's profile, are retrieved for display on the user's client device.

The present invention is also directed to a method for personalizing the delivery of advertisements for display in conjunction with one or more content items on a client device operated by a user. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the method includes obtaining a user profile to identify the user's characteristics and ratings of one or more content items. The one or more content items are delivered to the client device based on the user's context. One or more advertisements are obtained and delivered to the client device based on the user's context.

The present invention is also directed to a method for generating recommendations for one or more content items to be delivered to a client device. One or more content items are delivered to the client device. A user profile is annotated with user-provided ratings of the one or more content items. A request for a recommendation of a content item is received, and a recommendation is generated for the one or more content items. According to one embodiment, the recommendation is based on the rating in the user profile. Alternatively, or in addition, the recommendation may be based on ratings in one or more profiles of other users, who may be friends of the user. One or more recommended items are retrieved and delivered to the client device.

According to one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a method for delivering personalized notifications to a user's client device. A user profile is retrieved and annotated with one or more user-specified alerts. The user profile is further annotated with one or more alerts based on the user's characteristics and preferences indicated in the user profile, which may include annotating the user profile based on the characteristics and preferences of the user's friends. One or more information sources are monitored. When information meeting an alert condition is identified, a message indicating the alert condition is delivered to the client device, which may be displayed in conjunction with one or more content items.

According to one embodiment for facilitating group viewing of one or more television content items, a user profile is retrieved and used to identify one or more friends of the user. A synchronization request is sent to the one or more friends of the user. The one or more content items being viewed by the user are delivered to the one or more friends who accept the synchronization request. In addition, one or more communication means, such as one or more instant messaging chat sessions, are provided between the user and the one or more friends who accept the synchronization request.

The present invention also allows user control of the context of one or more of the user's friends. The user profile is retrieved and used to identify one or more of the user's friends, and a share remote control request is delivered to the user's one or more friends, which may include only selected friends, such as a subset of the user's total friends. The context of the one or more friends who receive the share remote control request is changed to the user's context.

The present invention also allows for tagging of content, which can be delivered to one or more friends of the user. A user can specify one or more tags for one or more content, which may be a combination of stored local and remote content data storage devices. The one or more user-specified tags are delivered to one or more friends of the user, which may include transmitting the tagged content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for providing access to messenger services and content in conjunction with TV content and auxiliary TV content according to one embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for initializing a session for a given user and obtaining context of one or more friends of the given user according to one embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for initializing a session for a given user and obtaining context of one or more friends of the given user based on the user's context according to one embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a flow chart illustrating a method for propagating a given user's context to one or more other users according to another embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for synchronizing the context of one or more users to participate in a group viewing environment according to another embodiment of the present invention;

6A is a flow chart illustrating a method for tagging content for delivery to one or more friends of a given user according to one embodiment of the present invention;

6B is a flow chart illustrating a method for remotely accessing a user's profile to identify and interact with content delivered to the user's set-top box according to one embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a flow chart illustrating a method for watching television content while participating in a gaming application according to one embodiment of the present invention;

8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for inputting a rating for a given piece of content and propagating the rating to one or more friends associated with a given user according to one embodiment of the present invention;

9 is a flowchart illustrating a method for obtaining recommendations based on one or more evaluations according to one embodiment of the present invention;

10 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating an alert to provide a user with notification of one or more events according to one embodiment of the present invention;

11 is a flowchart illustrating a method for delivering notifications to a client device based on one or more alerts according to one embodiment of the present invention;

12 is a flowchart illustrating a method for delivering personalized advertisements to a client device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG13 is a screen shot illustrating content that may be retrieved and delivered to a given client device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG14 is a screen shot illustrating one or more television content available to a client device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

15 is a screen shot illustrating the context of a given user displayed in conjunction with the context of one or more friends of the given user and one or more advertisements according to one embodiment of the present invention;

16 is a screen shot illustrating the traversal of one or more contexts associated with one or more friends of a user according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG17 is a screen shot illustrating one or more options available when selecting a context for a given friend according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG18 is a screen shot illustrating a client selecting a given friend's context and propagating it to a user's client device according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

19 is a screen shot illustrating the delivery of alerts to a client device based on one or more alerts identified in a user profile, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the embodiments of the present invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part thereof, in which are shown by way of illustration several specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It should be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

FIG1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a system for providing access to messaging services and content in conjunction with television and TV-related content. According to the embodiment of FIG1 , a content distribution server 102 includes one or more software and hardware components to facilitate the delivery of television and TV-related content in conjunction with messaging and messaging-related content and services. The hardware and software components include, but are not limited to, a login component 104, a messaging component 110, a TV application component 112, a profile component 116, an electronic program guide component 118, a recommendation component 124, and other applications 122. The content distribution server 102 also includes one or more data storage devices for persistently storing information used in providing TV and messaging content and services, including, but not limited to, a profile data storage device 106, content data storage devices 114a and 114b, and an EPG data storage device 120.

The content distribution server 102 is communicatively coupled to a network 100, which may include connections to one or more local area networks and/or wide area networks (e.g., the Internet). Utilizing the network 100, the content distribution server 102 is able to access local 114a and remote 11b television content, as well as provide television and messaging services, and combinations thereof, to clients 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a. The content distribution server 102 is operable to provide TV and messaging content and services to any client device capable of running TV client software 126b, 128b, 130b, and 132b and messaging clients 126c, 128c, 130c, and 132c. For example, client devices may include set-top terminals 126a and 128a that use a television as a display device, computer hardware such as a personal computer 130a, and mobile devices 132a such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants ("PDAs"). Other types of electronic communication devices are contemplated to fall within the scope of the present invention, including but not limited to digital media adapters, DVD players, connected TVs, and other networked consumer electronic devices.

When a given client 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a initially accesses content and services provided by the content distribution server 102, the server authenticates the given user and/or client device. The content distribution server 102 provides a login component that allows authentication of the client 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a and/or the user of a given delivery. The client device 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a initializes its TV client application 126b, 128b, 130b, and 132b and messenger client application 126c, 128c, 130c, and 132c, which initiates the generation and transmission of a login request via the network 100 to the login component 104. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the login request includes information identifying the user of the client device, as well as information about the client device itself, such as a MAC address, IP address, phone number, or other unique identification descriptor. By providing information about the user, the content distribution server 102 can provide a personalized experience to the user regardless of the particular client device 126 b , 128 b , 130 b , and 132 b that the user uses to connect to the content distribution server 102 .

The login component 104 receives a login request from a given client 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a and attempts to authenticate the user and/or device. The login component 104 can access the profile 108 of the given user maintained by the profile data storage device 106. Accordingly, the login component 104 uses information identifying the user to attempt to authenticate the user's identity, such as by comparing it with the information contained in the user's profile 108. The identification information may include a username and password, whereby the login component 104 compares to ensure that the received password is the same as the stored password. Alternatively or in addition, the login component 104 can perform a public key exchange with the client 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a, whereby each device (client and login component) encodes outgoing data using the received public key and decodes the received data using its private key. Login component 104 may also receive information about client devices 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a, such as MAC addresses or other unique identification information, to authenticate the client devices or otherwise verify that clients 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a can connect to content distribution server 102.

The content distribution server 102 may also implement a login proxy 104a to provide scalability and flexibility for handling a large number of clients 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a attempting to connect to the login component 104. Multiple client devices 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a initiate communications with a given one of the one or more login proxies 104a via the network 100. Each login proxy 104a initiates communications with the login component 104, thereby allowing the login component 104 to service a large number of client requests without having to maintain and manage a connection with each requesting client 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a.

In the event that the login component 104 is unable to successfully authenticate a user or client 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a, the login component 104 prevents the client 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a from accessing functionality provided by the content distribution server 102. Alternatively, the login component 104 may only provide access to the TV application component 112, the electronic program guide component 118, and the EPG data storage device 120, thereby allowing the user to view television content and schedule data on the client 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a. Users for whom the login component is unable to authenticate are therefore provided with a traditional digital TV content viewing experience to view content from one or more content sources 114a and 114b and their local program guide data.

If the login component 104 successfully authenticates the user and/or client device, the login component may record an indication of the successful authentication in the user profile 108 in the profile data store 106. The login component 104 provides an indication to the messaging component 110 and the TV application component 112 that the user and/or clients 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a have been successfully authenticated and may be provided with access to the content distribution server and its constituent components as described above. Upon successful authentication, the messaging component 110 passes the user's identity to the profile component 116, which retrieves the user's profile 108 from the profile data store 106 for transmission to the messaging component 110. The messaging component 110 may also provide a copy of the user's profile 108 to the TV application component 112, or the TV application component 112 may obtain a copy of the user's profile 108 directly from the profile component 116.

The content distribution server 102 maintains a user profile 108 for each user in a profile data storage device 106 managed by a profile component 116. Alternatively or in addition, the user profile can be stored on a remote server (not shown) coupled to the content distribution server 102. The user profile maintained on the remote server can be utilized by multiple servers coupled to the remote server, including the content distribution server 102, to identify a given user and the user's activities. As described above, the user profile 108 maintains the user's authentication information, such as a username and password. The user profile can also be used by the messaging component 110 and the TV application component 112 to record user interactions with the components 110 and 112, respectively. Accordingly, the user profile can maintain a historical record of the user's interactions with the content distribution server 102.

However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that a subset of the historical interactions may be written to the user profile 108. For example, when a user uses the TV application component 112 to watch TV content, the TV application component 112, in response to receiving a command (e.g., a command to change the channel), sends a message to the profile component 116 to write a tag to the user profile 108. Similarly, when the messaging component 110 provides messaging content and related services to the user, the messaging component 110, in response to receiving a command (e.g., to send a message to another user or to enter an online game), sends a message to the profile component 116 instructing it to write a tag to the user's profile 108.

Profile 108 also maintains the user's "context." According to one embodiment, a user's context can be a concept of the actions a given user is performing at a given moment. It can also include the location where the user is performing the actions. In other words, a user's context can be what the user is doing at a given moment, such as watching a given TV channel, playing an online game, listening to music, conducting an online transaction, and so on. Context can also indicate where or what type of device the client is connecting to content distribution server 102 from, such as set-top boxes 126a and 1268, personal computers 130a, mobile devices 132a, and so on. By providing the user's context to messaging component 110 and TV application component 112, each component 110 and 112 can identify and retrieve appropriate content to provide the user with messaging content and related services that are integrated with TV content and related services, as described in more detail below. Profile component 116 receives updates to a given user's context from messaging component 110 and TV application component 112 and writes these updates to the given user's user profile 108. Thus, a given user's profile 108 maintains a historical record of the user's context over time.

The profile may also maintain information about other system users related to a given user. For example, a given user may use messaging clients 126c, 128c, 130c, and 132c on client devices 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a to identify one or more friends, the identities of which are written to the given user's profile 108. By traversing groups of related users, the profile component 116 is operable to identify the user's social network. A user may also have groups, and thus an indication of membership in a group is written to the given user's profile 108. Similarly, the profile component 116 may identify a subset of the given user's friends from the given user's total set of friends. According to one embodiment, the profile component 116 calculates the given user's social network, which includes all users with N-degree relationships with the given user. For example, user A maintains a direct relationship with user B, and user B maintains a direct relationship with user C. User A and user C are two-degree related, while each of them is one-degree related to user B.

The TV application component 112 recognizes the user's context and retrieves appropriate TV content for delivery via the network 100 to the client devices 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a interacting with the user. Furthermore, the TV application component 112 may retrieve auxiliary TV content, including, but not limited to, audio, video, text, images, and combinations thereof. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the TV application component 112 retrieves TV content and auxiliary TV content from a local content data store 114a, which aggregates TV content and auxiliary TV content from various sources. Alternatively, or in addition, the TV application component 112 retrieves TV content and auxiliary TV content from the local content data store 114a and from a remote content data store 114b via the network 100, where the desired content resides remotely on the remote content data store 114b. Similarly, the TV application component 112 may collect TV content from multiple TV content distribution systems (not shown) for storage in the local and remote content data stores 114a and 114b, respectively. The TV application component 112 may selectively deliver TV content to a user based on a TV content delivery schedule published by a TV content distribution system in a region where a given user is located.

Messaging component 110 is also provided with the user's context, allowing it to understand what actions the user is performing, such as watching TV content, viewing supplemental TV content, playing online games, listening to music, and so on. Because messaging component 110 knows the user's identity, it can identify other users in the given user's social network, also known as the user's "friends." Leveraging knowledge of the given user's identity and other users in the given user's social network, messaging component 110 can instruct TV application component 112 to propagate the given user's context to other users in the given user's social network. Propagating the user's context may include generating an image representing the user's context, and may also include other data describing the user's context (e.g., text, audio, video, or combinations thereof). Alternatively, information about the user's context may be used to locate and retrieve additional relevant information from content data stores 114a and 114b. TV application component 112 presents the given user's context to other users in the given user's social network, for example, by presenting an icon. TV application component 112 can provide the given user with the context of other users in the given user's social network, and vice versa.

The following examples may be illustrative and are not intended to be limiting. Assume that a user is watching the TV program "The Apprentice" on Channel 3. According to one embodiment, the messaging component 110 identifies the user's friends and instructs the TV application component 112 to propagate the user's context to their friends. The TV application component 112 generates a thumbnail image representing the program "The Apprentice," which is propagated by the TV application component 112 to the given user's friends. The thumbnail is presented on the given friend's client device along with information describing the program, such as the title and the fact that the user is watching the program on Channel 3. The TV application component 112 may modify the information about the given user's context based on the given destination client device 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a, such as reducing the thumbnail image.

The messaging component 110 and TV application component 112 enable several advanced features not found in content distribution systems known to those skilled in the art. Because the messaging component is aware of a given user's context and can receive input from given client devices 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a, users of the content distribution server 102 can interact with one another. The messaging component 110 provides the given user's context to the TV application component 112, which then propagates the context to other users in the given user's social network, and vice versa. A given user can select an indication of the context of other users in the given user's social network to initiate an action. Initiating an action can include starting an instant messaging session with the selected user, switching the context to the selected user's context, and so on. The selection is communicated to the messaging component 110, which performs the requested action and provides the content for consumption and dissemination by the TV application component in a manner appropriate for other users. An exemplary use of this functionality is shared viewing of content among multiple users, shared remote control functionality among multiple users, combinations thereof, shared remote control and shared viewing among multiple users using instant messaging, and so on.

The messaging component 110 also provides access to the other application components 122. Alternatively, the other application components 122 can communicate directly with the TV application component 112 to provide content for distribution to one or more client devices 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a that communicate with the content distribution server 102 via the network 100. An exemplary other application component 122 is an online card game application. The other application 122 handles the main program logic of the online card game. The context of each user (which may include location information (e.g., playing online card games), the identities of other players in the game, what actions a given user has taken (dealing, shoving, doubling down), etc.) is provided to the messaging component 110, which passes information about the given user's context to the TV application component for dissemination to other players in the game.

The dissemination of information about the context of a given user can also be disseminated to other users in the given user's social network who are not necessarily playing the online card game. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other application components falling within the scope of the present invention are not limited to online card game components, but may also include other applications with which the messaging component 110 can interface, including (but not limited to) a music engine that the messaging component 110 can use to indicate to the TV application component 112 the current song the user is listening to, a search application that the messaging component 110 can use to indicate to the TV application component 112 the keywords and related result sets the user is searching for, and the like. These are examples of the context of a given user that the TV application component 112 can disseminate in conjunction with the messaging component 110 to users of the content distribution server 102 to provide a shared content consumption experience.

As described above, the TV application component 112 can propagate a given user's context to other users in the given user's social network, which context may include channel information about the TV program the given user is watching. However, problems arise when individual users access TV content in different time zones and locations with different channel assignments. The content distribution server 102 includes an electronic program guide component 118, which is communicatively coupled to the network 100 and operable to receive electronic program guide information, such as program schedules for a given location and time zone. The electronic program guide component 118 queries a program guide server (not shown) that communicates via the network 100, such as a program guide server operated by Tribune Media Services. The electronic program guide component 118 stores one or more electronic program guides in an EPG data store 120. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the EPG data store 120 is a relational database, but may alternatively be a tag-delimited data store, a comma-delimited data store, an object-oriented database, a hybrid object-relational database, or other data stores known to those skilled in the art. Systems and methods for generating electronic program guides include U.S. Patent No. 6,813,774, entitled "PROGRAM GUIDE DISPLAY APPARATUS AND PROGRAM GUIDE DISPLAY METHOD," U.S. Patent No. 6,763,522, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A DIGITAL TELEVISION ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE," and U.S. Patent No. 6,611,958, entitled "ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE FEATURE FOR AV SYSTEM," which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. Furthermore, one skilled in the art will appreciate that a variety of electronic program guides are commercially available, including those available from Pioneer, Scientific Atlanta, Motorola, Gemstar/TV Guide ("GTVG"), Charter Communications, and the like.

When the TV application component 112 propagates the context of a given user to other users in the given user's social network, the TV application component 112 may query the electronic program guide component 118 to determine the local context of the user in the social network that corresponds to the user's context. For example, if a user is watching a program on the ABC network, the same program may not be broadcast on the same channel in all locations and time zones (if the program is broadcast at all). Therefore, for each user in the given user's social network to which the TV application component 112 will propagate the given user's context, the electronic program guide component 118 retrieves the electronic program guide for the user in the social network from the EPG data store 120.

The electronic program guide component 118 performs a search to attempt to locate the program being watched by the given user in the electronic program guide. If successful, the electronic program guide component 118 indicates to the TV application component 112 the channel on which users in the social network can find the program being watched by the given user being broadcast; the TV application component 112 may disseminate this information as part of the given user's context. In the event that the electronic program guide component 118 is unable to locate the given user's context in the electronic program guide, for example, if the program being watched by the given user is not currently broadcast in the time zone of the user in the social network, the electronic program guide component 118 may identify an alternate time for the program to be broadcast, and the TV application component 112 may also disseminate this alternate time as part of the given user's context. The TV application component 112 disseminates this information to the users in the social network. If the client devices 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a include digital video recording functionality ("DVR"), the TV application component 112 may provide the users in the social network with the opportunity to schedule a recording of the program. Recording may also include recording of content that a given user cannot select by interacting with the EPG, such as Internet-based content. It should be noted that selection of programs or other content for recording may be recorded in the user's profile as context or context change.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the content distribution server 102 uses a unique identifier to identify each program it is transmitting to the clients 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a, such as those stored in the EPG data store 120. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the content distribution server 102 utilizes a unique program identifier ("PID") provided by the EPG data stream to identify each program it is transmitting to the clients 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a. The electronic program guide component 118 searches the EPG data store 120 to locate the program being viewed by the given user and determines the program's unique identifier, which the TV application component 112 can disseminate as part of the given user's content. Client devices 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a operated by users in the given user's social network receive the given user's context and attempt to identify the program being viewed by the given user in a local electronic program guide, which can be stored on the clients 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a or retrieved from a network source.

If successful, the client-side software (e.g., TV clients 126b, 128b, 130b, and 132b) indicates to the user in the social network on which channel he can find the program being watched by the given user, which may include allowing the user in the social network to tune into the channel where the electronic program guide component 118 is transmitting the program. In the event that the identifier of the program cannot be located in the local electronic program guide, the client-side software may identify an alternate time for the program to be transmitted. In the event that the client devices 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a include digital video recording functionality ("DVR"), the clients 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a may provide the user in the social network with the opportunity to schedule a recording of the program. The recording functionality of the DVR may include recording content that does not appear in the EPG, such as Internet-based content.

As described above, interactions with the messaging component 110 and the TV application component 112 may be recorded by the profiling component 116, which maintains a profile 108 for each user in the profile data store 106. In other words, the profile 108 contains a history of changes in the user's context as a function of time, allowing decisions to be made about a given user's preferences based thereon. For example, where the user's context is identified as long periods of watching science fiction programs and short periods of watching news programs, a decision may be made that the user prefers science fiction programs. This may also take into account subgenres, such as science fiction/action, science fiction/horror, and so on. Each profile 108 may also include contextual information as a function of time about other users in the given user's social network and other users utilizing the content distribution server 102.

Recommendation component 124 can utilize the user profile in the profile data store to provide recommended programming to the user. This can also include providing recommendations for use with other applications, such as in response to online events, users that the given user wishes to become friends with, supplemental TV content, and so on. According to embodiments of the present invention, recommendation component 124 can utilize the user profile to determine content recommendations for the user. Alternatively, or in addition, recommendation component 124 can utilize the user profiles of the given user's friends, such as those in the given user's social network. Recommendation component 124 can also calculate a vector for the given user's profile and include users with similar profile vectors in its calculation of recommended content. Furthermore, recommendation component 124 can utilize profiles of user communities when determining recommended content. Such user community profiles contain aggregated contextual information for the user community. Similarly, recommendation component 124 can utilize personalization services, such as My Yahoo!, which allow users to create and edit their own profiles indicating media preferences (e.g., favorite channels or TV programs). These profiles are stored on Yahoo!. on a server (possibly the profile data store 106 ) and available to the recommendation component 124 .

The recommendation component 124 allows the content distribution server 102 to manage the viewing experience, habits, and preferences of users interacting with the content distribution server 102. As described above, the recommendation component 124 can provide recommendations that extend beyond TV content to all services provided by the content distribution server. For example, a user can interact with the messaging component 110 to access the other application component 122 through the TV application component 112. An exemplary other application component 122 is an online card game in which users can play cards with each other online. If the user profile indicates that the user spends a lot of time in the context of the online card application 122, the recommendation component can warn the user when an upcoming online card game is about to begin.

The system of the present invention, shown in FIG1 , provides a shared content consumption experience for users of a content distribution server 102. A given user can be informed of the context of other users of the system, including the context of users in the given user's social network. According to one embodiment, an icon and accompanying textual data are broadcasted by a TV application component and presented to a given user on client devices 126 a, 128 a, 130 a, and 132 a to indicate the context of other users of the server 102. The presentation of other users' context in conjunction with the presentation of TV content allows for a shared viewing experience, whereby a given user can be aware of the context of other users and can change their context to that of another user. For example, if the context of a user in a given user's social network indicates that a user in the social network is watching a program that the given user likes, the given user can change their context to match the context of the user in the social network (e.g., tune in to receive the same TV content that the user in the social network is consuming). Using the architecture described herein, a number of applications become available in the context of the TV consumption process, including (but not limited to) personalization, group viewing, shared presentation and context, messaging, access to ratings and recommendations (including group reviews), alerts, and the like.

The content service provider 102 provides access to its functionality and application components through the use of one or more application program interfaces ("APIs") 100. An API 100 is an interface or a set of calling rules that a given application component can use to access other application components and the services provided by those application components. Using the API 100, a given application component advertises information about the functionality and/or services it can provide to other components, which may also include the techniques used to access the functionality or services. This enables the application components that make up the system to access supporting systems and network services. For example, the API 100 allows client-side applications to issue function calls for action execution and service access, such as tuning channels, accessing online games, listening to music, allowing a messenger component to interact with a TV application component, or allowing a messaging client to access EPG data, etc. Although Figure 1 shows the API 100 as a separate system component, those skilled in the art will appreciate that each application component can provide an individual API 100 that identifies the specific functionality and services provided by a given application component. Additionally, application components residing on client devices 126a, 128a, 130a, and 132a, such as messaging clients 126c, 128c, 130c, and 132c, may provide one or more APIs 100 that advertise the functionality and services provided by a given application component.

One embodiment of a method for selecting content based on one or more users ("friends") in a given user's social network is illustrated in FIG2 . According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG2 , a user of a client device may initialize and connect to a content distribution system (step 205 ), which may include a login component. Initialization may include powering up the client device and initializing a communications stack, such as a TCP/IP stack, and establishing a connection to the login component via a network (e.g., the Internet). The login component attempts to verify the user's credentials using information maintained in the user's profile, which may be retrieved by a profile component (step 210 ).

Television content is retrieved and displayed to the user on the user's client device, which may include the use of a TV application component (step 215). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the TV application component retrieves content from a content data store based on a user selection from a plurality of television programs or television program listings displayed to the user. For example, the electronic program guide component may retrieve electronic program guide data identifying one or more television content items available to the user from an EPG data store. The electronic program guide may be displayed to the user so that one or more television content items can be selected from the electronic program guide. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the television content retrieved and displayed to a given user is based on a user profile maintained in a profile data store. For example, a user profile may maintain information identifying the given user's age, location, gender, etc. An exemplary method for retrieving content based on a user profile is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/752,819, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCESSING SPECIALIZED CONTENT ASSOCIATED WITH BROADCAST CONTENT," owned by the applicant of the present application, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. According to the method further described herein, the TV application component can obtain and display content to the user based on one or more information maintained in the user profile. The content obtained by the TV application component can include audio, video, text, images and combinations thereof.

The user's profile is also used to determine whether a given user has one or more friends or whether the user is part of one or more social networks (step 220). For example, a user may subscribe to one or more instant messaging services, such as Yahoo! Messenger. An instant messaging service may allow a user to specify and save friends with whom the user can communicate by delivering instant messages via corresponding instant messaging applications. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a user may specify in the user profile one or more instant messaging services to which the user has subscribed. Similarly, the user may specify one or more friends with profiles maintained on the system described herein. The messaging component may obtain the identities of one or more friends of the user whose profiles are maintained on the system described herein and may also obtain the identities of one or more friends identified in each corresponding instant messaging application identified in the user's profile.

A check is performed to determine whether a given user has one or more friends specified in one or more instant messaging applications, or whether the user has one or more friends who maintain profiles on the system described herein (step 220). If the user does have one or more friends, the messaging component can obtain the identities of one or more friends specified by the user in one or more instant messaging applications or designated as friends who have profiles on the content distribution system (step 228). The messaging component can also determine whether any of the one or more friends of the given user are currently active (step 229). For example, if a given friend has a profile and is currently logged into or accessing the content distribution system, the friend can be considered active. Alternatively or in addition, the mutual messaging component can be operable to communicate with one or more third-party applications and the messaging component to identify whether the given friend is logged into the third-party application, which third-party application may include an instant messaging application.

If none of the user's one or more friends are active, or if the user's profile does not identify one or more friends, a profile component may be used to traverse a plurality of profiles maintained in a profile data store to select profiles of active users that match or are similar to the given user's profile (step 225). The profiles of one or more active users that match or are similar to the user's profile may be designated as temporary friends of the user (step 225). For example, the given user's profile may specify that the user is thirty years old, lives in New York City, is interested in football, and enjoys watching reality television shows. The profile component may traverse a plurality of user profiles stored in the profile data store and retrieve one or more profiles of active users that identify interests or preferences similar to the given user's interests or preferences (e.g., matching on one or more profile fields). The selected one or more active users ("users similar to you") may be temporarily designated as friends of the user.

After the user's friends are temporarily designated (step 225) based on the user's preferences and characteristics or designated (step 228) based on information maintained in the user profile, the context of one or more of the user's active friends can be obtained (step 230), which can include obtaining through a messaging component. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the context can be a concept of the action that a given user is performing at a given moment, and it can also include the location where the user is performing the action. In other words, the context can be what the user is doing at a given moment, such as watching a given TV channel, playing an online game, listening to music, conducting an online transaction, etc. Alternatively, an avatar associated with each friend is obtained, where the avatar can include an identifier for the given friend (step 235). For example, the avatar can include an image selected by the given friend to identify the given friend.

The retrieved context of one or more of the user's friends may be displayed on the given user's client device along with each friend's corresponding avatar in conjunction with the TV content the given user is watching (step 240). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the context of one or more of the given user's friends is displayed as an image representing the given friend's context. For example, if the given friend is watching the television program "The Apprentice," an image associated with the television program may be displayed on the given user's client device. Similarly, if the given friend is playing in an online poker room, an image of the poker room associated with the given friend's context may be displayed on the given user's client device.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the context of one or more friends of a given user is displayed on the user's client device. For example, if a given user is watching a television program and a friend associated with the user is playing an online card game, the friend's context may be displayed in conjunction with the TV content being watched by the given user, thereby allowing the user to watch the friend's card game as it progresses. Similarly, if a friend associated with the user is listening to music by a particular artist, images associated with the artist and music audio content may be delivered to the user's client device to allow the user to listen to the music associated with the given friend. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a messaging component identifies the context of a given user's friends and, based on the identified context of one or more friends, requests one or more content from a TV application component or another application component. The TV application component or another application component may retrieve content associated with the one or more friends' context from a content data storage device, which may include television content, content representations, music content, and the like. The retrieved content is delivered to the user's client device to allow the user to view the context of the one or more friends of the user.

The user may select a representation of the context associated with each friend that is retrieved and displayed on the user's client device. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the messaging component may identify the context of one or more friends of the user and instruct the TV application component to deliver images, icons, audio content, streaming data, etc. representing the friend's context to the user's client device. Using a remote control device, the user may navigate to a visual or audio representation of a given friend's context. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the user may select a representation of a given friend's context to change the given user's context to the selected friend's context. For example, if a given user is watching the television program "The Apprentice" and a given friend is watching the television program "The Practice", the user may select a representation of the friend's context (watching "The Apprentice"), thereby causing the user's context to be changed to the friend's context (watching "The Practice").

A check is performed to determine whether the user has selected a representation of a given friend's context (step 245). If the user has selected a representation of a given friend's context, the friend's context is propagated to the user's client device (step 250). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the messaging component retrieves the selected friend's context and instructs the TV application component to retrieve the friend's context and deliver it to the user's client device. If the user has not selected a representation of a given friend's context, the user's context remains unchanged (step 255). The user can then continue to explore content available to the user while also viewing representations associated with the context of one or more of the user's friends.

FIG3 shows an embodiment of a method for obtaining and displaying the context of one or more friends of a given user based on the context of a given user. According to the method shown in FIG3 , the user of a client device initializes and connects to a login component (step 305) to verify the certificate maintained in the user's profile, which can be obtained by the profile component from a profile data storage device (step 310). The user can select from a plurality of contents available to the given user. For example, the electronic program guide component can search an EPG data storage device that can be operated to store one or more program guides and display one or more contents available to the given user. The given content item selected by the user can be obtained from the TV application component and displayed on the client device of the given user (step 315). The content obtained by the TV application component may be obtained from a content data storage device and may include TV programs, movies, broadcast data, video on demand ("VOD"), etc.

A context selected by a given user can be retrieved and delivered to the messaging component to identify one or more friends associated with the given user's context. For example, a given user may select a television program from an electronic program guide showing a football game between the New York Giants and the Cleveland Browns, which may be displayed on the user's client device. Furthermore, the user's profile can be retrieved and used to determine whether the given user has one or more friends associated with the selected context. Similarly, a given user may select a VOD horror movie, which may be displayed on the user's client device. The user's profile can be retrieved and used to determine whether the given user has one or more friends associated with the user-selected context, which may include the genre of the movie. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a friend may be an individual associated with the given user in one or more instant messaging applications to which the given user has subscribed, with an indication of the friend included in the user's profile. According to another embodiment of the present invention, a friend includes an individual having a profile maintained on the content distribution system that indicates interests or characteristics that match or are similar to those of the given user.

A check is performed to determine whether the user has one or more friends, which can be identified in the user's profile (step 320). If the result of the check performed in step 320 is positive, an additional check is performed to determine whether the given user has one or more friends or friend lists associated with the context selected by the given user (e.g., context-specific friends) (step 325). According to one embodiment of the present invention, context-specific friends can be friends associated with a specific context of the user. For example, a given user may be an avid football fan and designate one or more friends who are also interested in football as football friends. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the user can identify multiple friend lists, each of which can include one or more friends associated with a given context. One or more friend lists can be maintained on a content distribution system or a remote server coupled to the content distribution system. If the user does not have one or more context-specific friends or context-specific friend lists (step 325), the user's default friend context is displayed, wherein the default friend can include one or more friends not associated with any specific context (step 330).

If the user does not have one or more friends (step 320), the profile component may traverse one or more profiles maintained in the profile data store to select one or more profiles of active users that are similar to or match the given user's profile (step 340). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the profile component traverses multiple user profiles stored in the profile data store to identify one or more profiles that identify interests or preferences similar to those of the given user, such as by matching on one or more profile fields. The one or more profiles of active users retrieved from the profile data store that are similar to or match the given user's profile may be temporarily designated as friends of the given user. Alternatively, or in addition, the retrieved profiles may also be selected based on the context of the given user, thereby constituting context-specific friends.

A check is performed to determine whether one or more context-specific friends of a given user are active (step 335). If the context-specific friends of a given user are not active, one or more default friends of the user may be displayed, wherein the default friends of the user may include one or more friends of the user that are not associated with any specific context (step 330). According to one embodiment of the present invention, a given friend is active if it has logged into the content distribution system. If one or more of the context-specific friends of the given user are active, or after one or more context-specific friends of the user are temporarily designated based on the user's profile or context, the context of the one or more context-specific friends is obtained (step 345) and displayed on the user's client device (step 350). According to one embodiment of the present invention, an audio or visual representation of the context of the one or more friends of the user is displayed on the given user's client device. The user can interact with the displayed one or more friends, for example, by using instant messaging or a chat session.

FIG4 illustrates one embodiment of a method for providing a user with contextual control over one or more of the user's friends. A user of a client device initializes and connects to a login component (step 410) to verify user credentials maintained in a user profile, which may be retrieved from a profile data storage device (step 415). The TV application component may provide content to the user for viewing on the client device (step 420). According to one embodiment of the present invention, content is selected by a given user from a plurality of content displayed to the user, such as by an electronic program guide. According to another embodiment of the present invention, content is retrieved based on one or more characteristics of the user profile according to the methods described herein.

One or more active friends of the user are identified (step 425). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the one or more friends of the user include individuals designated as friends in one or more instant messaging applications indicated in the profile of a given user. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the one or more friends of the user include one or more users with profiles maintained on a content distribution system. The identified one or more active friends may be displayed on the user's client device along with an audio or visual representation of each friend's respective context (step 428). For example, an inter-messaging component operable to communicate with a third-party instant messaging application may identify whether a given friend is logged into a third-party application. An audio or visual representation indicating the third-party application that a given friend is logged into may be displayed on the user's client device. Similarly, the messaging component may identify one or more friends logged into the content distribution system and obtain the context of the one or more friends for display on the user's client device.

The user can select one or more active friends and deliver a shared remote control request to the one or more selected active friends. A check is performed to determine whether the user has selected one or more active friends associated with a given user (step 430). If one or more active friends are not selected, a shared remote control request is not generated or delivered to the one or more active friends, and the user can continue to watch the content displayed on the user's client device (step 420). If one or more active friends are selected (step 430), the shared remote control request is delivered to the selected one or more active friends (step 435). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the shared remote control request includes a request to allow a given user to control one or more content items displayed on the given friend's client device. For example, the client device may be operable to display multiple items, such as one or more television programs, online card games, instant messaging applications, etc. A shared remote control request accepted by a given friend may allow the given user to control the content displayed on the given friend's client device.

A check is performed to determine whether one or more friends associated with the user have accepted the shared remote control request (step 445). If none of the selected friends accept the user's shared remote control request, the user does not gain control of the content displayed on the client devices of the one or more selected active friends. If one or more of the selected friends accept the shared remote control request (step 445), the user's context from which the shared remote control request originated is displayed on the client devices of the one or more selected active friends (step 440). For example, the user may be watching the television program "Lawand Order," and active friends B1 and B2 associated with the user may be watching the television programs "The Bachelor" and "The Practice," respectively. The user can select active friends B1 and B2 and submit a shared remote control request to both friends. B1 and B2 can either reject or accept the shared remote control request. If both B1 and B2 accept the shared remote control request, B1's client device and B2's client device are updated to reflect the given user's context. Similarly, if B1 accepts the shared remote control request and B2 rejects the shared remote control request, B1's client device is updated to reflect the user's context, while B2's client device is not updated. Periodically, a check is performed to determine if the user's context has changed, such as if the user has changed the TV channel tuned to on their client device (step 450). If the user's context has not changed, no updates are made to the one or more active friends who accepted the shared remote control request submitted by the user (step 440). In the event that the given user's context changes, the change is propagated to the one or more active friends who accepted the shared remote control request submitted by the user (step 455), and the new context is displayed (step 440).

According to one embodiment of the present invention, infrared ("IR") signals are transmitted to the user's set-top box via the user's remote control. The client application program interface can capture the IR signals and deliver the signals to the content distribution system via the client messenger application. The signals received by the content distribution system can be delivered to a messaging component that can identify one or more friends who have received the shared remote control request. The messenger component can propagate the signal to the set-top boxes of the friends who have received the shared remote control request to reflect the user's content. Those skilled in the art will appreciate other methods for delivering signals reflecting the user's context to one or more set-top boxes.

FIG5 illustrates one embodiment of a method for facilitating group viewing and interaction in a given context. A user of a client device initializes and connects to a login component (step 505), which may include verifying the user's credentials maintained in the user's profile (step 510). After verifying the user's credentials, a check is performed to determine whether the given user has one or more friends (step 515), which may include accessing the user's profile. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the user's one or more friends may be identified based on one or more instant messaging applications to which the given user has subscribed, which may be indicated in the user's profile. According to another embodiment, the user's friends may include individuals with profiles maintained on the content distribution system.

If the retrieved user profile does not identify one or more friends for the given user, a search for "users similar to you" is performed (step 525). According to one embodiment of the present invention, "users similar to you" include other users who have profiles maintained on the content distribution system that match or are similar to the profile of the given user with respect to the characteristics identified in the given user profile, such as personal information, frequently viewed content, etc. For example, if the user's profile identifies that the user is located in Houston, Texas, is 42 years old, and likes horror movies, profiles with similar characteristics such as age, preferences, location, etc. can be retrieved. The retrieved one or more profiles constituting "users similar to you" can be designated as temporary friends of the user (step 525).

In the event that the user's profile identifies one or more friends, or after one or more profiles matching a given user's profile are retrieved and designated as temporary friends, a check is performed to determine whether any of the user's one or more friends are logged into the content distribution system (step 520). If none of the user's friends are logged into the content distribution system, the user is notified of this fact (step 530). The user's one or more friends can be monitored to determine whether any of the user's one or more friends have become active.

If one or more of the user's friends are identified as active (step 520), the user may then send a synchronization request to the one or more user friends (step 535). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the synchronization request comprises an invitation to the one or more users to participate in a group viewing. For example, synchronization of a given user with one or more friends may result in the user and the one or more friends participating in a "theater" type viewing environment, wherein the user and the one or more friends simultaneously watch the same television program, movie, etc., while also participating in an instant messaging or chat session.

A synchronization request delivered by a given user may be rejected or accepted by one or more friends of the user (step 555), who may be a subset of the user's active friends. If the synchronization request is rejected by a selected friend associated with the given user, the user is notified of this fact (step 550). One or more friends of the user, or a subset of the user's friends, may then be monitored to determine whether any additional friends associated with the user have logged into the content distribution system (step 545). Periodically, a check is performed to determine whether one or more additional friends have logged into the system described herein (step 540). If one or more additional friends associated with the given user have logged into the content distribution system, a synchronization request may be delivered to such friends (step 535).

If the synchronization request is accepted by the friend associated with the selected given user, the profile of one or more friends is retrieved (step 560). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the profile of one or more friends is used to identify the location of one or more friends and the content available to each friend. For example, one or more friends of a user may be located in various locations throughout the United States, around the world, etc. Due to time zone differences, program scheduling differences, etc., the content available to a given user may not be available to the given friend at the same time, on the same channel, etc. The user's profile can be used to identify the user's location and the content available to the user. Similarly, the profile of one or more friends of the user can be used to identify the content available to each friend.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, profiles obtained for a user and one or more friends can be used by an electronic program guide component to identify content maintained in a content data store that is available to the user and one or more synchronized friends. For example, a given user's profile may indicate that the user is located in New York City, while a given friend's profile may indicate that the friend is located in San Francisco. Due to time zone differences, content available to the friend in San Francisco may not be available to the friend in New York City until several hours later. Utilizing the profiles associated with the user and the friend, the electronic program guide component can identify content maintained in the content data store that is available to both individuals simultaneously. According to another embodiment of the present invention, profiles obtained for the user and one or more friends can be used to identify content maintained on client devices of one or more of the user's friends. For example, the user's client device and one or more of the friends' client devices may be operable to record content, such as clients with digital video recording ("DVR") functionality. The profiles of the user and one or more friends can be used to identify content maintained on such devices.

The content available to the user and one or more of the user's synchronized friends may be displayed to the user and one or more synchronized friends (step 562). The user and one or more synchronized friends may select a given content item using a variety of methods. For example, a voting scheme may be used in which the user and each synchronized friend vote on the content item they wish to view. The content item that receives the most votes may be selected to be displayed to the user and one or more synchronized friends. Similarly, control may be granted to the user or a given synchronized friend to select the content item to be viewed by the user and one or more synchronized friends. Those skilled in the art will appreciate other techniques for selecting content items available to multiple users.

The user and one or more friends may then synchronize the start time of the selected content item (step 563), where the start time may include when a given item of television content will be delivered to the user's and one or more friends' client devices. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the messaging component may be operable to select a start time that is N minutes after the user and one or more synchronized friends select an item of content. The messaging component may instruct the TV application component to deliver the selected content to the user's and one or more friends' client devices at the selected start time. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the user and one or more synchronized friends may select the start time of the selected content item. According to another embodiment of the present invention, control may be granted to the user or one of the synchronized friends to allow the user or given synchronized friend to select the start time of the selected content item. The selected start time may be delivered to the messaging component, which may be operable to instruct the TV application to deliver the selected content item at the selected start time.

The selected content item is displayed on each synced friend's client device and the user's client device at the start time of synchronization (step 565). The user and one or more synced friends are thereby able to simultaneously view the same content item at different locations on multiple client devices. According to one embodiment of the present invention, additional services may be provided to the user and one or more synced friends for communication. For example, an instant messaging application may be displayed in conjunction with the selected content item to allow the user and one or more synced friends to participate in an instant messaging or chat session during the display of the selected content item. Those skilled in the art will recognize other applications that allow communication or interaction between multiple viewers in a group viewing environment.

Fig. 6 A shows an embodiment of a method for helping to tag one or more content items and delivering them to one or more friends associated with a given user. The user of the client device initializes and connects to the login component (step 605) to verify the user certificate maintained in the user's profile, which may be obtained from the profile data storage device (step 610). Content is obtained and delivered to the user's client device (step 615), which may include receiving television content. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the user can utilize an electronic program guide to select the content obtained and delivered to the user's client device. For example, the electronic program guide component can search for an EPG data storage device that can be operated to store one or more program guides, and can display one or more content available to a given user. The given content item selected by the user can be obtained from the TV application component and displayed on the given user's client device (step 615).

According to the embodiment shown in FIG6A , a user viewing content on a given client device can tag or otherwise mark a piece of content or a portion of content for delivery to one or more friends associated with the user. Tags can include "start" and "stop" delimiters to identify a portion of content that the user wishes to deliver to one or more friends associated with the user. For example, a user watching a television program or movie may enjoy a particular scene and wish to share it with one or more friends. The user can then tag the desired television program using start and stop tags and deliver the tagged scene to one or more friends. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a given tagged content item can be recorded to the user's client device. For example, a user of a client device with a digital video recorder (DVR) can locally record content identified by start and stop tags. According to another embodiment of the present invention, tags can include identifiers that can be used to provide direct access to the tagged content item. For example, a user may wish to tag a ten-second scene in a two-hour movie. The start tag can identify the hour, minute, and second at which the scene begins, while the stop tag can identify the hour, minute, and second at which the scene ends. The start and stop tags may be delivered to one or more friends to provide the one or more friends with direct access to the tagged content items.

While content is being displayed on a given user's client device, a check is periodically performed to determine whether the user has chosen to tag the displayed content (step 620). If the user has entered any tagging information, the content continues to be displayed on the client device (step 615), and the user can continue to select content from the plurality of content available to the user. If the user has entered tags, the tags tagged by the user are saved (step 625). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the content tagged by the user can be saved locally on the user's client device or remotely on another device operable to record content. For example, a client device with digital video recording ("DVR") functionality can provide the user with the ability to locally record a given item of tagged content. Alternatively, the tagged content can be recorded and stored on a remote content storage device operable to store one or more items of content. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the content tagged by the user can be identified using start and stop identifiers. For example, the start and stop identifiers can be stored and delivered to one or more friends of the user to provide direct access to a given tagged item of television program, movie, etc. According to another embodiment of the present invention, user-tagged content can be identified using an offset or pointer that identifies a location within a given piece of digital content. For example, a given offset or pointer can be delivered to one or more friends to identify a location within a piece of digital content. A given friend can select the offset or pointer to gain direct access to the location within the content item specified by the user.

A check is performed to determine if the user has one or more friends (step 630). If the user's profile does not identify one or more friends for the given user, then the process ends (step 645). The one or more tags saved locally on the user's client device or remotely on a device operable to store the one or more tags may be later retrieved and viewed by the given user.

If the user's profile identifies one or more friends (step 630), the one or more friends may be retrieved (step 632) and displayed to the user on the given user's client device along with an audio or visual context representation associated with each friend's context (step 635). The user may select one or more displayed friends to designate these friends as intended recipients of the tagged content item. For example, using a selection device such as a remote control or mouse, the user may select one or more audio or visual context representations associated with the context of one or more of the user's friends to identify the intended recipients of the tagged content item. A check is performed to determine whether the user has selected one or more friends (step 640). If the user has not selected any friends, the tagged content is not delivered to any of the user's one or more friends, and the user may continue to select content from the plurality of content available to the user (step 615). The tagged content, stored on the user's client device or remotely stored on a device operable to store one or more tags, may be retrieved and viewed later by the given user.

If the user selects one or more friends, a check is performed to determine whether any of the one or more selected friends are active (step 650). If one or more of the user's friends are identified as active, the tagged content is delivered to the corresponding friends and can be viewed or saved by each recipient (step 655). For example, a messaging component operable to identify one or more of the user's friends can instruct a local or remote storage device to deliver a given tagged content item to one or more of the user's selected friends. If none of the selected friends are active, the tagged content can be annotated with delivery information identifying one or more recipients who will receive the tagged content (step 660) and delivered when one or more of the identified recipients become active. For example, the selected friends can receive notifications about the tagged content when they log into the content distribution system. Similarly, an inter-messaging component operable to communicate with one or more third-party instant messaging applications can determine when the selected friends log into the third-party instant messaging application and can deliver the tagged content to the selected friends. The user can then continue to browse and view the plurality of content available to the user (step 615) and identify additional tags for delivery to one or more of the user's friends.

Although FIG6A illustrates a method for tagging one or more content items and delivering the tags and the tagged content to one or more friends associated with a given user, the content distribution system shown in FIG1 can also be used to select a content item in an electronic program guide and deliver the selection to one or more friends associated with a given user. According to one embodiment of the present invention, an electronic program guide component can deliver an electronic program guide identifying one or more content items available to a given user to a given user's client device. A user can select one or more of the content items identified in the electronic program guide in order to watch, record, or the like the selected one or more content items. For example, a user can select a given content item to arrange the date and time at which the item is recorded on the user's client device. Similarly, a user can decide to select a content item so that the user's client device is automatically adjusted to the content item when the content item is available.

Selections made by a given user in an electronic program guide can be delivered to one or more friends associated with the given user. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a messaging component operable to identify one or more friends of a user delivers a notification to the one or more friends of the user. The notification informs the one or more friends of one or more content selected by the user from the electronic program guide. For example, the messaging component can deliver a notification to one or more friends of the user indicating one or more content selected by the user from the electronic program guide for recording. Similarly, the messaging component can deliver a notification to one or more friends of the user indicating one or more content that will be automatically delivered to the user's client device when available.

6B is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method for facilitating web remote access to a user's set-top box, digital video recorder ("DVR"), or other client device in order to control and interact with content delivered to and on one or more of the user's client devices. A user can remotely access a content distribution system via a client device ("remote access client device") that is communicatively coupled to a web server, which is operable to retrieve and display a login page for the content distribution system. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the remote access client device that is communicatively coupled to the Internet can access the content distribution system via a web browser that can display a login page for the content distribution system.

As shown in Figure 6B, the user can utilize the remote access client device that is coupled to the web server that can operatively obtain and display the login webpage of content distribution system to remotely log in to content distribution system (step 665).According to one embodiment of the present invention, the user of remote access client device initializes and is connected to login component via the Internet, to verify the user certificate that is maintained in the user's profile, and this user profile can be obtained from profile data storage device (step 668).The profile that is obtained for given user can provide about being associated with user and being coupled to the information of one or more client devices of one or more set-top boxes of user (step 670).For example, the user may have registered one or more client devices that are associated with user before, for example, can be coupled to the digital video recorder (" DVR ") or high-definition television of one or more set-top boxes of user.The function of one or more client devices that are associated with user and being coupled to the user's one or more set-top boxes can be identified in the user's profile or or be determined by content distribution system.For example, content distribution system can determine whether the given client device that is associated with user and being coupled to the user's one or more set-top boxes can record content item, display content item with high-definition format, etc.

The profile that the user obtains can also be used for identifying the content that is delivered to one or more set-top boxes of the user by the content distribution system.According to one embodiment of the present invention, the content distribution system identifies one or more available electronic program guides on one or more set-top boxes of the user.From the data of one or more electronic program guides stored and available on one or more set-top boxes of the user can be shown to the user (step 675) on the remote access client device of the user.The user can select the one or more content available to one or more set-top boxes of the user that is shown in the one or more electronic program guides on the remote access client device of the user.For example, utilizing the selection device such as keyboard or mouse that is coupled to the remote access client device, the user can select one or more content from one or more electronic program guides available to the user.

Perform a check to determine whether the user has selected one or more contents displayed on the user's remote access client device (step 680). If the user does not select any content item available to the user, the user can continue to browse the available one or more contents (step 675). When the user selects one or more contents (step 680), the user is presented with one or more options (step 681) for interacting with the selected one or more contents. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the one or more options available to the user are based on the functions of the one or more client devices of the user identified in the user's profile. When the user selects a content from one or more contents displayed to the user via the electronic program guide on the remote access client device, the user can be presented with the option of recording the selected content on the user's DVR. Similarly, the user's set-top box can also be coupled to a high-definition television. When the user selects a content, the user can be presented with the option of receiving the selected content in non-high-definition format or high-definition format. In addition, the user can arrange the time when the user's TV is adjusted to the selected content. Those skilled in the art will recognize other options available to a given user based on one or more client devices coupled to the user's set-top box or boxes, including recording an item of content, changing recording options, deleting selected recorded items of content, selecting an item of content for automatic adjustment, and the like.

Then perform a check to determine whether the user has selected one or more options available to the user for selected one or more contents (step 682).If the user does not select any one of the available one or more options for selected one or more contents, the user can continue to browse multiple contents available to the user (step 675).When the user selected one or more in the available option for selected one or more contents, the user's selection was propagated to one or more set-top boxes, DVR or other client devices (step 684) of the user.According to one embodiment of the present invention, the user's selection is delivered to one or more set-top boxes associated with a given user by the message delivery component of the content distribution system.For example, the user can select to record the option of a content available to the user at a specific time.The user's selection is delivered to the user's set-top box or DVR, and then set-top box or DVR perform the command of realizing this selection.According to method described herein, the user's profile can be annotated to reflect the one or more contents selected by the user (step 685), so that the recommendation to the content item is provided to the user.

FIG7 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method for helping to use a client device to watch television content and interact with one or more other applications. The user of the client device initializes and connects to the login component to verify the user's certificate (step 705). In addition, the user's profile is obtained to identify the user's location, preferences, etc. (step 710). Content is obtained and delivered to the user's client device (step 715). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the user can use an electronic program guide to select the content obtained and delivered to the user's client device. For example, the electronic program guide component can search an EPG data storage device that can operate to store one or more program guides in one or more locations and display one or more content available to a given user. The one or more program guides obtained can be obtained based on the location identified in the user's profile. A given content selected by the user can be obtained from the TV application component and displayed on the given user's client device.

According to the embodiment shown in Figure 7, a user can watch television content while participating in a game application of one or more friends associated with a given user. For example, one or more games (e.g., game applications available on the Internet) can be displayed on the user's client device. The user can select one or more available game applications to invoke the corresponding game application.

Perform a check to determine whether the user has selected one or more game applications (step 720). If the user does not select game applications, then television content continues to be displayed on the client device of given user (step 715). The user can continue to select content from a plurality of contents available to a given user, and browse the one or more game applications available to the user. On the contrary, if the user has selected one or more game applications (step 720), then these one or more game applications can be executed and displayed on the client device of user (step 725). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the one or more game applications selected can be delivered to the client device of user and executed locally. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the one or more game applications selected can be remotely executed and displayed on the client device of given user. One or more game applications are displayed together in conjunction with the television content displayed on the client device of given user, thereby allowing the user to watch television content and participate in selected one or more game applications.

A check is performed to determine whether the user has one or more friends identified in the user profile (step 730). The user's one or more friends may be displayed to the user to allow the user to select one or more friends to join the selected gaming application (step 730). If the user has one or more friends, the identities of the one or more friends are retrieved (step 732). Additionally, active friends from the user's one or more friends are identified and displayed to the user (step 734).

If the user is not associated with one or more friends, one or more profiles stored in the profile data store may be retrieved to identify other users with similar or matching interests, characteristics, etc. as the given user (step 740). For example, the profile component may be operable to identify one or more profiles in the profile data store that identify user preferences similar to those of the current user. The one or more other users identified by the profile component may be designated as temporary friends to allow the current user to participate in the selected gaming application.

The messaging component may deliver an invitation to participate in one or more gaming applications selected by the user to one or more active friends identified by the user's profile or selected by the profile component (step 745). The recipient of the gaming application invitation may accept or decline the gaming invitation (step 748). If none of the recipients of the user's gaming invitation accept the invitation, the user is informed of this and may continue to watch the television content being displayed (step 755). The messaging component may pause for a given period of time (step 750) and then redeliver the one or more invitations to the user's one or more friends (step 750). If one or more of the recipients of the user's gaming invitation accept the invitation, the context of the one or more friends who accepted the invitation is retrieved (step 760).

The context of one or more friends may be displayed on the user's client device (step 765). For example, the user's client device may display an audio or visual representation of the context of one or more friends. In addition, the game application selected by the user is broadcast to each friend who accepted the game invitation (step 768). For example, if the user selected a card game application and a given friend was watching a television program when accepting the game invitation, the friend's client device may display both the television program and the game application. The user and the one or more friends who accepted the game invitation can then participate in the selected game application.

It should be noted that although Figure 7 illustrates the use of a gaming application in conjunction with viewing television content, according to another embodiment of the present invention, one or more other applications may be selected and executed in conjunction with the television content, where the other applications may include applications that can be executed locally on the client device or applications that can be executed remotely on a device that is operable to execute one or more applications for display on the client device.

The content distribution system shown in Figure 1 can also be used to provide users with the ability to enter ratings for one or more content items and receive recommendations. Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method for entering a rating for a given item of content and delivering the rating to one or more friends of the user.

During or after the display of an item of content (which may include television content), the user may be presented with the option to enter a rating for the given item of content (step 820). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the user is presented with a graphical user interface that allows the user to enter one or more ratings for a given item of content. The rating may include an indication of the user's opinion of the item of content. For example, the user may indicate that the content is enjoyable using a "thumbs-up" icon or that the content is undesirable using a "thumbs-down" icon. Similarly, the user may enter a rating for one or more categories or characteristics associated with the item of content. For example, if the user is watching a horror movie, the user may provide a rating for one or more actors, the degree of horror in the movie, the suspense in the movie, and so on. In addition, the user may also enter rating information for other applications, including gaming applications, websites, and the like. For example, a user participating in an online gaming application may provide a rating indicating whether the game is challenging, whether the graphics are appealing, and so on. Those skilled in the art will recognize other content types and characteristics that may be rated by a given user.

The user's profile may be annotated with a rating entered by the user for a given item of content to provide recommendations for additional content to the user or one or more of the user's friends (step 825). The user profile annotated with rating information may be used to determine content that the user may like and alert the user when such content is available. For example, a recommendation component may review a user profile annotated with multiple ratings to identify one or more television programs that the user may like based on the user's previous ratings. The recommendation component may direct the TV application to retrieve one or more content items from a content data store and deliver these content items to the user's client device based on the user's ratings. Similarly, the recommendation component may review the user's profile and, based on the user's ratings, instruct another application component (e.g., a game application) that is operable to store other applications to deliver the corresponding application to the user's client device.

The user's rating may also be stored in a recommendation component operable to store one or more user ratings for a content item, so that the user's rating can be propagated to one or more of the user's friends or used to provide recommendations to additional users (step 830). A check is performed to determine whether the user has one or more friends identified in the user profile (step 835). If the user does not have one or more friends, the process ends and the user's rating is stored (step 850). If the user does have one or more friends, an audio or visual display of each friend's context may be displayed on the user's client device, allowing the user to select one or more of these friends (step 840). A check is performed to determine whether the user has selected one or more friends (step 845). If the user has not selected one or more friends, the process ends. If one or more of the friends are selected, each corresponding selected friend may receive a notification of the user's rating of the given content item, allowing the user's one or more friends to select content based on the one or more friends' ratings (step 860). For example, a friend logged into the content distribution system may receive an alert informing the user of the rating. Similarly, a friend who is not logged into the content distribution system may receive a notification informing the friend that the user has rated a given piece of content when logging into the content distribution system. Alternatively, or in addition, the friend may receive an alert informing the friend of the user's rating of the given piece of content via an email application, an instant messaging application, etc.

Ratings entered by one or more users of the system described herein can be used to provide recommendations for one or more pieces of content. Figure 9 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method for generating one or more recommendations based on ratings entered by one or more users. According to the embodiment shown in Figure 9, a user may log in to the content distribution system via a login component (step 905). The profile component may retrieve the user's profile from a profile data store to verify the user's credentials (step 910). The user logged into the content distribution system may request a recommendation for a piece of content, where a piece of content may include television content, gaming content, internet content, and the like. A check is performed to determine whether the user has requested a recommendation (step 915). If no recommendation has been requested, a plurality of content available to the user may be displayed, allowing the user to select one or more pieces of content (step 925). If the user has submitted a request for a recommendation, a check is performed to determine whether the user has provided ratings for at least N pieces of content associated with the sought recommendation (step 930). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the recommendation component reviews the user's profile to determine whether the user's profile is annotated with one or more ratings for the selected type of content. For example, if a user requests a recommendation for a speculative movie, a check is performed to determine whether the user has rated at least N speculative movies or television shows, where N may include a threshold. The recommendation component may review the user's profile to determine whether the user has rated at least N speculative movies or television shows.

If the user has rated at least N items of content associated with the selected content type, the recommendation component may generate a recommendation based on the user's one or more ratings (step 935). For example, a profile annotated with three different ratings of mystical movies may identify that a given user likes a particular actor and likes black and white movies. The recommendation component may generate a recommendation based on the user's previous ratings and deliver a request to the TV application component to retrieve one or more items of content from the content data store that match the user's preferences. A threshold value may be used to increase the accuracy of the recommendations made by the recommendation component. For example, a profile with only one mystical movie rating may not provide the recommendation component with enough information to make an accurate recommendation. Therefore, a threshold value may be used to increase the likelihood that the recommendation component will calculate a recommendation that matches the given user's preferences.

If the user has not rated at least N items of content related to the requested recommendation type, a check is performed to determine whether the given user has one or more friends (step 940). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the user's profile is used to determine the one or more friends specified by the user. The profiles of the one or more friends identified in the given user's profile can be used to provide recommendations for one or more items of content.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG9 , if the user's profile does not identify one or more friends, a search is performed to identify users of the content distribution system having profiles identifying preferences that are similar to or match the preferences of the given user (step 945). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the profile component traverses multiple profiles stored in the profile data storage device to identify users having preferences that match or are similar to the preferences of the given user. For example, if the user's profile indicates that the user is 68 years old, lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, and likes movies with actor Marlon Brando, one or more profiles with similar characteristics and preferences can be retrieved and designated as temporary friends of the user in order to provide one or more recommendations to the user.

If the user's profile indicates one or more friends, or after one or more temporary friends are assigned to the user using one or more matching or similar profiles, a check is performed to determine whether any of the one or more friends has rated at least N items of content related to the recommendation sought by the given user (step 950). For example, if the user is seeking recommendations for game applications, a check is performed to determine whether any of the one or more friends has rated at least N game applications. If one or more of the user's friends has rated at least N items of content associated with the type of content sought by the given user, the recommendation component may generate a recommendation based on one or more reviews from the user's one or more friends (step 955). For example, if the user is seeking recommendations for game applications, and a friend associated with the user has rated eight game applications, the recommendation component may generate a recommendation based on the game application that received the highest rating from the friend. Similarly, if the user has multiple friends, and each friend has rated the same game application, the recommendation component may calculate an average rating for the one or more game applications and recommend the game application with the highest rating to the user. Those skilled in the art will recognize other methods for generating recommendations based on one or more friend reviews.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG9 , if none of the user's friends have rated at least N items of content associated with the content sought by the given user, the recommendation component may generate recommendations based on the user characteristics indicated in the user's profile (step 960). For example, the user's profile may indicate that the user is 23 years old, lives in Arizona, attends Arizona State University, and plays football. Therefore, the recommendation component may generate a recommendation for a television channel that broadcasts football games played by universities located in Arizona. The recommendation component may instruct the TV application component to retrieve one or more items of content associated with the Arizona football game h stored in the content data storage device and deliver them to the user's client device. Those skilled in the art will appreciate the various content items that may be retrieved based on one or more user characteristics identified in the user profile. Alternatively, or in addition, the recommendation component may provide recommendations to the user based on the popularity of one or more items of content. For example, the recommendation component may identify the most frequently viewed, accessed, downloaded, etc., television content, audio content, gaming applications, and the like, and notify the user of these items. The recommendation component may instruct the TV application component to retrieve and deliver one or more content stored in the content data storage device that is identified as being most frequently selected, downloaded, accessed, etc.

The system of the present invention can also be used to alert a user to one or more events based on the user's characteristics and preferences identified in the user profile. A user may be interested in a variety of events, alerts, announcements, and the like. Current methods for delivering such information to users may require the user to watch a news broadcast, visit a specific website, search for content, and the like. To overcome the shortcomings associated with current methods for delivering user-specific information, the present invention provides systems and methods that facilitate obtaining and delivering various alerts based on one or more user preferences.

Figure 10 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method for identifying one or more user alerts. One or more content, which may include television content, is displayed on the user's client device (step 1015). While logged into the content distribution system, the user may wish to enter one or more alerts to generate notifications about events of interest to a given user. For example, the user may wish to receive a notification when a movie starring actor Harrison Ford is airing. Similarly, a user who travels frequently may wish to receive notifications about traffic reports on one or more highways. In addition, the user may wish to receive notifications about news events that are of interest to the user. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are other information or events for which the user may wish to receive one or more alerts.

A check is performed to determine whether a given user has entered one or more alerts (step 1020). According to one embodiment of the present invention, a user may enter one or more alerts using a graphical user interface that is accessible to a user logged into a client device in the system described herein. If the user has entered an alert, the user's profile is annotated with information identifying the alerts indicated by the user (step 1025). If the user has not entered one or more alerts, the user's profile may be used to generate one or more alerts (step 1030). Furthermore, the user's profile may be used to supplement the one or more alerts entered by the user (step 1030). For example, the user's profile may indicate that the user is 55 years old, lives in Miami, Florida, and enjoys watching television programs featuring animals. The recommendation component may annotate the user's profile with one or more alerts based on the user preferences identified in the user's profile. Thus, the user profile may be annotated with one or more alerts to provide the user with notifications about television programs featuring animals, discounts offered to seniors in the Miami, Florida area, and so on.

The recommendation component can also annotate the user's profile with an alert based on one or more recommendations of the user identified in the user's profile. For example, the user's profile may indicate that the user enjoys watching several movies featuring actor Al Pacino. Thus, the user's profile can be annotated with one or more alerts to inform the user when one or more content featuring actor Al Pacino is available to the user. Those skilled in the art will appreciate other alerts that can be generated based on information maintained in the user's profile.

Figure 11 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method for delivering alerts to a user based on information maintained in a user profile. The TV application component may retrieve one or more content from a content data storage device to deliver to the user's client device (step 1115), and the user's profile may be used to monitor one or more alerts identified by the user or generated by the recommendation component (step 1120). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the messaging component may be operable to monitor one or more alerts associated with a given user's profile. The messaging component may periodically review one or more content data storage devices to identify information related to one or more alerts for the user (step 1125). If information associated with one or more alerts for the user is identified, the messaging component may instruct the TV application component to deliver a message or other notification to the user's client device (step 1130).

A user presented with an alert can select the alert to obtain additional information about the alert or change the user's context to display information associated with the alert (step 1135). For example, if a given alert informs the user of a serious traffic accident, the user can select the alert, which can change the user's context to a news broadcast detailing the traffic accident. Similarly, if a given alert informs the user of a movie they might like, the user can select the alert to change the context to focus on the given movie. If the information for the given alert is not located, or the user does not select the alert to be displayed on the user's client device, the user's context is not changed, and one or more alerts identified in the user's profile continue to be monitored (step 1120).

One or more alerts and ratings of a user can also be used to customize the delivery of one or more advertisements to the user's client device. Figure 12 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method for delivering advertisements to a user, which can be based on one or more alerts and ratings of a user. The user's profile is retrieved (step 1210), and content is delivered to the user's client device (step 1215). A check is performed to determine whether the user's profile contains one or more ratings or one or more alerts (step 1220). If the user's profile contains one or more ratings or one or more alerts, advertisements related to the one or more ratings or one or more alerts can be retrieved (1230). For example, the content data storage device can store multiple advertisements for various products and services. Given a user's profile that indicates that the user lives in Memphis, Tennessee, enjoys classical music, is a football fan, etc., the recommendation component can instruct the TV application component or another application component to retrieve one or more advertisements related to classical music, football, etc., and deliver the advertisements to the user's client device. Similarly, the user's profile can indicate that the user wishes to receive weather-related warnings. The recommendation component can instruct the TV application component or another application component to retrieve advertisements for weather-related products and services and deliver such advertisements to the user's client device (step 1235).

If the user's profile does not have one or more ratings or alerts, the user's current context can be retrieved by the messaging component and used to determine one or more advertisements to deliver to the user's client device (step 1225). For example, a given user may be watching the movie "The Shawshank Redemption." The messaging component can retrieve the user's context and, based on the retrieved context, instruct the TV application component to deliver one or more advertisements relevant to the user's context. The TV application can retrieve an advertisement, such as the soundtrack for the movie "The Shawshank Redemption," and deliver such advertisement to the user's client device (step 1235).

The user may select one or more of the advertisements displayed on the user's client device (step 1240). If the user selects a given advertisement, the user's context may be changed to display additional information about the advertised product or service (step 1245). If the user does not select one or more of the displayed advertisements, the user context is not changed (step 1215).

Figure 13 is a screen diagram illustrating the content that can be delivered to a client device. The user of the system described herein can utilize a login component to log in, and this login component can verify the user certificate stored in the user profile. Once logged in, the user can select among the multiple contents available to the user of the client device that can be delivered to the user. As shown in Figure 13, the content 1305 delivered to the client device can include television content available to a given user. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the content 1305 available to the user is identified based on the user location indicated in the user's profile. For example, the electronic program guide component can query the electronic program guide data storage device based on the user location indicated in the user's profile to identify one or more electronic program guides available to a given user. The one or more electronic program guides identified by the electronic program guide component can be displayed to the user on the user's client device. The user can select an item in the electronic program guide, which can cause the TV application component to obtain content 1305 and deliver it to the user's client device.

While FIG13 illustrates the acquisition and delivery of television content 1305 to a user's client device, other content may also be acquired and delivered to a given user's client device. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a user may select one or more additional applications, such as gaming applications, instant messaging applications, and the like, from another application component that may store other applications. The content 1305 selected and displayed on a given user's client device may be modified based on the type of destination client device. For example, the size of the content selected for delivery to a cell phone device may be set based on the size of the cell phone device's display screen.

Figure 14 is an electronic program guide that can be used by a given user of a client device to select one or more television contents. As shown in Figure 14, the content 1405 selected and displayed in Figure 13 is minimized to allow the user to continue watching the selected television content 1405 while browsing multiple contents 1415 and 1410 available to the given user.

The electronic program guide 1400 displayed to a user of a client device may be retrieved by an electronic program guide component, which may identify one or more electronic program guides available to a given user. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the content 1415 and 1410 available to a given user is identified based on the user's location as identified in the user's profile. For example, an electronic program guide displayed to a user in San Francisco, California may correspond to Pacific Standard Time, while an electronic program guide displayed to a user in New York City may correspond to Eastern Standard Time. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the content 1415 and 1410 available to a given user may be identified based on the user's preferences as identified in the user's profile. For example, a user may subscribe to one or more pay-per-view movie services to provide the user with additional content. The electronic program guide component may retrieve the electronic program guide 1400 corresponding to the user's subscribed services. Those skilled in the art will appreciate other methods for obtaining and displaying electronic program guides to a user's client device.

A user can utilize a selection device, such as a remote control, to browse through the plurality of content items 1415 and 1410 displayed in the electronic program guide 1400 and select one or more of the content items 1415 and 1410 available to the user. If the user selects a given item of content 1415 and 1410, the content can be retrieved by the TV application component and displayed on the client device of the given user. As shown in FIG14 , the selected content can be modified to appropriately display the content in conjunction with the electronic program guide available to the given user.

In addition to selecting content to be displayed in the electronic program guide, the user may also select content associated with one or more of the user's friends, as shown in Figure 15. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the user profile may be used to identify one or more friends 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560, and 1565 designated by the user in one or more instant messaging applications. Similarly, the user profile may identify friends who maintain profiles on the content distribution system.

The messaging component can be used to identify one or more friends identified in a given user's profile and retrieve context associated with each of the potentially active friends 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560, and 1565. For example, active friends may include friends who have logged into the system described herein and maintain profiles on that system. The messaging component can instruct the TV application component to deliver context associated with given friends 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560, and 1565 to the given user. For example, the TV application component can deliver content, such as television programs, to the given user's client device. When the user logs into the system described herein, the user can request to view content currently being viewed by one or more friends identified in the user's profile. The messaging component can identify the one or more friends and the context for each of the friends 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560, and 1565 and instruct the TV application component to propagate the one or more friends' context to the given user.

According to the embodiment shown in Figure 15, the TV application component generates thumbnails 1520, 1525, 1530, 1535 and 1540 representing the context of given friends 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560 and 1565, and the TV application component propagates these thumbnails to the client device of a given user. Thumbnails 1520, 1525, 1530, 1535 and 1540 can be annotated with information describing a specific context (e.g., title, channel, evaluation, etc.). The context of one or more friends 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560 and 1565 of a user can also be displayed together with the content 1505 being watched by the given user. The display area of the given user's client device can be modified to accommodate the one or more friends 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560 and 1565 of the user and the content 1505 being watched by the user.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the TV application component delivers the actual content that a given friend 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560, and 1565 is watching. For example, friends 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560, and 1565 associated with a given viewer may be watching the show "The Apprentice." As described above, one way to indicate the context of friends 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560, and 1565 is to deliver thumbnails 1520, 1525, 1530, 1535, and 1540 associated with the context of friends 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560, and 1565 to the user's client device. In addition, the TV application can deliver streaming content to the user's client device to allow the user to watch the content of the given friends 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560, and 1565 in conjunction with the content 1505 that the given user is watching. While the screenshot shown in FIG. 15 provides context for five friends 1545 , 1550 , 1555 , 1560 , and 1565 , more or fewer friends may be displayed to a given user based on a threshold or number of friends identified in the user's profile.

Advertisements or other auxiliary content may also be displayed in conjunction with the content and context of one or more friends of the user. As shown in Figure 15, advertisement 1510 is a display corresponding to the content 1505 currently displayed on the user's client device. Displayed advertisement 1510 may be selected, thereby allowing the user to obtain more information (1510) on the advertised product or service. One or more advertisements 1510 displayed in conjunction with content 1505 and one or more friends 1545, 1550, 1555, 1560, and 1565 of the user may be selected based on the user's evaluation or warning, as described herein. Similarly, one or more advertisements 1510 displayed on the user's client device may be selected based on the selected content 1505 and delivered to the user's client device. For example, displayed advertisement 1510 may be an advertisement for a movie associated with displayed content 1505.

16 is a screen shot showing a plurality of friends 1610, 1615, 1620, 1625, 1630, and 1635 associated with a user and a visual representation of each friend's respective context. One or more of the user's friends identified in the user's profile may be viewing television content, participating in online gaming applications, watching movies, etc. The visual representation of each friend's respective context may be delivered to the user's client device via the TV application component in conjunction with the television content selected by the given user.

Utilizing a selection device such as a remote control, keyboard, or mouse, a user can traverse the visual representations of the contexts of one or more friends 1610, 1615, 1620, 1625, 1630, and 1635 displayed on the user's client device. As shown in FIG11 , as the user traverses the visual representations of the contexts of one or more friends 1610, 1615, 1620, 1625, 1630, and 1635 displayed, a particular visual representation of the context of friend 1615 can be highlighted 1645 or otherwise marked. Information 1640 can be displayed to the user that further identifies the context of the highlighted friend, such as a program, title, channel, network, rating, and the like. As the user traverses the contexts associated with the user's one or more friends 1610, 1615, 1620, 1625, 1630, and 1635, the user can continue to view and select content 1605. For example, a user may view the context of one or more of the user's friends 1610, 1615, 1620, 1625, 1630, and 1635 while changing television channels, participating in an online gaming application, watching a movie, and the like.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the display of one or more of a user's friends 1610, 1615, 1620, 1625, 1630, and 1635 and associated contexts can be turned on or off. For example, a user watching a movie may want the movie to occupy the entire display area of the user's client device. The user can thus disable the display of the user's friends 1610, 1615, 1620, 1625, 1630, and 1635 and associated contexts. Similarly, the user can limit the number of friends 1610, 1615, 1620, 1625, 1630, and 1635 and associated contexts displayed on the user's client device. For example, a user's profile may identify 20 friends, all of whom may be active when the user participates in an online gaming application. The user may wish to limit the number of friends 1610, 1615, 1620, 1625, 1630, and 1635 and associated contexts displayed to minimize clutter on the screen and maximize the display of the gaming application, etc. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the user can modify the display position of friends 1610, 1615, 1620, 1625, 1630, and 1635 and the associated contexts in the display area of the user's client device. Although the screen image shown in Figure 16 shows a row of friends 1610, 1615, 1620, 1625, 1630, and 1635 and the associated contexts at the bottom of the display area, one or more of friends 1610, 1615, 1620, 1625, 1630, and 1635 and the associated contexts can also be placed in a position that suits the user's needs or preferences.

17 is a screen shot showing another embodiment of a plurality of friends 1710, 1715, 1720, 1725, 1730, and 1735 associated with a user that can be selected by the user, and a respective context 1770, 1775, 1780, 1785, 1790, and 1795 for each friend. The contexts 1770, 1775, 1780, 1785, 1790, and 1795 of one or more of the user's friends 1710, 1715, 1720, 1725, 1730, and 1735 identified in the user's profile can be propagated to the user's client device via the TV application component. The user's one or more friends 1710, 1715, 1720, 1725, 1730, and 1735 may be watching television content, participating in an online gaming application, and the like. The context 1770 , 1775 , 1780 , 1785 , 1790 , and 1795 of each friend 1710 , 1715 , 1720 , 1725 , 1730 , and 1735 may be viewed on the user's client device in conjunction with the one or more pieces of content 1705 selected by the user.

As previously described, using the selection device, a user can navigate through contexts 1770, 1775, 1780, 1785, 1790, and 1795 associated with one or more of the user's friends 1710, 1715, 1720, 1725, 1730, and 1735. When a given context 1780 associated with a friend 1720 is highlighted or otherwise marked, additional information 1798 associated with the friend's 1720 context 1780, such as a channel, title, or network, is displayed to the user. Furthermore, if the user selects a context 1780 associated with a given friend, the user may be presented with one or more options 1740, 1745, and 1750. For example, the screen shot shown in FIG17 shows a user selecting a friend's context 1780, which is an online card game application. When the user selects a context 1780 associated with a friend 1720 participating in the online card game application, the user is presented with multiple options. The "watch" 1745 option allows the user to watch the card game that the friend is participating in. For example, by selecting "watch" 1745, the user's context 1780, i.e., the online card game application, can be broadcast to the user's client device. The user can continue to watch the television program 1705 and the friend's online card game. Selecting "cancel" 1750 allows the user to continue traversing one or more contexts 1770, 1775, 1780, 1785, 1790, and 1795 associated with one or more of the user's friends 1710, 1715, 1720, 1725, 1730, and 1735.

By selecting "play" 1740, the user can choose to participate in the online card game application of friend 1720. For example, if the user selects "Play" 1740, the context 1780 of friend 1720 is propagated to the user's client device. In addition, the user's profile can be used to identify the user as a participant and to enroll the user in the card game. FIG18 presents a screenshot showing content associated with a context change that may be displayed to the user upon selecting the "play" 1740 option associated with a given friend's 1720 game context 1780.

According to the embodiment shown in Figure 18, a user can join a game application associated with one or more selected friends. The context of the selected friends is delivered to the user's client device to allow participation in the game application. The user can continue to watch previously selected content 1810 while participating in the game application.

As shown in Figure 18, the user's friends 1815, 1820, 1825, 1830, 1835, 1840 and 1845 can be modified to reflect the user's context changes. More specifically, the user context that previously only included television content now includes both television content 1810 and card game application 1805. Therefore, the friends displayed to the user can be modified to reflect the friends associated with the changed context. Since the user continues to watch television content 1810, the friends "joff" 1835, "hatrick" 1840 and "joymo" 1845 associated with the user's television viewing 1810 continue to be displayed on the user's client device, while the friends 1815, 1820, 1825 and 1830 associated with the user's game application 1805 are obtained and displayed on the user's client device. The user is also presented with a plurality of controls 1850, 1855 and 1860 for participating in the game application 1805.

As shown in Figure 19, a user may receive one or more alerts while viewing content or participating in a gaming application. According to the methods described herein, a user's profile may identify one or more alerts, wherein the alerts may include events or notifications that the user wishes to receive or that may be of interest to a given user. A traffic alert 1915 is shown, informing the user of "Major Delays" on a road that may be relevant to the user. Although the alert presented is a traffic-related alert 1915, other alerts may also be displayed on the user's client device based on one or more alerts identified in the user's profile or the user's specific context. For example, a user participating in an online card game may receive an alert informing the user that a card tournament is taking place at a given casino. Similarly, a user's profile may indicate that the user wishes to receive alerts informing the user when the television program "The Real World" airs. Those skilled in the art will appreciate other alerts that may be displayed to users of client devices based on the user's profile or the user's specific context.

Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in connection with the preferred embodiments, many changes and modifications apparent to those skilled in the art may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the exact details of the methods or structures described above, as such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the invention.

Claims (15)

1. A method for providing one or more content items to a user in a television environment, the method comprising: Set the context of the client device for the user's operation; For one or more friends associated with the user as indicated in the user profile, a context is set for the client device operated by the one or more friends, the one or more friends being in the user's social network, and the context of the one or more friends includes at least one of the following: a specific action being performed, the location where the action is being performed, and the type of client device on which the action is being performed, and wherein the context of the one or more friends is at least one of the following: a context for displaying one or more TV content items, and annotation information for the context for displaying one or more TV content items; Obtain one or more representations of the context of the one or more friends; Display one or more representations of the context of the one or more friends, combined with the context of the user, on the user's client device; Receive a selection of a representation of the context of a given friend from the one or more representations; Based on the received selection, the user's context is set to the context of the selected given friend, and the user simultaneously participates in both the user's context and the context of the selected given friend; and An interface is displayed on the user's client device for the user to participate in the context of a selected given friend, the interface displaying the one or more representations. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein setting the context includes obtaining the content selected by the user. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein setting the context includes displaying one or more recommended contents based on the user profile. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining one or more representations comprises: Identify one or more instant messaging services that the user has subscribed to; Identify one or more users who have been designated as friends in the one or more instant messaging services; and Obtain one or more representations of the context of the user designated as a friend for display on the user's client device. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining comprises: Obtain one or more characteristics identified in the user profile; Iterate through one or more other user profiles to identify one or more other users with characteristics similar to the acquired characteristics; and Designate one or more other users identified as friends. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining includes obtaining an indication of the action being performed by a given friend at a given moment. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein display includes displaying one or more images as context of the one or more friends. 8. The method of claim 1 further comprises: Propagate a representation of the context of the user's client device to client devices operated by the one or more friends; and Display a representation of the context of the user's client device on the client device operated by the one or more friends. 9. An apparatus for providing one or more content items to a user in a television environment, the apparatus comprising: Processor; and A memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the device to: Set the context of the client device for the user's operation; For one or more friends associated with the user as indicated in the user profile, a context is set for the client device operated by the one or more friends, the one or more friends being in the user's social network, and the context of the one or more friends includes at least one of the following: a specific action being performed, the location where the action is being performed, and the type of client device on which the action is being performed, and wherein the context of the one or more friends is at least one of the following: a context for displaying one or more TV content items, and annotation information for the context for displaying one or more TV content items; Obtain one or more representations of the context of the one or more friends; Display one or more representations of the context of the one or more friends, combined with the context of the user, on the user's client device; Receive a selection of a representation of the context of a given friend from the one or more representations; Based on the received selection, the user's context is set to the context of the selected given friend, and the user simultaneously participates in both the user's context and the context of the selected given friend; and An interface is displayed on the user's client device for the user to participate in the context of a selected given friend, the interface displaying the one or more representations. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein setting the context includes obtaining content selected by the user. 11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein setting the context includes displaying one or more recommended items based on the user profile. 12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein obtaining one or more representations comprises: Identify one or more instant messaging services that the user has subscribed to; Identify one or more users who have been designated as friends in the one or more instant messaging services; and Obtain one or more representations of the context of the user designated as a friend for display on the user's client device. 13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein obtaining comprises: Obtain one or more characteristics identified in the user profile; Iterate through one or more other user profiles to identify one or more other users with characteristics similar to the acquired characteristics; and Designate one or more other users identified as friends. 14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein obtaining includes obtaining an instruction about the action being performed by a given friend at a given moment. 15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein display includes displaying one or more images as context of the plurality of friends.