Patent · US Expired

Subscriber characterization system

US7150030B1 · kind B1 · utility

382Cited by
99References
40Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 3, 1998
Grant dateDec 12, 2006
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 3, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N21/84
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A subscriber characterization system is presented in which the subscriber's selections are monitored, including monitoring of the time duration programming is watched, the volume at which the programming is listened to, and any available information regarding the type of programming, including category and sub-category of the programming. The characterization system can extract textual information related to the programming from closed captioning data, electronic program guides, or other text sources associated with the programming. The extracted information is used to form program characteristics vectors. The programming characteristics vectors can be used in combination with the subscriber selection data to form a subscriber profile. Heuristic rules indicating the relationships between programming choices and demographics can be applied to generate additional probabilistic information regarding demographics and programming and product interests.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.