Abstract:
A media device suitable for playing video content including television programming is provided. The media device comprises a device usage monitor configured to substantially automatically monitor selected usage information related to video content that is played on the media device; a rating engine configured to substantially automatically generate content ratings for specific video content that has been played by the media device, wherein the content ratings are based at least in part of the usage information; and a user interface suitable for presenting a plurality of content channels to the user, wherein at least some of the presented channels are personalized channels that include video content that is selected based at least in part on the content ratings generated by the rating engine.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This patent application takes priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/989,413 (Attorney Docket No. SISAP017P/CSL07-NW14-PRO), filed on Nov. 20, 2007, entitled “A PERSONALIZED VIDEO RECOMMENDER SYSTEM” by Gibbs et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and for all intents and purposes. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for providing personalized video content to users of consumer electronic or multimedia devices capable of supporting video operations, such as viewing, recording and playing back, or downloading videos. More specifically, the present invention relates to providing personalized video content and optionally personalized advertisements to the device users based on the users&#39; usage of the consumer electronic or multimedia devices with respect to viewing, recording and playing back, or downloading videos directly on the devices. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Presently, there is a vast amount of video media available to every person. From films or movies to broadcast television programs to cable or satellite television programs to home movies or user-created video clips, there are many repositories and databases from which people may choose and obtain video content in various formats, and the amount of video content available continues to grow at a very high rate. Broadcast, cable, or satellite companies often provide hundreds of different channels for viewers to choose from. Movie rental companies such as Netflix and Blockbuster have tens, even hundreds, of thousands of titles on DVDs (digital video disc) or video cassettes. More recently, the Internet has also lent its unique capability and become a great repository and distribution channel for video media world-wide. Websites such as YouTube and AOL Video have immense video collections, often millions of video clips, contributed by users from all over the world. 
         [0004]    Faced with such a great and overwhelming number of choices, people often have a difficult time finding the specific video content they are looking for. For example, suppose a person is looking for videos related to the subject matter of figure skating at YouTube&#39;s website, and conducts a keyword search using the term “figure skating.” A recent search of this type would present the person with over fifty-six thousand video clips, all presumably relating to figure skating, and the amount of content that is available is continually growing. It is very unlikely that the person will watch all fifty-six thousand video clips to find those few that he or she likes. Using more specific search terms helps narrow down the search results. For example, conducting a search using the term “figure staking Olympic championship” instead of just “figure skating” at YouTube&#39;s website will result in over one hundred related video clips, a much smaller number compare to the first search result, and yet still a lot of video clips for the person to go through. In addition, using more specific search terms sometimes results in certain video clips being filtered out unintentionally or mistakenly, perhaps due to these video clips having incorrect, imprecise, or incomplete content descriptions. On the other hand, sometimes people are not certain what terms or keywords to search for. For example, suppose a person is looking for a movie to rent at Netflix&#39;s website. The person wants to rent a comedy-type movie, but does not have any specific titles in mind. In this case, it is difficult for the person to search for a specific movie using a few keywords. Instead, the person is more likely to browse through the comedy category and read about the descriptions of individual movies in order to decide whether he or she likes that particular movie. Since there are hundreds or thousands of movies available in each category, it often takes a long time to find a particular movie to the person&#39;s liking. 
         [0005]    When presented with too many choices, people often give up after going through the first few choices on the list, perhaps due to lack of time or loss of patience or interest. As a result, the majority of the available video content are known only to a very few people, while most people are aware of only a small number of selected or dominant videos. This scenario may be represented using a polynomial curve  100  as shown in  FIG. 1 , where the x-axis represents the number of available video content and the y-axis represents the number of times individual pieces of video content have been viewed. To the left of the curve  100 , a small number of the available video content are viewed many times, and they are the dominant video content. To the right, the majority of the video content are viewed only a few times, which is sometimes referred to as the “long tail” of the curve  100 . 
         [0006]    For most people, there is video content in the long tail portion of the curve  100  that they will want to view, and yet, they are not aware of the existence of these videos. To help people locate video content that they are unaware of and yet may enjoy, websites often make recommendations to their customers or users based on various criteria. For example, when a person rents a movie from Netflix, Netflix recommends other movies selected from the same genre or related subject matter or by the same actors and/or actresses. When a person buys a DVD from Amazon, Amazon recommends other movies bought by those customers who also have bought this DVD. To a certain extent, such websites strive to provide personalized services toward individual customers. 
         [0007]    On the other hand, users of consumer electronic devices often are not afforded as many personalized choices as provided by the websites. For example, suppose a person wishes to watch television. He or she may only choose from a fixed number of available programs aired on a fixed number of channels at any given time. The person generally is not able to decide what program is aired on what channel at what time. Such decisions usually rest with the television stations. Thus, if the person wishes to watch a program that is not aired on any of the available channels, he or she will have to forego the desire or find alternative options. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    Broadly speaking, the present invention generally relates to providing personalized video content and optionally personalized advertisements to users of consumer electronic or multimedia devices capable of supporting video operations. The video content and optionally the advertisements are automatically selected based at least in part on the usage information of the consumer electronic or multimedia devices with respect to operating videos on the consumer electronic or multimedia devices. 
         [0009]    According to one embodiment, a method of providing personalized video content is provided. The method comprises automatically determining at least one personalized channel based on device usage information for a device capable of performing at least one video operation; and automatically determining at least one piece of video content for each of the at least one personalized channel based on the device usage information. 
         [0010]    According to another embodiment, a method of providing personalized video content to a user of a consumer electronic device is provided. The method comprises the steps of transmitting video content ratings and device user profiles substantially automatically determined based on videos played on a media device suitable for playing video media to a remote content server; receiving a plurality of personalized channels and personalized video content associated with the plurality of personalized channels selected based at least in part on the content ratings and the device user profiles from the remote content server; presenting the plurality of personalized channels and personalized video content associated with the plurality of personalized channels to a user of the media device; receiving a selection of a particular piece of personalized video content from the user; and playing the selected piece of personalized video content on the media device. 
         [0011]    According to another embodiment, a media device suitable for playing video content including television programming is provided. The device comprises a device usage monitor configured to substantially automatically monitor selected usage information related to video content that is played on the media device; a rating engine configured to substantially automatically generate content ratings for specific video content that has been played by the media device, wherein the content ratings are based at least in part of the usage information; and a user interface suitable for presenting a plurality of content channels to the user, wherein at least some of the presented channels are personalized channels that include video content that is selected based at least in part on the content ratings generated by the rating engine. 
         [0012]    According to another embodiment, a media device suitable for playing video content is provided. The device comprises a device usage monitor configured to substantially automatically monitor selected usage information related to video content that is played by the media device; a rating engine configured to substantially automatically generate content ratings for specific video content that has been played on the media device, wherein the content ratings are based at least in part of the usage information; and a user interface suitable for presenting personalized video content to the user, wherein the personalized video content is selected based at least in part on the content ratings generated by the rating engine. 
         [0013]    According to another embodiment, a video content provider for providing personalized video content to a user of a media device, wherein the media device is capable of playing video media, and wherein the video content provider is a part of the media device is provided. The video content provider comprises a device usage monitor configured to substantially automatically monitor selected usage of the media device with respect to playing videos on the media device; a rating engine configured to substantially automatically generate content ratings for the videos that have been played on the media device based at least in part on the selected usage of the media device and in reference to a plurality of rating rules; and a user interface suitable for presenting a plurality of channels to the user, wherein at least some of the presented channels are personalized channels that include video content that is selected based at least in part on the content ratings generated by the rating engine, in response to a selection of a particular channel by the user from the plurality of presented channels, presenting a plurality of distinct pieces of video content associated with the selected channel that may be viewed by the user; and in response to a selection of a particular piece of video content by the user from the plurality of presented distinct pieces of video content associated with the selected channel, causing the media device to play the selected piece of video content. 
         [0014]    According to another embodiment, a consumer electronic device suitable for playing video media is provided. The device comprises a transceiver suitable for networked communication with a remote content server system to receive a plurality of personalized channels and personalized video content associated with the plurality of personalized channels from the remote content server, wherein the plurality of personalized channels and personalized video content are selected based at least in part on usage patterns of the consumer electronic device that are automatically detected by the consumer electronic device; and a user interface suitable for presenting the plurality of personalized channels and the personalized video content to a user of the consumer electronic device and enabling the user to select a particular piece of video content to be played on the consumer electronic device. 
         [0015]    According to another embodiment, a system for providing personalized video content via consumer electronic devices is provided. The system comprises at least one consumer electronic device, wherein each consumer electronic device is communicatively connected with a server, and wherein each consumer electronic device is suitable for (1) playing video content, (2) substantially automatically rating the video content played on the consumer electronic device based at least in part on usage of the consumer electronic device for playing the video content, (3) transmitting the video content ratings to the server, (4) receiving personalized video content selected by the server, and (5) presenting the personalized video content selected by the server to a user; and the server suitable for (1) receiving video content ratings from each consumer electronic device, (2) selecting the personalized video content for each consumer electronic device based at least in part on the video content ratings received from that consumer electronic device, and (3) transmitting the personalized video content selected for each consumer electronic device to that consumer electronic device. 
         [0016]    These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the invention will be described in more detail below in the detailed description and in conjunction with the following figures. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]    The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which: 
           [0018]      FIG. 1  illustrates a polynomial curve that may be used to represent the “long tail” scenario. 
           [0019]      FIG. 2A  shows a portion of a sample web page from YouTube where several channels are displayed. 
           [0020]      FIG. 2B  shows a portion of a sample web page from YouTube for a particular YouTube member who has established his or her own channel. 
           [0021]      FIG. 3  shows one embodiment of a system for making personalized recommendations of video content and advertisements to users of a client device in accordance with the present invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 4  shows a simplified embodiment of a system and method for automatically rating video content that has been operated on a client device. 
           [0023]      FIG. 5A  shows one embodiment of a top-level menu  501  enables client device users to input command with respect to using the smart channels. 
           [0024]      FIG. 5B  shows one embodiment of a second-level menu that lists the individual pieces of video content contained in a specific smart channel. 
           [0025]      FIG. 5C  shows one embodiment of a menu that presents a list of videos that relates to a selected piece of video content. 
           [0026]      FIGS. 6A-6C  shows one embodiment of the interactions between various components of the client device and the server. 
           [0027]      FIG. 7  is a simplified diagram of a network environment in which specific embodiments of the present invention may be implemented. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0028]    The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to a few preferred embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well known process steps and/or structures have not been described in detail in order to not unnecessarily obscure the present invention. In addition, while the invention will be described in conjunction with the particular embodiments, it will be understood that this description is not intended to limit the invention to the described embodiments. To the contrary, the description is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 
         [0029]    The meaning of the word “channel” varies somewhat when the word is used in different contexts. A television channel generally refers to a television, cable, or satellite station. More recently, the usage of the word has been extended to websites providing video content, such as YouTube or StumbleVideo, although each website may use the word to refer to slightly different concepts. At some websites, a channel is similar to a category, where each channel includes a list of videos about similar subject matters. At some websites, a channel is similar to a genre, where each channel includes a list of videos from the same genre, such as drama, comedy, documentary, etc. At some websites, a channel is similar to a profile. For example, at YouTube, each channel is associated with a YouTube member who has uploaded videos.  FIG. 2A  shows a portion of a sample web page from YouTube&#39;s website where several channels are displayed, each channel being associated with a YouTube member. A user may click any of the displayed channels, i.e., the thumbnails or names, to view videos uploaded by that YouTube member.  FIG. 2B  shows a portion of a sample web page from YouTube&#39;s website for a particular YouTube member who has established his or her own channel called “OneVoiceMovement.” In this example, this particular YouTube member has uploaded nineteen videos, and the titles and thumbnails of nine of the nineteen videos are shown in this web page. A user may click any of the video title or thumbnail to view the uploaded video clip. 
         [0030]    According to various embodiments, systems and methods for presenting personalized video content to users of consumer electronic or multimedia devices are provided. The devices are capable of supporting video operations, such as viewing, recording, playing back, downloading, or upholding videos. Generally, although not necessarily, the devices are able to communicate with one or more servers via, for example, the Internet. The consumer electronic devices may be televisions, including CRT (Cathode ray tube), projection, LCD (liquid crystal display), plasma, or high-definition televisions; video recorders and/or players, including VCRs (video cassette recorder), PVRs (personal video recorder), or DVRs (digital video recorder); cable or set top boxes; audio/video controllers, etc. The multimedia devices may be mobile or personal media players, such MP3 and MP4 players, smart phones, PDAs (personal digital assistant), PCs (personal computer), etc. These consumer electronic or multimedia devices are referred to as “client devices.” The recommended video content is personally tailored to the users of these client devices based on the users&#39; tastes and/or likings in the video content. 
         [0031]    On the client side, device usage with respect to viewing, recording, playing back, downloading, and uploading video content directly on a client device are continuously monitored and recorded. The recorded device usage data is then used to automatically rate the video content that has been operated on the client device. Addition video content information is constructed for the video content by extracting and obtaining video content information from various sources. Profile(s) for the user(s) of the device is/are collected. Periodically, the video content ratings and device user profiles are sent to a server. 
         [0032]    Each client device has a set of personalized channels, which may herein be referred to as “smart channels.” These personalized channels may be provided in additional to a set of standard channels. For example, suppose the client device is a television or a cable or set top box. The television or the cable box has a set of standard channels, e.g., CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, etc., for traditional television programs. In addition, the television or the cable box also has a set of personalized channels tailored to the individual users of the television or the cable box. Thus, while televisions within the same locale may have a similar set of available standard channels, the personalized channels will typically vary from television to television. 
         [0033]    Initially, the client device may have a set of default smart channels. Subsequently, according to some embodiments, users of the client device may add or remove channels to or from the default set of smart channels. Alternatively or in addition, the smart channels may be automatically adjusted based on the usage information of the client device, especially the usage information with respect to performing video operations, such as viewing, recording, and/or playing back videos, on the client device. 
         [0034]    According to some embodiments, each smart channel includes one or more pieces of video content recommended by the server and personally tailored to the users of the client device, and there is no limitation on the number of pieces of video content that may be contained in a smart channel. Often, although not necessarily, the pieces of video content contained in a particular smart channel are related to each other based on some criteria. For example, they may be related to the same or similar subject matter, produced by the same entity, created within a particular period of time, feature same actors and/or actresses, etc. The video content contained in a smart channel may change from time to time, e.g., video content may be added or removed from a channel. 
         [0035]    Each client device includes a presentation system, such as a user interface, that enables the users to manipulate the smart channels and the video content contained in each of the smart channels. For example, the device users may request recommendations on video content from the server, select a particular smart channel to review the video content contained in that channel, select a particular piece of video content for viewing, etc. In addition, as the users select and view some of the video content selected in any of the channels i.e., smart or traditional, on the client device, the presentation system monitors and records the usage information of the client device. The recorded device usage data is subsequently used to help rate the video content that has been viewed on the client device. If an advertisement is viewed by the device users, the client device sends an “ad hit” report to the server so that the server is aware which advertisement is viewed by the device users. Such information subsequently may be used to collect revenue from ad providers. 
         [0036]    On the server side, the server collects and aggregates video content information and advertisements from multiple sources and stores them in one or more databases communicatively connected to the server. When the server receives a request from a client device for video content recommendation, the server selects the appropriate video content and/or advertisements based at least in part on the content information of the individual pieces of video as well as video content ratings and device user profiles previously received from the requesting client device. The selected video content is ranked according to some predefined criteria. In addition, some personalized advertisements may be associated with selected ones of the video content and may optionally be ranked as well according to some predefine criteria. The server then sends the personalized video content and advertisements to the client device to be presented to the users of the client device. 
         [0037]    Each client device is communicatively connected to the server, such as via the Internet, cable connection, or other network. Typically, client devices will be physically located remotely from the server. However, the system works equally well on client devices physically located close to the server or even next to the server. 
         [0038]      FIG. 3  shows one particular embodiment of a system for making personalized recommendations of video content and advertisements to users of a client device. According to this embodiment, the client device  310  has a video content auto-rater responsible for automatically rating the video content that has been operated directly on the client device  310 , a device user profiler  312  responsible for profiling the user(s) of the client device  310  i.e., collecting user information to such as user characteristics and/or preferences, a channel builder  313  responsible for maintaining the smart channels on the client device  310 , including requesting and obtaining personalized video content and advertisements from the server  350  for the smart channels, a video content prefetcher  314  responsible for prefetching at least some of the video content contained in the smart channels, and a presentation system  315  that enables the users of the client device  310  to manipulate and control the smart channels and select video content from the smart channels for viewing, and for monitoring and recording user actions with respect to using the client device  310 . Each of these components will be described in more detail below. 
         [0039]    The server  350  has a video content aggregator  351  responsible for obtaining and aggregating video content information from multiple sources  360  and storing the aggregated video content information in a video content database  357  communicatively connected to the server  350 , an ad provisioning  352  responsible for obtaining advertisements from multiple sources  370  and storing the advertisements in an ads database  358  communicatively connected to the server  350 , a video content recommender  353  responsible for selecting and ranking video content personally tailored to the users of a particular client device, e.g., client device  310 , upon receiving a request from the client device, and an ad matcher  354  responsible for selecting advertisements personally tailored to the users of a particular client device along with the recommended video content. Each of these components will be described in more detail below. 
         [0040]    The components shown in  FIG. 3  for the client device  310  and the server  350  are according to one specific embodiment of the personalized video content system. According to other embodiments, some, most, or all of these components may reside either on the client or on the server. For example, if a client device has sufficient resources, such as memory storage and processing power, it is possible for all of the components to reside locally on the client device, thus eliminating the need of a server. On the other hand, most of the components may reside on the server in order to ease the demand and workload on the client devices. For example, the client devices may only need to monitor the device usage with respect to video operations performed directly on the client devices, send the raw device usage data to the server, and receive recommended video content and advertisements from the server. The server rates and profiles the video content for each client device based on the raw device usage data received from that client device, and sends personalized video content and advertisements to each client device. 
       Client Components 
       [0041]    On the client side, the video content auto-rater  311  automatically rates the video content that has been operated, i.e., viewed, recorded, played back, downloaded, uploaded, etc., directly on the client device  310  based on the usage of the client device  310  with respect to the video operations and in reference to a set of predefined rating rules. The functionalities of the video content auto-rater  311  may be widely varied. A few appropriate video content auto-raters are described in more detail in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, (Attorney Docket No. SISAP022/CSL07-NW15), filed on ______, 2008 (concurrently herewith on the same day as the present application), entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY RATING VIDEO CONTENT” by Gibbs et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and for all intents and purposes. 
         [0042]    To summarize,  FIG. 4  shows a simplified embodiment of a system and method for automatically rating video content that has been operated on a client device  310 . Each piece of video content is identified by a unique content identifier (CID). User actions performed on the client device  310  with respect to operating the video content directly on the client device  310  are continuously monitored and automatically recorded in a device usage data storage or database  316  (step  410 ). According to some embodiments, this monitoring process is handled by the presentation system  315 , which is described in more detail below. Alternatively, the video content auto-rater  311  may monitor the device usage and record the device usage data itself. The device usage data  316  is used to automatically determine the ratings of the video content in reference to a set of predefined video content rating rules  317 . Each rating rule  317  includes a device usage pattern that describes user actions performed on the client device  310  with respect to video operations and a rating action indicating adjustments to the content rating of the video content that has been operated on the client device  310  based on characteristics described by the device usage pattern that are inferred from the recorded device usage data  316 . 
         [0043]    For each piece of video content that has been operated on the client device  310 , the device usage data  316  associated with the piece of video content is compared with the device usage pattern of each of the rating rules  317  (step  420 ). If the device usage pattern of a particular rating rule is inferred from the device usage data  316  associated with operating the piece of video content, the content rating  450  of that piece of video content is adjusted based on the rating action specified in the matched rating rule (step  430 ). 
         [0044]    In addition to rating the video content, optionally, other information associated with each piece of video content, such the content information of the piece of video content and/or user actions associated with the piece of video content, may be collected. According to one embodiment, one or more attributes or keywords is/are used, and any information regarding the piece of video content may be saved as an attribute or keyword. For example, one attribute may indicate the day and/or time the piece of video content has been viewed or recorded on the client device  310 . A second attribute may indicate whether the piece of video content is related to one or more other pieces of video content, such as multiple episodes of a same television program series. A third attribute may indicate the title of the piece of video content. A fourth attribute may indicate the genre of the piece of video content, such as drama, science-fiction, animation, comedy, television program, documentary, etc. A fifth attribute may indicate the producer of the piece of video content. A sixth attribute may indicate the actors and actresses featured in the piece of video content. Additional attributes or keywords may include viewer or critic comments, tags, pull-ratings, etc. Of course, the specific attributes chosen for a particular application may be widely varied and any particular implementation may include fewer, more and/or different attributes. 
         [0045]    The information about the video content may be obtained from multiple sources. For example, digital video data often includes metadata about the video clip itself, and such metadata may be parsed or mined to extract content information. Another source of content information is the subtitles or closed captioning (CC) provided with some of the video content. The subtitles may be parsed to extract words that describe the content of the video. Cable companies supply program guides that contain program descriptions or information, and the appropriate attribute data or keywords from these program guides may be extracted. There are many databases available that have information regarding individual pieces of video content. The content information may be downloaded from the appropriate databases, such as databases of movie studios, publishers, online merchants, non-profit organizations, etc. 
         [0046]    The information obtained from different sources may be filtered and combined. For example, suppose that a device user has viewed an episode of a television series on his or her client device  310 . The episode has a program ID assigned by the cable company. The program ID and episode title may be obtained from the electronic program guide (EPG) provided by the cable company, the name of the actors and actresses may be obtained from the television studio&#39;s website, the day and time the user watched the episode may be obtained from the recorded device usage data  316 , and so on. 
         [0047]    A device user profiler  312  constructs profile(s) for the user(s) of the client device  310 . Again, information regarding the user(s) of the client device  310  may be obtained from a variety of different sources. For example, a user may input his or her information, such as demographical information, e.g., age, gender, education level, geographical location, etc., or preferences, directly into the client device  310 . In addition or alternatively, user preferences may be automatically determined based on the types of video content that have been operated on the client device  310 , and more specifically from the device usage information monitored and collected. If a user often watches videos relating to basketball games, for example, it may be an indication that the user likes sports and sports-related video content. Such information may be used to automatically determine user preferences. 
         [0048]    From time to time, the video content ratings  450  and device user profiles are sent to the server  350  anonymously or semi-anonymously. If they are sent anonymously, then no identification about either the sending client device or the users of the sending client device is provided. If they are sent semi-anonymously, then some identification about the sending client device is provided to the server  350 . The device users have the ability to control how much identification information is provided when sending video content ratings  450  and device user profiles to the server  350 , e.g., from no identification information to some selected pieces of identification information to a complete set of identification information. The server  350  subsequently makes personalized recommendations based in part on the video content ratings  450  and device user profiles received from each client device  310 . 
         [0049]    Each client device  310  has a set of smart channels that are used to organize and contain personalized video content and advertisements tailored to the users of the individual client device  310 . Initially, e.g., for a new device, there may be a default set of smart channels, such as factory or service default smart channels. The users of each client device  310  may then further customize the default set of smart channels on their device by manually adding channels to or removing channels from the default set of smart channels. Alternatively or in addition, the default set of smart channels may be adjusted automatically over time based on the device usage data. For example, if the monitored device usage data indicates that many travel programs have been viewed on the device, a smart channel relating to travel may be automatically added. Conversely, if the monitored device usage data indicates that a very few or no sports programs have been viewed on the device and there is a smart channel relating to sports currently existing on the device, the sport channel may be automatically removed. 
         [0050]    From time to time or as needed, the set of smart channels on the device, whether manually chosen by the users or automatically determined based on the device usage data, may be further adjusted automatically based on the current device usage data, which includes data relating to users&#39; interactions with the smart channels and the video content provided in the smart channels. For example, suppose a particular device, e.g., a television, is used by multiple users, e.g., members of a family. One group of users, e.g., the adults, prefer to watch one type of program, such as news, documentary, and drama movies, and another group of users, e.g., the children, prefer to watch another different type of program, such as animation and action movies. After the television is used by the adults for some period of time, the smart channels on the television may be automatically adjusted to include a news channel, a documentary channel, and a drama movie channel, because the recorded device usage data indicate that these are the types of programs often viewed by the current group of users. Subsequently, the television is used by the children for some period of time. The smart channels on the television may be automatically adjusted to include an animation channel and an action movie channel, while the news channel and the documentary may be removed from the smart channels, because the more recent device usage data indicate that these are the types of programs often viewed by the current group of users. As the recorded device usage data changes, the smart channels may be adjusted accordingly. Of course, the device users may manually override such automatic adjustment to choose any set of smart channels they prefer. 
         [0051]    The channel builder  313  is responsible for maintaining the smart channels and the video content and advertisements contained in each of the smart channels. When appropriate, the channel builder  313  requests updated or additional video content and advertisements from the server  350  and refreshes or updates the video content and advertisements contained in the smart channels after receiving recommendations from the server  350  in response to the request. In addition, the channel builder  313  may modify the sequence of the video content and advertisements recommended by the server based on the device usage data. 
         [0052]    For example, suppose a client device has four customized smart channels: New Movies, European Travel, Ballroom Dancing, and US News. The New Movies channel contains video content relating to movies newly released during the past week, e.g., movie trailers. The European Travel channel contains video content relating to travel in Europe, e.g., programs aired on the Travel Channel or videos shot by individual travelers. The Ballroom Dancing channel contains video content relating to ballroom dancing competitions, exhibitions, or instructions. The US News channel contains video content relating to news events that occurred in the United States, e.g., news footages aired on network television stations. 
         [0053]    When the client device  310  is first powered on, the channel builder  313  may request updated video content and advertisements for each of the four smart channels from the server  350 . The server  350  sends a specific number, e.g., twenty pieces of video content per smart channels, of the most relevant and/or the most recent pieces of video content for each of the four smart channels along with some suitable advertisements. The channel builder  313 , upon receiving the recommendations from the server  350 , updates the smart channels so that they each contains the newly received twenty pieces of video content. 
         [0054]    Subsequently, as the device user views some of the video content and/or advertisements, the channel builder  313  may request additional video content and/or advertisements from the server  350  to replace the viewed video content and/or advertisements. For example, the device user may select the US News channel to view recent news reports. As the user views some or most of the twenty pieces of video content relating to news events in the United States contained in the US News channel, the channel builder  313  requests additional videos on US news events from the server  350  so that the user does not run out of the video content to view. 
         [0055]    Usually, the server  350  ranks the recommended video content. Optionally, although not necessarily, the advertisements may also be ranked. The channel builder  313  has the option of modifying the rankings provided by the server  350  before presenting the recommended video content and advertisements to the device user. For example, if the most-recent device usage data indicates that the device user may be very interested in a particular piece of video, and yet the server  350  has ranked this piece of video relatively low, the channel builder  313  may increase the rank of this piece of video and present it to the device user before the other pieces. 
         [0056]    The sizes of individual pieces of video content often vary greatly, depending on the quality and the length of the video content. DVD-quality movies usually range from six to eight gigabytes, while short video clips range from anywhere between a few megabytes to a few hundred megabytes. Thus, depending on the connection bandwidth available to the client device  310 , e.g. broadband vs. narrow band or wired connections vs. wireless connections, it may take a few seconds to a few minutes to a few hours to download a particular piece of video content. 
         [0057]    To avoid the inconveniences caused by long delays while downloading the video content to the client device  310  for viewing, a video content prefetcher  314  prefetches some or all of the video content in the smart channels and stores the video data locally in a video content/ads database  318  so that when the device user chooses to view a particular piece of video content, the video data is already available and ready for viewing. 
         [0058]    How much video data the prefetcher  314  is able to obtain ahead of time usually depends on the size of memory storage available locally on the client device  310 . If there is a large amount of storage space, then more pieces of video content may be obtained and stored ahead of time. Otherwise, only selected pieces of video content may be obtained and stored ahead of time. Thus, when there is insufficient storage space on the client device to store all the video content contained in the smart channels, it is necessary to make a selection as to which pieces of video content to prefetch. The memory storage may be, for example, flash memory or magnetic memory, and may be internally incorporated as a part of the device and/or externally memory storage add-ons to the device. 
         [0059]    According to one embodiment, the channel builder  313  instructs the video content prefetcher  314  as to which pieces of video content to obtain and store locally. For example, the channel builder  313  may decide to prefetch the first several pieces of video content from each smart channel, or to prefetch those pieces of video content that have a running length longer than a predefine time period, such as ten minutes or one hour. Alternatively, the channel builder  313  may instruct the prefetcher  314  to prefetch top picks recommended by the server  350 . In addition, selected advertisements may be prefetched in a similar manner. 
         [0060]    A presentation system  315 , including a user interface, enables the device users to maintain the smart channels and select video content contained in the smart channels for viewing.  FIG. 5A  shows one embodiment of a top-level menu  501  that enables device users to input command with respect to using the smart channels. This menu  501  may appear on the display screen  320  of the client device  310  when the device users select the smart channels function. For example, if the client device  310  is a television, a viewer may select “My Channels” from the electronic program guide and be presented with this top-level menu  501 . 
         [0061]    In this embodiment, the top-level menu  501  includes sixteen thumbnails  510 - 525  associated with sixteen pieces of video content. These are the top picks recommended by the server  350 . To view any of these top picks, the device user simply clicks on the thumbnail to start the playing of the selected piece of video content. 
         [0062]    To the right is the list of smart channels  530 - 533  that are currently available on the client device  310 . Each smart channel  530 - 533  contains one or more pieces of video content related to the subject matter or topic of that channel. To view the video content currently contained in a particular smart channel, the device user clicks on the appropriate channel button. 
         [0063]    To the bottom are three control buttons. The Add Channel button  535  allows the device user to add a new smart channel. The Remove Channel button  536  allows the device user to remove an existing smart channel from the list of smart channels. The Exit button  537  allows the device user to exit the smart channel menu and return to normal device operations. 
         [0064]    Suppose a user wishes to view the video content contained in channel  532  and clicks on the appropriate button. A second-level menu may then show the user the video content contained in the selected channel  532 .  FIG. 5B  shows one embodiment of a second-level menu  502  that lists the individual pieces of video content contained in a specific smart channel. 
         [0065]    In this embodiment, the second-level menu  502  associated with the individual smart channel  532  includes twenty thumbnails  540 - 559  associated with twenty pieces of video content respectively. To view any of these pieces of video content, the device user simply clicks on the thumbnail associated with the piece of video content to start the playing of the selected piece of video content. Optionally, a brief description may be provided for each piece of video content, including, for example, the video&#39;s title, length, rating, content keywords, producer, etc. The brief descriptions enable a device user to determine whether he or she is interested in the videos without having to watch the videos. 
         [0066]    To the right of the menu  502  is a list of buttons, such that the device user may search additional videos related to a particular piece of video content. The relationship may be by topic,  560 , by genre,  561 , by action,  562 , by producer,  563 , etc. To the bottom of the menu  502  are several control buttons. The previous button  565  allows the user to jump to the previous twenty pieces of video content. The previous button  568  allows the user to skip to the next twenty pieces of video content. The main menu button  566  allows the user to return to the top-level menu  501 . The Exit button  567  allows the device user to exit the smart channel menu and return to normal device operations. 
         [0067]    Suppose the user wishes to find additional videos related to the video identified by the thumbnail  546  by genre. The user first selects the thumbnail  546  and then clicks the related video by genre button  561 . The channel builder  313  sends a request to the server  350  for additional videos related to video  546  by genre. When the channel builder  313  receives additional video content recommendations from the server  350 , the related videos may be presented to the user via another menu.  FIG. 5C  shows one embodiment of a menu  503  that presents a list of videos related to video  546  by genre. 
         [0068]    In this embodiment, the menu  503  includes eight thumbnails  570 - 577  associated with eight pieces of video content respectively, and these eight pieces of video content all relate to video  546  by genre. To view any of these pieces of video content, the device user simply clicks on the thumbnail associated with the piece of video content to start the playing of the selected piece of video content. As before, a brief description may be provided for each piece of video content, including, for example, the video&#39;s title, length, rating, content keywords, producer, etc. Again, it should be appreciated that the types and extent of information presented in the brief description may be widely varied. 
         [0069]    Similarly to menu  502 , to the right of the menu  503  is the same list of buttons that allows the user to obtain additional videos related to one of the videos presented in the menu  503 . To the bottom of the menu  503  are the control buttons. The previous button  584  allows the user to jump to the previous eight pieces of video content. The next button  587  allows the user to skip to the next eight pieces of video content. The main menu button  585  allows the user to return to the top-level menu  501 . The Exit button  586  allows the device user to exit the smart channel menu and return to normal device operations. 
         [0070]    The number of thumbnails presented at one time in each of the menus may vary among the different embodiments. Usually, the actually number is determined based on the size of the display screen  320  of the client device. Large display screen  320  can support relatively a larger number of thumbnails simultaneously, and vice versa. The number of pieces of video content sent by the server  350  for each request may also vary among the different embodiments. 
         [0071]    In addition, the presentation system may enable the device users to enter specific keywords to search for related video content. Upon receiving a user input, the channel builder  313  sends the requested keywords to the server  350  and presents the recommended videos received from the server  350  to the device users. 
         [0072]    When the server  350  sends recommended video content, the server  350  optionally sends personalized advertisements along with the video content. As the device users use the client device to view selected video content and/or advertisements, the presentation system  315  monitors the user actions and generates device usage data and stores the device usage data in the device usage database  316 . The video content auto-rater  311  then uses the stored device usage data to automatically rate the video content viewed by the device users. When a particular advertisement is viewed and/or acted upon by the users, the presentation system  315  sends a notice to the server  350 , reporting an “ad hit.” Subsequently, the server  350  may use the information to collect ad revenue from ad providers. 
       Server Components 
       [0073]    On the server side, the video content aggregator  351  collects and aggregates video content information from multiple sources and stores the aggregated video content information in a video content database  357 . The content information of any type of videos, including movies, television, cable, or satellite programs, and videos available on the Internet, may be collected. 
         [0074]    According to one embodiment, the video content information may be saved as attributes or keywords. Similarly to the operation on the client device  310 , the video content aggregator  351  obtains content information from multiple sources such as metadata associated with the video content, electronic program guide, databases connected to the Internet, video content providers, subtitles or closed captioning, etc. However, the video content aggregator  351  attempts to obtain content information for all, or as much as possible, available video content. 
         [0075]    The video content aggregator  351  filters the content information obtained from these different sources and aggregates the data into a single view. For example, duplicate information is discarded. Multiple pieces of information regarding the same piece of video content are combined. Incorrect pieces of information may be corrected using information obtained from alternative sources. By storing the aggregated video content information in a video content database  357  local to the server  350 , the server  350  has quick access of this information when needed. Subsequently, the video content recommender  353  selects video content from the video content database  357  to recommend to the individual client device users. 
         [0076]    Similarly, the ad provisioning  352  collects advertisements from multiple sources and stored the advertisements in an ads database  358  local to the server  350 . The advertisements may be obtained from online advertising brokers, retrieved from open websites, etc. Subsequently, the ad matcher  354  selects advertisements from the ads database  358  that match the recommended video content to send to the individual client device users. 
         [0077]    Upon receiving a request from a particular client device  310  for video content recommendations, the video content recommender  353  selects appropriate video content from the video content database  357  while taking into consideration of the video content ratings and device user profiles previously received from the requesting client device  310  stored in the client content ratings database  355  and client profiles database  356 , if such information is available. If no client-device-specific content ratings and device user profiles are available, such as in the case of a new client device joining the service or a new server, then only the video content data  357  is used. Thus, the video content selected by the video content recommender  353  for the requesting client device is personally tailored to the requesting client device, and consequently its users. 
         [0078]    Alternatively, the server may choose to send personalized video content and/or advertisements to selected client devices, such as client devices that remain powered on at all times, without waiting for any specific requests from the client devices. If the server is aware of the set of smart channels on each of the selected client devices, the server may determine video content for the set of smart channels on each of the selected client devices and send the video content to each of the selected client devices respectively. 
         [0079]    The video content recommender  353  selects those pieces of video content from the video content database  357  that satisfies the request criteria received from the client device  310 . For example, if the client device  310  requests video content related to a particular subject matter, e.g., French cuisine, the video content recommender  353  may select videos on cooking, especially cooking French dishes. If the client device request video content related to a particular genre, e.g., romantic drama, the video content recommender  353  may select movies such as Titanic, The English Patient, or Legends of the Fall. The video content recommender  353  may select video content collect from any sources, including movies, television, cable, or satellite programs, video clips available on the Internet, etc. 
         [0080]    Once the pieces of video content are selected for a client request, the video content recommender  353  ranks the pieces according to some criteria, such as in the order or relevance, e.g., more relevant videos ranked higher, or in the order or date, e.g., newer videos ranked higher, and sends the ranked video content to the requesting client device. The ranking of the selected pieces of video content is for the purpose of presenting the video content to the device user(s) in a relatively orderly fashion. Often, there may be many pieces of video content, such as hundreds of pieces, that match the criteria of a request. Of course, it is unlikely that the device user(s) is/are able to view all selected pieces of video content simultaneously. Instead, the selected pieces of video content are presented to the device user(s) in a linear fashion, e.g., one at a time or a few at a time. 
         [0081]    There exist many ranking algorithms that may be used to rank the selected pieces of video content. According to some embodiments, the video content recommender  353  ranks the selected pieces of video content using either ClipRank or a combination of ClipRank and collaborative filtering. ClipRank is described in more detail in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, (Attorney Docket No. SISAP036/CSL07-NW17), filed on ______, 2008 (concurrently herewith on the same day as the present application), entitled “CLIPRANK: A METHOD FOR RANKING MEDIA CONTENT USING THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH END USERS” by Rathod et al., and the combination of ClipRank and collaborative filtering is described in more detail in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, (Attorney Docket No. SISAP035/CSL07-NW16), filed on ______, 2008 (concurrently herewith on the same day as the present application), entitled “COMBINATION OF COLLABORATIVE FILTERING AND CLIPRANK FOR PERSONALIZED RECOMMENDATION” by Nemeth et al., both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties and for all intents and purposes. 
         [0082]    Additional factors that are taken into consideration when selecting and ranking the video content include the content ratings and user profiles received from the requesting client device, metadata associated with the video content, user actions with respect to the video content, such as creating, viewing, listening, commenting, choosing as favorites, etc. 
         [0083]    Once the appropriate video content has been selected for a requesting client device  310 , the ad matcher  354  selects advertisements from the ads database  358  to be sent to the requesting client device along with the recommended video content. The advertisements are selected based on one or more factors, such as recommended video content, context, user profile, and ad scheduling information. For example, if a client device requests video content relating to basketball games, the ad matcher  354  may select advertisements on sports apparel or shoes, basketball memorabilia, etc. If a client devices requests video content relating to performances by a particular music group, the ad matchers  354  may select advertisements on CDs or DVDs by that same music group or tickets currently on sale for performances by the music group. According to some embodiments, the advertisements are also ranked according to some criteria, similar to the selected video content. The ranked advertisements are sent to the client device along with the selected video content. Alternatively, according to other embodiments, some or all of the selected pieces of video content are each associated with one or more personalized advertisements, such that when the users view a particular piece of video content, its associated advertisements are presented at specific intervals, e.g. during commercial breaks. 
         [0000]    Interactions between Client and Server 
         [0084]      FIGS. 6A-6C  shows one embodiment of the interactions between the client and server components described above. In the figures, to the left of the dashed line are steps performed by the client components and to the right of the dashed line are steps performed by the server components. Some steps may be performed in serial or parallel, while other steps need to be performed in serial when a later step depends on the result of an earlier step. The steps may be divided into several groups. 
         [0085]    First, with respect to the process of rating video content that have been operated, e.g., viewed, recorded, downloaded, etc., on a client device and profiling the device user(s), on the client side, the recorded device usage data is used to automatically rate the video content that has been operated on the client device in reference to a set of predefined rating rules (step  610 ). The profile(s) of the device user(s) is/are extracted from various sources, such as monitored user actions or user input data (step  620 ). Steps  610  and  620  may be performed in parallel or in serial and are repeated many times while the client device is used to view more video content. From time to time, such as once a day, the video content ratings and device user profiles are sent to the server (step  611 ). On the server side, the server receives and video content ratings and device user profiles from the client device (step  670 ) and stores these ratings and profiles in the client content ratings database and client profiles database respectively (step  671 ). 
         [0086]    Next, with respect to the process of collecting video content and advertisements on the server side, the server collects, or has available to it, video content from multiple sources, such as movie databases, television programs, and video clips available on the Internet. Such content may be stored in a video content database or may be accessible from other known locations (step  650 ). Similarly, the server collects advertisements from various sources, such as ad providers or publishers, and stores the advertisements in an ads database (step  660 ). Steps  650  and  660  are generally performed in parallel but may be performed in serial as well, and are repeated as time passes to collect new and additional video content and advertisements as they become available. 
         [0087]    Finally, with respect to the process of presenting personalized video content to the device users, on the client side, a request for video content is sent to the server (step  630 ). The request is based on the smart channels defined on the client device, i.e., request video content suitable for each of the smart channels on the client device. For example, when the device is first powered on, a request is sent to the server for the updated video content. On the server side, the server receives the request for video content from the client device (step  680 ). Suitable video content is selected that meet the criteria specified by the client request from the video content database (step  681 ), and the selected video content is ranked using a combination of ClipRank and collaborative filtering methods (step  683 ). In addition, the content ratings and device user profiles received from the client and stored in the client content ratings database and client profiles database may be taken into consideration, if such information is available, so that the selected and ranked video content are tailored to the device users. One or more advertisements is/are selected from the ads database based on the selected video content (step  682 ). The advertisements may be associated with specific pieces of selected video content. The server sends the selected video content and advertisements to the requesting client device (step  684 ). 
         [0088]    On the client side, upon receiving the recommended video content and advertisements, they are presented to the device users via a user interface (step  632 ). The order of the video content and advertisements may be modified based on the recorded device usage data. The client device may select some or all of the video content and prefetch the video data to avoid delays while the users are viewing the videos (step  633 ). 
         [0089]    Users&#39; actions with respect to viewing the recommended video content and advertisements are monitored and recorded (step  634 ). If the users interact, e.g., view, any advertisements, the information is reported to the server (step  635 ). On the server side, ad hits reports received from the client device (step  690 ) may subsequently be used to collect ad revenue from the ad providers (step  691 ). Again, these steps may be repeated multiple times. New requests for additional video content may be sent to the server as needed. The new recommendations may be presented to the device users as they are received from the server. 
         [0090]    The personalized video content recommendation system may function in connection with any type of consumer electronic device. For example, when used with a television, the system provides a personalized television viewing experience. In additional to traditional television programs, users are able to watch video programs available from other sources, such as the Internet, while preserving the existing television concepts, such as the concept of channels. By selecting advertisements based on the users&#39; viewing habit, the advertisements are tailored to the individual users&#39; interests, and consequently improve the relevance of advertising. In addition, the system functions automatically, so that the users are not required to provide any specific input. 
         [0091]      FIG. 7  is a simplified diagram of a network environment in which specific embodiments of the present invention may be implemented. The personalized video content recommendation system may be a part of different types of media devices capable of supporting various types of video operations, such as televisions  710 , digital or analog video recorders  711 , audio/video controllers  712 , DVD players or VCRs  713 , set top boxes  714 , or portable media players  715 . The personalized video content recommendation system may also be a part of different types of personal computers, such as desktop computers  716  of notebook computers  716 . 
         [0092]    The video content may be collected from different sources. Some may be broadcasted  720 . Some may be delivered via dedicated cable networks  721 . Some may be distributed on the Internet  722 . Some may be stored in databases accessible by the server  730 . 
         [0093]    One or more database  731  is/are communicatively linked to the server  730 , which is/are used to store client video content ratings and device user profiles, as well as video content and advertisements collected from multiple sources. 
         [0094]    While this invention has been described in terms of several preferred embodiments, there are alterations, permutations, and various substitute equivalents, which fall within the scope of this invention. It should also be noted that there are many alternative ways of implementing the methods and apparatuses of the present invention. For example, as described above, according to some embodiments, a set of personalized channels are used to organize personalized video content on the client devices. However, it is not necessary to always have personalized channels on client devices. According to other embodiments, the personalized video content and optionally the personalized advertisements may be presented to the device users together, without being categorized or divided into separate channels. For example, personalized video content regarding different subject matters may be presented together. Furthermore,  FIGS. 5A-5C  describes a user interface that enables the device users to select particular pieces of video content from each of the smart channels. Alternatively, according to other embodiments, the device users may be unable to select individual pieces of video content from a smart channel. Instead, the pieces of video content contained in a smart channel are presented to the device users in the order of their ranks, and the device users view the pieces of video content according to their ranks one at a time. It is therefore intended that the following appended claims be interpreted as including all such alterations, permutations, and various substitute equivalents as fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.