Patent ID: 8607274

Claim:
A method of controlling a media system based on meta-channel information, the method comprising: storing, in electronic storage, meta-channel information defining multiple meta-channels that identify content entries and that indicate an order with which to experience the content entries; receiving, from a particular user, a selection of a meta-channel included in the multiple meta-channels defined by the meta-channel information; accessing, from the electronic storage, meta-channel information corresponding to the selected meta-channel; based on the accessed meta-channel information corresponding to the selected meta-channel, determining that the selected meta-channel defines a dynamically configurable content entry that maps to multiple possible content entries; accessing preferences of the particular user; selecting, from among the multiple possible content entries, a single content entry for the dynamically configurable content entry based on the accessed preferences of the particular user; and controlling a media system to render content based on the selected content entry, wherein the selected meta-channel includes a content interrupt that defines content-related events that, when detected, trigger substitution of other content for content currently being rendered, the content-related events resulting in substitution: when an Internet video of a particular type is detected as being published on the Internet; and when an occurrence of a particular event in content other than content currently defined by the selected meta-channel is detected, and wherein the method further comprises: during rendering of content defined by the selected meta-channel, detecting a content-related event defined by the content interrupt; in response to detecting the content-related event, identifying content corresponding to the content-related event controlling the media system to change from rendering the content defined by the selected meta-channel to rendering the content corresponding to the content-related event; detecting completion of the content corresponding to the content-related event; and controlling the media system to resume rendering content defined by the selected meta-channel.