Patent ID: 7644427

Claim:
A method for ranking recommendations of multimedia program items in a selectable items list received from an information delivery system, wherein the method is implemented by a processor executing computer-executable instructions stored in computer-readable media, the method comprising: establishing a threshold dwell time period, wherein when a viewer views a particular multimedia program item for longer than the threshold dwell time period, the particular multimedia program item is assigned a positive vote, wherein when the viewer views the particular multimedia program item for less than the threshold dwell time period, the particular multimedia program item is assigned a negative vote; logging, by the processor, titles of multimedia program items viewed by a plurality of viewers and temporal history corresponding to the viewed multimedia program items in a database, wherein the temporal history is at least one time segment of a day or a week, wherein each multimedia program item that is viewed for more than the threshold dwell time period is logged with a positive vote, wherein each multimedia program item that is viewed for less than the threshold dwell time period is logged with a negative vote; training a collaborative filtering system using the logged temporal history of the viewed multimedia program items, wherein the training takes into account both positive and negative votes logged based on the threshold dwell time period for multimedia program items during particular time intervals; and providing a changeable and selectable recommendation list for display in an electronic program guide in a television system, wherein the recommendation list is ordered by an estimated degree of preference for a viewer based on the trained collaborative filtering system and according to a target time period for viewing the multimedia program items.