Patent ID: 7657907

Claim:
A method of describing video content comprising: (a) an electronic processing device receiving a profile that contains a plurality of preferences that each have non-binary values that together describe video content that is potentially desirable to a user, said values each indicating a degree of desirability of a respective said preference to said user, and providing a mapping table used by a fuzzy inference system to combine a plurality of said preferences into a single test that is applied to program content descriptions so as to automatically identify programming preferable to said user, where said mapping table includes at least one combinatorial operator, and said fuzzy inference system is capable of using any soft said combinatorial operator present in said mapping table when combining said preferences into said single test, where said soft combinatorial operator alters a logical combinatorial operation to provide a different, non-zero value than the altered said logical combinatorial operation, by using a content affinity function that measures the relationship between a user's affinity for respective said preferences and the said non-binary values associated with said preferences; (b) said processing device automatically modifying said profile based upon video content manually selected by said user; and (c) wherein said plurality of different preferences have different weights relative to each other, said weights being independent of the respective said values of said plurality of preferences.