System and method for scheduling broadcast of and access to video programs and other data using customer profiles

A method of scheduling customer access to video programs, comprising the steps of:

• creating at least one customer profile for each customer of said video programs, said customer profile indicating the customer's preferences for predetermined characteristics of the video programs;
• creating content profiles for each video program available for viewing, said content profiles indicating the degree of content of said predetermined characteristics in each video program;
• determining an agreement matrix which relates said at least one customer profile with the content profiles for certain video programs available for viewing by said customer at a particular time;
• determining from said agreement matrix a subset of said video programs having content profiles which most closely match said at least one customer profile;
• and
• presenting said subset of video programs to the customer as at least one "virtual channel" for display on the customer's television.

A method of scheduling transmission of video programs to a plurality of customers, comprising the steps of:

• creating a plurality of customer profiles for each of said plurality of customers of said video programs, said plurality of customer profiles being representative of the customers' changing preferences for predetermined characteristics of the video programs in accordance with time of the day and of the week, at least one customer profile being available at a particular time of the day and of the week;
• creating content profiles for each video program available for transmission to said customers, said content profiles indicating the degree of content of said predetermined characteristics in each video program;
• determining an agreement matrix which relates said at least one customer profile with the content profiles for certain video programs available for transmission to said customers at a particular time;
• determining from said agreement matrix a subset of said video programs having content profiles which most closely match said at least one customer profile;
• and
• scheduling said subset of video programs for transmission from a video head end to said plurality of customers for receipt on the customers' televisions.

A method of scheduling customer access to data from a plurality of data sources, comprising the steps of:

• creating at least one customer profile for each eligible recipient of said data, said customer profile indicating the customer's preferences for data having predetermined characteristics;
• creating content profiles for each data source of said data, said content profiles indicating the degree of content of said predetermined characteristics in data from each data source;
• monitoring which data sources are actually accessed by each recipient;
• and
• updating, without input from each customer, each customer profile in accordance with the content profiles of the data sources actually accessed by that customer to automatically update each customer's actual preferences for said predetermined characteristics.

A method of scheduling customer access to video programs, comprising the steps of:

• creating at least one customer profile for each customer of said video programs, said customer profile indicating the customer's preferences for predetermined characteristics of the video programs;
• creating content profiles for each video program available for viewing, said content profiles indicating the degree of content of said predetermined characteristics in each video program;
• monitoring which video programs are actually viewed by each customer;
• and
• updating, without input from each customer, each customer profile in accordance with the content profiles of the video programs actually viewed by that customer to automatically update each customer's actual preferences for said predetermined characteristics.

A method of scheduling transmission of video programs to a plurality of customers, comprising the steps of:

• creating at least one clustered customer profile for each of said plurality of customers of said video programs, said clustered customer profile indicating said plurality of customers' combined preferences for predetermined characteristics of the video programs;
• creating content profiles for each video program available for transmission to said customers, said content profiles indicating the degree of content of said predetermined characteristics in each video program;
• monitoring which video programs are actually viewed by each customer;
• and
• updating, without input from each customer, each clustered customer profile in accordance with the content profiles of the video programs actually viewed by said plurality of customers to automatically update the actual preferences of said plurality of customers for said predetermined characteristics.

A method of scheduling customer access to data from a plurality of data sources, comprising the steps of:

• creating a customer profile for each customer of said plurality of data sources, said customer profile indicating said customer's preferences for predetermined characteristics of the data sources;
• monitoring which data sources are actually accessed by each customer;
• and
• updating each customer profile to reflect the frequency of selection of the data sources by customers with customer profiles substantially similar to said each customer profile.

A method of scheduling customer access to data from a plurality of data sources, comprising the steps of:

• creating at least one customer profile for each eligible recipient of said data, said customer profile including a profile of data previously accessed by said customer;
• creating content profiles for each data source of said data, said content profiles reflecting the customer profiles of those customers who have previously accessed said data from each data source;
• relating said at least one customer profile with the content profiles for the data available from each data source to the customer;
• determining a subset of data having content profiles which are determined in said relating step to most closely match said at least one customer profile;
• and
• presenting said subset of data to said customer for selection.

A data transmission system which schedules customer access to data from a plurality of data sources, comprising:

• at least one customer profile for each eligible recipient of said data, said customer profile indicating the customer's preferences for data having predetermined characteristics;
• content profiles for each data source of said data, said content profiles indicating the degree of content of said predetermined characteristics in data from each data source;
• means for inputting recipient identity information;
• means for selecting a customer profile which corresponds to said recipient identity information;
• a processor which relates said selected customer profile with the content profiles for the data available from each data source to the customer at a particular time and which determines a subset of data having content profiles which most closely match said selected customer profile, said processor being programmed to determine a distance between a customer profile and a content profile in a characteristic space by calculating an agreement scalar for common characteristics, ac, between said selected customer profile, cv, and said content profiles, cp, in accordance with the relationship:
• ac.sub.ij =l/›l+.SIGMA..sub.k w.sub.ik .vertline.cv.sub.ik -cp.sub.jk .vertline.!,
• for i=a particular customer of a number of customers i, j=a particular data source of a number of data sources J, and k=a particular characteristic of a data source of a number of data source characteristics K, where cv.sub.ik is greater than or equal to 0 and w.sub.ik is customer i's normalized weight of characteristic k;
• and
• means for presenting said subset of data to said customer for selection.

A data transmission system which schedules customer access to video programs received from a video head end, comprising:

• at least one customer profile for each customer of said video programs, said customer profile indicating the customer's preferences for predetermined characteristics of the video programs;
• content profiles for each video program available for viewing, said content profiles indicating the degree of content of said predetermined characteristics in each video program;
• an agreement matrix which relates said at least one customer profile with the content profiles for certain video programs available for viewing by said customer at a particular time;
• means for determining from said agreement matrix a subset of said video programs having content profiles which most closely match said at least one customer profile;
• and
• means for presenting said subset of video programs to the customer as at least one "virtual channel" for display on the customer's television.

A system of scheduling transmission of video programs from a video head end to a plurality of customers, comprising the steps of:

• a plurality of customer profiles for each of said plurality of customers of said video programs, said plurality of customer profiles being representative of the customers' changing preferences for predetermined characteristics of the video programs in accordance with time of the day and of the week, at least one customer profile being available at a particular time of the day and of the week;
• content profiles for each video program available for transmission to said customers, said content profiles indicating the degree of content of said predetermined characteristics in each video program;
• an agreement matrix which relates said at least one customer profile with the content profiles for certain video programs available for transmission to said customers at a particular time;
• means for determining from said agreement matrix a subset of said video programs having content profiles which most closely match said at least one customer profile;
• and
• means for scheduling said subset of video programs for transmission from said video head end to said plurality of customers for receipt on the customers' televisions.

A system for scheduling customer access to data from a plurality of data sources, comprising:

• at least one customer profile for each eligible recipient of said data, said customer profile indicating the customer's preferences for data having predetermined characteristics;
• content profiles for each data source of said data, said content profiles indicating the degree of content of said predetermined characteristics in data from each data source;
• means for monitoring which data sources are actually accessed by each recipient;
• and
• means for updating, without input from each customer, each customer profile in accordance with the content profiles of the data sources actually accessed by that customer to automatically update each customer's actual preferences for said predetermined characteristics.

A system for scheduling customer access to video programs received from a video head end, comprising:

• at least one customer profile for each customer of said video programs, said customer profile indicating the customer's preferences for predetermined characteristics of the video programs;
• content profiles for each video program available for viewing, said content profiles indicating the degree of content of said predetermined characteristics in each video program;
• means for monitoring which video programs are actually viewed by each customer;
• and
• means for updating, without input from each customer, each customer profile in accordance with the content profiles of the video programs actually viewed by that customer to automatically update each customer's actual preferences for said predetermined characteristics.

A system for scheduling transmission of video programs from a video head end to a plurality of customers, comprising:

• at least one clustered customer profile for each of said plurality of customers of said video programs, said clustered customer profile indicating said plurality of customers' combined preferences for predetermined characteristics of the video programs;
• content profiles for each video program available for transmission to said customers, said content profiles indicating the degree of content of said predetermined characteristics in each video program;
• means for monitoring which video programs are actually viewed by each customer;
• and
• means for updating, without input from each customer, each clustered customer profile in accordance with the content profiles of the video programs actually viewed by said plurality of customers to automatically update the actual preferences of said plurality of customers for said predetermined characteristics.

A system for scheduling customer access to data from a plurality of data sources, comprising:

• at least one customer profile for each eligible recipient of said data, said customer profile including a profile of data previously accessed by said customer;
• a content profile for each data source of said data, each content profile reflecting the customer profiles of those customers who have previously accessed said data from each data source;
• means for relating said at least one customer profile with the content profiles for the data available from each data source to the customer;
• means for determining a subset of data having content profiles which most closely match said at least one customer profile;
• and
• means for presenting said subset of data to said customer for selection.

A system for scheduling customer access to data provided by a plurality of data sources, comprising:

• means for creating a customer profile for each customer of said plurality of data sources, said customer profile indicating said customer's preferences for predetermined characteristics of the data sources;
• means for monitoring which data sources are actually accessed by each customer;
• and
• means for updating each customer profile to reflect the frequency of selection of the data sources by customers with customer profiles substantially similar to said each customer profile.

A multimedia terminal for receiving data from a plurality of data sources, comprising:

• means for storing at least one customer profile indicating a customer's preferences for data having predetermined characteristics;
• means for storing content profiles for each data source of said data, said content profiles indicating the degree of content of said predetermined characteristics in data from each data source;
• means for inputting recipient identity information;
• means for selecting different customer profiles which correspond to said recipient identity information in accordance with the time of day and day of the week;
• processing means for relating said selected customer profiles with the content profiles for the data available from each data source to the customer at a particular time and for determining a subset of data having content profiles which most closely match said selected customer profile;
• and
• a display guide for presenting said subset of data to said customer for selection.