Method and apparatus to provide a personalized channel

A client terminal, comprising:

• a processor having circuitry to execute instructions;
• a communications interface coupled to the processor, the communications interface coupled to receive programs currently being broadcasted and meta-data from a server system;
• and
• a storage device coupled to the processor, the storage device having sequences of instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
• rate previously broadcasted programs based on meta-data associated with the previously broadcasted programs, respectively, in response to a content rating table, wherein the content rating table includes at least a rating value and a rating type for broadcasted programs, wherein the rating value is the combination of a relevance value and a believability factor, the relevance value corresponding to a likelihood that a user will want to watch the previously broadcasted program based on the descriptions of the meta-data and the believability factor is a weighting factor corresponding to the accuracy of past relevance value determinations, and the rating type indicates whether the rating value was generated explicitly based upon prior explicit input from the user or implicitly generated without prior explicit input from the user;
• store previously broadcasted programs meeting a pre-determined ranking threshold in the storage device to create a plurality of stored previously broadcast programs;
• compare the rankings of the plurality of stored previously broadcast programs to determine a best stored program;
• rate currently broadcasted programs being received at the client terminal in response to the content rating table;
• compare the rankings of currently broadcasted programs to determine a best currently broadcasted program;
• compare the rankings of the best currently broadcasted program and the best stored program at the client terminal;
• select either the best currently broadcasted program or the best stored program determined to have the highest ranking;
• and
• display the selected best currently broadcasted program or the best stored program automatically on a personalized channel on a display device.

A machine-readable non-transitory medium of a storage device having instructions tangibly stored thereon executed by a processor of a client terminal to cause the processor to:

• receive meta-data broadcast from a server system at the client terminal, the meta-data including descriptions of a plurality of programs currently being broadcasted by the server system;
• rate previously broadcasted programs based on meta-data associated with the previously broadcasted programs, respectively, in response to a content rating table, wherein the content rating table includes at least a rating value and a rating type for broadcasted programs, wherein the rating value is the combination of a relevance value and a believability factor, the relevance value corresponding to a likelihood that a user will want to watch the previously broadcasted program based on the descriptions of the meta-data and the believability factor is a weighting factor corresponding to the accuracy of past relevance value determinations, and the rating type indicates whether the rating value was generated explicitly based upon prior explicit input from the user or implicitly generated without prior explicit input from the user;
• store previously broadcasted programs meeting a pre-determined ranking threshold in a storage device at the client terminal to create a plurality of stored previously broadcast programs;
• compare the rankings of the plurality of stored previously broadcast programs to determine a best stored program;
• rate currently broadcasted programs being received at the client terminal in response to the content rating table;
• compare the rankings of currently broadcasted programs to determine a best currently broadcasted program;
• compare the rankings of the best currently broadcasted program and the best stored program;
• select either the best currently broadcasted program or the best stored program determined to have the highest ranking;
• and
• display the selected best currently broadcasted program or the best stored program automatically on a personalized channel on a display device.