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EP-3622409-B1 - SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DYNAMICALLY EDUCATING USERS ON SPORTS TERMINOLOGY

EP3622409B1EP 3622409 B1EP3622409 B1EP 3622409B1EP-3622409-B1

Inventors

  • MANNING, SCOTT
  • GLAHN, Jeffrey
  • SMETANKA, Kyle
  • CASTANEDA, Evangeline

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20171110

Claims (13)

  1. An apparatus (400, 502, 506, 508) for educating a user about terminology associated with a sporting event, the apparatus comprising: means for detecting, with control circuitry (404), that a user is currently accessing content corresponding to a sporting event of a given type; means for searching, based on the given type of the sporting event type, a viewing history associated with the user to identify a plurality of media assets corresponding to sporting events of the given type; means for retrieving a viewing time associated with each of the plurality of media assets; means for comparing an average of differences between the viewing times associated with each of the plurality of media assets; means for determining, with the control circuitry (404) and based on the computed average, a frequency representing how often the user views sporting events of the given type; means for searching a database of sport education levels to identify a sport education level associated with the determined frequency to establish the sport education level of the user associated with the given type of sporting event; means for processing metadata associated with the currently accessed content to identify a plurality of terms describing the sporting event type; means for comparing the sport education level of the user to a threshold sport education level; means for detecting, with the control circuitry (404), a term unique to the given type of sporting event in the content by comparing the identified plurality of terms with a list of terms associated with the given type of sporting event; means for determining that the sport education level of the user is less than the threshold sport education level; means for retrieving, from a sports database, a definition of the term; and presenting, with the control circuitry (404), an explanation of the term to the user while the user accesses the content, wherein presenting the explanation of the term comprises highlighting the term.
  2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one or more of: the content is first content and the explanation is a first explanation, and the apparatus further comprises: means for detecting that the user is accessing a second content corresponding to the sporting event type of the given type after a period of time of accessing the first content, means for determining an increase in the frequency representing how often the user views sporting events of the given type, means for searching the database of education levels to identify a second sport education level associated with the increased frequency, means for processing metadata associated with the second content to identify the term detected in the first content, means for comparing the second sport education level of the user to the threshold sport education level, and in response to determining that the second sport education level of the user is greater than the threshold sport education level but less than a maximum threshold sport education level, means for presenting a second explanation of the term to the user that is more advanced than the first explanation; the apparatus further comprises means for receiving user input setting value for the sport education level of the user; the content includes at least one of a linear media asset, an on-demand media asset, and social chatter on a social platform associated with the user; the means for presenting the explanation of the term comprises: means for replacing a display of the term with the explanation, means for presenting an overlay over the content with the explanation adjacent to the term, means for highlighting the term in a display, or means for sending the explanation to a second screen device; the means for processing the metadata associated with the currently accessed content comprises: means for receiving closed-captioning information corresponding to the currently accessed content, means for converting speech in the currently accessed content to text, means for processing visual information presented in the content to detect metrics of the sporting event type, and means for identifying words in the closed-captioning information, text, and the metrics as the metadata.
  3. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein means for presenting the explanation of the term to the user comprises: means for transmitting the term to a social network associated with the user; means for receiving input from a plurality of users on the social network, each input providing a given explanation of the term; means for identifying a set of the inputs from the plurality of users having explanations in common; and means for generating the explanation of the term based on the set of the inputs.
  4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising: means for receiving input from the user that identifies a set of experts on the social network for the given type of sporting event; and means for limiting transmission of the term to the identified set of experts.
  5. The apparatus of any of claims 1-4, further comprising: means for detecting display of a metric of the sporting event type in the currently accessed content; and means for modifying the metric that is displayed based on the sport education level of the user.
  6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein: the metric represents a plurality of statistics of the sporting event type; and the means for modifying the metric comprises: means for ranking the plurality of statistics based on an importance level associated with each statistic; means for removing a first subset of the plurality of statistics being displayed that is associated with a rank lower than a first threshold rank, in response to determining that the first sport education level of the user is greater than the threshold sport education level and less than a maximum threshold sport education level; and means for removing a second subset of the plurality of statistics being displayed that is associated with a rank lower than a second threshold rank in response to determining that the first sport education level of the user is less than the threshold sport education level, wherein the second threshold rank is greater than the first threshold rank, and wherein the second subset includes the first subset.
  7. A method for educating a user about terminology associated with a sporting event, the method comprising: detecting, with control circuitry (404), that a user is currently accessing content corresponding to a sporting event of a given type (602); searching, based on the given type of the sporting event type, a viewing history associated with the user to identify a plurality of media assets corresponding to sporting events of the given type (704); retrieving a viewing time associated with each of the plurality of media assets (706); comparing an average of differences between the viewing times associated with each of the plurality of media assets (708); determining, with the control circuitry (404) and based on the computed average, a frequency representing how often the user views sporting events of the given type (604, 710); searching a database of education levels to identify a sport education level associated with the determined frequency to establish the sport education level of the user associated with the given type of sporting event (712); processing metadata associated with the currently accessed content to identify a plurality of terms describing the sporting event type (714); comparing the sport education level of the user to a threshold sport education level (718); detecting, with the control circuitry (404), a term unique to the given type of sporting event in the content (606) by comparing the identified plurality of terms with a list of terms associated with the given type of sporting event (716) ; determining that the education level of the user is less than the threshold sport education level; retrieving, from a sports database, a definition of the term; and presenting, with the control circuitry (404), an explanation of the term to the user while the user accesses the content (608), wherein presenting the explanation of the term comprises highlighting the term.
  8. The method of claim 7, wherein one or more of: the content is first content and the explanation is a first explanation, and the method further comprises: detecting that the user is accessing a second content corresponding to the sporting event type of the given type after a period of time of accessing the first content (804), determining an increase in the frequency representing how often the user views sporting events of the given type (806), searching the database of education levels to identify a second sport education level associated with the increased frequency (808), processing metadata associated with the second content to identify the term detected in the first content (810), comparing the second sport education level of the user to the threshold sport education level (812), and in response to determining that the second sport education level of the user is greater than the threshold sport education level (814) but less than a maximum threshold sport education level (816), presenting a second explanation of the term to the user that is more advanced than the first explanation (818); the method further comprises receiving user input setting a value for the sport education level of the user (802); the content includes at least one of a linear media asset, an on-demand media asset, and social chatter on a social platform associated with the user; presenting the explanation of the term comprises at least one of replacing a display of the term with the explanation, presenting an overlay over the content with the explanation adjacent to the term, highlighting the term in a display, sending the explanation to a second screen device; processing the metadata associated with the currently accessed content comprises: receiving closed-captioning information corresponding to the currently accessed content (904), converting speech in the currently accessed content to text (906), processing visual information presented in the content to detect metrics of the sporting event type (908), and identifying words in the closed-captioning information, text, and the metrics as the metadata (910).
  9. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein presenting the explanation of the term to the user comprises: transmitting the term to a social network associated with the user (1002); receiving input from a plurality of users on the social network, each input providing a given explanation of the term (1004); identifying a set of the inputs from the plurality of users having explanations in common; and generating the explanation of the term based on the set of the inputs (1006).
  10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: receiving input from the user that identifies a set of experts on the social network for the given type of sporting event (1008); and limiting transmission of the term to the identified set of experts (1010).
  11. The method of any of claims 7-10, further comprising: detecting display of a metric of the sporting event type in the currently accessed content (1102); modifying the metric that is displayed based on the sport education level of the user (1104).
  12. The method of claim 11, wherein the metric represents a plurality of statistics of the sporting event type, wherein modifying the metric comprises: ranking the plurality of statistics based on an importance level associated with each statistic (1106); removing a first subset of the plurality of statistics being displayed that is associated with a rank lower than a first threshold rank (1112), in response to determining that the first sport education level of the user is greater than the threshold sport education level (1108) and less than a maximum threshold sport education level (1110); and removing a second subset of the plurality of statistics being displayed that is associated with a rank lower than a second threshold rank in response to determining that the first sport education level of the user is less than the threshold sport education level, wherein the second threshold rank is greater than the first threshold rank, and wherein the second subset includes the first subset (1114).
  13. A computer program comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform the method of any of claims 7-12.

Description

Background The amount of media available to users in any given media delivery system can be substantial. Unfortunately, users unfamiliar with the media can be exposed to large amounts of information which may be difficult to comprehend. In particular, media associated with sports can feature technical terms and colloquial phrases that can alienate a user and prevent him/her from enjoying the content, or understanding the sport. Conventional media systems may define technical terms in a media asset, but they do not consider the education level or previous exposure to the media asset the user may have. As a result, conventional media systems may make inefficient use of resources, only to inundate the user with irrelevant information, making the media asset less enjoyable. US 2016/301974 discloses methods and apparatus for using user engagement to provide content presentation.US 2011298983 discloses content processing apparatus and a content processing method. Relevant prior art includes US 2016/0316238 A1, which discloses an electronic programme guide which presents metadata to users about media content. Summary In accordance with disclosed embodiments, there is provided an apparatus claim as defined in claim 1 and a method claim as defined in claim 8. Optional features are defined in the dependent claims. Systems and methods are described to explain sports terminology to a user accessing content corresponding to a sporting event, based on his/her knowledge of the sport. For example, suppose that the user is watching a baseball game and a player in the game has hit a homerun. The media guidance application may determine that the user has never watched a baseball game and does not know much about baseball. As a result, the media guidance application may identify words that are either mentioned by the sports commentators, in closed-captioning, or on the display, such as "homerun," and define the words for the user. The media guidance application may generate for display, an overlay, that is presented to the user, with an explanation of the term. If the user accesses additional content corresponding to baseball in the future, the media guidance application may detect that the user has already been provided explanations of various terms such as "homerun," and either present a more advanced explanation of terms, or no explanation. The media guidance application may detect that a user is currently accessing content corresponding to a sporting event of a given type. Suppose that the user is viewing a baseball game on his/her set-top box. It should be noted that the user may access on sporting event across various mediums such as on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content (e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above or other storage device), or other time-independent content. The media guidance application may extract metadata associated with the baseball game, such as the name and the description of the content, to search for references to a sport. The media guidance application may specifically determine that the name of a sport (e.g., baseball) is found in the name or description of the content. Accordingly, the media guidance application may determine that the content is associated with the identified sporting event. The media guidance application may determine a frequency representing how often the user views sporting events of the given type to establish an education level of the user associated with the given type of sporting event. For example, the media guidance application may refer to the viewing history of the user to identify media assets the user has previously viewed that correspond to the sporting event type. Suppose that the media guidance application identifies several media assets that the user previously accessed that correspond to baseball. The media guidance application may determine the time of access for each media asset and determine a frequency value (e.g., accessed one per week, twice a month, etc.) based on the number of times the user accessed the media assets in a given period of time. Based on the frequency value, the media guidance application may use a lookup table to determine an education level of the user in terms of the sport. For example, the media guidance application may determine that frequency of one time per day (e.g., the user views content associated with baseball on daily basis) indicates that the user has an "advanced" understanding of baseball. Therefore, the education level of the user may be "advanced" for baseball-related content. Alternatively, the media guidance application may determine that the user views baseball-related content with a frequency of once a week. Accordingly, the media guidance application may determine, using the lookup table, that the user's education level is "intermediate." The media guidance application may then detect a term unique to the giv