Abstract: A system and method for generating and transmitting data without personally identifiable information. The method may include receiving a set of one or more unique identifiers (IDs) and a first set of data associated with a subscriber. The method may send the IDs to a third party provider of datasets. The method may receive a second set of data associated with the subscriber identified using the unique IDs. The method may generate aggregated viewing data based on the first and second sets of data. The set of unique IDs may be based on a one-way hash of personally identifiable information associated with the subscriber. In this way, the unique IDs may be appended with the data from third party providers so additional information regarding the household is available to clients, but the personally identifiable information is unavailable to any of the parties.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems and methods for providing companion services to customer premises equipment (CPE) using an IP-based service infrastructure. The infrastructure allows IP-enabled devices such as tablet PCs, smart phones, PDAs, and laptop computers to provide supplementary services to target systems and devices located at customer premises. Target systems and devices (CPE) may be TVs, PCs, set-top boxes, digital video recorders, or other electronics. An embodiment is disclosed which allows a mobile device to provide companion services to a television through a link with a set-top box in a cable TV network using the Internet.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems and methods for regulating network bandwidth by means of monitoring network traffic, predicting network loads, and scheduling traffic utilizing traffic reporting and bandwidth reservation mechanisms. These systems and methods may reduce network congestion and support more efficient processing by network applications. Traffic reporting may comprise broadcasting control messages to network nodes indicating appropriate times to send and receive messages. Network nodes may use traffic reports (e.g., control messages) to proactively regulate their use of the network. Bandwidth reservation may allow network nodes to do productive processing while waiting to send and receive data, and may decrease mean wait times. Reservations may be implemented in a synchronous or asynchronous manner. In an exemplary embodiment, the reservation mechanism may emulate a traditional stream socket API.

Abstract: A system for and method of enhancing video advertising with interactive content in accordance with exemplary embodiments may include receiving non-interactive video advertisement data and advertisement order data associated with the non-interactive video advertisement data, generating interactive content data associated with the non-interactive video advertisement data, embedding, in the non-interactive video advertisement data, the interactive content data, and transmitting, to an ad server component of an ad system, the non-interactive video advertisement data and the embedded interactive content data for transmission to one or more end user devices.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems and methods for reducing the amount of data associated with user events. The systems and methods are particularly applicable to cable TV, satellite TV, and other networks where user event data (e.g., clickstream) must be sent from customer premises equipment (CPE) to centralized servers and the data transmission channel is narrow. In various exemplary embodiments, CPE such as television set-top boxes may reduce requirements for data storage and network bandwidth by replacing portions of channel-number/timestamp streams with abbreviated codes representing common meta-events such as “channel surfing events” and “previous channel events.” The original channel-number/timestamp streams can be reconstituted on centralized servers. Other common sequences of events, including those involving activation of other buttons on remote controls (i.e.

Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods of building a default set of parameters into a software application by defining a widget template having associated parameter schema and then instantiating a widget by substituting a new set of application parameters for the built-in defaults such that the new parameters meet the same constraints defined for the default parameters. Aspects of the invention also include testing the original application containing the default parameters, along with the parameter substitution process itself, using a Statistical Software Testing Methodology (SSTM) to ensure the application meets a pre-determined level of quality.

Abstract: A system for and method of targeting a broadcast message to a subset of potential electronic receivers in a broadcast network is presented. The system and method may comprise collecting identifying information associated with designated electronic receivers of a targeted broadcast message, generating, using a computer processor, a data set structure using the identifying information, associating the data set structure with the targeted broadcast message, and broadcasting the targeted broadcast message and the data set structure to a plurality of electronic receivers, wherein the data set structure provides information allowing at least one of the plurality of electronic receivers to determine whether the targeted broadcast message is targeted to the at least one electronic receiver.

Abstract: A method and system for providing personalized information to applications executing on consumer devices by: building a consumer preferences profile on a consumer device using predefined associations between consumer preference attributes and application events (including user input); summarizing the consumer preferences profile into a profile summary when applications require a new personalized data resource; requesting a personalized data resource from a centralized database of data resources over the broadband network by including application context information along with the profile summary in the request; analyzing data resource groups in the centralized database to find a candidate set of data resources according to resource rules in the resource groups; selecting a personalized data resource from the candidate set of data resources that matches the profile summary and context information; and delivering the selected personalized data resource to the requesting application over the broadband network.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems and methods for reducing the amount of data associated with user events. The systems and methods are particularly applicable to cable TV, satellite TV, and other networks where user event data (e.g., clickstream) must be sent from customer premises equipment (CPE) to centralized servers and the data transmission channel is narrow. In various exemplary embodiments, CPE such as television set-top boxes may reduce requirements for data storage and network bandwidth by replacing portions of channel-number/timestamp streams with abbreviated codes representing common meta-events such as “channel surfing events” and “previous channel events.” The original channel-number/timestamp streams can be reconstituted on centralized servers. Other common sequences of events, including those involving activation of other buttons on remote controls (i.e.

Abstract: A system, method and software program is provided for creating and implementing self-contained mini-applications that store, retrieve and display data and allow user interaction in a constrained computing environment such as a set-top box used in the delivery of digital television. The system, method and software program of the present invention, also known as “TV widgets” allows users to personalize data and facilitate the access of such data with a click of a button from a remote control unit. The TV widgets include a myriad of widgets of which some are, “My 8 ball”, a widget that recommends television programming to a viewer, “My TV search” for searching specific television programs, “My Weather”, “My Yellow Pages”, “Smart Navigation”, “Instant Messaging with Smart User Interface”, as well as others. A TV widget framework provides user interface context for launching and managing the widgets, in addition, it maintains a library code that implements the TV widget components.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems and methods for regulating network bandwidth by means of monitoring network traffic, predicting network loads, and scheduling traffic utilizing traffic reporting and bandwidth reservation mechanisms. These systems and methods may reduce network congestion and support more efficient processing by network applications. Traffic reporting may comprise broadcasting control messages to network nodes indicating appropriate times to send and receive messages. Network nodes may use traffic reports (e.g., control messages) to proactively regulate their use of the network. Bandwidth reservation may allow network nodes to do productive processing while waiting to send and receive data, and may decrease mean wait times. Reservations may be implemented in a synchronous or asynchronous manner. In an exemplary embodiment, the reservation mechanism may emulate a traditional stream socket API.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems and methods for providing companion services to customer premises equipment (CPE) using an IP-based service infrastructure. The infrastructure allows IP-enabled devices such as tablet PCs, smart phones, PDAs, and laptop computers to provide supplementary services to target systems and devices located at customer premises. Target systems and devices (CPE) may be TVs, PCs, set-top boxes, digital video recorders, or other electronics. An embodiment is disclosed which allows a mobile device to provide companion services to a television through a link with a set-top box in a cable TV network using the Internet.

Abstract: A embodiment is disclosed for learning user interests based on user actions and then applying the learned knowledge to rank, recommend, and/or filter items, such as e-mail spam, based on the level of interest to a user. The embodiment may be used for automated personalized information learning, recommendation, and/or filtering systems in applications such as television programming, web-based auctions, targeted advertising, and electronic mail filtering. The embodiment may be structured to generate item descriptions, learn items of interest, learn terms that effectively describe the items, cluster similar items in a compact data structure, and then use the structure to rank new offerings.

Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods of building a default set of parameters into a software application by defining a widget template having associated parameter schema and then instantiating a widget by substituting a new set of application parameters for the built-in defaults such that the new parameters meet the same constraints defined for the default parameters. Aspects of the invention also include testing the original application containing the default parameters, along with the parameter substitution process itself, using a Statistical Software Testing Methodology (SSTM) to ensure the application meets a pre-determined level of quality.

Abstract: A system for and method of targeting a broadcast message to a subset of potential electronic receivers in a broadcast network is presented. The system and method may comprise collecting identifying information associated with designated electronic receivers of a targeted broadcast message, generating, using a computer processor, a data set structure using the identifying information, associating the data set structure with the targeted broadcast message, and broadcasting the targeted broadcast message and the data set structure to a plurality of electronic receivers, wherein the data set structure provides information allowing at least one of the plurality of electronic receivers to determine whether the targeted broadcast message is targeted to the at least one electronic receiver.