A media switch enables a terminal to access content by receiving a content request from a terminal for a first piece of content to be distributed over a cable system, identifying.sup., a personal channel within resources available in the cable system to distribute the first piece of content to the terminal, transmitting access information to the terminal to enable the terminal to access the first piece of content through the personal channel, and interfacing with a cable headend to provide the first piece of content on the personal channel.

A video recommending method, including: obtaining videos, the video including long videos and short videos; obtaining a subset of the long videos, of which video attribute values are greater than corresponding attribute thresholds; obtaining a watching record of a user, and obtaining similarities between the short videos and videos in the watching record, to extract a preset quantity of short videos having highest similarities; and recommending the subset of the long videos, of which video attribute values are greater than corresponding attribute thresholds, to the user, and/or recommending the preset quantity of short videos having highest similarities to the user.

The playback of video content upon a display is enhanced through the unobtrusive presentation of extrinsic data upon the same display. A video content feature is rendered on a display. A quantity of extrinsic data relevant to a current time in the video content feature is determined based at least in part on viewing history of a user. A graphical element presenting at least a portion of the extrinsic data is rendered on the display while the video content feature is also being rendered on the display.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for generating search queries in response to obtaining audio samples on a client device. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of i) receiving audio data from a client device, ii) identifying specific content from captured media based on the received audio data, wherein the identified specific content is associated with the received audio data and the captured media includes at least one of audio media or audio-video media, iii) obtaining additional metadata associated with the identified content, iv) generating a search query based at least in part on the obtained additional metadata, and v) returning one or more search results to the client device, the one or more search results responsive to the search query and associated with the received audio data.

Program information is transmitted and received via a communication line, and a scheduling operation can be performed based on the program information via the communication line. For that purpose, a communication system includes a receiving apparatus, a server, and an information processing apparatus which are configured to transmit data to and receive data from one another via the communication line. The information processing apparatus includes an EPG requester and a display EPG receiver. The server includes an EPG request receiver, an EPG request transmitter, an EPG receiver, an EPG converter, and a display EPG transmitter. The receiving apparatus includes an EPG obtainer, an EPG request acceptor, an EPG extractor, and an EPG transmitter.

A client determines that a user is attempting to access media program recommendations. In response to the determination, the client attempts to collect media program recommendations to be presented to the user. Media program recommendations may be derived locally by the client, by the client and a multimedia device locally connected with the client, by the client and one or more additional devices, etc. In some embodiments, in response to receiving a query from the client, one or more recipient devices or servers identify media program recommendations in a plurality of trending categories. The media program recommendations may be selected based at least in part on EPG data and audience research and measurement data. The media program recommendations collected by the client are presented to the user for further exploration. The client may be one of mobile phones, tablet computers, etc.

Disclosed are various embodiments relating to the identification of events that occur within a media item. In one embodiment, among others, a media item is rendered for display on client devices. A plurality of messages are received from client devices, wherein each of the messages comprises a timestamp indicating a time relative to a media item. The existence of an event in the media item is determined based at least in part on a clustering of at least a subset of the messages received.

Processes, systems and devices are described to enhance the television or other media viewing experience based upon excitement data that is associated with the program. Excitement data can be used to identify the most exciting portions of media programs, therefore allowing for improved identification of programs or portions of programs for viewing, streaming, recording or other purposes.

ACR is used to identify content viewed by a person watching an AVDD such as a smart TV. Content searches of multiple sources and source types may be conducted and the results arranged for presentation by weighting each item of the search result according to the ACR identifications of historical viewing.

An electronic apparatus includes a processor. The processor is configured to: obtain information about weighted values respectively assigned to a plurality of items having values that represent content features of a plurality of pieces of content, wherein the weighted values are assigned as higher weight values to items corresponding to the content features preferred by according to genres of content; identify a user content viewed by a user of the electronic apparatus; calculate similarities in values of the plurality of items, respectively, between a plurality of pieces of recommendable content and the user content, respectively; calculate recommendation scores of the plurality of pieces of content, based on the calculated similarities and the weighted values assigned to the items according to the genres; and perform a recommendation operation for one or more content pieces, of which the calculated recommendation score is equal to or higher than a preset ranking.