METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING TELEVISION PROGRAM RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON SIMILARITY METRIC

摘要

A method and apparatus are disclosed for generating television program recommendations based on a similarity metric. Thus, the invention recommends television programs that are similar to one or more shows identified by a user. A similarity metric is computed between each program in a user-specified selected set and each program in an identified time interval. The selected set comprises one or more programs currently of interest to the user. The present invention allows a viewer to easily select one or more programs that the viewer currently finds attractive. The similarity metric is a sum of weighted scores for each matching attribute between programs in the selected set and programs in the identified time interval. If the selected set contains more than one program, an average score can be utilized, or the maximum value to any program in the selected set. Shows that are actually selected for viewing are observed and the weightings, w>i<, assigned to each matching program attribute are adjusted, so that over time, the similarity metric, S>M<, more accurately reflects the viewer's idea of "similar shows".