Mr. Hoffberg is co-inventor with Linda Hoffberg-Borghesani of a number of patents, claiming priority from 1991 and later, relating to user profilers, media recommenders, personal video recorders, packet data interfaces for set top boxes, content and context adaptive computing, adaptive user interfaces, model-based video analysis and compression, compressed-domain video pattern recognition, GUI gesture analysis, relevance-based ranking technologies, and the like.
Issued patents include U.S. Patent Nos. 7,006,881, 6,850,252, 6,640,145, 6,418,424, 6,400,996, 6,081,750, 5,920,477, 5,903,454, 5,901,246, 5,875,108, 5,867,386, and 5,774,357.
Of particular interest is the disclosure of user-preference profile based media filters, which seek to solve the problem of "500 channels on, now what do I want to watch". In the present milieu of peer-to-peer networking, no longer are we limited to MSO-defined channels, and therefore the variety of available content is nearly endless. As legitimate commercial models develop for the distribution of media through uncontrolled channels, and therefore with Digital Rights Management (DRM), evolve, there will be an increasing need for user-centric determinations of value. The portfolio addresses this issue. The technologies also tackle the issue of electronic program guides. How do we know what a program is about?
While reliance on electronic programs guides, as a readily available source of such information is a accepted, many times these contain limited or incorrect information. The technologies therefore automatically analyze media, to determine content.
The portfolio is subdivided as follows:
Digital Rights Management: 6,850,252
Packet Network Interface for Set Top Box: 7,006,881, 6,850,252, 6,640,145, 6,400,996
Recommenders: 6,418,424, 5,920,477, 5,903,454, 5,774,357