Towards Integrated Recommender Systems

Abstract:
The amount of content available to a typically home user has grown excessively in the last years, due to digital broadcasting technologies, advanced recording technologies in the user’s home, and due to novel offerings via the now nearly ubiquitous broadband internet access and a dramatic growth in user-generated content. New technologies are required to help the users to locate content that is relevant for their current situation, beyond the classical approach of browsing catalogues of content. Recommender systems are a class of systems that point users to content they consider relevant based on the user’s preferences. The European Microsoft Innovation Center is currently working on the prototype of such a recommender system, which can be integrated into the Microsoft Media Center, Microsoft’s home entertainment application.