Patent ID: 6901366
Filing Date: 2005-05-31
Classification: G06F,G10L

Abstract:
1. A system for accessing supplemental network-resident information about an audio/video program comprising: a network connection through which network-resident information may be obtained; a speech recognizer receptive of a user's input speech request for information about a program; a natural language parser coupled to said speech recognizer for extracting a semantic representation of the user's request for information; a data store for storing a representation of an electronic program guide, said program guide having an indicator identifying the program being enjoyed by said user at the time of said user's request; a search engine commander that issues at least one search request to at least one search engine through said network connection, wherein said search engine commander issues said at least one search request based on said semantic representation and using said representation of an electronic program guide as a first filter to constrain said search request to identify useful information relevant in determining what information the user is interested in retrieving; a search results processor for receiving search results in response to said search request, for filtering said received search results based on the electronic program guide, and for providing a filtered portion of the received search results to the user as information about an audio/video program; and at least one second filter, said second filter being used by said search results processor for selecting a first group of search results from said received search results and setting aside a second group of search results from said received search results, said second filter being customizable by the user; and updating said information filters on a per-user basis based on historical data gathered as said use of the system.