Source: https://patents.com/us-9955226.html
Timestamp: 2019-10-22 14:47:15
Document Index: 429832099

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 08755604', 'Application No. 08755604', 'Application No. 08755620', 'Application No. 08755620', 'Application No. 2008254906', 'Application No. 2008254906', 'Application No. 201110381783', 'Application No. 201110381783', 'Application No. 201110381783', 'Application No. 201110381783', 'Application No. 201210395204', 'Application No. 201210395204', 'Application No. 201210395204', 'Application No. 201210395204', 'Application No. 2013', 'Application No. 2013', 'Application No. 2013', 'Application No. 2013', 'Application No. 2013', 'Application No. 2013', 'Application No. 2013', 'Application No. 2013', 'Application No. 2013', 'Application No. 2013']

US Patent # 9,955,226. Multimedia content search system - Patents.com
United States Patent 9,955,226
Dubois , et al. April 24, 2018
Dubois; Marcel (San Jose, CA), Chawla; Vin (San Jose, CA), Beach; Brian (Columbus, IN), Sanford; Glen (Alameda, CA), Poniatowski; Robert (San Jose, CA), Glennon; Shelly (San Jose, CA)
TIVO SOLUTIONS INC. (San Jose, CA)
Family ID: 1000003252876
15/069,939
US 20160198231 A1 Jul 7, 2016
12121672 May 15, 2008 9288548
60930419 May 15, 2007
Current CPC Class: H04N 21/4828 (20130101); G06F 17/30646 (20130101); H04N 21/232 (20130101); H04N 21/2393 (20130101); H04N 21/242 (20130101); H04N 21/2543 (20130101); H04N 21/25891 (20130101); H04N 21/2665 (20130101); H04N 21/2747 (20130101); H04N 21/4135 (20130101); H04N 21/4334 (20130101); H04N 21/4532 (20130101); H04N 21/4622 (20130101); H04N 21/4788 (20130101); H04N 21/47214 (20130101); H04N 21/632 (20130101); H04N 21/6587 (20130101); H04N 21/8586 (20130101); G06F 17/3082 (20130101); Y10S 707/916 (20130101); Y10S 707/914 (20130101); Y10S 707/915 (20130101)
Current International Class: H04N 5/445 (20110101); H04N 21/433 (20110101); G06F 17/30 (20060101); H04N 21/482 (20110101); H04N 21/4788 (20110101); H04N 21/462 (20110101); H04N 21/2665 (20110101); H04N 21/2543 (20110101); H04N 21/239 (20110101); H04N 21/232 (20110101); H04N 21/6587 (20110101); H04N 21/45 (20110101); H04N 21/41 (20110101); H04N 21/2747 (20110101); H04N 21/258 (20110101); H04N 21/242 (20110101); H04N 21/472 (20110101); H04N 21/858 (20110101); H04N 21/63 (20110101)
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This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/121,672, filed May 15, 2008, which claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application 60/930,419, filed May 15, 2007. The entire contents of the above mentioned applications are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. The applicant(s) hereby rescind any disclaimer of claim scope in the parent application(s) or the prosecution history thereof and advise the USPTO that the claims in this application may be broader than any claim in the parent application. This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/121,619 entitled SWIVEL SEARCH SYSTEM, filed May 15, 2008, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/121,557 entitled MULTIMEDIA CONTENT SEARCH AND RECORDING SCHEDULING SYSTEM, filed May 15, 2008, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/121,688 entitled MULTIMEDIA CONTENT SEARCH SYSTEM WITH SOURCE AND FIELD DIFFERENTIATION, filed May 15, 2008, each of which is owned by Applicant and is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference thereto.
1. A method, comprising: receiving, from a client device at a server, a user request to search for information about a program series without the user indicating whether the search is for broadcast content or broadband content; in response to receiving the user request to search for information about the program series: automatically selecting, by the server, at least one broadcast multimedia content information database and at least one broadband multimedia content information database; and sending, by the server, one or more search queries to the selected at least one broadcast multimedia content information database and to the selected at least one broadband multimedia content information database; receiving, from the at least one broadcast multimedia content information database, first search results indicating one or more upcoming broadcast showings of one or more episodes of the program series; receiving, from the at least one broadband multimedia content information database, second search results indicating the availability of one or more episodes of the program series from one or more broadband content sources; filtering the first search results to remove upcoming broadcast showings from channels to which the client device is not subscribed; and causing display, at the client device, of a graphical user interface including both: 1) a first option to display information about the one or more upcoming broadcast showings of the one or more episodes of the program series from a channel to which the client device is subscribed, and 2) a second option to display information about the availability of the one or more episodes of the program series from one or more broadband content sources; in response to receiving the user request to search for information about the program series and in response to automatically selecting the at least one broadcast multimedia content information database and the at least one broadband multimedia content information database: generating a first query compatible with a first type of the at least one broadcast multimedia content information database; and generating a second query compatible with a second type of the at least one broadband multimedia content information database; wherein causing display of the graphical user interface includes generating a user interface screen that is suitable for the client device to display.
6. An apparatus comprising: a client device communicator, implemented at least partially in hardware, that receives, from a client device, a user request to search for information about a program series without the user indicating whether the search is for broadcast content or broadband content; a database communicator, implemented at least partially in hardware, that, in response to receiving the user request to search for information about the program series: automatically selects at least one broadcast multimedia content information database and at least one broadband multimedia content information database; and sends one or more search queries to the selected at least one broadcast multimedia content information database and to the selected at least one broadband multimedia content information database; wherein the database communicator receives, from the at least one broadcast multimedia content information database, first search results indicating one or more upcoming broadcast showings of one or more episodes of the program series; wherein the database communicator receives, from the at least one broadband multimedia content information database, second search results indicating the availability of one or more episodes of the program series from one or more broadband content sources; wherein the database communicator filters the first search results to remove upcoming broadcast showings from channels to which the client device is not subscribed; and wherein the client device communicator subsystem causes display, at the client device, of a graphical user interface including both: 1) a first option to display information about the one or more upcoming broadcast showings of the one or more episodes of the program series from a channel to which the client device is subscribed, and 2) a second option to display information about the availability of the one or more episodes of the program series from one or more broadband content sources; wherein the database communicator: in response to receiving the user request to search for information about the program series and in response to automatically selecting the at least one broadcast multimedia content information database and the at least one broadband multimedia content information database: generates a first query compatible with a first type of the at least one broadcast multimedia content information database; and generates a second query compatible with a second type of the at least one broadband multimedia content information database; wherein causing display of the graphical user interface includes generating a user interface screen that is suitable for the client device to display.
11. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions, which when executed by one or more processors cause performance of: receiving, from a client device at a server, a user request to search for information about a program series without the user indicating whether the search is for broadcast content or broadband content; in response to receiving the user request to search for information about the program series: automatically selecting, by the server, at least one broadcast multimedia content information database and at least one broadband multimedia content information database; and sending, by the server, one or more search queries to the selected at least one broadcast multimedia content information database and to the selected at least one broadband multimedia content information database; receiving, from the at least one broadcast multimedia content information database, first search results indicating one or more upcoming broadcast showings of one or more episodes of the program series; receiving, from the at least one broadband multimedia content information database, second search results indicating the availability of one or more episodes of the program series from one or more broadband content sources; filtering, at the server, the first search results to remove upcoming broadcast showings from channels to which the client device is not subscribed; and causing display, at the client device, of a graphical user interface including both: 1) a first option to display information about the one or more upcoming broadcast showings of the one or more episodes of the program series from a channel to which the client device is subscribed, and 2) a second option to display information about the availability of the one or more episodes of the program series from one or more broadband content sources; wherein the instructions cause performance of: in response to receiving the user request to search for information about the program series and in response to automatically selecting the at least one broadcast multimedia content information database and the at least one broadband multimedia content information database: generating a first query compatible with a first type of the at least one broadcast multimedia content information database; and generating a second query compatible with a second type of the at least one broadband multimedia content information database; wherein causing display of the graphical user interface includes generating a user interface screen that is suitable for the client device to display.
The present invention relates to digital video recorders ("DVRs").
Embodiments are described herein according to the following outline: 1.0 General Overview 2.0 System Structural Overview 3.0 Example Techniques and Processes 3.1 Unified Searching of Broadband and Broadcast Multimedia Content 3.2 Tagging Multimedia Content 3.3 Filtering Broadband and Broadcast Multimedia Content Search Results 4.0 Implementation Mechanisms--Hardware Overview 1.0 General Overview
The client device formulates a search request given the user's input and sends the search request to the service. The service receives the search request from the client device and formulates a query for at least one broadband database and at least one broadcast database. The broadband database contains data from partners of the service provider such as: Amazon.com, RocketBoom, dLife.RTM., The New York Times.RTM., and CNET.RTM.. Broadband databases may exist at each partner's server. The service queries each partner's database with a compatible query that the service creates using information regarding the type of database queries each partner's database requires. Data in the broadband database(s) consists of links to multimedia content that are available for download from the partners. The data also includes information describing the multimedia content such as: program description, program synopsis, program rating, actors, directors, producers, program title, pricing, etc., as well as search data tags.
The broadcast database contains data from electronic program guide (EPG) providers such as Tribune Media Services.RTM.. The EPG data describes programs that are available from many different broadcasters and services such as: DirecTV.RTM., Comcast.RTM., CableVision.RTM., etc. The EPG data contains information describing the program such as the channel that the program is available on, program description, program synopsis, program rating, actors, directors, producers, program title, broadcast date and time, etc., as well as search data tags.
The service 304 receives the search request from the client device 305. The service 304 formulates a query for each database 301, 303. The databases consist of at least one broadband database 301 and at least one broadcast database 303. The broadband database 301 contains data from partners of the service provider such as: Amazon.com, RocketBoom, dLife.RTM., The New York Times.RTM., and CNET.RTM.. Broadband databases may exist at each partner's server. The service 304 then queries each partner's database with a compatible query that the service 304 creates using information regarding the type of database queries each partner's database requires. In an embodiment, the partners pay the service provider a fee for placing data in the database or for having their database searched by the service 304. For example, partners may pay a fixed fee and/or a fee based on the number of times that the service 304 queries the partner's database. The broadband database(s) makes it possible for the partners' products and services to be displayed to users. Data in the broadband database(s) consists of links to multimedia content that are available for download from the partners. The data also includes information describing the multimedia content such as: program description, program synopsis, program rating, actors, directors, producers, program title, pricing, etc., as well as search data tags (described below).
The broadcast database 303 contains data from electronic program guide (EPG) providers such as Tribune Media Services.RTM.. The EPG data describes programs that are available from many different broadcasters and services such as: DirecTV.RTM., Comcast.RTM., CableVision.RTM., etc. The EPG data contains information describing the program such as the channel that the program is available on, program description, program synopsis, program rating, actors, directors, producers, program title, broadcast date and time, etc., as well as search data tags (described below). EPG data is typically updated periodically and typically covers 14 days of programming. The number of days is dependent upon the service provider. The EPG data covers, for example, the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and other countries. Given that the EPG data is on the service provider's database 303, the service provider can retain all the EPG data that EPG providers have delivered. This gives the service provider historical data from which a user can obtain historical data or program names. The service can provide a client device with information from the historical EPG data regarding multimedia content such as when the content was last broadcast. This type of information is typically not obtainable in normal DVRs or EPG services because EPG data is typically limited to a number of days, such as 14 days. Search requests for content that is not in a typical 14-day EPG would receive a null search response. In this embodiment, since the service has the historical EPG data, the search requests would receive a positive hit as long as the content has been shown in the time frame of the service's EPG data.
Tags 1101 are also shown as an option that may be selected as shown in FIG. 11 on the left side of the screen. For the television series "Doogie Howser, M.D.", the tags "coming of age," "doctor," "medical," and "prodigy" are shown. When a tag is selected, content associated with that tag appears on the right side of the screen. In this example, for the tag "doctor", the television series "ER", "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scrubs" appear because they are associated with the tag and are scheduled to be shown in the near future.
Tags, as used herein, refer to a set of words, pictures or other media used to link various pieces of content together. Examples of tags may be, but are not limited to, locations in which the content is set, genres to which the content belongs, or the subject matter associated with the content. If the term "New York" is searched, results returned may include the television series "Friends", and the movies "Gangs of New York" and "Ghostbusters". The results are returned because each selection is set in the city of New York. In another example, the term "marriage" is searched. This search returns content that are associated with "marriage". Some results may include the television series "Wedding Story," certain episodes of television series in which marriage occurs such as "Friends," and the movie "The Runaway Bride".
Tags linked to content may include any association with words. Some examples of tags are "singing," "reality TV," "fashion," "terrorist," "crime," and "roommate." Tags may be added or changed over time. Tags are also not limited to words, but may consist of a picture associated with content (an example is the symbol that identifies singing star Prince), or other media such as sounds or music. For example, a selection of new age music may be associated with a show on spirituality and a selection of heavy metal music may be associated with a television show on skateboarding.
According to another embodiment, multimedia devices such as DVRs, PCs, cell phones, and handheld computing devices are used to create tags for video programs, herein referred to as "community tagging." Using a control interface such as a remote control, touch screen, touchpad, or a keyboard, when a user is viewing a video program, the user enters possible terms that associate the content to the tag. For example, the user might use the control interface to mark a program segment, or alternatively to mark an event within the video program. For instance, when viewing a sporting event such as a football game, the user signals via remote control when an exciting play occurs. The viewer may enter the term "exciting" and the tag is then associated with that program. Community tagging may be completely open or subject to the editorial of the service provider in order to maintain a sense of order. Also, community tagging may be aggregated so that only the most common actions are selected and then the tags may be disseminated to the network of users.
The term "machine-readable medium" as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operation in a specific fashion. In an embodiment implemented using computer system 1200, various machine-readable media are involved, for example, in providing instructions to processor 1204 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 1210. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 1206. Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus 1202. Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications. All such media must be tangible to enable the instructions carried by the media to be detected by a physical mechanism that reads the instructions into a machine.
Network link 1220 typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other data devices. For example, network link 1220 may provide a connection through local network 1222 to a host computer 1224 or to data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 1226. ISP 1226 in turn provides data communication services through the world wide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the "Internet" 1228. Local network 1222 and Internet 1228 both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals through the various networks and the signals on network link 1220 and through communication interface 1218, which carry the digital data to and from computer system 1200, are exemplary forms of carrier waves transporting the information.
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