Patent Document ID: 10142686
Application ID: 15474368

Base Claim:
1. A method for disambiguating an ambiguous entity in a search query based on a gaze of a user, the method comprising: monitoring, using control circuitry, at a current time, a gaze of a user during playback of a media asset, wherein monitoring the gaze of the user comprises monitoring a vertical degree of an eye of the user, a horizontal degree of the eye of the user, and a position of the eye of the user relative to a display screen displaying the media asset; determining a size of the display screen displaying the media asset; calculating, based on the position, the size, the vertical degree, and the horizontal degree, a first area of the display screen corresponding to the gaze of the user; storing, in memory, a data structure indicating the first area and the current time; receiving, using the control circuitry, a search query from the user at the current time; determining that the search query includes an ambiguous entity; and based on determining that the search query includes the ambiguous entity: retrieving, from the memory, the data structure; determining a frame of the media asset that correspond to the current time; retrieving, from a database, metadata relating to the frame of the media asset corresponding to the current time, the metadata including a first location of a first entity in the frame, a second location of a second entity in the frame, and a third location of a third entity in the frame; extracting, from the data structure, the first area corresponding to the current time; extracting from the metadata, the first location of the first entity in the frame and the second location of the second entity in the frame; determining that the first area overlaps with the first location of the first entity and the second location of the second entity; based on determining that the first area overlaps with the first location of the first entity and the second location of the second entity: receiving, using the control circuitry, data indicative of a second area from a user device of a second user, wherein the second area was calculated based on a gaze of the second user at the current time; and determining that the second area overlaps with the location of the first entity; based on determining that the second area overlaps with the location of the first entity, generating for display a first prompt for additional input, wherein the first prompt for additional input indicates the first entity as a first potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the search query; subsequent to generating for display the first prompt for additional input, receiving a negative input from the user, wherein the negative input indicates that the first entity is an incorrect disambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the search query; based on receiving the negative input: expanding the first area to a third area of the display screen, wherein the third area is larger than the first area; extracting, from the metadata, the third location of the third entity in the frame; determining that the third area overlaps with the third location of the third entity; and based on determining that the third area overlaps with the third location, generating for display a second prompt for additional input, wherein the second prompt for additional input indicates the third entity as a second potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the search query.

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Claim 9:
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metadata further includes a fourth location of a fourth entity in the frame, and wherein the search query includes a pronoun, the method further comprising: extracting from the metadata the fourth location of the fourth entity in the frame; determining that the first area overlaps with the fourth location of the fourth entity; based on determining that the first area overlaps with the fourth location and the first location: retrieving, using control circuitry, from the database, metadata associating the pronoun with a characteristic of a characteristic type; retrieving, from the database, metadata about the first entity and metadata about the fourth entity; determining, based on the metadata about the first entity and the metadata about the fourth entity, that the first entity is associated with the characteristic and the fourth entity is associated with a different characteristic of the characteristic type; and wherein generating for display the first prompt for additional input is further based on determining that the first entity is associated with the characteristic and the fourth entity is associated with the different characteristic.