Searching multimedia based on trigger events

• US 10,261,999 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2016
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roku, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Roku, Inc.
• Inventors: Funk, Jim, Noffsinger, Brandon
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): Newlin, Timothy R
• Application Number:
  US15/343,426
• Publication Number:
  US 20170124076A1
• Time in Patent Office: 893 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24565 Triggers; Constraints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/43 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/237 Communication with additional data server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47208 for requesting near-video-on-demand content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 represented by keywords

Abstract

A system and method for intelligent content searching is disclosed herein. The system saves all searches executed by the user and periodically re-executes one or more of the previously saved searches and display the subsequent search results to the user at an appropriate time without any user intervention. In one aspect, the system periodically re-executes one or more of the previously saved searches upon the occurrence of a trigger event, which may be trending events, news events, type of menus and/or screens accessed, new content being added on one or more service providers, a boot event, passage of time since last search, etc. In this way, users do not need to set alert or follow any search topic.

Claims

1. A method for searching content, comprising:

receiving at least one keyword from a client device;

performing, by a local processor, a first search for content on one or more content servers using the at least one keyword;

sending a first search result of the first search to a user device for display;

automatically storing, in a memory communicatively coupled to the local processor, the first search including the at least one keyword;

automatically performing, by the local processor, a subsequent search of the stored first search using at least the stored at least one keyword upon detection of a trigger event, wherein the trigger event comprises an access of a particular content channel by the user device, wherein at least one of the stored keywords is associated with the particular content channel; and

automatically sending a subsequent search result of the subsequent search to the user device for display, wherein the subsequent search results comprise content associated with the trigger event, wherein at least some of the content associated with the trigger event was created prior to occurrence of the trigger event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device and the user device are the same device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device and the user device are different devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the subsequent search results comprises content associated with the trigger event being added to one or more of the content servers after the trending event.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least the content associated with the trigger event was created prior to occurrence of the trigger event comprises a movie related to the trigger event.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger event comprises at least one of:

the access of the particular content channel or a social network function comprising a post to the social network platform.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the post is associated with a user profile corresponding to the first search.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the subsequent search results comprises programming content added to a particular content channel after an occurrence of the trending event.

8. A method for searching content, comprising:

detecting an access of a particular content channel at a remote user device;

determining, by a local processor, that a trigger event corresponds to the access of the particular content channel;

receiving, from the remote user device, a plurality of keywords associated with the particular content channel;

identifying, by the local processor, one or more previous searches that include one or more of the keywords;

wherein the one or more previous searches were previously executed and stored in a memory communicatively coupled to the local processor prior to the detecting;

automatically executing the identified one or more previous searches based on the trigger event, wherein the automatic execution generates subsequent search results; and

providing the subsequent search results for display on a display screen associated with the remote user device.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the identifying comprises:

determining one or more previous searches that were previously executed prior to the detecting that do not include any of the one or more keywords and are not automatically executed.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

automatically displaying the subsequent search result on the display screen.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the subsequent search results includes programming content added to one or more of a plurality of content servers after the receiving the first search result.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the automatically displaying comprises displaying at least one or more of the subsequent search results on the display screen while the user is browsing channels.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the automatically displaying comprises initiating a search screen and displaying at least one or more of the subsequent results in the search screen, wherein the search screen allows a user to enter one or more search terms.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the programming content is played based upon a user selection of a programming option.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the programming content comprises a television show, movie, or news event.

17. A non-transitory processor-readable medium having stored therein one or more instructions operational on a client device, which when executed by a processor the instructions cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

detecting an access of a particular content channel at a remote user device;

determining, by a local processor, that a trigger event corresponds to the access of the particular content channel;

determining a plurality of keywords associated with the particular content channel;

identifying, by the local processor, one or more previous searches that include one or more of the keywords, wherein the one or more previous searches were previously executed and stored in a memory communicatively coupled to the local processor prior to the detecting;

automatically executing, by the local processor, the identified one or more previous searches based on the trigger event, wherein the automatic execution generates subsequent search results; and

providing the subsequent search results for display on a display screen of the remote user device.

18. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the identifying comprises:

determining one or more previous searches that were previously executed prior to the detecting that do not include any of the one or more keywords and are not automatically executed.

19. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 17, wherein at least one of the previous searches includes a search of a plurality of content channels.

20. A system, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

detect an access of a particular content channel;

determine that a trigger event corresponds to the access of the particular content channel;

determine a plurality of keywords associated with the particular content channel;

identify, by the at least one processor, one or more previous searches that include one or more of the keywords, wherein the one or more previous searches were previously executed and stored in the memory prior to the detecting;

automatically execute the identified one or more previous searches based on the trigger event, wherein the automatic execution generates subsequent search results; and

provide the subsequent search results for display on a display screen associated with the remote user device.