Video content search using captioning data

• US 10,331,661 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2013
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rys, Stephen A., Malik, Dale W., Morris, Nadia
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T
• Assistant Examiner(s): May, Robert F
• Application Number:
  US14/061,172
• Publication Number:
  US 20150113013A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,071 Days
• Field of Search: 707758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/745 the internal structure of a single video sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23109 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. EPG data repository details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/278 Content descriptor database or directory service for end-user access details of content or meta data based information retrieval of video data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4332 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. local EPG data repository interfaces, Database management systems or updating for information retrieval G06F16/23; details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video database G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 represented by keywords
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

A method includes identifying, at a computing device, multiple segments of video content based on a context sensitive term. Each segment of the multiple segments is associated with captioning data of the video content. The method also includes determining, at the computing device, first contextual information of a first segment of the multiple segments based on a set of factors. The method further includes comparing the first contextual information to particular contextual information that corresponds to content of interest. The method further includes in response to a determination that the first contextual information matches the particular contextual information, storing a first searchable tag associated with the first segment.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, electronic program guide data, the electronic program guide data descriptive of programs available from a content provider;

determining, at the computing device and based on the electronic program guide data, a context sensitive term descriptive of video content of one of the programs identified in the electronic program guide data;

identifying, at the computing device, multiple segments of the video content that contain captioning data including the context sensitive term, and wherein the captioning data is distinct from the electronic program guide data;

determining, at the computing device, first contextual information of a first segment of the multiple segments;

in response to determining the first contextual information, determining a first aging factor, wherein the first aging factor is determined based on the first contextual information;

in response to a determination that the first contextual information corresponds to content of interest, storing a first searchable tag, the first searchable tag including the first contextual information and the first aging factor;

responsive to a first search at a first time, identifying a first relevancy score for the first searchable tag, the first relevancy score based on the first contextual information and the first aging factor; and

responsive to a second search at a second time, identifying a second relevancy score for the first searchable tag, the second relevancy score based on the first contextual information and the first aging factor, wherein a difference in the first relevancy score and the second relevancy score is based on the first aging factor and a period of time between the first time and the second time.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a second searchable tag and a second aging factor associated with a second segment of the multiple segments in the database; and

responsive to a search request;

assigning a first relevancy score to the first segment based on a set of relevance factors and the first aging factor; and

assigning a second relevancy score to the second segment based on the set of relevance factors and the first aging factor.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a search request from a user device;

determining a subset of searchable tags from among a plurality of searchable tags, the subset of searchable tags determined based on user account information associated with the user device; and

comparing a search keyword of the search request to the subset of searchable tags.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of searchable tags describes each tagged video segment in a database, and the subset of searchable tags describes a subset of the tagged video segment in the database that are also stored on a personal video content recorder associated with the user account information.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of searchable tags describes each tagged video segment in a database, and the subset of searchable tags describes a subset of the tagged video segment in the database that are accessible to the user device based on the user account information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the first searchable tag based on a tagging scheme that is selected based on a genre of the video content.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the user device includes a smartphone or a tablet computer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first contextual information of the first segment is determined based on a set of factors including:

a presentation format of particular video content, elapsed time of the particular video content, a segment viewing frequency, or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising when a search request containing a keyword that matches a portion of the first searchable tag is received from a user device, displaying an advertisement at a display device prior to playback of the first segment at the display device, wherein trick play functionality of the advertisement is disabled, and wherein the trick play functionality of the first segment is enabled after the advertisement is displayed.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the trick play functionality includes fast forwarding, pausing, rewinding, skip forwarding, skip backwarding, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the first contextual information at a server; and

comparing the first contextual information stored at the server to second content of interest responsive to user input identifying the second content of interest.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the first aging factor based on a genre of the video content.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first contextual information identifies a first genre associated with the first segment, wherein the first aging factor is a first value responsive to the first genre being news, wherein the first aging factor is a second value responsive to the first genre being entertainment, and wherein the first value causes the first relevance score to be adjusted at a faster pace than the second value.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations including;

receiving electronic program guide data, the electronic program guide data descriptive of programs available from a content provider;

determining, based on the electronic program guide data, a context sensitive term descriptive of video content of one of the programs identified in the electronic program guide data;

identifying multiple segments of the video content that contain captioning data including the context sensitive term, and wherein the captioning data is distinct from the electronic program guide data;

determining first contextual information of a first segment of the multiple segments;

in response to determining the first contextual information, determining a first aging factor, wherein the first aging factor is determined based on the first contextual information;

in response to a determination that the first contextual information corresponds to content of interest, storing first searchable tag in a database, the first searchable tag including the first contextual information and the first aging factor;

responsive to a first search at a first time, identifying a first relevancy score for the first searchable tag, the first relevancy score based on the first contextual information and the first aging factor; and

responsive to a second search at a second time, identifying a second relevancy score for the first searchable tag, the second relevancy score based on the first contextual information and the first aging factor, wherein a difference in the first relevancy score and the second relevancy score is based on the first aging factor and a period of time between the first time and the second time.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is a component of a smartphone or a tablet computer.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising receiving user input identifying a search type from a plurality of search types including a manual search type and an assisted search type, wherein the determination that the first contextual information corresponds to the content of interest is made responsive to the user input identifying the assisted search type.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise when a search request containing a keyword that matches a portion of the first searchable tag is received from a user device, displaying an advertisement at a display coupled to a set-top box device prior to playback of the first segment at the set-top box device, wherein trick play functionality of the advertisement is disabled, and wherein the trick play functionality of the first segment is enabled after the advertisement is displayed.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the trick play functionality includes fast forwarding, pausing, rewinding, skip forwarding, skip backwarding, or a combination thereof.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the video content includes a first video and a second video, wherein the first video is stored at a digital video recorder, and wherein the second video is stored at a remote storage device of a content provider.

20. A computer-readable hardware device storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving electronic program guide data, the electronic program guide data descriptive of programs available from a content provider;

determining, based on the electronic program guide data, a context sensitive term descriptive of video content of one of the programs identified in the electronic program guide data;

identifying multiple segments of the video content that contain captioning data including the context sensitive term, and wherein the captioning data is distinct from the electronic program guide data;

determining first contextual information of a first segment of the multiple segments;

in response to determining the first contextual information, determining a first aging factor, wherein the first aging factor is determined based on the first contextual information;

in response to a determination that the first contextual information corresponds to content of interest, storing a first searchable tag in a database, the first searchable tag including the first contextual information and the first aging factor;

responsive to a first search at a first time, identifying a first relevancy score for the first searchable tag, the first relevancy score based on the first contextual information and the first aging factor; and

responsive to a second search at a second time, identifying a second relevancy score for the first searchable tag, the second relevancy score based on the first contextual information and the first aging factor, wherein a difference in the first relevancy score and the second relevancy score is based on the first aging factor and a period of time between the first time and the second time.