Discovering keywords in social media content

• US 10,733,195 B1
• Filed: 10/25/2018
• Issued: 08/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tomorrowish, LLC
• Original Assignee: Tomorrowish, LLC
• Inventors: Darling, Richard Michael, Dibble, Todd, Amzallag, Tristan Dix, Betts, Cameron Guerra, Dreizen, Phillip, Afonso, Dan
• Primary Examiner(s): Raab, Christopher J
• Application Number:
  US16/170,404
• Time in Patent Office: 649 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• 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

In one aspect, a computer-implemented method includes, at a social media playback system comprising one or more computer processors and in communication with a data communications network, receiving data representing social media content from at least one social media service in communication with the communications network, the social media content comprising elements of social media, receiving, from a media provider in communication with the communications network, schedule data pertaining to a first media program, calculating, based at least in part on the schedule data, a relevance score for a first keyword identified in the social media content, the relevance score indicative of the relevance of the first keyword to the first media program, determining that the relevance score calculated for the first keyword satisfies a relevance score threshold, and storing data associating the first keyword and the first media program.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a database, implemented on one or more computers, to store data that associates, for each of multiple media programs, the media program with one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program; and

a content selection device that associates, in the database and for a media program, one or more new keywords with the media program that are not one of the keywords known to be relevant to the media program that are currently associated with the media program in the database, the content selection device in communication with the database and comprising one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving, through a data communications network, data representing social media content from at least one social media service in communication with the data communications network, the social media content comprising elements of social media that each have a corresponding author;

maintaining, in a memory, schedule data pertaining to a media program that was received from a media provider in communication with the data communications network;

detecting, for the media program and in one or more of the elements of social media from the social media content, a keyword that is not associated with the media program in the database;

determining, for at least one of the authors of the one or more of the elements of social media, that the author is known to create social media elements for the media program;

calculating, for the keyword and based at least in part on the schedule data and the at least one of the authors of the one or more of the elements of social media known to create social media elements for the media program, a relevance score for the keyword that indicates a relevance of the keyword to the media program, wherein the keyword has a higher relevance score because the at least one of the authors of the one or more of the elements of social media is known to create social media elements for the media program than the keyword would have if the at least one of the authors was not known to create social media elements for the media program;

determining that the relevance score for the keyword satisfies a relevance score threshold; and

storing, in the database, data associating the keyword and the media program.

2. The system of claim 1, the operations comprising:

during a presentation of the media program, selecting, using the keyword associated with the media program, content for presentation with the media program.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein receiving the data representing social media content comprises receiving the data representing social media content from at least one social media service during the presentation of the media program.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein:

receiving the data representing social media content from at least one social media service occurs during a first presentation of the media program; and

selecting, using the keyword associated with the media program, the content for presentation with the media program occurs during a second presentation of the media program, the second presentation being a different presentation of the media program than the first presentation.

5. The system of claim 1, the operations comprising:

determining, using data from the database, that some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program, wherein calculating the relevance score for the keyword that indicates the relevance of the keyword to the media program comprises;

calculating, for the keyword and based at least in part on the schedule data, the at least one of the authors of the one or more of the elements of social media known to create social media elements for the media program, and the determination that some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program, the relevance score for the keyword that indicates the relevance of the keyword to the media program, wherein the keyword has a higher relevance score because some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program than the keyword would have if none of the one or more of the elements of social media included one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein at least one of the one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program comprises a portion of the keyword.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the database stores data that associates, for each of the multiple media programs, the media program with one or more keywords that are each semantically connected to a topic of the media program.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the schedule data indicates a schedule of transmissions of the media program; and

determining that the relevance score calculated for the keyword satisfies the relevance score threshold comprises determining that the keyword appears in social media content posted during transmissions of the media program at a frequency that satisfies a first frequency threshold and that the keyword does not appear in social media content posted at times other than transmissions of the media program at a frequency that satisfies the first frequency threshold.

9. The system of claim 1, the operations comprising:

comparing a timestamp of the social media content to the schedule data pertaining to the media program; and

determining, using a result of the comparison of the timestamp of the social media content to the schedule data pertaining to the media program, that the social media content was posted during a scheduled playback of the media program.

10. The system of claim 1, the operations comprising:

receiving additional social media content different from the social media content from the at least one social media service in communication with the data communications network;

identifying, in an element of the additional social media content different from the social media content, a second keyword;

calculating, based at least in part on the schedule data, a relevance score for the second keyword identified in the additional social media content, the relevance score indicative of the relevance of the second keyword to the media program;

determining that the relevance score calculated for the second keyword satisfies the relevance score threshold;

storing, in the database, data associating the second keyword and the media program; and

updating, in the database and based at least in part on comparing the relevance score for the keyword and the relevance score of the second keyword, the data associating the keyword and the media program.

11. The system of claim 1, the operations comprising:

receiving, from the media provider, attribute data pertaining to the media program;

automatically identifying at least one second keyword appearing in the attribute data; and

storing, in the database, data associating the at least one second keyword and the media program.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the data associating the keyword and the media program identifies a ranking of the keyword relative to one or more keywords different from the keyword associated with the media program.

13. The system of claim 12, the operations comprising:

receiving additional social media content different from the social media content from the at least one social media service;

identifying, in an element of the additional social media content different from the social media content, a second keyword;

calculating, based at least in part on the schedule data, a relevance score for the second keyword identified in the additional social media content, the relevance score indicative of the relevance of the second keyword to the media program;

determining that the relevance score calculated for the second keyword satisfies a relevance score threshold;

storing, in the database, data associating the second keyword and the media program; and

updating, in the database and based at least in part on comparing the relevance score for the keyword and the relevance score of the second keyword, the ranking of the keyword relative to the one or more keywords different from the keyword associated with the media program.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

maintaining, in a database implemented on one or more computers, data that associates, for each of multiple media programs, the media program with one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program;

receiving, by a content selection device and through a data communications network, data representing social media content from at least one social media service in communication with the data communications network, the social media content comprising elements of social media that each have a corresponding author, wherein the content selection device is in communication with the database and associates, in the database and for a media program, one or more new keywords with the media program that are not one of the keywords known to be relevant to the media program that are currently associated with the media program in the database;

maintaining, in a memory, schedule data pertaining to a media program that was received from a media provider in communication with the data communications network;

detecting, for the media program and in one or more of the elements of social media from the social media content, a keyword that is not associated with the media program in the database;

determining, for at least one of the authors of the one or more of the elements of social media, that the author is known to create social media elements for the media program;

calculating, for the keyword and based at least in part on the schedule data and the at least one of the authors of the one or more of the elements of social media known to create social media elements for the media program, a relevance score for the keyword that indicates a relevance of the keyword to the media program, wherein the keyword has a higher relevance score because the at least one of the authors of the one or more of the elements of social media is known to create social media elements for the media program than the keyword would have if the at least one of the authors was not known to create social media elements for the media program;

determining that the relevance score for the keyword satisfies a relevance score threshold; and

storing, in the database, data associating the keyword and the media program.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising:

during a presentation of the media program, selecting, using the keyword associated with the media program, content for presentation with the media program.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving the data representing social media content comprises receiving the data representing social media content from at least one social media service during the presentation of the media program.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein:

receiving the data representing social media content from at least one social media service occurs during a first presentation of the media program; and

selecting, using the keyword associated with the media program, the content for presentation with the media program occurs during a second presentation of the media program, the second presentation being a different presentation of the media program than the first presentation.

18. The method of claim 14, comprising:

determining, using data from the database, that some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program, wherein calculating the relevance score for the keyword that indicates the relevance of the keyword to the media program comprises;

calculating, for the keyword and based at least in part on the schedule data, the at least one of the authors of the one or more of the elements of social media known to create social media elements for the media program, and the determination that some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program, the relevance score for the keyword that indicates the relevance of the keyword to the media program, wherein the keyword has a higher relevance score because some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program than the keyword would have if none of the one or more of the elements of social media included one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of the one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program comprises a portion of the keyword.

20. The method of claim 14, comprising maintaining, in the database, data that associates, for each of the multiple media programs, the media program with one or more keywords that are each semantically connected to a topic of the media program.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the schedule data indicates a schedule of transmissions of the media program; and

determining that the relevance score calculated for the keyword satisfies the relevance score threshold comprises determining that the keyword appears in social media content posted during transmissions of the media program at a frequency that satisfies a first frequency threshold and that the keyword does not appear in social media content posted at times other than transmissions of the media program at a frequency that satisfies the first frequency threshold.

22. The method of claim 14, comprising:

comparing a timestamp of the social media content to the schedule data pertaining to the media program; and

determining, using a result of the comparison of the timestamp of the social media content to the schedule data pertaining to the media program, that the social media content was posted during a scheduled playback of the media program.

23. The method of claim 14, comprising:

receiving additional social media content different from the social media content from the at least one social media service in communication with the data communications network;

identifying, in an element of the additional social media content different from the social media content, a second keyword;

calculating, based at least in part on the schedule data, a relevance score for the second keyword identified in the additional social media content, the relevance score indicative of the relevance of the second keyword to the media program;

determining that the relevance score calculated for the second keyword satisfies the relevance score threshold;

storing, in the database, data associating the second keyword and the media program; and

updating, in the database and based at least in part on comparing the relevance score for the keyword and the relevance score of the second keyword, the data associating the keyword and the media program.

24. The method of claim 14, comprising:

receiving, from the media provider, attribute data pertaining to the media program;

automatically identifying at least one second keyword appearing in the attribute data; and

storing, in the database, data associating the at least one second keyword and the media program.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein the data associating the keyword and the media program identifies a ranking of the keyword relative to one or more keywords different from the keyword associated with the media program.

26. The method of claim 25, comprising:

receiving additional social media content different from the social media content from the at least one social media service;

identifying, in an element of the additional social media content different from the social media content, a second keyword;

calculating, based at least in part on the schedule data, a relevance score for the second keyword identified in the additional social media content, the relevance score indicative of the relevance of the second keyword to the media program;

determining that the relevance score calculated for the second keyword satisfies a relevance score threshold;

storing, in the database, data associating the second keyword and the media program; and

updating, in the database and based at least in part on comparing the relevance score for the keyword and the relevance score of the second keyword, the ranking of the keyword relative to the one or more keywords different from the keyword associated with the media program.

27. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by one or more computers in a content selection system that associates, in a database and for a media program, one or more new keywords with the media program that are not keywords known to be relevant to the media program that are currently associated with the media program in the database, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

maintaining, in the database in communication with the content selection system, data that associates, for each of multiple media programs, the media program with one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program;

receiving, through a data communications network, data representing social media content from at least one social media service in communication with the data communications network, the social media content comprising elements of social media that each have a corresponding author;

maintaining, in a memory, schedule data pertaining to a media program that was received from a media provider in communication with the data communications network;

detecting, for the media program and in one or more of the elements of social media from the social media content, a keyword that is not associated with the media program in the database;

determining, for at least one of the authors of the one or more of the elements of social media, that the author is known to create social media elements for the media program;

calculating, for the keyword and based at least in part on the schedule data and the at least one of the authors of the one or more of the elements of social media known to create social media elements for the media program, a relevance score for the keyword that indicates a relevance of the keyword to the media program, wherein the keyword has a higher relevance score because the at least one of the authors of the one or more of the elements of social media is known to create social media elements for the media program than the keyword would have if the at least one of the authors was not known to create social media elements for the media program;

determining that the relevance score for the keyword satisfies a relevance score threshold; and

storing, in the database, data associating the keyword and the media program.

28. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, the operations comprising:

during a presentation of the media program, selecting, using the keyword associated with the media program, content for presentation with the media program.

29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 28, wherein receiving the data representing social media content comprises receiving the data representing social media content from at least one social media service during the presentation of the media program.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 28, wherein:

receiving the data representing social media content from at least one social media service occurs during a first presentation of the media program; and

selecting, using the keyword associated with the media program, the content for presentation with the media program occurs during a second presentation of the media program, the second presentation being a different presentation of the media program than the first presentation.

31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, the operations comprising:

determining, using data from the database, that some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program, wherein calculating the relevance score for the keyword that indicates the relevance of the keyword to the media program comprises;

calculating, for the keyword and based at least in part on the schedule data, the at least one of the authors of the one or more of the elements of social media known to create social media elements for the media program, and the determination that some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program, the relevance score for the keyword that indicates the relevance of the keyword to the media program, wherein the keyword has a higher relevance score because some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program than the keyword would have if none of the one or more of the elements of social media included one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program.

32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein at least one of the one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program comprises a portion of the keyword.

33. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, the operations comprising maintaining, in the database, data that associates, for each of the multiple media programs, the media program with one or more keywords that are each semantically connected to a topic of the media program.

34. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein:

the schedule data indicates a schedule of transmissions of the media program; and

determining that the relevance score calculated for the keyword satisfies the relevance score threshold comprises determining that the keyword appears in social media content posted during transmissions of the media program at a frequency that satisfies a first frequency threshold and that the keyword does not appear in social media content posted at times other than transmissions of the media program at a frequency that satisfies the first frequency threshold.

35. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, the operations comprising:

comparing a timestamp of the social media content to the schedule data pertaining to the media program; and

determining, using a result of the comparison of the timestamp of the social media content to the schedule data pertaining to the media program, that the social media content was posted during a scheduled playback of the media program.

36. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, the operations comprising:

receiving additional social media content different from the social media content from the at least one social media service in communication with the data communications network;

identifying, in an element of the additional social media content different from the social media content, a second keyword;

calculating, based at least in part on the schedule data, a relevance score for the second keyword identified in the additional social media content, the relevance score indicative of the relevance of the second keyword to the media program;

determining that the relevance score calculated for the second keyword satisfies the relevance score threshold;

storing, in the database, data associating the second keyword and the media program; and

updating, in the database and based at least in part on comparing the relevance score for the keyword and the relevance score of the second keyword, the data associating the keyword and the media program.

37. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, the operations comprising:

receiving, from the media provider, attribute data pertaining to the media program;

automatically identifying at least one second keyword appearing in the attribute data; and

storing, in the database, data associating the at least one second keyword and the media program.

38. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein the data associating the keyword and the media program identifies a ranking of the keyword relative to one or more keywords different from the keyword associated with the media program.

39. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 38, the operations comprising:

receiving additional social media content different from the social media content from the at least one social media service;

identifying, in an element of the additional social media content different from the social media content, a second keyword;

calculating, based at least in part on the schedule data, a relevance score for the second keyword identified in the additional social media content, the relevance score indicative of the relevance of the second keyword to the media program;

determining that the relevance score calculated for the second keyword satisfies a relevance score threshold;

storing, in the database, data associating the second keyword and the media program; and

updating, in the database and based at least in part on comparing the relevance score for the keyword and the relevance score of the second keyword, the ranking of the keyword relative to the one or more keywords different from the keyword associated with the media program.

40. A computer-implemented method comprising:

maintaining, in a database implemented on one or more computers, data that associates, for each of multiple media programs, the media program with one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program;

receiving, by a content selection device and through a data communications network, data representing social media content from at least one social media service in communication with the data communications network, the social media content comprising elements of social media that each have a corresponding author, wherein the content selection device is in communication with the database and associates, in the database and for a media program, one or more new keywords with the media program that are not one of the keywords known to be relevant to the media program that are currently associated with the media program in the database;

maintaining, in a memory, schedule data pertaining to a media program that was received from a media provider in communication with the data communications network;

detecting, for the media program and in one or more of the elements of social media from the social media content, a keyword that is not associated with the media program in the database;

determining, using data from the database, that some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program;

calculating, for the keyword and based at least in part on the schedule data and the determination that some of the one or more of the elements of social media content include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program, a relevance score for the keyword that indicates a relevance of the keyword to the media program, wherein the keyword has a higher relevance score because some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program than the keyword would have if none of the one or more of the elements of social media included one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program;

determining that the relevance score for the keyword satisfies a relevance score threshold; and

storing, in the database, data associating the keyword and the media program.

41. The method of claim 40, comprising:

during a presentation of the media program, selecting, using the keyword associated with the media program, content for presentation with the media program.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein receiving the data representing social media content comprises receiving the data representing social media content from at least one social media service during the presentation of the media program.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein:

receiving the data representing social media content from at least one social media service occurs during a first presentation of the media program; and

selecting, using the keyword associated with the media program, the content for presentation with the media program occurs during a second presentation of the media program, the second presentation being a different presentation of the media program than the first presentation.

44. The method of claim 40, wherein at least one of the one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program comprises a portion of the keyword.

45. The method of claim 40, wherein maintaining the data comprises maintaining, in the database, data that associates, for each of multiple media programs, the media program with one or more keywords that are each semantically connected to a topic of the media program.

46. A system comprising:

a database, implemented on one or more computers, to store data that associates, for each of multiple media programs, the media program with one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program; and

a content selection device that associates, in the database and for a media program, one or more new keywords with the media program that are not one of the keywords known to be relevant to the media program that are currently associated with the media program in the database, the content selection device in communication with the database and comprising one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving, through a data communications network, data representing social media content from at least one social media service in communication with the data communications network, the social media content comprising elements of social media that each have a corresponding author;

maintaining, in a memory, schedule data pertaining to a media program that was received from a media provider in communication with the data communications network;

detecting, for the media program and in one or more of the elements of social media from the social media content, a keyword that is not associated with the media program in the database;

determining, using data from the database, that some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program;

calculating, for the keyword and based at least in part on the schedule data and the determination that some of the one or more of the elements of social media content include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program, a relevance score for the keyword that indicates a relevance of the keyword to the media program, wherein the keyword has a higher relevance score because some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program than the keyword would have if none of the one or more of the elements of social media included one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program;

determining that the relevance score for the keyword satisfies a relevance score threshold; and

storing, in the database, data associating the keyword and the media program.

47. The system of claim 46, the operations comprising:

during a presentation of the media program, selecting, using the keyword associated with the media program, content for presentation with the media program.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein receiving the data representing social media content comprises receiving the data representing social media content from at least one social media service during the presentation of the media program.

49. The system of claim 47, wherein:

receiving the data representing social media content from at least one social media service occurs during a first presentation of the media program; and

selecting, using the keyword associated with the media program, the content for presentation with the media program occurs during a second presentation of the media program, the second presentation being a different presentation of the media program than the first presentation.

50. The system of claim 46, wherein at least one of the one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program comprises a portion of the keyword.

51. The system of claim 46, wherein maintaining the data comprises maintaining, in the database, data that associates, for each of multiple media programs, the media program with one or more keywords that are each semantically connected to a topic of the media program.

52. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by one or more computers in a content selection system that associates, in a database and for a media program, one or more new keywords with the media program that are not keywords known to be relevant to the media program that are currently associated with the media program in the database, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

maintaining, in a database implemented on one or more computers, data that associates, for each of multiple media programs, the media program with one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program;

receiving, through a data communications network, data representing social media content from at least one social media service in communication with the data communications network, the social media content comprising elements of social media that each have a corresponding author;

maintaining, in a memory, schedule data pertaining to a media program that was received from a media provider in communication with the data communications network;

detecting, for the media program and in one or more of the elements of social media from the social media content, a keyword that is not associated with the media program in the database;

determining, using data from the database, that some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program;

calculating, for the keyword and based at least in part on the schedule data and the determination that some of the one or more of the elements of social media content include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program, a relevance score for the keyword that indicates a relevance of the keyword to the media program, wherein the keyword has a higher relevance score because some of the one or more of the elements of social media include one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program than the keyword would have if none of the one or more of the elements of social media included one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program;

determining that the relevance score for the keyword satisfies a relevance score threshold; and

storing, in the database, data associating the keyword and the media program.

53. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 52, the operations comprising:

during a presentation of the media program, selecting, using the keyword associated with the media program, content for presentation with the media program.

54. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 53, wherein receiving the data representing social media content comprises receiving the data representing social media content from at least one social media service during the presentation of the media program.

55. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 53, wherein:

receiving the data representing social media content from at least one social media service occurs during a first presentation of the media program; and

selecting, using the keyword associated with the media program, the content for presentation with the media program occurs during a second presentation of the media program, the second presentation being a different presentation of the media program than the first presentation.

56. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 52, wherein at least one of the one or more keywords known to be relevant to the media program comprises a portion of the keyword.

57. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 52, wherein maintaining the data comprises maintaining, in the database, data that associates, for each of multiple media programs, the media program with one or more keywords that are each semantically connected to a topic of the media program.