Video and digital multimedia aggregator content suggestion engine
First Claim
1. An apparatus for suggesting available content in a digital communications network, comprising:
- a content metadata crawler that searches metadata related to the available content and produces a metadata list, wherein the metadata list comprises a plurality of metadata elements, and wherein each metadata element comprises one or more metadata fields;
a suggestion keyword indexer coupled to the content metadata crawler, wherein the suggestion keyword indexer receives the metadata list and indexes the metadata elements;
a suggestion database coupled to the suggestion keyword indexer that stores the indexed metadata elements; and
a suggestion database processor coupled to the content metadata crawler, the suggestion keyword indexer and the suggestion keyword database, wherein the suggestion database processor searches the suggestion database, based on one or more search request criteria, to produce a list of keywords to be used to suggest content.
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Abstract
To allow a user to maximize use of a video and digital multimedia aggregator, a search suggestion engine and corresponding method may be used to provide suggestions of available content. The search suggestion engine starts by constructing a database of metadata elements or word items. The metadata element database may be constructed by using a crawler that periodically or continually crawls a content metadata database and extracts word items from the content metadata database. The word items are then processed according to a number of factors, including part-of-speech, entries in dictionaries and thesaurus and other factors. The thus-processed word items are indexed, and may be provided with a vector value. A subsequent search request submitted by the user may include search criteria that may be provided vector values. A processor within the search suggestion engine compares the vector values to determine if an indexed word item should be considered for retrieving the indexed word item'"'"'s associated content. A list of suggested content is then generated. The list of suggested items may be ranked and filtered before being provided to the user.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. An apparatus for suggesting available content in a digital communications network, comprising:
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a content metadata crawler that searches metadata related to the available content and produces a metadata list, wherein the metadata list comprises a plurality of metadata elements, and wherein each metadata element comprises one or more metadata fields;
a suggestion keyword indexer coupled to the content metadata crawler, wherein the suggestion keyword indexer receives the metadata list and indexes the metadata elements;
a suggestion database coupled to the suggestion keyword indexer that stores the indexed metadata elements; and
a suggestion database processor coupled to the content metadata crawler, the suggestion keyword indexer and the suggestion keyword database, wherein the suggestion database processor searches the suggestion database, based on one or more search request criteria, to produce a list of keywords to be used to suggest content. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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12. A method for suggesting available content in a digital communications network, comprising:
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receiving a search request from a user of the digital communications network;
comparing the search request to a database of indexed metadata elements;
caching indexed metadata elements that satisfy the search request;
retrieving a user profile for the user; and
filtering the cached metadata elements according to the user profile. ranking the filtered metadata elements; and
providing the ranked metadata elements to a search request processor as criteria for returning suggested content.
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14. A method for suggesting available content in a digital communications network, comprising:
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constructing a database of indexed metadata elements;
receiving a content search request from a user of the digital communications network;
comparing the search request to the database of indexed metadata elements;
caching indexed metadata elements that satisfy the search request;
retrieving a user profile for the user;
filtering the cached metadata elements according to the user profile;
ranking the filtered metadata elements; and
providing the ranked metadata elements to a search request processor as criteria for returning suggested content.
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21. An apparatus for suggesting available content in a digital communications network, comprising:
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first searching means for searching metadata related to the available content and producing a metadata list, wherein the metadata list comprises a plurality of metadata elements, and wherein each metadata element comprises one or more metadata fields;
means, coupled to the first searching means, for receiving the metadata list and indexing the metadata elements;
means, coupled to the indexing means, for storing the indexed metadata elements; and
second searching means, coupled to the first searching means, for searching the storing means, based on one or more search request criteria, to produce a list of metadata elements to be used to suggest content. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification