Method and apparatus for providing search capability and targeted advertising for audio, image, and video content over the internet

• US 20080021710A1
• Filed: 07/20/2006
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Mspot (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ho, Edwin
• Granted Patent: US 7,620,551 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/270.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/685 using automatically derived transcript of audio data, e.g. lyrics speech recognition G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7335 Graphical querying, e.g. query-by-region, query-by-sketch, query-by-trajectory, GUIs for designating a person/face/object as a query predicate end-user interface involving hot spots associated with the video H04N21/4725; end-user interface for selecting a Region of Interest H04N21/4728
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/78 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/784 the detected or recognised objects being people
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7844 using original textual content or text extracted from visual content or transcript of audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence

Abstract

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for extracting the content of a video, image, and/or audio file or podcast, analyzing the content, and then providing a targeted advertisement, search capability and/or other functionality based on the content of the file or podcast.

Claims

1. A method of converting audio data into a searchable form, comprising the steps of:

receiving audio content;

performing speech-to-text conversion on said audio content;

importing the text created by said conversion into a database;

receiving a search request from a user over a network; and

executing the search request, wherein the search is performed in a database that includes said text or portions thereof.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving audio content comprises the step of downloading said content over a network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises the step of providing said content or a link to said content to said user over said network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving audio content comprises receiving said content over a network through a podcast.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises the step of providing said content or a link to said content to said user over said network.

6. A method of converting audio data into a searchable form, comprising the steps of:

receiving audio content;

performing speech-to-text conversion on said audio content;

processing the text created by said conversion to create descriptive data that describes the content of at least some of said text;

importing one or both of at least some of said text and at least some of said descriptive data into a database;

receiving a search request from a user over a network; and

executing the search request, wherein the search is performed in a database that includes one or both of at least some of said text and at least some of said descriptive data.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the method further comprises the step of:

generating advertisements based upon the search request.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the method further comprises the step of:

transmitting the advertisements to said user over said network.

9. A method of converting image or video data into a searchable form, comprising the steps of:

receiving image content or video content;

performing image recognition on said image or video content;

importing the result of the image recognition step into a database;

receiving a search request from a user over a network; and

executing the search request, wherein the search is performed in a database that includes said result of the image recognition step.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of receiving image content or video content comprises the step of downloading said content over a network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises the step of providing said content or a link to said content to said user over said network.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of receiving image content or video content comprises receiving said content over a network through a podcast.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises the step of providing said content or a link to said content to said user over said network.

14. A method of converting image or video data into a searchable form, comprising the steps of:

receiving image content or video content;

performing image recognition on said image or video content;

processing the result of the image recognition step to create descriptive data that describes the content of said result;

importing said result and at least some of said descriptive data into a database;

receiving a search request from a user over a network; and

executing the search request, wherein the search is performed in a database that includes one or both of said result and at least some of said descriptive data.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the method further comprises the step of:

generating advertisements based upon the search request.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the method further comprises the step of:

transmitting the advertisements to said user over said network.

17. A system for converting audio data into a searchable form, comprising:

a first computing device for receiving audio content over a network and performing speech-to-text conversion on said audio content;

a database for storing the resulting text; and

a second computing device for receiving a search request from a user over the network wherein the second computing device is capable of executing the search in a database that includes said resulting text or portions thereof.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the first computing device and the second computing device are the same device.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the system further comprises:

a third computing device for issuing the search request over said network.

20. A system for converting image or video data into a searchable form, comprising:

a first computing device for receiving image or video content over a network and performing image recognition on said image or video content;

a database for storing the result of the image recognition; and

a second computing device for receiving a search request from a user over the network wherein the second computing device is capable of executing the search in a database that includes said result.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the first computing device and the second computing device are the same device.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the system further comprises:

a third computing device for issuing the search request over said network.

23. A computing system, comprising:

means for receiving audio content;

means for performing speech-to-text conversion on said audio content;

means for importing the text created by said conversion into a database;

means for receiving a search request from a user over a network; and

means for executing the search request, wherein the search is performed in a database that includes said text or portions thereof.

24. A computing system, comprising:

means for receiving image content or video content;

means for performing image recognition on said image or video content;

means for importing the result of the image recognition step into a database;

means for receiving a search request from a user over a network; and

means for executing the search request, wherein the search is performed in a database that includes said result of the image recognition step.

25. A computing system for executing a set of instructions, wherein the instructions comprise:

instructions for receiving audio content;

instructions for performing speech-to-text conversion on said audio content;

instructions for importing the text created by said conversion into a database;

instructions for receiving a search request from a user over a network; and

instructions for executing the search request, wherein the search is performed in a database that includes said text or portions thereof.

26. A computing system for executing a set of instructions, wherein the instructions comprise:

instructions for receiving image content or video content;

instructions for performing image recognition on said image or video content;

instructions for importing the result of the image recognition step into a database;

instructions for receiving a search request from a user over a network; and

instructions for executing the search request, wherein the search is performed in a database that includes said result of the image recognition step.