METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FACILITATING INFORMATION SEARCHING ON ELECTRONIC DEVICES

• US 20080183698A1
• Filed: 01/04/2008
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Messer, Alan, Cheng, Doreen, Kunjithapatham, Anugeetha, Rathod, Priyang, Gibbs, Simon J., Sheshagiri, Mithun, Nguyen, Phuong
• Granted Patent: US 8,200,688 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• 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 16/7844 using original textual content or text extracted from visual content or transcript of audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/466 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies services using the results of monitoring in broadcast systems H04H60/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 Transmission or handling of upstream communications

Abstract

A method and system for facilitating information searching for a user of an electronic device is provided. Facilitating searches involves obtaining information about the user interests, identifying potential data of interest to the user, extracting data related to said data of interest to the user, and collecting the extracted related data for presentation to the user on the device.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating information searching for a user of an electronic device, comprising the steps of:

obtaining information about the user interests;

identifying potential data of interest to the user;

extracting data related to said data of interest to the user; and

collecting the extracted related data for presentation to the user on the device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying potential data of interest to the user includes monitoring user access to content, selecting a set of extraction rules for information extraction, and extracting key information from metadata for the content based on the selected extraction rules.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of selecting a set of extraction rules further includes the step of selecting a set of extraction rules based on the content type.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein selecting a set of extraction rules further includes the step of selecting a set of extraction rules from a rules library based on the content type, wherein the rules library includes a list of rules for extracting various keywords.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining information about the user interests includes obtaining information about current user activity on the device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein obtaining information about the user interests further includes obtaining contextual information about current user activity on the local network.

7. The method of claim 1 further including the step of correlating the related data to present to the user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting data related to said data of interest to the user includes forming a query based on potential data of interest, to search for said related data.

9. The method of claim 8 further including the step of executing the query to search for related information on a local network and/or external sources.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the device comprises a consumer electronics device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein executing the query includes searching the Internet for said related data.

12. An apparatus for facilitating information searching for a user of an electronic device, comprising:

an information gatherer configured for identifying information about the user interests;

an identifier function configured for identifying potential data of interest to the user;

an extractor configured for extracting data related to said data of interest to the user; and

a collector for collecting the extracted related data for presentation to the user on the device.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the identifier function is further configured for identifying potential data of interest to the user by monitoring user access to content, selecting a set of extraction rules for information extraction, and extracting key information from metadata for the content based on the selected extraction rules.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the identifier function is configured for selecting a set of extraction rules based on the content type.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the identifier function is configured for selecting a set of extraction rules from a rules library based on the content type, wherein the rules library includes a list of rules for extracting various keywords.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the information gatherer is further configured for obtaining information about the user interests by obtaining information about current user activity on the device.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the information gatherer is further configured for obtaining information about the user interests by obtaining contextual information about current user activity on the local network.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the collector is further configured for correlating the related data to present to the user.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the extractor is further configured for extracting data related to said data of interest to the user by forming a query based on potential data of interest, to search for said related data.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the extractor is further configured for executing the query to search for related information on a local network and/or external sources.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the device comprises a consumer electronics device.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the extractor is further configured for executing the query by searching the Internet for said related data.

23. A system for facilitating information searching for a user, comprising:

an electronic device for access to content; and

a facilitator including;

an information gatherer configured for identifying information about the user interests;

an identifier function configured for identifying potential data of interest to the user;

an extractor configured for extracting data related to said data of interest to the user; and

a collector for collecting the extracted related data for presentation to the user on the device.

24. A program product stored on a computer useable medium for facilitating information searching for a user of an electronic device, the program product comprising program code for causing a system to perform the following steps:

obtaining information about the user interests;

identifying potential data of interest to the user;

extracting data related to said data of interest to the user; and

collecting the extracted related data for presentation to the user on the device.

25. A computer-implemented method for facilitating information searching for a user of an electronic device, comprising:

obtaining information about the user interests;

identifying potential data of interest to the user;

extracting data related to said data of interest to the user; and

collecting the extracted related data for presentation to the user on the device.