Method and system for performing search using acronym

• US 20090024603A1
• Filed: 07/18/2006
• Published: 01/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NBC Universal Media LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Vvond, Inc.
• Inventors: ZINK, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,577,921 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/73 Querying
• 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: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2351 involving encryption of additional data arrangements using cryptography for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/23
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2353 specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• 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 21/4351 involving reassembling additional data, e.g. rebuilding an executable program from recovered modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4353 involving decryption of additional data arrangements using cryptography for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/23
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/968 interface for database querying and retrieval

Abstract

Techniques for facilitating efficient local search using acronym are disclosed. According to one aspect of the techniques, a graphic user interface is provided to accept inputs from a user; letters successively entered as the inputs from the user are received; and titles are then progressively reduced and displayed in accordance with the letters, wherein the titles have words each beginning with one of the letters.

Claims

1. A method for searching a title in a library, the method comprising:

providing a first graphic user interface to receive inputs from a user;

receiving a plurality of inputs, entered in succession, wherein each of the plurality of inputs corresponds to a letter;

searching the library for one or more titles such that, for each of the plurality of letters, at least one word in the title begins with that letter; and

displaying a plurality of titles on the first graphic user interface based, at least in part, on the search, the number of titles being progressively reduced in response to each successive input.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to select one of the titles displayed on the first graphic user interface; and

displaying a second graphic user interface when the user selects one of the titles.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein articles in the titles, if any, are not considered in the search.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a plurality of titles comprises:

searching through the library with respect to a first one of the letters in order to obtain a plurality of searched titles that contain a word beginning with the first one of the letters; and

looking for titles, within the plurality of searched titles, which contain at least one word beginning with each subsequent one of the letters.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein searching through the library with respect to a first one of the letters is conducted in a data structure that includes data corresponding to a plurality of movies.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising organizing the data based, at least in part, on an alphabetical order of movie titles associated with the data.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising organizing the data structure to include a data header portion, wherein the data header portion has an index for locating data corresponding to an individual movie.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the data structure comprises an integral number of sectors and wherein organizing the data structure comprises organizing the data such that the sectors are aligned on sector boundaries of a data store that is organized as a sequence of tunable-sized blocks.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data structure is provided on a server configured to analyze data organized in a hierarchical directory.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising organizing the plurality of data in the data structure as pre-computed query results.

11. A system for searching a title in a library, the system comprising:

a device to receive a plurality of inputs from a user, entered in succession, wherein each of the plurality of inputs corresponds to a letter, the device being configured to search the library for one or more titles such that, for each of the letters, at least one word in the title begins with that letter; and

a display coupled to the device to present, on a first graphic user interface, a plurality of titles based, at least in part, on the search, the number of titles being progressively reduced in response to each successive input.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first graphic user interface enables the user to select one of the titles and a second graphic user interface is displayed on the screen when the user selects one of the titles.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein searching a title in a library does not consider articles, if any, in the titles.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the first graphic user interface displays a plurality of titles by searching through the library with respect to a first one of the letters in order to obtain a plurality of searched titles that contain a word beginning with the first one of the letters, and by looking for titles, within the plurality of searched titles, which contain at least one word beginning with each subsequent ones of the letters.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the library is searched in a data structure that includes data corresponding to a plurality of movies.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the data is organized based, at least in part, on an alphabetical order of movie titles associated with the data.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the data structure is organized to include a data header portion, wherein the data header portion has an index for locating data corresponding to an individual movie.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the data structure comprises an integral number of sectors and the data is organized such that the sectors are aligned on sector boundaries in a data store that is organized as a sequence of tunable-sized blocks.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the data structure is provided by a server configured to analyze data organized in a hierarchical directory.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the data in the data structure is organized as pre-computed query results.