Method and system for suggesting search queries on electronic devices

• US 20090112848A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Messer, Alan, Kunjithapatham, Anugeetha, Rathod, Priyang, Sheshagiri, Mithun
• Granted Patent: US 8,176,068 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/738 Presentation of query results
• 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 16/7867 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title and artist information, manually generated time, location and usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90324 using system suggestions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A method and system implementing a process for suggesting search queries on an electronic device is provided. The process involves displaying terms related to content accessed by a user for selection by the user, obtaining one or more key terms related to a user-selected term, and displaying the one or more key terms to the user as query suggestions corresponding to the selected term. Obtaining one or more key terms involves obtaining one or more key terms related to the selected term, based on local content information and/or external content information.

Claims

1. A method for suggesting search queries on an electronic device, comprising the steps of:

displaying terms related to content accessed by a user, for selection by the user;

obtaining one or more key terms related to a user-selected term, based on local content information and/or external content information; and

displaying the one or more key terms to the user as query suggestions corresponding to the selected term.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining one or more key terms includes:

obtaining key terms related to the selected term based on locally available content information;

obtaining key terms related to the selected term based on information available on external sources; and

aggregating the obtained key terms for display as query suggestions.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising ranking the aggregated key terms for display as query suggestions.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of obtaining key terms based on locally available information includes obtaining key terms that contain the selected term, from one or more of closed-captions, subtitles and Electronic Program Guide (EPG), for the user accessed content.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of obtaining key terms based on locally available information includes obtaining key terms that contain the selected term, from a local index of metadata related to locally available media content.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of obtaining key terms based on locally available information includes obtaining key terms that contain the selected term, from user-related information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the user-related information includes one or more of:

user profile, user preferences, content previously accessed by the user, terms previously selected by the user.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of obtaining key terms based on information available on external sources includes obtaining key terms that contain the selected term based on information available on Internet sources.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of obtaining key terms based on information available on Internet sources includes obtaining key terms that contain the selected term, from Internet search result snippets.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprises a consumer electronics (CE) device.

11. An apparatus for suggesting search queries on an electronic device, comprising:

a related data generation function configured for displaying terms related to content accessed by a user, for selection by the user; and

a query suggestion function configured for obtaining one or more key terms related to a selected term, based local content information and/or external content, for display to the user as query suggestions.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the query suggestion function includes:

a local information extractor configured for obtaining key terms related to the selected term based on locally available content information;

an external information extractor configured for obtaining key terms related to the selected term based on information available on external sources; and

the apparatus further including an aggregation function configured for aggregating the obtained key terms for display as query suggestions.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the query suggestion function is further configured for ranking the aggregated key terms for display as query suggestions.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the local information extractor is further configured for obtaining key terms that contain the selected term, from one or more of closed-captions, subtitles and Electronic Program Guide (EPG), for the user accessed content.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the local information extractor is further configured for obtaining key terms that contain the selected term, from a local index of metadata related to locally available media content.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the local information extractor is further configured for obtaining key terms that contain the selected term, from user-related information.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the user-related information includes one or more of:

user profile, user preferences, content previously accessed by the user, terms previously selected by the user.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the external information extractor is further configured for obtaining key terms that contain the selected term based on information available on Internet sources.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the external information extractor is further configured for obtaining key terms that contain the selected term, from Internet search result snippets.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the electronic device comprises a consumer electronics (CE) device.

21. The apparatus of claim 11, further including a client module is configured for providing a user interface for displaying the key terms to the user as query suggestions corresponding to the selected term.

22. A system for suggesting search queries, comprising:

an electronic device including a client module configured for connection to a local network; and

an information gathering function configured for suggesting search queries via the client module, the information gathering function comprising a related data generator configured for displaying terms related to content accessed by a user for selection by the user, and a query suggestion function configured for obtaining one or more key terms related to a selected term, based on local content information and/or external content information, for display to the user as query suggestions.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the query suggestion function includes:

a local information extractor configured for obtaining key terms related to the selected term based on locally available content information;

an external information extractor configured for obtaining key terms related to the selected term based on information available on external sources; and

the apparatus further including an aggregation function configured for aggregating the obtained key terms for display as query suggestions.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the query suggestion function is further configured for ranking the aggregated key terms for display as query suggestions.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the local information extractor is further configured for obtaining key terms that contain the selected term, from one or more of closed-captions, subtitles and Electronic Program Guide (EPG), for the user accessed content.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the local information extractor is further configured for obtaining key terms that contain the selected term, from a local index of metadata related to locally available media content.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the local information extractor is further configured for obtaining key terms that contain the selected term, from user-related information.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the user-related information includes one or more of:

user profile, user preferences, content previously accessed by the user, terms previously selected by the user.

29. The system of claim 23, wherein the external information extractor is further configured for obtaining key terms that contain the selected term based on information available on Internet sources.

30. The system of claim 23, wherein the external information extractor is further configured for obtaining key terms that contain the selected term, from Internet search result snippets.

31. The system of claim 22, wherein the system comprises a consumer electronics (CE) device.

32. The system of claim 22, wherein the client module comprises a consumer electronics device configured for providing a user interface for displaying the key terms to the user as query suggestions corresponding to the selected term.

33. The system of claim 22, wherein the client module and the information gathering module are further configured for communication via the network.

34. A program product stored on a computer useable medium for suggesting search queries on an electronic device, the program product comprising program code for causing a processor perform the steps of:

displaying terms related to content accessed by a user, for selection by the user;

obtaining one or more key terms related to a user-selected term, based on local content information and/or external content information; and

displaying the one or more key terms to the user as query suggestions corresponding to the selected term.