METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONTENT RECORDING AND INDEXING

• US 20090172733A1
• Filed: 12/31/2007
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shahraray, Behzad, Liu, Zhu, Renger, Bernard S., Basso, Andrea, Gibbon, David, Begeja, Lee
• Granted Patent: US 8,689,257 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/39
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot

Abstract

Methods and systems for content recording and indexing are described. Content may be accessed from a content source. The content may be processed to generate an index of the content. Programming data for future content may be accessed. A content selection guide may be generated in accordance with the index and the programming data. The content selection guide may include a listing of the indexed content and the future content.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing content from one or more content sources;

processing the content to generate an index of the content;

accessing programming data for future content; and

generating a content selection guide in accordance with the index and the programming data, the content selection guide including a listing of the indexed content and the future content.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining at least one interest of a user associated with the content selection guide; and

providing the content selection guide for presentation to the user in accordance with the determining of the at least one interest.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a pictorial view of a content portion of the content;

wherein the generating of the content selection guide is in accordance with the index, the programming data and the pictorial view of the content portion.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating metadata for the content accessed from the content source in accordance with instantiation target of content selection guide;

wherein the generating of the content selection guide is in accordance with the index, the programming data and the generated metadata.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a search request;

searching the content, the programming data, metadata generated for the content in accordance with the search request; and

providing a search result for presentation.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

providing a topic description for associated content with search result provided for presentation; and

differentiating a portion of the topic description provided for presentation that includes the search request.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more topic matches are associated with at least one of:

a program of the indexed content,

a future program of the future content,

a segment of the program,

a future segment of the future content,

a component of the segment,

a future component of the future segment, or

combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a search request and a time range for a topic;

searching the content selection guide for one or more topic matches in accordance with the search request and the time range; and

providing the one or more topic matches for presentation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the listing includes at least one of

program text identifying a program of the indexed content,

future program text identifying a future program of the future content,

segment text identifying a segment of the program,

future segment text identifying a future segment of the future content,

program pictorial representation identifying the program,

future program pictorial representation identifying the future program,

segment pictorial representation identifying the segment,

future segment pictorial representation identifying the future segment, or

combinations thereof.

10. A method comprising:

presenting a listing portion of a content selection guide, the listing portion associated with a content portion of content;

receiving a hierarchical navigation selection for the listing portion; and

providing a different listing portion of the content selection guide in accordance with the hierarchical navigation selection for presentation, the different listing portion associated with the content portion and including different information regarding the content portion than the listing portion.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the listing portion includes at least one of:

program text identifying the content portion,

program pictorial representation identifying the content program, or

combinations thereof.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the different listing portion includes at least one of:

a synopsis of the content portion,

an actor name of an actor associated with the content portion,

an actress name of an actress associated with the content portion,

a director name of a director associated with the content portion,

segment text identifying a segment of the content portion,

segment pictorial representation identifying the segment,

a guidance rating of the content portion,

a teaser,

a uniform resource location (URL),

a telephone number,

a script element,

a video call initiation,

a click-to-purchase video,

environmental data,

speech-to-text from the content portion, or

combinations thereof.

13. A method comprising:

accessing a content portion of content;

identifying a topic associated with the content portion;

accessing a visual content representation associated with the content portion of the content in accordance with the identifying of the topic; and

presenting a content selection guide including the visual content representation of the content portion.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

identifying a user associated with a remote control device;

wherein the visual content representation is accessed in accordance with the identifying of the topic and the user associated with the remote control device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the visual content representation is a pictorial view associated with a past content portion.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

generating a new pictorial view of the content portion of the content; and

representing the content selection guide including the new pictorial view of the content portion in place of the visual content representation of the content.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the visual content representation includes a textual description, a pictorial view, or combinations thereof.

18. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when implemented by one or more processors perform the following operations:

access content from a content source;

process the content to generate an index of indexed content;

access programming data for future content; and

generate a content selection guide in accordance with the index and the programming data, the content selection guide including a listing of the indexed content and the future content.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 18 further comprising instructions, which when implemented by one or more processors perform the following operations:

provide the index to another device on a network.

20. A system comprising:

a content access module to access content from a content source;

a processing module to index the content accessed by the content access module to generate an index of indexed content;

a programming data access module to access programming data for future content; and

a content selection guide generation module to generate a content selection guide in accordance with the index generated by the processing module and the programming data accessed by the programming data access module, the content selection guide including a listing of the indexed content and the future content.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a content viewing selection receiver module to receive a content viewing selection;

a content portion provider module to provide a content portion associated with the content viewing selection for presentation, the content viewing selection received by the content viewing selection receiver;

a metadata storage module to store metadata associated with the content portion provided by the content portion provider to create a stored metadata portion;

a metadata analysis module to analyze stored metadata to determine a content viewing profile, the stored metadata stored by the metadata storage module and including the stored metadata portion; and

a content ranking module to assign a content ranking to the content portion provided by the content portion provider module in accordance with the content viewing profile.

22. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a pictorial view generation module to generate a new pictorial view of a content portion of the content, the content portion received from the content portion provider module;

wherein the content selection guide generated by the content selection guide generation module includes the new pictorial view of the content portion.

23. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a search request receiver module to receive a search request for a topic;

a topic search module to search the content selection guide generated by the content selection guide generation module for one or more topic matches in accordance with the search request received by the search request receiver module; and

a matching provider module to provide the one or more topic matches identified by the topic search module for presentation.

24. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a listing portion presentation module to present a listing portion of a content selection guide generated by the content selection guide presentation module, the listing portion associated with a content portion of content;

a navigational selection receiver module to receive a hierarchical navigation selection for the listing portion; and

a different listing portion presentation module to provide a different listing portion of the content selection guide in accordance with the hierarchical navigation selection for presentation, the different listing portion associated with the content portion and including different information regarding the content portion than the listing portion.

25. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a content portion access module to access a content portion of content;

a topic identification module to identify a topic associated with the content portion accessed by the content portion access module; and

a representation access module to access a visual content representation associated with the content portion of the content in accordance with the identifying of the topic by the topic identification module;

wherein the content selection guide is provided for presentation by the content selection guide presentation module includes the visual content representation of the content portion.