METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING SUPPLEMENTAL VIDEO CONTENT FOR THIRD PARTY WEBSITES

• US 20110179010A1
• Filed: 01/15/2010
• Published: 07/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hulu LLC (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Hulu LLC (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Suter, Bradley J., Lin, Andrew Cheng-min
• Granted Patent: US 8,244,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/709
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

A method, apparatus and article of manufacture for providing supplemental video content for third party websites is disclosed. In one embodiment, coded instructions are transmitted from a content enhancement server to a host server, for incorporation into the webpage source code. The host server is controlled by a first entity and the content enhancement server is controlled by a second entity commercially distinct from the first entity. Keywords are generated by execution of the coded instructions in the webpage received in the client computer from the host server, and the keywords are sent to a content enhancement server, which generates supplemental substantive video content information for transmission to the client.

Claims

1. A method of providing supplemental substantive video content on a webpage including substantive webpage content, the webpage hosted by a host server having webpage source code, and the supplemental substantive video content provided to a client computer, comprising the steps of:

transmitting coded instructions from a content enhancement server to the host server, the coded instructions for incorporation into the webpage source code, wherein the host server is controlled by a first entity and the content enhancement server is controlled by a second entity commercially distinct from the first entity;

receiving keywords from the client computer, the keywords generated by execution of the coded instructions in the webpage received in the client computer from the host server;

generating supplemental substantive video content information from the keywords in the content enhancement server, the supplemental substantive video content information describing video content supplementing the substantive content of the webpage; and

transmitting the supplemental substantive video content information from the content enhancement server to the to the client computer for presentation in the webpage by the client computer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving keywords from the client computer comprises the steps of:

receiving the coded instructions from the content enhancement server in the host server;

incorporating the coded instructions in the webpage stored in the host server;

receiving a first message from the client computer, the message addressed to a uniform resource locator (URL) of the webpage;

transmitting the webpage to the client computer;

executing the coded instructions in the client computer to generate keywords describing the substantive content of the webpage; and

transmitting the keywords to the content enhancement server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of executing the coded instructions in the client computer to generate keywords comprises the step of:

parsing the webpage source code to identify substantive webpage content.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the webpage comprises hypertext markup language (HTML) compliant source code and wherein:

the step of executing the coded instructions in the client computer to generate keywords comprises the steps of;

parsing the webpage source code to identify text having substantive webpage content;

identifying the keywords from the identified text;

the step of generating supplemental substantive video content information from the keywords comprises the steps of;

generating a database query including the keywords;

transmitting the database query to a database associating video content with metadata; and

receiving the supplemental substantive content information responsive to the database query.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the webpage source further comprises a link to a second webpage, and the method further comprises the steps of:

parsing the webpage source code to identify the link;

accessing the second webpage, the second webpage having second webpage substantive webpage content; and

further generating the keywords from the second webpage substantive webpage content.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the supplemental video content comprises an address to a supplemental video.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

presenting the webpage comprising a link to the address of the supplemental video on a display communicatively coupled to the client computer;

accepting a selection of the link in the client computer; and

presenting the supplemental video to the user on a display communicatively coupled to the client computer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the coded instructions are selected from the group comprising:

a servlet;

a snippet; and

an applet.

9. A system for providing supplemental video content on a webpage including substantive webpage content, the webpage hosted by a host server having webpage source code and the supplemental video content provided to a client computer, comprising:

a content enhancement server, having a content enhancement processor and a content enhancement server memory storing content enhancement instructions including instructions for;

transmitting coded instructions from the content enhancement server to the host server, the coded instructions for incorporation into webpage source code, wherein the host server is controlled by a first entity and the content enhancement server is controlled by a third entity commercially distinct from the first entity;

receiving keywords from the client computer, the keywords generated by execution of the coded instructions received in the client computer from the host server;

generating supplemental substantive video content information from the keywords in the content enhancement server, the supplemental substantive video content information describing video content supplementing the substantive content of the webpage; and

transmitting the supplemental substantive content information from the content enhancement server to the to the client computer for presentation in the webpage by the client computer.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein:

the host server includes a host server memory storing host server instructions including instructions for;

receiving the coded instructions from the content enhancement server in the host server;

incorporating the coded instructions in the webpage stored in the host server;

receiving a first message from the client computer, the message addressed to a uniform resource locator (URL) of the webpage;

transmitting the webpage to the client computer;

the client computer includes a client computer memory storing client computer instructions including instructions for;

executing the coded instructions in the client computer to generate the keywords, the keywords describing the substantive content of the webpage; and

transmitting the keywords to the content enhancement server.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the coded instructions comprise instructions for parsing the webpage source code to identify substantive webpage content.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the webpage comprises hypertext markup language (HTML) compliant source code and the coded instructions include instructions for;

parsing the webpage source code to identify text having substantive webpage content;

identifying the keywords from the identified text;

the content enhancement server instructions further comprise instructions for;

generating a database query including the keywords;

transmitting the database query to a database associating video content with metadata; and

receiving the information describing supplemental video content, the information responsive to the database query.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the webpage source further comprises a link to a second webpage, and the coded instructions further comprise instructions for:

parsing the webpage source code to identify the link;

opening the second webpage, the second webpage having second webpage substantive webpage content; and

further generating the keywords from the second webpage substantive webpage content.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the supplemental video content comprises an address to a supplemental video.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the client computer further comprises a memory storing client computer instructions comprising instructions for:

presenting the webpage comprising a link to the address of the supplemental video on a display communicatively coupled to the client computer;

accepting a selection of the link in the client computer; and

presenting the supplemental video to the user on a display communicatively coupled to the client computer.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the coded instructions are selected from the group comprising:

a servlet;

a snippet; and

an applet.

17. A computer readable storage device, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions which when accessed by a computer cause the computer to load the program instructions to a memory therein creating a special purpose data structure causing the computer to operate as a specially programmed computer, executing a method of providing supplemental video content on a webpage including substantive webpage content, the webpage hosted by a host server having webpage source code, and the supplemental video content provided to a client computer, comprising instructions for:

transmitting coded instructions from a content enhancement server to the host server, the coded instructions for incorporation into the webpage source code, wherein the host server is controlled by a first entity and the content enhancement server is controlled by a second entity commercially distinct from the first entity;

receiving keywords from the client computer, the keywords generated by execution of the coded instructions in the webpage received in the client computer from the host server;

generating supplemental substantive video content information from the keywords in the content enhancement server, the supplemental substantive video content information describing video content supplementing the substantive content of the webpage; and

transmitting the supplemental substantive content information from the content enhancement server to the to the client computer for presentation in the webpage by the client computer.