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

• US 20110179357A1
• Filed: 06/24/2010
• 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: Lin, Andrew Cheng-min, Suter, Bradley J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,301,596 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• 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 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82

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 obtained by executing of the coded instructions in the webpage received in the client computer from the host server to send the address of the requested webpage to the 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 at least one coded instruction from a content enhancement server to the host server, the at least one coded instruction for incorporation into the webpage source code;

if the client computer transmits a request for the webpage to the host computer;

receiving an address of the requested webpage from the client computer, wherein the address of the requested webpage is transmitted at least in part by execution of the at least one coded instruction;

generating a keyword from the requested webpage in the content enhancement server;

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

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

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating keywords from the requested webpage in the content enhancement server comprises the steps of:

accessing the requested webpage at the received address; and

generating keywords from the accessed webpage.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating keywords from the requested webpage in the content enhancement server comprises the steps of:

prior to receiving the address of the webpage, crawling a plurality of webpages to identify a keyword for each of a plurality of webpages and indexing the identified keyword for each of the plurality of webpages by the address associated with each of the plurality of webpages; and

after receiving the address of the requested webpage from the client computer, determining if the address of the requested webpage is one of the addresses

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the requested 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.

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

6. The method of claim 5, 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.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the address of the requested webpage is transmitted at least in part by performing steps comprising the steps of:

receiving a request for at least one second coded instruction from the client computer, the request transmitted by the client computer at least in part by execution of the at least one first coded instruction;

transmitting at least one second coded instruction to the client computer; and

receiving the address of the requested webpage by execution of the at least one second coded instruction.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one first coded instruction is selected from the group comprising:

a servlet;

a snippet;

an applet; and

a plug in for a browser executing on the client computer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises the step of receiving information associated with supplemental substantive video content preferences; and

the supplemental video content information is generated according to the supplemental substantive video content preferences.

10. 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 a webpage request to a host server;

receiving the requested webpage from the host server, the requested webpage including at least one coded first instruction;

transmitting information identifying the requested webpage to a content enhancement server at least in part by execution of the at least one coded first instruction; and

receiving the supplemental substantive video content from the content enhancement server, the supplemental substantive video content obtained by a keyword search using keywords associated with the requested webpage.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the information identifying the requested webpage comprises an address of the requested webpage.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the keywords associated with the requested webpage are scraped from the requested webpage in response to the transmitted information identifying the webpage.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the keywords associated with the requested webpage are obtained by performing the steps of:

prior to receiving the information identifying the requested webpage, crawling a plurality of webpages to identify a keyword for each of a plurality of webpages and indexing the identified keyword for each of the plurality of webpages by the information identifying with each of the plurality of webpages; and

after receiving the information identifying the requested webpage from the client computer, determining if the requested webpage is one of the crawled webpages.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the requested 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.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the supplemental video content comprises an address to a supplemental video.

16. The method of claim 13, 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.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of transmitting information identifying the requested webpage comprises the steps of:

executing the at least one coded first instruction to transmit a request for at least one coded second instruction;

receiving the at least one second coded instruction;

executing the at least one second coded instruction to transmit the information identifying the requested webpage.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the coded instructions are selected from the group comprising:

a servlet;

a snippet;

an applet; and

a plug in for a browser executing on the client computer.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the method further comprises the step of transmitting information associated with supplemental substantive video content preferences; and

the supplemental video content information is generated according to the supplemental substantive video content preferences.

20. An apparatus for 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:

means for transmitting at least one coded instruction from a content enhancement server to the host server, the at least one coded instruction for incorporation into the webpage source code;

means for receiving an address of the requested webpage from the client computer if the client computer transmits a request for the webpage to the host computer, wherein the address of the requested webpage is transmitted at least in part by execution of the at least one coded instruction;

means for generating a keyword from the requested webpage in the content enhancement server;

means for generating supplemental video content information from the keyword generated in the content enhancement server, the supplemental substantive video content information describing video content supplementing the substantive content of the webpage;

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

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the means for generating keywords from the requested webpage in the content enhancement server comprises:

means for accessing the requested webpage at the received address; and

means for generating keywords from the accessed webpage.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the means for generating keywords from the requested webpage in the content enhancement server comprises:

means for crawling a plurality of webpages to identify a keyword for each of a plurality of webpages and indexing the identified keyword for each of the plurality of webpages by the address associated with each of the plurality of webpages prior to receiving the address of the webpage; and

means for determining if the address of the requested webpage is one of the addresses after receiving the address of the requested webpage from the client computer.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the requested webpage source further comprises a link to a second webpage, and the apparatus further comprises:

means for parsing the webpage source code to identify the link;

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

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

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the supplemental video content comprises an address to a supplemental video.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

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

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

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

26. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising:

means for receiving a request for at least one second coded instruction from the client computer, the request transmitted by the client computer at least in part by execution of the at least one first coded instruction;

means for transmitting at least one second coded instruction to the client computer; and

means for receiving the address of the requested webpage by execution of the at least one second coded instruction.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the at least one first coded instruction is selected from the group comprising:

a servlet;

a snippet;

an applet; and

a plug in for a browser executing on the client computer.

28. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein:

the apparatus further comprises means for receiving information associated with supplemental substantive video content preferences; and

the supplemental video content information is generated according to the supplemental substantive video content preferences.

29. An apparatus for 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:

means for transmitting a webpage request to a host server;

means for receiving the requested webpage from the host server, the requested webpage including at least one coded first instruction;

means for transmitting information identifying the requested webpage to a content enhancement server at least in part by execution of the at least one coded first instruction; and

means for receiving the supplemental substantive video content from the content enhancement server, the supplemental substantive video content obtained by a keyword search using keywords associated with the requested webpage.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the information identifying the requested webpage comprises an address of the requested webpage.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the keywords associated with the requested webpage are scraped from the requested webpage in response to the transmitted information identifying the webpage.

32. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising:

means for crawling a plurality of webpages to identify a keyword for each of a plurality of webpages and indexing the identified keyword for each of the plurality of webpages by the information identifying with each of the plurality of webpages prior to receiving the information identifying the requested webpage; and

means for determining if the requested webpage is one of the crawled webpages after receiving the information identifying the requested webpage from the client computer.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the requested webpage source further comprises a link to a second webpage, and the apparatus further comprises:

means for parsing the webpage source code to identify the link;

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

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

34. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the supplemental video content comprises an address to a supplemental video.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

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

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

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

36. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the step of transmitting information identifying the requested webpage comprises:

means for executing the at least one coded first instruction to transmit a request for at least one coded second instruction;

means for receiving the at least one second coded instruction;

means for executing the at least one second coded instruction to transmit the information identifying the requested webpage.

37. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the coded instructions are selected from the group comprising:

a servlet;

a snippet;

an applet; and

a plug in for a browser executing on the client computer.

38. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein:

the apparatus further comprises means for transmitting information associated with supplemental substantive video content preferences; and

the supplemental video content information is generated according to the supplemental substantive video content preferences.

39. 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 at least one coded instruction from a content enhancement server to the host server, the at least one coded instruction for incorporation into the webpage source code;

if the client computer transmits a request for the webpage to the host computer;

receiving an address of the requested webpage from the client computer, wherein the address of the requested webpage is transmitted at least in part by execution of the at least one coded instruction;

generating a keyword from the requested webpage in the content enhancement server;

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

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

40. 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 a webpage request to a host server;

receiving the requested webpage from the host server, the requested webpage including at least one coded first instruction;

transmitting information identifying the requested webpage to a content enhancement server at least in part by execution of the at least one coded first instruction; and

receiving the supplemental substantive video content from the content enhancement server, the supplemental substantive video content obtained by a keyword search using keywords associated with the requested webpage.