SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TELEVISION SEARCH ASSISTANT

• US 20120030215A1
• Filed: 07/28/2010
• Published: 02/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Herron, Jon Michael, Reyzelman, Vicki, Jaini, Shiva
• Granted Patent: US 8,250,077 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• 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

Abstract

A television guide search query is received from a user. A plurality of suggested search terms are selected. Each of the plurality of suggested search terms is assigned to, and is ranked within, one of a plurality of categories A number of suggested search terms to be returned to the user, n_c, is determined for each of the plurality of categories, n_c being equal to a ratio of the number of suggested search terms in the respective category to a total number of suggested search terms multiplied by a total number of displayed search terms. A result set is created by adding, for each of the plurality of categories, the top ranked n_c suggested search terms to the result set. The result set is transmitted to the user. A selection of a search term is received from the user and is used to conduct a television guide search.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, over a network, from a user, a network search query comprising at least one token;

selecting, using a computing device, a plurality of suggested search terms from a suggested search term database that match the network search query, each of the plurality of suggested search terms being assigned to one of a plurality of categories;

ranking, using the computing device, the plurality of suggested search terms within each of the plurality of categories;

determining, using the computing device, a number of suggested search terms to be returned to the user, n_c, for each of the plurality of categories, n_c being equal to a ratio of the number of suggested search terms in the respective category to a total number of suggested search terms multiplied by a total number of displayed search terms;

creating, using the computing device, a consolidated result set by adding, for each of the plurality of categories, the top ranked n_c suggested search terms in the respective category to the consolidated result set;

transmitting, over the network, to the user, the consolidated result set;

receiving, over the network, from the user, a selection of a suggested search term; and

conducting, using the computing device, a network search using the selected suggested search term.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein,

the network search query is a program search query for searching an online programming guide,

the suggested search term database relates to the online programming guide,

the selected suggested search term is used to search the online programming guide.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein only suggested search terms that match the network search query at the beginning of a word within the respective suggested search term are selected.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein plurality of suggested search terms are ranked such that suggested search terms that include the network search query at the start of the respective suggested search term are ranked first, and remaining suggested search terms are ranked by an electronic programming ranking and by a relevancy of the suggested search terms to the network search query.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of receiving a network search query, selecting a plurality suggested search terms, ranking, determining, creating, and transmitting are repeated a plurality of times until a selection of a suggested search term is received.

3. The method of claim 3, wherein the suggested search terms are selected from the list:

a description of a channel, a program title and a name of a cast member, and wherein the plurality of categories comprise the categories;

channel, program title, and cast member.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a timestamp is associated with every suggested search term, and search terms having a timestamp less than the current time are not selected.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein

if the timestamp relates to a channel, the timestamp is equivalent to an end time for the last program scheduled for the channel,

if the timestamp relates to a program title, the timestamp is equivalent to a last end time for the program scheduled on a channel,

if the timestamp relates to a cast member, the timestamp is equivalent to a last end time for a program associated with the cast member is scheduled on a channel.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein only suggested search terms associated with a channel in a channel map associated with the user are selected.

10. A system comprising:

a search query receiving module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for receiving, over a network, from users, network search queries, each network search query comprising at least one token;

a suggested search term selection module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for selecting from a suggested search term database, for each network search query received by the search query receiving module, a set of suggested search terms that match the respective network search query, each of the set of suggested search terms being assigned to one of a plurality of categories;

a suggested search term ranking module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for ranking suggested search terms within each of the plurality of categories within each set of suggested search terms selected by the suggested search term selection module;

a category result determination module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for determining, for each set of suggested search terms ranked by the suggested search term ranking module, a number of suggested search terms to be returned in a consolidated result set, n_c, for each of the plurality of categories, each n_c being equal to a ratio of the number of suggested search terms in the respective category to the total number of suggested search terms multiplied by a predetermined total number;

a consolidated result set creation module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for creating the consolidated result set for each set of suggested search terms processed by the category result determination module by adding, for each of the plurality of categories, a top ranked n_c suggested search terms in the respective category to the consolidated result set;

a result set transmission module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for transmitting, over the network, consolidated result sets created by the consolidated result set creation module, to users whose query resulted in the creation of the respective consolidated result set;

a search term selection receiving module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for receiving, over the network, from users who received consolidated result sets from the result set transmission module, selections of suggested search terms from the respective consolidated result set;

a network search module comprising one or more processors programmed to execute software code retrieved from a computer readable storage medium storing software for conducting network searches using selected suggested search terms selected by the search term selection receiving module.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein,

the network search queries are program search queries for searching an online programming guide,

the suggested search term database relates to the online programming guide,

the suggested search terms are selected from the list:

a description of a channel, a program title and a name of a cast member,

the plurality of categories comprise the categories;

channel, program title, and cast member, and

the selected suggested search terms are used to search the online programming guide.

12. A computer readable storage media for tangibly storing thereon computer readable instructions for a method comprising:

receiving, over a network, from a user, a network search query comprising at least one token;

selecting, using computing device, a plurality suggested search terms from a suggested search term database that match the network search query, each of the plurality of suggested search terms being assigned to one of a plurality of categories;

ranking, using the computing device, the plurality of suggested search terms within each of the plurality of categories;

determining, using the computing device, a number of suggested search terms to be returned to the user, n_c, for each of the plurality of categories, n_c being equal to a ratio of the number of suggested search terms in the respective category to a total number of suggested search terms multiplied by a total number of displayed search terms;

creating, using the computing device, a consolidated result set by adding, for each of the plurality of categories, the top ranked n_c suggested search terms in the respective category to the consolidated result set;

transmitting, over the network, to the user, the consolidated result set;

receiving, over the network, from the user, a selection of a suggested search term; and

conducting, using the computing device, a network search using the selected suggested search term.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein,

the network search query is a program search query for searching an online programming guide,

the suggested search term database relates to the online programming guide,

the selected suggested search term is used to search the online programming guide.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the suggested search terms are selected from the list:

a description of a channel, a program title and a name of a cast member, and wherein the plurality of categories comprise the categories;

channel, program title, and cast member.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the steps of receiving a network search query, selecting a plurality suggested search terms, ranking, determining, creating, and transmitting are repeated a plurality of times until a selection of a suggested search term is received.