APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR USER GENERATED CONTENT INDEXING

• US 20140032562A1
• Filed: 07/26/2012
• Published: 01/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: ARNGREN, Tommy, LINDEGREN, David, SDERBERG, Joakim, STLNACKE, Marika
• Granted Patent: US 9,633,015 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/316 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures

Abstract

A method and client device is disclosed for indexing content of a multimedia file. The method comprises using a client device to segment the content of the multimedia file into a plurality of segments and to determine structure-searchable data for each segment. Determining structure searchable data for a segment comprises (1) identifying one or more features of respective multimedia types in the segment; (2) correlating each of the identified features to one or more respective keywords; and (3) calculating one or more respective relevance factors for each of the keywords, where at least one of the relevance factors is based on one or more characteristics of the client device. The method also comprises the client device transmitting the structure-searchable data (including the keywords, relevance factors, and respective media types of the identified features) to an indexing server.

Claims

1. A method for indexing content of a multimedia file, the method comprising:

segmenting the content of the multimedia file, by a client device, into a plurality of segments;

determining, by the client device, structure-searchable data for each segment, wherein the determining comprises;

identifying one or more features of respective multimedia types in the segment;

correlating each of the identified features to one or more respective keywords; and

calculating one or more respective relevance factors for each of the keywords,

wherein at least one of the relevance factors is based on one or more characteristics of the client device; and

transmitting, by the client device, the structure-searchable data to an indexing server, wherein the structure-searchable data includes the keywords, relevance factors, and respective media types of the identified features.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics of the client device comprise at least one of:

(a) content of one or more other multimedia files stored on the client device;

(b) a type of the client device; and

(c) a user-specified relevance of the client device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more relevance factors comprise a degree of confidence that a given keyword describes the one or more features that were correlated with that keyword.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the structure-searchable data to the indexing server further comprises transmitting data usable by the indexing server to identify a group of devices to which the client device has been registered.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the multimedia file in response to receiving a request from the indexing server.

6. A client device for indexing content of a multimedia file, the client device comprising:

a computer processor;

a memory coupled to the processor and storing program instructions executable by the processor to implement;

segmenting the content of the multimedia file into a plurality of segments;

determining structure-searchable data for each segment, wherein the determining comprises;

identifying one or more features of respective multimedia types in the segment;

correlating each of the identified features to one or more respective keywords; and

calculating one or more respective relevance factors for each of the keywords,

wherein at least one of the relevance factors is based on one or more characteristics of the client device; and

transmitting the structure-searchable data to an indexing server, wherein the structure-searchable data includes the keywords, relevance factors, and respective media types of the identified features.

7. The client device of claim 6, wherein the one or more characteristics of the client device comprise at least one of:

(a) content of one or more other multimedia files stored on the client device;

(b) a type of the client device; and

(c) a user-specified relevance of the client device.

8. The client device of claim 6, wherein the one or more relevance factors comprise a degree of confidence that a given keyword describes the one or more features that were correlated with that keyword.

9. The client device of claim 6, wherein transmitting the structure-searchable data to the indexing server further comprises transmitting data usable by the indexing server to identify a group of devices to which the client device has been registered.

10. The client device of claim 6, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement:

transmitting the multimedia file in response to receiving a request from the indexing server.

11. A method for creating a content index of multimedia content, the method comprising:

receiving, by an indexing server, structure-searchable data from a plurality of remote client devices, wherein the structure-searchable data describes content of multimedia files stored on the remote client devices; and

for each of the client devices, the indexing server performing;

identifying a respective client device group to which the client device has been registered, and

updating a content index of the client device group using the structure-searchable data received from the client device, wherein the updating is dependent on a weighting scheme specific to the client device group.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the weighting scheme comprises applying respective weights to content features of different multimedia-types.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the updating is further dependent on one or more relevance factors received in the structure-searchable data, wherein at least one of the relevance factors is based on:

(1) one or more characteristics of the client device, or (2) a measure of confidence that a given keyword describes one or more features correlated with that keyword in the structure searchable data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more characteristics of the client device corresponds to at least one of:

(a) content of one or more other multimedia files stored on the client device;

(b) a type of the client device; and

(c) a user-specified weight for the client device.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, by the indexing server in response to receiving a content query from one of the remote client devices, that the remote client device is a member of a client device group;

determining, by the indexing server, a content index corresponding to the client device group; and

using, by the indexing server, the determined content index to identify one or more portions of the content responsive to the content query.

16. An indexing server for indexing content of a multimedia file, the indexing server comprising:

a computer processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor and storing program instructions executable by the processor to implement;

receiving structure-searchable data from a plurality of client devices, wherein the structure-searchable data describes content of multimedia files stored on the client devices; and

for each of the client devices;

identifying a respective client device group to which the client device has been registered, and

updating a content index of the client device group using the structure-searchable data received from the client device, wherein the updating is dependent on a weighting scheme specific to the client device group.

17. The indexing server of claim 16, wherein the weighting scheme comprises applying respective weights to content features of different multimedia-types.

18. The indexing server of claim 16, wherein the updating is further dependent on one or more relevance factors received in the structure-searchable data, wherein at least one of the relevance factors is based on:

(1) one or more characteristics of the client device, or (2) a measure of confidence that a given keyword describes one or more features correlated with that keyword in the structure searchable data.

19. The indexing server of claim 18, wherein the one or more characteristics of the client device corresponds to at least one of:

(a) content of one or more other multimedia files stored on the client device;

(b) a type of the client device; and

(c) a user-specified weight for the client device.

20. The indexing server of claim 16, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement:

determining, in response to receiving a content query from one of the client devices, that the client device is a member of a client device group;

determining a content index corresponding to the client device group; and

using the determined content index to identify one or more portions of the content responsive to the query.