SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SEARCHING MULTIMEDIA

• US 20150066913A1
• Filed: 11/07/2014
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roku, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Roku, Inc.
• Inventors: Funk, Jim, Noffsinger, Brandon
• Granted Patent: US 9,519,645 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24565 Triggers; Constraints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/43 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/237 Communication with additional data server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47208 for requesting near-video-on-demand content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 represented by keywords

Abstract

A system and method for intelligent content searching is disclosed herein. The system saves all searches executed by the user and periodically re-executes one or more of the previously saved searches and display the subsequent search results to the user at an appropriate time without any user intervention. In one aspect, the system periodically re-executes one or more of the previously saved searches upon the occurrence of a trigger event, which may be trending events, news events, type of menus and/or screens accessed, new content being added on one or more service providers, a boot event, passage of time since last search, etc. In this way, users do not need to set alert or follow any search topic.

Claims

1. A method for searching content comprising:

receiving at least one keyword from a client device;

performing a first search for content using the at least one keyword;

sending a first search results of the first search to a user device for display;

automatically storing the at least one keyword;

automatically performing a subsequent search using the stored at least one keyword; and

automatically sending a subsequent search results of the subsequent search to the user device for display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the subsequent search comprises performing the subsequent search upon an occurrence of a trigger event.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the trigger event comprises one of a boot event at the client device, a news event, and passage of a predetermined amount of time since the first search.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device and the user device is the same device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device and the user device are different devices.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a current screen indicator from the client device, wherein the trigger event occurs when the current screen indicator indicates the client device is displaying a search screen.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the occurrence of a trigger event is caused by content being added to one or more of a plurality of content servers.

8. A non-transitory processor-readable medium having one or more instructions operational on a client device, which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

receive at least one keyword from a client device;

perform a first search for content using the at least one keyword;

send a first search results of the first search to a user device for display;

automatically store the at least one keyword;

automatically perform a subsequent search using the stored at least one keyword; and

automatically send a subsequent search results of the subsequent search to the user device for display.

9. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 8, wherein perform the subsequent search comprises instruction which when executed by a processor causes the processor to perform the subsequent search upon an occurrence of a trigger event.

10. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the trigger event comprises one of a boot event at the client device and passage of a predetermined amount of time since the first search.

11. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the client device and the user device is the same device.

12. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the client device and the user device are different devices.

13. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 9, receiving a current screen indicator from the client device, wherein the trigger event occurs when the current screen indicator indicates the client device is displaying a search screen.

14. A method for searching content comprising:

sending at least one keyword to a remote server;

receiving a first search results based on the at least one keyword;

displaying the first search results on a display screen of a local device;

without user intervention, receiving a subsequent search results based on the at least one keyword; and

automatically displaying the subsequent search results on the display screen of a user device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the subsequent search is received upon an occurrence of a trigger event.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the trigger event comprises one of a boot event at the local device and passage of a predetermined amount of time since receiving the first search.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the local device and the user device is the same device.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the local device and the user device are different devices.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

sending a current screen indicator from the remove server, wherein the trigger event occurs when the current screen indicator indicates the local device is displaying a search screen.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the occurrence of a trigger event is caused by content being added to one or more of a plurality of content servers.