Extra Rich Content MetaData Generator

• US 20150067737A1
• Filed: 09/03/2013
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synamedia Limited
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shelton, Ian R., Li, Yuliang, Mills, Chris, Ashby, Stuart P., Valentine, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 9,332,318 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/53
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• 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 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 represented by keywords

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving content metadata related to content items provided by a content provider; retrieving additional metadata from one or more external sources, the additional metadata including language variations of the content metadata; storing the content metadata with the additional metadata in a storage device, wherein the content metadata is stored in association with the additional metadata; receiving a search request from a user, the search request including one or more search terms expressed in a first language variation; identifying, among the content metadata or the additional metadata, relevant metadata matching the one or more search terms; identifying additional relevant metadata stored in association with the relevant metadata, the additional relevant metadata including language variations of the relevant metadata; and adding one or more additional search terms to the search request, the one or more additional search terms corresponding to the additional relevant metadata.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving content metadata related to content items provided by a content provider;

retrieving additional metadata from one or more external sources, said additional metadata comprising language variations of said content metadata;

storing said content metadata with said additional metadata in a storage device, wherein said content metadata is stored in association with said additional metadata;

receiving a search request from a user, said search request comprising one or more search terms expressed in a first language variation;

identifying, among said content metadata or said additional metadata, relevant metadata matching said one or more search terms;

identifying additional relevant metadata stored in association with said relevant metadata, said additional relevant metadata comprising language variations of said relevant metadata; and

adding one or more additional search terms to said search request, said one or more additional search terms corresponding to said additional relevant metadata.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving additional metadata from one or more external sources comprises:

crawling and parsing one or more web sources, wherein said one or more web sources comprise one or more web portals providing additional metadata in different language variations; and

extracting said additional metadata from each of said crawled and parsed one or more web sources.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving additional metadata from one or more external sources comprises retrieving additional metadata related to a subset of said content metadata.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said subset of said content metadata comprises at least one of the following:

an actor name;

a director name;

a title; and

a copyright and/or regional information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said additional metadata comprises at least one of the following language variations:

written formats;

pronunciation formats; and

social common names.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said written formats comprises simplified and/or traditional Chinese.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said pronunciation formats comprises Hong Kong, Taiwan Tongyong and/or Hanyu Pinyins.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein a further language variation is created corresponding to shortcuts of said pronunciation formats.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said shortcuts are created by taking a first letter of each word for each of said additional metadata in pronunciation formats.

22. The method of claim 8, wherein said search request comprising one or more search terms expressed in a first language variation is a shortcut of a pronunciation format.

23. The method of claim 1, said method further comprising:

creating weighting rules defining how search results are to be ranked and displayed; and

applying said weighting rules to search results obtained using said search request comprising said one or more search terms and said one or more additional search terms.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said weighting rules defining how search results are to be ranked and displayed comprises ranking search results in a language variation corresponding to said first language variation higher than other search results.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein said weighting rules defining how search results are to be ranked and displayed comprises ranking search results in a language variation most frequently used by said user for previous searches higher than other search results.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein said weighting rules defining how search results are to be ranked and displayed comprises ranking search results in a language variation defined in said user'"'"'s profile higher than other search results.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein said weighting rules defining how search results are to be ranked and displayed comprises ranking search results in a language variation corresponding to said user current location higher than other search results.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein said weighting rules defining how search results are to be ranked and displayed comprises removing some search results in a language variation according to said user current geographic location and local copyright restrictions.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein said weighting rules defining how search results are to be ranked and displayed comprises replacing some search results in a language variation according to said user current geographic location and local copyright restrictions.

10-21. -21. (canceled)

30. An apparatus comprising:

a manager unit operable to receive content metadata related to content items provided by a content provider;

a creating unit operable to retrieve additional metadata from one or more external sources, said additional metadata comprising language variations of said content metadata;

a storage unit operable to store said content metadata with said additional metadata, wherein said content metadata is stored in association with said additional metadata;

wherein said manager unit is further operable to;

receive a search request from a user, said search request comprising one or more search terms expressed in a first language variation;

identify, among said content metadata or said additional metadata, relevant metadata matching said one or more search terms;

identify additional relevant metadata stored in association with said relevant metadata, said additional relevant metadata comprising language variations of said relevant metadata; and

add one or more additional search terms to said search request, said one or more additional search terms corresponding to said additional relevant metadata.

31. One or more computer readable tangible storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:

receive content metadata related to content items provided by a content provider;

retrieve additional metadata from one or more external sources, said additional metadata comprising language variations of said received content metadata;

store said received content metadata with said additional metadata in a storage device, wherein said received content metadata is stored in association with said additional metadata;

receive a search request from a user, said search request comprising one or more search terms expressed in a first language variation;

identify, among said received content metadata or said additional metadata, relevant metadata matching said one or more search terms;

identify additional relevant metadata stored in association with said identified relevant metadata, said additional relevant metadata comprising language variations of said identified relevant metadata; and

add one or more additional search terms to said search request, said one or more additional search terms corresponding to said additional relevant metadata.