METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DISAMBIGUATING USER INPUT BASED ON DETECTION OF ENSEMBLES OF ITEMS

• US 20190311006A1
• Filed: 12/28/2018
• Published: 10/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Yelton, Alexis, Xu, Xin, Mahimkar, Shreyas
• Granted Patent: US 10,977,308 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/78 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/751 Comparing pixel values or logical combinations thereof, or feature values having positional relevance, e.g. template matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/00 Scenes; Scene-specific elements control of digital cameras H04N23/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for disambiguating user input based on a physical location of items in a vicinity of a user. The system determines that a query received from a user contains an ambiguity. In response, the system identifies several items in the physical vicinity of the user. Then, the system analyzes the identified plurality of items to determine whether the plurality of items forms a first ensemble of items or a second ensemble of items. If the plurality of items forms a first ensemble of items, the system performs a search using the search query and a first keyword related to the first ensemble of items. If the plurality of items forms a second ensemble of items, the system performs a search using the search query and a second keyword related to the second ensemble of items. The system then outputs results of the performed search.

Claims

1-51. -51. (canceled)

52. A method for resolving a search query using contextual information, the method comprising:

receiving a query;

detecting a plurality of items in a vicinity of a user;

determining that the plurality of items forms an ensemble of items;

identifying a characteristic associated with the ensemble of items;

determining search results based on the query and the determined characteristic of the ensemble of items; and

generating for display the search results.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein detecting the plurality of items in the vicinity of the user comprises:

detecting, using a sensor, a first item and a second item in the vicinity of the user;

determining a distance between the first item and the second item;

determining whether the distance is less than or equal to a predetermined distance; and

in response to determining that the distance is less than or equal to the predetermined distance, adding the first item and the second item to the plurality of items.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein the sensor is at least one of:

an Internet of Things sensor, radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor, video camera, infrared sensor, and near-field communication sensor.

55. The method of claim 53, wherein detecting, using the sensor, the first item and the second item in the vicinity of the user comprises:

receiving a radio frequency signature from an RFID tag of the first item; and

identifying the first item based on the radio frequency signature.

56. The method of claim 52, wherein determining that the plurality of items forms the ensemble of items comprises:

retrieving a plurality of ensemble templates; and

in response to identifying that at least one ensemble template of the plurality of ensemble templates identifies the plurality of items, determining that the plurality of items forms the ensemble.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein identifying that at least one ensemble template of the plurality of ensemble templates identifies the plurality of items comprises determining that a number of the plurality of items belonging to the ensemble is greater than a predetermined match count.

58. The method of claim 56, wherein an ensemble template of the plurality of ensemble templates comprises a plurality of descriptive keywords, and wherein identifying the characteristic associated with the ensemble of items comprises selecting a descriptive keyword from the ensemble template.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein determining search results based on the query and the determined characteristic of the ensemble of items comprises:

amending the query using the descriptive keyword; and

performing a search based on the amended query to determine the search results.

60. The method of claim 59, wherein amending the query using the descriptive keyword comprises appending the descriptive keyword to the query.

61. The method of claim 52, further comprising:

determining that the query comprises a portion with multiple possible meanings; and

wherein the step of detecting the plurality of items in the vicinity of a user is performed in response to determining that the query comprises the portion with multiple possible meanings.

62. A system for resolving a search query using contextual information, the system comprising:

an input interface configured to receive a query;

control circuitry configured to;

receive the query;

detect a plurality of items in a vicinity of a user;

determine that the plurality of items forms an ensemble of items;

identify a characteristic associated with the ensemble of items;

determine search results based on the query and the determined characteristic of the ensemble of items; and

generate for display the search results.

63. The system of claim 62, wherein the control circuitry is configured to detect the plurality of items in the vicinity of the user by:

detecting, using a sensor, a first item and a second item in the vicinity of the user;

determining a distance between the first item and the second item;

determine whether the distance is less than or equal to a predetermined distance; and

in response to determining that the distance is less than or equal to the predetermined distance, adding the first item and the second item to the plurality of items.

64. The system of claim 63, wherein the sensor is at least one of:

an Internet of Things sensor, radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor, video camera, infrared sensor, and near-field communication sensor.

65. The system of claim 63, wherein the control circuitry is configured to detect, using the sensor, the first item and the second item in the vicinity of the user by:

receiving a radio frequency signature from an RFID tag of the first item; and

identify the first item based on the radio frequency signature.

66. The system of claim 62, wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine that the plurality of items forms the ensemble of items by:

retrieving a plurality of ensemble templates; and

in response to identifying that at least one ensemble template of the plurality of ensemble templates identifies the plurality of items, determining that the plurality of items forms the ensemble.

67. The system of claim 66, wherein the control circuitry is configured to identify that at least one ensemble template of the plurality of ensemble templates identifies the plurality of items by determining that a number of the plurality of items belonging to the ensemble is greater than a predetermined match count.

68. The system of claim 66, wherein an ensemble template of the plurality of ensemble templates comprises a plurality of descriptive keywords, and wherein the control circuitry is configured to identify the characteristic associated with the ensemble of items by selecting a descriptive keyword from the ensemble template.

69. The system of claim 68, wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine search results based on the query and the determined characteristic of the ensemble of items by:

amending the query using the descriptive keyword; and

performing a search based on the amended query to determine the search results.

70. The system of claim 69, wherein the control circuitry is configured to amend the query using the descriptive keyword by appending the descriptive keyword to the query.

71. The system of claim 62, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine that the query comprises a portion with multiple possible meanings; and

wherein the control circuitry is configured to perform the step of detecting the plurality of items in the vicinity of a user in response to determining that the query comprises the portion with multiple possible meanings.