Method for automatically associating contextual input data with available multimedia resources

• US 7,653,702 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2005
• Issued: 01/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Wayfair LLC (Wayfair Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Miner, Cameron Shea
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar; Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hamza; Faruk
• Application Number:
  US11/234,638
• Publication Number:
  US 20060031486A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,586 Days
• Field of Search: 709217-219, 709223-224, 709/200, 707 2- 6
• US Class Current: 709/217
• 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

Abstract

A method for automatically associating contextual input data with available multimedia resources includes capturing the contextual input data and processing the contextual input data and formulating a query based on processed contextual input data. The processed contextual input data is associated with the multimedia resources to generate association matches.

Claims

1. A method for providing network services related to locating at least one of a good and a service by:

acquiring contextual input data related to at least one of the good and the service via a contextual input device configured to receive data from the at least one of the good and the service;

digitizing and processing the acquired contextual input data from the contextual input device;

receiving contextual input data related to the at least one of the good and the service;

determining if there is cached information related to previously stored search results;

if there is cached information related to previously stored search results, comparing the contextual input data to the cached information;

automatically generating a preliminary search query based on the contextual input data if there is no cached information;

automatically generated a preliminary search query based on the contextual input data and the cached information if there is cached information;

performing a preliminary search based on the preliminary search query;

providing preliminary search results based on the preliminary search query;

in response to receiving a request for additional information, refining the preliminary search query to improve the preliminary search results;

receiving user provided information related to the contextual input data;

generating a search query based on the contextual input data and the user provided information;

performing a search based on the search query; and

providing search results based on the contextual input data and the user provided information, the search results being related to a source of the at least one of the good and the service such that the user can locate the at least one of the good and the service.

2. The method according to claim 1, further including automatically associating contextual input data with characteristics of at least one of the good and service.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein generating the search query includes automatically formulating the search query based on the contextual input data.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein generating the search query includes automatically formulating the search query based on a user profile.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein generating a search query based on the contextual input data and the user provided information includes applying the search query to a data stored on at least one of a metadata repository and a network.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the contextual input data are based on any one or more of image signals or audio signals;

and

wherein processing the contextual input data includes enhancing the quality of the anyone or more of image signals or audio signals.

7. The method according to claim 1, further including developing a digital profile for a user based on search results which were previously presented to the user.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein developing the digital profile includes updating the user digital profile based on recent search results.