System and method for delivering content to a communication device in a content delivery system

• US 8,126,858 B1
• Filed: 09/19/2008
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ruzon, Mark A., Menon, Keshav, Tanguay, Donald, Bhattacharyya, Supratik, Bhargava, Gautam, Ramkumar, Gurumurthy D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene, John E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ly, Anh
• Application Number:
  US12/284,180
• Time in Patent Office: 1,257 Days
• Field of Search: 707/706, 707/769, 707/770, 707/694, 709/219, 709/223, 709/225, 725/41, 725/62
• US Class Current: 707/694
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/532 Query formulation, e.g. graphical querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method, system, and a computer-readable storage medium containing executable instructions for delivering content to a communication device, in response to an image sent by the communication device. The received image is matched with a plurality of images, and, when a match is found for the received image, content corresponding to the matching image is delivered to the communication device. The plurality of images is stored in an image database, and the corresponding content is stored in a content repository. The present invention enables a content provider to automatically update the image database and the content repository without any human intervention.

Claims

1. A computer system for delivering content to a communication device, the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor;

an image database configured to store a plurality of images;

a content repository configured to store content associated with the plurality of images stored in the image database;

a database interface operable by the instructions executed on the processor to, at least;

modify the content repository including at least one of creating a new content repository, adding new content to an existing content repository, and removing at least one content from the existing content repository;

receive, from a content provider, at least one image, at least one piece of content and at least one rule mapping the at least one image to the at least one piece of content; and

update the image database with the at least one image from the content provider, the content repository with the at least one piece of content from the content provider and a set of mapping rules with the at least one rule from the content provider;

a transaction interface operable by the instructions executed on the processor at least to receive an image from a communication device and to send at least one content item corresponding to the image to the communication device; and

a recognition component operable by the instructions executed on the processor to, at least;

receive the image from the transaction interface;

determine whether the received image matches any image of the plurality of images stored in the image database;

if a matching image is found, retrieve at least one content item associated with the matching image from the content repository in accordance with the set of mapping roles including the at least one rule from the content provider; and

cause the transaction interface to send the retrieved at least one content item to the communication device.

2. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the transaction interface is further operable to determine, using a multimedia lookup table, a proper format for audio and video content based at least in part on a type of the communication device to which the at least one piece of content is sent.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the communication device is configured to receive and transmit images and media content.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the communication device is a wireless communication device.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the communication device is configured to capture and transmit images.

6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the captured and transmitted images include one of a product, a newspaper article, or a movie poster.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the communication device comprises a personal computer.

8. A computer-implemented method for delivering content to a communication device, the method comprising:

under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

modifying a content repository configured to store content associated with a plurality Of images stored in an image database, wherein modifying the content repository comprises at least one of creating a new content repository, adding new content to an existing content repository, and removing at least one content from the existing content repository;

receiving, from a content provider, at least one image, at least one piece of content and at least one rule mapping the at least one image to the at least one piece of content;

updating (i) the image database with the at least one image from the content provider, (ii) the content repository with the at least one piece of content from the content provider, and (iii) a set of mapping rules with the at least one rule from the content provider;

receiving an image from a communication device;

determining whether the received image matches any image of the plurality of images stored in the image database;

if a matching image is found, retrieving content associated with the matching image from the content repository in accordance with the set of mapping rules including the at least one rule from the content provider; and

delivering the retrieved content to the communication device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further comprising:

delivering a predefined response to the communication device when the received image does not match any image of the plurality of images.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further comprising specifying the content to be delivered corresponding to each of the plurality of images.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further comprising generating a transaction report corresponding to the plurality of images based on logging transaction information corresponding to the plurality of images.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising modifying the image database, wherein modifying the image database comprises at least one of creating a new image database, adding a new image to an existing image database, or removing at least one image from the existing image database.

13. The computer-implemented method of (X) claim 8, further comprising defining rules mapping each image in the image database to the content stored in the content repository.

14. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied therein that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to, at least:

modify a content repository configured to store content associated with a plurality of images stored in an image database, wherein modifying the content repository comprises at least one of creating a new content repository, adding new content to an existing content repository, and removing at least one content from the existing content repository;

receive, from a content provider, at least one image, at least one piece of content and at least one rule mapping the at least one image to the at least one piece of content;

update the image database with the at least one image from the content

provider the content repository with the at least one piece of content from the content provider and a set of mapping rules with the at least one rule from the content provider;

receive an image from a communication device;

determine whether the received image matches any image of the plurality of images stored in the image database;

if a matching image is found, retrieve content associated with the matching image from the content repository in accordance with the set of mapping rules including the at least one rule from the content provider; and

deliver the retrieved content to the communication device.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer to modify the image database.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer to retrieve content associated with the matching image from a content repository.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer to enable the content provider to define rules mapping at least one image in the image database to content in the content repository.

18. A computer implemented method comprising:

under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

receiving, from a content provider, at least one image, at least one piece of content and at least one rule mapping the at least one image to the at least one piece of content;

updating an image database with the at least one image from the content provider, a content repository with the at least one piece of content from the content provider and a set of mapping rules with the at least one rule from the content provider;

receiving an image from a communication device;

determining whether the received image matches any image of a plurality of images stored in an the image database;

if a matching image is found, retrieving content associated with the matching image from the content repository in accordance with the set of mapping rules including the at least one rule from the content provider;

delivering the retrieved content to the communication device;

generating a transaction report corresponding to the plurality of images based at least in part on logging transaction information with respect to the plurality of images; and

modifying the content repository, the content repository configured at least to store content associated with the plurality of images stored in the image database, wherein modifying the content repository comprises at least one of creating a new content repository, adding new content to the created content repository, and removing at least one piece of content from the created content repository.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the matching image is different from the image received from the communication device.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the content associated with the matching image in accordance with the set of mapping rules includes non-image content.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the transaction report includes data with respect to how well received images matched the plurality of images in the image database.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the image database is a new image database corresponding to the created content repository.