Method and apparatus for providing supplemental video content for third party websites

• US 8,661,010 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2012
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hulu LLC (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Hulu LLC (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Suter, Bradley J., Lin, Andrew Chen-Min
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, KIM T
• Application Number:
  US13/563,501
• Publication Number:
  US 20120297279A1
• Time in Patent Office: 574 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705, 707/733
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• 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 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82

Abstract

A method, apparatus and article of manufacture for providing supplemental video content for third party websites is disclosed. In one embodiment, coded instructions are transmitted from a content enhancement server to a host server, for incorporation into the webpage source code. The host server is controlled by a first entity and the content enhancement server is controlled by a second entity commercially distinct from the first entity. Keywords are obtained by executing of the coded instructions in the webpage received in the client computer from the host server to send the address of the requested webpage to the content enhancement server, which generates supplemental substantive video content information for transmission to the client.

Claims

1. A method for providing video content, the method comprising:

configuring encoded instructions for embedding into a first webpage, the instructions configured to execute when the first webpage is accessed by a client computer to cause the client computer to determine information identifying the first webpage in which the encoded instructions are embedded and transmit the information identifying the first webpage to a first server;

receiving, by the first server, information identifying the first webpage from the client computer that previously obtained the first webpage from a second server in response to the client computer executing the encoded instructions;

generating, in response to receiving the information identifying the first webpage, information characterizing substantive content of the first webpage by accessing the first webpage using the information identifying the first webpage or stored keywords using the information identifying the first webpage, the stored keywords previously obtained from accessing the first webpage;

identifying supplemental video content based on the information characterizing the substantive content of the first webpage; and

transmitting at least one of the supplemental video content or a network address of the supplemental video content from the first server to the client computer thereby enabling output of the video content by a media player application executing on the client computer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the encoded instructions from the first server to the second server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the encoded instructions are executed on the client computer, thereby causing transmission of the information identifying the first webpage from the client computer to the first server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the first webpage comprises a network address, and generating the information characterizing substantive content of the first webpage comprises accessing the first webpage using the network address.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the information characterizing substantive content of the first webpage comprises identifying keywords included in the first webpage.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising storing the keywords in a database record for the first webpage.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a link to a second webpage on the first webpage;

generating, in response to receiving the information identifying the first webpage, information characterizing substantive content of the second webpage by accessing the second webpage using the link to the second webpage or stored keywords using the link to the second webpage, the stored keywords previously obtained from accessing the second webpaqe; and

identifying supplemental video content based on the information characterizing the substantive content of the second webpage.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the information characterizing substantive content of the first webpage comprises, prior to receiving the information identifying the first webpage, crawling a plurality of webpages to identify keywords contained in each of the plurality of webpages.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein generating information characterizing substantive content of the first webpage further comprises storing the keywords contained in each of the plurality of webpages indexed by respective identifiers for each of the plurality of webpages.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein generating information characterizing substantive content of the first webpage further comprises, after receiving the information identifying the first webpage from the client computer, determining whether a record of stored keywords exists for the first webpage.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving second information identifying at least one of a user account or the client computer, in connection with receiving the information identifying the first webpage.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein identifying the supplemental video content comprises excluding video content based on the second information.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first encoded instructions are configured to execute when the first webpage is accessed by the client computer to cause the client computer to request second encoded instructions from the first server.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, from the client computer, a request for the second encoded instructions generated by execution of the first encoded instructions; and

transmitting the second encoded instructions to the client computer in response to the request, wherein the second encoded instructions are configured to execute when received by the client computer to cause the client computer to transmit the information identifying the first webpage to the first server.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the second encoded instructions are executed on the client computer, thereby causing transmission of the information identifying the first webpage to the first server.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the information characterizing substantive content of the first webpage by accessing the first webpage using the information identifying the first webpage or stored keywords previously obtained from accessing the first webpage using the information identifying the first webpage is dynamically generated in response to receiving the information identifying the first webpage from multiple client computers, and

different supplemental content is dynamically identified for the multiple client computers that execute the encoded instructions in the first webpage and in which information identifying the first webpage is received.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory, the memory holding program instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the operations of;

configuring encoded instructions for embedding into a first webpage, the instructions configured to execute when the first webpage is accessed by a client computer to cause the client computer to determine information identifying the first webpage in which the encoded instructions are embedded and transmit the information identifying the first webpage to a first server;

receiving, by the first server, information identifying the first webpage from the client computer that previously obtained the first webpage from a second server in response to the client computer executing the encoded instructions;

generating, in response to receiving the information identifying the first webpage, information characterizing substantive content of the first webpage by accessing the first webpage using the information identifying the first webpage or stored keywords using the information identifying the first webpage, the stored keywords previously obtained from accessing the first webpage;

identifying supplemental video content based on the information characterizing the substantive content of the first webpage; and

transmitting at least one of the supplemental video content or a network address of the supplemental video content from the first server to the client computer thereby enabling output of the video content by a media player application executing on the client computer.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory holds further program instructions for processing the information identifying the first webpage including a network address, and generating the information characterizing substantive content of the first webpage at least in part by accessing the first webpage using the network address.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the memory holds further program instructions for generating the information characterizing substantive content of the first webpage at least in part by identifying keywords included in the first webpage.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the memory holds further program instructions for storing the keywords in a database record for the first webpage.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory holds further program instructions for;

identifying a link to a second webpage on the first webpage;

generating, in response to receiving the information identifying the first webpage, information characterizing substantive content of the second webpage by accessing the second webpage using the link to the second webpage or stored keywords using the link to the second webpage, the stored keywords previously obtained from accessing the second webpage; and

identifying supplemental video content based on the information characterizing the substantive content of the second webpage.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory holds further program instructions for generating the information characterizing substantive content of the first webpage by, prior to receiving the information identifying the first webpage, crawling a plurality of webpages to identify keywords contained in each of the plurality of webpages, storing the keywords contained in each of the plurality of webpages indexed by respective identifiers for each of the plurality of webpages, and after receiving the information identifying the first webpage from the client computer, determining whether a record of stored keywords exists for the first webpage.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory holds further program instructions for receiving second information identifying at least one of a user account or the client computer, in connection with receiving the information identifying the first webpage.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the memory holds further program instructions for identifying the supplemental video content at least in part by excluding video content based on the second information.

25. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory holds further program instructions for configuring first encoded instructions for embedding into the first webpage, the first encoded instructions configured to execute when the first webpage is accessed by the client computer to cause the client computer to request second encoded instructions from the first server.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the memory holds further program instructions for:

receiving, from the client computer, a request for the second encoded instructions generated by execution of the first encoded instructions; and

transmitting the second encoded instruction to the client computer in response to the request, wherein the second encoded instructions are configured to execute when received by the client computer to cause the client computer to transmit the information identifying the first webpage to the first server.

27. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions, that when executed, control a computer system to be configured for:

configuring encoded instructions for embedding into a first webpage, the instructions configured to execute when the first webpage is accessed by a client computer to cause the client computer to determine information identifying the first webpage in which the encoded instructions are embedded and transmit the information identifying the first webpage to a first server;

receiving, by the first server, information identifying the first webpage from the client computer that previously obtained the first webpage from a second server in response to the client computer executing the encoded instructions;

generating, in response to receiving the information identifying the first webpage, information characterizing substantive content of the first webpage by accessing the first webpage using the information identifying the first webpage or stored keywords using the information identifying the first webpage, the stored keywords previously obtained from accessing the first webpage;

identifying supplemental video content based on the information characterizing the substantive content of the first webpage; and

transmitting at least one of the supplemental video content or a network address of the supplemental video content from the first server to the client computer thereby enabling output of the video content by a media player application executing on the client computer.