User interface with available multimedia content from multiple multimedia websites

• US 8,903,863 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Edwards, John, Edwards, Nathan, Brueck, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo, Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US13/619,214
• Publication Number:
  US 20130014014A1
• Time in Patent Office: 809 Days
• Field of Search: 707600-899
• US Class Current: 707/791
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/743 a collection of video files or sequences
• 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 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2355 involving reformatting operations of additional data, e.g. HTML pages optimising the visualization of content for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/9577; tracking of instant messages H04L51/234; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image

Abstract

Automatically and repeatedly crawling multiple multimedia websites to identify and collect information about the multimedia content that is available for delivery over the Internet to a client device for playback on a media player operating on the client device. In one embodiment, the method normalizes the collected information by converting the different formats of the collected information into a common format and converting the different nomenclatures of the collected information into a common nomenclature. The method updates an index with the normalized information, and sends a data feed to the client device to populate the user interface on the client device with the normalized information of the index. The user interface allows the user to navigate and select the multimedia content that is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player.

Claims

1. A server for populating a user interface on a client device with multimedia content available by delivery from a plurality of other servers not associated with the server, comprising:

a processor, wherein the processor is configured to receive an indication of the multimedia content available by delivery from the plurality of other servers, wherein the multimedia content available by delivery from the plurality of other servers is displayed in a plurality of different display formats and has a plurality of different naming conventions for describing the content of the media content, wherein the processor is further configured to execute normalization logic to convert the plurality of different display formats into a common display format and to convert the plurality of different naming conventions describing the content of the media content into a common naming convention,

wherein the indication of the multimedia content available by delivery from the plurality of other servers comprises metadata describing the multimedia content, and wherein the normalization logic transforms the metadata into the normalized information, and the metadata comprises a plurality of fields, each having a value, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute normalization logic to;

rename one or more of the plurality of field names of the metadata based upon the common naming convention to transform the metadata; and

convert one or more of the values of the plurality of fields based upon the common naming convention to transform the metadata.

2. The server of claim 1, wherein the user interface allows the user to navigate and select the multimedia content that is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player operating on the client device without requiring the user to input a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to one of the plurality of other servers.

3. The server of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises a title or a description, and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) indicating a web address where the multimedia content is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player.

4. The server of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises a thumbnail of an image of the multimedia content, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute normalization logic to resize the thumbnail to a common thumbnail size to transform the metadata.

5. The server of claim 1, wherein the metadata is stored according to a site-specific data structure, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute normalization logic to reformat the site-specific data structure of the metadata into a common data structure.

6. The server of claim 1, wherein the metadata is stored in a plurality of locations on at least one of the plurality of other servers according to a site-specific data structure, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute normalization logic to extract parts of the metadata from different locations of the plurality of locations, and to reorganize the parts of the metadata into a common data structure.

7. A method for populating a user interface on a client device with available multimedia content from a plurality of servers, comprising:

collecting information on the available multimedia content from the plurality of servers, the available multimedia content from the plurality of servers having a plurality of different display formats and having a plurality of different naming conventions describing the content of the media content;

normalizing the collected information by converting the plurality of different display formats of the collected information into a common display format and converting the plurality of different naming conventions describing a content of the media content into a common naming convention; and

sending a data feed to the client device to populate the user interface on the client device with the normalized collected information, wherein the user interface allows a user to navigate and select the multimedia content that is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player operating on the client device,

wherein the collected information comprises a plurality of fields, each having a value, and wherein the normalizing further comprises;

renaming one or more of the plurality of field names of the collected information based upon the common naming convention to transform the collected information; and

converting one or more of the values of the plurality of fields based upon the common naming convention to transform the collected information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the user interface allows the user to navigate and select the multimedia content that is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player operating on the client device without requiring the user to input a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to one of the plurality of servers.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the collected information about the multimedia content comprises:

a thumbnail of an image of the multimedia content; and

metadata describing the multimedia content,

wherein the normalizing further comprises;

resizing the thumbnail to a common thumbnail size;

renaming one or more values of the metadata based upon the common naming convention; and

reformatting a site-specific data structure of the metadata into a common data structure.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the collected information comprises a title or a description, and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) indicating a web address where the multimedia content is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the collected information is stored according to a site-specific data structure, and wherein the normalizing further comprises reformatting the site-specific data structure of the collected information into a common data structure.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the collected information is stored in a plurality of locations on at least one of the plurality of servers according to a site-specific data structure, normalizing further comprises extracting parts of the collected information from different locations of the plurality of locations, and to reorganize the parts of the collected information into a common data structure.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that provides instructions that, if executed by the processor, will cause the processor to;

collect information on available multimedia content from a plurality of servers, the available multimedia content from the plurality of servers having a plurality of different display formats and having a plurality of different naming conventions describing the content of the media content;

normalizing the collected information by converting the plurality of different display formats of the collected information into a common display format and converting the plurality of different naming conventions describing a content of the media content into a common naming convention; and

send a data feed to a client device to populate a user interface on the client device with the normalized collected information,

wherein the collected information comprises a plurality of fields, each having a value, and wherein the processor is further configured to;

rename one or more of the plurality of field names of the collected information based upon the common naming convention to transform the collected information; and

convert one or more of the values of the plurality of fields based upon the common naming convention to transform the collected information.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the collected information about the multimedia content comprises:

a thumbnail of an image of the multimedia content; and

metadata describing the multimedia content,

wherein the processor is further configured to;

resizing the thumbnail to a common thumbnail size;

renaming one or more values of the metadata based upon the common naming conventions; and

reformatting a site-specific data structure of the metadata into a common data structure.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the collected information comprises a title or a description, and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) indicating a web address where the multimedia content is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the collected information is stored according to a site-specific data structure, and wherein the processor is further configured to reformat the site-specific data structure of the collected information into a common data structure.