Metadata brokering server and methods

• US 9,043,369 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2013
• Issued: 05/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: IDHL Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hillcrest Laboratories Incorporated (CEVA Incorporated)
• Inventors: Israel, Bruce, Gritton, Charles W. K., Hunleth, Frank A., Scheirey, Stephen, Simpkins, Daniel S., Stoner, Ryan, Wang, Yizhong
• Primary Examiner(s): LEWIS, CHERYL RENEA
• Application Number:
  US13/847,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20130291009A1
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• Field of Search: 707/803
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• 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 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25825 involving client display capabilities, e.g. screen resolution of a mobile phone optimising the visualisation of content during browsing in the Internet G06F16/9577; processing of terminal status or physical abilities in wireless networks H04W8/22; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/431 Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/433 Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/81 Monomedia components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for supplying rich multimedia metadata usable to generate, e.g., sophisticated entertainment user interfaces in the home. These methods and systems can be implemented as a server-based software application that feeds multiple, diverse clients. The server functionality could be distributed, even co-located physically with one or more clients, or centralized. The server aggregates, filters, validates, augments and links metadata from disparate sources. The server transforms the metadata into a more manageable and extensible internal format. The server communicates with client devices using a schema-independent protocol, providing metadata in the appropriate format that suites the clients needs.

Claims

1. A method for processing metadata associated with media items, said method comprising:

receiving metadata from at least two sources;

processing said received metadata to generate processed metadata; and

distributing said processed metadata, wherein said step of processing includes

developing at least a first set of inference rules;

reviewing the received metadata in view of said inference rules, and

synthesizing new metadata based on the applicability of said first set of inference rules to said received metadata.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of receiving metadata comprises:

capturing said metadata based on said first set of inference rules.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of synthesizing further comprises:

creating links between and amongst said processed metadata, and wherein said links are restricted by both a semantic relevance between said processed metadata, and validity of said processed metadata.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said validity of said processed metadata is determined by correcting errors in said processed metadata.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

building a plurality of screen templates using at least one of said processed metadata and said links; and

distributing said processed metadata including at least one of said plurality of screen templates, said links, and said processed metadata, to a plurality of different client devices.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of receiving said metadata information further comprises:

evaluating said received metadata for relevancy and accuracy to generate filtered metadata; and

selectively storing said evaluated metadata in a database based upon a result of said evaluating step.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of distributing said processed metadata further comprises:

distributing a first set of processed metadata to a first set of client devices having a first set of capabilities and distributing a second set of processed metadata to a second set of client devices having a second set of capabilities.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

generating, at both said first set of client devices and said second set of client devices, a same displayed screen view based on said first set of processed metadata and said second set of processed metadata, respectively.

9. A method for processing metadata associated with media items, said method comprising:

receiving metadata from at least two sources, wherein at least one of the two sources is a user device;

processing said received metadata to generate processed metadata; and

distributing said processed metadata, wherein said step of processing includes

synthesizing new metadata from metadata corresponding to usage information reported by said user device.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein said usage information comprises:

viewing habits and show ratings reported by said user device.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein said viewing habits comprises:

at least one or more advertisement statistics, and at least one or more screen display statistics.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein said advertisement statistics comprises:

at least one or more of each of advertisement viewing times, click-throughs, and response times.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein said screen display statistics comprise:

at least one or more of transitions between interface screen elements, time spent on interface screen elements, and actions taken on interface screen elements.

14. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

filtering said usage information prior to said step of synthesizing new metadata.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said step of filtering comprises:

reporting usage information for user interface screen transitions above a first predetermined threshold.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein said step of filtering comprises:

saving select actions and not-move actions as said usage information.

17. The method according to claim 14, wherein said step of filtering comprises:

capturing only advertisement-relevant screens as said usage information.

18. The method according to claim 14, wherein said step of filtering comprises:

summarizing screen information into a histogram of a first predetermined time threshold of screen transitions.

19. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

creating links between said received metadata information;

building a plurality of screen templates using at least one of said received metadata and said links; and

distributing said processed metadata including at least one of said plurality of screen templates, said links, and said processed metadata, to a plurality of different client devices.

20. The method according to claim 9, wherein said step of receiving said metadata information further comprises:

evaluating said received metadata for relevancy and accuracy to generate filtered metadata; and

selectively storing said evaluated metadata in a database based upon a result of said evaluating step.

21. The method according to claim 9, wherein said step of distributing said processed metadata further comprises:

distributing a first set of processed metadata to a first set of client devices having a first set of capabilities and distributing a second set of processed metadata to a second set of client devices having a second set of capabilities.

22. The method according to claim 21, further comprising:

generating, at both said first set of client devices and said second set of client devices, a same displayed screen view based on said first set of processed metadata and said second set of processed metadata, respectively.

23. A method for processing metadata associated with media items, usable to generate an interface, said method comprising:

receiving metadata from at least two sources;

processing said received metadata to generate processed metadata; and

checking said processed metadata and determining that if at least one error exists in said received metadata that includes inconsistencies, correcting said inconsistencies in said received metadata using one or more sources and custom heuristics to catch and correct said inconsistencies.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein said step of synthesizing comprises:

creating links of disparate metadata received from said at least two sources, to create said synthesized new metadata.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein said step of receiving metadata further comprises:

receiving metadata from a first service provider and a second service provider, said second service provider being different than said first service provider.

26. The method according to claim 23, wherein said step of determining that at least one error exists in said received metadata comprises:

correcting said at least one error by performing a closeness fit operation for determining similarity between said received metadata and metadata previously stored in a repository.

27. The method according to claim 23, further comprising:

creating links between said received metadata information;

building a plurality of screen templates using at least one of said received metadata and said links; and

distributing said processed metadata including at least one of said plurality of screen templates, said links, and said processed metadata, to a plurality of different client devices.

28. The method according to claim 23, wherein said step of receiving said metadata information further comprises:

evaluating said received metadata for relevancy and accuracy to generate filtered metadata; and

selectively storing said evaluated metadata in a database based upon a result of said evaluating step.

29. The method according to claim 23, wherein said step of distributing said processed metadata further comprises:

distributing a first set of processed metadata to a first set of client devices having a first set of capabilities and distributing a second set of processed metadata to a second set of client devices having a second set of capabilities.

30. The method according to claim 29, further comprising:

generating, at both said first set of client devices and said second set of client devices, a same displayed screen view based on said first set of processed metadata and said second set of processed metadata, respectively.

31. A system for processing metadata associated with media items, said system comprising:

a receiver configured to receive metadata from at least two sources; and

a processor configured to

process said received metadata to generate processed metadata, and

distribute said processed metadata, and wherein said processor is further configured to

develop at least a first set of inference rules based on a first concept,

review the received metadata in view of said inference rules, and

synthesize new metadata based on the applicability of said first set of inference rules to said received metadata.

32. A system for processing metadata associated with media items, said system comprising:

a receiver configured to receive metadata from at least two sources, wherein at least one of the two sources is a user device; and

a processor configured to

process said received metadata to generate processed metadata, and

distribute said processed metadata, and wherein said processor is further configured to

synthesize new metadata from metadata corresponding to usage information reported by said user device.

33. A system for processing metadata associated with media items, usable to generate an interface, said system comprising:

a receiver configured to receive metadata from at least two sources; and

a processor configured to

process said received metadata to generate processed metadata, and

to check said processed metadata and determine that if at least one error exists in said received metadata that includes inconsistencies, said processor is further configured to correct said inconsistencies in said received metadata using one or more sources and custom heuristics to catch and correct said inconsistencies.