METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SEARCHING MEDIA PROGRAM DATABASES

• US 20100185646A1
• Filed: 01/09/2009
• Published: 07/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hulu LLC (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Hulu LLC (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Tang, Yizhe, Chang, Qian, Wang, Zhibing, Yang, Ting-hao
• Granted Patent: US 8,108,393 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/765
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7867 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title and artist information, manually generated time, location and usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/913 Multimedia

Abstract

A method, apparatus, article of manufacture for providing list of a plurality of media programs responsive to a user search query is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of accepting an general search query from a user computer, identifying a synonym for the general search query, identifying a category for the general search query according to the identified synonym, performing a categorical search of a media program database using the identified synonym and the identified category to obtain a search result, and transmitting the search result to the user computer for presentation on a display communicatively coupled to the user computer.

Claims

1. A method of providing list of a plurality of media programs responsive to a user search query, comprising the steps of:

accepting an general search query from a user computer;

identifying a synonym for the general search query;

identifying a category for the general search query according to the identified synonym;

performing a categorical search of a media program database using the identified synonym and the identified category to obtain a search result; and

transmitting the search result to the user computer for presentation on a display communicatively coupled to the user computer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying a synonym for the general search query comprises the step of:

searching a list having a plurality of synonyms.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of synonyms is generated by performing steps prior to the step of accepting an general search query from the user, the steps comprising the steps of:

accepting a plurality of previous general search queries from further users;

presenting a plurality of previous search results to the further users, each of the previous search results responsive to the corresponding previous general search queries, and each search result comprising a plurality of hotlinks, each hotlink associated with a media program responsive to the respective general search query;

accepting a selection of one of the plurality of hotlinks for each of the plurality of search results;

associating each of the previous general search queries with the media program associated with the respective one of the plurality of selected hotlinks; and

identifying at least one of the previous general search queries as a synonym for the media program if a percentage of previous general search queries are associated with the media program.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of synonyms is generated by performing steps prior to the step of accepting an general search query from the user, the steps comprising the steps of:

accepting a plurality of previous general search queries from the user;

presenting a plurality of previous search results to the user, each of the previous search results responsive to the corresponding previous general search queries, and each search result comprising a plurality of hotlinks, each hotlink associated with a media program responsive to the respective general search query;

accepting a selection of one of the plurality of hotlinks for each of the plurality of search results;

associating each of the previous general search queries with the media program associated with the respective one of the plurality of selected hotlinks; and

identifying at least one of the previous general search queries as a synonym for the media program if a percentage of previous general search queries are associated with the media program.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified category is selected from the group comprising a media program title category and a media program performer category.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of presenting the search result on the display.

7. An apparatus for providing list of a plurality of media programs responsive to a user search query, comprising:

means for accepting an general search query from a user computer;

means for identifying a synonym for the general search query;

means for identifying a category for the general search query according to the identified synonym;

means for performing a categorical search of a media program database using the identified synonym and the identified category to obtain a search result; and

means for transmitting the search result to the user computer for presentation on a display communicatively coupled to the user computer.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the means for identifying a synonym for the general search query comprises means for searching a list having a plurality of synonyms.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

means for accepting a plurality of previous general search queries from further users;

means for presenting a plurality of previous search results to the further users, each of the previous search results responsive to the corresponding previous general search queries, and each search result comprising a plurality of hotlinks, each hotlink associated with a media program responsive to the respective general search query;

means for accepting a selection of one of the plurality of hotlinks for each of the plurality of search results;

means for associating each of the previous general search queries with the media program associated with the respective one of the plurality of selected hotlinks; and

means for identifying at least one of the previous general search queries as a synonym for the media program if a percentage of previous general search queries are associated with the media program.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

means for accepting a plurality of previous general search queries from the user;

means for presenting a plurality of previous search results to the user, each of the previous search results responsive to the corresponding previous general search queries, and each search result comprising a plurality of hotlinks, each hotlink associated with a media program responsive to the respective general search query;

means for accepting a selection of one of the plurality of hotlinks for each of the plurality of search results; and

means for associating each of the previous general search queries with the media program associated with the respective one of the plurality of selected hotlinks; and

identifying at least one of the previous general search queries as a synonym for the media program if a percentage of previous general search queries are associated with the media program.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the identified category is selected from the group comprising a media program title category and a media program performer category.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising means for presenting the search result on the display.

13. A program storage device, readable by a computer, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps of providing list of a plurality of media programs responsive to a user search query, the method steps comprising the steps of:

accepting an general search query from a user computer;

identifying a synonym for the general search query;

identifying a category for the general search query according to the identified synonym;

performing a categorical search of a media program database using the identified synonym and the identified category to obtain a search result; and

transmitting the search result to the user computer for presentation on a display communicatively coupled to the user computer.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of identifying a synonym for the general search query comprises the step of:

searching a list having a plurality of synonyms.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of synonyms is generated by performing steps prior to the step of accepting an general search query from the user, the steps comprising the steps of:

accepting a plurality of previous general search queries from further users;

presenting a plurality of previous search results to the further users, each of the previous search results responsive to the corresponding previous general search queries, and each search result comprising a plurality of hotlinks, each hotlink associated with a media program responsive to the respective general search query;

accepting a selection of one of the plurality of hotlinks for each of the plurality of search results;

associating each of the previous general search queries with the media program associated with the respective one of the plurality of selected hotlinks; and

identifying at least one of the previous general search queries as a synonym for the media program if a percentage of previous general search queries are associated with the media program.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of synonyms is generated by performing steps prior to the step of accepting an general search query from the user, the steps comprising the steps of:

accepting a plurality of previous general search queries from the user;

presenting a plurality of previous search results to the user, each of the previous search results responsive to the corresponding previous general search queries, and each search result comprising a plurality of hotlinks, each hotlink associated with a media program responsive to the respective general search query;

accepting a selection of one of the plurality of hotlinks for each of the plurality of search results;

associating each of the previous general search queries with the media program associated with the respective one of the plurality of selected hotlinks; and

identifying at least one of the previous general search queries as a synonym for the media program if a percentage of previous general search queries are associated with the media program.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the identified category is selected from the group comprising a media program title category and a media program performer category.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of presenting the search result on the display.