Displaying Estimated Social Interest in Time-based Media

• US 20110041080A1
• Filed: 07/16/2010
• Published: 02/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bluefin Labs, Inc. (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Bluefin Lab, Inc. (X Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Fleischman, Michael Ben, Roy, Deb Kumar
• Granted Patent: US 8,516,374 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• 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 16/7867 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 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

Social media content items are mapped to relevant time-based media events. These mappings may be used as the basis for multiple applications, such as ranking of search results for time-based media, automatic recommendations for time-based media, prediction of audience interest for media purchasing/planning, and estimating social interest in the time-based media. Social interest in time-based media (e.g., video and audio streams and recordings) segments is estimated through a process of data ingestion and integration. The estimation process determines social interest in specific events represented as segments in time-based media, such as particular plays in a sporting event, scenes in a television show, or advertisements in an advertising block. The resulting estimates of social interest also can be graphically displayed.

Claims

1. A computer-executed method for displaying social interest in time-based media events, the method comprising:

selecting a series of events occurring in a time-based medium, each event associated with one of a series of chronological time segments in the time based medium;

for each event associated with one of the time segments, determining a level of social interest in the event from a plurality of social media content items that are relevant to the event;

for each of the time segments, determining a level of social interest in the time segment based upon an aggregate level of social interest in the events aligned with the time segment; and

graphically displaying the level of social interest in each time segment.

2. The computer-executed method of claim 1, wherein graphically displaying each time segment comprises displaying different event types such that the different event types each are visually distinct.

3. The computer-executed method of claim 1, further comprising filtering the time segments according to a search term, wherein the graphically displaying displays only a subset of the series of chronological time segments corresponding to the search term.

4. The computer-executed method of claim 1, wherein graphically displaying each time segment comprises:

determining a first portion of the segment corresponding to a positive sentiment;

determining a second portion of the segment correspond to a negative sentiment; and

displaying the segment with the first and second portions of the segment visually distinguished from each other.

5. The computer-executed method of claim 1, further comprising determining a confidence score indicative of the probability that the plurality of candidate social media content items are relevant to the event, further comprising:

extracting event features from annotations associated with the event;

extracting social media features from the plurality of social media content items; and

mapping the event to the social media content items based on a relationship between the event features and social media features.

6. The computer-executed method of claim 1, further comprising annotating the event with the annotations using metadata instances relevant to the event.

7. A tangible computer readable medium storing a computer program executable by a processor, the computer program producing a user interface of a social interest estimation system, the user interface comprising:

a social interest heat map area for displaying a social interest heat map showing levels of social interest for a plurality of events corresponding to a series of chronological time segments in a time-based medium;

a media display area, visually distinguished from and concurrently displayed with the social interest heat map area, for displaying an event selected from the social interest heat map; and

a social media display area, visually distinguished from and concurrently displayed with the social interest heat map and media display areas, for displaying social media content items for the selected event.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the social interest heat map area displays different event types such that the different event types each are visually distinct.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the user interface further comprises a field for filtering the time segments according to a search term, wherein the social interest heat map area displays only a subset of the series of segments corresponding to the search term.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein each time segment comprises a first portion of the segment corresponding to positive sentiment that is visually distinguished from a second portion of the segment corresponding to negative sentiment.

11. A system for displaying social interest in time-based media events, the system comprising:

means for selecting a series of events occurring in a time-based medium, each event associated with one of a series of chronological time segments in the time based medium;

means for determining for each event associated with one of the time segments a level of social interest in the event from a plurality of social media content items that are relevant to the event;

means for determining for each of the time segments a level of social interest in the time segment based upon an aggregate level of social interest in the events aligned with the time segment; and

means for graphically displaying the level of social interest in each time segment.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein graphically displaying each time segment comprises displaying different event types such that the different event types each are visually distinct.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for filtering the time segments according to a search term, wherein the graphically displaying displays only a subset of the series of chronological time segments corresponding to the search term.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the means for graphically displaying each time segment comprises:

means for determining a first portion of the segment corresponding to a positive sentiment;

means for determining a second portion of the segment correspond to a negative sentiment; and

means for displaying the segment with the first and second portions of the segment visually distinguished from each other.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for determining a confidence score indicative of the probability that the plurality of candidate social media content items are relevant to the event, further comprising:

means for extracting event features from annotations associated with the event;

means for extracting social media features from the plurality of social media content items; and

means for mapping the event to the social media content items based on a relationship between the event features and social media features.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for annotating the event with the annotations using metadata instances relevant to the event.

17. A system for displaying social interest in time-based media events, the system comprising:

a computer processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing computer program modules configured to execute on the computer processor, the computer program modules comprising;

a multimedia store configured to store a series of events occurring in a time-based medium, each event associated with one of a series of chronological time segments in the time based medium;

social interest estimator configured to determine for each event associated with one of the time segments a level of social interest in the event from a plurality of social media content items that are relevant to the event and to determine for each of the time segments a level of social interest in the time segment based upon an aggregate level of social interest in the events aligned with the time segment; and

a user interface engine configured to graphically display the level of social interest in each time segment.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the graphical display of each time segment comprises displaying different event types such that the different event types each are visually distinct.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising a domain ontology engine configured to filter the time segments according to a search term, wherein the graphical display displays only a subset of the series of chronological time segments corresponding to the search term.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising an annotation engine configured to annotate the event with the annotations using metadata instances relevant to the event.