RULE-BASED METADATA TRANSFORMATION AND AGGREGATION FOR PROGRAMS

• US 20130073574A1
• Filed: 09/21/2011
• Published: 03/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Jin, Zhiying, Yao, Xuefeng, Zhou, Haiyan
• Granted Patent: US 9,110,904 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/756
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/254 Extract, transform and load [ETL] procedures, e.g. ETL data flows in data warehouses
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A method and devices for obtaining metadata associated with programs from multiple metadata sources. Title metadata is compared to determine if any title metadata match. Transformation rules are applied to the title metadata when title metadata does not match with other title metadata. The transformation rules transform the title metadata into a common format. The title metadata is compared after transformation to determine whether the title metadata matches other title metadata. Title metadata that matches other title metadata, the metadata associated with a program is aggregated.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a device, metadata pertaining to programs originating from multiple metadata sources;

comparing, by the device, metadata of a first type from one of the metadata sources with one or more metadata of the first type from one or more others of the metadata sources;

determining, by the device, whether the compared metadata of the first type from the one of the metadata sources matches the one or more metadata of the first type from the one or more others of the metadata sources based on the comparing;

transforming, by the device, the compared metadata based on one or more transformation rules when the compared metadata does not match; and

storing, by the device, the transformed metadata, wherein the transformed metadata of the first type from the one of the metadata sources matches at least one of the one or more metadata of the first type from at least one other of the metadata sources.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing transformation rules, wherein the transformation rules include functions that include expanding, removing, moving, splitting, and replacing at least one of one or more letters, one or more numbers, one or more roman numerals, or one or more words included in the type of metadata, and the transforming comprises;

transforming the compared metadata based on one or more of the functions.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata of the first types includes a title of a program, and the method further comprising:

aggregating one or more other types of metadata associated with the transformed metadata with one or more other types of metadata associated with the at least one of the one or more metadata, wherein the aggregating comprises;

identifying a metadata type obtained from the one of the metadata sources that is not included in metadata obtained from the at least one other of the metadata sources;

identifying another metadata type obtained from the at least one other of the metadata sources that is not included in metadata obtained from the one of the metadata sources; and

combining metadata of the metadata type with metadata of the other metadata type, wherein the combined metadata includes aggregated metadata.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

publishing the aggregated metadata;

generating user interfaces that include the aggregated metadata, wherein the user interfaces are a part of at least one of a television service, a mobile service, or an Internet service that includes a delivery of programs; and

providing the generated user interfaces to users via user devices.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

aggregating one or more other types of metadata associated with the transformed metadata with one or more other types of metadata associated with the at least one of the one or more metadata, wherein the aggregating comprises;

identifying when a same metadata type is obtained from the one of the metadata sources and the at least one other of the metadata sources, wherein the same metadata type is other than title metadata;

determining which of the same metadata type to aggregate based on a quality metric; and

selecting metadata of the same metadata type from the one of the metadata sources or the at least one other of the metadata sources based on the determining.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing transformation rules; and

selecting the one or more transformation rules to use to transform the compared metadata when the compared metadata does not match.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing transformation rules pertaining to titles of programs, wherein the metadata of the first type includes a title of a program and wherein the transformation rules includes at least one of;

a first rule that expands an abbreviation of a word to a full word;

a second rule that removes a rating included in a title;

a third rule that removes a year from a title;

a fourth rule that moves articles to a beginning of a title;

a fifth rule that removes one or more words from a split title;

a sixth rule that replaces a number with a corresponding word for the number;

a seventh rule that replaces a letter or a word with an ampersand;

or

an eighth rule replaces a roman numeral with a corresponding number.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing transformation rules pertaining to titles of programs, wherein the metadata of the first type includes a title of a program and wherein the transformation rules includes at least one of;

a first rule that removes an article from a title;

a second rule that removes a special character from a title;

a third rule that removes a space in a title;

a fourth rule that removes a person'"'"'s name from a title;

a fifth rule that replaces an accented letter in a title with an unaccented letter;

or

a sixth rule that removes edition information from a title.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transforming another type of metadata based on one or more transformation rules, wherein the other type of metadata pertains to cast information or crew information associated with a program.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

storing transformation rules pertaining to cast information or crew information, wherein the transformation rules includes at least one of;

a first rule that ignores certain parts of a name including a middle name, a middle initial, a prefix, and a suffix;

a second rule that reverse an order of a first name and a last name;

or

a third rule that replaces a name that includes an accent with a corresponding name without the accent.

11. A device comprising:

a communication interface;

one or more memories that store instructions; and

one or more processors to execute the instructions and configure the one or more processors to;

obtain metadata pertaining to programs originating from multiple metadata sources;

compare metadata of a first type from one of the metadata sources with one or more metadata of the first type from one or more others of the metadata sources;

determine whether the compared metadata of the first type from the one of the metadata sources matches the one or more metadata of the first type from the one or more others of the metadata sources based on the comparing;

transform the compared metadata based on one or more transformation rules when the compared metadata does not match; and

store the transformed metadata, wherein the transformed metadata of the first type from the one of the metadata sources matches at least one of the one or more metadata of the first type from at least one other of the metadata sources.

12. The device of claim 11, further comprising:

a storage to store transformation rules, wherein the transformation rules includes functions that include expanding, removing, moving, splitting, and replacing at least one of one or more letters, one or more numbers, one or more roman numerals, or one or more words included in the type of metadata, and wherein when transforming the compared metadata, the one or more processors further execute the instructions and configure the one or more processors to;

transform the compared metadata based on one or more of the functions.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions and configure the one or more processors to:

aggregate one or more other types of metadata associated with the transformed metadata with one or more other types of metadata associated with the at least one of the one or more metadata, wherein the aggregating comprises;

identify a metadata type obtained from the one of the metadata sources that is not included in metadata obtained from the at least one other of the metadata sources;

identify another metadata type obtained from the at least one other of the metadata sources that is not included in metadata obtained from the one of the metadata sources; and

combine metadata of the metadata type with metadata of the other metadata type, wherein the combined metadata includes aggregated metadata.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein when aggregating the one or more processors further execute the instructions and configure the one or more processors to:

identify when a same metadata type is obtained from the one of the metadata sources and the at least one other of the metadata sources, wherein the same metadata type is other than title metadata;

determine which of the same metadata type to aggregate based on a quality metric; and

select metadata of the same metadata type from the one of the metadata sources or the at least one other of the metadata sources based on the determining.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions and configure the one or more processors to:

identify when a same metadata type is obtained from the one of the metadata sources and the at least one other of the metadata sources, wherein the same metadata type is other than title metadata;

identify differences between metadata associated the same metadata type; and

generate metadata based on a combining of metadata associated with the same metadata type.

16. The device of claim 11, wherein the programs include movies and the type of metadata includes titles of the movies, and the one or more processors further execute the instructions and configure the one or more processors to:

aggregate other types of metadata associated the compared metadata when the compared metadata match.

17. A device comprising:

a communication interface;

one or more memories that store instructions; and

one or more processors to execute the instructions and configure the one or more processors to;

obtain, via the communication interface, metadata pertaining to programs originating from multiple metadata sources of multiple other devices;

compare title metadata associated with the programs;

determine whether title metadata match based on the comparing;

apply one or more transformation rules to title metadata when title metadata does not match with at least one other title metadata;

compare the applied title metadata to the at least one other title metadata;

store the applied title metadata when the applied title metadata matches the at least one other title metadata; and

aggregate one or more other types of metadata associated with the applied title metadata with one or more other types of metadata associated with the at least one other title metadata.

18. The device of claim 17, further comprising:

a storage to store transformation rules, wherein the transformation rules includes functions that include expanding, removing, moving, splitting, and replacing at least one a letter, a number, a roman numeral, or a word included in the title metadata, and wherein when applying the one or more transformation rules, the one or more processors further execute the instructions and configure the one or more processors to;

transform the title metadata based on one or more of the functions.

19. The device of claim 17, further comprising:

a storage that stores a database of aggregated metadata.

20. The device of claim 17, wherein when aggregating, the one or more processors further execute instructions and configure the one or more processors to:

identify when a same metadata type is obtained from two or more metadata sources pertaining to a same or a similar program, wherein the same metadata type is other than title metadata;

determine which of the same metadata type to aggregate based on a quality metric that includes a word count; and

select metadata of the same metadata type from one of the two or more metadata sources based on the determining.