Search assistant for digital media assets

• US 8,364,694 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2007
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Sponsoring Entity: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Volkert, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Spieler, William
• APPLICATION: US 20090112647A1
• Time in patent office: 1922 Days
• Field of Search: 705/706, 707/999.206, 707/767
• US Class Current: 707/767
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/632 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/73 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90324 using system suggestions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90344 by using string matching techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations

Abstract

Techniques and systems for facilitating searching of digital media assets are disclosed. In one embodiment, a user can be assisted in entering search strings for searching a media repository (e.g., online media store) having a plurality of digital media assets that are available, e.g., available for purchase. As media assets are purchased from the media repository, popularity indications for such digital media assets can be adjusted. When the user enters a search character, a list of possible complete search strings corresponding to digital media assets available in the media repository can be obtained over a network and presented to the user.

Claims

1. A method for processing a search string to be used in searching for digital media information, the digital media information pertaining to digital media assets, said method comprising:

receiving, over a network at an online media store, at least one search character entered at a client device;

determining a set of words that match the at least one search character, each word in the determined set of words being associated with one or more digital media assets available at the online media store and each digital media asset having an associated media type;

for each respective word in the determined set of words;

determining whether the client device supports the media type of at least one of the one or more digital media assets associated with the respective word in the determined set of words;

in accordance with a determination that the client device does not support the media type associated with any of the one or more digital media assets associated with the respective word, removing the respective word from the determined set of words to produce a filtered set of words;

obtaining sales popularity data for each of the digital media assets that match the at least one word in the filtered set of words, wherein the sales popularity data is based on purchase data for each of the digital media assets; and

ordering the filtered set of words to prioritize the words based on the sales popularity data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing words from the set of words that are unavailable to the client device due to the geographic location of the client device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital media information pertains to digital media assets available from an online media repository, and wherein the online media repository is an online media store.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the sales popularity data pertains to popularity of the digital media assets corresponding to the filtered set of words as determined based on sales of the digital media assets at the online media store.

5. A method for searching for digital media information available from an online media store, said method comprising:

receiving a search hints request from a client application operating on a client device, the search hints request including at least a character string including at least one character;

determining a set of search hints based on the character string, wherein said determining of the set of search hints obtains the matching search hints from a hints data structure and wherein the set of search hints correspond to digital media assets available in an online media repository and at least sales popularity data;

obtaining a location of the client device;

eliminating from the set of search hints those of the search hints in the set of search hints that are associated with a location other than the location of the client device;

obtaining a media popularity indication for each of a plurality of the search hints in the set of search hints; and

sending a portion of the search hints in the set of search hints to the client application on the client device, the portion of the search hints sent to the client application being less than all the search hints in the set of search hints.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the location is a country.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said method further comprises:

limiting the number of search hints remaining in the set of search hints.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the client device supports one or more media types, and

wherein said determining of the set of search hints comprises:

determining a set of search hints that match the character string;

for each respective search hint in the determined set of search hints;

determining whether the client device supports a media type of at least one of the one or more digital media assets associated with the respective search hint in the determined set of search hints;

in accordance with a determination that the client device does not support the media type associated with any of the one or more digital media assets associated with the respective search hint, removing the respective search hint from the determined set of search hints.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the media popularity indication is based on sales, previews, downloads, ratings, and rankings of each of the plurality of search hints in the set of search hints.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein said method further comprises:

prior to said sending, ordering the search hints in the set of search hints based on the media popularity indications.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said ordering of the search hints in the set of search hints based on the media popularity indications comprises sorting the search hints in the set of search hints based on the respective media popularity indications.

12. The method of claim 5,

wherein the digital media information pertains to digital media assets available in an online media store, and

wherein the media popularity indication for a particular one of the search hints pertains to popularity of the corresponding digital media asset with respect to the online media store.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a server system, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

receiving a search hints request, the search hints request including at least a character string including at least one character;

determining a set of search hints based on the character string, each search hint in the set of search hints being associated with one or more digital media assets available from the online media store and each digital media asset having an associated media type;

for each respective search hint in the determined set of search hints;

determining whether the client device supports the media type of at least one of the one or more digital media assets associated with the respective search hint in the determined set of search hints;

in accordance with a determination that the client device does not support the media type associated with any of the one or more digital media assets associated with the respective search hint, removing the respective search hint from the determined set of search hints;

obtaining a media popularity indication for each of a plurality of the search hints in the set of search hints;

prioritizing each of the plurality of the search hints in the set of search hints based on the media popularity indication, the media popularity indication based on purchase data for the digital media assets; and

selecting a subset of the search hints having the highest media popularity indications; and

sending the subset of the search hints.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13,

wherein the digital media information pertains to digital media assets available in an online media store, and

wherein the media popularity indication for a particular one of the search hints pertains to popularity of the corresponding digital media asset with respect to the online media store.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the media popularity indication is based on sales, previews, downloads, ratings, and rankings of each of the plurality of search hints in the set of search hints.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:

prior to said sending, ordering the search hints in the set of search hints based on the media popularity indications.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein said ordering of the search hints in the set of search hints based on the media popularity indications comprises sorting the search hints in the set of search hints based on the respective media popularity indications.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the search hints request is issued by a client device, wherein the client device supports one or more media types, and

wherein the instructions for determining of the set of search hints further comprise instructions for:

obtaining a country in which the client device is located; and

eliminating from the set of search hints those of the search hints in the set of search hints that are associated with a country other than the country associated with the client device.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:

limiting the number of search hints remaining in the set of search hints.

20. A server system for hosting an online media store for a plurality of digital media assets, comprising

one or more processors;

memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors;

the one or more programs comprising instructions for;

receiving at least one search character entered at a client device;

determining a set of search hints that match the at least one search character, each search hint in the determined set of words being associated with one or more digital media assets available at the online media store and each digital media asset having an associated media type;

for each respective word in the determined set of search hints;

determining whether the client device supports the media type of at least one of the one or more digital media assets associated with the respective search hint in the determined set of search hints;

in accordance with a determination that the client device does not support the media type associated with any of the one or more digital media assets associated with the respective word, removing the respective search hint from the determined set of search hints;

obtaining sales popularity data for each of the digital media assets that match the at least one search hint in the filtered set of search hints, wherein the sales popularity data is based on purchase data for each of the digital media assets; and

ordering the set of search hints using the sales popularity data, the sales popularity data being based on the frequency at which purchases of respective digital media assets occur.

21. The server system of claim 20, wherein the search hints are ordered using media popularity indications, the media popularity indications being based on previews, downloads, ratings, and rankings of respective digital media assets.

22. The server system of claim 20, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:

selecting a subset of the search hints having the highest media popularity indications;

sending the subset of the search hints.

23. The server system of claim 20, wherein said ordering the set of search hints using the sales popularity data comprises sorting the search hints in the set of search hints based on the sales popularity data.

24. The server system of claim 20, wherein the sales popularity data for a particular one of the search hints pertains to popularity of the corresponding digital media asset with respect to the online media store.

25. The server system of claim 20, wherein the search hints request is issued by a client device, wherein the client device supports one or more media types, and

wherein the instructions for determining of the set of search hints further comprise instructions for:

obtaining a location of the client device; and

eliminating from the set of search hints those of the search hints in the set of search hints that are associated with a location other than the location of the client device.

26. The server system of claim 25, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:

limiting the number of search hints remaining in the set of search hints.