System and method for delivering content to a communication device in a content delivery system

• US 8,412,687 B1
• Filed: 02/27/2012
• Issued: 04/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ruzon, Mark A., Menon, Keshav, Ramkumar, Gurumurthy D., Tanguay, Donald, Bhattacharyya, Supratik, Bhargava, Gautam
• Primary Examiner(s): Ly, Anh
• Application Number:
  US13/406,308
• Time in Patent Office: 400 Days
• Field of Search: 707/758, 707/770, 707/706, 707/914, 707/913, 707/999.006, 707/E17.023, 707/E17.02, 707/E17.001, 707/E17.028, 707/E17.009, 707/E17.107, 707/694, 707/769, 709/227, 709/205, 709/238, 709/246, 709/219, 709/223, 709/225, 725/41, 725/62, 725/113, 455/406, 455/466, 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/414.3, 455/414.4, 455/403, 705/14
• US Class Current: 707/694
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/532 Query formulation, e.g. graphical querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method, system, and a computer program product for delivering content to a communication device, in response to an image sent by the communication device. The received image is matched with a plurality of images, and, when a match is found for the received image, content corresponding to the image is delivered to the communication device. The plurality of images is stored in an image database, and the corresponding content is stored in a content repository. The present invention enables a content provider to automatically update the image database and the content repository without any human intervention.

Claims

1. A system for delivering media to a communication device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory device including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

produce at least one of a media file or at least one image associated with the media file;

cause the at least one image to be stored in an image data store configured to store a plurality of images and the media file to be stored in a content data store configured to store a plurality of media files;

enable at least one of creation of additional image data stores, creation of additional content data stores, addition of at least one additional image to a respective image data store, addition of at least one additional media file to a respective content data store, removal of at least one image from a respective image data store, or removal of at least one media file from a respective content data store;

receive a request for content from a communication device, the request for content including a request image;

compare the received request image to the at least one image stored in the image data store;

deliver a copy of the media file associated with the matching image to the communication device when the received image is determined to match one of the at least one image stored in the image data store;

store information associated with the request to a transaction log; and

generate, based at least in part upon the information stored in the transaction log, a transaction report for tracking user interest in the content.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the image received from the communication device was captured by a digital camera of the communication device or downloaded from at least one network.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the image received from the communication device is one of a product, a newspaper article, a book cover, and a movie poster.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the media file includes at least one of a text message, a still image, a video clip, and an audio clip.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory device further includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

deliver a response to the communication device when the received image does not match any image of the plurality of images.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is operated by a provider of at one of the at least one image and the at least one media file.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the provider is one of a movie studio, a production studio, and a publishing company.

8. A computer implemented method of delivering a video file to a user, comprising:

creating at least one of a video file or at least one image associated with the video file;

causing the at least one image to be stored in an image data store and the video file to be stored in a content data store;

enabling at least one of creation of additional image data stores, creation of additional content data stores, addition of at least one additional image to a respective image data store, addition of at least one additional media file to a respective content data store, removal of at least one image from a respective image data store, or removal of at least one media file from a respective content data store;

mapping, using at least one processor of at least one computing device, the at least one image to an identifier for the video file;

providing, using the at least one processor of the at least one computing device, the at least one image and the identifier to a recognition component, the recognition component capable of matching user submitted images to the at least one image stored in the image data store;

receiving a request that includes the identifier, in response to the matching of a user submitted image;

delivering the at least one video file to the user;

storing information associated with the request to a transaction log; and

generating, based at least in part upon the information stored in the transaction log, a transaction report for tracking user interest in the at least one video.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the user submitted image was captured by a digital camera of a communication device or downloaded from at least one network.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, wherein the user submitted image is of one of a product, a newspaper article, an advertisement, a book, and a movie poster.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

delivering a response to the user when the user submitted image does not match any image of the at least one image.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the recognition component is operated by a provider of at least one of the at least one image and the at least one video file.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 12, wherein the provider is one of a movie studio and a production studio.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the recognition component is operated by an entity other than a provider of the at least one image and the at least one piece of content.

15. A computer implemented method of making content available to a user, comprising:

identifying at least one image and a piece of content to make available to a user, the at least one image being representative of the piece of content;

mapping, using at least one processor of at least one computing device, the at least one image to the piece of content;

enabling submission of at least one additional image to a respective image data store or at least one additional media file to a respective content data store;

enabling removal of at least one image from a respective image data store or removal of at least one media file from a respective content data store;

providing, using the at least one processor of the at least one computing device, the at least one image and the one piece of content to a delivery system, the delivery system capable of providing the piece of content to a user submitting an image determined to match one of the at least one image, capable of storing information associated with providing the piece of content to the user to a transaction log, and generating a transaction report for tracking user interest in the piece of content based at least in part upon the information stored in the transaction log.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 15, wherein the user submitted image was captured by a digital camera of a communication device or downloaded from at least one network.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 16, wherein the user submitted image is of one of a product, a newspaper article, an advertisement, a book, and a movie poster.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 15, wherein the delivery system is operated by a provider of at least one of the at least one image and the at least one piece of content.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 18, wherein the provider is one of a movie studio, production studio, and a publishing company.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 15, wherein the delivery system is operated by an entity other than a provider of the at least one image and the at least one piece of content.

21. A computer program product embedded in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and including processor-executable instructions for providing media by a content provider for delivery of content to a communication device, the method comprising:

program code for producing a media file and at least one image associated with the media file;

program code for enabling at least one of creation of additional image data stores, creation of additional content data stores, addition of at least one additional image to a respective image data store, addition of at least one additional media file to a respective content data store, removal of at least one image from a respective image data store, or removal of at least one media file from a respective content data store;

program code for causing the at least one image to be stored in an image data store and at least one piece of media to be stored in a content data store;

program code for receiving an image from a communication device;

program code for determining whether the received image matches any image of the at least one image in the image data store;

program code for delivering the at least one piece of media to the communication device if a matching image is found;

program code for storing information associated with the request to a transaction log; and

program code for generating, based at least in part upon the information stored in the transaction log, a transaction report for tracking user interest in the at least one piece of media.

22. A computer program product according to claim 21, wherein the matching image was captured by a digital camera of a communication device or downloaded from at least one network.

23. A computer program product according to claim 21, wherein the matching image is one of a product, a newspaper article, an advertisement, a book, and a movie poster.

24. A computer program product according to claim 21, wherein further comprising:

delivering a response to the communication device when the received image does not match any image of the at least one images.