System and method for searching multimedia

• US 9,519,645 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2014
• Issued: 12/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roku, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Silicon Valley Bank (SVB Financial Group)
• Inventors: Funk, Jim, Noffsinger, Brandon
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): NEWLIN, TIMOTHY R
• Application Number:
  US14/536,339
• Publication Number:
  US 20150066913A1
• Time in Patent Office: 767 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24565 Triggers; Constraints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/43 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/237 Communication with additional data server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4668 for recommending content, e.g. movies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47208 for requesting near-video-on-demand content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 represented by keywords

Abstract

A system and method for intelligent content searching is disclosed herein. The system saves all searches executed by the user and periodically re-executes one or more of the previously saved searches and display the subsequent search results to the user at an appropriate time without any user intervention. In one aspect, the system periodically re-executes one or more of the previously saved searches upon the occurrence of a trigger event, which may be trending events, news events, type of menus and/or screens accessed, new content being added on one or more service providers, a boot event, passage of time since last search, etc. In this way, users do not need to set alert or follow any search topic.

Claims

1. A non-transitory processor-readable medium having stored therein one or more instructions operational on a client device, which when executed by a processor the instructions cause the processor to:

receive at least one keyword from a client device;

perform a first search for content using the at least one keyword;

send a first search results of the first search to a user device for display;

automatically store the first search including the at least one keyword;

perform a subsequent search of the stored first search using at least the stored at least one keyword upon an occurrence of a trigger event, wherein the trigger event is triggered upon determining that a user has been browsing channels without playing programming content for a period of time beyond a predetermined threshold;

automatically send subsequent search results of the subsequent search to the user device for display; and

display at least some of the search results responsive to receive command input from the user device.

2. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the client device and the user device are the same device.

3. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the client device and the user device are different devices.

4. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the occurrence of a trigger event is caused by programming content being added to one or more of a plurality of content servers.

5. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to automatically display at least one or more of the subsequent search results on the display screen while the user is browsing the channels.

6. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to initiate a search screen and display at least one or more of the subsequent results in the search screen, wherein the search screen allows a user to enter one or more search terms.

7. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the programming content is played based upon a user selection of a programming option.

8. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the programming content comprises a television show, movie, or news event.

9. A method for searching content comprising:

sending at least one keyword to a remote server;

receiving a first search results based on the at least one keyword;

displaying the first search results on a display screen of a local device;

automatically receiving subsequent search results associated with at least the first search based on at least the at least one keyword upon an occurrence of a trigger event, wherein the trigger event is triggered upon determining that a user has been browsing channels without playing programming content for a period of time beyond a predetermined threshold; and

automatically displaying the subsequent search results on the display screen of the local device; and

displaying at least some of the search results responsive to receiving command input from the local device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the local device and the user device are the same device.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the local device and the user device are different devices.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the occurrence of a trigger event is caused by programming content being added to one or more of a plurality of content servers.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the automatically displaying comprises displaying at least one or more of the subsequent search results on the display screen while the user is browsing the channels.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the automatically displaying comprises initiating a search screen and displaying at least one or more of the subsequent results in the search screen, wherein the search screen allows a user to enter one or more search terms.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the programming content is played based upon a user selection of a programming option.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the programming content comprises a television show or movie.