U.S. patent application number 13/051991 was filed with the patent office on 2011-07-07 for systems and methods for providing advanced information searching in an interactive media guidance application.
This patent application is currently assigned to United Video Properties, Inc.. Invention is credited to David Bovenschulte, Jay S. Bryant, Edgar Fereira, Robin Haffner.
Application Number | 20110167084 13/051991 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42166064 |
Filed Date | 2011-07-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110167084 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Bovenschulte; David ; et
al. |
July 7, 2011 |
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING ADVANCED INFORMATION SEARCHING IN
AN INTERACTIVE MEDIA GUIDANCE APPLICATION
Abstract
The present invention relates to an interactive media guidance
application that provides improved searching functionality for
media information, such as media program listings, media
programming information, celebrity information, and other related
media information. Search objects may be defined in the
entertainment context and applied to media information to enable
efficient searching. Different types of media information may be
categorized to enable proper organization of search results. A
search object query may be performed based on a user entered search
expression and the results may be a vertical slice through the
organized categories of media information. User submitted tags may
also be applied to the media information and used to search the
media information. Atomic searching may be enabled for more generic
search expressions, whereby an atomic search object is associated
with a personalized atomic search algorithm comprised of individual
searches. The search algorithm is determined by receiving both user
metrics and editorial input. Context sensitive searching may also
be provided by defining search objects with different context
settings and determining a context setting of the user initiated
search.
Inventors: |
Bovenschulte; David; (River
Vale, NJ) ; Fereira; Edgar; (Stamford, CT) ;
Haffner; Robin; (New York, NY) ; Bryant; Jay S.;
(West Windsor, NJ) |
Assignee: |
United Video Properties,
Inc.
Santa Clara
CA
|
Family ID: |
42166064 |
Appl. No.: |
13/051991 |
Filed: |
March 18, 2011 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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12568403 |
Sep 28, 2009 |
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13051991 |
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11479745 |
Jun 30, 2006 |
7890490 |
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12568403 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
707/769 ;
707/E17.014 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0257 20130101;
G06Q 30/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/769 ;
707/E17.014 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30 |
Claims
1-16. (canceled)
17. A method for organizing media information search results in an
interactive media guidance application, the method comprising:
receiving a search expression from a user input interface;
generating a search term based on the search expression, wherein
the search term is different than the search expression;
identifying media information based on the search term, wherein the
media information is organized in a plurality of categories;
generating for display the identified media information as a first
plurality of media information search results; receiving a
selection of one or more of the plurality of categories from the
user input interface; and generating for display the identified
media information as a second plurality of media information search
results based on the selection.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of categories are
based on one or more media program listings, media programming
information, media personality information, and related media
information.
19. The method of claim 17, wherein the identifying comprises
identifying media information that includes the text of the search
expression.
20. The method of claim 17, wherein the media information is
associated with at least one search object stored in a database of
search objects, wherein the at least one search object is relevant
to the media information, wherein the search objects differ from
the plurality of categories, and wherein the generating the search
term comprises: determining whether a portion of the search
expression matches one of the search objects stored in the
database; and when the search expression matches one of the search
objects stored in the database, generating the search term based on
the matching search object.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the search objects are based on
one or more titles of media programs and names of celebrities.
22. The method of claim 20, further comprising associating the
media information with the at least one search object stored in the
database of search objects based on at least one of automatically
associating the media information with the at least one search
object and editorially associating the media information with the
at least one search object.
23. The method of claim 20, further comprising: querying the user
whether to perform a search object-based search or a text-based
search using the search expression; receiving a user indication to
perform one of the search object-based search or the text-based
search using the search expression; and generating the search term
according to the user indication.
24. The method of claim 20, wherein the generating the search term
comprises generating the search term based on an atomic search
process.
25. The method of claim 17, wherein the receiving the search
expression comprises receiving the search expression over an
Internet communications link.
26. The method of claim 17, further comprising: displaying the
first plurality of media information search results on a user
equipment device; and displaying the second plurality of media
information search results on the user equipment device.
27. A system for organizing media information search results in an
interactive media guidance application, the system comprising: a
database of media information, wherein the media information is
organized in a plurality of categories; and electronic processing
equipment coupled to the database of media information, the
electronic processing equipment configured to: receive a search
expression from a user input interface; generate a search term
based on the search expression, wherein the search term is
different than the search expression; identify media information
based on the search term; generate for display the identified media
information as a first plurality of media information search
results; receive a selection of one or more of the plurality of
categories from the user input interface; and generate for display
the identified media information as a second plurality of media
information search results based on the selection.
28. The system of claim 27, wherein the plurality of categories are
based on one or more media program listings, media programming
information, media personality information, and related media
information.
29. The system of claim 27, wherein the electronic processing
equipment is further configured to identify media information that
includes the text of the search expression.
30. The system of claim 27, further comprising a database of search
objects coupled to the electronic processing equipment, wherein the
media information is associated with at least one search object
stored in the database of search objects, wherein the at least one
search object is relevant to the media information, wherein the
search objects differ from the plurality of categories, and wherein
the electronic processing equipment is further configured to:
determine whether a portion of the search expression matches one of
the search objects stored in the database; and when the search
expression matches one of the search objects stored in the
database, generate the search term based on the matching search
object.
31. The system of claim 30, wherein the search objects are based on
one or more titles of media programs and names of celebrities.
32. The system of claim 30, wherein the electronic processing
equipment is further configured to associate the media information
with the at least one search object stored in the database of
search objects based on at least one of automatically associating
the media information with the at least one search object and
editorially associating the media information with the at least one
search object.
33. The system of claim 30, wherein the electronic processing
equipment is further configured to: query the user whether to
perform a search object-based search or a text-based search using
the search expression; receive a user indication to perform one of
the search object-based search or the text-based search using the
search expression; and generate the search term according to the
user indication.
34. The system of claim 27, wherein the electronic processing
equipment is further configured to generate the search term based
on an atomic search process.
35. The system of claim 27, wherein the electronic processing
equipment is further configured to receive the search expression
over an Internet communications link.
36. The system of claim 27, wherein the electronic processing
equipment is further configured to: display the first plurality of
media information search results on a user equipment device; and
display the second plurality of media information search results on
the user equipment device.
Description
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to interactive media guidance
applications, and more particularly, improved functionalities for
searching media information in a guidance application.
[0002] The amount of media information available to users in any
given media guidance application may be substantial. Commonly
available media information includes media program listings, media
programming information, information on media personalities, and
related media information such as video clips, photographs,
articles, etc. In view of the large amount of media information
available to users, much of which may not be media program listing
information, many users desire a form of media guidance that
enables efficient and intuitive searching of all categories of
media information (e.g., to obtain media program listings and other
related media information) and that returns personalized search
results of a useful quantity.
[0003] Therefore, it would be desirable to extend the search
functionality to media information other than media program
listings.
[0004] It would also be desirable to enable users of the guidance
application to characterize the media information for more
efficient searching.
[0005] It would also be desirable to provide an improved search
algorithm for broadly defined search expressions.
[0006] It would also be desirable to provide an improved search
functionality that enables multiple search contexts.
[0007] Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an improved
search feature in an interactive media guidance application.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] These and other objects of the invention are accomplished in
accordance with the principles of the present invention by
providing an interactive media guidance application that provides
improved search functionality for media information.
[0009] The search feature of the present guidance application is
provided in view of the appreciable amount of media information
that is not necessarily media program listing information and
provides the user with an improved system and method for searching
the entire media information domain. The present guidance
application enables searching of the entire spectrum of media
information and returns search results that represent a vertical
slice through different types of media information. For example,
the guidance application may enable searching through media program
listings, media programming information, information on
celebrities, photos, videos, and audio clips, newspaper and
magazine articles, etc. The media information provided through the
guidance application system may be categorized to enable searching
of the media information and delivery of organized search results
to the user.
[0010] In one illustrative approach, the search feature of the
present guidance application may be enabled by defining search
objects in the media information domain. Search objects may be any
identifiable entity in the media information domain. For example,
search objects may be titles of media programs (e.g., titles of
television shows or series and movies). Search objects may be names
of celebrities, such as actors, musicians, directors, producers,
and other people of note. Search objects defined in the media
information domain may provide an appropriate entertainment context
to the search feature implemented by the guidance application.
[0011] The search feature of the present invention may be further
implemented by tagging each piece of media information provided by
the system with the relevant search objects. This tagging process
may be achieved using a human editor. Alternatively, a machine
process may be used to scan for search objects contained within the
media information. When the user enters a search expression that
matches a search object, the guidance application may perform a
query through the media information to find the media information
that has been tagged with the search object. The search results
from the query may be from any category of media information and
may be displayed to the user.
[0012] In another aspect of the present invention, the interactive
media guidance application enables the user to apply tags to the
media information stored in the guidance application system. As
previously described, search object tags may be applied to any
piece of media information stored in the guidance application
system to enable searching of the media information by search
objects. These tags are generally defined by the guidance
application provider and may not be controlled by users of the
system. Therefore, this aspect of the present invention enables the
users of the guidance application to create and apply tags to
pieces of media information and enables the users to search for
media information using these user applied tags as search objects.
In one approach, user submitted tags may be collected and filtered
to produce a set of core tags, which are then applied to the media
information for which they were submitted. The user may then search
the media information by performing searches with the user
submitted tags.
[0013] In another aspect of the present invention, the guidance
application may provide customized search algorithms defined around
generic terms or expressions rather than providing a text based
search when a user enters such generic search expressions. For
example, if a particular user enters the search expression
"baseball," the guidance application may provide a search algorithm
to return a personalized set of baseball related media information
to that user. In one suitable approach, the search algorithm used
with a particular search term is determined through a combination
of user metrics and editorial input.
[0014] In another aspect of the present invention, the guidance
application may provide the user with a context search. Multiple
search objects with different context settings may be defined and
associated with the same user entered search expression. The
multiple search objects may be differentiated using context
modifiers. The user may enter the common search expression and the
guidance application may then determine the context setting of the
search initiated by the user. For example, the context setting may
be explicitly set by the user or may be implicitly set by the
guidance application depending on the context of the display page
on which the search request is entered. Once the context setting
for the search is determined, the guidance application performs a
search using the search object having the appropriate context
setting.
[0015] Further features of the invention, its nature and various
advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and
the following detailed description of the preferred
embodiments.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0016] The above and other features of the present invention, its
nature and various advantages will be more apparent upon
consideration of the following detailed description, taken in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
[0017] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an illustrative user equipment device
in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
[0018] FIG. 2 is a diagram of an illustrative interactive media
system in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention;
[0019] FIG. 3 is a diagram of an illustrative interactive media
system implemented using the Internet in accordance with one
embodiment of the present invention;
[0020] FIG. 4 is an illustrative display screen of an interactive
media guidance application in accordance with one embodiment of the
present invention;
[0021] FIG. 5 is an illustrative display screen of program listings
in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
[0022] FIG. 6 is an illustrative flow chart for providing media
information tagged with search objects in accordance with one
embodiment of the present invention;
[0023] FIG. 7 is an illustrative display screen of search results
in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
[0024] FIG. 8 is an illustrative display screen of a TV listings
page in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention;
[0025] FIG. 9 is an illustrative display screen of a TV show page
in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
[0026] FIG. 10 is an illustrative display screen of a movie page in
accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
[0027] FIG. 11 is an illustrative display screen of search results
for a text search in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention;
[0028] FIG. 12 is an illustrative flow chart for searching media
information in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention;
[0029] FIG. 13 is an illustrative display of search results of an
atomic search in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention;
[0030] FIG. 14 is an illustrative flow chart for performing an
atomic search in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention;
[0031] FIG. 15 is an illustrative display screen of a page for
inputting a user tag in accordance with one embodiment of the
present invention;
[0032] FIG. 16 is an illustrative display screen of a page for
choosing between a text search, a search object-based query, and a
user tag search in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention;
[0033] FIG. 17 is an illustrative flow chart for performing a
search with user tags in accordance with one embodiment of the
present invention;
[0034] FIG. 18 is an illustrative display screen of a page for
selecting the context of a search in accordance with one embodiment
of the present invention; and
[0035] FIG. 19 is an illustrative flow chart for performing a
context-sensitive search.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0036] The amount of media programming available to users in any
given media delivery system can be substantial. Commonly available
media programming include television programs, movies, music,
interactive applications, etc. Moreover, there exists a large
amount of information related to media programming (e.g.,
information on movies, television programs, celebrities) that draws
substantial interest from users. As such, media programming and
related information about media programs, people, and events
surrounding the entertainment industry collectively define the
media information domain. In view of the large amount of media
information available to users, many users desire a form of media
guidance that enables efficient searching of the media information
domain (e.g., to obtain media program listings and related
information of interest to a user). An application which provides
such guidance is referred to herein as an interactive media
guidance application or, sometimes, a media guidance application or
a guidance application.
[0037] Interactive media guidance applications may take various
forms. One typical type of media guidance application is an
interactive television program guide. Interactive television
program guides (sometimes referred to as electronic program guides)
are well-known guidance applications that, among other things,
allow users to navigate among and locate many types of media
content including conventional television programming (provided via
traditional broadcast, cable, satellite, Internet, or other means),
as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in
video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming
media, downloadable media, Webcasts, etc.), and other types of
media or video content. Guidance applications also allow users to
navigate among and locate content related to the video content
including, for example, video clips, articles, advertisements, chat
sessions, games, etc.
[0038] With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and
high-speed wireless networks, users are accessing media on personal
computers (PCs) and other devices, such as hand-held computers,
personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile telephones, or other
mobile devices. On these devices, users are able to navigate among
and locate the same media available through a television.
Consequently, media guidance is necessary on these devices as well.
The guidance provided may be for media content available only
through a television, for media content available only through one
or more of these devices, or for media content available both
through a television and one or more of these devices. The media
guidance applications may be provided as on-line applications
(i.e., provided on a web-site), or as stand-alone applications or
clients on hand-held computers, PDAs, mobile telephones, or other
mobile devices. The various devices and platforms that may
implement media guidance applications are described in more detail
below.
[0039] Users may access media content and the media guidance
application (and its display screens described below) from one or
more of their user equipment devices. FIG. 1 shows a generalized
embodiment of illustrative user equipment device 100. More specific
implementations of user equipment devices are discussed below in
connection with FIG. 2. User equipment device 100 may receive media
information via input/output (hereinafter "I/O") path 102. I/O path
102 may provide media content (e.g., broadcast programming,
on-demand programming, Internet content, and other video or audio)
and data to control circuitry 104, which includes processing
circuitry 106 and storage 108. Control circuitry 104 may be used to
send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable data using
I/O path 102. I/O path 102 may connect control circuitry 104 (and
specifically processing circuitry 106) to one or more
communications paths (described below). I/O functions may be
provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are
shown as a single path in FIG. 1 to avoid overcomplicating the
drawing.
[0040] Control circuitry 104 may be based on any suitable
processing circuitry 106 such as processing circuitry based on one
or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal
processors, programmable logic devices, etc. In some embodiments,
control circuitry 104 executes instructions for a media guidance
application stored in memory (i.e., storage 108). In client-server
based embodiments, control circuitry 104 may include communications
circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidance application
server or other networks or servers. Communications circuitry may
include a cable modem, an integrated services digital network
(ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone
modem, or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment.
Such communications may involve the Internet or any other suitable
communications networks or paths (which is described in more detail
in connection with FIG. 2). In addition, communications circuitry
may include circuitry that enables peer-to-peer communication of
user equipment devices, or communication of user equipment devices
in locations remote from each other (described in more detail
below).
[0041] Memory (e.g., random-access memory, read-only memory, or any
other suitable memory), hard drives, optical drives, or any other
suitable fixed or removable storage devices (e.g., DVD recorder, CD
recorder, video cassette recorder, or other suitable recording
device) may be provided as storage 108 that is part of control
circuitry 104. Storage 108 may include one or more of the above
types of storage devices. For example, user equipment device 100
may include a hard drive for a DVR (sometimes called a personal
video recorder, or PVR) and a DVD recorder as a secondary storage
device. Storage 108 may be used to store various types of media
described herein and guidance application data, including program
information, guidance application settings, user preferences or
profile information, or other data used in operating the guidance
application. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch a
boot-up routine and other instructions).
[0042] Control circuitry 104 may include video generating circuitry
and tuning circuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or
more MPEG-2 decoders or other digital decoding circuitry,
high-definition tuners, or any other suitable tuning or video
circuits or combinations of such circuits may also be included as
part of circuitry 104. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting
over-the-air, analog, or digital signals to MPEG signals for
storage) may also be provided. Control circuitry 104 may also
include scaler circuitry for upconverting and downconverting media
into the preferred output format of the user equipment 100.
Circuitry 104 may also include digital-to-analog converter
circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry for converting
between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encoding
circuitry may be used by the user equipment to receive and to
display, to play, or to record media content. The tuning and
encoding circuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The
circuitry described herein, including for example, the tuning,
video generating, encoding, decoding, scaler, and analog/digital
circuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or more
general purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may be
provided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and
record functions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions,
multiple-tuner recording, etc.). If storage 108 is provided as a
separate device from user equipment 100, the tuning and encoding
circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated with
storage 108.
[0043] A user may control the control circuitry 104 using user
input interface 110. User input interface 110 may be any suitable
user interface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad,
keyboard, touch screen, touch pad, stylus input, joystick, voice
recognition interface, or other user input interfaces. Display 112
may be provided as a stand-alone device or integrated with other
elements of user equipment device 100. Display 112 may be one or
more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for
a mobile device, or any other suitable equipment for displaying
visual images. In some embodiments, display 112 may be
HDTV-capable. Speakers 114 may be provided as integrated with other
elements of user equipment device 100 or may be stand-alone units.
The audio component of videos and other media content displayed on
display 112 may be played through speakers 114. In some
embodiments, the audio may be distributed to a receiver (not
shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers 114.
[0044] User equipment device 100 of FIG. 1 can be implemented in
system 200 of FIG. 2 as user television equipment 202, user
computer equipment 204, wireless user communications device 206, or
any other type of user equipment suitable for accessing media
information, such as a non-portable gaming machine. For simplicity,
these devices may be referred to herein collectively as user
equipment or user equipment devices. User equipment devices, on
which a media guidance application is implemented, may function as
a standalone device or may be part of a network of devices. Various
network configurations of devices may be implemented and are
discussed in more detail below.
[0045] User television equipment 202 may include a set-top box, an
integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellite
television, a television set, a digital storage device, a DVD
recorder, a video-cassette recorder (VCR), a local media server, or
other user television equipment. One or more of these devices may
be integrated to be a single device, if desired. User computer
equipment 204 may include a PC, a laptop, a tablet, a WebTV box, a
personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC media
center, or other user computer equipment. WEBTV is a trademark
owned by Microsoft Corp. Wireless user communications device 206
may include PDAs, a mobile telephone, a portable video player, a
portable music player, a portable gaming machine, or other wireless
devices.
[0046] It should be noted that with the advent of television tuner
cards for PC's, WebTV, and the integration of video into other user
equipment devices, the lines have become blurred when trying to
classify a device as one of the above devices. In fact, each of
user television equipment 202, user computer equipment 204, and
wireless user communications device 206 may utilize at least some
of the system features described above in connection with FIG. 1
and, as a result, include flexibility with respect to the type of
media content available on the device. For example, user television
equipment 202 may be Internet-enabled allowing for access to
Internet content, while user computer equipment 204 may include a
tuner allowing for access to television programming. The media
guidance application may also have the same layout on the various
different types of user equipment or may be tailored to the display
capabilities of the user equipment. For example, on user computer
equipment, the guidance application may be provided as a web site
accessed by a web browser. In another example, the guidance
application may be scaled down for wireless user communications
devices.
[0047] In system 200, there is typically more than one of each type
of user equipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 2 to
avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may
utilize more than one type of user equipment device (e.g., a user
may have a television set and a computer) and also more than one of
each type of user equipment device (e.g., a user may have a PDA and
a mobile telephone and/or multiple television sets).
[0048] The user may also set various settings to maintain
consistent media guidance application settings across in-home
devices and remote devices. Settings include those described
herein, as well as channel and program favorites, programming
preferences that the guidance application utilizes to make
programming recommendations, display preferences, and other
desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channel
as a favorite on, for example, the web site www.tvguide.com on
their personal computer at their office, the same channel would
appear as a favorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user
television equipment and user computer equipment) as well as the
user's mobile devices, if desired. Therefore, changes made on one
user equipment device can change the guidance experience on another
user equipment device, regardless of whether they are the same or a
different type of user equipment device. In addition, the changes
made may be based on settings input by a user, as well as user
activity monitored by the guidance application.
[0049] The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications
network 214. Namely, user television equipment 202, user computer
equipment 204, and wireless user communications device 206 are
coupled to communications network 214 via communications paths 208,
210, and 212, respectively. Communications network 214 may be one
or more networks including the Internet, a mobile phone network,
mobile device (e.g., Blackberry) network, cable network, public
switched telephone network, or other types of communications
network or combinations of communications networks. BLACKBERRY is a
trademark owned by Research In Motion Limited Corp. Paths 208, 210,
and 212 may separately or together include one or more
communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-optic
path, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications
(e.g., IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other
wireless signals), or any other suitable wired or wireless
communications path or combination of such paths. Path 212 is drawn
with dotted lines to indicate that in the exemplary embodiment
shown in FIG. 2 that it is a wireless path and paths 208 and 210
are drawn as solid lines to indicate they are wired paths (although
these paths may be wireless paths, if desired). Communications with
the user equipment devices may be provided by one or more of these
communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 2 to
avoid overcomplicating the drawing.
[0050] Although communications paths are not drawn between user
equipment devices, these devices may communicate directly with each
other via communication paths, such as those described above in
connection with paths 208, 210, and 212, as well other short-range
point-to-point communication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394
cables, wireless paths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x,
etc.), or other short-range communication via wired or wireless
paths. BLUETOOTH is a trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The
user equipment devices may also communicate with each other
directly through an indirect path via communications network
214.
[0051] System 200 includes media programming source 216 and related
media data source 218 coupled to communications network 214 via
communication paths 220 and 222, respectively. Paths 220 and 222
may include any of the communication paths described above in
connection with paths 208, 210, and 212. Communications with the
media content source 216 and media guidance data source 218 may be
exchanged over one or more communications paths, but are shown as a
single path in FIG. 2 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In
addition, there may be more than one of each of media programming
source 216 and related media data source 218, but only one of each
is shown in FIG. 2 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The
different types of each of these sources are discussed below.) If
desired, media programming source 216 and related media data source
218 may be integrated as one source device. Although communications
between sources 216 and 218 with user equipment devices 202, 204,
and 206 are shown as through communications network 214, in some
embodiments, sources 216 and 218 may communicate directly with user
equipment devices 202, 204, and 206 via communication paths (not
shown) such as those described above in connection with paths 208,
210, and 212.
[0052] Media programming source 216 may include one or more types
of media distribution equipment including a television distribution
facility, cable system headend, satellite distribution facility,
programming sources (e.g., television broadcasters, such as NBC,
ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediate distribution facilities and/or
servers, Internet providers, on-demand media servers, and other
media content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by the National
Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by the ABC,
INC., and HBO is a trademark owned by the Home Box Office, Inc.
Media programming source 216 may be the originator of media content
(e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) or may
not be the originator of media content (e.g., an on-demand media
content provider, an Internet provider of video content of
broadcast programs for downloading, etc.). Media programming source
216 may include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand
providers, Internet providers, or other providers of media content.
Media programming source 216 may also include a remote media server
used to store different types of media content (including video
content selected by a user), in a location remote from any of the
user equipment devices. Systems and methods for remote storage of
media content, and providing remotely stored media content to user
equipment are discussed in greater detail in connection with Ellis
et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0229213, which
is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
[0053] Related media data source 218 may provide media listings
information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcast channels, media
titles, media descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parental
control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category
information, actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or
providers' logos, etc.), media information (e.g., actor profiles,
video clips related to media programs, magazine articles related to
media celebrities), media format (e.g., standard definition, high
definition, etc.), advertisement information (e.g., text, images,
media clips, etc.), on-demand information, and any other type of
media related data.
[0054] Media guidance application data may be provided to the user
equipment devices using any suitable approach. In some embodiments,
the guidance application may be implemented through use of the
Internet. In other embodiments, the guidance application may be a
stand-alone interactive television program guide that receives
program guide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed,
trickle feed, or data in the vertical blanking interval of a
channel).
[0055] Program schedule data and other media information data may
be provided to the user equipment on a television channel sideband,
in the vertical blanking interval of a television channel, using an
in-band digital signal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by
any other suitable data transmission technique. Program schedule
data and other media information data may be provided to user
equipment on multiple analog or digital television channels.
Program schedule data and other media information data may be
provided to the user equipment with any suitable frequency (e.g.,
continuously, daily, a user-specified period of time, a
system-specified period of time, in response to a request from user
equipment, etc.). In some approaches, data from related media data
source 218 may be provided to users' equipment using a
client-server approach. For example, a guidance application client
residing on the user's equipment may initiate sessions with source
218 to obtain data when needed. Related media data source 218 may
provide user equipment devices 202, 204, and 206 the media guidance
application itself or software updates for the media guidance
application.
[0056] Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-alone
applications implemented on user equipment devices. In other
embodiments, media guidance applications may be client-server
applications where only the client resides on the user equipment
device. For example, media guidance applications may be implemented
partially as a client application on control circuitry 104 of user
equipment device 100 and partially on a remote server as a server
application (e.g., related media data source 218). The guidance
application displays may be generated by the related media data
source 218 and transmitted to the user equipment devices. The
related media data source 218 may also transmit data for storage on
the user equipment, which then generates the guidance application
displays based on instructions processed by control circuitry.
[0057] Media guidance system 200 is intended to illustrate a number
of approaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment
devices and sources of media content and other media information
may communicate with each other for the purpose of accessing media
and providing media information. The present invention may be
applied in any one or a subset of these approaches, or in a system
employing other approaches for delivering media programming and
providing media guidance. The following three approaches provide
specific illustrations of the generalized example of FIG. 2.
[0058] In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with
each other within a home network. User equipment devices can
communicate with each other directly via short-range point-to-point
communication schemes describe above, via indirect paths through a
hub or other similar device provided on a home network, or via
communications network 214. Each of the multiple individuals in a
single home may operate different user equipment devices on the
home network. As a result, it may be desirable for various media
guidance information or settings to be communicated between the
different user equipment devices. For example, it may be desirable
for users to maintain consistent media guidance application
settings on different user equipment devices within a home network,
as described in greater detail in Ellis et al. U.S. Patent
Application Publication No. 2005/0251827, which is hereby
incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Different types
of user equipment devices in a home network may also communicate
with each other to transmit media content. For example, a user may
transmit media content from user computer equipment to a portable
video player or portable music player.
[0059] In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user
equipment by which they access media content and obtain media
guidance. For example, some users may have home networks that are
accessed by in-home and mobile devices. Users may control in-home
devices via a media guidance application implemented on a remote
device. For example, users may access an online media guidance
application on a website via a personal computer at their office,
or a mobile device such as a PDA or web-enabled mobile telephone.
The user may set various settings (e.g., recordings, reminders, or
other settings) on the online guidance application to control the
user's in-home equipment. The online guide may control the user's
equipment directly, or by communicating with a media guidance
application on the user's in-home equipment. Various systems and
methods for user equipment devices communicating, where the user
equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, is
discussed in, for example, Ellis et al. U.S. Patent Application
Publication No. 2005/0028208, which is hereby incorporated by
reference herein in its entirety.
[0060] In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside
and outside a home can use their media guidance application to
communicate directly with media content source 216 to access media
content. Specifically, within a home, users of user television
equipment 202 and user computer equipment 204 may access the media
guidance application to navigate among and locate desirable media
content. Users may also access the media guidance application
outside of the home using wireless user communications devices 206
to navigate among and locate desirable media content.
[0061] FIG. 3 illustrates one particular approach in which an
interactive media guidance application system 300 is implemented
through use of the Internet. Media information is stored in media
library 312 and data server 314. Media library 312 may include
suitable electronic memory or disc media for storing multimedia
content. Media library 312 may include audio and video clips, such
as previews of media programs or interviews with celebrities. The
media information stored in media library 312 may be primarily in
multi-media format (e.g., audio and video format). Data server 314
may include various databases of media information. For example,
data server 314 may include a database containing descriptions of
videos stored in media library 312. Data server 314 may also
include a database containing information on media program
listings, a pay per view database containing information regarding
pay-per-view events, and a scheduling information database that
includes broadcast times of time-dependent media programming. Data
server 314 may include a cable system operator database containing
channel lineups of different cable operators, information on the
time zone of the operator, weather data for the operator's region,
data on the zip codes in the cable system operator's area, etc.
Other databases may be supported by data server 314, as desired.
The media information in data server 314 may be primarily text
based data.
[0062] Media library 312 and data server 314 are interconnected
with transmission server 316 via internal network 318. Media
library 312, data server 314, network 318, and transmission server
316 make up computer system 319. Media program listing information
may be stored on data server 314 in a relational database format
and may be stored on transmission server 316 in an object-oriented
database format. For example, a building process implemented in the
C++ programming language may be used to periodically (e.g., once a
day) build a temporary data set of media program listing
information (e.g., a seven-day to one-month data set) for storage
on transmission server 316. Transmission server 316 may also
receive other information for the Internet media guidance
application such as weather data, sports scores, etc., via data
input 317.
[0063] Media information and related data may be transferred from
transmission server 316 to web server 320 via communications line
322. Communications line 322 may be part of an internal network or
may be a standard dedicated communications line. Web server 320 can
be connected to the Internet 324 via communications link 326.
Communications link 326 may be any suitable Internet communications
path.
[0064] If transmission server 316 and web server 320 are separate
devices, as shown in FIG. 3, transmission server 316 can be used as
a common data processing facility for other applications available
from web server 320 which use the type of media information stored
on transmission server 316. If desired, the functions of
transmission server 316 and web server 320 can be integrated in a
single machine.
[0065] Web server 320 may use standard protocols such as the TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) and hypertext
transfer protocol to make the media information available over the
Internet 324 to users at user equipment 328, 330, and 332 via
communications links 334, 336, and 338. Communications links 334,
336, and 338 are Internet links formed from telephone lines,
radio-frequency (RF) links, cable modem links, satellite dish
links, combinations of links such as these, or any other suitable
Internet connection paths.
[0066] Multimedia system 328 has personal computer 340 and may have
television 342. Certain media guidance application features may
require that personal computer 340 be able to control television
342 via link 341, which may be, e.g., an infrared communications
link. Link 341 allows personal computer 340 to tune television 342
using control signals. Television 342 receives television signals
from input 344. The television signals received by input 344 and
the other television signal inputs shown in FIG. 3 may be provided
by cable television, satellite television, broadcast television, a
combination of such sources, or any other suitable source of
television programming signals. Internet access for multimedia
system 328 is provided via Internet communications link 334.
[0067] Multimedia system 330 has an integrated personal computer
and television 346. Television signals are provided at input 348.
Internet access is provided via Internet communications link
336.
[0068] Multimedia system 332 has an Internet capable set-top box
350. Set-top box 350 receives television signals via input 352.
Internet access is provided via Internet communications link 338.
Video display signals containing television and Internet
information are provided to television 354 by line 356.
[0069] During operation of system 300, certain data processing
functions, such as user-initiated searches, are typically performed
on web server 320. If desired, such functions can be performed on a
suitable data processing component in user equipment 328, 330, and
332.
[0070] The system hardware shown in FIG. 3 for providing an
Internet-based media guidance application is illustrative and other
suitable hardware arrangements may be used, if desired.
[0071] FIG. 4 is an illustrative display screen 400 of the
interactive media guidance application, which may be the first
screen displayed to users upon initiating the guidance application.
In the context of a guidance application provided through the
Internet, display screen 400 may be understood as the "home page"
of the guidance application.
[0072] Screen 400 may include a plurality of information regions
401/402/403/404/405/406 that provide promotional information
related to media programs and advertisement information. The
information regions may be interactive and may be activated by the
user (e.g., by clicking on selectable links or icons displayed
within the information regions) to access further information
displays or multimedia clips. For example, information region 401
may promote an interview with an actor appearing in a television
series and may provide a link 407 to a video clip of the interview.
User activation of link 407 may cause the guidance application to
display the video clip in any suitable manner (e.g., within
information region 401, in another information region, in a
separate pop-up window). Information region 401 may also provide
information on when the user may watch the promoted television
series, for example, by providing time and channel information for
the television series. Information region 402 may provide scrolling
pages of promotional information on a series of media programs
being highlighted by the guidance application. The user may use
buttons 408/409/410 to respectively rewind, pause, or fast-forward
the promotional information page being displayed.
[0073] Information region 403 may provide a user poll which may
query users about their opinions on certain media programming
related topics. The user may select his answer using one of the
provided selection buttons 411/412/413/414 and submit the answer
using button 415. Upon user submission of an answer, a result
screen may be displayed (e.g., within information region 403 or as
a separate pop-up window) showing the cumulative results of the
poll. Information region 404 may provide selected media program
listings 416. Media program listings may be, but are not limited
to, television program listings that provide time and channel
information for television programs. Media program listings 416 may
be interactive and may be activated by the user to receive further
program information, such as a program description, which may be
displayed in any suitable manner (e.g., within region 404, in
another information region, or in a separate display page).
[0074] Information region 406 may display advertisement information
for a product or service being promoted by the guidance
application. Region 406 may provide an advertisement for media
content that, depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for
subscription programming), is currently available for viewing, will
be available for viewing in the future, or may never become
available for viewing, and may correspond to or be unrelated to one
or more of the media program listings in region 404. Region 406 may
be selectable and may provide further information about media
content, provide information about a product or a service, enable
purchasing of media content, a product, or a service, provide media
content relating to the advertisement, etc. Advertisement
information displayed in region 406 may be targeted based on a
user's profile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of
display provided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement
bases.
[0075] While advertisement region 406 is shown as rectangular
shaped, advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape,
and location in a guidance application display. Advertisement
information may also include text, images, rotating images, video
clips, or other types of media content. Advertisement information
may be stored in the user equipment with the guidance application,
in a database connected to the user equipment (e.g., database 218
of FIG. 2), in a remote location (including streaming media
servers), or on other storage means or a combination of these
locations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application
is discussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al. U.S.
Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0110499, Ward et al. U.S.
Pat. No. 6,756,997, and Schein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714,
which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their
entireties. It will be appreciated that advertisements may be
included in other media guidance application display screens of the
present invention.
[0076] Information region 405 may be a video display region that
enables the user to view and/or preview programs that are currently
available, will be available, or were available to the user. The
content of video region 405 may correspond to, or be independent
from, one of the listings displayed in region 404. Guidance
application displays including a video region are sometimes
referred to as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and
their functionalities are described in greater detail in
Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378 and Yuen et al. U.S.
Pat. No. 6,239,794, which are hereby incorporated by reference
herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other
media guidance application display screens of the present
invention. Alternatively, information region 405 may be used to
display any of the promotional or advertisement information
described above.
[0077] Screen 400 may include a plurality of user selectable links
420-427 that provide access to various features of the guidance
application. In the Internet context, links 420-427 may be
understood as links to other web pages of the guidance application
that provide access to the individual features of the guidance
application. As shown in FIG. 4, link 421 may provide access to one
feature of the guidance application which provides the user with a
full listing of media programming. Although media programming in
the traditional context has generally been limited to television
programs, it should be understood that the guidance application may
provide listings for any suitable media programming, including and
not limited to television programs, movies, music programming,
on-demand programming, pay-per-view programming, interactive
applications (e.g., gaming or shopping applications), Internet
content, etc.
[0078] FIG. 5 shows illustrative display screen 500 of the guidance
application, which may be displayed to the user upon user selection
of listings link 421 in screen 400. Screen 500 may include grid
guide 550, which arranges media program listings 501 by television
channel and broadcast time. It should be understood, however, that
media program listings may be arranged in any suitable format, and
that media listings may also be provided on screen 500 that do not
have a broadcast time or broadcast television channel (e.g.,
on-demand media program listings, listings of interactive gaming
applications). Listings 501 may be selectable by the user to access
further information on the selected media program. As shown in FIG.
5, a program information region 510 may be displayed adjacent the
listings area 550 and may include detailed information on the user
selected media program listing. For example, program information
region 510 may include a description of the media program, a list
of people related to the media program (e.g., actors, directors,
writers), title information, and, if applicable, broadcast date,
time, and channel information. Region 510 may also provide
information on additional airings of a broadcast media program in
area 511. A running list of the media program listings selected by
the user in grid 550 may be displayed in area 512.
[0079] It should be understood that the media listings feature of
the present guidance application may provide all the advantages of
known media guidance applications, such as electronic television
program guides. As such, the media listings feature of the present
guidance application may include sub-category guides for media
listings that fall under a common organizational theme (e.g.,
pay-per-view guide, movie guide or sports guide). As shown in FIG.
5, such sub-category guides may be provided under links 520. The
media guidance application may be personalized based on a user's
preferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a
user to customize displays and features to create a personalized
"experience" with the media guidance application. This personalized
experience may be created by allowing a user to input these
customizations and/or by the media guidance application monitoring
user activity to determine various user preferences. Users may
access their personalized guidance application by logging in or
otherwise identifying themselves to the guidance application.
Customization of the media guidance application may be made in
accordance with a user profile. The customizations may include
varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays, font
size of text, etc.), aspects of media content listings displayed
(e.g., only HDTV programming, user-specified broadcast channels
based on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display of
channels, recommended media content, etc.), desired recording
features (e.g., recording or series recordings for particular
users, recording quality, etc.), parental control settings, and
other desired customizations.
[0080] The media guidance application may allow a user to provide
user profile information or may automatically compile user profile
information. The media guidance application may, for example,
monitor the media the user accesses and/or other interactions the
user may have with the guidance application. Additionally, the
media guidance application may obtain all or part of other user
profiles that are related to a particular user (e.g., from other
web sites on the Internet the user accesses, such as
www.tvguide.com, from other media guidance applications the user
accesses, from other interactive applications the user accesses,
from a handheld device of the user, etc.), and/or obtain
information about the user from other sources that the media
guidance application may access. As a result, a user can be
provided with a unified guidance application experience across the
user's different devices. Additional personalized media guidance
application features are described in greater detail in Ellis et
al. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0251827, Boyer et
al. Patent Cooperation Treaty Publication No. WO 00/28733, Forrer
et al. Patent Cooperation Treaty Publication No. WO 00/79798, and
Ellis et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0174430,
which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their
entireties.
[0081] As shown in FIG. 5, link 530 may enable the user to set or
change the geographic location and/or media programming service
provider for which media listings are displayed in grid 550. Link
530 may also enable the user to log in to his user profile or
otherwise access the personalization settings of the guidance
application.
[0082] Upon user selection of a displayed listing 501, the guidance
application may enable current or future access of the media
program represented by the selected listing. For example, the
guidance application may cause the user equipment (e.g., equipment
202/204/206 of FIG. 2) to immediately access a media program (e.g.,
tune to a currently broadcast television program, initiate an
interactive gaming application, begin playback of a music file).
The guidance application may also enable the user to set a reminder
for a future broadcast media program or set a recording for a media
program or series of media programs. In some instances, the
guidance application may be implemented on user equipment remote
from the user equipment on which access to the media programming or
recording of the media programming occurs. Such remote access and
control of user equipment is fully contemplated by the present
guidance application. Further details on remote access may be found
in Ellis et al. U.S. Application Publication No. 2005/0028208,
which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its
entirety.
[0083] Referring again to FIG. 4, user selectable links 422-427 of
screen 400 may provide the user with access to other features of
the guidance application. For example, "News" link 422 may, for
example, provide access to various articles and columns about media
programming and the entertainment industry. Similarly, "Movies,"
"Sports," and "Soaps" links 423-425 may provide media information
related to media programs in those genres, such as a new release
movie guide, information on upcoming sports programming, and daily
plot synopsis of soap opera episodes. "Games" link 426 may provide
the user with access to interactive gaming applications. "Blogs"
link 427 may provide the user with access to web logs about, for
example, media programs or celebrities created and updated by
editors of the guidance application or by users.
[0084] The search feature of the present guidance application may
be provided through text entry box 450 and search button 460.
Previous guidance applications have provided search capabilities
related to program listings. One such guidance application is
described in Boyer et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication No.
2004/0128686, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its
entirety. The search feature of the present invention considers the
appreciable amount of media information that is not necessarily
media program listing information and provides the user with an
improved system and method for searching the entire media
information domain. The present guidance application enables
searching of the entire spectrum of media information and returns
search results that represent a vertical slice through different
types of media information. For example, the guidance application
may enable searching through media program listings, media
programming information, information on celebrities, photos,
videos, and audio clips, newspaper and magazine articles, etc. In
particular, although the guidance application provides a core
functionality which searches through media program listings, the
guidance application also concurrently provides and enables
searching of information that is not related to a media program
listing (e.g., information on a television series that is no longer
broadcast or otherwise available for viewing).
[0085] As previously discussed, the media information provided
through the guidance application system may be categorized to
enable searching of the media information and delivery of organized
search results to the user. In one illustrative approach, the media
information may be put into the categories of media program
listings, media programming information, media personalities
("celebrity") information, and related media information. Media
program listings may include information such as the title of a
media program and a broadcast time and channel of the media
program. Media program listings may also include media programming
information, such as a program description or synopsis, names of
media personalities associated with the media program, and any
other suitable information. For example, media programming
information on a movie may include a description of the movie plot,
information on the cast and director, release date, ratings
information, etc. Media personality information may include a
biography of the media personality, which may include information
on the person's profession (e.g., actor, director), media programs
with which the media personality is associated, personal
information (e.g., marriage status, names of children), awards
received by the media personality, interesting facts about the
media personality, and any other information that may be of
interest to users about the media personality. Related media
information may include, for example, audio or video clips,
photographs, newspaper or magazine articles within the media
information domain. For example, related media information may
include video clips of interviews with celebrities, video clip
previews of media programming, newspaper articles on the release of
new media programming, magazine articles about the personal lives
of celebrities, etc. It should be understood that the
above-described categories of media information are in no way
mutually exclusive and there may be substantial overlap between
media information placed in different categories. For example,
celebrity information may include media programming information in
the form of titles and descriptions of media programs that a
celebrity is involved with.
[0086] In one illustrative approach, the search feature of the
present guidance application may be enabled by defining search
objects in the media information domain. Search objects may be any
identifiable entity in the media information domain. For example,
search objects may be titles of media programs (e.g., titles of
television shows or series and movies). Search objects may be names
of celebrities, such as actors, musicians, directors, producers,
and other people of note. Search objects defined in the media
information domain may provide an appropriate entertainment context
to the search feature implemented by the guidance application. For
example, the search object "Michael Jackson" may be defined by the
guidance application to represent the celebrity pop singer Michael
Jackson. Other persons or entities of the same name (e.g., Michael
A. Jackson and Michael J. Jackson, actors of minor frame) may not
be included in the definition of the search object "Michael
Jackson." Therefore, a search object based query is advantageous
over a simple text search because the query filters out media
information that may not be of interest to the user (e.g.,
biography of Michael A. Jackson) and provides search results that
are highly relevant for the popular entertainment context.
[0087] Once the appropriate search objects are defined, the search
feature of the present invention may be implemented by tagging each
piece of media information provided by the system (e.g., data
stored in media library 312 or data server 314 of FIG. 3) with the
relevant search objects. For example, if a media program listing is
for the television show Friends, then the "Friends" search object
may be applied to the media program listing. Similarly, if a
newspaper article discusses the actors John Cusack and the director
Steven Spielberg, then the "John Cusack" and "Steven Spielberg"
search objects may be applied to that newspaper article. If
necessary, new search objects may be defined to accommodate the
content of media information provided by the guidance application
system. This tagging process may be achieved using a human editor.
Alternatively, a machine process may be used to scan for search
objects contained within the media information. For example, a text
search may be performed to identify the use of search object terms
in the text or related data of the media information (e.g., text of
an article, metadata attached to web pages, captions attached to
audio, video, or picture files). In order to ensure that the media
information is properly tagged with search objects in a machine
process, it may be necessary to consider the source of the media
information. For example, information from a source of
entertainment context information such as television program
listings or articles from an entertainment oriented magazine may be
processed using a computerized process to identify search objects
within the media information. On the other hand, information from
general context sources, such as general interest newspapers or
Internet web pages, may need to be processed using a human editor
to ensure that the media information is properly tagged with the
appropriate search objects.
[0088] FIG. 6 shows an illustrative flow diagram for providing
media information tagged with appropriate search objects in
accordance with the present invention. At step 610, search objects
within the media information domain are defined. Search objects may
be, for example, names of celebrities and titles of media programs.
Search objects may be created by human editors or may be collected
using a computerized text scan of the media information domain.
Search objects may be defined to represent a singular entity within
the media information domain. For example, the famous pop singer
Michael Jackson may be assigned the search object "Michael
Jackson," whereas lesser known actor Michael A. Jackson may not be
assigned a search object or may be assigned the search object
"Michael A. Jackson." In this manner, a user query of the search
object "Michael Jackson" will not return information regarding
Michael A. Jackson the actor. At step 620, media information is
tagged with the appropriate search objects. Each piece of media
information provided by and stored in the guidance application
system may be tagged to identify the search objects to which the
piece of media information relates. For example, a preview clip for
the movie Mission Impossible III starring Tom Cruise and directed
by J. J. Abrams may be tagged with the search objects "Mission
Impossible III," "Tom Cruise," and "J. J. Abrams." At step 630,
media information may be grouped into defined categories to better
organize the presentation of information to users. In one
illustrative approach, media information may be categorized into
media program listings, media programming information, celebrity
information, and related media information. For example, media
program listings may be listings of programs broadcast on
television or otherwise accessible by the user (e.g., on-demand
programs, Internet content, interactive applications). Media
programming information may be detailed information on media
programs. For example, media programming information for a music
album may include the names of the artists, the release date,
titles of the tracks, lyrics, etc. Related media information may
be, for example, audio or video clips, photographs, newspaper or
magazine articles within the media information domain.
[0089] The user interface for the search feature of the guidance
application may be provided on any suitable display screen of the
guidance application. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the search
feature may be provided as text box 450 and search button 460 at
the top of display 400. The user may enter an alphanumeric
expression in text box 450 with the user interface (e.g., interface
input interface 110 of FIG. 1). The search expression may be
processed upon user selection of search button 450. In one suitable
approach, search feature interface 450/460 may be universally
displayed on every display screen of the guidance application to
provide the user with constant access to the search feature.
[0090] Upon user selection of search button 460, the guidance
application system may query a database of search objects defined
by the system (e.g., stored on web server 320 of FIG. 3) to
determine if the search expression entered by the user is a defined
search object. In one suitable approach, if a matching search
object is found in the search object database, the guidance
application system may query the databases storing the media
information (e.g., library 312 and server 314 of FIG. 3) to locate
all the media information that possess the matching search object.
The appropriate media information may then be presented to the user
on a screen and may be further grouped by category. FIG. 7 is an
illustrative display screen 700 of the present guidance application
showing the media information returned from a search of the defined
object "Tom Cruise."
[0091] As shown in FIG. 7, a search object query for "Tom Cruise"
may return media information 710 in the category of media program
listings (i.e., television program listings). Media program
listings 710 have been tagged with the "Tom Cruise" search object
and relate to the actor Tom Cruise. For example, listing 711 for
Tonight Show with Jay Leno may feature Tom Cruise as a guest on the
program. It should be noted that in contrast with simple text
searches, the title of listing 711 does not include the term "Tom
Cruise." Instead, listing 711 has been tagged by the guidance
application with the "Tom Cruise" search object because of its
relevant content. Similarly, listings 710 include listings for an
episode of the show "20 Most Outrageous Celebrity Extravagances
Ever," which features Tom Cruise in the program. If applicable,
media program listings 710 may include information on the broadcast
date, time, and channel of the media program. An indicator 712 may
also be displayed with each listing to indicate the source of the
media program (e.g., television, on-demand, interactive
applications).
[0092] Media program listings 710 may be interactive and may be
selected by the user to obtain further information on the selected
listing. For example, FIG. 8 is an illustrative display screen 800
of the guidance application which may be displayed upon user
selection of the listing for "20 Most Outrageous Celebrity
Extravagances Ever." Screen 800 may include an information region
850 which provides further information on the selected listing, and
may also include further media program listings 810 related to the
selected listing. For example, further media listings 810 may be
other airings of the selected media program represented by the
selected listing or other episodes in the series of programs of
which the selected media program is a part. It should be understood
that further media listings 810 may represent the results of a
further search in the media program listings category of the media
information using the defined search object of the selected media
program title (i.e., the search object "20 Most Outrageous
Celebrity Extravagances Ever").
[0093] The search object query may also return media information
720 in the category of media programming information (e.g.,
television program information and movie information). Each item of
media programming information may be represented by the title of a
media program or series of media programs. For a media program that
is in a series of media programs, the title of the particular
episode may also be displayed as part of information 720. For
example, media programming information 721 features the program
series 106.sup.th & Park: Top 10, and the particular episode
Tom Cruise, et al. Further information on the media program may
also be included within information 720, such as airing date 722 of
the media program. Media programming information 720 may be
interactive and may be selected by the user to obtain further media
programming information on the featured media program. Media
programming information 720 may also represent defined search
objects of the guidance application and user selection of the
information may cause the application to perform a further search
through the media information using the defined search object
(e.g., a television program title).
[0094] For example, FIG. 9 is an illustrative display screen 900 of
the guidance application which may be displayed upon user selection
of television program information 721. Screen 900 may include an
information region 950 displaying information on the media program
or series of media programs featured in selected information 721
(e.g., program description, cast information). For media programs
that are part of a series of programs, screen 900 may also include
information region 970 which provides a description of the
particular episode featured in the selected information 721.
Further information region 960 may provide a listing of other
episodes within the selected series of media programs. Individual
episode listings 961 may be further selected by the viewer to
access its episode description in region 970. Screen 900 may also
include media program listings information region 910 which may
provide listings of other airings of the selected media program or
series of media programs. Other related media information
associated with the selected media program or series of media
programs may also be provided and will be discussed in more detail
below. It should be understood that the information displayed in
regions 910/950/960/970 may represent the results of further
searches through the media information using defined search objects
related to the selected media program (e.g., "106.sup.th &
Park" and "106.sup.th & Park: Tom Cruise").
[0095] FIG. 10 is an illustrative display screen 1000 of the
guidance application which may be displayed upon user selection of
movie information 723. Screen 1000 may include information region
1050 which provides a general description of the selected movie
(e.g., cast information, release date, parental rating, star
rating, running time, etc.). Region 1010 may be displayed to
provide media program listings corresponding to the selected movie.
Region 1020 may provide an editorial review of the movie. Region
1040 may display celebrity information related to the movie (or
other media program), such as the names of its actors, directors,
and producers. Each piece of celebrity information 1041 may also
represent a defined search object in the guidance application and
user selection of information 1041 may cause a further search
through the media information using the defined search object
(e.g., "Tom Cruise"--resulting in the search result display of FIG.
7). Information regions 1030 and 1060 may provide links to other
media information related to the movie, such as photos, audio and
video clips, and magazine articles. It should be understood that
the information displayed in regions 1010/1020/1030/1040/1050/1060
may represent the results of further searches through the media
information using defined search objects related to the selected
movie (e.g., the movie title "Mission Impossible III").
[0096] In another suitable approach, when the user enters a search
expression into text box 450, the guidance application may perform
a text search through the media information using the search
expression and display the resulting information in a display
screen. Media information in every category of information (e.g.,
media program listings, media programming information, celebrity
information) may be searched, and the returned media information
may include search objects defined by the guidance application
(e.g., titles of media programs and names of celebrities). For
example, as shown in FIG. 11, a text search for the term "Tom
Cruise" may return a list of media information containing that
term, which may include the celebrity information 1110 for Tom
Cruise (as collected by the guidance application using a query for
the defined search object "Tom Cruise"). User selection of
information 1110 may cause the guidance application to display the
search result display of FIG. 7.
[0097] In another suitable approach, when the search expression
entered by the user matches a defined search object, the guidance
application system may query the user as to whether the user wishes
to carry out a text based search through the media information or
if the user wishes to perform a search object based query through
the media information. The difference being that a text search for
the term "Tom Cruise" will only return media information having
that term in its text, regardless of context or accuracy, where as
a search object based query will return filtered media information
that substantively relate to Tom Cruise, the famous actor. However,
in some situations, the user may still prefer the results of a text
search through the media information. Should the user elect to
perform a text based search, the results page of FIG. 11 may be
displayed and the user may still elect to view the search object
based query results by selecting the celebrity information link
1110 for Tom Cruise. Should the user elect to perform the search
object based query, then the results page of FIG. 7 may be
displayed to the user. Should the search expression entered by the
user not match any defined search objects, the guidance application
may default to the text based search and return appropriate
results.
[0098] FIG. 12 shows an illustrative flow diagram for searching
media information in an interactive media guidance application in
accordance with the present invention. At step 1210, the guidance
application determines if the search expression entered by the user
is a defined search object. In a first instance represented by
lines 1211/1212/1214, the search expression is a defined search
object. In a first approach represented by line 1211, the search
object based query is performed directly at step 1230 and the
results displayed to the user (e.g., in a display screen like that
of FIG. 7). In a second approach represented by line 1212, the user
is queried at step 1220 as to whether a text based search or a
search object based query should be performed. Should the user
choose the search object based query, the query is performed at
step 1230 and results like that of FIG. 7 are displayed to the user
based on the media information that is tagged with the search
object. Should the user choose the text based search, the search is
performed at step 1240 and results like that of FIG. 8 are
displayed to the user based on text matching between the media
information and the search expression. In a third approach
represented by line 1214, a text based search is directly performed
at step 1240 although the entered search expression matches a
defined search object. The user may then select the matching search
object returned as a result of the text search at step 1250 to
perform the search object based query at 1230 and view the results.
It should be understood that a text based search using any
expression (not necessarily an expression matching a defined search
object) may return search results that are defined search objects,
and user selection of those search objects at step 1250 may also
cause a search object based query at step 1230. For example, in a
second instance represented by line 1213, the search expression
entered by the user is determined not to be a defined search
object. A text based search may be directly performed at step 1240
and, as previously discussed, the search objects returned from the
text search may be selected by the user to perform further search
object based queries at step 1230. It should be understood that
search object based queries performed at step 1230 may also return
search results that include further search objects. User selection
of these returned search objects at step 1250 may result in further
queries performed at step 1230.
[0099] In another aspect of the present invention, the guidance
application may provide customized search algorithms defined around
generic terms or expressions rather than providing the default text
based search when a user enters such generic search expressions.
For example, if a particular user enters the search expression
"baseball," the guidance application may provide a search algorithm
to return a personalized set of baseball related media information
to that user instead of performing a text based search of the media
information using the term "baseball." Searches based on such
customized search algorithms may be referred to in the following as
"atomic searches," "specialty searches," or defined "search
expressions."
[0100] In one suitable approach, the search algorithm used with a
particular atomic search term is determined through a combination
of user metrics and editorial discretion. User metrics may be any
of the profile information previously described in this application
that may be used to personalize the user's guidance application.
For example, user metrics may include a user's age, sex, geographic
location, preference in sports teams and players, etc. User metrics
may be volunteered by the user or may be collected by the guidance
application or a third party, for example, by monitoring user
actions (e.g., actions in the guidance application).
[0101] FIG. 13 shows illustrative display screen 1300 of the
guidance application, which displays the personalized atomic search
results of a particular user. As shown in FIG. 13, search results
from a number of categories of media information is displayed. In
one suitable approach, each display of media information from a
particular category may be the result of an individual search
performed by the guidance application. Therefore, the media
information displayed in areas 1310, 1320, 1330, 1340, 1350, and
1360 may be understood as the result of multiple individual
searches performed by the guidance application as part of the
"baseball" atomic search algorithm. In one suitable approach, each
category of media information may possess its own search under the
atomic search algorithm. For example, media program listings region
1310 may be the result of a text based search for the terms
"Yankees" and "little league." The search terms used to fill out
region 1310 may be selected based on user metrics or editorial
discretion. In this particular example, the user profile
information for the user may have indicated that the user lives in
New York and is a little league baseball fan, and the editor may
have chosen to promote media programs featuring the Yankees. Other
information regions displayed on screen 1300 may be filled out in a
similar manner.
[0102] In another suitable approach, searches performed under the
atomic search algorithm need not be constrained to individual
categories of media information. For example, a number of searches
may be defined by the guidance application to search for media
information across all categories. These searches may be text based
searches, search object based queries, or a combination of both. As
shown in FIG. 13, a search object based query may have been
included in the "baseball" atomic search algorithm for the object
"Derek Deter." For example, celebrity information 1361 may be the
result of such a search, along with the newspaper article 1341 and
photograph 1331 under the related media information category.
Referring to the results displayed in FIG. 13, a text based search
may also have been included in the algorithm for the expression
"Yankees" (to yield video 1321 and media program listing 1311) and
"little league" (to yield media program listing 1312 and article
1342). In one approach, the editor or the user may elect to
constrain the categories of media information displayed in atomic
search result screen 1300, such that media information returned
from the atomic search falling outside of set categories may not be
displayed to the user.
[0103] Therefore, individual searches combine to form an atomic
search algorithm, whereby the type and terms of each individual
search may be determined by a combination of user metrics and
editorial discretion. In one approach, when the user enters a
search expression for which an atomic search algorithm has been
stored by the guidance application, the user may be queried as to
whether an atomic search or a text search should be performed.
[0104] FIG. 14 shows an illustrative flow diagram for performing an
atomic search in accordance with the present invention. At steps
1405 and 1410, user metrics and editorial input are received. At
step 1420, user metrics and editorial input are used to define
individual searches to form a collective atomic search algorithm
around an atomic search object (e.g., "baseball"). The user enters
a search expression matching the atomic search object at step 1430
(e.g., using the text entry box 450 of FIG. 4). At step 1440, the
guidance application may query the user on whether to perform an
atomic search on the matching atomic search object. If the user
answers in the affirmative, then the individual searches of the
atomic search algorithm are performed on the media information and
the results are displayed to the user at step 1450 (e.g., in a
screen similar to that of FIG. 13). If the user answers in the
negative, then a default text based search of the media information
is performed and the results displayed to the user at step
1460.
[0105] In another aspect of the present invention, the interactive
media guidance application enables the user to apply tags (or
search objects) to the media information stored in the guidance
application system. As previously described, search object tags may
be applied to any piece of media information stored in the guidance
application system to enable searching of the media information by
search objects. These tags are generally defined by the guidance
application provider and may not be controlled by users of the
system. Therefore, this aspect of the present invention enables the
users of the guidance application to create and apply tags to
pieces of media information and enables the users to search for
media information using these user applied tags as search
objects.
[0106] FIG. 15 shows an illustrative display screen 1500 of the
guidance application which displays a photograph of the celebrity
Tom Cruise. For example, the photograph may have been accessed
through information display screens like that of FIG. 7. As shown
in FIG. 15, a user selectable icon 1501 may be displayed on screen
1500 that prompts the user to "Submit a Tag," Text box 1510 may
also be displayed to enable the user to enter a term with which the
user wishes to tag the piece of media information. The tag may be
submitted by the user by selection of icon 1501. A tag may be any
phrase that the user wishes to apply to the piece of media
information. For example, the user may submit a tag for the
photograph of Tom Cruise using the terms "all American actor,"
"sexiest man alive," "mission impossible," or "great smile," etc.
By allowing the user to submit open ended tags, the guidance
application encourages the user to creatively and prolifically
submit tags for the media information provided through the guidance
application system. All of the user submitted tags for a piece of
media information may be stored with the corresponding piece of
media information or may be stored in a file associated with the
media information, for example, in data server 314 of FIG. 3. The
user applied tags may be filtered using a text searching
application that finds the most frequently applied tags. The
searching application may have the ability to filter out singular
submissions and produce a number of core tags. The text searching
application may also have the ability to find shorter common
phrases within longer tag submissions. For example, the tag "all
American man" and "all American boy" and "all American guy" may be
filtered to produce the tag "all American." Accordingly, upon
filtering the numerous user submitted tags, a group of core tags
may be selected by the guidance application and applied to the
piece of media information. In another approach, predefined tags
may be supplied by the guidance application that the user may be
prompted to choose from. This approach simplifies task of filtering
tags to arrive at the core tags and eliminates the vagaries of open
ended user submissions.
[0107] User tags may be applied to any suitable piece of media
information. For example, tags may be submitted for media programs
and listings, celebrities, audio and video files, photographs,
newspaper or magazine articles, etc. In one suitable approach, the
core user applied tags may be applied to the media information in
parallel with system defined search objects. For example, the
photograph of Tom Cruise may be tagged by the system with the
search object "Tom Cruise" and the user submitted tag "all
American." Subsequently, if a user enters a search term matching
one of the user applied tags, then the guidance application may
perform a search object based query through the media information
for that tag (or search object), as previously discussed with
system defined search object queries. In another suitable approach,
the user applied tags may be kept separate from any system defined
search object tags. The user may then initiate a "User Tag Search"
that only searches for media information having user applied tags
matching the entered search expression.
[0108] In addition, or instead of receiving user-specified tags,
the system may automatically or passively tag a piece of media
information. In some embodiments, if a user, while viewing a first
piece of media information, searches or navigates to another piece
of information, the system may associate the tag for the other
piece of media information with the first piece of media
information. Conversely, the system may also associate the tag for
the first piece of media information with the other piece of media
information. The system may wait until a threshold number of users
have searched or navigated to the other piece of information before
associating the tag. As an example, a user may be on the Mission
Impossible III page, and from that page search for the television
program Lost, which shares the same writer/director, J. J. Abrams,
with Mission Impossible III. Once enough users have searched for
Lost from the Mission Impossible III page, the system may passively
tag the Mission Impossible III page with the tag for Lost. To
prevent the system from tagging completely unrelated topics or
pieces of media information (e.g., dinosaurs and Mission Impossible
III), editorial review may be necessary to protect the integrity of
the tagging system.
[0109] The various tags discussed above may be assigned different
weights to indicate the degree of relevance of each tag with
respect to the tagged media information. For example, the Mission
Impossible III page may have a larger weight for the tag "MI:III"
than the Lost page. In some embodiments, tags that are passively
created by user interactions with the system may automatically be
assigned a lower weight than user submitted core tags or
editorially generated tags. The weight for the passive tags may
also be related to the number of users who searched for the other
media information (e.g., the more users search for Lost from the
Mission Impossible III page, the larger the weight for Lost). The
system may use the weights to determine the order in which media
information is displayed (e.g., information with larger weight is
displayed first).
[0110] As shown in FIG. 16, a search option icon 1601 may be
displayed on screen 1600 adjacent to the search interface 450/460
that provides the user with a selection box 1610 for choosing
between a text search, a search object based query, and a search
for user applied tags.
[0111] FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing how searching with user
applied tags is enabled in accordance with the present invention.
At step 1710, tags are submitted by the user using, for example,
the interface illustrated in FIG. 15. The user submitted tags are
then collected and filtered at step 1720 to produce a smaller
number of core tags. For example, only the most popular user
submitted tags may be selected by the guidance application as core
tags. User submitted tags may also be searched for shorter nested
phrases, which may also serve as the basis for core tags. At step
1730, the core tags are applied to the piece of media information
for which the tags were submitted. In one approach, the user
submitted tags may be applied to media information in parallel with
system defined search object tags. In another approach, the user
submitted tags may be kept separate from such system defined tags.
At step 1740, the user enters a search expression matching a core
tag. The media information to which the core tag has been applied
is then retrieved and displayed to the user at step 1750.
[0112] In another aspect of the present invention, the guidance
application may provide the user with a search feature that offer
multiple context settings for search objects. For example, a user
may select a language or cultural context setting for the search
feature. Once a context setting is selected, the search feature may
only provide media information having the search object with the
correct context modifier. Context modifiers may be attached to a
search object, and may not required when entering a search
expression (e.g., into text box 450). However, the guidance
application may retrieve the context modifier from a user selection
of the context setting. For example, the term "football" in an
American context represents the sport of American football. In
other cultural contexts (e.g., Spanish-speaking, European), the
term "football" may be understood as the game Americans call
soccer. Therefore, two separate search objects, "football" and
"football [A]" may be defined by the guidance application to
capture both concepts, whereby the latter search object stands for
what Americans call soccer. In one approach, the context modifier
"[A]" need not be entered by the user when providing the search
expression. Rather, the guidance application may automatically
append the context modifier to the search expression by scanning
the context setting of the requested search.
[0113] As shown in FIG. 18, the user may set the context setting
through selection box 1810, which may be displayed upon user
selection of context icon 1801. User selection of "Spanish" or
"English" in box 1810 may set the context of any search object
queries initiated through interface 450/460. Alternatively, if the
user has chosen to view a guidance application display page
dedicated to programming of interest to the Spanish speaking
community, then the search language context may be automatically
set to Spanish. The context-specific searching feature of the
present invention enables the guidance application to create
alternate sets of search objects (i.e., two separate "football"
search objects) and expands the amount of media information that
can be provided to the user. That is, although the same search
expression may be entered by the user, the guidance application may
look to the context setting and provide the user with the search
object query that corresponds with the proper context. Context
sensitive searching may also be applied to atomic searches. For
example, if "football" is entered in the English language context,
then the atomic search result page for American football may be
displayed. If "football" is entered in the Spanish language
context, then the atomic search page result for European football
(i.e., "soccer") may be displayed to the user. It should be
understood that the use of context settings in the present
invention is not limited to language or cultural contexts. The
search application may offer multiple contexts based on any
suitable categorization of search objects. For example, the
guidance application may offer theme based contexts such as,
sports, music, movies, etc. For example, the user entered search
expression "Michael Jackson" in the sports context may correspond
to the search object "Michael Jackson [S]," a wide receiver who
played for the Cleveland Browns football club. However, in the
music context, the user entered search term "Michael Jackson" may
correspond to the search object "Michael Jackson [M]," the famous
pop singer. In one approach, each context setting may have a full
set of search objects that are mutually exclusive of search objects
defined for a different context setting. In another approach,
context settings may only be necessary when the same search
expression matches multiple search objects defined for different
context settings, in which case context modifiers may be used to
decide which search object query is performed.
[0114] FIG. 19 is a flow chart of illustrative steps for providing
a context sensitive search object query in accordance with the
present invention. At step 1910 multiple search objects with
different context settings are defined and associated with the same
user entered search expression. For example, the search objects
"Michael Jackson" the pop singer and "Michael Jackson" the football
player may be defined having music and sports context settings,
respectively, and are both associated with the same user entered
search term "Michael Jackson." At step 1920, the multiple search
objects are differentiated using context modifiers. For example,
Michael Jackson the pop singer is differentiated with the context
modifier "[M]" and the football player by the same name is
differentiated with the context modifier "[S]." The user enters the
common search expression at step 1930 (e.g., by text entry using
interface 450/460). The guidance application then determines the
context setting of the search initiated by the user at step 1940.
For example, the context setting may be explicitly set by the user
(e.g., using interface 1801/1810) or may be implicitly set by the
guidance application depending on the context of the display page
being viewed by the user at the time the search request is entered.
Once the correct context setting for the search is determined, the
guidance application performs a search using the search object
having the appropriate context setting. That is, a query of media
information using the search object "Michael Jackson [S]" is
performed when the user enters the search expression "Michael
Jackson" and the search context is set to sports.
[0115] It should be understood that the foregoing description is
merely illustrative of the principles of the present invention and
various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art
without departing from the scope and spirit of the present
invention.
* * * * *
References