Method and system for searching for content in a user device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9495415-B2
Application number	US-201113222986-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2011
Priority date	Aug 31, 2010
Publication date	Nov 15, 2016
Grant date	Nov 15, 2016

Abstract

A system and method for searching for content in a user device includes a receiver receiving a plurality of data objects. The user device includes a search module comprising a parsing module parsing search data from the plurality of data objects and a memory interface module storing search data within a memory of the user device. The search module comprises a search performance module searching the search data in response to a search query. The search module comprises a search results module generating search results from the search data. The user device is associated with a display that displays the search results.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a plurality of data objects at a user device, said plurality of data objects including program guide data;
parsing search data from the plurality of data objects at the user device to form a search index different than the program guide data, said search index comprising search string objects, token objects and word objects, said word objects each having a first word and a second word associated therewith, said search string objects each having at least one token identifier associated therewith;
storing the search index within the user device separate from the program guide data;
in response to a search query, searching the search index stored within the user device by identifying the word object from the search query alphabetically until a second space is entered in a user interface, and, after the second space is entered performing:
identifying token objects from the word object,
identifying a string object from the token object, and
obtaining a token list having token objects and thereafter storing the token list to one of the token objects;

generating search results from the search index; and
displaying search results.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving a plurality of data objects comprises receiving a plurality of program guide objects.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving a plurality of data objects comprises receiving a plurality of channel objects.

4. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving a plurality of data objects comprises receiving a plurality of program guide objects and channel objects.

5. A method as recited in claim 4 wherein receiving a plurality of data objects comprises receiving the plurality of program guide objects and channel objects through a satellite.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving a plurality of data objects comprises receiving a plurality of schedule objects.

7. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving a plurality of data objects comprises receiving a plurality of video-on-demand objects.

8. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the search string objects comprise a string identifier, a token identifier and a data object identifier.

9. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the search string objects comprise a string identifier, a token identifier, and an object identifier identifying a first data object of the plurality of data objects.

10. A method as recited in claim 9 further comprising removing a search string object of the search in response to the object identifier.

11. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein storing search data comprises storing the word objects alphabetically based on the first word.

12. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein storing search data comprises storing the search data in a database within the user device.

13. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising weighting the search results with a relevance weight associated with a string object, wherein displaying the search results comprises displaying the search results in response to the relevance weight.

14. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein the relevance weight comprises a weight for one of a top match type, a first word article type or a string type.

15. A method as recited in claim 14 wherein the relevance weight is prioritized in order of the top match type, the first word article type or the string type.

16. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein the relevance weight corresponds to a string type.

17. A method as recited in claim 16 wherein the string type comprises one of a channel string type, category string type, title string type and name string type.

18. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein the string type is prioritized in order of channel string type, category string type, title string type and name string type.

19. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein when the relevance weight is equal, displaying comprises displaying the search results in alphabetical order.

20. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein generating search results comprises generating search results in response to suggestion data.

21. A method as recited in claim 20 wherein generating search results comprises generating search results in response to a suggestion data from different sources.

22. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising communicating the suggestion data to the user device from a head end.

23. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data at the user device.

24. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data at the user device based on content used at the user device.

25. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data at the user device in response to customer subscription services.

26. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to previous purchase data.

27. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to series recording data.

28. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to watched content.

29. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to searched content.

30. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to searched movie content.

31. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to searched person content.

32. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to searched person content and filmography data from an external source.

33. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to content use statistics.

34. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to content used and similar content data from an external source.

35. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to a user device location.

36. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to a user device location and content used at the user device.

37. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating the suggestion data in response to an external source to the user device.

38. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating the suggestion data in response to a website external to a content processing system.

39. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to predicted popularity.

40. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to a ranked list of content from an external source.

41. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in response to content from an external source and content used at a user device.

42. A method as recited in claim 20 further comprising generating suggestion data in resp

Assignees

• Arsenault Robert G
• Bennett Eric J
• Chang Eric H
• Chen Gordon H
• Chen Kenny C
• Dick Justin T
• Hansen Flemming R
• Kim Yoonjung
• Leong Peter
• Schneider Andrew J
• Sharkey Jeffrey L
• Spatzier Marcin
• Tran Huy Q
• Tullues Melissa H
• Wu Leo
• Directv Group Inc

Inventors

• Arsenault Robert G
• Bennett Eric J
• Chang Eric H
• Chen Gordon H
• Chen Kenny C
• Dick Justin T
• Hansen Flemming R
• Kim Yoonjung
• Leong Peter
• Schneider Andrew J
• Sharkey Jeffrey L
• Spatzier Marcin
• Tran Huy Q
• Tullues Melissa H
• Wu Leo

Classifications

• H04N21/4828

  for searching programme descriptors (retrieval of video data G06F16/739) · CPC title

• H04N21/4755

  for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre (retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306) · CPC title

• H04N21/25891

  being end-user preferences (retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18) · CPC title

• G06F16/73

  Querying · CPC title

• H04N21/4622

  Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet (web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859) · CPC title