Free text and attribute searching of electronic program guide (EPG) data
US7885963B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 24, 2003 |
| Grant date | Feb 8, 2011 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 9, 2027 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N21/84
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Subject matter includes a search engine for electronic program guide (EPG) data and related methods. In an exemplary method, a text search string can be normalized into searchable terms and the terms interpreted as either text search terms or attribute search terms. One or more queries having search conditions of varying degrees of complexity are created according to the interpretation of the terms of the search string. One or more searches in EPG databases and/or web-resources are performed based on interpretation of the text and attribute terms and results are given a relevancy ranking according to the interpretation. The combined search results may be grouped, ranked, and filtered for display to the user. Results may also be displayed progressively as each character of a search string is entered by the user.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.