User interface with available multimedia content from multiple multimedia websites
View Patent ↗Automatically and repeatedly crawling multiple multimedia websites to identify and collect information about the multimedia content that is available for delivery over the Internet to a client device for playback on a media player operating on the client device. In one embodiment, the method normalizes the collected information by converting the different formats of the collected information into a common format and converting the different nomenclatures of the collected information into a common nomenclature. The method updates an index with the normalized information, and sends a data feed to the client device to populate the user interface on the client device with the normalized information of the index. The user interface allows the user to navigate and select the multimedia content that is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player.
1. A server for populating a user interface on a client device with multimedia content available by delivery from a plurality of other servers not associated with the server, comprising:
a processor, wherein the processor is configured to receive an indication of the multimedia content available by delivery from the plurality of other servers, wherein the multimedia content available by delivery from the plurality of other servers is displayed in a plurality of different display formats and has a plurality of different naming conventions for describing the content of the media content, wherein the processor is further configured to execute normalization logic to convert the plurality of different display formats into a common display format and to convert the plurality of different naming conventions describing the content of the media content into a common naming convention,
wherein the indication of the multimedia content available by delivery from the plurality of other servers comprises metadata describing the multimedia content, and wherein the normalization logic transforms the metadata into the normalized information, and the metadata comprises a plurality of fields, each having a value, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute normalization logic to:
rename one or more of the plurality of field names of the metadata based upon the common naming convention to transform the metadata; and
convert one or more of the values of the plurality of fields based upon the common naming convention to transform the metadata.
2. The server of claim 1 , wherein the user interface allows the user to navigate and select the multimedia content that is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player operating on the client device without requiring the user to input a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to one of the plurality of other servers.
3. The server of claim 1 , wherein the metadata comprises a title or a description, and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) indicating a web address where the multimedia content is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player.
4. The server of claim 1 , wherein the metadata comprises a thumbnail of an image of the multimedia content, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute normalization logic to resize the thumbnail to a common thumbnail size to transform the metadata.
5. The server of claim 1 , wherein the metadata is stored according to a site-specific data structure, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute normalization logic to reformat the site-specific data structure of the metadata into a common data structure.
6. The server of claim 1 , wherein the metadata is stored in a plurality of locations on at least one of the plurality of other servers according to a site-specific data structure, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute normalization logic to extract parts of the metadata from different locations of the plurality of locations, and to reorganize the parts of the metadata into a common data structure.
7. A method for populating a user interface on a client device with available multimedia content from a plurality of servers, comprising:
collecting information on the available multimedia content from the plurality of servers, the available multimedia content from the plurality of servers having a plurality of different display formats and having a plurality of different naming conventions describing the content of the media content;
normalizing the collected information by converting the plurality of different display formats of the collected information into a common display format and converting the plurality of different naming conventions describing a content of the media content into a common naming convention; and
sending a data feed to the client device to populate the user interface on the client device with the normalized collected information, wherein the user interface allows a user to navigate and select the multimedia content that is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player operating on the client device,
wherein the collected information comprises a plurality of fields, each having a value, and wherein the normalizing further comprises:
renaming one or more of the plurality of field names of the collected information based upon the common naming convention to transform the collected information; and
converting one or more of the values of the plurality of fields based upon the common naming convention to transform the collected information.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the user interface allows the user to navigate and select the multimedia content that is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player operating on the client device without requiring the user to input a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to one of the plurality of servers.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the collected information about the multimedia content comprises:
a thumbnail of an image of the multimedia content; and
metadata describing the multimedia content,
wherein the normalizing further comprises:
resizing the thumbnail to a common thumbnail size;
renaming one or more values of the metadata based upon the common naming convention; and
reformatting a site-specific data structure of the metadata into a common data structure.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the collected information comprises a title or a description, and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) indicating a web address where the multimedia content is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player.
11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the collected information is stored according to a site-specific data structure, and wherein the normalizing further comprises reformatting the site-specific data structure of the collected information into a common data structure.
12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the collected information is stored in a plurality of locations on at least one of the plurality of servers according to a site-specific data structure, normalizing further comprises extracting parts of the collected information from different locations of the plurality of locations, and to reorganize the parts of the collected information into a common data structure.
13. An apparatus, comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that provides instructions that, if executed by the processor, will cause the processor to:
collect information on available multimedia content from a plurality of servers, the available multimedia content from the plurality of servers having a plurality of different display formats and having a plurality of different naming conventions describing the content of the media content;
normalizing the collected information by converting the plurality of different display formats of the collected information into a common display format and converting the plurality of different naming conventions describing a content of the media content into a common naming convention; and
send a data feed to a client device to populate a user interface on the client device with the normalized collected information,
wherein the collected information comprises a plurality of fields, each having a value, and wherein the processor is further configured to:
rename one or more of the plurality of field names of the collected information based upon the common naming convention to transform the collected information; and
convert one or more of the values of the plurality of fields based upon the common naming convention to transform the collected information.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the collected information about the multimedia content comprises:
a thumbnail of an image of the multimedia content; and
metadata describing the multimedia content,
wherein the processor is further configured to:
resizing the thumbnail to a common thumbnail size;
renaming one or more values of the metadata based upon the common naming conventions; and
reformatting a site-specific data structure of the metadata into a common data structure.
15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the collected information comprises a title or a description, and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) indicating a web address where the multimedia content is available for delivery over the Internet for playback on the media player.
16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the collected information is stored according to a site-specific data structure, and wherein the processor is further configured to reformat the site-specific data structure of the collected information into a common data structure.