Method and apparatus for quality ranking of media

1. A method comprising:

determining at least one threshold value of at least one quality parameter based at least in part on at least one of the user's historical selections for viewing media, the at least one threshold value being representative of a user's quality preference for media;

determining a value for the at least one quality parameter of at least one available media;

determining a quality score for each of said at least one available media at least partially based on the value of the at least one quality parameter of the candidate media and the at least one threshold value;

receiving a search request from the user; and

returning a search result based at least in part on the quality score.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a value of the at least one quality parameter is associated with one of good quality, average quality and low quality.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the threshold values of the at least one quality parameter comprises at least one of a pre-determined value and a value set by the user.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the search request includes at least one of: the quality score, a keyword, a title, and a description text.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the media is at least one type of media selected from the group comprising: an image and a video.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the quality score value comprises applying at least one function selected from a group of functions comprising: a piecewise linear function, a transcendental function, fuzzy logic, an algebraic function, and a polynomial function.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining the quality score comprises:

applying a weight to the value of each quality parameter; and

combining the weighted value of each quality parameter using a combination technique.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the combination technique is at least one combination technique selected from a group of combination techniques comprising: adding the weight value of each quality parameter, multiplying the weight value of each quality parameter, and using fuzzy logic.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising sorting the available media based at least in part on a ranking.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the quality score in a database.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the quality parameter is at least one quality parameter selected from a group of quality parameters comprising: resolution, sharpness, signal-to-noise ratio, and dynamic range.

12. A server comprising:

a network interface;

a database configured to store a plurality of quality parameters; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the network interface and the database, the processor configured to:

determine at least one threshold value of at least one quality parameter for media based at least in part on at least one of the user's historical selections for viewing media, the at least one threshold value being representative of a user's quality preference for media;

determine a value for the at least one quality parameter of at least one available media;

determine a quality score for each of said at least one available media at least partially based on the value of the at least one quality parameter of the candidate media and the at least one threshold value;

store the quality score for each of said at least one available media in the database;

receive, via the network interface, a search request from a remote device associated with the user; and

return, via the network interface, a search result to the remote device based at least in part on the quality score for each of said available media.

13. The server of claim 12 wherein a value of the at least one quality parameter is associated with one of good quality, average quality and low quality.

14. The server of claim 12 wherein at least one of the threshold values of the at least one quality parameter comprises at least one of a pre-determined value and a value set by the user.

15. The server of claim 12 wherein the processor is further configured to:

sort the available media based at least in part on a ranking.

16. The server of claim 12 wherein the processor is further configured to:

apply a weight to the value of each quality parameter resulting in a weighted value; and

combine the weighted value of each quality parameter using a combination technique,

wherein the combination technique is at least one combination technique selected from a group of combination techniques comprising: adding the weight value of each quality parameter, multiplying the weight value of each quality parameter, or using fuzzy logic.

17. The server of claim 12 wherein the quality parameter is at least one of the following: resolution, sharpness, signal-to-noise ratio, dynamic range, or combination thereof.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including one or more sequences of one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to:

determine at least one threshold value of at least one quality parameter for media based at least in part on at least one of the user's historical selections for viewing media, the at least one threshold value being representative of a user's quality preference for media;

determine a value for the at least one quality parameter of at least one available media;

determine a quality score for each of said at least one available media at least partially based on the value of the at least one quality parameter of the candidate media and the at least one threshold value;

receive a search request from a remote device associated with the user; and

return a search result to the remote device based at least in part on the quality score.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein a value of the at least one quality parameter is associated with one of good quality, average quality and low quality.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein at least one of the threshold values of the at least one quality parameter comprises at least one of a pre-determined value and a value set by the user.