User modelling and metadata of transmedia content data

1. An apparatus for linking transmedia content subsets comprising:

a memory configured to store:

a plurality of transmedia content data items and associated linking data which define time-ordered content links between the plurality of transmedia content data items, the plurality of transmedia content data items being arranged into linked transmedia content subsets comprising different groups of the transmedia content data items and different content links therebetween; and

a transmedia content model that represents the different groups of the transmedia content data items as nodes and the time-ordered content links between the different groups of the transmedia content data items as edges in one or more time-varying graphs; and

processing circuitry configured to:

associate the different groups of the transmedia content data items with the time-ordered content links and store the associated linking data in the memory;

assign the transmedia content data items to the nodes of a graph structure, assign the time-ordered content links to the edges of the graph structure;

implement a harvesting engine configured to:

identify a number of common nodes, a number of common edges shared between at least two of the linked transmedia content subsets, or a combination thereof; and

extract from the memory one or more linked transmedia content subsets when the number of common edges, the number of common nodes, or the number of common edges and the common nodes exceeds a pre-defined threshold; and

store data pertaining to the nodes and the edges in the transmedia content model.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the harvesting engine is configured to extract the one or more linked transmedia content subsets by copying the transmedia content data items and associated linking data of the extracted transmedia content subsets to another region in the memory.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the harvesting engine is configured to extract the one or more linked transmedia content subsets by storing a reference to each transmedia content data item and each item of associated linking data of the extracted transmedia content subsets in the memory.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the transmedia content data items relate to narrative elements of the transmedia content data items.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the time-ordered content links define a narrative order of the transmedia content data items.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each time-ordered content link defines a directional link from a first transmedia content data item to a second transmedia content data item of the plurality of transmedia content data items.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the first transmedia content data item has a plurality of outgoing time-ordered content links.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the second transmedia content data item has a plurality of incoming time-ordered content links.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory is further configured to store a plurality of subset entry points for the linked transmedia content subsets.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein each subset entry point is a flag indicating a transmedia content data item that has at least one outgoing time-ordered link and no incoming time-ordered links.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each linked transmedia content subset defines a linear path, wherein the linear path comprises a subset entry point, one or more transmedia content data items and one or more time-ordered links between the subset entry point and the transmedia content data items.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein two or more linked transmedia content subsets share one or more subset entry points, one or more transmedia content data items, one or more time-ordered content links, or a combination thereof.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the two or more transmedia content subsets form a non-linear network of transmedia content data items connected by time-ordered content links, and wherein the non-linear network includes a plurality of subset entry points, a plurality of subset end points, or a combination thereof.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to calculate an entropy value for a transmedia content subset based on a number of transmedia content data items, a number of time-ordered content links, or a combination thereof shared with other transmedia content subsets in the non-linear network.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to extract the one or more linked transmedia content subsets for which one or more of an entropy value, a pressure value, a volume value, or a time exceeds a predetermined threshold.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory is further configured to comprise a plurality of transmedia content metadata items, each transmedia content metadata item being associated with one or more transmedia content data items, and a plurality of subset metadata items, each subset metadata item being associated with one or more transmedia content sub sets.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein each transmedia content metadata item defines narrative information for each transmedia content data item.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to extract the one or more linked transmedia content subsets only for the linked transmedia content subsets in which the plurality of transmedia content metadata items indicate a complete narrative.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a metadata generation engine wherein the memory is further configured to store:

one or more metadata items associated with the plurality of transmedia content data items; and

a metadata generation engine configured to generate metadata associated with a first subset of the plurality of transmedia content data items based on the one or more metadata items associated with the plurality of transmedia content data items comprised within the first subset.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the metadata generation engine is configured to generate metadata associated with the first subset of the plurality of transmedia content data items by grouping the metadata associated with the plurality of transmedia content data items of the first subset and copying the grouped metadata to another region in the memory.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the metadata generation engine is configured to generate metadata associated with the first subset of the plurality of transmedia content data items by grouping the metadata associated with the plurality of transmedia content data items of the first subset and copying references to the grouped metadata to another region in the memory.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the metadata generation engine is configured to automatically generate the metadata by analyzing media elements or graph structures.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the metadata generation engine is configured to extract and analyze features from the plurality of transmedia content data items.

24. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the metadata generation engine is configured to generate the metadata from input received at a user input interface.

25. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the metadata generation engine further comprises a metadata aggregator, wherein the metadata aggregator is configured to receive the metadata from one or more sources, analyze the received metadata and associate the analyzed metadata with the plurality of transmedia content data items and the linked transmedia content subsets.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the metadata aggregator analyzes the metadata received from a plurality of sources to determine metadata tags to associate with the plurality of transmedia content data items and the linked transmedia content sub sets.

27. An apparatus for linking transmedia content subsets comprising:

a memory configured to store:

a plurality of transmedia content data items and associated linking data which define time-ordered content links between the plurality of transmedia content data items, the plurality of transmedia content data items being arranged into linked transmedia content subsets comprising different groups of the transmedia content data items and different content links therebetween; and

a transmedia content model that represents the different groups of the transmedia content data items as nodes and the time-ordered content links between the different groups of the transmedia content data items as edges in one or more time-varying graphs; and

processing circuitry configured to:

associate the different groups of the transmedia content data items with the time-ordered content links and store the associated linking data in the memory;

assign the transmedia content data items to the nodes of a graph structure, assign the time-ordered content links to the edges of the graph structure;

calculate a temperature value for a transmedia content subset based on a number of social media endorsements received by the transmedia content subset or transmedia content data items present in the transmedia content subset; and

store data pertaining to the nodes and the edges in the transmedia content model.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to calculate a volume value for the transmedia content subset based on a number of transmedia content data items present in the transmedia content subset.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to calculate a pressure value based on the calculated temperature value and calculated volume value.

30. A system comprising:

the apparatus of claim 1 ; and

an electronic device configured to be in communication with the apparatus and display one or more of the plurality of transmedia content data items received from the apparatus.

31. A method for linking transmedia content subsets formed of a plurality of transmedia content data items and associated linking data which define time-ordered content links between the plurality of transmedia content data items, the transmedia content subsets comprising different groups of the transmedia content data items and different content links therebetween, the method comprising:

associating the different groups of the transmedia content data items with the time-ordered content links and storing the associated linking data in a memory;

assigning the transmedia content data items to nodes of a graph structure;

assigning the time-ordered content links to edges of the graph structure;

implementing a harvesting engine configured to:

identifying a number of common nodes, a number of common edges shared between at least two of the linked transmedia content subsets, or a combination thereof; and

extracting from the memory one or more linked transmedia content subsets when the number of common edges, the number of common nodes, or the number of common edges and the number of common nodes exceeds a pre-defined threshold; and

storing data pertaining to the nodes and the edges in a transmedia content model.

32. The method of claim 31 , further comprising:

generating, with a metadata generation engine, metadata associated with a first subset of the plurality of transmedia content data items based on one or more metadata items associated with one or more of the plurality of transmedia content data items within the first subset.

33. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions, which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps of the method of claim 31 .