Patent Application
20150235264
Videos that are produced or posted by users often include references to entities such as products, media content (e.g., music, movies, games, and applications), celebrities, etc. Users viewing these videos are more likely to be interested in purchasing the entities and/or content associated with the entities referenced in a video. Thus, it may be advantageous to detect entities referenced in a video and present items for purchase associated with the detected entities to a user viewing the video. Linking entities referenced in a video to a relevant purchasable source may help increase the number of purchases and sales associated with the entities referenced in a video.
According to an embodiment of the disclosed subject matter a method may include evaluating a video using one or more entity analysis techniques and identifying an entity associated with the video based on the evaluation. Next, one or more purchasable items associated with the entity may be identified. A first purchasable item may be selected from among the one or more purchasable items based on a user history associated with a user and the selected first purchasable item may be presented to the user during playback of the video.
An implementation of the disclosed subject matter provides a system including a data store storing a plurality of purchasable items and a processor configured to evaluate a video using one or more entity analysis techniques. An entity associated with the video may be identified based on the evaluation. One or more purchasable items associated with the entity may be identified from among the plurality of purchasable items. From among the one or more purchasable items, a first purchasable item may be selected based on a user history associated with a user. The system may also include an output configured to present the selected first purchasable item to the user during playback of the video.
The present disclosure allows for automatic detection of an entity referenced in a video and presentation of a purchasable item associated with the identified entity to a user viewing the video. By also taking into account a user's history (e.g., purchase history, viewing history, etc.), this technique may result in presentation of highly relevant purchasable items to a user that are likely to result in the user making a purchase, which may increase the purchase of an item or content that is particularly relevant to the user. Additional features, advantages, and embodiments of the disclosed subject matter may be set forth or apparent from consideration of the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. Moreover, it is to be understood that both the foregoing summary and the following detailed description are examples and are intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the claims.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosed subject matter, are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings also illustrate embodiments of the disclosed subject matter and together with the detailed description serve to explain the principles of embodiments of the disclosed subject matter. No attempt is made to show structural details in more detail than may be necessary for a fundamental understanding of the disclosed subject matter and various ways in which it may be practiced.
Videos that are produced or posted by users often include one or more references to entities such as products, media content (e.g., music, movies, games, and applications), celebrities, etc. within the content of the video. A user viewing one of these videos may be more likely to be interested in purchasing an entity and/or content associated with an entity referenced in a video while watching the video. Thus, it may be advantageous to detect an entity referenced in a video and present a purchasable item associated with the detected entity to a user during playback of the video. However, presenting a purchasable item to a viewer of the video may not result in the user making a purchase if the purchasable item is for purchasable content that the user already owns. As such, it may be valuable to compare available purchasable items related to an identified entity in a video with the user's history (e.g., purchase history, download history, etc.) and present a purchasable item that the user has not previously purchased. This technique of linking entities referenced in a video to relevant purchasable content that a user does not own may help increase the number of purchases associated with an entity referenced in a video.
Additionally, providers of purchasable items typically need to manually find individual videos that may promote their items in order to present a purchasable item relevant to a video, which can be difficult and expensive for providers of purchasable items. Currently, purchasable item providers may only make sweeping choices about whether to show purchasable items in conjunction with videos relating to their content or not, and are unable to promote the purchase of their items to particular users who may be viewing a video associated with their items. The present disclosure automatically selects a purchasable item, associated with an entity identified in video, based on a user history associated with a user and presents the purchasable item to the user. This technique may result in an increase in the purchase of items from a providers of purchasable items by automatically presenting their purchasable items to users who are likely to purchase their content.
The present disclosure provides for automatic detection of an entity associated with a video and presenting a purchasable item associated with the entity, to a user viewing the video. For example, a user, Fred, may be watching a video that was uploaded by another user. The video may be analyzed using an entity analysis technique and, as a result, an entity, i.e., the game Veggie Fighter, associated with the video may be identified. Based on the identified game Veggie Fighter, one or more purchasable items associated with the entity Veggie Fighter may be identified. For example, three purchasable items associated with the entity Veggie Fighter may be identified such as the game Veggie Fighter, a game Cake Baker by the same developer of Veggie Fighter, and a calendar featuring the characters of Veggie Fighter. A user history associated with Fred may be evaluated and it may be determined that Fred has previously purchased the games Veggie Fighter and Cake Baker. Based on the user history associated with Fred, the calendar featuring characters of Veggie Fighter may be selected. This selected purchasable item may be presented to Fred while he is watching the video.
As another example, a popular make-up blog may include a new video in which three new make-up products are reviewed. The video may be evaluated based on an entity analysis technique. As a result of the entity analysis, three different entities referenced in the video may be identified such as Brand A blush, Brand B eye shadow, and Brand C eyeliner. Next, a purchasable item associated with each of the entities may be identified. For example, a purchasable item associated with Brand A blush may be Brand A blush that is purchasable from a beauty store that sells the Brand A blush referenced in the video. A purchasable item associated with Brand B eye shadow may be a link to Brand B's website where a user may be able to purchase the Brand B eye shadow referenced in the video or other products by Brand B. A purchasable item associated with Brand C eyeliner may be a link to purchase the Brand C eyeliner from an online retailer. Based on a user history associated with the user viewing the video, it may be determined that the user has not previously purchased any of the products referenced in the video. As a result, all three purchasable items may be selected and presented to the user, while viewing the make-up review video, at the respective point in time in the video at which each of the products are referenced.
As mentioned above, user history may be used to select a purchasable item to present to a user. User history may be any information that identifies a user's purchase history, the contents of a user's media library, purchasable items that were previously presented to a user, and the like. Based on this user information, only those purchasable items for entities that a user has not previously viewed or purchased may be presented to a user. By taking into account a user's purchase history, this technique may result in presentation of purchasable items to a user that are likely to result in the user making a purchase which may result in an increase of the purchase of items and/or content that is particularly relevant to the user.
Referring back to
From among the one or more purchasable items, an purchasable item may be selected based on a user history associated with a user, at 104, and the selected purchasable item may be presented to the user during playback of the video, at 105. A purchasable item associated with an entity may be presented in any format. For example, a purchasable item may be presented using a link to a webpage, a retailer, a media provider, and any other provider of items for purchase that may be associated with the entity associated with the video. A purchasable item may also be presented in an advertisement, an interface, an action item (e.g., add to watch list, add to wish list, add to cart, etc.), an image, an audio clip, a video clip, and any other format that may be used to present a purchasable item to a user. Presentation of a selected purchasable item may be presented to a user using various techniques. A selected purchasable item may be presented in an interface, for example, placed adjacent to the video during playback or within the video during playback such as a pop-up interface within the interface in which the video may be played. As a specific example, presentation of a purchasable item may be an advertisement for a selected purchasable item associated with an entity referenced in a video.
A user history associated with a user may be based on one or multiple sources of user history associated with the user. A source of user history for a user may be any source of information regarding a user's previous activity. Examples of sources of user history associated with a user may be a media library of the user, a media viewing history of the user, a media listen history of the user from a media service provider, a purchase history of the user from one or more retailers, a webpage viewing history of the user, a conversion history of the user based on previously presented purchasable items, a purchasable item viewing history of the user, an ad selection history of the user, and the like. As an example, a user's media library may include a particular song that the user may have previously purchased. Accordingly, this information may be included in a user history associated with the user such that the same song would not be presented to the user again. According to an implementation, a list of previous purchases associated with a user may be generated based on the one or more sources of user history associated with the user. In general, a list of previous purchases may include every previous purchase made by a user identified from every available source of user history, such as purchase history from one or more retailers. User history for a user may be collected from multiple different sources, such as from a media content provider, an online retailer, an internet search provider, a video sharing site, a website, and the like. Alternatively or in addition, various techniques may be used to identify a user history associated with a user from various sources of user history such that only those purchasable items or purchasable items for items that are new to the user are presented to the user while viewing a video.
According to an implementation, a list of previously presented purchasable items associated with the user may be identified based on multiple sources of user history, and the selected purchasable item may not be in the list of previously presented purchasable items. For example, a list of previously presented purchasable items may include multiple purchasable items, such as a product A, a song B, and a movie C, all of which may have been previously presented to a user. In this case, the purchasable item that may be selected from among the one or more purchasable items based on a user history associated with the user at 104 may not be any of the purchasable items included in the list of previously presented purchasable items, i.e., the product A, the song B, and the movie C. By taking into account the purchasable items that have been previously presented to a user, only those purchasable items that may be new to the user may be presented. This may result in an increased likelihood that the user may purchase items and/or content associated with the video that the user is currently viewing.
Presentation of a selected purchasable item during playback of the video may occur at various points in time or based on events during playback of the video, for example continuous playback or paused playback. In some cases, a request may be received from the user to begin playback of the video, and a selection may be received, from the user, of a portion of the video displaying the entity. For example, a user may select (e.g. click on) a portion of the video displaying an entity indicating the user's interest in the entity. In this case, the step of identifying the entity may be performed subsequent to the step of receiving the selection from the user. As another example, playback of the video may be paused in response to receiving the selection from the user, and as a result, an entity associated with the video may be identified. The step of identifying an entity associated with the video may be performed at any time upon receiving a video from a creator such as prior to playback of the video, continuously during playback of the video, in response to a selection made by a user viewing the video, upon pausing the video in response to a selection by a user, and the like. According to an implementation, the step of identifying the entity may be performed automatically prior to beginning playback of the video. For example, when a video is received, by a video provider (e.g., a video sharing site), from the creator of the video, the video may be evaluated using one or more entity analysis techniques in order to identify one or more entities associated with the video. Following identification of an entity associated with the video, one or more purchasable items associated with the entity may be identified. Next, a request may be received from a user to play the video and in this case, a purchasable item may be selected from among the one or more identified purchasable items based on the user history associated with the user. As a result, the selected purchasable item may be presented to the user.
Although the examples provided herein describe steps for identifying one entity in a video, selecting a purchasable item associated with the entity based on a user history, and presenting the selected purchasable item to a user, the disclosed technique may be implemented for multiple entities identified at various points in time during a video. For example, during playback of a video, an entity A may be identified at the time position 00:16 followed by the steps of identifying, selecting, and presenting a purchasable item #1 during playback of the video. Following presentation of purchasable item #1, an entity B may be identified at the time position 01:23 in the same video, and as a result, a purchasable item #2 may be identified, selected and presented to the user. Next, at the time position 02:46 in the same video, an entity C may be identified followed by the steps of identifying, selecting, and presenting a purchasable item #3 during playback of the video, and so on. In some cases, multiple entities may be identified within the same time frame in a video. For example, at or around time position 00:16, entities A and B may be identified. In this case, the entities A and B may be ranked based on the likelihood of that the user will select a purchasable item associated with each of the entities. As an example, based on a user history for a user, it may be determined that the user does not like entity A. As a result, a purchasable item associated with entity B may be selected and presented to the user at or around time position 00:16 during playback of the video. Based on the technique described herein multiple entities may be identified during the total playback time of the video and a respective selected purchasable item may be presented at the point in time in the video at which the entity is referenced.
In an implementation, communication between a video provider (e.g., a video sharing site), a purchasable item provider, and a user may be across one or more bridges between the interfaces. For example, the communications between the video provider and a user may be managed or assisted by a third device, such as, a coordinating device, a local coordinator, a remote server, etc. In such cases, the third device may, for example, evaluate a video using an entity analysis technique and/or identify an entity associated with the video and/or identify one or more purchasable items associated with the entity. The third device may then select a purchasable item based on a user history associated with the user and provide the selected purchasable item to the video provider, in which case, the video provider may present the selected purchasable item to the user. Alternatively, the third device may provide the identified entity to an purchasable item provider which may identify one or more purchasable items associated with the entity and provide the one or more purchasable items to the video provider and/or the third device, one of which may select a purchasable item from among the one or more purchasable items based on a user history. Furthermore, more than one intermediate device may be implemented to facilitate communication between a video provider (e.g., a video sharing site), a purchasable item provider, and one or more users.
Embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter may be implemented in and used with a variety of component and network architectures.
The bus 21 allows data communication between the central processor 24 and the memory 27. The RAM is generally the main memory into which the operating system and application programs are loaded. The ROM or flash memory can contain, among other code, the Basic Input-Output system (BIOS) which controls basic hardware operation such as the interaction with peripheral components. Applications resident with the computer 20 are generally stored on and accessed via a computer readable medium, such as the fixed storage 23 and/or the memory 27, an optical drive, external storage mechanism, or the like.
Each component shown may be integral with the computer 20 or may be separate and accessed through other interfaces. Other interfaces, such as a network interface 29, may provide a connection to remote systems and devices via a telephone link, wired or wireless local- or wide-area network connection, proprietary network connections, or the like. For example, the network interface 29 may allow the computer to communicate with other computers via one or more local, wide-area, or other networks, as shown in
Many other devices or components (not shown) may be connected in a similar manner, such as document scanners, digital cameras, auxiliary, supplemental, or backup systems, or the like. Conversely, all of the components shown in
More generally, various embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter may include or be embodied in the form of computer-implemented processes and apparatuses for practicing those processes. Embodiments also may be embodied in the form of a computer program product having computer program code containing instructions embodied in non-transitory and/or tangible media, such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, hard drives, USB (universal serial bus) drives, flash drives, or any other non-transitory machine readable storage medium, such that when the computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing embodiments of the disclosed subject matter. Embodiments also may be embodied in the form of computer program code, for example, whether stored in a non-transitory storage medium, loaded into and/or executed by a computer. When the computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing embodiments of the disclosed subject matter. When implemented on a general-purpose microprocessor, the computer program code segments configure the microprocessor to create specific logic circuits. In some configurations, a set of computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium may be implemented by a general-purpose processor, which may transform the general-purpose processor or a device containing the general-purpose processor into a special-purpose device configured to implement or carry out the instructions. Embodiments may be implemented using hardware that may include a processor, such as a general purpose microprocessor and/or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) that embodies all or part of the techniques according to embodiments of the disclosed subject matter in hardware and/or firmware. The processor may be coupled to memory, such as RAM, ROM, flash memory, a hard disk or any other device capable of storing electronic information, as previously described. The memory or other storage medium may store instructions adapted to be executed by the processor to perform the techniques according to embodiments of the disclosed subject matter.
The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, the illustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit embodiments of the disclosed subject matter to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of embodiments of the disclosed subject matter and their practical applications, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to utilize those embodiments as well as various embodiments with various modifications as may be suited to the particular use contemplated.
