Patent Grant
7526506
An electronic programming guide provides users with program listing information including dates and times of programs delivered via broadcast, cable, satellite, or the Internet. Exemplary programs include news shows, situation comedies, infomercials, and sporting events. The electronic programming guide may include a brief description of each program, a rating, an abbreviated list of actors, or other metadata. For sporting events, however, typical electronic programming guides do not include such information because the metadata about each sporting event is dynamic. For example, batting statistics for a baseball player may change as a result of a recent game, individual game schedules may change on short notice, the composition and organization of leagues change from season to season, and different sports have different sets of metadata attributes (e.g., baseball has a pitcher name while football has a quarterback name). Further, televised sports program listings are also dynamic and may change with little notice. For at least these reasons, interlinking sporting event metadata and television program listing metadata is difficult.
Embodiments of the invention import metadata related to sporting events and interlink this metadata with television program listing metadata to provide an exhaustive and up-to-the-minute electronic programming guide (EPG) listing. In an embodiment, the invention is flexible, configurable and extensible to accommodate for changes to the metadata. Rules for interlinking the metadata may be configured without modifying compiled software code.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Other features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
Referring first to
The rules 112 define thresholds for matches between the sports schedule data 104 and the television program listing data 102. The television program listing data 102 may be received as a raw feed and then converted in a global listing format for storage in a database or other memory area. In one embodiment, a memory area such as memory area 114 stores the sports schedule data, the television program listing data, and the configurable match rules or criteria after receipt from the respective providers.
The comparison component 118 queries the television program listing data 102 for each of the plurality of sporting events based on the configurable match rules 112 to identify one or more television programs corresponding to each of the sporting events. The interlink component 120 matches the metadata for the plurality of sporting events with the television program listing data 102 as a function of the querying by the comparison component 118. The publication component 122 creates, for display to a user, an enhanced electronic programming guide with the metadata for the plurality of sporting events matched to the television program listing data 102 by the interlink component 120. A computing device such as processor 124 executes the interface component 116, the comparison component 118, the interlink component 120, and the publication component 122.
The enhanced electronic programming guide with the metadata for the plurality of sporting events matched to the television program listing data 102 is output by the interlink component 120 to an electronic programming guide (EPG) download pipeline 126 where the guide is readied for delivery to a user computing device 128.
In one embodiment, the interface component 116, the comparison component 118, the interlink component 120, and the publication component 122 include binary files. The processor 124 executes the binary files. When the match rules 112 are reconfigured (e.g., to accommodate for changes to the sports schedule data 104 or to the television program listing data 102), the binary files do not need to be recompiled to be operable with the reconfigured match rules 112.
In the example of
In one embodiment, the sports metadata 106, in-season data 108, override data 110, and match rules 112 are received as extensible markup language (XML) data feeds. The XML data feeds are in a global sports format (GSF) received via hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Appendix A includes an exemplary implementation of the GSF. Embodiments of the invention recognize and process GSF data, which may include a plurality of schedules or leagues. In one embodiment, the XML data feeds are processed twice a day to create a local file for each league for storage and processing. The following table illustrates exemplary file names for various leagues.
A uniform resource locator (URL) for retrieving the XML data feeds follows the format below with the CategoryID different for each sport or sport grouping.
Exemplary, collected GSF XML is validated against a GSF extensible schema definition (XSD) such as shown below.
The in-season data 108 is used to validate the collected GSF. For example, if the GSF for an in-season league has no games, an error occurs and is logged. The in-season data 108 is also validated against an XSD such as shown below.
In one embodiment, the override data 110 exists for each league. In other embodiments, no override data 110 exists. Exemplary XML representing the override data 110 appears as shown below and is validated against an XSD. Any association that has an ExpirationDate after the current date is ignored at load time.
An embodiment of the invention includes a set of match rules 112 or criteria for each league in the sports schedule data 104. These rules 112 are used to identify the corresponding television programs for sporting events in that league or category. Each set of rules 112 may be stored in a separate file. The rules 112 may be received as XML as shown in Appendix B, validated against an XSD.
Referring next to
Television program listing data is received from an electronic programming guide provider at 204. The television program listing data includes television program listings corresponding to at least one of the plurality of sporting events. A rules provider provides one or more configurable criteria defining characteristics of the sporting events at 206. The characteristics of the sporting events are particular to each type of sporting event, game, or league and include, for example, team names. At 208, the method in
In one embodiment, the interlinking process includes performing fuzzy string comparisons. In one example, the television program listing data includes an episode title and reduced description for each of the program listings. In this example, interlinking the received sports schedule data with the received television program listing data includes comparing the title in the sports schedule data with the episode title in the television program listing data and comparing the description in the sports schedule data with the reduced description in the television program listing data.
The method in
Alternatively or in addition, the method illustrated in
In one embodiment, one or more computer-readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the computerized method illustrated in
Referring next to
Referring next to
In the above example, candidate matches include those television program listings that start within a window of time centered around the event start date and time from the sport schedule data, that have a duration greater than or equal the minimum specified and less than or equal the maximum specified (in minutes), and that match one of the supplied reduced titles. If an excessive number of candidate matches is returned, a warning is logged and additional candidate matches are ignored.
For each match set, multiple episode title templates (such as shown below) are defined and one or more team names may be mapped to each team identifier. If any candidate matches have been identified, a set of valid episode titles is generated by substituting the appropriate team names or title provided by the sports provider for tokens in configured episode title templates. If a token does not have valid corresponding data in the sports feed, that episode title template is skipped.
The method iterates over the candidates matches and compares each candidate episode title against each of the episode titles generated from the templates. An exact match or a regular expression match has a score of 100, in one embodiment. If there is no exact match and a fuzziness threshold is configured at less than 100, a fuzzy matching score is calculated on a 0-100 scale. The algorithm for calculating the fuzzy matching score uses, in one embodiment, a combination of Levenshtein edit distance and common word comparison between the two strings. If the fuzzy matching score exceeds the configured threshold, a match is made between the game and that program. Fuzzy string matching allows for small differences when doing string comparisons. Appendix C includes an exemplary implementation of the fuzzy match operations.
If an optional ReducedDescription template (such as shown below) is defined in the match rules, a similar process is applied to the description templates and the reduced description of the programs. Both the reduced description and the episode title match should exceed the threshold for a match to be made.
After the matching operations have been performed, data for the enhanced electronic programming guide is stored as XML validated against an XSD as shown below. Any matches with a confidence level below a particular threshold are not included in the output.
In one embodiment, processing occurs via a C# IProcess that expects the following parameters. In the example below, data is received from only one sports data provider. Receiving data from multiple sports data providers, however, is within the scope of the invention.
Exemplary Operating Environment
An exemplary operating environment in one embodiment of the invention includes a general purpose computing device such as a computer executing computer-executable instructions. The computing device typically has at least some form of computer readable media (e.g., a memory area). Computer readable media, which include both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media, may be any available medium that may be accessed by the general purpose computing device. By way of example and not limitation, computer readable media comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Communication media typically embody computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and include any information delivery media. Those skilled in the art are familiar with the modulated data signal, which has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. Wired media, such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media, such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media, are examples of communication media. Combinations of any of the above are also included within the scope of computer readable media. The computing device includes or has access to computer storage media in the form of removable and/or non-removable, volatile and/or nonvolatile memory. The user may enter commands and information into the computing device through input devices or user interface selection devices such as a keyboard and a pointing device (e.g., a mouse, trackball, pen, or touch pad). Other input devices (not shown) may be connected to the computing device. The computing device may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers.
Although described in connection with an exemplary computing system environment, aspects of the invention are operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. The computing system environment is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of aspects of the invention. Moreover, the computing system environment should not be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplary operating environment. Examples of well known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use in embodiments of the invention include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, mobile telephones, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
Embodiments of the invention may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, program modules include, but are not limited to, routines, programs, objects, components, and data structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Aspects of the invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
In operation, a computing device executes computer-executable instructions such as those illustrated in the figures to implement aspects of the invention.
The following examples further illustrate embodiments of the invention. Hardware, software, firmware, computer-executable components, computer-executable instructions, and/or the elements of
Referring next to
The order of execution or performance of the operations in embodiments of the invention illustrated and described herein is not essential, unless otherwise specified. That is, the operations may be performed in any order, unless otherwise specified, and embodiments of the invention may include additional or fewer operations than those disclosed herein. For example, it is contemplated that executing or performing a particular operation before, contemporaneously with, or after another operation is within the scope of aspects of the invention.
Embodiments of the invention may be implemented with computer-executable instructions. The computer-executable instructions may be organized into one or more computer-executable components or modules. Aspects of the invention may be implemented with any number and organization of such components or modules. For example, aspects of the invention are not limited to the specific computer-executable instructions or the specific components or modules illustrated in the figures and described herein. Other embodiments of the invention may include different computer-executable instructions or components having more or less functionality than illustrated and described herein.
When introducing elements of aspects of the invention or the embodiments thereof, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements.
As various changes could be made in the above constructions, products, and methods without departing from the scope of aspects of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
The XML below represents an exemplary implementation of the global sports format data feed schema.
Exemplary match rules are shown below. In one embodiment, the match rules comprise location-specific criteria, or other geographical criteria. The starttimebefore and starttimeafter fields define an acceptable number of minutes on either side of the game to allow for game delays, etc. The durationmaximum and durationminimum fields define an acceptable number of minutes for the duration of a television program. In one embodiment, the match rules include multiple TeamSet fields, one for each supported language.
An exemplary fuzzy string comparison algorithm computes the similarity of two strings on a 0-100 scale. Exemplary operations are shown below.
1. Sports interlinking rate summary report
2. Sports interlinking detailed report
This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/970,602, filed Oct. 21, 2004, entitled “Methods, Computer Readable Mediums and Systems for Linking Related Data From At Least Two Data Sources Based Upon a Scoring Algorithm,” hereby incorporated by reference.
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