Abstract: A system implementing a method for providing sponsored information on an electronic device determines information of interest to the user as relevant information, accesses sponsored information, and provides sponsored information based on said relevant information.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system for providing access to information of potential interest to a user. Closed-caption information is analyzed to find related information on the Internet. User interactions with a TV which receives programming including closed-caption information are monitored to determine user interests or topics.

Abstract: A method and a system for searching for information using an electronic device, such as a consumer electronic device, that can be connected to a network. Such searching for information involves determining a context for a search for information, forming a search query based on the context of search for information, and performing a contextual search based on the search query. Performing the contextual search further includes performing a query refinement.

Abstract: A method and system for providing information to a user of a device on a local network is provided. This involves obtaining information about current user activity on the local network, obtaining contextual information about current user activity on the local network and obtaining additional information interrelated to the contextual information and the user activity information. Then correlations are identified between the additional information, the contextual information and the user activity information. The correlations are used in forming a query to search for information related to the current user activity, to provide to the user.

Abstract: In a first embodiment of the present invention, a method of interpreting a situation of a user of an electronic device is provided, comprising: gathering social data related to the user; monitoring one or more physical sensors on the electronic device in order to gather physical data related to the user; mapping structured data in the social data and the physical data to internal data types; extracting features from unstructured social data; identifying attributes related to the features; obtaining values for the identified attributes; interpreting movement of the user by examining the physical data; and detecting a situation of the user by fusing the movement of the user with the identified attributes of the features of the unstructured social data and features of structured social data.

Abstract: A system implementing a method for providing sponsored information on an electronic device determines information of interest to the user as relevant information, accesses sponsored information, and provides sponsored information based on said relevant information.

Abstract: A system implementing a method for providing sponsored information on an electronic device determines information of interest to the user as relevant information, accesses sponsored information, and provides sponsored information based on said relevant information.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method for managing video contents includes collecting a plurality of keywords related to a topic, the keywords being collected using at least one dynamic data source. One or more sub-topics of the topic are identified using the keywords collected. A topic node in a taxonomy of topics is built, the topic node including a topic identifier for the topic, a child topic identifier for the sub-topics identified, and a keyword section for one or more of the keywords collected. A plurality of videos is organized using the topic node built to assist a user in locating a video of interest.

Abstract: A configurable system brings Internet services, designed for PCs, to consumer electronics (CE) devices, and allows using external services such as Internet Services on CE devices. This reduces the need for input devices such as keyboards and mice, thereby making the configurable system suitable for CE devices. The configurable system relies on the structure of HTML/XML embedded in a Web page for information extraction by scrapping. Since cosmetic changes made to the Web site alter the embedded HTML/XML, the configurable system is updated whenever the Web site changes.

Abstract: In a first embodiment of the present invention, a method of interpreting a situation of a user of an electronic device is provided, comprising: gathering social data related to the user; monitoring one or more physical sensors on the electronic device in order to gather physical data related to the user; mapping structured data in the social data and the physical data to internal data types; extracting features from unstructured social data; identifying attributes related to the features; obtaining values for the identified attributes; interpreting movement of the user by examining the physical data; and detecting a situation of the user by fusing the movement of the user with the identified attributes of the features of the unstructured social data and features of structured social data.

Abstract: A correlation system and method implement a framework for correlating content available from a local network with information on an external network. The system identifies information related to content available on the local network of interest to the user and also identifies one or more external sources that contain such related information. Then the system extracts data related to the identified information from the external sources, and determines correlations between the identified information and the data extracted from the external network.

Abstract: A method and system for providing information related to content accessed by a user of an electronic device is provided. An implementation involves determining content of interest to the user for access via an electronic device; obtaining metadata for said content; prefetching information related to said metadata; upon detecting availability of further metadata for said content, prefetching additional information related to said further metadata; and upon access to the content by the user via the electronic device, selectively providing the prefetched information to the user.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system for providing access to information of potential interest to a user. Closed-caption information is analyzed to find related information on the Internet. User interactions with a TV which receives programming including closed-caption information are monitored to determine user interests or topics.

Abstract: A method and system for facilitating information searching for a user of an electronic device is provided. Facilitating searches involves obtaining information about the user interests, identifying potential data of interest to the user, extracting data related to said data of interest to the user, and collecting the extracted related data for presentation to the user on the device.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system for providing access to information of potential interest to a user. Closed-caption information is analyzed to find related information on the Internet. User interactions with a TV which receives programming including closed-caption information are monitored to determine user interests. The related closed-caption information is analyzed to determine key information therein. The key information is used for searching for information in available resources such as the Internet, and the search results are used to make recommendations to the user about information of potential interest to the user.

Abstract: A method and system for facilitating information searching for a user of an electronic device is provided. Facilitating searches involves obtaining information about the user interests, identifying potential data of interest to the user, extracting data related to said data of interest to the user, and collecting the extracted related data for presentation to the user on the device.

Abstract: A method and system implementing a process for suggesting search queries on an electronic device is provided. The process involves displaying terms related to content accessed by a user for selection by the user, obtaining one or more key terms related to a user-selected term, and displaying the one or more key terms to the user as query suggestions corresponding to the selected term. Obtaining one or more key terms involves obtaining one or more key terms related to the selected term, based on local content information and/or external content information.

Abstract: A computing system creates and stores semantic metadata on content, such as videos, that enables efficient searching of the content. The existing metadata of a video file, for example, is examined and a keyword list is created. The processes used to derive the keyword list may depend on the type and format of the existing metadata. The keywords from the list are compared against external structured knowledge data sources that are topic oriented. Based on these comparisons and the matches found, semantic data, including topic, topic type, and attribute data are inserted into a topic table. This uniform and structured table is stored on the computing system and is efficiently searchable for finding relevant videos and for finding relationships between videos.

Abstract: A method and system for extracting relevant information from content metadata is provided. User access to content is monitored. A set of extraction rules for information extraction is selected. Key information is extracted from metadata for the content based on the selected extraction rules. Additionally, a type for the content can be determined, and a set of extraction rules is selected based on the content type. The key information is used in queries for searching information of potential interest to the user, related to the content accessed.

Abstract: A method and system that enable an automatic invocation of device functionalities on devices in a network. Invocation mechanisms are provided to support heterogeneous invocation mechanisms including new invocation mechanisms. Invocation mechanisms using scripts can be added without the need for recompilation of support systems such as home-networking middleware systems. This further enables the use of scripts that can coordinate the use of multiple devices in accomplishing a task.