Targeted crawler to develop and/or maintain a searchable database of media content across multiple content providers

Abstract

A system is described that includes an electronic program guide (EPG) data receiver and a media content catalog enhancer. The EPG receiver is configured to receive EPG data from an EPG data provider. The media content catalog enhancer is configured to determine that an item of media content identified by the EPG data comprises new media content and, in response to determining that the item of media content identified by the EPG data comprises new media content, to cause a web crawler to crawl a source website associated with the new media content to obtain information about the new media content and to store the obtained information about the new media content in a database, the database comprising a catalog of media content that is searchable by an end user to identify and access content for playback via an end user device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system, comprising:
 one or more processors; and   one or more memory devices connected to the one or more processors, the one or more memory devices storing computer program logic for execution by the one or more processors, the computer program logic including:   an electronic program guide (EPG) data receiver configured to receive EPG data from an EPG data provider; and   a media content catalog enhancer that is configured to determine that an item of media content identified by the EPG data comprises new media content and, in response to determining that the item of media content identified by the EPG data comprises new media content,
 to cause a web crawler to crawl a source website associated with the new media content to obtain information about the new media content, and 
 to store the obtained information about the new media content in a database, the database comprising a catalog of media content that is searchable by an end user to identify and access content for playback via an end user device. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the media content catalog enhancer is configured to determine that the item of media content identified by the EPG data comprises new media content by:
 determining that information about the item of media content is not already stored in the database.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the media content catalog enhancer is configured to determine that the item of media content identified by the EPG data comprises new media content by:
 determining that the item of media content is being aired for the first time as specified by the EPG data.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the media content catalog enhancer is configured to determine that the item of media content identified by the EPG data comprises new media content by:
 determining that the item of media content is being aired for the first time as specified by the EPG data; and   determining that information about the item of media content is not already stored in the database.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the media content catalog enhancer is configured to cause the web crawler to crawl the source website associated with the new media content to obtain the information about the new media content by:
 scheduling the crawling of the source website to be performed at a time identified by the EPG data.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the database is populated by obtaining information about items of media content from one or more of:
 entertainment content metadata provider(s);   video content provider(s);   web-based information provider(s);   audio content provider(s);   recorded content; and   network-based content.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the source website associated with the new media content comprises one of:
 an over-the-top (OTT) media services provider website; or   an online digital media store.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , the system further comprising:
 a personalized searcher that is configured to:
 apply a search query received from the end user device to the database to identify items of media content that are responsive to the search query; and 
 filter or rank the items of media content that are responsive to the search query based on one or more of:
 whether the end user possesses a subscription to a service associated with each item of media content that is responsive to the search query; 
 a measure of popularity of each item of media content that is responsive to the search query; 
 whether each item of media content that is responsive to the search query is currently available on live television; 
 user preferences associated with one or more of the items of media content that are responsive to the search query; 
 whether each item of media content that is responsive to the search query is related to a recently-watched item of media content; and 
 whether each item of media content that is responsive to the search query is determined to be of interest to one or more other end users that are related to the end user; and 
 
 provide information about the filtered or ranked items of media content to the end user device for presentation to the end user. 
   
     
     
         9 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 receiving electronic program guide (EPG) data from an EPG data provider;   determining that an item of media content identified by the EPG data comprises new media content;   in response to determining that the item of media content identified by the EPG data comprises new media content:
 crawling a source website associated with the new media content to obtain information about the new media content; and 
 storing the obtained information about the new media content in a database, the database comprising a catalog of media content that is searchable by an end user to identify and access content for playback via an end user device. 
   
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9 , wherein determining that the item of media content identified by the EPG data comprises new media content comprises:
 determining that information about the item of media content is not already stored in the database.   
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9 , wherein determining that the item of media content identified by the EPG data comprises new media content comprises:
 determining that the item of media content is being aired for the first time as specified by the EPG data.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9 , wherein determining that the item of media content identified by the EPG data comprises new media content comprises:
 determining that the item of media content is being aired for the first time as specified by the EPG data; and   determining that information about the item of media content is not already stored in the database.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9 , wherein the crawling the source website associated with the new media content to obtain the information about the new media content comprises:
 scheduling the crawling of the source website to be performed at a time identified in the EPG data.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  9 , wherein the database is populated by obtaining information about items of media content from one or more of:
 entertainment content metadata provider(s);   video content provider(s);   web-based information provider(s);   audio content provider(s);   recorded content; and   network-based content.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9 , wherein the source website associated with the new media content comprises one of:
 an over-the-top (OTT) media services provider website; or   an online digital media store.   
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 applying a search query received from the end user device to the database to identify items of media content that are responsive to the search query;   filtering or ranking the items of media content that are responsive to the search query based on one or more of:
 whether the end user possesses a subscription to a service associated with each item of media content that is responsive to the search query; 
 a measure of popularity of each item of media content that is responsive to the search query; 
 whether each item of media content that is responsive to the search query is currently available on live television; 
 user preferences associated with one or more of the items of media content that are responsive to the search query; 
 whether each item of media content that is responsive to the search query is related to a recently-watched item of media content; and 
 whether each item of media content that is responsive to the search query is determined to be of interest to one or more other end users that are related to the end user; and 
   providing information about the filtered or ranked items of media content to the end user device for presentation to the end user.   
     
     
         17 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 crawling one or more trending websites, rating websites, or informational websites to identify an item of media content;   determining that the item of media content comprises new media content;   in response to determining that the item of media comprises new media content:
 crawling a source website associated with the new media content to obtain information about the new media content; and 
 storing the obtained information about the new media content in a database, the database comprising a catalog of media content that is searchable by an end user to identify and access content for playback via an end user device. 
   
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein determining that the item of media content comprises new media content comprises:
 determining that information about the item of media content is not already stored in the database.   
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein the database is populated by obtaining information about items of media content from one or more of:
 entertainment content metadata provider(s);   video content provider(s);   web-based information provider(s);   audio content provider(s);   recorded content; and   network-based content.   
     
     
         20 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein the source website associated with the new media content comprises one of:
 an over-the-top (OTT) media services provider website; or   an online digital media store.