Personalized content from indexed archives

Abstract

Personalized content is generated from different media items using a content index. The content index is generated or updated by identifying segments of media items that are of particular interest to users. User interactions with the media items are analyzed and metadata of segments of media items that are determined to be of particular interest to the users is recorded. The parameters associated with a request for personalized content for a user are matched with the recorded metadata to identify relevant media items or segments of media items which are transmitted to the user as the personalized content.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 - 25 . (canceled) 
     
     
         26 . A method, comprising:
 providing, by a computing device, content to a user;   receiving, by the computing device, data of user behavior as the user interacts with the received content;   identifying, by the computing device, using the received user behavior, interesting media items, the identified interesting media items being of interest to the user based upon the received user behavior;   creating, by the computing device, an entry in a content index for the identified interesting media items;   obtaining, by the computing device, metadata associated with the interesting media items, the metadata comprising indicia identifying the interesting media items; and   recording, by the computing device, the obtained metadata to the content index via the created entry for later retrieval by the computing device.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the provided content comprises one or more of an audio item, a video item, and personalized highlights or segments from a plurality of media items selected based on the user's preferences. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the user behavior as the user interacts with the received content comprises user events generated from at least one of audio and video players employed by the user via the user's device. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the user events comprise an event from a group of events consisting of fast forwarding, rewinding, pausing, playing at a lower speed, downloading, and forwarding to contacts. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the user behavior comprises tagging performed by the user. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 upon creating the entry in the content index, obtaining, by the computing device, temporal data associated with at least one of the interesting media items.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein obtaining the temporal data associated with the at least one of the interesting media items comprises obtaining a beginning and an ending time offsets of the at least one of the interesting media items. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31 , further comprising:
 extracting, by the computing device, based on the temporal data, the at least one of the interesting media items for storage within the database.   
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein at least a portion of the metadata associated with the interesting media items is based on a type of event featured in the interesting media items. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein at least a portion of the metadata associated with the interesting media items is defined by a human editor for collection for various event types. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein within a particular event type, the defined metadata varies based on a categorization of the event type. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the metadata associated with the interesting media items further comprises metadata generated based on the data of the user behavior. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein receiving the data of the user behavior comprises obtaining an initial value for a level of interest variable for the received content the user interacts with. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein identifying the interesting media items comprises:
 identifying, by the computing device, trends in the user behavior associated with the received content; and   identifying, by the computing device, the interesting media items associated with the trends.   
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39 , further comprising:
 upon identifying the trends in the user behavior, determining, by the computing device, if content associated with the trends already has an existing entry recorded in a content index within a database.   
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40 , further comprising:
 upon determining that the content associated with the trends already has the existing entry, revising, by the computing device, one or more of a level of interest variable and an importance score based on the identified trends.   
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the content index is in communication with a database that stores content. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 42 , wherein the content index comprises an indexed database table linked to the stored content within the database. 
     
     
         44 . A computing device comprising:
 a processor;   a storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising:   providing logic, executed by a processor, for providing content to a user;   receiving logic, executed by the processor, for receiving data of user behavior as the user interacts with the received content;   identifying logic, executed by the processor, for identifying, using the received user behavior, interesting media items, the identified interesting media items being of interest to the user based upon the received user behavior;   creating logic, executed by the processor, for creating an entry in a content index for the identified interesting media items;   metadata obtaining logic, executed by the processor, for obtaining metadata associated with the interesting media items, the metadata comprising indicia identifying the interesting media items; and   recording logic, executed by the processor, for recording the obtained metadata to the content index via the created entry for later retrieval by the computing device.   
     
     
         45 . The computing device of  claim 44 , wherein the identifying logic comprises:
 logic, executed by the processor, for identifying trends in the user behavior associated with the received content; and   logic, executed by the processor, for identifying the interesting media items associated with the trends.   
     
     
         46 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, having stored thereon, processor-executable instructions for:
 providing content to a user;   receiving data of user behavior as the user interacts with the received content;   identifying, using the received user behavior, interesting media items, the identified interesting media items being of interest to the user based upon the received user behavior;   creating an entry in a content index for the identified interesting media items;   obtaining metadata associated with the interesting media items, the metadata comprising indicia identifying the interesting media items; and   recording the obtained metadata to the content index via the created entry for later retrieval by the computing device.