System and method for locating content related to a media asset

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed herein for providing content related to a user-selected media asset featuring a person unrelated to that media asset, but that was involved in another media asset together with a person that was involved with the user-selected media. Specifically, a user-selection of a media asset is received and a first person involved in the media asset is identified. A second person that is associated with the first person and is not involved in the user-selected media asset is identified and content featuring the second person and related to the user-selected media asset is presented to a user.

1 . A method for providing content related to a media asset, the method comprising:
 receiving a user selection of a media asset identifier corresponding to a media asset scheduled for transmission from a first content source to a plurality of users;   retrieving, from a database that stores associations between entities, a first entity that is associated with the media asset;   identifying, in a data structure associated with the first entity, a field of a type that identifies a person;   identifying, based on data within the identified field, a second entity that corresponds to a person that is associated with the first entity and is not associated with the media asset;   transmitting a first request to a first content source and a second request to a second content source for items of content that are related to a person corresponding to the second entity;   identifying, from the items of content received in response to the first and second requests, a plurality of items of content related to the media asset; and   generating for display one or more content identifiers corresponding to one or more identified items of content in the plurality of items of content.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying, in the data structure associated with the first entity, the field of the type that identifies a person comprises:
 retrieving a plurality of keywords, wherein each keyword identifies a person;   comparing a title of each field that is associated with the data structure with the plurality of keywords; and   based on the comparing, identifying the field of the type that identifies a person.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein transmitting the first request to the first content source and the second request to the second content source for the items of content that are related to a person corresponding to the second entity comprises:
 identifying a first type of the first content source and a second type of the second content source;   retrieving, based on a respective type of the first content source and the second content source, a first request format associated with the first content source and a second request format associated with the second content source; and   generating the first request based on the first request format and the second request based on the second request format, wherein both the first request and the second request comprise an identifier associated with of a person corresponding to the second entity.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying, based on the data within the identified field, the second entity that corresponds to the person that is associated with the first entity and is not associated with the media asset comprises:
 receiving, from the database that stores associations between entities, a first plurality of entities associated with the person that corresponds to the first entity;   identifying a second plurality of entities comprising entities within the first plurality of entities that identify a person and that are not associated with the media asset; and   selecting an entity from the second plurality of entities.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying, from the items of content received in response to the first and second requests, a plurality of items of content related to the media asset comprises:
 receiving, from the database that stores associations between entities, a plurality of entities associated with an item of content of the items of content received in response to the first or second request;   determining that one of the received entities represents the media asset; and   adding the item of content to the one or more items of content.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a type of content associated with each item of content of the one or more items of content; and   generating for display, with the one or more content identifiers, a type indicator corresponding to a type associated with a respective item of content.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 receiving a user selection of a content identifier from the one or more content identifiers; and   generating for display a plurality of options corresponding to the type of content associated with the content item that correspond to the selected content identifier.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 based on determining that the type of content is a podcast, including in the plurality of options one or more of: an option to start streaming the podcast, an option to start streaming the podcast to another device, and an option to record the podcast; and   based on determining that the type of content is an interactive communication session with the person associated with the content item, including in the plurality of options one or more of: an option to connect to the communication session, an option to connect to the communication session using another device, and an option to save a transcript of the communication session.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating for display one or more content identifiers corresponding to one or more identified items of content in the plurality of items of content comprises:
 retrieving a value corresponding to the number of identified items to be generated for display;   determining that the number of identified items to be generated for display is greater than the retrieved value; and   selecting a subset of the identified items to be generated for display based on a weighted average of: a degree of association between each identified item of content and the media asset, and a user's preference for a particular type of content.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising generating for display with the one or more content identifiers an indication of the first entity. 
     
     
         11 . A system for providing content related to a media asset, the system comprising:
 a user input interface; and   control circuitry configured to:
 receiving, from the user input interface, a user selection of a media asset identifier corresponding to a media asset scheduled for transmission from a first content source to a plurality of users; 
 retrieve, from a database that stores associations between entities, a first entity that is associated with the media asset; 
   identify, in a data structure associated with the first entity, a field of a type that identifies a person;   identify, based on data within the identified field, a second entity that corresponds to a person that is associated with the first entity and is not associated with the media asset;   transmit a first request to a first content source and a second request to a second content source for items of content that are related to a person corresponding to the second entity;   identify, from the items of content received in response to the first and second requests, a plurality of items of content related to the media asset; and   generate for display one or more content identifiers corresponding to one or more identified items of content in the plurality of items of content.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when identifying, in the data structure associated with the first entity, the field of the type that identifies a person, to:
 retrieve a plurality of keywords, wherein each keyword identifies a person;   compare a title of each field that is associated with the data structure with the plurality of keywords; and   based on the comparing, identify the field of the type that identifies a person.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when transmitting the first request to the first content source and the second request to the second content source for the items of content that are related to a person corresponding to the second entity, to:
 identify a first type of the first content source and a second type of the second content source;   retrieve, based on a respective type of the first content source and the second content source, a first request format associated with the first content source and a second request format associated with the second content source; and   generate the first request based on the first request format and the second request based on the second request format, wherein both the first request and the second request comprise an identifier associated with of a person corresponding to the second entity.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when identifying, based on the data within the identified field, the second entity that corresponds to the person that is associated with the first entity and is not associated with the media asset to:
 receive, from the database that stores associations between entities, a first plurality of entities associated with the person that corresponds to the first entity;   identify a second plurality of entities comprising entities within the first plurality of entities that identify a person and that are not associated with the media asset; and   select an entity from the second plurality of entities.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when identifying, from the items of content received in response to the first and second requests, a plurality of items of content related to the media asset, to:
 receive, from the database that stores associations between entities, a plurality of entities associated with an item of content of the items of content received in response to the first or second request;   determine that one of the received entities represents the media asset; and   add the item of content to the one or more items of content.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
 determine a type of content associated with each item of content of the one or more items of content; and   generate for display, with the one or more content identifiers, a type indicator corresponding to a type associated with a respective item of content.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
 receive a user selection of a content identifier from the one or more content identifiers; and   generate for display a plurality of options corresponding to the type of content associated with the content item that correspond to the selected content identifier.   
     
     
         18 .- 50 . (canceled) 
     
     
         51 . A method for identifying a related media asset entity, the method comprising:
 storing, in a database, a plurality of database entities including a first plurality of media asset entities and person entities, each entity comprising a data structure with a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields comprising an entity identifier field with an entity identifier field value;   receiving a user selection of a media asset;   retrieving a media asset identifier for the selected media asset;   comparing the entity identifier field value stored in each of the first plurality of media asset entities, retrieved from the database, to the retrieved media asset identifier to select a first media asset entity from the first plurality of media asset entities with the entity identifier field value that matches the media asset identifier;   transmitting, to the database, a first query for selecting a first person value from a first plurality of person values stored in a related person field of the selected first media asset entity;   comparing the entity identifier field value for each of the plurality of person entities to the first person value received in response to the first database query to select a first person entity from the plurality of person entities with the entity identifier field value that matches the selected first person value;   retrieving a second plurality of person values from a related person field of the first person entity stored in the database, wherein the second plurality of person values represent a predetermined list of people related to a person identified by the entity identifier field of the first person entity;   comparing the second plurality of person values to the first plurality of person values to select a second person value of the second plurality of person values that does not match any of the first plurality of person values;   transmitting, to the database, a second query for related media asset field values stored in the second person entity;   transmitting, to the database, a third query for related media asset field values stored in each of the second plurality of media asset entities for a third plurality of media asset entities that each has a related media asset identifier field value that matches the media asset identifier; and   generating a display that includes at least one media asset listing corresponding to at least one of the third plurality of media asset entities received in response to the third query.   
     
     
         52 . The method of  claim 51  wherein transmitting, to the database, the first query for selecting the first person value from the first plurality of person values stored in the related person field of the selected first media asset entity comprises:
 retrieving, from the first person field, the first person value, wherein the first person value uniquely identifies the first person entity; 
 generating a query string based on the first person value; and 
 transmitting, to the database, the query string. 
 
     
     
         53 . The method of  claim 51 , wherein generating the display that includes at least one media asset listing corresponding to at least one of the third plurality of media asset entities received in response to the third query comprises generating the display to include a media asset having a highest relationship strength value in relation to the selected media asset.