Infrastructure and method for supporting generic multimedia metadata

• US 20020120634A1
• Filed: 12/07/2000
• Published: 08/29/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Min, Liu, Stokes, Michael D., Wong, Gilman K.
• Granted Patent: US 6,523,046 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed for providing access by applications/utilities/tools to multimedia file metadata originally provided in any of a set of supported formats. A metadata abstraction interface is interposed between multimedia files and applications that seek to read and/or modify metadata associated with the multimedia files.

The metadata abstraction interface supports program access to multimedia file metadata provided in a variety of formats and comprises a multimedia application program interface corresponding to a set of core multimedia file metadata management functions accessible by multimedia applications. Applications/utilities/tools, through the application program interface, submit requests to multimedia file-specific decoders to read and/or modify contents of multimedia files. The requestors need only identify a multimedia file and a particular supported function to the abstraction interface. The applications/utilities/tools need not know or specify the format of the multimedia files and their corresponding metadata.

The metadata abstraction interface includes an extensible set of file type-specific metadata decoders. Each decoder includes a metadata converter for parsing a metadata portion of a multimedia file stored in a particular native format (e.g., .bmp). The decoders render metadata in a generic format from the parsed metadata. The decoders and APIs insulate external programs from the differences present in the various native multimedia file formats. Thus, applications need only follow a simple set of interface rules when submitting a metadata related request.

Claims

1. A multimedia metadata abstraction interface supporting program access to multimedia file metadata provided in a variety of formats, the abstraction interface comprising:

a multimedia program interface corresponding to a set of multimedia file metadata management functions accessible by multimedia applications; and

a set of metadata decoders comprising a set of functions invoked by the multimedia application program interface, each metadata decoder including a metadata converter for parsing a metadata portion of a multimedia file to render metadata in a generic format;

wherein the multimedia program interface comprises a set of program instruction segments for invoking a specified one of the set of functions supported by the set of metadata decoders in response to receiving a program request to access metadata corresponding to a multimedia file instance.

2. The multimedia metadata abstraction interface of claim 1 further comprising a set of metadata encoders, each encoder including a metadata converter for extracting data stored in the generic form and rendering metadata for a multimedia file in a specified format.

3. The multimedia metadata abstraction interface of claim 1 wherein the multimedia file is an image file.

4. The multimedia metadata abstraction interface of claim 1 wherein the generic format supports an extensible superset of metadata types for supported multimedia file formats.

5. The multimedia metadata abstraction interface of claim 1 wherein the set of program instruction segments comprises a set of application program interfaces enabling an application to invoke codec functions providing access to metadata within multimedia files rendered in the generic metadata format.

6. The multimedia metadata abstraction interface of claim 1 wherein the set of set of metadata decoders is extensible thereby allowing adding new decoders to extend the range of multimedia file metadata formats supported by the abstraction interface.

7. The multimedia metadata abstraction interface of claim 1 wherein the set of functions invoked by the multimedia program interface includes at least one function for rendering a metadata property item value from the metadata in a generic format in response to a request to the multimedia program interface.

8. The multimedia metadata abstraction interface of claim 7 wherein the set of functions invoked by the multimedia program interface includes at least one function for changing a generic multimedia property item value.

9. The multimedia metadata abstraction interface of claim 7 wherein the set of functions invoked by the multimedia program interface includes at least one function for facilitating passing a generic multimedia metadata property item value to an encoder for rendering the multimedia metadata property item value in a file type-specific format.

10. The multimedia metadata abstraction interface of claim 1 wherein the set of metadata decoders comprise program instructions for storing rendered generic metadata property items in a generic metadata memory.

11. A method for providing access by programs to multimedia metadata stored in a variety of formats through a metadata abstraction interface interposed between the programs and the multimedia metadata, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a proper module comprising a set of functions for servicing requests by a program to access metadata within a particular multimedia file;

first receiving, by the abstraction interface, a first request to access the metadata within the particular multimedia file;

invoking, in response to the receiving step, a format-specific decoder function corresponding to the first request to access; and

rendering, by the format-specific decoder function, generic multimedia metadata property items from format-specific metadata stored within the particular multimedia file.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the receiving step is performed in the abstraction interface by an application program interface.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising invoking a format-specific encoder function within a specified encoder of a set of format-specific encoders to pass at least one generic metadata property item to the specified encoder.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising converting, by the specified encoder, the at least one generic metadata property item to a format-specific metadata property item.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of:

second receiving, by the abstraction interface, a second request to access the metadata within the particular multimedia file;

determining that at least one generic multimedia metadata property item, previously rendered for the metadata within the particular multimedia file, exists within a generic metadata memory associated with the abstraction interface, and in response accessing a generic metadata property value for the particular multimedia file from the generic metadata memory.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of presenting, by the abstraction interface, at least one metadata property item value from the generic multimedia property items in response to the first request.

17. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of passing to a format-specific encoder at least one metadata property item value from the generic multimedia property items.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the receiving step is performed in the abstraction interface by application program interface computer instructions.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 further comprising computer executable instructions for performing the step of:

invoking a format-specific encoder function within a specified encoder of a set of format-specific encoders to pass at least one generic metadata property item to the specified encoder.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 further comprising computer executable instructions for converting, by the specified encoder, the at least one generic metadata property item to a format-specific metadata property item.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 further comprising computer executable instructions for performing the steps of:

second receiving, by the abstraction interface, a second request to access the metadata within the particular multimedia file;

determining that at least one generic multimedia metadata property item, previously rendered for the metadata within the particular multimedia file, exists within a generic metadata memory associated with the abstraction interface, and in response accessing a generic metadata property value for the particular multimedia file from the generic metadata memory.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 further comprising computer executable instructions for performing the step of:

presenting, by the abstraction interface, at least one metadata property item value from the generic multimedia property items in response to the first request.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 further comprising computer executable instructions for performing the step of:

passing to a format-specific encoder at least one metadata property item value from the generic multimedia property items.

18. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for providing a metadata abstraction interface facilitating access by programs to multimedia file metadata stored in a variety of formats, the computer executable instructions performing steps including:

determining a proper module comprising a set of functions for servicing requests by a program to access metadata within a particular multimedia file;

first receiving, by the abstraction interface, a first request to access the metadata within the particular multimedia file;

invoking, in response to the receiving step, a format-specific decoder function corresponding to the first request to access; and

rendering, by the format-specific decoder function, generic multimedia metadata property items from format-specific metadata stored within the particular multimedia file.