Systems and methods for storing meta-data separate from a digital asset

• US 20060106884A1
• Filed: 11/17/2005
• Published: 05/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Iron Mountain Incorporated
• Inventors: Barnes, Matthew, Blumenau, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 7,680,801 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/125 characterised by the use of retention policies retention policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/14 Details of searching files based on file metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2137 Time limited access, e.g. to a computer or data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/913 Multimedia
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing digital assets in a distributed computing environment are described. Meta-data for the digital assets is stored separately from the digital assets. Meta-data for some of the digital assets is copied and stored at a central location. Meta-data for the digital assets is generated by clients of the system.

Claims

1. A method of managing at least one digital asset in a distributed computing environment, the method comprising:

(a) generating, by a client, an asset identification tag for a digital asset stored at the client;

(b) associating the asset identification tag with the digital asset; and

(c) storing the asset identification tag at the client.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein storing comprises storing the asset identification tag separate from the digital asset.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting a copy of the asset identification tag to a central computing device thereby notifying the central computing device of the existence of the digital asset.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein step (a) occurs after the digital asset is stored.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein step (a) occurs after the digital asset is accessed by the end-user of the client.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the asset identification tag comprise categorization information about the digital asset.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the categorization information is supplied by an end-user through a graphical user interface.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the categorization information is applied based on a predetermined taxonomy.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the categorization information is applied based on a role of a sender of an email.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the categorization information is applied based on a role of a recipient of an email.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein the categorization is applied based on an attachment of an email.

12. The method of claim 6 wherein the categorization information is applied automatically based on the storage location of the digital asset.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the location is another storage device.

14. The method of claim 6 wherein the categorization information comprises policy information that is applied to the digital asset.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the policy information is supplied by an end-user through a graphical user interface.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the policy information is applied based on a predetermined taxonomy.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the policy information is applied based on the storage location of the digital asset.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the asset identification tag comprises the result of a hash function applied to the digital asset.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending an instruction to the client by the central computing device when the copy of the asset identification tag is received and processed by the central computing device.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the instruction causes the client to perform a specific action on the digital asset.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the asset identification tag when the end-user accesses or manipulates the digital asset.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising transmitting the updated asset identification tag to the server.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising suspending steps (a), (b), and (c) when a software application is installed on the client.

24. A system for managing at least one digital asset in a distributed computing environment the system comprising:

(a) a server connected to a network; and

(b) a client in communication with the server, the client generating an asset identification tag for a digital asset stored on the client, associating the asset identification tag with the digital asset, and storing the asset identification tag at the client.

25. The system of claim 24 further comprising a storage medium in communication with the client, the storage medium storing the asset identification tag separate from the associated digital asset.

26. The system of claim 24 wherein the client comprises a transmitter for transmitting a copy of the asset identification tag to the server, the server storing the digital asset.

27. The system of claim 24 further comprising a database in communication with the client, the database storing the asset identification tag.

28. The system of claim 24 further comprising a database in communication with server, the database storing the asset identification tag received by the server.

29. The system of claim 24 wherein the client generates the asset identification tag after the digital asset is stored.

30. The system of claim 24 wherein the client generates the asset identification tag after the digital asset is accessed.

31. The system of claim 24 wherein the asset identification tag comprises categorization information.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the categorization information is applied based on a predetermined taxonomy.

33. The system of claim 31 wherein the categorization information is applied based on the role of the sender of an email.

34. The system of claim 31 wherein the categorization information is applied based on the role of the receipt of the an email.

35. The system of claim 31 wherein the categorization information is applied based on the categorization of an email attachment.

36. The system of claim 31 wherein the categorization information is applied automatically based on the storage location of the digital asset.

37. The system of claim 31 wherein the categorization information comprises policy information applied to the digital asset.

38. The system of claim 37 further comprising a graphical user interface displayed to the end-user, the graphical user interface configured to permit policy information to be applied.

39. The system of claim 37 wherein the policy information is applied based on the storage location of the digital asset.

40. The system of claim 24 wherein the client further comprises a receiver configured to receive an instruction from the server.

41. The system of claim 40 wherein the instruction causes the client to perform a specified action on the digital asset.

42. The system of claim 24 wherein the client updates the asset identification tag when the end-user accesses or manipulates the digital asset.

43. The system of claim 42 wherein the client comprises a transmitter for transmitting the updated asset identification tag to the server.

44. The system of claim 24 wherein the asset identification tag comprises the result of a hash function applied to the digital asset.

45. The system of claim 24 further comprising a graphical user interface displayed to the client to allow an end-user of the client to suspend the operation of the client during the installation of a software program.

46. A computer readable medium having executable instructions thereon to cause the management of at least one digital asset in a distributed computing environment, the computer readable medium comprising:

(a) instructions to generate, an asset identification tag for a digital asset stored at the client;

(b) instructions to associate the asset identification tag with the digital asset; and

(c) instructions to store the asset identification tag at the client.

47. The computer readable medium of claim 46 wherein the instructions to store comprise instructions to store the asset identification tag separate from the digital asset.

48. The computer readable medium of claim 46 further comprising instructions to transmit a copy of the asset identification tag to a central computing device thereby notifying the central computing device of the existence of the digital asset.

49. The computer readable medium of claim 46 wherein step (a) is executed after the digital asset is stored.

50. The computer readable medium of claim 46 wherein step (a) is executed after the digital asset is accessed by the end-user of the client.

51. The computer readable medium of claim 46 wherein the instructions to generate an asset identification tag comprise instructions to apply categorization information about the digital asset.

52. The computer readable medium of claim 51 wherein the categorization information is supplied by an end-user through a graphical user interface.

53. The computer readable medium of claim 51 wherein the categorization information is applied based on a predetermined taxonomy.

54. The computer readable medium of claim 51 wherein the categorization information is applied based on a role of a sender of an email.

55. The computer readable medium of claim 51 wherein the categorization information is applied based on a role of a recipient of an email.

56. The computer readable medium of claim 51 wherein the categorization is applied based on an attachment of an email.

57. The computer readable medium of claim 51 wherein the categorization information is applied automatically based on the storage location of the digital asset.

58. The computer readable medium of claim 57 wherein the location is another storage device.

59. The computer readable medium of claim 51 wherein the categorization information comprises policy information that is applied to the digital asset.

60. The computer readable medium of claim 59 wherein the policy information is supplied by an end-user through a graphical user interface.

61. The computer readable medium of claim 59 wherein the policy information is applied based on a predetermined taxonomy.

62. The computer readable medium of claim 59 wherein the policy information is applied based on the storage location of the digital asset.

63. The computer readable medium of claim 46 wherein the instructions to generate the asset identification tag comprises instructions to generate the result of a hash function to apply to the digital asset.

64. The computer readable medium of claim 51 further comprising instructions to send an instruction to the client by the central computing device when the copy of the asset identification tag is received and processed by the central computing device.

65. The computer readable medium of claim 64 wherein the instruction causes the client to perform a specific action on the digital asset.

66. The computer readable medium of claim 46 further comprising instructions to update the asset identification tag when the end-user accesses or manipulates the digital asset.

67. The computer readable medium of claim 66 further comprising instructions to transmit the updated asset identification tag to the server.

68. The computer readable medium of claim 46 further comprising instructions to suspend steps (a), (b), and (c) when a software application is installed on the client.