Systems and methods for tracking replication of digital assets

• US 20060106885A1
• 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 7,756,842 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 tracking the number of copies of a digital asset in a distributed computing environment, the environment having a central computing device that stores meta-data for at least one digital asset and one or more clients that locally stores respective digital assets and their associated meta-data, the method comprising:

(a) determining, by a client, if a copy of an original digital asset is created by the client;

(b) generating, by the client, a meta-data entry indicating that a copy of the original digital asset was created by the client when the determination indicates that a copy was created; and

(c) updating the stored meta-data for the original digital asset.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining comprises comparing an asset identification tag created for the copy with a set of known asset identification tags.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating comprising generating a meta-data entry indicating that a printed copy of the original digital asset was created.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising applying categorization information associated with the original digital asset to the copy of the original digital asset.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the applying comprises performing a union of categorization information when more than one categorization of the original digital asset is present.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the updating comprises updating a local copy of the meta-data for the original digital asset.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising updating a remote copy of the meta-data of the original digital asset.

8. A system for tracking the number of copies of a digital asset in a distributed computing environment, the environment having a central computing device that stores meta-data for at least one digital asset and one or more clients that locally stores respective digital assets and their associated meta-data, the system comprising:

(a) a server connected to a network; and

(b) a client in communication with the server, the client determining if a copy of an original digital asset is created by the client, generating a meta-data entry indicating that a copy of the original digital asset was created by the client when the determination indicates that a copy was created, updating the stored meta-data for the original digital asset.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the client comprises a comparator for comparing an asset identification tag created for the copy with a set of known asset identification tags.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the client generates a meta-data entry indicating that a printed copy of the original digital asset was created.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the client applies categorization information associated with the original digital asset to the copy of the original digital asset

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the client performs a union of categorization information when more than one categorization of the original digital asset is present

13. The system of claim 8 wherein the client updates a local copy of the meta-data for the original digital asset

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the client updates a remote copy of the meta-data of the original digital asset stored on the server.

15. A computer readable medium having executable instructions thereon to track the number of copies of a digital asset in a distributed computing environment, the environment having a central computing device that stores meta-data for at least one digital asset and one or more clients that locally stores respective digital assets and their associated meta-data, the computer readable medium comprising:

(a) instructions to determine, by a client, if a copy of an original digital asset is created by the client;

(b) generate, by the client, a meta-data entry indicating that a copy of the original digital asset was created by the client when the determination indicates that a copy was created; and

(c) update the stored meta-data for the original digital asset.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the instructions to determine comprise instructions to compare an asset identification tag created for the copy with a set of known asset identification tags.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the instructions to generate comprise instructions to generate a meta-data entry indicating that a printed copy of the original digital asset was created.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15 further comprising instructions to apply categorization information associated with the original digital asset to the copy of the original digital asset.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18 wherein the instructions to apply comprise instructions to perform a union of categorization information when more than one categorization of the original digital asset is present.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the instructions to update comprise instructions to update a local copy of the meta-data for the original digital asset.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20 further comprising instructions to update a remote copy of the meta-data of the original digital asset.