Techniques for relating arbitrary metadata to media files

• US 20060149781A1
• Filed: 12/30/2004
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Media Laboratory (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
• Inventors: Blankinship, Erik Jackson
• Granted Patent: US 8,065,604 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: G06F 16/7844 using original textual content or text extracted from visual content or transcript of audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7867 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title and artist information, manually generated time, location and usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/036 Insert-editing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/322 used signal is digitally coded

Abstract

A metadata text file is used to make media files searchable and rearrangeable. The metadata text file is associated with one or more media files and includes a sequence of relaters that relate items of metadata to segments of the media files. The relater specifies the item of metadata and the segment of the media file. The metadata text file can be searched for an item of metadata and when the item of metadata is found, the item'"'"'s relater can be used to locate the media file segment that corresponds to the item of metadata. The metadata text file can also be used to “play” the metadata files by displaying segments from the files in the order in which the relaters occur in the metadata file. New combinations of segments of media files may be made by adding, deleting, or reordering the relaters in the metadata text file. The metadata text file is used to relate metadata to media files in a system for making fan vids, in a system for comparing the text of a book with a movie made from the book, and in a system that uses temperature and humidity readings from pots being used to cook a recipe to locate sections of a cooking video.

Claims

1. A text object that relates metadata to segments of one or more other objects, the text object and the other objects being stored in memory accessible to a processor, the text object being used by the processor to manipulate the segments, and

the text object comprising:

a sequence of relaters, each relater including

a segment specifier for a segment of the segments; and

the metadata that is related to the segment.

2. The text object set forth in claim 1 wherein:

the relaters are XML constructs in the text object.

3. The text object set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein:

the processor employs the text object to locate a segment by searching the text object for a particular item of metadata and using the segment specifier in the relater that contains the item of metadata to locate the segment.

4. The text object set forth in claim 3 wherein:

the processor further displays the located segment.

5. The text object set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein:

the processor employs the text object to display the segments in the order specified by the order of the relaters in the sequence.

6. The text object set forth in claim 5 wherein:

the processor alters the order of the sequence of relaters prior to displaying the segments.

7. The text object set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein:

the one or more other objects are accessible to the processor via a network.

8. The text object set forth in claim 7 wherein:

the one or more other objects are stored in servers in the network.

9. The text object set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein:

the other objects are media objects; and

the segment specifier in the relater uses an in point and an out point in one of the media objects to specify the segment.

10. The text object set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein:

the other objects are media objects that include dialog and closed captions; and

the metadata in the relater is a piece of a closed caption that corresponds to dialog in the segment.

11. The text object set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein:

the other objects have a text related thereto;

the text object includes the text;

the metadata is a portion of the text; and

the segment corresponds to the portion of the text.

12. The text object set forth in claim 11 wherein:

the other objects are media objects.

13. The text object set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein:

a set of values is related to the segments;

the metadata in the relater is a value in the set thereof; and

the segment specifier specifies the segment that is related to the value.

14. The text object set forth in claim 13 wherein:

the segments relate to stages in a process that is monitored by instruments; and

the values are values that may be recorded by the instruments.

15. The text object set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein:

there are at least two of the other objects;

the segment specifier specifies a segment in one of the other objects; and

the metadata includes another segment specifier that specifies a segment in a second of the other objects,

whereby the segment in the second of the other objects is metadata with regard to the segment in the one of the other objects.

16. The text object set forth in claim 15 wherein:

the metadata also includes the segment specifier,

whereby a segment in each of the objects is metadata with regard to a segment in the other of the objects.

17. The text object set forth in claim 15 wherein:

the two other objects are versions of a work.

18. A memory device that is readable by a processor, the memory device being characterized in that:

the memory device contains the text object set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2.

19. Apparatus for displaying sequences of segments of one or more objects stored in memory,

the apparatus comprising:

a text object stored in memory, the text object including a sequence of segment specifiers, each segment specifier specifying a segment in an object; and

a text object interpreter that has access to the text object and the objects and to a display device and that displays the segments in the display device in the order in which the segment specifiers occur in the sequence.

20. The apparatus set forth in claim 19 wherein:

the segment specifiers are XML constructs in the text object.

21. The apparatus set forth in any one of claims 19 or 20 further comprising:

a text object editor that has access to the text object and that alters the sequence of segment specifiers in response to inputs from a user.

22. The apparatus set forth in claim 21 further comprising:

metadata items corresponding to the segment specifiers; and

a search component in the text object editor, the user employing the search component to locate a metadata item in the text object and the text object interpreter responding to the located metadata item by displaying the segment specified by the segment specifier corresponding to the metadata item.

23. A memory device that is readable by a processor, the memory device being characterized in that:

the memory device contains code which, when executed by the processor, implements the apparatus set forth in any one of claims 19 or 20.

24. Apparatus for displaying segments of one or more objects stored in memory, the apparatus comprising:

a text object stored in memory, the text object including a sequence of relaters, each relater including a metadata item related to a segment and a segment specifier for the related segment; and

a segment finder that has access to the text object and the objects and to a display device, locates a relater for a metadata item, and displays the segment associated with the relater.

25. The apparatus set forth in claim 24 wherein:

the relaters are XML constructs in the text object.

26. The apparatus set forth in any one of claims 24 or 25 wherein:

the segment finder displays the metadata item together with the segment associated with the metadata item in the display device.

27. The apparatus set forth in any one of claims 24 or 25 wherein:

the segment finder receives a search value and applies the search value to the metadata items to locate the relater.

28. The apparatus set forth in any one of claims 24 or 25 wherein:

the segment finder responds to a metadata item selection input by displaying a selected metadata item together with its associated segment in the display device.

29. The apparatus set forth in claim 28 wherein:

the selected metadata item is from a first version of a work; and

the associated segment is from a second version of the work.

30. The apparatus set forth in claim 28 wherein:

a user makes the metadata item selection input by selecting a relater from a representation of the sequence of relaters in the display;

31. The apparatus set forth in claim 30 wherein:

the representation of the sequence of relaters is a line wherein a position in the line corresponds to a relater in the sequence.

32. The apparatus set forth in any one of claims 24 or 25 wherein:

the relater relates the metadata item to more than one segment; and

the segment finder displays the segments associated with the relater together in the display device.

33. A memory device that is readable by a processor, the memory device being characterized in that:

the memory device contains code which, when executed by the processor, implements the apparatus set forth in any one of claims 24 or 25.