MEDIA DIFFERENCE FILES FOR COMPRESSED CATALOG FILES

• US 20070299886A1
• Filed: 06/22/2006
• Published: 12/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Novak, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,636,728 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

Generating a difference (DIFF) file for catalog files. A second catalog file is compared with a first catalog file to identify at least a modified portion in the second catalog file. The modified portion indicates a difference between the content of the first catalog file and the second catalog file. A location of the modified portion is identified in the content of the second catalog file. A reference marker is assigned to the identified location with respect to the second catalog file. The DIFF file is generated indicating the modified portion and indicating the reference marker.

Claims

1. A method for generating a difference (DIFF) file for catalog files, said method comprising:

comparing a second catalog file with a first catalog file to identify at least a modified portion in the second catalog file, said modified portion indicating a difference between the content of the first catalog file and the second catalog file;

identifying a location of the modified portion in the content of the second catalog file;

assigning a reference marker to the identified location with respect to the second catalog file; and

generating the DIFF file indicating the modified portion and indicating the reference marker.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a temporary file by applying the reference marker to the first catalog file as a function of the difference, and wherein generating the DIFF file comprises generating the DIFF file by comparing the created temporary file and the second catalog file to indicate the modified portion and indicate the reference marker.

3. The method of claim 1, further calculating an offset value based on the assigned reference marker and the difference.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first catalog file and the second catalog file being highly compressed media catalog file.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising sorting the contents of the first catalog file and the second catalog file and wherein comparing comprises comparing the sorted first catalog file and the sorted second catalog file.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a reference table including the assigned reference marker with the identified location corresponding to the difference.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more computer-readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

8. A system for generating a compressed catalog file, said system comprising:

an interface for receiving a collection of media offerings from a source;

a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions for;

comparing a second catalog file with a first catalog file to identify at least a modified portion in the second catalog file, said modified portion indicating a difference between the content of the first catalog file and the second catalog file, said first catalog file and said second catalog file having references to the collection of media offerings received via the interface;

identifying a location of the modified portion in the content of the second catalog file;

assigning a reference marker to the identified location with respect to the second catalog file; and

generating the DIFF file indicating the modified portion and indicating the reference marker.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to create the temporary file by applying the reference marker to the first catalog file as a function of the difference, and the processor generates the DIFF file by comparing the created temporary file and the second catalog file to indicate the modified portion and indicate the reference marker.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the first catalog file and the second catalog file being highly compressed media catalog file.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to sort the contents of the first catalog file and the second catalog file and wherein the processor compares the sorted first catalog file and the sorted second catalog file.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to sort the contents of the first catalog file and the second catalog file using more than one sorting criteria.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to generate a reference table including the assigned reference marker with the identified location corresponding to the difference.

14. One or more computer-readable media having stored thereon a data structure for a media catalog file, said media catalog file including references to one or more media files, said data structure comprising:

a first data field including an array representing a collection of reference identifiers, each of the collection of reference identifiers identifying an occurrence of a word associated with characteristics of the plurality of media files; and

one or more second data fields including data representing the characteristics associated with content of media files by including location markers identifying a location of each of the words in the first data field.

15. The computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the data structure further comprising a third data field including one or more classifications of the characteristics included in the second data fields.

16. The computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the data structure further comprising a third data field including data representing an identification of the highly compressed media catalog file.

17. The computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the reference identifiers comprise one or more of the following:

words, strings of characters, and pointers, and wherein one or more characteristics of content of media files including at least one of the following;

artist, track, album, genre (and subgenre), radio station and custom media playlist.

18. The computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the first data field comprises another array representing a collection of multi-words, each of the collection of multi-words identifying an occurrence of the word associated with characteristics of the plurality of media files.

19. The computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the array of the collection of reference identifiers is sorted based on one or more sorting criteria.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the another array of the collection of multi-words is sorted based on one or more sorting criteria.