ASSOCIATING AND LINKING COMPACT DISC METADATA
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Improved techniques for enhancing, associating, and linking various sources of metadata for music files, to allow integration of commercially generated metadata with user-entered metadata, and to ensure that metadata provided to the user is of the highest quality and accuracy available, even when the metadata comes from disparate sources having different levels of credibility. The invention further provides improved techniques for identifying approximate matches when querying metadata databases, and also provides improved techniques for accepting user submissions of metadata, for categorizing user submissions according to relative credibility, and for integrating user submissions with existing metadata.
-
Citations
78 Claims
-
1-10. -10. (canceled)
-
11. A method of retrieving metadata corresponding to a media item, comprising:
-
querying, by at least one processing unit, a first metadata source using an identifier associated with the media item; responsive to the first metadata source missing at least a portion of the metadata corresponding to the media item, the at least one processing unit querying a second metadata source using an identifier associated with the media item; responsive to at least one of the metadata sources having metadata corresponding to the media item, the at least one processing unit retrieving the at least a portion of the metadata; and outputting the retrieved metadata. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A method of retrieving metadata corresponding to a media item, comprising:
-
querying, by at least one processing unit, a metadata source using an identifier associated with the media item; retrieving, by the at least one processing unit, at least two metadata records based on the query, each retrieved metadata record having an indicator of relative credibility; responsive to a first retrieved metadata record having the highest relative credibility containing complete metadata corresponding to the media item, outputting the metadata from the first retrieved metadata record; and responsive to the retrieved metadata record having the highest relative credibility missing at least a portion of the metadata corresponding to the media item, outputting corresponding metadata from the second retrieved metadata record. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
-
-
19. A method of updating a metadata database, comprising:
-
receiving, by at least one processing unit, a metadata submission associated with a media item identifier; determining, by the at least one processing unit, whether at least one existing database record contains metadata corresponding to the submission; responsive to at least one existing database record containing metadata corresponding to the submission, the at least one processing unit; creating a variant record using the media item identifier and metadata from the existing database record; and
storing the variant record in the database; andresponsive to no existing database record containing metadata corresponding to the submission, the at least one processing unit; creating a new metadata record using the media item identifier and the submitted metadata; and storing the new metadata record in the database. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. A method of updating a metadata database, comprising:
-
receiving, by at least one processing unit, a metadata submission associated with a media item identifier; responsive to at least one provisional database record having matching metadata and an identifier corresponding to the media item identifier, the at least one processing unit marking the provisional database record as corroborated; and responsive to no database record having both matching metadata and an identifier corresponding to the media item identifier, the at least one processing unit; generating a provisional database record including the submitted metadata and the media item identifier; and storing the new provisional database record in the database.
-
-
24-33. -33. (canceled)
-
34. A method of retrieving metadata corresponding to a media item, comprising:
-
obtaining, by at least one processing unit, a plurality of numeric values of the media item; forming, by the at least one processing unit, a first query from the plurality of numeric values; running, by the at least one processing unit, the first query on a first metadata source to retrieve at least one primary record comprising metadata; forming, by the at least one processing unit, a second query from metadata extracted from the retrieved at least one primary record; running, by the at least one processing unit, the second query on a second metadata source to retrieve at least one secondary record comprising metadata; and outputting at least a portion of the metadata from the at least one secondary record. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
-
-
40. A method of retrieving metadata corresponding to a media item, comprising:
-
obtaining, by at least one processing unit, a plurality of numeric values of the media item; forming, by the at least one processing unit, a first query from the plurality of numeric values; running, by the at least one processing unit, the first query on a metadata source; responsive to at least one record matching the query, the at least one processing unit outputting at least a portion of the metadata from the matching record; responsive to no records matching the query, the at least one processing unit; obtaining additional media identification information; forming a second query from the additional media identification information; running the second query on the metadata source to retrieve at least one record comprising metadata; and outputting at least a portion of the metadata from the at least one record. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
-
-
49. A method of retrieving metadata associated with a media item, comprising:
-
obtaining, by at least one processing unit, a plurality of numeric values of the media item; forming, by the at least one processing unit, a query from the plurality of numeric values; running, by the at least one processing unit, the query on a metadata source; responsive to a plurality of records matching the query, the at least one processing unit; prompting a user to select one of the matching records; receiving user input selecting one of the matching records; outputting at least a portion of the metadata from the selected record; responsive to a single record matching the query, the at least one processing unit; outputting at least a portion of the metadata from the matching record; and responsive to no records matching the query, the at least one processing unit; prompting the user to provide at least one search parameter; forming a second query from the provided at least one search parameter; running the second query on the metadata source to retrieve at least one record comprising metadata; and outputting at least a portion of the metadata from the at least one record. - View Dependent Claims (50)
-
-
51-77. -77. (canceled)
-
78. A metadata retrieval system, comprising:
-
a media item reader, for retrieving, from a media item, a plurality of numeric values; a metadata source, comprising a plurality of metadata records; a database query engine, coupled to the media item reader and to the metadata source, for running at least one database query based on the plurality of numeric values; a user interface module, coupled to the database query engine, for; responsive to a plurality of records matching the query; prompting a user to select one of the matching records; and receiving user input selecting one of the matching records; and responsive to no records matching the query; prompting the user to provide at least one search parameter; and receiving user input specifying at least one search parameter; and an output device, coupled to the database query engine, for outputting at least a portion of the metadata from a matching record; wherein, responsive to no records matching the query, the database query engine runs a second query on the metadata source to retrieve at least one record comprising metadata using the at least one search parameter specified by the user input.
-
Specification