AUTOMATIC DISCOVERY OF METADATA

• US 20110225178A1
• Filed: 03/11/2010
• Published: 09/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Jeffery, Rempel, Dave, Ingrassia, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,140,570 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

This is directed to processing stored data to automatically generate metadata for the stored data. In particular, this is directed to identifying metadata associated with stored data, and identifying other data that relates to the stored data from one or more sources. A processing module can identify other data sharing some of the identified metadata, and can extract additional metadata associated with the identified other data. The extracted metadata can then be associated with the user'"'"'s stored data. The processing module can extract additional metadata from any suitable source, including for example local application data, social networks or blogging sources, and other remote sources. In some embodiments, an electronic device can retrieve data from other users for a particular event based on metadata associated with the user'"'"'s data for the event to form a master collection of data.

Claims

1. A method for automatically associating metadata with data, comprising:

identifying metadata associated with data, the metadata corresponding to at least one metadata field;

identifying application data of an electronic device corresponding to the identified metadata;

identifying a social network stream corresponding to the identified metadata; and

automatically extracting additional metadata from the identified application data and from the identified social network stream, wherein the additional metadata corresponds to metadata fields other than the at least one metadata field.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching for data associated with the identified metadata from a remote source; and

extracting additional metadata from the searched data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

identifying application data further comprises identifying information used by an application that corresponds to the identified metadata.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the application comprises at least one of:

a calendar application;

an address book;

a photo management application;

a video management application; and

an audio management application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a social network further comprises:

identifying a person from the identified metadata; and

identifying content of the social network related to the identified person.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

retrieving a handle associated with the identified person; and

identifying content of the social network associated with the retrieved handle.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein retrieving the handle further comprises:

retrieving the handle from an address book entry of the identified person.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing data; and

associating metadata with the captured data based on at least one of;

the output of electronic device sensors; and

analysis of the content of the captured data.

9. An electronic device for automatically retrieving metadata to apply to a media item, comprising a processing module, storage, and communications circuitry, the processing module operative to:

retrieve a media item from storage;

identify initial metadata associated with the media item;

direct the communications circuitry to identify social network entries corresponding to the initial metadata;

extract additional metadata from the social network entries; and

associate the additional metadata with the media item.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processing module is further operative to:

determine at least one metadata category for the extracted additional metadata; and

associate the extracted additional metadata with the at least one metadata category.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processing module is further operative to:

determine that the additional metadata comprises different metadata for the at least one metadata category; and

select one of the different metadata for the at least one metadata category.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the processing module is further operative to:

apply a weighing scheme to select the one of the different metadata.

13. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processing module is further operative to:

identify social network entries that have time metadata corresponding to time metadata of the media item; and

extract metadata from the content of the identified social network entries, wherein the metadata comprises at least one person'"'"'s identity.

14. A method for defining a collection of data related to a user'"'"'s data, comprising:

receiving a selection of a user'"'"'s data;

retrieving metadata associated with the user'"'"'s data;

identifying other data associated with the retrieved metadata from at least one remote source, wherein the other data is not created or owned by the user; and

providing the identified other data to the user.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a plurality of different data;

retrieving metadata associated with each of the plurality of different data; and

defining a set of common metadata for the plurality of different data.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving non-metadata based search criteria; and

identifying other data associated with the retrieved metadata and satisfying the received non-metadata-based search criteria.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the non-metadata based search criteria comprises at least one of:

a time period;

a particular remote source;

required content of the data; and

association with a specific person.

18. Computer readable media for automatically associating metadata with data, the computer readable media comprising computer program logic recorded thereon for:

identifying metadata associated with data, the metadata corresponding to at least one metadata field;

identifying application data of an electronic device corresponding to the identified metadata;

identifying a social network stream corresponding to the identified metadata; and

automatically extracting additional metadata from the identified application data and from the identified social network stream, wherein the additional metadata corresponds to metadata fields other than the at least one metadata field.

19. The computer readable media of claim 18, further comprising additional computer program logic recorded thereon for:

searching for data associated with the identified metadata from a remote source; and

extracting additional metadata from the searched data.

20. The computer readable media of claim 18, further comprising additional computer program logic recorded thereon for:

identifying a person from the identified metadata; and

identifying content of the social network related to the identified person.