Indexing of media content on a network

• US 5,903,892 A
• Filed: 04/30/1997
• Issued: 05/11/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
• Original Assignee: Magnifi, Inc. (Emmperative Marketing, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cremin, Karl, Hoffert, Eric M., Smoot, Stephen R., Ali, Adnan
• Primary Examiner(s): Lintz, Paul R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Colbert, Ella
• Application Number:
  US08/847,158
• Time in Patent Office: 741 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/103, 707/2, 345/327
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• 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 16/683 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/685 using automatically derived transcript of audio data, e.g. lyrics speech recognition G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/78 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7834 using audio features
• 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 16/785 using colour or luminescence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/786 using motion, e.g. object motion or camera motion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0058 Transmission between separate instruments or between individual components of a musical system G10H1/0083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/046 for differentiation between music and non-music signals, based on the identification of musical parameters, e.g. based on tempo detection
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/056 MIDI or other note-oriented file format
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/066 MPEG audio-visual compression file formats, e.g. MPEG-4 for coding of audio-visual objects MP3 G10H2240/061
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/135 Library retrieval index, i.e. using an indexing scheme to efficiently retrieve a music piece
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/305 Internet or TCP/IP protocol use for any electrophonic musical instrument data or musical parameter transmission purposes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 : Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 : Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 : Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 : Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 : Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A method and apparatus for searching for multimedia files in a distributed database and for displaying results of the search based on the context and content of the multimedia files.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of indexing media comprising:

a) the computer examining HTML to locate media;

b) the computer locating lexical information near the media in the HTML;

c) the computer generating an index for later use in retrieval of the media, the index including the lexical information and information based on the content of the media;

d) the computer weighting the index;

e) computing an aspect ratio A;

f) determining a target height IH of a preview image from the media as the preview height FH less the height of any top and bottom border;

g) determining a target width IW of said preview image as a function of said target height IH and said aspect ratio A.

2. The method as recited by claim 1 the step of locating media comprising the steps of:

a) locating an HTML page and scanning said page for predetermined HTML tags;

b) for each HTML object, determining if there is a media URL.

3. The method as recited by claim 2 wherein said step of locating lexical information comprises the steps of:

a) identifying relevant text from the HTML; and

b) examining the said media object for lexical information.

4. The method as recited by claim 3 wherein said step of identifying relevant text from the HTML comprises:

a) if said media URL is in a table, using text from the associated table element;

b) if said media URL is in a list, using text from the associated list element;

c) using text from headings associated with said media.

5. The method as recited by claim 3 wherein said step of examining the media object for text comprises, in the case of a downloadable media file, examining the media file header for textual information and examining the media file content for media information.

6. The method as recited by claim 5 wherein said step of examining the media file content for media information comprising examining for closed captioning text.

7. The method as recited by claim 3 wherein said step of examining the media object for text comprises, in the case of a streaming media file, streaming the media file and examining the streaming media for text.

8. The method as recited by claim 1 wherein said step of weighting the index comprises weighting based on a set of predetermined weighting values.

9. The method as recited by claim 8 wherein predetermined values are set for:

a) text in the URL of the media file;

b) text embedded in the media file;

c) text annotations in the media file; and

d) script dialogue, lyrics and closed captioning in the media file.

10. The method as recited by claim 9 further comprising the step of computing the number of images for display as the preview width divided by the sum of the target width IW and any spacing between images.

11. The method as recited by claim 8 wherein said step of selecting images from said media object comprises the steps of:

a) decompressing frames of said media object at N points wherein N is determined based on the size of said preview and the size of images to be displayed in said preview;

b) analyzing each of said frames to determine if said frames meet predetermined criteria and if said frames do meet said predetermined criteria, selecting said frame for display;

c) if one of said frames do not meet said predetermined criteria, selecting a substitute frame.

12. The method as recited by claim 11 wherein said previews comprise information allowing display and feedback of information at predetermined locations.

13. The method as recited by claim 11 wherein said preview comprises snippets of audio information.

14. A method of providing access to media content stored on a network comprising the steps of:

a) crawling and indexing said network for media content

b) said step of indexing said network including examining context and content of media objects by;

(i) examining HTML lexical information surrounding said media object and storing selected lexical information for indexing; and

(ii) examining said media object for lexical information and non-lexical information, the non-lexical information comprising brightness, contrast and color, and storing said lexical and non-lexical information for indexing; and

c) building previews of said media objects for retrieval.

15. A method of providing access to media content stored on a network comprising the steps of:

a) crawling and indexing said network for media content;

c) said step of indexing said network including examining context and content of media objects by;

(i) examining HTML lexical information surrounding said media object and storing selected lexical information for indexing, and

(ii) examining said media object for lexical information and non-lexical information, the non-lexical information comprising motion and chrominance, and storing said lexical and non-lexical information for indexing; and

c) building previews of said media objects for retrieval.