Method and system for classifying and locating media content
DCFirst Claim
1. A method in a computer system for classifying and locating a plurality of media content units using a structured vocabulary stored in a data repository, the structured vocabulary having a plurality of terms ordered such that the relationship of each term to each other term is inherent in the ordering, comprising:
- for each media content unit, determining a term within the structured vocabulary that represents a characteristic of the media content unit; and
associating an identifier of the determined term with the media content unit so that the media content unit is characterized by the determined term;
receiving a request to locate a media content unit based upon a search term; and
using the structured vocabulary to determine a collection of media content units that are characterized by the search term.
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Abstract
A computer-based method and system for classifying and locating media content is provided. In preferred embodiments, a dynamically modifiable, structured vocabulary system is used to drive a media classification and search system. An exemplary embodiment of the media classification and search system includes media content unit classification services, a media content unit search engine, and one or more data repositories, including typically a media content unit collection, metadata, the vocabulary, and a term-to-media content reverse index. The structured vocabulary provides a classification system, whose structure and relationships can be altered independently of the media content being classified, thus enabling tuning of the system without needing to reclassify data. The use of the structured vocabulary also increases the rate of success and efficiency in matching search requests to locate media content.
226 Citations
114 Claims
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1. A method in a computer system for classifying and locating a plurality of media content units using a structured vocabulary stored in a data repository, the structured vocabulary having a plurality of terms ordered such that the relationship of each term to each other term is inherent in the ordering, comprising:
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for each media content unit, determining a term within the structured vocabulary that represents a characteristic of the media content unit; and
associating an identifier of the determined term with the media content unit so that the media content unit is characterized by the determined term;
receiving a request to locate a media content unit based upon a search term; and
using the structured vocabulary to determine a collection of media content units that are characterized by the search term. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A structured vocabulary stored in a computer memory usable with a computer system, comprising:
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a plurality of media content units; and
a plurality of identifiers of terms, wherein the terms are ordered in the structured vocabulary according to inherent relationships between the terms, such that each media content unit is associated with an identifier of at least one term, and wherein each media content unit can be determined by matching a requested term with an identifier of a corresponding term. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A media classification and retrieval system comprising:
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a structured vocabulary stored in a data repository and having a plurality of terms ordered such that the relationship of each term to each other term is inherent in the ordering;
a plurality of media content units wherein each media content unit is associated with an identifier of a term of the structure vocabulary that represents a characteristic of the media content unit; and
a search engine that receives a request to locate a media content unit based upon a search term and that uses the structured vocabulary and the associations between media content units and identifiers of terms in the structured vocabulary to determine a collection of media content units that are characterized by the search term. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 81, 82)
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53. A method in a computer system for reclassifying media content using a structured vocabulary stored in the computer system, the computer system having a plurality of stored media content units that have been each classified according to current terms of the structured vocabulary comprising:
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receiving a descriptive term; and
based upon the received descriptive term, modifying the structured vocabulary without destroying the relationships of the already classified media content units to current terms of the structured vocabulary. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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64. A media classification system comprising:
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a structured vocabulary stored in a data repository having a plurality of terms;
a plurality of media content units stored in a data repository, wherein each media content unit has been classified according to the plurality of terms of the structured vocabulary; and
a classification engine that receives a descriptive term and, based upon the received descriptive term, modifies the structured vocabulary without destroying the relationships of the already classified media content units to the plurality of terms of the structured vocabulary. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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72. A computer-readable memory medium containing instructions for controlling a computer processor to reclassify media content using a structured vocabulary stored in a data repository and using a plurality of media content units stored in a data repository that have been each classified according to a plurality of terms of the structured vocabulary, by:
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receiving a descriptive term; and
based upon the received descriptive term, modifying the stored structured vocabulary without destroying the relationships of the already classified media content units to the plurality of terms of the structured vocabulary. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79)
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80. A method in a first computer system for retrieving a media content unit from a second computer system having a plurality of media content units that have been classified according to terms of a structured vocabulary, wherein the terms are ordered such that the relationship of each term to each other term is inherent in the ordering, comprising:
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sending a request for a media content unit, the request specifying a search term; and
receiving an indication of a media content unit that corresponds to the specified search term, wherein the search term is located within the structured vocabulary and is used to determine a media content unit that corresponds to the search term. - View Dependent Claims (83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88)
receiving from the second computer system an indication of multiple instances of the search term in the structured vocabulary; and
sending to the second computer system a revised request that specifies one of the multiple instance of the search term.
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84. The method of claim 80 wherein the received media content unit is a digital image.
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85. The method of claim 80 wherein the received media content unit is a sound recording.
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86. The method of claim 80 wherein the received media content unit is a text record.
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87. The method of claim 80 wherein the first and second computer system are the same computer system.
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88. The method of claim 80 wherein the first and second computer systems are physically distinct.
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89. A method in a computer system for rapidly locating a plurality of media content units that have been classified using a plurality of ordered terms in a structured vocabulary by associating each media content unit with at least one of the ordered terms, the terms ordered such that the relationship of each term to each other term is inherent in the ordering, the computer system having a reverse index that indexes the media content units by each associated term, comprising:
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receiving a request to locate a media content unit using a search term; and
using the search term as an index into the reverse index to locate the media content units associated by the search term. - View Dependent Claims (90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96)
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97. A media content retrieval system comprising:
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a structured vocabulary stored in a data repository and having a plurality of terms ordered such that the relationship of each term to each other term is inherent in the ordering;
a plurality of media content units stored in a data repository, wherein each media content unit has been classified by associating an identifier of a descriptive term with the media content unit; and
a search engine having a reverse index that indexes the media content units by terms, the search engine being configured to receive a request to locate a media content unit using a search term and being configured to use the search term as an index into the reverse index to locate the media content units associated with an identifier of the search term. - View Dependent Claims (98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106)
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107. A computer-readable memory medium containing instructions for controlling a computer processor of a computer system to efficiently retrieve media content that has been classified using a plurality of ordered terms in a structured vocabulary by associating each media content unit with at least one of the ordered terms, the computer system having a reverse index that indexes the media content units by each associated term, by:
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receiving a request to locate a media content unit using a search term; and
using the search term as an index into the reverse index to locate the media content units associated by the search term. - View Dependent Claims (108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114)
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Specification