Method for describing media assets for their management

• US 6,748,382 B1
• Filed: 12/01/1999
• Issued: 06/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Chung-Sheng, Operowsky, Howard L., Mohan, Rakesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Rones, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Veillard, Jacques
• Application Number:
  US09/451,886
• Time in Patent Office: 1,651 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/5, 707/103, 707/3, 707/104.1, 707/500.1, 709/221, 709/224, 709/216, 717/11
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A system and method for describing and managing media assets comprising a two-pronged solution: (1) a Digital Library to provide a centralized repository of the media assets and (2) a standard description scheme that will allow interoperation of a variety of tools and processes required for managing media assets. In the invention, a description scheme is provided that addresses information needed for managing media assets independent of their type. In addition, the invention provides a description scheme for logical collections of media assets. The media asset management description scheme may be based on eXtensible Markup Language (XML), to ensure maximum interoperability.

Claims

1. A system for managing media assets comprising:

a central repository comprising a plurality of databases for storing media assets at said central repository; and

a centralized view of the contents of said central repository, said centralized view describing the media assets stored in said repository using a standard description scheme comprising a content element comprising information for accessing said media asset and a management element containing handling information required for the management of said media asset by a plurality of tools and processes independent of type.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of tools for processing media assets.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising a plurality of components for mapping said media assets from each of said plurality of tools to said centralized view.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a search component associated with said central repository for accessing said media assets using said centralized view.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said centralized view comprises a description hierarchy of versions of said media assets.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said centralized view further comprises a description of metainformation for administration of said media assets.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said centralized view is provided using eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

8. A method for managing a plurality of media assets comprising:

storing a plurality of media assets in a central repository comprising a plurality of databases at said central repository; and

describing the media assets stored in said repository by establishing a centralized view of the contents of said central repository using a standard description scheme comprising a content element comprising information for accessing said media asset and a management element containing handling information required for the management of said media asset by a plurality of tools and processes independent of type.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said system further comprises a plurality of tools for processing media assets, said method further comprising the steps of:

retrieving at least one of said media assets from said central repository;

processing said at least one of said media assets;

generating processing information about said processing; and

storing said media assets and processing information to said central repository using said centralized view.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising a plurality of components for mapping said media assets from each of said plurality of tools to said centralized view, said method further comprising mapping said media assets and said processing information to said centralized view.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein said describing using said centralized view comprises creating a description hierarchy of versions of said media assets.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said describing further comprises providing a description of metainformation for administration of said media assets in said centralized view.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein said describing comprises providing said centralized view using eXtensible Markup Language (XML).