Associating metadata with media signals, and searching for media signals using metadata

• US 8,121,342 B2
• Filed: 04/24/2007
• Issued: 02/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Davis, Bruce L., Rhoads, Geoffrey B., Conwell, William Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dang, Duy M
• Application Number:
  US11/739,614
• Publication Number:
  US 20070266252A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,764 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/305, 382/306, 707/1, 707/3, 707/9, 707/10, 707/100, 707/102, 709/201, 715/500
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0021 Image watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/018 Audio watermarking, i.e. embedding inaudible data in the audio signal

Abstract

A method of associating metadata with a media signal receives an identifier for the media signal, uses the identifier to look up metadata in a metadata database, validates the metadata by checking attributes of the media signal relative to at least a portion of the metadata to provide validated metadata; and provides the validated metadata to a requesting application. Related methods enable searching of metadata across metadata databases, routing metadata requests to the metadata databases, controlling access to and validating metadata for media content, and re-associating valid metadata with media content.

Claims

1. A method of associating metadata with a media signal, the method comprising:

receiving an identifier for the media signal;

looking up, using a processor, metadata in a metadata database using the identifier;

validating the metadata by checking attributes of the media signal relative to a portion of the metadata to provide validated metadata; and

providing the validated metadata.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises a digital watermark extracted from the media signal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein validating the metadata comprises comparing a content signature derived from the media signal with a content signature obtained using the identifier.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

using the validated metadata to control processing of the media signal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata is used to refer to an alternative version of the media signal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata is used to specify copyright conditions.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a file and includes the media signal and the validated metadata in the file.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

evaluating the identifier to resolve which of a set of metadata servers to route the identifier; and

forwarding the identifier to the metadata server.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

executing a search, using the validated metadata, for additional media signals with similar attributes of the media signal based on the validated metadata.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

executing the search across a plurality of metadata databases, wherein each metadata database stores metadata for media signals.

11. A method of associating metadata with a media signal, the method comprising:

providing, using a processor, an identifier for the media signal to obtain metadata in a metadata database, wherein the identifier is derived from perceptual content of the media signal;

receiving the metadata from the metadata database; and

creating an association between the metadata and the media signal.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising validating the metadata by checking attributes of the media signal relative to a portion of the metadata to provide validated metadata.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the metadata is obtained from one of plurality of metadata servers to which the identifier is routed.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising conducting a search for metadata in a plurality of metadata databases using the identifier.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the identifier comprises a digital watermark.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the identifier comprises a content signature that is compared against a database of content signatures to obtain the metadata for the media signal.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the metadata is used to retrieve a substitute media signal for the media signal.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the metadata provides copyright conditions used to control the media signal.

19. A method of searching for media signals using metadata, the method comprising:

receiving an identifier for the media signal to obtain metadata in a first database, wherein the identifier is derived from perceptual content of the media signal;

searching, using a processor, for related media signals by using the metadata from the first database as a search query for a plurality of additional metadata databases; and

generating search results including identifiers of the related media signals obtained from the search results from the additional metadata databases.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein a content signature of the media signal is used to validate the metadata from the first metadata database.

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving an identifier for a media signal;

looking up metadata in a metadata database using the identifier;

validating the metadata by checking attributes of the media signal relative to a portion of the metadata to provide validated metadata; and

providing the validated metadata.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the metadata refers to an alternative version of the media signal.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, having further instructions that, if executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

creating a file that includes the media signal and the validated metadata in the file.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, having further instructions that, if executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

evaluating the identifier to resolve which of a set of metadata servers to route the identifier; and

forwarding the identifier to the metadata server.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, having further instructions that, if executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

executing a search, using the validated metadata, for additional media signals with similar attributes of the media signal based on the validated metadata.

26. An apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive an identifier for a media signal;

look up metadata in a metadata database using the identifier;

validate the metadata by checking attributes of the media signal relative to a portion of the metadata to provide validated metadata; and

provide the validated metadata.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the metadata is used to refer to an alternative version of the media signal.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the processor is further configured to create a file and includes the media signal and the validated metadata in the file.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the processor is further configured to:

evaluate the identifier to resolve which of a set of metadata servers to route the identifier; and

forward the identifier to the metadata server.

30. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the processor is further configured to execute a search, using the validated metadata, for additional media signals with similar attributes of the media signal based on the validated metadata.

31. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

providing an identifier for the media signal to obtain metadata in a metadata database, wherein the identifier is derived from perceptual content of the media signal;

receiving the metadata from the metadata database; and

creating an association between the metadata and the media signal.

32. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 31, having further instructions that if, executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

validating the metadata by checking attributes of the media signal relative to a portion of the metadata to provide validated metadata.

33. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 31, having further instructions that if, executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

conducting a search for metadata in a plurality of metadata databases using the identifier.

34. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 31, wherein the metadata is used to retrieve a substitute media signal for the media signal.

35. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 31, having further instructions that if, executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving an identifier for the media signal to obtain metadata in a first database, wherein the identifier is derived from perceptual content of the media signal;

searching for related media signals by using the metadata from the first database as a search query for a plurality of additional metadata databases; and

generating search results including identifiers of the related media signals obtained from the search results from the additional metadata databases.

36. An apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to;

provide an identifier for a media signal to obtain metadata in a metadata database, wherein the identifier is derived from perceptual content of the media signal;

receive the metadata from the metadata database; and

create an association between the metadata and the media signal

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the processor is further configured to:

validate the metadata by checking attributes of the media signal relative to a portion of the metadata to provide validated metadata.

38. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the processor is further configured to:

conduct a search for metadata in a plurality of metadata databases using the identifier.

39. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the metadata is used to retrieve a substitute media signal for the media signal.

40. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive an identifier for the media signal to obtain metadata in a first database, wherein the identifier is derived from perceptual content of the media signal;

search for related media signals by using the metadata from the first database as a search query for a plurality of additional metadata databases; and

generate search results including identifiers of the related media signals obtained from the search results from the additional metadata databases.