Content tagging using multi-node hierarchical content assignments

• US 8,612,450 B1
• Filed: 11/20/2012
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Limelight Networks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Limelight Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Proffit, Spencer, Acharya, Soam, Badran, Ahmed
• Primary Examiner(s): HICKS, MICHAEL J
• Application Number:
  US13/682,532
• Time in Patent Office: 392 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/740
• 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 16/7867 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title and artist information, manually generated time, location and usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2353 specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 represented by keywords

Abstract

Methods and systems generate content-categorization hierarchies and assign each content object to a set of nodes in the hierarchies. Each hierarchy includes a series of levels, each level including nodes which represent a categorization. A node in a top level is connected with multiple nodes in a lower level via a direct path. Each content object is assigned to a set of nodes, such that assignment to a lower-level node also results in assignment to each higher-level node in the lower-level node'"'"'s direct path to a top of the hierarchy. Metadata of the content object is then modified to include a set of tags, each tag being a term from an assigned node. Tags are used to categorize the content object, summarize of the content object, identify recommended content objects, identify content objects responsive to a search query, and/or identify other content objects to supplement the content object.

Claims

1. A content delivery system for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments, the system comprising:

a plurality of points of presence (POPs) distributed geographically in a content delivery network (CDN), the plurality of POPs having a set of caches distributed amongst the plurality of POPs, wherein the set of caches store a plurality of video content objects;

a hierarchy database including a hierarchy with a plurality of nodes arranged amongst a plurality of levels, wherein;

each node is defined by a node-defining term,

each node in a lower level is connected to another node in a higher level,

the node-defining terms increase in specificity throughout a progression from a highest level to a lowest level, and

the node-defining terms relate to subject matter of the video content objects;

a node assigner that, for each video content object of the plurality of video content objects;

assigns the video content object to a first node in a respective first level in the hierarchy;

assigns the video content object to a second node in the hierarchy, the second node is at a second level, the second level is higher than the first level, the second node is in a direct path of the first node in the hierarchy, the direct path is defined as a shortest path from the first node to the highest level of the hierarchy;

generates metadata tags to characterize the video content object, the metadata tags including a first node-defining term defining the first node and a second node-defining term defining the second node; and

stores the metadata tags;

a metadata query engine that performs a search, from amongst the plurality of video content objects within the set of caches, for a first video content object of the plurality of video content objects that is characterized by the metadata tags; and

an object-processing engine that identifies a processing condition, wherein the processing condition specifies a particular geography within the CDN to cache content objects; and

a first POP, wherein;

the first POP is within the particular geography of the CDN; and

the first POP caches the first video content object based on the search performed by the metadata query engine and the object-processing engine identifying the processing condition to cache the first video content object within the particular geography.

2. The content delivery system for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 1, wherein the processing condition is defined by a client.

3. The content delivery system for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 1, wherein the processing condition conditions a storage disposition for video content objects.

4. The content delivery system for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 1, wherein, upon the node assigner assigning the video content object to the first node, the video content object is immediately and automatically assigned to the second node.

5. The content delivery system for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 1, wherein the assignment of the video content object to the first node is based on input provided by a provider of the video content object.

6. The content delivery system for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 1, wherein the assignment of the video content object to the first node is based on a transcript of an audio track of the video content object.

7. The content delivery system for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 1, further comprising a hierarchy generator that generates the hierarchy based on input from a client.

8. A method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments, the method comprising:

accessing a first video content object from a set of caches distributed amongst a plurality of points of presence (POPs) within a content delivery network (CDN), wherein;

the plurality of POPs are distributed geographically,

the set of caches store a plurality of video content objects, and

the first video content object is selected from the plurality of video content objects;

accessing a hierarchy with a plurality of nodes arranged amongst a plurality of levels, wherein;

each node is defined by a node-defining term,

each node in a lower level is connected to another node in a higher level,

the node-defining terms increase in specificity throughout a progression from a highest level to a lowest level, and

the node-defining terms relate to subject matter for a video content object;

assigning the first video content object to a first node in a respective first level in the hierarchy;

assigning the first video content object to a second node in the hierarchy based on the assignment to the first node, the second node is at a second level, the second level is higher than the first level, the second node is in a first direct path of the first node in the hierarchy, the first direct path is defined as a shortest path from the first node to the highest level of the hierarchy;

generating first and second metadata tags to characterize the first video content object, the first metadata tag including a first node-defining term defining the first node and the second metadata tag including a second node-defining term defining the second node;

storing the first and second metadata tags;

accessing a second video content object from the set of caches distributed amongst the plurality of POPs;

assigning the second video content object to a third node in a respective third level in the hierarchy, the third node is different than the first node and different than the second node, the second level is higher than the third level;

assigning the second video content object to the second node in the hierarchy based on the assignment to the third node, the second node is in a second direct path of the third node in the hierarchy, the second direct path is defined as a shortest path from the third node to the highest level of the hierarchy;

generating third and fourth metadata tags to characterize the second video content object, the third metadata tag including a third node-defining term defining the third node and the fourth metadata tag including the second node-defining term defining the second node;

storing the third and fourth metadata tags;

identifying a query tag, wherein;

the query tag includes a processing condition,

the processing condition specifies a particular geography of the CDN to cache content objects, and

the query tag includes the first node-defining term;

searching from amongst the plurality of video content objects within the set of caches for video content objects characterized by the first node-defining term;

determining that the first video content object is characterized by the query tag based on the stored first metadata tag; and

processing the first video content object by caching the first video content object in a first POP of the plurality of POPs, wherein;

the first POP is within the particular geography of the CDN; and

the first POP caches the first video content object based on the determining that the first video content object is characterized by the query tag and the processing condition specifying the particular geography.

9. The method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 8, wherein the processing condition is defined by a client.

10. The method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 8, wherein the processing condition conditions a storage disposition for video content objects.

11. The method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 8, wherein, upon the assignment of the first video content object to the first node, the first video content object is immediately and automatically assigned to the second node.

12. The method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 8, wherein the assignment of the first video content object to the first node is based on input provided by a provider of the first video content object.

13. The method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 8, wherein the first video content object and the second video content object are provided by a same content provider.

14. The method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 8, wherein the hierarchy is defined based on input from a client.

15. A method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments, the method comprising:

accessing a set of video content objects from a set of caches distributed amongst a plurality of points of presence (POPs) within a content delivery network (CDN), wherein;

the plurality of POPs are distributed geographically, and

the set of caches store the set of video content objects;

accessing a hierarchy with a plurality of nodes arranged amongst a plurality of levels, wherein;

each node is defined by a node-defining term,

each node in a lower level is connected to another node in a higher level,

the node-defining terms increase in specificity throughout a progression from a highest level to a lowest level, and

the node-defining terms relate to subject matter for a video content object of the set of video content objects;

for each video content object of the set of video content objects;

assigning the video content object to a respective first node in the hierarchy;

identifying a direct path for the video content object, the direct path is a shortest path from the respective first node to the highest level of the hierarchy;

assigning the video content object to a respective second node in the direct path;

generating respective first and second metadata tags to characterize the video content object, the respective first metadata tag including a first node-defining term defining the respective first node and the respective second metadata tag including a second node-defining term defining the respective second node; and

storing the respective first and second metadata tags to indicate that the video content object is characterized by the first and second metadata tags;

identifying a query tag, wherein;

the query tag includes a processing condition,

the processing condition specifies a particular geography of the CDN to cache content objects, and

the query tag includes a node-defining term;

searching from amongst the set of video content objects within the set of caches for video content objects characterized by the first node-defining term;

selecting a first subset of video content objects from the set of video content objects that are characterized by the query tags, the selection is based on the stored first and second metadata tags; and

processing each video content object of the first subset of video content objects by caching the first subset of video content objects in a first point POP of the plurality of POPs, wherein;

the first POP is within the particular geography of the CDN; and

the first POP caches the first subset of video content objects based on the first subset of video content objects being characterized by the query tag and the processing condition specifying the particular geography.

16. The method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 15, wherein the processing condition is defined by a client.

17. The method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 15, wherein the processing condition conditions a storage disposition for video content objects.

18. The method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 15, wherein, for each video content object of the set of video content objects, upon the assignment of the video content object to the respective first node, the video content object is immediately and automatically assigned to the respective second node.

19. The method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 15, wherein the assignment of the video content object to the first node is based on input provided by a provider of the video content object.

20. The method for differentially processing video content objects based on multi-node hierarchy assignments as recited in claim 15, wherein the hierarchy is defined based on input from a client.