Associating metadata with media objects using time

• US 9,465,892 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2007
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shamma, David Ayman
• Primary Examiner(s): Chbouki, Tarek
• Application Number:
  US11/949,638
• Publication Number:
  US 20090144321A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,235 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9032 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, a method for associating metadata with a media object is provided. The method provides the ability to tag, or bookmark, a point in time for future use. The method includes receiving the metadata, an associated time condition, and an associated user identification. The method further includes storing at least the time condition. The at least stored time condition is used, at least in part, for associating the metadata with the media object. The media object is then provided to the user. In some embodiments the media object is not available for association with the metadata at the time the metadata is received. In other embodiments, the media object is provided by an external application.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, a request from a user for a media object, said request comprising user generated metadata corresponding to the media object, a time condition associated with the media object and a user identifier, said user generated metadata comprising annotations of the media object at said time condition;

storing at least the time condition in association with the media object in a computer-readable storage medium associated with the computing device;

associating, via the computing device, the user generated metadata with the media object based at least in part upon the time condition and the user identifier, said association comprising determining that said user generated metadata is in accordance with said time condition and adding the user generated metadata to the media object as a media tag; and

communicating, via the computing device, in response to a subsequent user request for the media object, the media object to the user over a network along with the user generated metadata.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the media object is not available for association with the metadata at the time the metadata is received.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the media object is provided by an external application.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an indication of the media object along with the metadata.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the media tag along with the media to the user in accordance with the time condition.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving associated annotation information along with the metadata.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the time condition is a time range.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the metadata with the media object based at least in part upon the time condition is in response to dynamically generating a query, wherein the query returns media objects for satisfying the time condition.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the query generates a search for media objects that satisfy the time condition.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the query is not directly initiated by the user.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the metadata with the media object based at least in part upon the time condition is in response to a user request for a query, wherein the query returns media objects for satisfying the time condition.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with instructions, that when executed by at least one processor, perform a method comprising:

receiving, over a network, a request from a user for a media object, said request comprising user generated metadata corresponding to the media object, a time condition associated with the media object and a user identifier, said user generated metadata comprising annotations of the media object at said time condition;

storing at least the time condition in association with the media object;

associating the user generated metadata with the media object based at least in part upon the time condition and the user identifier, said association comprising determining that said user generated metadata is in accordance with said time condition and adding the user generated metadata to the media object as a media tag; and

communicating, over the network in response to a subsequent user request for the media object, the media object to the user along with the user generated metadata.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the media object is not available for association with the metadata at the time the metadata is received.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, the instructions further for receiving an indication of the media object along with the metadata.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, the instructions further for providing the media tag along with the media to the user in accordance with the time condition.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, the instructions further for receiving associated annotation information along with the metadata.

17. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising;

logic executed by the processor for receiving a request from a user for a media object, said request comprising user generated metadata corresponding to the media object, a time condition associated with the media object and a user identifier, said user generated metadata comprising annotations of the media object at said time condition;

a database for storing the time condition in association with the media object;

logic executed by the processor for associating the user generated metadata with the media object based at least in part upon the time condition and the user identifier, said association comprising determining that said user generated metadata is in accordance with said time condition and adding the user generated metadata to the media object as a media tag; and

logic executed by the processor for communicating, in response to a subsequent user request for the media object, the media object to the user along with the user generated metadata.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the media object is not available for association with the metadata at the time the metadata is received.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising logic executed by the processor for receiving an indication of the media object along with the metadata.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising logic executed by the processor for providing the media tag along with the media to the user in accordance with the time condition.

21. The system of claim 17, further comprising logic executed by the processor for receiving associated annotation information along with the metadata.