Data storage usage protocol

• US 9,967,424 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2006
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund, LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Levien, Royce A., Lord, Robert W., Malamud, Mark A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Haskins, Twyler
• Assistant Examiner(s): Trehan, Akshay
• Application Number:
  US11/404,381
• Publication Number:
  US 20060274154A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,407 Days
• Field of Search: 3482071, 3482311- 9
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/32 on separate auxiliary tracks of the same or an auxiliary record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00251 with an apparatus for taking photographic images, e.g. a camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2166 for mass storage, e.g. in document filing systems information retrieval G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2187 with image input from a plurality of different locations or from a non-central location, e.g. from one or more users
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32122 in a separate device, e.g. in a memory or on a display separate from image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25875 involving end-user authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; arrangements for secret or secure communication including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/212 Selecting different recording or reproducing modes, e.g. high or low resolution, field or frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/214 Checking or indicating the storage space
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/216 Arrangements for recording on different types of storage medium, e.g. IC card or magnetic tape; Recording on a plurality of storage media
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0122 the input and the output signals having different aspect ratios
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A technique processes captured data on a device, wherein selected captured data of a given quality resolution is transferred via a communication link to a separate storage location for future availability. A storage protocol may include different storage organization categories. A possible aspect includes an identifier record to enable future accessibility to selected captured data by one or more authorized parties or approved devices or authorized recipients.

Claims

1. A data storage protocol method comprising:

providing a separate storage facility that receives selected captured data via a communication link from at least one transmitting capture device, which capture device includes at least local memory capacity;

maintaining some or all of the selected captured data at the separate storage facility as an inventory data version that is stored in accordance with a safekeeping arrangement and in accordance with a quality downgrade schedule;

providing one or more different status categories to identify the inventory data version of the selected captured data, wherein each status category comprises at least a topical category defining a group of one or more inventory data versions;

establishing one or more future accessibility guidelines in accordance with the safekeeping arrangement to control back and forth data transferability between the separate storage facility and a selected external unit selected from at least one external unit, the selected external unit being other than a transmitting image capture device; and

implementing the one or more future accessibility guidelines based on one or more capability attributes associated with the selected external unit, including at least implementing a storage facility management protocol for automatically selecting an external unit from the at least one external unit based at least in part on automatically matching at least some inventoried audio/visual data having at least one or more processing requirements with at least one of a hardware of a software function specification of the selected external unit that specifies that the selected external unit is capable of processing audio/visual data having at least the one or more processing requirements; and

wherein at least one of the providing a separate storage facility, the maintaining, the providing one or more different status categories, the establishing, or the implementing is performed at least in part with one or more processing devices.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said establishing the one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

establishing one or more programmed guidelines that require no user intervention for transferring certain selected captured data from the at least one transmitting capture device to the separate storage facility.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said establishing one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

establishing one or more programmed guidelines that require no user intervention for transferring certain selected one or more inventory data versions from the separate storage facility to an approved external unit.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said establishing one or more programmed guidelines that require no user intervention for transferring certain selected one or more inventory data versions from the separate storage facility to an approved external unit comprises:

establishing one or more programmed guidelines that require no user intervention for at least one or more back and forth transfers of certain selected one or more inventory data versions between the separate storage facility and the transmitting capture device, certain selected one or more inventory data versions including at least some capture data captured by the transmitting capture device.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said establishing one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

establishing one or more flexible guidelines that allow user intervention for determining whether to transfer certain selected captured data from the at least one transmitting capture device to the separate storage facility.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said establishing one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

establishing one or more flexible guidelines that allow user intervention for determining whether to transfer certain selected one or more inventory data versions from the separate storage facility to an external unit.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said establishing one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

establishing one or more flexible guidelines that allow user intervention for determining whether to redirect certain selected one or more inventory data versions from the separate storage facility to an authorized recipient party.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said implementing one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

transferring an inventory data version of the selected captured data from the separate storage facility to an external unit based on unused local memory capacity of the external unit.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said implementing the one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

transferring selected captured data from an external unit, that includes at least other than a capture device, to the separate storage facility based on insufficient local memory capacity of the external unit.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said implementing the one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

transferring an inventory data version having a particular quality characteristic from the separate storage facility to an external unit based on a matching operational quality capability of the external unit.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said implementing the one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

transferring selected captured data having a particular quality characteristic from an external unit, that includes at least other than a capture device, to the separate storage facility based on a deficient operational quality capability of the external unit.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said implementing the one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

transferring an inventory data version from the separate storage facility to an external unit based on an identity confirmation of an authorized user at an approved external unit.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein said implementing the one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

transferring selected captured data from an external unit to the separate storage facility based on a failure to obtain confirmation of an authorized user at the external unit.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein said implementing the one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

preventing transfer of an inventory data version from the separate storage facility to an external unit based on a failure to obtain confirmation of an authorized user at the external unit.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein said implementing the one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

transferring selected captured data from an external unit to the separate storage facility based on confirmation of the external unit'"'"'s location in a restricted area.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein said implementing the one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

preventing transfer of an inventory data version from the separate storage facility to an external unit based on confirmation of the external unit'"'"'s location in a restricted area.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein said establishing one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

establishing a guideline for redirecting certain inventory data versions to an authorized recipient party.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein said establishing one or more future accessibility guidelines comprises:

establishing a guideline for redirecting certain inventory data versions of the separate storage facility to one or more approved devices, the one or more approved devices including at least the transmitting capture device.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein said providing one or more different status categories comprises:

providing one or more sub-topical categories for grouping one or more inventory data versions, wherein at least one sub-topical category comprises a subset of one or more inventory data versions of at least one of the one or more different status categories.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said providing one or more sub-topical categories comprises:

incorporating certain one or more inventory data versions in more than one status category.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein said providing one or more different status categories comprises:

providing one or more different quality characteristic categories for grouping one or more inventory data versions.

22. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing an identifier record operably coupled to one or more status categories of one or more inventory data versions; and

enabling access to the identifier record by at least one of an authorized user, an approved device, or a recipient party, to accomplish a storage management task regarding the selected captured data.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein said enabling access comprises:

enabling a storage management task initiated from an external unit to cause at least one of selected captured data to be off-loaded to the separate storage facility, or one or more inventory data versions to be down-loaded to an external unit, or certain one or more inventory data versions to be redirected to an authorized recipient party.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing an identifier record operably coupled to one or more status categories of one or more inventory data versions; and

enabling access to the identifier record by at least one of an owner or an operator of the separate storage facility to accomplish a storage management task regarding the selected captured data.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein said enabling access to the identifier record by an owner or operator of the separate storage facility to accomplish a storage management task regarding the selected captured data comprises:

enabling a storage management task initiated from the separate storage facility to cause at least one of selected captured data to be off-loaded to the separate storage facility, or inventory data versions to be down-loaded to an external unit, or certain one or more inventory data versions to be redirected to an authorized recipient party.

26. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

changing a status category of inventory data versions based on a lack of usage over a period of time.

27. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

changing a status category of one or more inventory data versions based on instructions from an authorized user.

28. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

changing a status category of inventory data versions based on at least one of a relinquishment or a waiver by an authorized user associated with the at least one transmitting capture device.

29. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing restricted availability to the one or more inventory data versions based on a fee schedule.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein said providing the restricted availability comprises:

providing the fee schedule that includes a fee allocation paid to an entity responsible for the separate storage facility.

31. The method of claim 1 wherein said providing the separate storage facility that receives selected captured data comprises:

enabling a programmed selection of the captured data to be saved on storage media at the separate storage location based at least in part on making the captured data available for processing prior to a transfer from the at least one transmitting capture device.

32. The method of claim 1 wherein said providing the separate storage facility that receives selected captured data comprises;

making a selection of the captured data to be saved on storage media at the storage location based at least in part on a set of rules configured by at least one of an owner or an operator of the separate storage location.

33. The method of claim 1 wherein said providing the separate storage facility that receives selected captured data comprises:

employing one or more of the following features for making the captured data available to an authorized party prior to the transferring;

printout, screen display, viewfinder display, display monitor, thumbnail display, removable memory, device memory, audio, tactile, alert, notification, transmittal to other device, or instructional.

34. The method of claim 1 wherein said providing the separate storage facility that receives selected captured data comprises:

receiving selected captured data having a given quality characteristic.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein said receiving selected captured data having the given quality characteristic comprises:

maintaining some or all of the selected captured data without a significant loss of the given quality characteristic.

36. The method of claim 34 wherein said receiving selected captured data having the given quality characteristic comprises:

receiving selected captured data having a modified quality characteristic that was changed from a previous given quality characteristic.

37. The data storage protocol method of claim 1, wherein the implementing the one or more future accessibility guidelines based on one or more capability attributes associated with the selected external unit, including at least implementing a storage facility management protocol for automatically selecting an external unit from the at least one external unit based at least in part on automatically matching at least some inventoried audio/visual data having at least one or more processing requirements with at least one of a hardware of a software function specification of the selected external unit that specifies that the selected external unit is capable of processing audio/visual data having at least the one or more processing requirements comprises:

prefetching at least some of the selected captured data from the separate storage facility in anticipation of an upcoming event, including at least prefetching a previously archived high quality resolution image in anticipation of the event.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the event is in accordance with the quality downgrade schedule.

39. The data storage protocol method of claim 1, wherein the establishing one or more future accessibility guidelines in accordance with the safekeeping arrangement to control back and forth data transferability between the separate storage facility and a selected external unit selected from at least one external unit, comprises:

establishing one or more future accessibility guidelines in accordance with the safekeeping arrangement to control back and forth data transferability between the separate storage facility and an external unit, the external unit being associated with at least one of a third party or an authorized distribution recipient.

40. The data storage protocol method of claim 1, wherein the implementing the one or more future accessibility guidelines based on one or more capability attributes associated with the selected external unit, including at least implementing a storage facility management protocol for automatically selecting an external unit from the at least one external unit based at least in part on automatically matching at least some inventoried audio/visual data having at least one or more processing requirements with at least one of a hardware of a software function specification of the selected external unit that specifies that the selected external unit is capable of processing audio/visual data having at least the one or more processing requirements comprises:

implementing a storage facility management protocol for at least automatically selecting an external unit from at least two external units by at least automatically matching at least some inventoried audio/visual data having at least one or more processing requirements with at least one of (a) at least one of a hardware or a software functional specification of a first external unit, that includes at least other than a capture device, which specifies that the first external unit is capable of handling a first quality of audio/visual data or (b) at least one of a hardware or a software functional specification of a second external unit, that includes at least other than a capture device, which specifies that the second external unit is capable of handling a second quality of audio/visual data, the first quality of audio/visual data being a lesser quality relative to the second quality of audio/visual data.

41. The method of claim 1 wherein said providing a separate storage facility that receives selected captured data via a communication link from at least one transmitting capture device, which capture device includes at least local memory capacity comprises:

providing a separate storage facility that receives selected captured data via a communication link from one or more of the following type of transmitting capture device;

still camera, audio recorder, digital audio recorder, audio-visual recorder, video recorder, digital video recorder, video camera, video/still camera, data recorder, telephone, cell phone, transceiver, PDA, computer, server, printer, fax, multi-function device, scanner, copier, surveillance camera, data sensor, mote, distributed imaging element, ingested sensor, medical sensor, medical imaging, health-monitoring device, traffic management device, media library, media player, vehicle sensor, vehicular device, environmental sensor, implanted device, mobile unit, fixed unit, integral, applied device, worn device, remote, radio, communication unit, scheduler, private, public, shared , residential, business, or office.

42. A computer program product, comprising:

at least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions executable by a computer including at least;

one or more instructions for receiving some or all of a selected captured data for retention at a separate storage facility via a communication link from a transmitting capture device;

one or more instructions for providing one or more status categories to identify an inventory data version of the selected captured data, wherein each status category comprises at least a topical category defining a group of one or more inventory data versions;

one or more instructions for implementing a safekeeping arrangement for restricted back and forth transferability between the separate storage facility and a selected approved external unit selected from at least one approved external unit, the selected approved external unit being other than a transmitting image capture device;

one or more instructions for maintaining the selected captured data at the separate storage facility in accordance with a quality downgrade schedule; and

one or more instructions for implementing a storage facility management protocol for automatically selecting an external unit of the at least one external unit based at least in part on automatically matching at least some inventoried audio/visual data having at least one or more processing requirements with at least one of a hardware or a software function specification of the selected approved external unit that specifies that the selected approved external unit is capable of processing audio/visual data having at least the one or more processing requirements.

43. The computer program product of claim 42 wherein the one or more instructions for receiving some or all of a selected captured data for retention at a separate storage facility via a communication link from a transmitting capture device comprises:

one or more instructions for retaining one or more of the following types of selected captured data;

real-time, time-delayed, original, copied, scanned, faxed, sensed, detected, derived, computed, modified, composite, enhanced, reduced, filtered, edited, condensed, compressed, compiled, retransmitted, forwarded, stored, cached, prefetched, processed, raw, live, batched, or uploaded.

44. The computer program product of claim 42 wherein the one or more instructions for implementing a safekeeping arrangement for restricted back and forth transferability between the separate storage facility and a selected approved external unit selected from at least one approved external unit comprises:

one or more instructions for providing one or more of the following parameters associated with or incorporated in an identity record to facilitate the future accessibility;

exemplar, abbreviation, indicia, symbol, code, name, title, icon, date, excerpt, characteristic, form, alternate format, listing, reorganization, aggregation, summary, reduction, representation, sample, thumbnail, image, preview, group specimen, sub-group element, unique, non-unique, arbitrary, global, semantic, public, private, or encoded.

45. The computer program product of claim 42 wherein the one or more instructions for implementing a safekeeping arrangement for restricted back and forth transferability between the separate storage facility and a selected approved external unit selected from at least one approved external unit comprises:

one or more instructions for providing, at the separate storage facility, one or more of the following parameters associated with or incorporated in an identity record to facilitate the future accessibility;

exemplar, abbreviation, indicia, symbol, code, name, title, icon, date, excerpt, characteristic, form, alternate format, listing, reorganization, aggregation, summary, reduction, representation, sample, thumbnail, image, preview, group specimen, sub-group element, unique, non-unique, arbitrary, global, semantic, public, private, or encoded.

46. The computer program product of claim 42 wherein the one or more instructions for implementing a safekeeping arrangement for restricted back and forth transferability between the separate storage facility and a selected approved external unit selected from at least one approved external unit comprises:

one or more instructions for providing, at the transmitting capture device or other approved device, one or more of the following parameters associated with or incorporated in an identity record to facilitate the future accessibility;

exemplar, abbreviation, indicia, symbol, code, name, title, icon, date, excerpt, characteristic, form, alternate format, listing, reorganization, aggregation, summary, reduction, representation, sample, thumbnail, image, preview, group specimen, sub-group element, unique, non-unique, arbitrary, global, semantic, public, private, or encoded.

47. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprises:

at least one of a storage medium or a communication medium for encoding one or more process instructions.

48. A system for managing data, comprising:

one or more data storage files including one or more saved versions of selected captured data received from a transmitting capture device;

one or more processing devices operably coupled with said one or more data storage files; and

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media bearing;

one or more instructions configured to enable future back and forth transferability of the selected captured data between a separate data storage facility and a selected external unit selected from at least one external unit, the selected external unit being other than a transmitting image capture device, wherein such transferability is at least partially dependent upon confirmation that such transferability occurs with at least one of an authorized party or an approved device or an authorized recipient party, the one or more instructions configured to enable future back and forth transferability including at least one or more instructions for implementing a storage facility management protocol for automatically selecting an external unit of the at least one external unit based at least in part on automatically matching at least some inventoried audio/visual data having at least one or more processing requirements with at least one of a hardware or a software function specification of the selected external unit that specifies that the selected external unit is capable of processing audio/visual data having at least the one or more processing requirements; and

one or more instructions for implementing a storage management algorithm that facilitates future accessibility to one or more different status categories, wherein at least one status category comprises at least a topical category defining a group of one or more inventory data versions based on one or more of the following parameters;

public domain, goal, subject matter, event, expected future use, taxonomy, common theme, classification, or user task.

49. The system of claim 48 wherein said one or more data storage files include at least an inventory data version of selected captured data received from one or more of the following type of transmitting capture device:

still camera, audio recorder, digital audio recorder, audio-visual recorder, video recorder, digital video recorder, video camera, video/still camera, data recorder, telephone, cell phone, transceiver, PDA, computer, server, printer, fax, multi-function device, scanner, copier, surveillance camera, data sensor, mote, distributed imaging element, ingested sensor, medical sensor, medical imaging, health-monitoring device, traffic management device, media library, media player, vehicle sensor, vehicular device, environmental sensor, implanted device, mobile unit, fixed unit, integral, applied device, worn device, remote, radio, communication unit, scheduler, private, public, shared , residential, business, or office.

50. The system of claim 48 further comprising:

one or more transmitting capture devices for transferring the selected captured data via a communication link to the one or more data storage files at a separate storage facility.

51. The system of claim 50 wherein said one or more transmitting capture devices are configured to implement transferring of the selected captured data based on one or more of the following criteria:

rule, user input, user state, configuration, commercial, personal, context, space, device memory, device capability, bandwidth, separate storage memory, separate storage capability, separate storage accessibility, cost, task, preference, storage protocol, security, privacy, affiliation, or membership.

52. The system of claim 50 wherein said one or more transmitting capture devices includes at least a portable transmitting device having one or more of the following associated data storage capabilities:

dedicated wireless link to remote storage, non-dedicated wireless link to remote storage, wireless link to multiple remote storage units, volatile memory, permanent memory, rewritable memory, internal memory, removable memory, backup memory, distributed memory, flash memory, or memory card.