Internet streaming media workflow architecture

• US 20020099695A1
• Filed: 06/08/2001
• Published: 07/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: America Online Inc. (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Derosa, John Antony, Abajian, Aram Christian, Porter, Charles A., Lee, Scott Chao-Chueh, Rehm, Eric Carl, Dahl, Austin David, Alexander, Robin Andrew, Sudanagunta, Srinivasan, Kolar, Jennifer Lynn
• Granted Patent: US 6,785,688 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• 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 16/908 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/913 Multimedia
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/923 Intellectual property
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A method and system for utilizing metadata to search for media, such as multimedia and streaming media, includes searching for the media, receiving results, extracting metadata associated with the media, enhancing the extracted metadata, and grouping the search results in accordance with attributes of the enhanced metadata. Enhancing and grouping include adding related metadata to the database of metadata, iteratively using metadata to search for more media related data, removing duplicate URLs, collapsing URLs that are variants of each other, and masking out superfluous terms from URLs. The resultant metadata and media files are available to users and search engines.

Claims

1. A method for searching for media on a communications network, said method comprising the steps of:

searching for said media with at least one search term;

receiving at least one search result comprising metadata associated with said media;

extracting said metadata from said at least one search result;

enhancing said extracted metadata; and

grouping said at least one search result into at least one group, wherein extracted metadata associated with each search result in a group comprise at least one common attribute.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising the step of providing at least one of said media and a uniform resource indicator (URI) related to said media to at least one of a user and a search engine.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising the step of formatting at least one of said media and a uniform resource indicator (URI) related to said media in accordance with requirements of a search engine.

4. A method in accordance with claim 3, wherein said formatting comprises at least one of adding metadata to, deleting metadata from, and updating said metadata associated with said media.

5. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising the step of providing said extracted metadata as said at least one search term.

6. A method in accordance with claim 1, said step of extracting comprising providing at least one of said at least one search result to a format specific media extractor compatible with media comprising at least one of an extension selected from the group consisting of .ram, .rm, .rpm, .mov, .qif .wma, .cmr, .avi, .swf, .swl .mpg, .mpa, .mp1, .mp2, .mp3, m3a, and .m3u.

7. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein said step of enhancing comprises:

comparing said extracted metadata to valid metadata; and

at least one of updating said extracted metadata, deleting metadata from said extracted metadata, and adding metadata to said extracted metadata, in accordance with said valid metadata.

8. A method in accordance with claim 7, further comprising the step of qualifying candidate metadata as said valid metadata if a degree of similarity between said candidate metadata and valid metadata is equal to or greater than a predetermined degree of similarity.

9. A method in accordance claim 1, wherein said step of grouping comprises collapsing duplicate uniform resource indicators (URIs) associated with said media into a single URI.

10. A method in accordance claim 1, said media comprising at least one associated uniform resource indicator (URI), wherein said step of grouping comprises deleting at least one predetermined term from each URI having said at least one predetermined term.

11. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein said metadata comprise elements related to at least one of content of the media, intellectual property rights associated with the media, and instantiation of the media.

12. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein said media comprises at least one of multimedia and streaming media.

13. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein said communications network is a computer network.

17. A data signal in accordance with claim 16, further comprising a provide code segment for providing at least one of said media and a uniform resource indicator (URI) related to said media to at least one of a user and a search engine.

18. A data signal in accordance with claim 16, further comprising a format code segment for formatting at least one of said media and a uniform resource indicator (URI) related to said media in accordance with requirements of a search engine.

19. A data signal in accordance with claim 18, wherein said format code segment comprises at least one of an add metadata code segment for adding metadata to, a delete metadata code segment for deleting metadata from, and an update metadata code segment for updating said metadata associated with said media.

20. A data signal in accordance with claim 16, further comprising a provide search term code segment for providing said extracted metadata as said at least one search term.

21. A data signal in accordance with claim 16, said extract code segment comprising a provide search result code segment for providing at least one of said at least one search result to a format specific media extractor compatible with media comprising at least one of an extension selected from the group consisting of .ram, .rm, .rpm, .mov, .qif.wma, .cmr, .avi, .swf, .swl .mpg, .mpa, .mp1, .mp2, .mp3, m3a, and .m3u.

22. A data signal in accordance with claim 16, wherein said enhance code segment comprises:

a compare code segment for comparing said extracted metadata to valid metadata; and

at least one of an update code segment for updating said extracted metadata, a delete code segment for deleting metadata from said extracted metadata, and an add code segment for adding metadata to said extracted metadata, in accordance with said valid metadata.

23. A data signal in accordance with claim 22, further comprising a qualify metadata code segment for qualifying candidate metadata as said valid metadata if a degree of similarity between said candidate metadata and valid metadata is equal to or greater than a predetermined degree of similarity.

24. A data signal in accordance with claim 16, wherein said group code segment comprises a collapse code segment for collapsing duplicate uniform resource indicators (URIs) associated with said media into a single URI.

25. A data signal in accordance with claim 16, said media comprising at least one associated uniform resource indicator (URI), wherein said group code segment further comprises a delete term code segment for deleting at least one predetermined term from each URI having said at least one predetermined term.

26. A data signal in accordance with claim 16, wherein said metadata comprise elements related to at least one of content of the media, intellectual property rights associated with the media, and instantiation of the media.

14. A computer system for searching for media on a computer network, said computer system comprising at least one computer, all computers in said system being communicatively coupled to each other, wherein each of said at least one computer includes at least one program stored therein for allowing communication between each and every of said at least one computer, each of said at least one program operating in conjunction with one another to cause said at least one computer to perform the steps of:

searching for said media with at least one search term;

receiving at least one search result comprising metadata associated with said media;

extracting said metadata from said at least one search result;

enhancing said extracted metadata; and

grouping said at least one search result into at least one group, wherein extracted metadata associated with each search result in a group comprise at least one common attribute.

15. A program readable medium having embodied thereon a program for causing a processor to search for media on a communications network, said program readable medium comprising:

means for causing said processor to search for said media with at least one search term;

means for causing said processor to receive at least one search result comprising metadata associated with said media;

means for causing said processor to extract metadata from said at least one search result;

means for causing said processor to enhance said extracted metadata; and

means for causing said processor to group said at least one search result into at least one group, wherein extracted metadata associated with each search result in a group comprise at least one common attribute.

16. A data signal embodied in a carrier wave comprising:

a search code segment for searching for said media with at least one search term;

a receive code segment for receiving at least one search result comprising metadata associated with said media;

an extract code segment for extracting metadata from said at least one search result;

an enhance code segment for enhancing said extracted metadata; and

a group code segment for grouping said at least one search result into at least one group, wherein extracted metadata associated with search results in a group comprise at least one common attribute.