Metadata quality improvement

• US 20020099737A1
• Filed: 06/08/2001
• Published: 07/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Assets LLC
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Abajian, Aram Christian, Porter, Charles A., Nowitz, Jonathan Robert, Lee, Scott Chao-Chueh, Derosa, John Anthony, Berkun, Ken Alan, Rehm, Eric Carl, Dahl, Austin David, Alexander, Robin Andrew, Sudanagunta, Srinivasan
• Granted Patent: US 7,925,967 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/255
• 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 improving the quality of original metadata associated with media on a computer network, such as multimedia and streaming media, includes analyzing each field of the URL of the multimedia and streaming media. Each field is analyzed to identify new metadata associated with that field. Identified new metadata is added to the original metadata. In another embodiment, the fields in the URL are reorganized in reverse order and metadata associated with a prefix of fields of the reorganized URL is added to the original metadata. In yet another embodiment, the contents of the field next to the prefix of fields is used to improve the quality of the original metadata.

Claims

1. A method for improving a quality of original metadata associated with media having a uniform resource indicator (URI) on a communications network, said URI comprising a plurality of fields, said method comprising the steps of:

analyzing each field of said plurality of fields associated with said media to identify associated metadata associated with said each field; and

adding said associated metadata to said original metadata.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising the step of reorganizing said plurality of fields of said URI to provide a reorganized plurality of fields, wherein said step of analyzing each field comprises analyzing each field of said reorganized plurality of fields.

4. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining said associated metadata from sets of associated metadata, each set of associated metadata having a predetermined association with predetermined fields.

5. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein:

said step of analyzing each field comprises analyzing each field in contiguous field order until no associated metadata is identified for a field; and

said step of adding said associated metadata comprises adding associated metadata associated with fields for which associated metadata has been identified.

6. A method in accordance with claim 5, further comprising the step of adding a contents of said field for which no associated metadata was identified to said original metadata.

7. A method in accordance with claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

replacing each connecting character in said contents with a space for providing a plurality of terms;

adding said plurality of terms to said original metadata.

8. 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.

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

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

3. A method in accordance with claim 3, wherein said step of reorganizing said plurality of fields comprises reorganizing said plurality of fields in reverse order.

11. A computer system for improving a quality of original metadata associated with media having a uniform resource indicator (URI), said URI comprising a plurality of fields, said computer system comprising at least one computer, each of said at least one computer being communicatively coupled to all of said at least one computer, 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:

reorganizing said plurality of fields of said URI associated with said media;

analyzing each field of said reorganized plurality of fields to identify associated metadata associated with said each field; and

adding said associated metadata to said original metadata.

12. A computer system in accordance with claim 11, wherein each of said at least one program operating in conjunction with one another causes said at least one computer to perform the additional steps of:

replacing each connecting character in said contents with a space for providing a plurality of terms;

adding said plurality of terms to said original metadata.

14. A program readable medium in accordance with claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

means for causing said processor to replace each connecting character in said contents with a space for providing a plurality of terms;

means for causing said processor to add said plurality of terms to said original metadata.

16. A data signal in accordance with claim 15, wherein said reorganize code segment comprises reorganizing said plurality of fields in reverse order.

17. A data signal in accordance with claim 15, further comprising an obtain metadata code segment for obtaining said associated metadata from sets of associated metadata, each set of associated metadata having a predetermined association with predetermined fields.

18. A data signal in accordance with claim 15, wherein:

said analyze field code segment comprises analyzing each field in contiguous field order until no associated metadata is identified for a field; and

said add metadata code segment comprises adding associated metadata associated with fields for which associated metadata has been identified.

19. A data signal in accordance with claim 18, further comprising an add contents code segment for adding a contents of said field for which no associated metadata was identified to said original metadata.

20. A data signal in accordance with claim 19, further comprising:

a replace code segment for replacing each connecting character in said contents with a space for providing a plurality of terms;

an add term code for adding said plurality of terms to said original metadata.

21. A data signal in accordance with claim 15, 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.

13. A program readable medium having embodied thereon a program for causing a processor to improve a quality of original metadata associated with media having a uniform resource indicator (URI), said URI comprising a plurality of fields, said program readable medium comprising:

means for causing said processor to reorganize said plurality of fields of said URI associated with said media;

means for causing said processor to analyze each field of said reorganized plurality of fields to identify associated metadata associated with said each field; and

means for causing said processor to add said associated metadata to said original metadata.

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

a reorganize code segment for reorganizing a plurality of fields of a URI, wherein said URI is a locator for media on a communications network having associated original metadata;

an analyze field code segment for analyzing each field of said reorganized plurality of fields to identify associated metadata associated with said each field; and

an add metadata code segment for adding said associated metadata to said original metadata.