ASSOCIATING AND LINKING COMPACT DISC METADATA

• US 20090307201A1
• Filed: 06/08/2009
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Bradley D. Kindig, Christopher P. Archibald, Sean C. Joshlin, Ted E. Dunning
• Inventors: Dunning, Ted E., Kindig, Bradley D., Archibald, Christopher P., Joshlin, Sean C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,984,062 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/634 Query by example, e.g. query by humming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/683 using metadata automatically derived from the content

Abstract

Improved techniques for enhancing, associating, and linking various sources of metadata for music files, to allow integration of commercially generated metadata with user-entered metadata, and to ensure that metadata provided to the user is of the highest quality and accuracy available, even when the metadata comes from disparate sources having different levels of credibility. The invention further provides improved techniques for identifying approximate matches when querying metadata databases, and also provides improved techniques for accepting user submissions of metadata, for categorizing user submissions according to relative credibility, and for integrating user submissions with existing metadata.

Claims

1-10. -10. (canceled)

11. A method of retrieving metadata corresponding to a media item, comprising:

querying, by at least one processing unit, a first metadata source using an identifier associated with the media item;

responsive to the first metadata source missing at least a portion of the metadata corresponding to the media item, the at least one processing unit querying a second metadata source using an identifier associated with the media item;

responsive to at least one of the metadata sources having metadata corresponding to the media item, the at least one processing unit retrieving the at least a portion of the metadata; and

outputting the retrieved metadata.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each metadata source comprises a database.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first metadata source comprises a database of commercially generated metadata, and the second metadata source comprises a database of user-entered metadata.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first metadata source comprises a database having a first degree of credibility, and the second metadata source comprises a database having a second degree of credibility lower than the first degree of credibility.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the first metadata source comprises a database of corroborated metadata, and the second metadata source comprises a database of uncorroborated metadata.

16. A method of retrieving metadata corresponding to a media item, comprising:

querying, by at least one processing unit, a metadata source using an identifier associated with the media item;

retrieving, by the at least one processing unit, at least two metadata records based on the query, each retrieved metadata record having an indicator of relative credibility;

responsive to a first retrieved metadata record having the highest relative credibility containing complete metadata corresponding to the media item, outputting the metadata from the first retrieved metadata record; and

responsive to the retrieved metadata record having the highest relative credibility missing at least a portion of the metadata corresponding to the media item, outputting corresponding metadata from the second retrieved metadata record.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first metadata record comprises commercially generated metadata, and the second metadata source comprises user-entered metadata.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first metadata record comprises corroborated metadata, and the second metadata source comprises uncorroborated metadata.

19. A method of updating a metadata database, comprising:

receiving, by at least one processing unit, a metadata submission associated with a media item identifier;

determining, by the at least one processing unit, whether at least one existing database record contains metadata corresponding to the submission;

responsive to at least one existing database record containing metadata corresponding to the submission, the at least one processing unit;

creating a variant record using the media item identifier and metadata from the existing database record; and

storing the variant record in the database; and

responsive to no existing database record containing metadata corresponding to the submission, the at least one processing unit;

creating a new metadata record using the media item identifier and the submitted metadata; and

storing the new metadata record in the database.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the media item identifier comprises at least one numeric value extracted from a media item.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the media item identifier comprises table of contents data extracted from a compact disc.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising, responsive to at least one existing database record containing metadata corresponding to the submission, and responsive to the existing database record missing at least a portion of metadata included in the metadata submission:

adding the missing metadata to the existing database record;

and wherein creating the variant record further comprises;

responsive to the existing database record missing at least a portion of metadata included in the metadata submission, combining metadata from the submission with metadata from the existing database record.

23. A method of updating a metadata database, comprising:

receiving, by at least one processing unit, a metadata submission associated with a media item identifier;

responsive to at least one provisional database record having matching metadata and an identifier corresponding to the media item identifier, the at least one processing unit marking the provisional database record as corroborated; and

responsive to no database record having both matching metadata and an identifier corresponding to the media item identifier, the at least one processing unit;

generating a provisional database record including the submitted metadata and the media item identifier; and

storing the new provisional database record in the database.

24-33. -33. (canceled)

34. A method of retrieving metadata corresponding to a media item, comprising:

obtaining, by at least one processing unit, a plurality of numeric values of the media item;

forming, by the at least one processing unit, a first query from the plurality of numeric values;

running, by the at least one processing unit, the first query on a first metadata source to retrieve at least one primary record comprising metadata;

forming, by the at least one processing unit, a second query from metadata extracted from the retrieved at least one primary record;

running, by the at least one processing unit, the second query on a second metadata source to retrieve at least one secondary record comprising metadata; and

outputting at least a portion of the metadata from the at least one secondary record.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the first metadata source comprises a database having a first degree of credibility, and the second metadata source comprises a database having a second degree of credibility different than the first degree of credibility.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the plurality of numeric values comprises table of contents data, and the extracted metadata comprises at least one of an album title and artist.

37. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

storing, in the primary record, metadata from the secondary record.

38. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

generating a tertiary record comprising metadata from the first source and metadata from the second source; and

storing the generated tertiary record.

39. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

generating a linking record associating the primary record with the secondary record; and

storing the generated linking record,

40. A method of retrieving metadata corresponding to a media item, comprising:

obtaining, by at least one processing unit, a plurality of numeric values of the media item;

forming, by the at least one processing unit, a first query from the plurality of numeric values;

running, by the at least one processing unit, the first query on a metadata source;

responsive to at least one record matching the query, the at least one processing unit outputting at least a portion of the metadata from the matching record;

responsive to no records matching the query, the at least one processing unit;

obtaining additional media identification information;

forming a second query from the additional media identification information;

running the second query on the metadata source to retrieve at least one record comprising metadata; and

outputting at least a portion of the metadata from the at least one record.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein obtaining additional media identification information comprises receiving user-entered input.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein obtaining additional media identification information comprises scanning a bar code.

43. The method of claim 40, wherein the additional media identification information comprises at least one of a title, artist, and uniform product code.

44. The method of claim 40, wherein the plurality of numeric values comprises table of contents data.

45. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

adding the plurality of numeric values to the retrieved at least one record.

46. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

generating a linking record associating the plurality of numeric values with the additional media identification information; and

storing the generated linking record.

47. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

generating an auxiliary record comprising the plurality of numeric values and metadata from the retrieved record; and

storing the generated auxiliary record.

48. The method of claim 40, wherein obtaining additional media identification information comprises extracting at least one audio signature from the media item.

49. A method of retrieving metadata associated with a media item, comprising:

obtaining, by at least one processing unit, a plurality of numeric values of the media item;

forming, by the at least one processing unit, a query from the plurality of numeric values;

running, by the at least one processing unit, the query on a metadata source;

responsive to a plurality of records matching the query, the at least one processing unit;

prompting a user to select one of the matching records;

receiving user input selecting one of the matching records;

outputting at least a portion of the metadata from the selected record;

responsive to a single record matching the query, the at least one processing unit;

outputting at least a portion of the metadata from the matching record; and

responsive to no records matching the query, the at least one processing unit;

prompting the user to provide at least one search parameter;

forming a second query from the provided at least one search parameter;

running the second query on the metadata source to retrieve at least one record comprising metadata; and

outputting at least a portion of the metadata from the at least one record.

50. The method of claim 49, farther comprising:

prompting the user to edit the output metadata; and

responsive to receiving edited metadata from the user, submitting the edits for updating the metadata source.

51-77. -77. (canceled)

78. A metadata retrieval system, comprising:

a media item reader, for retrieving, from a media item, a plurality of numeric values;

a metadata source, comprising a plurality of metadata records;

a database query engine, coupled to the media item reader and to the metadata source, for running at least one database query based on the plurality of numeric values;

a user interface module, coupled to the database query engine, for;

responsive to a plurality of records matching the query;

prompting a user to select one of the matching records; and

receiving user input selecting one of the matching records; and

responsive to no records matching the query;

prompting the user to provide at least one search parameter; and

receiving user input specifying at least one search parameter; and

an output device, coupled to the database query engine, for outputting at least a portion of the metadata from a matching record;

wherein, responsive to no records matching the query, the database query engine runs a second query on the metadata source to retrieve at least one record comprising metadata using the at least one search parameter specified by the user input.