Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-26
2001-07-24
Amsbury, Wayne (Department: 2672)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06266657
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the field of multimedia and, more particularly, to a technique for indexing data in a network having a plurality of network stations.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There are a large number of organizations that presently have substantial amounts of audio, video, and image content in analog form. Many of these organizations are currently moving toward putting such multimedia content into digital form in order to save costs in the areas of data storage and retrieval. That is, similar to other types of data, multimedia content can be easily stored on and retrieved from relatively inexpensive digital storage devices.
The migration of multimedia content from analog form to digital form also provides an organization with the ability to store, search, browse, and retrieve digitized multimedia content from distributed sites. That is, an organization having a number of distributed offices can store, search, browse, and retrieve digitized multimedia content from a centralized storage facility over a proprietary intranet computer network such as, for example, a local area network (LAN), or a public internet computer network such as, for example, the world wide web.
Furthermore, the multimedia content itself may be distributed. That is, an organization that is global in nature may have a number of distributed permanent archival storage locations where digitized multimedia content is permanently stored, or a number of distributed temporary storage locations where digitized multimedia content that is associated with work in progress is temporarily stored. Similar to above, such an organization could also store, search, browse, and retrieve digitized multimedia content from the distributed storage locations over a proprietary intranet computer network or a public internet computer network.
Additionally, an organization may want other entities located outside of the organization to be able to search, browse, and retrieve digitized multimedia content stored and maintained within the organization. For example, an organization may want to sell multimedia content to an outside entity, which may then use the purchased multimedia content for some purpose such as, for example, a news broadcast. Similar to above, the outside entity could search, browse, and retrieve digitized multimedia content from a storage facility within the organization over a proprietary intranet computer network or a public internet computer network.
However, despite the above-described benefits associated with digitized multimedia content, organizations presently have little or no means of searching within multimedia content, organizing information about multimedia content, and delivering multimedia content in a ubiquitous manner. That is, there are presently little or no means for searching inside streams of multimedia content (e.g., audio/video streams), adding meta-information to multimedia content (i.e., annotating multimedia content) for purposes of indexing within multimedia content, and providing universal access to indexed multimedia content over a variety of connection speeds and on a variety of client platforms. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a technique for organizing distributed multimedia content and for searching, browsing, and retrieving such organized distributed multimedia content in an efficient and cost-effective manner so as to overcome the above-described shortcomings of the prior art.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a technique for indexing data in a network having a plurality of network stations.
The above-stated primary object, as well as other objects, features, and advantages, of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description which is to be read in conjunction with the appended drawings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, a technique for indexing data in a network having a plurality of network stations is provided. The network may be of any type, may be public or private, and is preferably at least part of an internet or an intranet. The data can be, for example, audio or video data or another type of data. For example, the data could be all or a part of the audio and/or video data within a full length film.
The technique can be realized by receiving a data identifier at a first of the plurality of network stations from a second of the plurality of network stations. The first network station can include, for example, a network server for controlling network communications such as, for example, HTTP messages, to and from the first network station. Similarly, the second network station can include a network server for controlling network communications such as HTTP messages to and from the second network station. The data identifier can be virtually any type of identifier for identifying data such as, for example, an identification number that has been assigned to the data. In one particular embodiment, the second network station can include a storage device such as, for example, a database for storing the data identifier.
The data identifier is stored at the first network station after it is received. The first network station typically includes a storage device such as, for example, a database for storing the data identifier. Such a storage device should be formatted so as to allow for the searching of items, such as, for example, an annotation, as described below.
The first network station also receives an annotation from the second network station. The annotation is associated with the data identifier such that the two are related in some manner. For example, the annotation can be a piece of information such as a word, phrase, speaker, or other item relating to the data which is identified by the data identifier. Similar to the data identifier, the annotation can be stored in a database of the second network station. Further, the annotation can be stored in association with the data identifier in the database of the second network station. For example, the database of the second network station can be an object database wherein the data identifier identifies a data object in the object database and the annotation relates to the data of the data object and is stored in the object database with the data identifier.
The annotation is stored at the first network station after it is received. The annotation is stored at the first network station in association with the data identifier. For example, the annotation can be stored with, or with reference to, the data identifier. As before, the first network station typically includes a storage device such as, for example, a database for storing the annotation and the data identifier. The storage device should be formatted so as to allow for the searching of the annotation, and the determination of the data identifier that is stored in association with the annotation.
It is preferable that the first and the second network stations are different network stations, although this is not mandatory. For example, the annotation and the data identifier could be stored in different associations with each other in separate databases within a single network station.
In one aspect of the present invention, the data identifier is a first data identifier of a plurality of data identifiers, and each of the data identifiers is stored within the second network station. Here again, the second network station can include a storage device such as, for example, a database for storing each of the data identifiers. Further, the first network station can transmit a request for at least one of the plurality of data identifiers. Preferably, the request is transmitted to the second network station, although other network stations may also be involved. Accordingly, the first data identifier is preferably received at the first network statidn from the second network station.
In another aspect of the present invention, the annotation is a first annotation of a plurality of annotations, and
deVries Arjen P.
Eberman Brian
Kontothanassis Leonidas
Kovalcin David E.
Sokolov Michael
AltaVista Company
Amsbury Wayne
Havan Thu-Thao
Hunton & Williams
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