US6317740B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Method and apparatus for assigning keywords to media objects
Assignee: NEC Corp
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Filing: 1998-12-16
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Granted: 2001-11-13
•
Expires: 2018-12-16
Abstract
Abstract A method and apparatus are defined for assigning keywords to media objects in files. The media objects include image, video and audio, for example. Various criteria are used for assigning the keywords, including measuring visual distance, measuring syntactical distance, detecting regular patterns in a table and detecting groups of images.
Inventors
- 👤 Sougata Mukherjea
- 👤 Junghoo Cho
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-02 23:01
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/40; G06F16/41; G06F16/50; G06F16/53; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/912; Y10S707/913; Y10S707/914; Y10S707/915; Y10S707/916; Y10S707/917; Y10S707/918; Y10S707/921; Y10S707/99931; Y10S707/99933; Y10S707/99934; Y10S707/99935
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 56
Claim 1
Independent Claim
85 words
A method of automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, where source files of the documents are disposed in a database, the method comprising the steps of: a) calculating a visual distance between a portion of text in one of the documents and each of two of the media objects in the one of the documents; and b) assigning the portion of text as the keywords to one of the two media objects having a shorter visual distance to the portion of text.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
85 words
A method of automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, where source files of the documents are disposed in a database, the method comprising the steps of: a) calculating a visual distance between a portion of text in one of the documents and each of two of the media objects in the one of the documents; and b) assigning the portion of text as the keywords to one of the two media objects having a shorter visual distance to the portion of text.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method according to claim 1 , wherein visual distance is calculated using the portion of text and tags in one of the source files associated with the one of the documents.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method according to claim 1 , wherein the database is disposed on one of the World Wide Web, a digital library and a storage medium.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method according to claim 1 , wherein the source files are in a tag-based language.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method according to claim 4 , wherein sources of the keywords include a Universal Resource Locator of the media objects, anchor text, media object annotations, file title, text surrounding the media objects and page headings.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method according to claim 1 , wherein the media objects include image objects, video objects and audio objects.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
118 words
A method of automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, where source files of the documents are disposed in a database, the method comprising the steps of: a) when text in one of the documents is disposed at a substantially equal visual distance from two of the media objects in the one of the documents, calculating a syntactical distance between the text and a file name of each of the two media objects, the text and file name being derived from one of the source files associated with the one of the documents; and b) assigning the text as the keywords to one of the media objects having the larger syntactical distance from the file name.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
118 words
A method of automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, where source files of the documents are disposed in a database, the method comprising the steps of: a) when text in one of the documents is disposed at a substantially equal visual distance from two of the media objects in the one of the documents, calculating a syntactical distance between the text and a file name of each of the two media objects, the text and file name being derived from one of the source files associated with the one of the documents; and b) assigning the text as the keywords to one of the media objects having the larger syntactical distance from the file name.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
80 words
The method according to claim 7 , wherein the syntactical distance is calculated in accordance with the following formula: d ( n , t ) = c ( n , t ) n where n is the file name, t is the text d(n, t) is the syntactical distance, |n| is a number of characters in n, and c(n, t) is a number of characters in n which also appear in t in a same order.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method according to claim 7 , wherein the database is disposed on one of the World Wide Web, a digital library and a storage medium.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method according to claim 7 , wherein the source files are in a tag-based language.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method according to claim 10 , wherein sources of the keywords include a Universal Resource Locator of the media objects, anchor text, media object annotations, file title, text surrounding the media objects and page headings.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method according to claim 7 , wherein the media objects include image objects, video objects and audio objects.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
91 words
A method of automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, where source files of the documents are disposed in a database, the method comprising the steps of: (a) when one of the documents is in table format, scanning one of the source files associated with the one of the documents to determine when ones of the media objects appear at intervals; and (b) when media objects appear at intervals, assigning text within a given interval as the keywords to any of the media objects occurring in the same interval.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
91 words
A method of automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, where source files of the documents are disposed in a database, the method comprising the steps of: (a) when one of the documents is in table format, scanning one of the source files associated with the one of the documents to determine when ones of the media objects appear at intervals; and (b) when media objects appear at intervals, assigning text within a given interval as the keywords to any of the media objects occurring in the same interval.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method according to claim 13 , wherein each of the intervals comprises one or more cells in the table format.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method according to claim 13 , wherein each of the intervals comprises a fixed visual distance in the table format.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method according to claim 13 , wherein the database is disposed on one of the World Wide Web, a digital library and a storage medium.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method according to claim 13 , wherein the source files are in a tag-based language.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method according to claim 15 , wherein sources of the keywords include a Universal Resource Locator of the media objects, anchor text, media object annotations, file title, text surrounding the media objects and page headings.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method according to claim 13 , wherein the media objects include image objects, video objects and audio objects.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
72 words
A method of automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, where source files of the documents are disposed in a database, the method comprising the step of: (a) when a sequence of media objects occurs in one of the source files associated with one of the documents without any intervening text, assigning any surrounding text as the keywords to each of the media objects in the sequence of media objects.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
72 words
A method of automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, where source files of the documents are disposed in a database, the method comprising the step of: (a) when a sequence of media objects occurs in one of the source files associated with one of the documents without any intervening text, assigning any surrounding text as the keywords to each of the media objects in the sequence of media objects.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method according to claim 20 , wherein the database is disposed on one of the World Wide Web, a digital library and a storage medium.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method according to claim 20 , wherein the source files are in a tag-based language.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method according to claim 22 , wherein sources of the keywords include a Universal Resource Locator of the media objects, anchor text, media object annotations, file title, text surrounding the media objects and page headings.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method according to claim 20 , wherein the media objects include image objects, video objects and audio objects.
Claim 29
Independent Claim
137 words
A system for automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, the system comprising: a) a database for storing source files of the documents; b) a parser for parsing said source files, thereby creating parsed files; c) a processor, wherein, the parser is part of the processor; further wherein, the processor examines one of the parsed files associated with one of the documents and calculates a visual distance between a portion of text in the one of the documents and each of two of the media objects in the one of the documents; and further wherein, the processor assigns the portion of text as the keywords to one of the two media objects having a shorter visual distance to the portion of text; and d) a storage unit for storing the media objects and assigned keywords.
Claim 30
Independent Claim
137 words
A system for automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, the system comprising: a) a database for storing source files of the documents; b) a parser for parsing said source files, thereby creating parsed files; c) a processor, wherein, the parser is part of the processor; further wherein, the processor examines one of the parsed files associated with one of the documents and calculates a visual distance between a portion of text in the one of the documents and each of two of the media objects in the one of the documents; and further wherein, the processor assigns the portion of text as the keywords to one of the two media objects having a shorter visual distance to the portion of text; and d) a storage unit for storing the media objects and assigned keywords.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
35 words
The system according to claim 25 , wherein the processor calculates the visual distance using the portion of text and tags in the one of the parsed files associated with the one of the documents.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system according to claim 25 , wherein the database is disposed on one of the World Wide Web, a digital library and a storage medium.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
16 words
The system according to claim 25 , wherein the source files are in a tag-based language.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
36 words
The system according to claim 28 , wherein sources of the keywords include a Universal Resource Locator of the media objects, anchor text, media object annotations, file title, text surrounding the media objects and page headings.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
19 words
The system according to claim 25 , wherein the media objects include image objects, video objects and audio objects.
Claim 36
Independent Claim
171 words
A system for automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, the system comprising: a) a database for storing source files of the documents; b) a parser for parsing the source files, thereby creating parsed files; c) a processor, wherein, the parser is part of the processor; further wherein, when text in one of the documents is disposed at a substantially equal visual distance from two of the media objects in the one of the documents, the processor examines one of the parsed files associated with the one of the documents and calculates a syntactical distance between the text and a file name of each of the two media objects, the text and file name being derived from the one of the parsed files associated with the one of the documents; and further wherein, the processor assigns the text as the keywords to one of the media objects having the larger syntactical distance from the file name; and d) a storage unit for storing the media objects and assigned keywords.
Claim 37
Independent Claim
171 words
A system for automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, the system comprising: a) a database for storing source files of the documents; b) a parser for parsing the source files, thereby creating parsed files; c) a processor, wherein, the parser is part of the processor; further wherein, when text in one of the documents is disposed at a substantially equal visual distance from two of the media objects in the one of the documents, the processor examines one of the parsed files associated with the one of the documents and calculates a syntactical distance between the text and a file name of each of the two media objects, the text and file name being derived from the one of the parsed files associated with the one of the documents; and further wherein, the processor assigns the text as the keywords to one of the media objects having the larger syntactical distance from the file name; and d) a storage unit for storing the media objects and assigned keywords.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
80 words
The system according to claim 31 , wherein the syntactical distance is calculated in accordance with the following formula: d ( n , t ) = c ( n , t ) n where n is the file name, t is the text, d(n, t) is the syntactical distance, |n| is a number of characters in n, and c(n, t) is a number of characters in n which also appear in t in a same order.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system according to claim 31 , wherein the database is disposed on one of the World Wide Web, a digital library and a storage medium.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
16 words
The system according to claim 31 , wherein the source files are in a tag-based language.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
36 words
The system according to claim 34 , wherein sources of the keywords include a Universal Resource Locator of the media objects, anchor text, media object annotations, file title, text surrounding the media objects and page headings.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
19 words
The system according to claim 31 , wherein the media objects include image objects, video objects and audio objects.
Claim 43
Independent Claim
131 words
A system for automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, the system comprising: a) a database for storing source files of the documents; b) a parser for parsing said source files, thereby creating parsed files; c) a processor, wherein, the parser is part of the processor; further wherein when one of the documents is in table format, the processor scans one of the parsed files associated with the one of the documents to determine when ones of the media objects appear at intervals; and wherein, when ones of the media objects appear at intervals, the processor assigns text within a given interval as the keywords to ones of the media objects occurring in the same interval; and d) a storage unit for storing the media objects and assigned keywords.
Claim 44
Independent Claim
131 words
A system for automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, the system comprising: a) a database for storing source files of the documents; b) a parser for parsing said source files, thereby creating parsed files; c) a processor, wherein, the parser is part of the processor; further wherein when one of the documents is in table format, the processor scans one of the parsed files associated with the one of the documents to determine when ones of the media objects appear at intervals; and wherein, when ones of the media objects appear at intervals, the processor assigns text within a given interval as the keywords to ones of the media objects occurring in the same interval; and d) a storage unit for storing the media objects and assigned keywords.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
21 words
The system according to claim 37 , wherein each of the intervals comprises one or more cells in the table format.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
21 words
The system according to claim 37 , wherein each of the intervals comprises a fixed visual distance in the table format.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system according to claim 37 , wherein the database is disposed on one of the World Wide Web, a digital library and a storage medium.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
16 words
The system according to claim 37 , wherein the source files are in a tag-based language.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
36 words
The system according to claim 37 , wherein sources of the keywords include a Universal Resource Locator of the media objects, anchor text, media object annotations, file title, text surrounding the media objects and page headings.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
19 words
The system according to claim 37 , wherein the media objects include image objects, video objects and audio objects.
Claim 51
Independent Claim
107 words
A system for automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, the system comprising: a) a database for storing source files of the documents; b) a parser for parsing the source files, thereby creating parsed files; c) a processor, wherein, the parser is part of the processor; further wherein, when a sequence of media objects occurs in one of the parsed files associated with one of the documents without any intervening text, the processor assigns any surrounding text as the keywords to each of the media objects in the sequence of media objects; and d) a storage unit for storing the media objects and assigned keywords.
Claim 52
Independent Claim
107 words
A system for automatically assigning keywords to media objects contained in documents, the system comprising: a) a database for storing source files of the documents; b) a parser for parsing the source files, thereby creating parsed files; c) a processor, wherein, the parser is part of the processor; further wherein, when a sequence of media objects occurs in one of the parsed files associated with one of the documents without any intervening text, the processor assigns any surrounding text as the keywords to each of the media objects in the sequence of media objects; and d) a storage unit for storing the media objects and assigned keywords.
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system according to claim 44 , wherein the database is disposed on one of the World Wide Web, a digital library and a storage medium.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
16 words
The system according to claim 44 , wherein the source files are in a tag-based language.
Claim 55
Dependent Claim
36 words
The system according to claim 46 , wherein sources of the keywords include a Universal Resource Locator of the media objects, anchor text, media object annotations, file title, text surrounding the media objects and page headings.
Claim 56
Dependent Claim
19 words
The system according to claim 44 , wherein the media objects include image objects, video objects and audio objects.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2004-11-12 | 2005-05-14 | 2005-11-13 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2008-11-12 | 2009-05-14 | 2009-11-13 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2012-11-12 | 2013-05-14 | 2013-11-13 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |