US6959288B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Digital content preparation system
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
•
Filing: 1999-02-01
•
Granted: 2005-10-25
•
Expires: 2019-02-01
Abstract
Abstract A digital content preparation system that includes a metadata acquisition tool for acquiring metadata associated with the digital content, and a digital content processor for processing the digital content by performing at least one of watermarking, encoding, and encrypting. A work flow manager manages processings by the metadata acquisition tool and the digital content processor. In one preferred embodiment, the metadata acquisition tool includes an automatic metadata acquisition tool and a manual metadata acquisition tool, and the digital content processor includes an encoder and an encrypter. The present invention also provides a method for preparing digital content. According to the method, metadata associated with the digital content is acquired, and the digital content is processed by at least one of watermarking, encoding, and encrypting. Processings in the acquiring step and the processing step are managed. In a preferred method, the acquiring step includes automatically retrieving at least a portion of the metadata and allowing manual entry of at least a portion of the metadata, and the processing step includes encoding the digital content and encrypting the encoded digital content.
Inventors
- 👤 Cesar Medina
- 👤 Qing Gong
- 👤 Kenneth Louis Milsted
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-07 15:39
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L63/00; H04L63/06; G; G06; G06Q; G06Q20/00; G06Q20/38; G06Q20/382; G06Q20/3829; G06T; G06T1/00; G06T1/0021; H04L63/04; H04L63/0428; H04L63/0464; H04L9/00; H04L9/30; H04L9/3006; H04L9/302; H04L9/32; H04L9/3247; H04L9/3249; H04L9/3263; G06T2201/00; G06T2201/005; G06T2201/0064; H04L2209/00; H04L2209/30; H04L2209/56; H04L2209/60; H04L2209/608; H04L2463/00; H04L2463/101
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 54
Claim 1
Independent Claim
147 words
A digital content preparation system comprising: a metadata acquisition tool for acquiring metadata and content usage conditions, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself; and a digital content processor for processing the digital content to produce processed digital content, the digital content processor including at least one of a watermarker for watermarking the digital content, an encoder for encoding the digital content, and an encrypter for encrypting the digital content, wherein the metadata acquisition tool includes an automatic metadata acquisition tool for automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
147 words
A digital content preparation system comprising: a metadata acquisition tool for acquiring metadata and content usage conditions, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself; and a digital content processor for processing the digital content to produce processed digital content, the digital content processor including at least one of a watermarker for watermarking the digital content, an encoder for encoding the digital content, and an encrypter for encrypting the digital content, wherein the metadata acquisition tool includes an automatic metadata acquisition tool for automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
35 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the metadata acquisition tool also includes a manual metadata acquisition tool for allowing manual entry of at least a portion of the metadata.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
36 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 2 , wherein the metadata acquisition tool further includes at least one quality control tool for allowing the metadata to be evaluated before being output for distribution.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
53 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the digital content processor includes: an encoder for encoding the digital content at a selected rate using a selected algorithm, the encoder producing encoded digital content; and an encrypter for encrypting the encoded digital content to produce the processed digital content.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
68 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the digital content processor includes: an encoder for encoding the digital content to produce encoded digital content, the encoder allowing the digital content to be encoded a plurality of times at a plurality of rates and/or using a plurality of algorithms; and an encrypter for encrypting the encoded digital content to produce the processed digital content.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
33 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 4 , wherein the encoder includes a preprocessor for performing at least one of equalization and dynamics adjustment on the digital content before encoding.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
25 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 4 , wherein the digital content processor further includes a watermarker for watermarking the digital content.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
40 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 4 , wherein the digital content processor further includes at least one quality control tool for allowing the digital content to be evaluated before being output from the digital content processor.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
41 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a work flow manager for managing the acquisition of the metadata by the metadata acquisition tool and the processing of the digital content by the digital content processor.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
44 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 9 , wherein the metadata acquisition tool and the digital content processor each perform a plurality of separate processes, and the work flow manager feeds jobs to the processes and directs jobs between the processes.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
36 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 10 , wherein each process has a job queue and the work flow manager feeds the job queues of the processes based on configured work flow rules.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
28 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 10 , wherein the processes can run in parallel so as to simultaneously process a plurality of digital content.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
36 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 10 , wherein the processes are accessible over at least one of an Intranet and an extranet to allow remote access and simultaneous access from multiple locations.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
26 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 10 , wherein the processes are divided so as to run on a plurality of computer systems.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
31 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the metadata acquisition tool also includes means for automatically acquiring at least a portion of the content usage conditions.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
228 words
A digital content preparation system comprising: a metadata acquisition tool for acquiring metadata and content usage conditions, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself; a digital content processor for processing the digital content to produce processed digital content, the digital content processor including at least one of a watermarker for watermarking the digital content, an encoder for encoding the digital content, and an encrypter for encrypting the digital content; and a secure container packer for creating at least one metadata secure container based on the output of the metadata acquisition tool and at least one separate content secure container based on the output of the digital content processor, the metadata secure container including the metadata and the separate content secure container including at least a portion of the processed digital content, wherein the metadata acquisition tool includes an automatic metadata acquisition tool for automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found, and the metadata acquisition tool also includes means for automatically acquiring at least a portion of the content usage conditions.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
228 words
A digital content preparation system comprising: a metadata acquisition tool for acquiring metadata and content usage conditions, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself; a digital content processor for processing the digital content to produce processed digital content, the digital content processor including at least one of a watermarker for watermarking the digital content, an encoder for encoding the digital content, and an encrypter for encrypting the digital content; and a secure container packer for creating at least one metadata secure container based on the output of the metadata acquisition tool and at least one separate content secure container based on the output of the digital content processor, the metadata secure container including the metadata and the separate content secure container including at least a portion of the processed digital content, wherein the metadata acquisition tool includes an automatic metadata acquisition tool for automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found, and the metadata acquisition tool also includes means for automatically acquiring at least a portion of the content usage conditions.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
49 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 16 , wherein the content secure container includes the processed digital content and the metadata secure container includes at least one decryption key for decrypting at least a portion of the processed digital content stored in the content secure container.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
41 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 16 , further comprising a work flow manager for managing the acquisition of the metadata by the metadata acquisition tool and the processing of the digital content by the digital content processor.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
31 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 18 , wherein the work flow manager includes a content disperser that sends the content secure container to a content hosting site.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
30 words
The digital content preparation system as defined in claim 19 , wherein the content disperser sends the metadata secure container to a promotional web site for distribution to electronic stores.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
119 words
A method for preparing digital content, said method comprising the steps of: acquiring metadata and content usage conditions, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself; and processing the digital content to produce processed digital content, the processing including at least one of watermarking, encoding, and encrypting, wherein the acquiring step includes the sub-step of automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
119 words
A method for preparing digital content, said method comprising the steps of: acquiring metadata and content usage conditions, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself; and processing the digital content to produce processed digital content, the processing including at least one of watermarking, encoding, and encrypting, wherein the acquiring step includes the sub-step of automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method as defined in claim 21 , wherein the acquiring step also includes the sub-step of manually entering at least a portion of the metadata.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method as defined in claim 21 , wherein the processing step further includes the sub-steps of: encoding the digital content at a selected rate using a selected algorithm to produce encoded digital content; and encrypting the encoded digital content to produce the processed digital content.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method as defined in claim 23 , wherein the processing step further includes the sub-step of performing at least one of equalization and dynamics adjustment on the digital content before encoding.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method as defined in claim 23 , wherein the processing step further includes the sub-step of watermarking the digital content.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method as defined in claim 23 , wherein the processing step further includes the sub-step of evaluating the digital content after at least one of the processings, and the acquiring step further includes the sub-step of evaluating the acquired metadata.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
58 words
The method as defined in claim 21 , wherein the processing step further includes the sub-steps of: encoding the digital content to produce encoded digital content, the digital content being encoded a plurality of times at a plurality of rates and/or using a plurality of algorithms; and encrypting the encoded digital content to produce the processed digital content.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method as defined in claim 21 , further comprising the step of managing a plurality of separate sub-step processes in each of the acquiring step and the processing step.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method as defined in claim 28 , wherein in the management step, jobs are fed to the processes and directed between the processes based on configured work flow rules.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method as defined in claim 29 , wherein the processes run in parallel so as to simultaneously process a plurality of digital content, and the processes are remotely accessible and can be simultaneously accessed from multiple locations.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method as defined in claim 21 , wherein the acquiring step also includes the sub-step of automatically acquiring at least a portion of the content usage conditions.
Claim 35
Independent Claim
165 words
A method for preparing digital content, said method comprising the steps of: acquiring metadata and content usage conditions, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself; processing the digital content to produce processed digital content, the processing including at least one of watermarking, encoding, and encrypting; creating at least one metadata secure container that includes the acquired metadata; and creating at least one separate content secure container that includes the processed digital content, wherein the acquiring step includes the sub-step of automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found, and the acquiring step also includes the sub-step of automatically acquiring at least a portion of the content usage conditions.
Claim 36
Independent Claim
165 words
A method for preparing digital content, said method comprising the steps of: acquiring metadata and content usage conditions, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself; processing the digital content to produce processed digital content, the processing including at least one of watermarking, encoding, and encrypting; creating at least one metadata secure container that includes the acquired metadata; and creating at least one separate content secure container that includes the processed digital content, wherein the acquiring step includes the sub-step of automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found, and the acquiring step also includes the sub-step of automatically acquiring at least a portion of the content usage conditions.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method as defined in claim 32 , further comprising the steps of: sending the content secure container to a content hosting site; and sending the metadata secure container to a promotional web site for distribution.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
127 words
A computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content, said program containing instructions for performing the steps of: acquiring metadata and content usage conditions, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself; and processing the digital content to produce processed digital content, the processing including at least one of watermarking, encoding, and encrypting, wherein the acquiring step includes the sub-step of automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
127 words
A computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content, said program containing instructions for performing the steps of: acquiring metadata and content usage conditions, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself; and processing the digital content to produce processed digital content, the processing including at least one of watermarking, encoding, and encrypting, wherein the acquiring step includes the sub-step of automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
37 words
The computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content as defined in claim 34 , wherein the acquiring step also includes the sub-step of allowing manual entry of at least a portion of the metadata.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
55 words
The computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content as defined in claim 34 , wherein the processing step further includes the sub-steps of: encoding the digital content at a selected rate using a selected algorithm to produce encoded digital content; and encrypting the encoded digital content to produce the processed digital content.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
41 words
The computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content as defined in claim 36 , wherein the processing step further includes the sub-step of performing at least one of equalization and dynamics adjustment on the digital content before encoding.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
30 words
The computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content as defined in claim 36 , wherein the processing step further includes the sub-step of watermarking the digital content.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
50 words
The computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content as defined in claim 36 , wherein the processing step further includes the sub-step of evaluating the digital content after at least one of the processings, and the acquiring step further includes the sub-step of evaluating the acquired metadata.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
67 words
The computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content as defined in claim 34 , wherein the processing step further includes the sub-steps of: encoding the digital content to produce encoded digital content, the digital content being encoded a plurality of times at a plurality of rates and/or using a plurality of algorithms; and encrypting the encoded digital content to produce the processed digital content.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
54 words
The computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content as defined in claim 34 , wherein said program further contains instructions for performing the steps of: creating at least one metadata secure container based on the acquired metadata; and creating at least one content secure container based on the processed digital content.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
51 words
The computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content as defined in claim 41 , wherein said program further contains instructions for performing the steps of: sending the content secure container to a content hosting site; and sending the metadata secure container to a promotional web site for distribution.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
45 words
The computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content as defined in claim 34 , wherein said program further contains instructions for performing the step of managing a plurality of separate sub-step processes in each of the acquiring step and the processing step.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
39 words
The computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content as defined in claim 43 , wherein in the management step, jobs are fed to the processes and directed between the processes based on configured work flow rules.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
47 words
The computer-readable medium encoded with a program for preparing digital content as defined in claim 44 , wherein the processes run in parallel so as to simultaneously process a plurality of digital content, and the processes are remotely accessible and can be simultaneously accessed from multiple locations.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
115 words
A metadata acquisition tool for acquiring metadata and content usage conditions for a digital content preparation system, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself, said metadata acquisition tool comprising: an automatic metadata acquisition tool for automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found; and a tool for automatically acquiring at least a portion of the content usage conditions.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
115 words
A metadata acquisition tool for acquiring metadata and content usage conditions for a digital content preparation system, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself, said metadata acquisition tool comprising: an automatic metadata acquisition tool for automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found; and a tool for automatically acquiring at least a portion of the content usage conditions.
Claim 53
Independent Claim
104 words
A method for acquiring metadata and content usage conditions during preparation of digital content, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself, said method comprising the steps of: automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found; and automatically acquiring at least a portion of the content usage conditions.
Claim 54
Independent Claim
104 words
A method for acquiring metadata and content usage conditions during preparation of digital content, the metadata being associated with the digital content but not including the digital content itself, said method comprising the steps of: automatically filling in at least some data fields of a metadata template by using a mapping table to retrieve the metadata for the data fields from a preexisting database, the mapping table mapping at least a portion of the data fields of the metadata template to locations within the database where the corresponding metadata can be found; and automatically acquiring at least a portion of the content usage conditions.
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