The present invention relates to media storage systems. In particular, but not by way of limitation, the present invention relates to using remotely-based videotape libraries to store and manage media content.
Media content provided from content providers must be reliable and available to the content provider customers. If the content is not reliable or available, the content provider may lose customers to competitors. Furthermore, the content provider must be able to provide the content under constantly changing and consolidating global organizational structures including outsourcing of various products and services and the need for on-demand scaling of content.
In order to provide content providers and customers with a single integrated environment in which to manage media content assets in a constantly changing global environment, embodiments of the invention described herein were developed. Such embodiments provide the ability to quickly and efficiently manage the media assets from and to any location and any device, on an on-demand basis, limiting the need to invest in intensive capital infrastructure while scaling requirements up or down and billing only for the products and services used.
Illustrative embodiments of the present invention that are shown in the drawings are summarized below. These and other embodiments are more fully described in the Detailed Description section. It is to be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the forms described in this Summary of the Invention or in the Detailed Description. One skilled in the art can recognize that there are numerous modifications, equivalents, and alternative constructions that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the claims.
One embodiment of the invention comprises a media data storage system comprising a data management portion, a local data storage portion, and a remote data storage portion. The data management portion comprises instructions associated with an intake, modification, transfer, and providing of media information. The local data storage portion comprises one or more first media data tape libraries adapted to receive the media information. The remote data storage portion comprises one or more second media data tape libraries adapted to receive the media information. Furthermore, the data management portion is adapted to instruct the local data storage portion to remove at least a portion of the media information from the one or more first media tape libraries upon verifying that the remote data storage portion comprises the at least a portion of the media information.
Another embodiment of the invention comprises a method of managing media content. One such method comprises providing a media tape to a local data storage system. The media tape comprises media content. The method further comprises copying the media content to a remote data storage system, verifying the media content at the remote data storage system comprises the media content at the local data storage system, and deleting the media content at the local data storage system.
Yet another embodiment of the invention may be characterized as a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, encoded with processor readable instructions to perform a method of managing media content. One such method comprises providing a media tape to a local data storage system, wherein the media tape comprises media content. The method may further comprise sending the media content to a remote data storage system, verifying that the media content at the remote data storage system comprises the media content at the local data storage system, and removing the media content at the local data storage system.
Various objects and advantages and a more complete understanding of the present invention are apparent and more readily appreciated by reference to the following Detailed Description and to the appended claims when taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings, where like or similar elements are designated with identical reference numerals throughout the several views and wherein:
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The media data storage system 100 may further comprise a local data storage portion 130. One local data storage portion 130 may comprise one or more first media data tape libraries 135, one or more optical data libraries 132, and/or a digital proxy storage device 134. The one or more first media data tape libraries 135, one or more optical data libraries 132, and/or a digital proxy storage device 134 are adapted to receive 136 the media information. In one embodiment, the one or more first media data tape libraries 135, one or more optical data libraries 132, and/or a digital proxy storage device 134 may receive 136 the media information from the data management system 110. However, it is contemplated that the one or more first media data tape libraries 135, one or more optical data libraries 132, and/or a digital proxy storage device 134 may receive 136 the media information from another portion of the system 100. For example, the media assets may be received from the one or more client devices 120.
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In one embodiment, upon receiving the media asset, a portion of the remote data storage portion 150 may determine, or the remote data storage portion 150 may be informed by the data management portion 110 to determine, whether the entire media asset was received. It is contemplated that in the specification, where the term “media asset” is used, the term may refer to one or more, or a plurality of media assets. Furthermore, the term “media asset” may also be referred to as “media content” or “content” or “media asset files.” In one embodiment, determining whether the entire media asset was received at the remote data storage portion 150 may comprise using the remote data storage portion 150 to create a checksum file of the received media asset. This checksum file may comprise a first checksum file, may comprise a plurality of checksum files and may be compared to a received checksum file comprising a second checksum file and/or plurality of checksum files. For example, the data management portion 110 may provide the remote data storage portion 150 with the second checksum file when the media asset is provided to the remote data storage portion 150. Alternatively, the second checksum file may be provided in a separate communication. Upon comparing the first and second checksum files, the remote data storage portion 150 may determine whether the files match. If so, the remote data storage portion 150 may determine the entirety of the media asset file was received and may inform the data management portion 110 of the same. If the checksum files do not match, the remote data storage portion 150 may inform the data management portion 110 of such an outcome.
Upon checking and comparing the checksum files, if the checksum files match and the remote data storage portion 150 received the entirety of the media file, the data management portion 110 may delete or otherwise remove the media asset from the local data storage portion 130. If the checksum file comparison fails and the files do not march, then the data management portion 110 may resend the media asset to the remote data storage portion 150 and the checksum verification process described above may be repeated until the checksum files correlate and then the media asset may be removed from the local data storage portion 130.
Upon removing the media asset from the local data storage portion 130, in subsequent requests for the media asset from a client 120 to view, listen, modify or otherwise access at least a portion of the media file, the data management portion 110 may receive the request from the client, identify the request as a request for a media asset file located at the remote data storage portion 150, and forward the request to the remote data storage portion 150. The remote data storage portion 150 may then send the requested media asset to the data management portion 110 directly from the tape library 155 or other storage device, which may then send the media asset to the client 120 which submitted the request. Alternatively, the data management portion 110 may inform the remote data storage portion 150 to send the media asset and communicate directly to the client 120. Sending the media asset file between the client 120, data management portion 110, and the remote data storage portion 150 may comprise sending digital media asset file across a network.
It is further contemplated that the checksum file received 156 by the remote data storage portion 150 may comprise a first file comprising checksum information and the checksum file created by the remote data storage portion 150 may comprise a second file comprising checksum information, and these two fails may be compared. Furthermore, the first and/or second file may comprise an xml file and/or may be sent as a portion of, or within, an xml file or xml communication message.
The local data storage portion 130 may also comprise a plurality of one or more first media data tape libraries 135. Each of the plurality of one or more first media data tape libraries 135 may be located at separate locations. Also, when a client device requests 120 access to a media asset, such a request may comprise a request to access at least a portion of the media information (text, sound images, etc.) in the media asset. Furthermore, at least a portion of the media information may be sent to the client device 120 from one or more second media data tape libraries which may comprise a portion of the remote library 155. The local library 135 may comprise a first library. For example, a client 120 may request content which comprises a portion of a playlist at the client. At least a portion of the content may comprise media information which may be sent to the client from the one or more second media data tape libraries 155. Furthermore, in one embodiment, sending the media asset to the client may comprise substantially live streaming the at least a portion of the media information from the library 155 to the client 120.
It is further contemplated that the data management portion 110 may comprise a request manager, the request manager adapted to direct requests for the at least a portion of the media information to the remote data storage portion 150.
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A method 245 may further comprise sending from a client device 120 a request for the media content and receiving 122 the request at a local data management portion 110, which may also be referred to herein as a local data management system. The request may be forwarded to a remote data storage portion 150, also referred to herein as a remote data storage system. The remote data storage system may comprise one or more media tape storage libraries 155. The content may then be accessed on the one or more media tap storage libraries 155 and provided to the client device 120 from the on the one or more media tap storage libraries 155. For example, the content may be streamed directly to the client device 120. The media content may be located at the remote data storage portion 150 by copying a plurality of media content files to the remote data storage portion 150 from one or more host locations such as, but not limited to, the local data management portion 110.
Memory 328 may include various components (e.g., machine readable media) including, but not limited to, a random access memory component (e.g., a static RAM “SRAM”, a dynamic RAM “DRAM, etc.), a read only component, and any combinations thereof. In one example, a basic input/output system 326 (BIOS), including basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computing device 300, such as during start-up, may be stored in memory 328. Memory 328 may also include (e.g., stored on one or more machine-readable media) instructions (e.g., software) 322. The instructions 322 may embody any one or more of the aspects and/or methodologies of the present disclosure. In another example, memory 328 may further include any number of program modules including, but not limited to, an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, program data, and any combinations thereof.
Computing device 300 may also include a storage device 342. Examples of a storage device (e.g., storage device 342) include, but are not limited to, a hard disk drive for reading from and/or writing to a hard disk, a magnetic disk drive for reading from and/or writing to a removable magnetic disk, an optical disk drive for reading from and/or writing to an optical media (e.g., a CD, a DVD, etc.), a solid-state memory device, and any combinations thereof. Storage device 342 may be connected to bus 312 by an appropriate interface (not shown). Example interfaces include, but are not limited to, SCSI, advanced technology attachment (ATA), serial ATA, universal serial bus (USB), IEEE 1394 (FIREWIRE), and any combinations thereof. In one example, storage device 342 may be removably interfaced with computing device 300 (e.g., via an external port connector (not shown)). Particularly, storage device 342 and an associated machine-readable medium 332 may provide nonvolatile and/or volatile storage of machine-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and/or other data for computing device 300. In one example, instructions 322 may reside, completely or partially, within machine-readable medium 332. In another example, instructions 322 may reside, completely or partially, within processor 324.
Computing device 300 may also include an input device 392. In one example, a user of computing device 300 may enter commands and/or other information into computing device 300 via input device 392. Examples of an input device 392 include, but are not limited to, an alpha-numeric input device (e.g., a keyboard), a pointing device, a joystick, a gamepad, an audio input device (e.g., a microphone, a voice response system, etc.), a cursor control device (e.g., a mouse), a touchpad, an optical scanner, a video capture device (e.g., a still camera, a video camera), touchscreen, and any combinations thereof. Input device 392 may be interfaced to bus 312 via any of a variety of interfaces (not shown) including, but not limited to, a serial interface, a parallel interface, a game port, a USB interface, a FIREWIRE interface, a direct interface to bus 312, and any combinations thereof.
A user may also input commands and/or other information to computing device 300 via storage device 342 (e.g., a removable disk drive, a flash drive, etc.) and/or a network interface device 346 which may comprise the transmitter/receiver. In one embodiment, the transmitter/receiver comprises a wireless transmitter/receiver. A network interface device, such as network interface device 346 may be utilized for connecting computing device 300 to one or more of a variety of networks, such as network 360, and one or more remote devices 334 connected thereto. Examples of a network interface device include, but are not limited to, a network interface card, a modem, and any combination thereof. Examples of a network or network segment include, but are not limited to, a wide area network (e.g., the Internet, an enterprise network), a local area network (e.g., a network associated with an office, a building, a campus or other relatively small geographic space), a telephone network, a direct connection between two computing devices, and any combinations thereof. A network, such as network 360, may employ a wired and/or a wireless mode of communication. In general, any network topology may be used. Information (e.g., data, software, etc.) may be communicated to and/or from computing device 300 via network interface device 346.
Computing device 300 may further include a video display adapter 364 for communicating a displayable image to a display device, such as display device 362. Examples of a display device include, but are not limited to, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube (CRT), a plasma display, and any combinations thereof. In addition to a display device, a computing device 300 may include one or more other peripheral output devices including, but not limited to, an audio speaker, a printer, and any combinations thereof. Such peripheral output devices may be connected to bus 312 via a peripheral interface 374. Examples of a peripheral interface include, but are not limited to, a serial port, a USB connection, a FIREWIRE connection, a parallel connection, and any combinations thereof. In one example an audio device may provide audio related to data of computing device 300 (e.g., data representing an indicator related to pollution impact and/or pollution offset attributable to a consumer).
A digitizer (not shown) and an accompanying stylus, if needed, may be included in order to digitally capture freehand input. A pen digitizer may be separately configured or coextensive with a display area of display device 362. Accordingly, a digitizer may be integrated with display device 362, or may exist as a separate device overlaying or otherwise appended to display device 362.
In one embodiment, the medium 332 may comprise a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium. Furthermore, the instructions 322 may comprise processor readable instructions to perform a method of managing media content. One such method may comprise a method similar to the method 245 seen in
One method may also comprise sending a request from a client device such as, but not limited to the client device 120 seen in
In conclusion, embodiments of the present invention are related to providing and using time-based metadata in digital video files. Those skilled in the art can readily recognize that numerous variations and substitutions may be made in the invention, its use and its configuration to achieve substantially the same results as achieved by the embodiments described herein. Accordingly, there is no intention to limit the invention to the disclosed exemplary forms. Many variations, modifications and alternative constructions fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosed invention as expressed in the claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/809,008, filed Apr. 5, 2013, entitled Media Storage and Management System, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61809008 | Apr 2013 | US |