U.S. patent application number 13/665693 was filed with the patent office on 2013-03-07 for creative work registry.
This patent application is currently assigned to ENPULZ, L.L.C.. The applicant listed for this patent is ENPULZ, L.L.C.. Invention is credited to James D. Bennett.
Application Number | 20130060749 13/665693 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 41415690 |
Filed Date | 2013-03-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130060749 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Bennett; James D. |
March 7, 2013 |
CREATIVE WORK REGISTRY
Abstract
A third party servers communicatively coupled to a search engine
server gather vectors to web content and delivers a report to
registered creative work owners by identifying vectors to web
content that contain similarities to their copyrighted creative
works. The search engine server identifies similarities to the
works of the registered owners of the creative works and provides
protection by reporting to the registered owners as well as host
third party servers, in case of textual, image, audio and video
creative works. This service is an added value based service of the
search engine server to the registered owners of the creative works
upon service charge basis. The search engine server also provides
additional services that include reporting to the host third party
servers that contain web content having similarities to that of
creative works of registered owners and assisting the third party
servers to delete the content upon consideration.
Inventors: |
Bennett; James D.;
(Hroznetin, CZ) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
ENPULZ, L.L.C.; |
Chicago |
IL |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
ENPULZ, L.L.C.
Chicago
IL
|
Family ID: |
41415690 |
Appl. No.: |
13/665693 |
Filed: |
October 31, 2012 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
12482586 |
Jun 11, 2009 |
|
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13665693 |
|
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61060650 |
Jun 11, 2008 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
707/709 ;
707/E17.108 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/60 20190101;
G06F 16/70 20190101; G06F 16/71 20190101; G06Q 30/02 20130101; G06F
16/95 20190101; G06F 16/258 20190101; G06F 16/951 20190101; G06F
16/50 20190101; G06Q 30/04 20130101; G06Q 30/0256 20130101; G06F
16/40 20190101; G06Q 30/0283 20130101; G06Q 20/1235 20130101; G06F
16/683 20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/709 ;
707/E17.108 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30 |
Claims
1. A web search infrastructure supporting a plurality of creative
video works owners, the web search infrastructure comprising: a
first processing infrastructure that identifies a plurality of
hosted video content from at least one of a plurality of web
hosting servers via an Internet crawling process, the Internet
crawling process supporting browser based web searching; a first
communication interface through which the plurality of creative
video works owners can register their plurality of creative video
works; a second processing infrastructure that attempts to identify
relationships between the plurality of creative video works and the
plurality of hosted video content; and the second processing
infrastructure via the first communication interface supports
visual presentations for each of the plurality of creative video
works owners regarding results of the attempted identification.
2. The web search infrastructure of claim 1, further comprising a
billing service that charges the plurality of creative video works
owners for services rendered.
3. The web search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the second
processing infrastructure supports communication regarding at least
a portion of the results with a party responsible for hosting.
4. The web search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the first
processing infrastructure also identifies a plurality of hosted
audio content via the Internet crawling process, and the second
processing infrastructure also attempts to identify relationships
between a plurality of creative audio works and the plurality of
hosted audio content.
5. The web search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the first
processing infrastructure also identifies a plurality of hosted
image content via the Internet crawling process, and the second
processing infrastructure also attempts to identify relationships
between a plurality of creative image works and the plurality of
hosted image content.
6. The web search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the second
processing infrastructure considers associated text in the attempt
identification of the relationships.
7. The web search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the second
processing infrastructure at least assists in prevent an
unauthorized one of the plurality of hosted video content from
being available via the Internet.
8. The web search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the at least
assisting comprising interacting with third party hosting
sites.
9. The web search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the second
processing infrastructure at least assists in preventing an
unauthorized one of the plurality of hosted video content from
being downloaded without paying a fee.
10. A web search infrastructure supporting a plurality of creative
works owners, the web search infrastructure comprising: a first
processing infrastructure that identifies a plurality of hosted
content from at least one of a plurality of web hosting servers via
an Internet crawling process, the Internet crawling process
supporting a plurality of browsers in related web searching; a
first communication interface through which the plurality of
creative works owners can register their plurality of creative
works; a second processing infrastructure that attempts to identify
relationships between the plurality of creative works and the
plurality of hosted content; and the second processing
infrastructure at least assists in preventing at least one of
uploads and downloads via the plurality of browsers without first
collecting fees, the uploads and downloads relating to those of the
plurality of hosted content having the identified relationship with
any of the plurality of creative works.
11. The web search infrastructure of claim 10, wherein the second
processing infrastructure supports communication regarding an
identified relationship.
12. The web search infrastructure of claim 11, wherein
communication involves a first of the plurality of creative works
owners.
13. The web search infrastructure of claim 11, wherein
communication involves someone responsible for underlying
hosting.
14. The web search infrastructure of claim 11, wherein
communication involves a first system associated with a first of
the plurality of web hosting servers, and the communication causing
first hosted content associated with the identified relationship
from remaining available for distribution via the Internet.
15. The web search infrastructure of claim 10, wherein the attempt
identification involves translating a first of the plurality of
creative works into a different format.
16. The web search infrastructure of claim 10, wherein the attempt
identification involves a creative work to hosted content
comparison.
17. A method performed by a web search infrastructure supporting a
plurality of creative works owners, the method comprising:
identifying a plurality of hosted content from at least one of a
plurality of web hosting servers via an Internet crawling process,
the Internet crawling process supporting a plurality of browsers in
related web searching; registering a plurality of creative works of
the plurality of creative works owners; identifying a relationship
between a first work of the plurality of creative works and first
hosted content of the plurality of hosted content; and at least
assisting in an attempt to curtail unauthorized distribution of the
first hosted content.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least assisting
comprises communicating to a first of the plurality of creative
works owners.
19. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least assisting
comprises communicating to someone associated with hosting of the
first hosted content.
20. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least assisting
comprises at least assisting in a fee collection associated with
download attempts.
21. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least assisting
comprises interacting with a first of the at least one of the
plurality of web hosting servers.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a continuation of U.S. Utility
application Ser. No. 12/482,586, filed Jun. 11, 2009, co-pending,
which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S. Provisional
Application Ser. No. 61/060,650, filed Jun. 11, 2008, both of which
are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all
purposes.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 1. Technical Field
[0003] The present invention relates generally to Internet
infrastructures; and, more particularly, to search engines.
[0004] 2. Related Art
[0005] The frequent use of search engines by users of business,
commercial, scientific and other professional organizations and
home users to identify web links of web sites that provide
information related to a keyword has made them one of the most
widely used tools for accessing content of the Internet. They make
the Internet far more useful to the users and have contributed to
the growth of the Internet enormously. Many search engines provide
additional services to the users besides searching for web pages,
images, audio and video recordings. For example, some search
engines provide services such as providing headlines of news,
providing access to news item links from various political,
business, scientific, and other professional reporting
services.
[0006] Many third party servers provide services that allow users
to post family audio, video, text and images anonymously or by
registration and allow public to download or view these posted
content. That is, these third party servers are specifically set up
for public viewing, access and download. But some of the media
stored and served thereby is copyrighted and belongs to respective
owners. However, owners are not in a position to identify who is
posting their copyrighted material and where it is posted.
[0007] Such posting can happen from anywhere around the world. The
servers who accept these posting often do not know who posts what,
except if specifically informed so. These servers enable
unwittingly millions of people to be violators of copyright laws.
Copyright owners spend tens of thousands of dollars to find out who
posted their material, and may still not be successful. And if this
occurs too often, it becomes extremely hard to follow these
activities. To take this on is a huge job and the owners get very
little in return. Many servers that accept posting of material have
in principle mechanisms involved to erase these materials from
their sites, but they don't work efficiently, and need to be
monitored constantly. For example, the users may provide feedback
regarding copyrighted material and the third party servers may
delete them upon consideration.
[0008] In addition, many other minor web sites post unauthorized
copyrighted audio, video, text, and image content that are
extremely hard to identify. These web sites allow downloading and
viewing of the content, making copyright owners face huge losses in
return. The copyright owners are not in a position to identify
these users, delete content from these major or minor web sites, or
take any action against them because of the complexities and
difficulties involved in such works.
[0009] These and other limitations and deficiencies associated with
the related art may be more fully appreciated by those skilled in
the art after comparing such related art with various aspects of
the present invention as set forth herein with reference to the
figures.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] The present invention is directed to apparatus and methods
of operation that are further described in the following Brief
Description of the Drawings, the Detailed Description of the
Invention, and the claims. Other features and advantages of the
present invention will become apparent from the following detailed
description of the invention made with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an Internet
infrastructure containing a client device, third party servers and
a portion of a (web browser accessible) search engine server,
wherein a portion of the search engine server provides protection
for creative works containing text and images, by identifying
similarities with web text and image content and reporting back to
registered owners of the creative works;
[0012] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an Internet
infrastructure, in continuation of FIG. 1, wherein a portion of the
search engine server provides protection for creative works
containing audio and video content, by identifying similarities
with web audio and video content and reporting back to registered
owners of the creative works;
[0013] FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating components
of a portion of the search
[0014] engine server constructed in accordance with the embodiment
of FIG. 1 of the present invention;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating components
of a portion of the search engine server constructed in accordance
with the embodiment of FIG. 2, in continuation of FIG. 3, of the
present invention;
[0016] FIG. 5 is an exemplary schematic block diagram illustrating
a snap shot of a results page containing details of the creative
work containing text and report of similarities in web content;
[0017] FIG. 6 is an exemplary schematic block diagram illustrating
a snap shot of a results page 5 containing details of the creative
work containing video content and report of similarities in web
content;
[0018] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating functionality of a
portion of the search engine server of FIG. 1;
[0019] FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating functionality of a
portion of the search engine 10 server of FIG. 1 in detail, with
the creative work containing text in consideration;
[0020] FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating functionality of a
portion of the search engine server of FIG. 1 in detail, with the
creative work containing images in consideration;
[0021] FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating functionality of a
portion of the search engine server of FIG. 2; and
[0022] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating functionality of a
portion of the search engine server of FIG. 2 in detail, with the
creative work containing audio-video content in consideration.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0023] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an Internet
infrastructure 105 containing a client device 157, third party
servers 141 and a portion of (web browser accessible) search engine
server 161, wherein a portion of the search engine server 161
provides protection for creative works containing text and images
153, by identifying similarities with web text and image content
and reporting back to registered owners of the creative works. The
present invention relates to an additional value based copyright
protection service from a search engine server (not shown). In
specific, a portion of the search engine server (search engine
server portion, hereafter) 161 provides protection to the creative
works involving textual content, images 153 (and audio and video
content, which are discussed with reference to the FIG. 2) by
comparing the creative text-image works 153 with that of plurality
of web content that contain textual content and/or images and
generating report about results of comparison and reporting back to
the registered owners of the creative text-image works 153.
[0024] This entire process of comparison with web content occurs
during the crawling operation of the search engine server from web
page to web page. The search engine server during crawling
identifies textual content, audio content, and images in web pages
as well as file attachments (such as one meant for downloading and
viewing in a standard text reader) and submits the vectors of these
web pages and file attachments to the search engine server portion
161. Thereafter, the search engine server portion 161 follows the
vectors and identifies web pages and file attachments and compares
the content with that of creative text-image works 153 of the
registered owners. The search engine server, during crawling only
submits those vectors to the web pages and file attachments that
have not been compared before and the content have not been changed
since last comparison.
[0025] The search engine server portion 161, in addition to
reporting similarities back to the registered owners, also performs
additional tasks such as reporting to the third party servers 141
regarding the possibility of copyright violations and also taking
some actions such as assisting (with some arrangement with major
host third party servers 141) to delete this web content, upon
consideration, that violate copyright laws.
[0026] The search engine server portion 161 provides web page
interfaces to the owners of creative text-image works 153 that
allow them to provide some personal information that may include
user name, password, date of birth, address, email address, etc.
Once registered, the owners of creative text-image works 153 are
provided with web interfaces to login any time of their choice and
upload their creative text-image works (the creative works may
contain textual content alone, images alone or combinations of
textual content, audio content, and images) 153 via web browser 151
to the search engine server portion 161. The creative text-image
work files may be any of the standard text, image formats such as
Microsoft Word format, Abode Reader format, `.jpeg`. format, and
`.bmp` format. The search engine server portion 161 stores these
files in a database and converts them to a suitable format by
separating text and images before further processing. In addition,
once the creative text-image works 153 are uploaded, the search
engine server portion 161 initiates a billing process based upon
certain criteria. The billing may occur at the time of uploading or
periodically. For example, the billing may be based upon a fixed
price/creative text-image work 153, fixed price/number of
characters in textual content of the creative text-image work 153,
fixed price/image size/image of the creative text-image work 153,
fixed price/report generated for a predetermined period such as a
week or month, etc.
[0027] Once the creative text-image work 153 is acquired and
stored, and once the billing process/agreement is completed, the
search engine server portion 161 begins processing by segregating
textual content, audio content, and images and then converting them
to a standard predetermined format and again storing them. Then,
based upon receiving of vectors from the search engine server
during crawling, the processing by the search engine server portion
161 continues, by accessing the web text-image content or file
attachments, storing them temporarily in a database. Then the
search engine server portion 161 separates them into textual
content, audio content, and images and converts these to the same
predetermined format. Then, the search engine server portion 161
compares the textual content of converted creative text-image work
with that of converted web text-image content and generates a
report if similarities are identified. These reports are stored in
a database. Also, for an additional fee, the search engine server
portion 161 reports the similarities to the host thirds party
servers 141 via some arrangement with these host third party
servers 141 and automatically or by consideration assists in
deleting these web text-image content.
[0028] The comparison itself, between the textual content of
converted creative text-image work and that of converted web
text-image content occurs in many possible ways. The first among
them is comparison of keywords or phrases (partially determined by
the registered owner of the creative text-image work). This may be
specifically applicable if the keywords or phrases are registered
or copyrighted. Any matches would be considered as containing
similarities. The second among these identifies number of words or
number of sentences that contain similarities between the textual
content by comparing character by character. The similarities are
considered to be identified if the number of adjacent characters
matches beyond a correlation threshold. The correlation threshold
may be, for example, 20 adjacent characters or 20 adjacent words.
Once this correlation threshold is exceeded, the search engine
server portion 161 continues to compare until all of the
similarities are identified and then generates a report on this
basis (refer to the FIG. 5 for an exemplary snapshot of report).
Other methods of comparison are also contemplated.
[0029] The correlation between the image content of converted
creative text-image work and that of converted web text-image
content occur on the basis of pixel by pixel comparison. The
converted images are resized to a predetermined standard size and
then are compared pixel by pixel for identifications of
similarities. A correlation threshold may determine that a
similarity is identified. Once this correlation threshold is
exceeded (which might be number of adjacent pixels), for example,
the search engine server portion 161 continues to compare until all
of the similarities are identified and then generates a report on
this basis. Other methods of comparison are also contemplated.
[0030] The search engine server portion 161 includes a plurality of
modules to enable the functionalities mentioned in the above
paragraphs. A creative work protection module 163 15 performs all
of the above mentioned functions as well as providing copyright
protection to registered owners of audio and/or video recordings
(refer to the description of FIG. 2 for additional modules of the
creative work protection module 163, as related to copyright
protection of audio and video recordings). The creative work
protection module 163 includes creative work registration module
171 and creative work upload/billing module 173 to perform 20
functions of registration, logging in and billing. In addition, the
creative work protection module 163 also includes two major
modules, viz., creative text-image work protection module 165 and
creative audio-video work protection module 167 (which is dealt in
detail with reference to FIG. 2). The creative text-image work
protection module 165 includes creative text-image work correlation
module 177 which performs textual content and image comparisons,
creative text-image work correlation result generation module 179
which generates reports, creative text-image work correlation
result dispatch module 181 which delivers reports to the registered
owners and/or host third party server 141 and text-image file
format conversion module 183. The creative text-image work
protection module 165 also includes databases to store information
such as registration information and uploaded creative-image works.
The creative text-image work protection module 165 includes
creative text-image work registration database 185 and creative
text-image work database 187.
[0031] For example, an author of a copyrighted material (that
includes several pages of written text and few images or diagrams),
may want to protect his/her work being downloaded from third party
servers 141. The author may not be aware of everything that goes on
in third party servers 141 and may not know who is violating
his/her rights. Therefore, the author may decide to register with
the service of the search engine server. After registration, the
author may upload electronic version of his/her work in a standard
file format and fulfill the service charge obligations.
[0032] Then, the search engine server portion 161 stores this file,
segregates textual content from images or diagrams. The search
engine server portion 161 then converts these textual content,
audio content, and images or diagrams to a predetermined format.
For example, the textual content may be converted to `.txt` format
while the diagrams or images may be converted to `.jpg` format.
Then, upon receiving vectors from the search engine server during
crawling operation, the search engine server portion 161 begins to
acquire the web content directed by the vectors and begins the
comparison process. If no similarities are found, then no reports
are generated and the process temporarily ends there.
[0033] On the contrary, if similarities are detected, then the
search engine server portion 161 generates report that may contain
host third party server 141 details, vectors associated with the
web content as well as the areas of similarity in textual content,
audio content, and images and stores them in a database. Then, the
accumulated reports over a predetermined period of time such as a
day, week or month are formatted in a readable manner and submitted
to the viewing of the author. The reports may be sent via email to
the author, or may be made available on a webpage upon logging into
the search engine server portion 161. If requests are made by the
author for additional services such as sending reports to some
major web sites that freely allow its users to post any material,
the reports are generated and sent to these web sites for further
consideration. The author, upon viewing the report may is able to
identify these web sites which allow its users to view or download
the copyrighted material without the author's permission and to
take appropriate actions upon these violators.
[0034] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an Internet
infrastructure 205, in continuation of FIG. 1, wherein a portion of
the engine server 261 provides protection for 15 creative works
containing audio and video content, by identifying similarities
with web audio and video content and reporting back to registered
owners of the creative works. Specifically, the search engine
server portion 261 provides protection to the creative works
involving creative audio-video works (copyrighted works containing
audio recordings alone or audio and video recordings) 253 by
comparing the creative audio-video works 253 with that of web
content that contain downloadable or on-site-playable audio or
video recordings and generating report about results of comparison
and reporting back to the registered owners of the creative
audio-video works 253.
[0035] This continuing process of comparison with web content
occurs during the crawling operation of the search engine server
(not shown). The search engine server, during crawling operation
identifies audio and video recordings in web pages as well as file
attachments (downloadable audio or video recordings from various
artists or producers of music and movies, speech, educational
audio-video material, professional organization related audio-video
material, independent copyrighted audio-video material etc.) and
submits the vectors of these web pages and file attachments to the
search engine server portion 261. The search engine server portion
261 follows the vectors and identifies web pages and file
attachments and compares the content with that of creative
audio-video works 253 of the registered owners. The search engine
server portion 261, during crawling only submits those vectors to
the web pages and file attachments that have not been compared
before and the content have not been changed since last comparison.
This web content containing audio-video recordings typically and
mainly are located in major websites that allow free uploading and
public access to the users of these sites, while some other minor
websites may also make audio and video recordings available for the
public, some of which may be unauthorized. By direct or tacit
agreement with many of these major sites, the search engine server
portion 261 is able to provide additional services to the
registered owners of the creative audio-video works 253 such as
reporting to the third party servers 241 regarding the possibility
of copyright violations and also assisting to delete these
unauthorized web content, upon consideration.
[0036] The search engine server portion 261 provides web page
interfaces to the owners of creative audio-video works 253 that
allow them to register one time initially by providing requested
information, login at any time thereafter and upload their creative
audio-video works 253 using a web browser 251 from the client
device 257. The creative audio-video work files may be any of
standard audio or video formats such as MP3, WMA, W A V, OGG, AVI,
MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and WMV. The search engine server portion 261
stores these files in a database and converts them to a suitable
format by: (i) In case of audio, to a predetermined audio format
such as WAY; and (ii) In case of video, by separating audio and
video portions and then converting them to a predetermined audio
and video formats such as WAY and MPEG-2 respectively. In addition,
once the creative audio-video works 253 are uploaded, the search
engine server portion 261 initiates a billing process based upon
certain criteria. The billing may occur at the time of uploading or
periodically. For example, the billing may be based upon a fixed
price/creative audio work, fixed price/creative video work, fixed
price/minute of the creative audio-video work, fixed price/report
generated for a predetermined period such as a week or month,
etc.
[0037] Next, upon receiving vectors from the search engine server
during crawling, the processing by the search engine server portion
261 continues by accessing the web audio or video content or file
attachments, storing them temporarily in a database. Then the
search engine server portion 261, in case of audio recordings,
converts them to the same predetermined format that was used in
case of creative audio work. In case of video recordings, the
search engine server portion 261 separates audio and video portions
converts them to the same predetermined formats that were used in
case of creative video work. Then, the search engine server portion
261 compares the audio or video content of converted creative
audio-video work with that of converted web audio-video content and
generates a report if similarities are identified. These reports
are stored in a database. Also, for an additional fee, the search
engine server portion 261 reports the similarities to the hosts
third party servers 241 via some arrangement with these host third
party servers 241 and automatically or by consideration assists in
deleting these web audio-video content. Alternatively, the search
engine server portion 261 may also provide provisions for fees for
each upload and download of the web audio-video content available
in third party servers 241.
[0038] In case of audio recordings, the comparison occurs in many
possible ways. The first among them is bit by bit comparison. The
similarities are considered to be identified if the number of
adjacent bits matches beyond a correlation threshold. The
correlation threshold may be, for example, 256 adjacent bits. Once
this correlation threshold is exceeded, the search engine server
portion 261 continues to compare until all of the similarities are
identified and then generates a report on this basis.
Alternatively, to identify those web audio content having
similarities, that are manipulated in some way (such as recording
using a microphone), the search engine server portion 261 may
resort to converting the recordings to analog forms and then
comparing them. Other methods of comparison are also
contemplated.
[0039] In case of video recordings, the digital signatures are
identified and compared as a first step. As a next step, the
comparison of audio portion of the video recording is performed, 15
which occurs in a similar fashion as the comparison that occurs in
case of audio recordings mentioned before. If no similarities are
found, the video portions of the recording are compared. This
occurs on the basis of frame by frame comparison. The similarities
are considered to be identified if the number of adjacent frames
matches beyond a correlation threshold. The correlation threshold
may be, for example, 256 adjacent frames. Once this 20 correlation
threshold is exceeded, the search engine server portion 261
continues to compare, until all of the similarities are identified
and then generates a report on this basis. Other methods of
comparison are also contemplated. The reports may be presented in
case both audio and video recordings, III a graphical manner (refer
to the FIG. 6 for an exemplary snapshot of report).
[0040] The search engine server portion 261 includes a plurality of
modules to enable the functionalities mentioned in the above
paragraphs. A creative work protection module 263 (163 in FIG. 1)
performs all of the above mentioned functions as well as providing
copyright protection to registered owners of textual content and/or
images (refer to the description of FIG. 1 for additional modules
of the creative work protection module 263, as related to copyright
protection of textual content, audio content, and images). The
creative work protection module 263 includes creative work
registration module 271 (171 in FIG. 1) and creative work
upload/billing module 273 (173 in FIG. 1) to perform functions of
registration, logging in and billing.
[0041] The creative work protection module 263 also includes two
major modules, VIZ., creative text-image work protection module 267
(165 in FIG. 1) and creative audio-video work protection module
265. The creative audio-video work protection module 265 includes
creative audio-video work correlation module 277 which performs
audio and video comparisons, creative audio-video work correlation
result generation module 279 which generates reports, creative
audio-video work correlation result dispatch module 281 which
delivers reports to the registered owners and/or host third party
server 241 and audio-video file format conversion module 283. The
creative audio-video work protection module 265 also includes
creative audio-video work registration database 285 and creative
audio-video work database 287.
[0042] For example, an artist of copyrighted rock music, may want
to prevent his/her work being downloaded (or played) from the third
party servers 241 without permission. Therefore, the artist may
decide to register with the creative work protection service of the
search engine server. After registration, the artist may upload,
for example, a W A V format recording of the rock music and fulfill
the service charge obligations. Alternatively, the search engine
server portion 261 also allows the artist to upload the rock music
in many possible formats.
[0043] Then, the search engine server portion 261 stores the rock
music file. The search engine server portion 261 then converts this
recording to a predetermined format. Then, upon receiving vectors
of the audio content from the search engine server during crawling
operation, the search engine server portion 261 begins to acquire
the audio content directed by the vectors and begins the comparison
process. If no similarities are found, then no reports are
generated and the process temporarily ends there. On the contrary,
if similarities are detected, then the search engine server portion
261 generates report that may contain host third party server 241
details, vectors associated with the audio content as well as the
areas of similarity in the rock music and stores them in a
database. Then, the accumulated reports over a predetermined period
of time such as a day, week or month are formatted in a readable
manner and submitted to the viewing of the artist, either via email
or via webpage interface upon logging into the search engine server
portion 261. If requests are made by the artist for additional
services such as sending reports to some major web sites that
freely allow its users to post audio recordings, the reports are
generated and sent to these web sites for further consideration.
The artist, upon viewing the report may is able to identify these
web sites which allow its users to view or download the rock music
without the author's permission and to take appropriate actions
upon these violators.
[0044] FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating components
of a portion of the search engine server 307 constructed in
accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 1 of the present invention.
Search engine server circuitry text-image portion 307 may in part
or full be incorporated into any computing device that operates as
an Internet based server. The search engine server circuitry
text-image portion 307 generally includes processing circuitry 309,
local storage 317, manager interfaces 349, and network interfaces
341. These components communicatively couple to one another via one
or more of a system bus, dedicated communication pathways, or other
direct or indirect communication pathways. The processing circuitry
309 may be, in various embodiments, a microprocessor, a digital
signal processor, a state machine, an application specific
integrated circuit, a field programming gate array, or other
processing circuitry.
[0045] Local storage 317 may be random access memory, read-only
memory, flash memory, a disk drive, an optical drive, or another
type of memory that is operable to store computer instructions and
data. The local storage 317 stores/instantiates instructions/data
that support the creative work registration module 373 and the
creative work upload/billing module 375 to perform functions of
registration, logging in and billing. Each of the modules described
herein (not limited to the modules described in FIG. 3) may be
instantiated by hardware, software, and/or combination of hardware
and software. In addition, the local storage 317 stores
instructions/data that support the creative text-image work
correlation module 377, which performs textual content and image
comparisons, creative text-image work correlation result generation
module 379 which generates reports, creative text-image work
correlation result dispatch module 381 which delivers reports to
the registered owners and/or host third party server (not shown)
and text-image file format conversion module 383. The local storage
317 also includes creative text-image work registration database
385 to store registration, logging in and billing information of
the registered owners and creative text-image work database 387 to
store creative text-image work 353 of registered owners. In
addition, the illustration shows search engine related modules 389
that perform search engine operations.
[0046] The network interfaces 341 contain wired and wireless packet
switched interfaces 345 and may also contain built-in or an
independent interface processing circuitry 343. The network
interfaces 341 allow the search engine server circuitry text-image
portion 307 to communicate with client devices such as 361 and to
upload creative text-image works 353 via a web browser 351 and to
deliver results. The manager interfaces 349 may include a display
and keypad interfaces. These manager interfaces 349 allow the user
at the search engine server circuitry text-image portion 307 to
control aspects of the present invention. The client device 361
illustrated are communicatively coupled to the search engine server
circuitry text-image portion 307 via an Internet 355.
[0047] In other embodiments, the search engine server circuitry
text-image portion 307 of the present invention may include fewer
or more components than are illustrated as well as lesser or
further functionality. In other words, the illustrated search
engine server circuitry text-image portion is meant to merely offer
one example of possible functionality and construction in
accordance with the present invention.
[0048] FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating components
of the portion of search engine server constructed in accordance
with the embodiment of FIG. 2, in continuation of FIG. 3, of the
present invention. Search engine server circuitry audio-video
portion 407 may in part or full be incorporated into any computing
device that operates as an Internet based server. The search engine
server circuitry audio-video portion 407 generally includes
processing circuitry 409 (309 of FIG. 3), local storage 417 (317 of
FIG. 3), manager interfaces 449 (349 of FIG. 3) and network
interfaces 441 (341 of FIG. 3). These components communicatively
couple to one another via one or more of a system bus, dedicated
communication pathways, or other direct or indirect communication
pathways. The processing circuitry 409 may, in various embodiments,
be a microprocessor, a digital signal processor, a state machine,
an application specific integrated circuit, a field programming
gate array, or other processing circuitry.
[0049] Local storage 417 may be random access memory, read-only
memory, flash memory, a disk drive, an optical drive, or another
type of memory that is operable to store computer instructions and
data. The local storage 417 stores instructions/data to instantiate
at least part of creative work registration module 473 (373 of FIG.
3) and creative work upload/billing module 475 (375 of FIG. 3) to
perform functions of registration, logging in and billing. In
addition, the local storage 417 stores instructions/data to
instantiate at least a portion of creative audio-video work
correlation module 477 which performs audio and video content
comparisons between creative audio-video work 453 of registered
owners and audio-video content of third party servers (not shown),
creative audio-video work correlation result generation module 479
which generates reports, creative audio-video work correlation
result dispatch module 481 which delivers reports to the registered
owners and/or host third party server and audio-video file format
conversion module 483. The local storage 417 also stores
instructions/data to instantiate at least a portion of creative
audio-video work registration database 485 to store registration,
logging in and billing information of the registered owners and
creative audio-video work database 487 to store creative
audio-video work 453 of the registered owners. In addition, the
illustration shows search engine related modules 489 that perform
search engine operations.
[0050] The network interfaces 441 contain wired and wireless packet
switched interfaces 445 and may also contain built-in or an
independent interface processing circuitry 443. The network
interfaces 441 allow the search engine server circuitry audio-video
portion 407 to communicate with client devices such as 461 and to
upload creative audio-video works 453 via a browser 451 and to
deliver results. The manager interfaces 449 may include a display
and keypad interfaces. These manager interfaces 449 allow the user
at the search engine server circuitry audio-video portion 407 to
control aspects of the present invention. The client device 461
illustrated are communicatively coupled to the search engine server
circuitry audio-video portion 407 via an Internet 455.
[0051] In other embodiments, the search engine server circuitry
audio-video portion 407 of the present invention may include fewer
or more components than are illustrated as well as lesser or
further functionality. In other words, the illustrated search
engine server circuitry audio-video portion is meant to merely
offer one example of possible functionality and construction in
accordance with the present invention.
[0052] FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a snap shot of a
results page containing details of a creative work containing text
and reporting of similarities in web content. Specifically, the
exemplary snap shot illustrated shows a creative text work
correlation (comparison) results page 505 delivered to a client's
browser 595 of client device, containing statistics of the creative
text work and selected portions of text that are similar. The
creative text work correlation results page 505 delivered may
contain a page title such as `CreativeWorkProtection Web Page
(www.creativework.com)` 521. It may also contain a title such as
`CREATIVE WORK PROTECTION.COM` 541 and a tool bar 551 providing
access to other pages of the search engine server portion. A
language 547 selection tool 549 may also be provided, that allows
user to choose a language in the results pages. A sub-title that
provides the name of the creative text work in consideration such
as `CORRELATION RESULTS: Creative Work.xxx` 543 may also be
provided.
[0053] One of the windows in the creative text work correlation
(comparison) results page 505 may provide statistics of the
creative text work in consideration such as `DETAILS:'-` 553
followed by details such as file name, word count, number of pages,
number of paragraphs, number of lines, number of words, number of
characters, uploaded on and registered author. Additional
statistics related to the web text content or file attachments in
which the similarity is found such as web site, web page/file
attachment link, web page/file statistics and the locations within
the web page/file where similarity is found may also be provided in
this window (not shown).
[0054] A second window illustrated provides the file name of the
creative text work of a registered owner such as `Creative
Work.xxx:` 555 followed by the text where similarities are found. A
third window illustrated provides the file name of the web text
content posted by a third party server such as `Similarity Found:
Work MNZ.xxx:` 557 followed by the text that contains the
similarities. The author may be able to decide whether to ignore
the similarity found or to take any necessary actions. Also, a
`Correlate Again` button 583 provides options to the author to
continue to the next similarity either within the current web
page/file text content or in another web page/file.
[0055] FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a snap shot of a
results page containing details of the creative work containing
video content and report of similarities in web content. In
specific, the exemplary snap shot illustrated shows a creative
video work correlation (comparison) results page 605 delivered to a
client's browser 695 of client device, containing statistics of the
creative video work and graphical representation of areas of
similarity. The creative video work correlation results page 605
delivered may contain a page title such as `CreativeWorkProtection
Web Page (www.creativework.com)` 621. It may also contain a title
such as `CREATIVE WORK PROTECTION.COM` 641 and a tool bar 651
providing access to other pages of the search engine server
portion. A language 647 selection tool 649 may also be provided,
that allows user to choose a language in the result pages. A
sub-title that provides the name of the creative video work in
consideration such as `CORRELATION RESULTS: All-Right-Now.xxx` 643
may also be provided.
[0056] A first window in the creative video work correlation
(comparison) results page 605 may provide statistics of the
creative video work in consideration such as `DETAILS:` 653
followed by details such as file name, work nature, work length,
area of work, uploaded on and registered artist. Additional
statistics related to the web video content or file attachments in
which the similarity is found such as web site, web video
content/file attachment link, web video content/file statistics and
the locations within the web video content/file where similarity is
found may also be provided in this window (not shown).
[0057] A second window illustrated provides the file name of the
creative video work of a registered owner such as
`All-Right-Now.xxx:` 655 followed by some graphical representation
15 of the length of the creative video work. A third window
illustrated provides the file name of the web video content/file
attachment posted by a third party server such as `Similarity
Found: It's-OK.xxx:` 657 followed by a graphical representation
similar to that of the second window depicting the areas where
similarity found. The artist is able to take necessary actions
based upon observation of displayed similarities. Also, a
`Correlate Again` button 683 provides options to the artist to
continue to the next similarity in another web video
content/file.
[0058] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating functionality of a
portion of the search engine server of FIG. 1. The functionality of
a portion of the search engine server (hereafter, search engine
server portion) begins at a block 707 when an owner of a creative
text-image work is provided with registration/login interface
webpage. At a next block 709, the search engine server portion
receives registration information if the owner is interacting with
the search engine server portion for the first time and stores this
information in a database. In subsequent interactions, the search
engine server portion verifies login information and allows the
owner to access services of the search engine server portion. The
registration information may contain user name, password, date of
birth, address, email address and other relevant information.
[0059] At a next block 711, the search engine server portion
provides creative text-image work upload/billing interface. The
owner may upload any number of creative text-image works in
subsequent visits (after initial registration), and the billing may
occur on one of many possible ways. This includes a fixed
price/creative text-image work, fixed price/number of characters in
textual content of the creative text-image work, fixed price/image
size/image of the creative text-image work, fixed price/report
generated for a predetermined period such as a week or month, etc.
That is, the billing may occur immediately after uploading of
creative text-image works or may occur periodically based upon an
agreement with the registered owner. And the service may be
provided for a fixed period of time such as one year or two years
depending upon agreement with the registered owner.
[0060] At a next block 713, the search engine server portion
receives creative text-image works and stores them in a database.
At a next block 715, the search engine server portion correlates
the creative text-image work with that of web content, vectors of
which are delivered by the search engine server during crawling
operation. Then, search engine server portion generates a report
containing all of the website links (together with vectors of web
pages or files contained in the web sites) that contain text or
images having similarities with that of content of creative
text-image works. At a next block 717, the search engine server
portion delivers results containing statistics of the creative
text-image works, along with similarities found. In a final block
719, the search engine server portion sends results to the
registered owner, and upon agreement with registered owner and host
third party servers, to the host third party servers.
[0061] FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating functionality of a
portion of the search engine server of FIG. 1 in detail, with the
creative work containing text in consideration. The detailed
functionality concerning creative text works of a registered owner
begins at a block 807, where the search engine server portion
receives creative text works and stores them in a database. To make
this possible, the search engine server portion provides webpage
interfaces to the registered owner to upload one or more creative
text works. At a next block 809, the search engine server portion
determines the area of the creative text work. For example, the
area may be photographs, art work, paintings, pictures of cartoon
characters, etc. This is optional, if the registered owner provides
such information and in this case the search engine server portion
may not compare with web text content of web sites that do not
belong to the area of creative text work.
[0062] At a next block 811, the search engine server portion
retrieves stored creative text work in a given text area. At a next
block 813, the search engine server portion correlates character by
character with that of web text content to determine similarities.
At a next decision block 815, the search engine server portion
determines if the similarities exceed a predetermined correlation
threshold. If yes, then the search engine server portion stores
creative text work name along with web page details and similarity
beginning character number and ending character number, at a next
block 831. Then, the processes of blocks 813 and 815 are repeated.
If not at the decision block 815, at a next decision block 817, the
search engine server portion determines if all of the creative text
works of the registered owner are compared. If not, with a next
creative text work, the processes of blocks 811, 813, 815 and 831
are repeated. In another embodiment, the comparison may occur on
the basis of keywords, which is not shown in the flowchart.
[0063] If yes at the decision block 817, then the search engine
server portion prepares a results page (from the stored information
of similarities) containing statistics, name and web links of the
text that contains similarities along with additional information,
at a next block 819. Then, at a next block 821, the search engine
server portion delivers the results page containing statistics and
similarities with title and correlated characters. At a next
decision block 823, the search engine server portion determines if
more similarities within the same webpage or in another webpage
(that belongs to the creative text works of the registered owner)
are found. If yes, then the processes of blocks 819 and 821 are
repeated to generate additional results pages. If not, at a final
block 825, the functionality ends.
[0064] FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating functionality 905 of a
portion of the search engine server of FIG. 1 in detail, with the
creative work containing images in consideration. The 15 detailed
functionality concerning creative image works begins at a block
907, where the search engine server portion receives creative image
works and stores them in a database. The search engine server
portion provides webpage interfaces to a registered owner of the
creative image works to upload one or more creative image works. At
a next block 909, the search engine server portion determines the
area of the creative image work. For example, the area may be
photographs, art work, paintings, pictures of cartoon characters
etc. The area of the creative image work is determined only if the
registered owner provides such information. In this case, the
search engine server portion may not compare with web image content
that do not belong to the area of creative image work.
[0065] At a next block 911, the search engine server portion
retrieves stored creative image work in a given image area. At a
next block 913, the search engine server portion correlates images
pixel by pixel (after converting formats to a predetermined image
format and resizing the images) with that of web image content to
determine similarities. At a next decision block 915, the search
engine server portion determines if the similarities exceed a
predetermined correlation threshold. If yes, then the search engine
server portion stores creative image work name along with web page
details and similarity area details, at a next block 931. Then, the
processes of blocks 913 and 915 are repeated. If not at the
decision block 915, at a next decision block 917, the search engine
server portion determines if all of the creative image works of the
registered owner are compared. If not, with a next creative image
work, the processes of blocks 911, 913, 915 and 931 are
repeated.
[0066] If yes at the decision block 917, then the search engine
server portion prepares a results page (from the stored information
of similarities) containing statistics, name and web links of the
image that contains similarities along with additional information,
at a next block 919. Then, at a next block 921, the search engine
server portion delivers the results page containing statistics and
similarities with title and correlated image areas. At a next
decision block 923, the search engine server portion determines if
more similarities within the same webpage image or in another
webpage image are found. If yes, then the processes of blocks 919
and 921 are repeated to generate additional results pages. If not,
at a final block 925, the functionality ends.
[0067] FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating functionality 1005 of
a portion of the search engine server of FIG. 2. The functionality
of a portion of the search engine server (hereafter, search engine
server portion) begins at a block 1007 when an owner of a creative
audio-video work is provided with registration/login interface
webpage. At a next block 1009, the search engine server portion
receives registration information (for the first time) and stores
this information in a database. In subsequent interactions, the
search engine server portion verifies login information and allows
the owner to access services of the search engine server portion.
The registration information may contain user name, password, date
of birth, address, email address and other relevant
information.
[0068] At a next block 1011, the search engine server portion
provides creative audio-video work upload/billing webpage
interface. The owner may upload any number of creative audio-video
works in subsequent visits (after initial registration), and the
billing may occur on one of many possible ways. This includes a
fixed price/creative audio-video work, fixed price/second of the
creative audio-video work, fixed price/report generated for a
predetermined period such as a week or month, etc. That is, the
billing may occur immediately after uploading of creative
audio-video works or may occur periodically based upon an agreement
with the registered owner. The service may be provided for a fixed
period of time such as one year or two years depending upon
agreement with the registered owner.
[0069] At a next block 1013, the search engine server portion
receives creative audio-video works and stores them in a database.
At a next block 1015, the search engine server portion correlates
the creative audio-video work with that of web content, vectors of
which are delivered by the search engine server during crawling
operation. Then, search engine server portion generates a report
containing all of the website links that contain audio-video
content having similarities with that of content of creative
audio-video works. At a next block 1017, the search engine server
portion delivers results containing statistics of the creative
audio-video works, along with similarities found. In a final block
1019, the search engine server portion sends results to the
registered owner, and upon agreement with registered owner and host
third party servers, to the host third party servers.
[0070] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating functionality 1105 of
a portion of the search engine server of FIG. 2 in detail, with the
creative work containing audio-video content in consideration. The
detailed functionality concerning creative audio-video works begins
at a block 1107, where the search engine server portion receives
creative audio-video works and stores them in a database. The
search engine server portion provides webpage interfaces to
registered owner of the creative audio-video works to upload one or
more creative audio-video works. At a next block 1109, the search
engine server portion determines the area of the creative
audio-video work. For example, the area may be: (i) In case of
creative audio works--rock music, country music, regional music
belonging to various categories, etc. and (ii) In case of video
works--motion pictures, educational material, personal videos etc.
The area of the creative audio-video work is determined only if the
registered owner provides such information. In this case, the
search engine server portion may not compare with web audio-video
content that does not belong to the area of creative audio-video
work.
[0071] At a next block 1111, the search engine server portion
retrieves stored creative audio-video work in a given audio-video
area. At a next block 1113, the search engine server portion
correlates audio-video works with that of web audio-video content
to determine similarities. In case of audio recordings, bit by bit
comparison may be employed. Alternatively, in some cases, the
search engine server portion may resort to converting the
recordings to analog forms and then comparing them. In case of
video recordings, the digital signatures are identified and
compared as a first step. As a next step, the comparison of audio
portion of the video recording is performed and then, if no
similarities are found, the video portion of the recording are
compared. The video portion comparison may occur on the basis of
frame by frame comparison. Other methods of comparison are also
contemplated. The reader should understand that by comparing audio
portions of audio-video content, correlation between works may be
relatively easily determined. Such comparison provides an efficient
mechanism for determining if motion pictures illegally reside upon
a server for example, without requiring a video content to video
content comparison, which may not be effective due to differences
in format sizes, resolution, frame rates, etc. When comparing audio
portions of audio-video content, digital information of an audio
bit stream may be compared. Alternately, the audio portion of two
(or more) audio-video files may be converted to the frequency
domain and the two (or more) audio portions may be compared.
[0072] At a next decision block 1115, the search engine server
portion determines if the similarities exceed a predetermined
correlation threshold. In case of audio recordings (or audio
portions of audio-video recordings), the correlation threshold may
be a predetermined number of adjacent bits, spectral component
samples, and in case of video this may be a predetermined number of
adjacent frames. If yes at the decision block 1115, then the search
engine server portion stores creative audio-video work name,
vectors for web audio-video content along with similarity beginning
and ending times, at a next block 1131. Then, the processes of
blocks 1113 and 1115 are repeated. If not at the decision block
1115, at a next decision block 1117, the search engine server
portion determines if all of the creative audio-video works of the
registered owner are correlated. If not, with a next creative
audio-video work, the processes of 20 blocks 1111, 1113, 1115 and
1131 are repeated.
[0073] If yes at the decision block 1117, then the search engine
server portion prepares a results page (from the stored information
of similarities) containing statistics, name and web links of the
audio-video content that contains similarities along with
additional information, at a next block 1119. Then, at a next block
1121, the search engine server portion delivers the result page
containing statistics and similarities with title and correlated
audio-video times. At a next decision block 1123, the search engine
server portion determines if more similarities within the same
audio-video content or in another audio-video content are found. If
yes, then the processes of blocks 1119 and 1121 are repeated to
generate additional results pages. If not, at a final block 1125,
the functionality ends.
[0074] The terms "circuit" and "circuitry" as used herein may refer
to an independent circuit or to a portion of a multifunctional
circuit that performs multiple underlying functions. For example,
depending on the embodiment, processing circuitry may be
implemented as a single chip processor or as a plurality of
processing chips. Likewise, a first circuit and a second circuit
may be combined in one embodiment into a single circuit or, in
another embodiment, operate independently perhaps in separate
chips. The term "chip," as used herein, refers to an integrated
circuit. Circuits and circuitry may comprise general or specific
purpose hardware, or may comprise such hardware and associated
software such as firmware or object code.
[0075] As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, the
terms "operably coupled" and "communicatively coupled," as may be
used herein, include direct coupling and indirect coupling via
another component, element, circuit, or module where, for indirect
coupling, the intervening component, element, circuit, or module
does not modify the information of a signal but may adjust its
current level, voltage level, and/or power level. As one of
ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate, inferred coupling
(i.e., where one element is coupled to another element by
inference) includes direct and indirect coupling between two
elements in the same manner as "operably coupled" and
"communicatively coupled."
[0076] The present invention has also been described above with the
aid of method steps illustrating the performance of specified
functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of
these functional building blocks and method steps have been
arbitrarily defined herein for convenience of description.
Alternate boundaries and sequences can be defined so long as the
specified functions and relationships are appropriately performed.
Any such alternate boundaries or sequences are thus within the
scope and spirit of the claimed invention.
[0077] The present invention has been described above with the aid
of functional building blocks illustrating the performance of
certain significant functions. The boundaries of these functional
building blocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of
description. Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the
certain significant functions are appropriately performed.
Similarly, flow diagram blocks may also have been arbitrarily
defined herein to illustrate certain significant functionality. To
the extent used, the flow diagram block boundaries and sequence
could have been defined otherwise and still perform the certain
significant functionality. Such alternate definitions of both
functional building blocks and flow diagram blocks and sequences
are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention.
[0078] One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the
functional building blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules
and components herein, can be implemented as illustrated or by
discrete components, application specific integrated circuits,
processors executing appropriate software and the like or any
combination thereof.
[0079] Moreover, although described in detail for purposes of
clarity and understanding by way of the aforementioned embodiments,
the present invention is not limited to such embodiments. It will
be obvious to one of average skill in the art that various changes
and modifications may be practiced within the spirit and scope of
the invention, as limited only by the scope of the appended
claims.
* * * * *