Digital Media Container Updating Modifiable Elements
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current media file formats do not effectively integrate storage and updating of core digital media content, descriptive metadata, and supplemental content, leading to issues with data freshness and relevance over time, as well as inefficiencies in managing associations between media files and external metadata.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that integrates digital media content, modifiable supplemental content, and descriptive metadata within a single data structure, allowing for updates and lifecycle management, enabling persistent association of updated elements with the core content during a specified lifecycle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If descriptive metadata and supplemental content are stored externally and associated with media files, then information can be periodically updated, but playback devices must warehouse and maintain associations between external content and media files
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines media files, descriptive metadata, and supplemental content into a single integrated data structure (container format). This merging eliminates the need for external storage associations and simplifies playback device operations, as all content elements are stored together in one unified structure rather than requiring separate warehouse management and association tracking.
2Ease of operation
If descriptive metadata and supplemental content are stored within the media file structure, then associations are maintained automatically, but the content becomes fixed and static upon delivery
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic updating capabilities within the integrated data structure by allowing playback devices to retrieve updated supplemental content and metadata from remote sources during or between playback sessions. This dynamic approach enables the content to evolve over time while maintaining the benefits of integrated storage, resolving the contradiction between static structure and dynamic content requirements.
3Productivity
If a copy operation is performed on the media file, then the core content is transferred, but the descriptive metadata and supplemental content stored separately are not transferred
Solution Approach 1:
By integrating media files, metadata, and supplemental content into a single data structure, the patent ensures that a single copy operation transfers all content elements together. This eliminates the information loss problem where separate storage causes metadata and supplemental content to be left behind during file transfers, while maintaining transfer efficiency through unified handling.
4Device complexity
If media files are designed to store a single identifiable item of core media content, then the file structure remains simple and standardized, but it is undesirable to permit modification of the core content after encoding
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the content structure into distinct components within the integrated data structure: core media content, descriptive metadata, and supplemental content. This segmentation allows the core content to remain protected and immutable while enabling independent modification and updating of metadata and supplemental elements, thus providing adaptability without compromising the simplicity and integrity of the core file structure.
Data Source
AI summary
There is presented a system and method for updating digital media content. The system comprises a data structure residing on a media storage, the digital media content being stored in the data structure. The system further comprises a processor coupled to the media storage and configured to access the data structure, and receive an update to one or more modifiable elements of the data structure from an authoritative source external with respect to the data structure. The processor is further configured to modify the modifiable elements according to the update, and store the modified elements in the data structure. As a result, updates to the modifiable elements are persistently stored in the data structure.