Multiple-Stage Audio Indexing for Duplicate Recording Detection

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing systems face inefficiencies in managing duplicate audio recordings, leading to diluted popularity metrics and unnecessary storage usage due to duplicate recordings of the same song across different albums or versions.

Innovation Solution

A computer-implemented system that clusters audio content based on fingerprint data, using nano- and micro-fingerprints to identify duplicates, and employs a candidate search module to reduce the number of files for full comparison, optimizing database management and storage.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If all audio files are stored and processed individually, then complete audio content is preserved, but storage space is wasted and processing efficiency decreases due to duplicate files

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprocessing efficiencyVSAvoidstorage space

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges duplicate audio files by identifying files with identical fingerprints and consolidating them into a single representative file. This reduces the total quantity of stored audio data while preserving all unique content, directly addressing the contradiction between storage efficiency and content preservation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary fingerprinting and clustering of audio files before full processing or storage operations. By pre-identifying duplicates through fingerprint comparison and clustering algorithms, the system avoids redundant storage and processing of identical files, improving both storage efficiency and processing speed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Measurement precision

If duplicate audio files are retained in the database, then all original recordings are preserved, but popularity metrics become diluted and inaccurate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepopularity metric accuracyVSAvoidnumber of audio files

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent aggregates popularity metrics for files identified as duplicates through fingerprint matching. By combining play counts, ratings, and other engagement metrics from duplicate files into a single consolidated value, the system eliminates metric dilution while maintaining the total user engagement data for accurate popularity assessment.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

3Measurement precision

If full fingerprint comparison is performed on all audio files, then accurate duplicate identification is achieved, but processing time and computational resources increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveduplicate identification accuracyVSAvoidprocessing time

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the duplicate identification process into multiple stages: first using quick nano-fingerprint comparison for initial filtering, then micro-fingerprint analysis for intermediate filtering, and finally full fingerprint comparison only on candidate pairs. This hierarchical segmentation maintains high identification accuracy while dramatically reducing overall processing time by avoiding full comparisons on all file pairs.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces intermediary fingerprint types (nano-fingerprints and micro-fingerprints) that serve as intermediate steps between quick hashing and full fingerprint comparison. These intermediary representations enable progressive filtering, where easier-to-compute fingerprints eliminate obvious non-matches before committing resources to computationally intensive full comparisons.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

4Productivity

If clustering algorithms group all similar audio files, then duplicate identification improves, but false positives increase and match precision decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveduplicate detection efficiencyVSAvoidmatch precision

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the clustering process into hierarchical levels based on fingerprint granularity. Nano-fingerprint clustering groups files at a coarse level, micro-fingerprint clustering refines groups at an intermediate level, and full fingerprint comparison provides precise final matching. This multi-level segmentation maintains high detection efficiency while improving match precision by progressively filtering false positives at each stage.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS20250284737A1Multiple stage indexing of audio content

Publication Date: 2025.09.11 GRACENOTE INC

AI summary

Techniques of content unification are disclosed. In some example embodiments, a computer-implemented method comprises: determining clusters based a comparison of a plurality of audio content using a first matching criteria, each cluster of the plurality of clusters comprising at least two audio content from the plurality of audio content; for each cluster of the plurality of clusters, determining a representative audio content for the cluster from the at least two audio content of the cluster; loading the corresponding representative audio content of each cluster into an index; matching the query audio content to one of the representative audio contents using a first matching criteria; determining the corresponding cluster of the matched representative audio content; and identifying a match between the query audio content and at least one of the audio content of the cluster of the matched representative audio content based on a comparison using a second matching criteria.