Network Content Indexing via Container Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital content management systems face challenges in efficiently accessing and maintaining content integrity within home networks, as users struggle with content location, access, and misuse due to inadequate metadata and indexing mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that gathers capability information from devices in a home network, creates an index of content items, and updates the index based on content item searches, allowing for efficient access and management of multimedia content across devices, including containers and tags, while supporting event subscriptions and polling for directory modifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If a comprehensive index of all content items is maintained, then content access speed is improved, but system complexity and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the content directory into multiple containers, each with its own modification events. The indexing system segments the monitoring and updating processes by container, only indexing modified containers rather than the entire directory. This segmentation reduces the complexity and resource consumption of the indexing system while maintaining fast access to individual content items.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of continuously monitoring and indexing all content items in the directory, the system performs partial indexing only on containers that have been modified. This partial action approach reduces unnecessary processing of unchanged content while still maintaining an up-to-date index for accessed content, balancing access speed with system resource consumption.
2Reliability
If the index is updated frequently to maintain accuracy, then data integrity is improved, but processing time and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic index updates triggered by container modification events rather than continuous updating. When a container is modified, a modification event is generated and the index is updated at that periodic moment. This approach maintains data integrity by ensuring the index reflects current state while minimizing unnecessary processing during unchanged periods, reducing overall processing time and energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from container modification events to trigger index updates only when necessary. The modification events provide feedback about which containers have changed, allowing the system to selectively update the index for those specific containers. This feedback mechanism ensures data integrity by keeping the index synchronized with actual content changes while avoiding redundant updates that would waste time and energy.
3Measurement precision
If event subscription is activated for all devices, then real-time content changes are detected, but network traffic and device overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system activates event subscription selectively based on device capability information. Instead of uniformly subscribing to events from all devices, the system determines which devices are capable of sending container modification events and subscribes only to those. This local quality approach reduces network traffic and device overhead while maintaining accurate detection of content changes from capable devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of event subscription status based on device capability assessment. By evaluating device capabilities first, the system dynamically adjusts whether to activate event subscription for each device. This parameter change strategy reduces unnecessary network traffic and overhead from devices that cannot generate meaningful events while maintaining precise change detection from capable devices.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present description refers in particular to a computer-implemented method, a computer program product and a computer system for enabling a user to access a content item in a network such as a home network. The method comprises: gathering capability information from a device, such as a digital music player, in the network, wherein the device includes a directory of a plurality of content items, wherein the directory includes a first container and a second container, wherein at least one of the plurality of content items is organized in the first container, and wherein at least one of the plurality of content items is organized in the second container. The method also provides an index referring to the plurality of content items, the first container, and the second container. The method of the present invention determines whether the directory has been modified, and performs a content item search if the directory has been modified, and updates the index based on the results of the content item search.