Abstract: Matching digital media available in a multi-node system. An example embodiment receives media from media providers. Metadata may also be included with digital media files or stored separately in a database. An example matching system generates, or receives a list of candidate nodes, such as network domains, to search for potential copies of digital media. The list may be defined and/or prioritized based on countries of interest, business sectors of interest, or other business rules. An example system crawls the domains to identify media files that appear on websites that are potential matches of the media files provided by the media providers. The system may download the media files, and evaluate them relative to the provided media files. The system identifies matches and identifies owners or operators of domains that had matching media files. The system generates case records for subsequent licensing or other action regarding the matched media files.

Abstract: Managing negotiations to clear rights for using an asset. A rights requester requests approval through a broker to a rights holder, such as a film studio, to use an image or other asset in a project, such as an advertising campaign. The rights requester or broker provides initial terms, such as fee amounts, type of use, sample of use, territory, or other terms. The broker notifies the rights holder of the opportunity, and provides an interface that enables the rights holder to review, revise, forward, approve, or otherwise manipulate the opportunity. The interface also enables the rights holder to search, sort, filter, analyze, and obtain aggregated information on a number of opportunities. Based on such actions, the broker can propose additional or alternate terms or opportunities. The broker may also automatically accept a counter offer if the revised terms fall within predefined ranges. Alternatively, relays a requester's reply offer.

Abstract: Automatically determining pricing for at least one unit of content that can be selected and licensed or purchased over a network. Pricing is determined based on an initial price, and at least one of the following: a reviewer rating, content activity, or a customer offer price. Each of these factors may be weighted. The initial price may be a minimum price, a maximum price, a suggested price from a content owner, a pre-calculated market price, or other initial price. Content activity generally reflects user behaviors related to a content item, such as selecting a content item from a search results list, saving it as a favorite, returning to view it, placing it in a virtual shopping cart, or licensing it. Content activity combined with reviewer rating and/or offer price, indicates a “snappyness” score. A new price is dynamically calculated based on the initial price and snappyness score.

Abstract: Searching for assets, such as media assets, that are available according to desired usage criteria. Assets are associated with usage rights specified by rights holders. The usage rights are represented by rights codes, identifying domains of uses and categories of uses within each domain. Domains may comprise advertising rights, editorial rights, internal organization rights, personal use rights, and the like. An interface enables a user to enter key words and to specify desired usage criteria such as geographic location of use, duration of use, a purpose of use, and an industry for use, and exclusive use. The key words are mapped to vocabulary terms that are associated with the cataloged assets. The vocabulary terms are used to search for assets. The assets are also filtered based on the usage criteria relative to the rights codes associated with the assets. Assets matching the vocabulary terms and rights codes are displayed.

Abstract: Distributing review of content or other items for conformance with quality requirements or other criteria. Embodiments include distributing media assets over an electronic network to a number of reviewers. Each reviewer uses an interface to review a media asset and corresponding metadata submitted by a content provider. The interface guides the reviewers through a consistent and easily understood review of the assets, such that reviews need not be domain experts. The reviewer enters pass/fail decisions, comments, additional metadata, one or more ratings on aspects of the asset, or other reviewer information regarding the asset. A media review manager receives the reviewer information regarding each asset and determines whether each asset satisfies overall acceptance criteria. Accepted assets are made accessible to other users such as customers for searching, licensing, or other uses.

Abstract: Rights clearances management for assets, such as media assets. A rights brokerage service enables potential licensees to clears rights to use assets within designated projects, such as advertising campaign projects. The potential licensee uses an interface to select or identify an asset without necessarily accessing the asset itself. The rights holders and the rights held by each rights holder are identified based on the asset identity. A request is automatically issued to the rights holders to approve use of the asset for the project. The potential licensee may use an interface to track progress of approvals from the rights holders. Unenforceable rights are detected and approval is automatically obtained. If all enforceable rights are cleared, the asset may be committed for approval by a project manager or other authority. When approved, a license to use the asset is automatically created between the potential licensee and each of the rights holders.

Abstract: Multi-lingual search and retrieval of digital content. Embodiments are generally directed to methods and systems for creating an English language database that associates non-English terms with English terms in multiple categories of metadata. Language experts use an interface to create equivalencies between non-English terms and English terms, Boolean expressions, synonyms, and other forms of search terms. Language dictionaries and other sources also create equivalencies. The database is used to evaluate non-English search terms submitted by a user, and to determine English search terms that can be used to perform a search for content. The multiple categories of metadata may comprise structured data, such as keywords of a structured vocabulary, and/or unstructured data, such as captions, titles, descriptions, etc. Weighting and/or prioritization can be applied to the search terms, to the process of searching the multiple categories, and/or to the search results, to rank the search results.

Abstract: Automatically determining pricing for at least one unit of content that can be selected and licensed or purchased over a network. Pricing is determined based on an initial price, and at least one of the following: a reviewer rating, content activity, or a customer offer price. Each of these factors may be weighted. The initial price may be a minimum price, a maximum price, a suggested price from a content owner, a pre-calculated market price, or other initial price. Content activity generally reflects user behaviors related to a content item, such as selecting a content item from a search results list, saving it as a favorite, returning to view it, placing it in a virtual shopping cart, or licensing it. Content activity combined with reviewer rating and/or offer price, indicates a “snappyness” score. A new price is dynamically calculated based on the initial price and snappyness score.

Abstract: A system stories digital media records and includes a search engine searching the stored digital media records. It receives search requests from users, logs the search requests, expands the search requests, applies a statistical clustering algorithm, thereby grouping similar search requests together, identifies, using a semantic net hierarchy, a lowest-level term in the hierarchy that subsumes all of the queries in a grouping of search requests, and communicates the identified term to a user.

Abstract: Automated assistance is provided for managing rules and/or guidelines regarding the usage of branded content for a project, e.g., an advertising campaign, event, signage, decoration, and the like. One or more queries regarding the project are presented to the user. Based on the user's responses to the queries, branded content that is approved for the project's intended use(s) is automatically identified and made available to the user. The determination of which digitized content (media objects) to provide to the user is based at least in part on brand rules and/or guidelines that can be relatively static or dynamically updated by the current user.

Abstract: Automatically determining pricing for at least one unit of content that can be selected and purchased over a network for one or more of a plurality of predetermined categories of use and in one or more formats. Also, one or more sources can provide intrinsic and extrinsic value factors that can be associated with units of content. Further, one or more of these sources can be separate from the actual source of the content. Additionally, one or more of these factors can be manually and/or automatically processed or preprocessed to determine a price for a unit of selected content for at least one of the plurality of predetermined categories of use. This processing can include one or more methods, including, but not limited to, normalization, weighting, coalescing, and statistical analysis.

Abstract: Process for enabling a content provider and its users to easily manage licenses for intended uses for selected or provided content.

Abstract: The invention provides a method, system and computer-readable medium for storing images with related information in a relational database and using the information to order available products for a selected image over a network. A unique identifier is generated for each image, allowing different types of searches of the relational database to be performed including product-based and image-based searches. A selection of a returned image causes a cut-down version of the image and all available products to be displayed on a page. If a product is selected, a server enables a transaction for a user to order the selected product. A HTTP Cookie may be employed to store a user identifier, allowing use of user profiles for customization of particular options and displayed products.

Abstract: The invention provides a method, system and computer-readable medium for storing images with related information in a relational database and using the information to order available products for a selected image over a network. A unique identifier is generated for each image, allowing different types of searches of the relational database to be performed including product-based and image-based searches. A selection of a returned image causes a cut-down version of the image and all available products to be displayed on a page. If a product is selected, a server enables a transaction for a user to order the selected product. A HTTP Cookie may be employed to store a user identifier, allowing use of user profiles for customization of particular options and displayed products.

Abstract: A method and system for using indicated text to automatically query a search engine for a database and return images that are relevant to the indicated text. At least five integrated components are employed by a client program to get, view and use a returned image. A user interface component provides for automatically creating search criteria for a query from the indicated text and inserting a thumbnail or higher quality image into an open document. A metadata results component provides for managing the storing, parsing and displaying of the metadata results returned from a query of the database of images. A navigation component provides for managing user interface navigation elements that are employed to control the display of the results (thumbnail images) of the query, e.g., play, stop, back and next controls. An image binary data component provides for managing the display of returned images and managing the storage of the binary image data for the thumbnail and higher quality images.

Abstract: A method and system for using indicated text to automatically query a search engine for a database and return images that are relevant to the indicated text. At least five integrated components are employed by a client program to get, view and use a returned image. Among these is a user interface component that provides for automatically creating search criteria for a query from the indicated text and inserting a thumbnail or higher quality image into an open document. Also included is a network component that provides for detecting of a network and managing the transfer of data across the network such as the Internet and an intranet. In addition, a metadata results component provides for managing the storing, parsing and displaying of the metadata results returned from a query of the database of images.

Abstract: The invention provides a method, system and computer-readable medium for storing images with related information in a relational database and using the information to order available products for a selected image over a network. Tag and business information may be associated with an image in the database and a unique image identifier is generated for each image. Different types of searches of the relational database may be performed including product based and image based. Affirmative results from searches are returned as images and/or products that are displayed in pages. The returned images also include information indicating available products. The selection of a returned image causes a cut-down version of the image and all of the available products to be displayed in the same page. When an available product is selected, a server enables a transaction for a user to order the selected product. A Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) Cookie is employed to store a copy of a client identifier at a client.

Abstract: The invention provides a method, system and computer-readable medium for storing images with related information in a relational database and using the information to order available products for a selected image over a network. A unique identifier is generated for each image, allowing different types of searches of the relational database to be performed including product-based and image-based searches. A selection of a returned image causes a cut-down version of the image and all available products to be displayed on a page. If a product is selected, a server enables a transaction for a user to order the selected product. A HTTP Cookie may be employed to store a user identifier, allowing use of user profiles for customization of particular options and displayed products.

Abstract: A method system for tracking the state of an entity (e.g., an object) on behalf of a client (e.g., an application program). The states of an entity include up and down. The tracking system of the present invention receives a request from a client to track the state of an entity. The tracking system then watches the state of the entity to detect when the entity enters the up state. When the entity enters the up state, the tracking system performs a behavior that is specified by the client to be performed when the entity enters the up state. When the entity, is in the up state, the tracking system monitors the state of the entity to detect when the entity enters the down state. When the entity enters the down state, the tracking system performs a behavior that is specified by the client to be performed when the entity enters the down state.

Abstract: A method system for tracking the state of an entity (e.g., an object) on behalf of a client (e.g., an application program). The states of an entity include up and down. The tracking system of the present invention receives a request from a client to track the state of an entity. The tracking system then watches the state of the entity to detect when the entity enters the up state. When the entity enters the up state, the tracking system performs a behavior that is specified by the client to be performed when the entity enters the up state. When the entity, is in the up state, the tracking system monitors the state of the entity to detect when the entity enters the down state. When the entity enters the down state, the tracking system performs a behavior that is specified by the client to be performed when the entity enters the down state.