Determining connections between sound recordings and compositions

Implementations disclose determining connections between sound recordings and compositions. A method includes maintaining, by a server device of a content sharing platform, a serving structure to represent resources comprising sound recording resources and composition resources and explicit connections between the resources, generating a hypothesis structure from the serving structure, the hypothesis structure comprising the resources and the explicit connections of the serving structure and inferred connections between the resources, the inferred connections identified based on data comprised in the resources of the serving structure, and upon receiving a user approval of at least one of the inferred connections, adding, by the server device, the at least one of the inferred connections to the serving structure.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to the field of content sharing platforms and, in particular, to determining connections between sound recordings and compositions. These connections may be used, for example, in controlling access to items on a content sharing platform.

BACKGROUND

Content delivery platforms (also referred to as content sharing platforms), allow users to connect to and share information with each other. Many content delivery platforms include a content sharing aspect that allows users to upload, view, and share content, such as video items, image items, audio items, and so on. Other users of the content delivery platform may comment on the shared content, discover new content, locate updates, share content, and otherwise interact with the provided content. The shared content may include content from professional content creators, e.g., movie clips, TV clips, and music video items, as well as content from amateur content creators, e.g., video blogging and short original video items.

SUMMARY

In an aspect of the disclosure, a method includes maintaining, by a server device of a content sharing platform, a serving data structure (also referred to as a “serving structure” to represent resources comprising sound recording resources and composition resources and explicit connections between the resources, generating a hypothesis data structure (also referred to as a “hypothesis structure”) from the serving data structure, the hypothesis data structure comprising the resources and the explicit connections of the serving data structure and inferred connections between the resources, the inferred connections identified based on data comprised in the resources of the serving data structure, and upon receiving a user approval of at least one of the inferred connections, adding, by the server device, the at least one of the inferred connections to the serving data structure. (The term “hypothesis data structure” is used because this data structure includes, in addition to the explicit connections between the resources, inferred (or hypothesised) connections between resources.) In an implementation the method may further include controlling access to the sound recording resources and/or to the composition resources based on the updated serving data structure (where the “updated serving data structure” is the data structure obtained after addition of the at least one of the inferred connections to the serving data structure).

In one implementation, the resources include a container storing at least one of metadata, reference material, ownership information, or policies that correspond to the content items of the content sharing platform. In addition, the serving structure may comprise a graph data structure, and the explicit connections of the serving structure may be approved by owners of the resources of the content sharing platform. Furthermore, the hypothesis structure may include a graph data structure.

In another implementation, a request to approve the inferred connection is automatically accepted on behalf of the owner after expiration of a determined time period. Additionally, a feature implementing automatic acceptance of the request and the determined time period can be configured via input received from a user device of the owner. In some implementations, the method can include receiving, from a user device of the owner, the approval of the inferred connection, and updating the serving structure to comprise the inferred connection as an explicit connection in the serving structure.

The method may also include creating, based on the hypothesis structure, a request to remove one of the explicit connections from the serving structure, providing the request to another owner corresponding to the resources associated with the one of the explicit connections proposed to be removed from the serving structure, receiving approval of the request, and updating, responsive to receiving the approval of the request, the serving structure to remove the one of the explicit connections.

Furthermore, the method may further include applying a W pattern to the hypothesis structure to identify the inferred connections. In addition, the method may further include applying machine learning to the hypothesis structure to identify the inferred connections. In one implementation, generating the hypothesis structure includes utilizing metadata from the resources to determine whether to create the inferred connections in the hypothesis structure, the metadata comprising at least one of a title, a writer name, an industry identifier, or an ownership identifier.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a method comprises, at a processing device, receiving, via a graphical user interface (GUI), a request to add an inferred connection between a composition and a sound recording, the inferred connection represented in a hypothesis structure generated from a serving structure representing sound recording resources and composition resources associated with content items of a content sharing platform; providing, via the GUI, an indication of at least one of acceptance or rejection of the request; transmitting the indication to a server device maintaining the hypothesis structure, the indication to cause at least one of the hypothesis structure or the serving structure to be updated; and updating the GUI to reflect a result of the request based on the indication.

In one implementation, the resources may comprise a container storing at least one of metadata, reference material, ownership information, or policies that correspond to the content items of the content sharing platform. In one implementation the serving structure may comprises a graph data structure, and the explicit connections of the serving structure may be approved by owners of the resources of the content sharing platform. Additionally or alternatively the hypothesis structure may comprise a graph data structure. In one implementation the request is automatically accepted on behalf of the owner after expiration of a determined time period.

Computing devices for performing the operations of the above described method and the various implementations described herein are also disclosed. Computer-readable media that store instructions for performing operations associated with the above described method and the various implementations described herein are also disclosed. For example, another aspect of the disclosure provides a client device comprising: a memory; and a processing device coupled to the memory, wherein the processing device is configured to perform operations comprising a method according to any aspect or implementation described herein. A further aspect of the disclosure provides a machine-readable storage medium (which may be a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, although this aspect is not limited to this) storing instructions which, when executed, cause a processing device to perform operations comprising a method according to any aspect or implementation described herein. A further aspect of the present disclosure provides a method of controlling access to resources on a content sharing platform, the method comprising generating a serving data structure for the content sharing platform by a method according to any aspect or implementation described herein according; and controlling access to resources on the content based on the serving data structure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects and implementations of the disclosure are directed to determining connections between sound recordings and compositions, for example for use in control of access. In rights management systems (such as those utilized by content sharing platforms), a single work, idea, invention, design, etc. can have multiple, different owners. For example, the composer, publisher, and music label are just some of the many different owners that may have different rights to a song recording and each owner may be entitled to at least partially control the use of their work in force in a particular territory. Videos often have multiple layers of ownership complexity, including rights regarding music played along with the video and rights associated with video content derived from other works (e.g., a composition performed in the video).

Content sharing platforms can utilize a data structure to organize and indicate connections between resources (e.g., sound recordings, compositions, film, TV show, video, book, article, other artistic or creative work, etc.) and resource owners associated with content items delivered by the content sharing platform. A resource may refer to a discrete item, for example represented as a data object, which can be associated with the ownership rights of one or more owners. For example, a resource may refer to container (e.g., a class, a data structure, or an abstract data type (ADT) whose instances are collections of other objects; containers store objects in an organized way that follows specific access rules) for metadata, reference material, ownership information, and policies, which are all connected with a specific piece of content (e.g., a media content item of a content sharing platform). In a content sharing platform, a media content item may be associated with a number of these resources and corresponding resource owners. In conventional systems, each resource is associated with a single data object containing all known information concerning the ownership rights of that resource.

For example, the data structure may include resources for compositions and sound recordings. A composition may refer to an original piece of music, either a song or an instrumental music piece, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating or writing a new song or piece of music. For example, a composition may include the harmony, melody, form, rhythm, timbre, lyrics, and orchestration of a song. A sound recording may refer to a specific performance of a composition. For a composition resource representing a composition, the data structure of the conventional systems may include a single data object representing the composition resource. This data object for the composition resource reflects pertinent identifying information of the composition (e.g., title, industry identifiers, etc.), as well as each owner of the composition (there may be multiple owners) and each owner's share (33% ownership, etc.) in each territory (e.g., country, jurisdiction, etc.) associated with the composition.

While this data structure modeling of the conventional systems allows for information about a resource to be centralized (as all owners of the resource can contribute information to the single data object), it also results in inaccuracies and inefficiencies. Conflicting or incorrect data about the resource can be incorporated into the single data object in a way that is not easily remedied. For example, one owner of a composition resource may incorrectly provide ownership information as being associated with a first sound recording resource, when this ownership information should have been associated with a second different sound recording resource instead. As another example, an owner of a composition resource might provide ownership information in a first sound recording resource that is correct, but insufficiently distinguishing so as to disambiguate between different aspects of the resources' ownership. As another example, two different owners associated with the same composition resource may both provide incorrect information versus some unknown objective truth, where the provided information is contradictory between the two different owners.

Not only is validating and correcting such incorrect inputted data for a data object in the data structure difficult, but the incorrect data can result in the creation of inaccurate connections between resources in the data structure of the conventional system. If such a conventional system has a single data object per resource in the data structure, incorrect information may cause a merge to occur between the two resources. This merge may be performed to infer composition ownership that was not explicitly identified by an owner. Once the merge is complete, it can be difficult to back out of such a merge, as it is challenging to determine which information should be associated with which resource once the mistake is discovered. Manual review of records to reverse the error is laborious and time consuming, and has no guarantee of success.

One approach used by conventional systems to address at least a portion of the complex structure of ownership in the data structure of the content sharing platform is to model every sound recording resource in the data structure as though it has its own embedded composition resource. Using this model, owners of compositions can be asked to explicitly identify each sound recording resource maintained in the data structure that embodies each of the owner's compositions. As such, merging of composition resources in the data structure (to infer composition ownership that was not explicitly identified by an owner) can be avoided.

However, even such structuring of sound recording resources with embedded compositions based on explicit owner-provided information can lead to inaccuracies and missing information in the data structure of the content sharing platform. For example, utilization of explicit owner identification of the sound recordings that should embed the owner's compositions can result in missed connections between sound recordings and compositions, as a composition owner may not be aware of all of the sound recording resources in the content sharing platform that may embody the composition. Furthermore, errors can still result from incorrect information and connections mistakenly inputted by an owner of a composition.

Aspects of the disclosure address the above-mentioned and other challenges by providing a rights management component that includes a connection proposal generator to assist owners in providing data for the connections between sound recording resources and compositions. The connection proposal generator proposes potential connections (i.e., links or relationships) between sounds recordings and compositions in a data structure based on existing connections explicitly identified by owners and other signals garnered from data of the resources of the data structure. The connection proposal generator may provide the proposed connection to the owners as a suggestion for acceptance as an explicit connection in the data structure. If the proposed connection is accepted, the rights management component can add the proposed connection as an explicit connection between sound recording and composition in the data structure of resources managed by the rights management component of the content sharing platform.

Accordingly, aspects of the disclosure provide technical solutions by which non-explicit (e.g., not directly identified or approved by an owner) connections between sound recordings and compositions in a data structure of resources managed by a content sharing platform can be inferred and proposed to owners of compositions. This results in more comprehensive ownership and rights data for the resources of the content sharing platform. Furthermore, this increases the reliability of content sharing platforms, and reduces or eliminates the inaccuracies and missing information in the data structure of the content sharing platform. The content sharing platform can thus make better and more-informed decisions regarding playability of content items and ownership of content items. By providing sound recording to composition connection proposals, aspects of the disclosure eliminate the need for additional operations to perform corrective actions when generating connections between compositions and sound recordings in a data structure of resources of the content sharing platform, thereby resulting in more efficient use of computing (processing) resources and in an improved user experience.

Implementations of the disclosure often reference videos for simplicity and brevity. However, the teaching of the disclosure are applied to media items generally and can be applied to various types of content or media items, including for example, video, audio, text, images, program instructions, etc.

FIG.1illustrates an example system architecture100, in accordance with one implementation of the disclosure. The system architecture100includes client devices110A through110Z, a network105, a data store106, a content sharing platform120, and a server130. In one implementation, network105may include a public network (e.g., the Internet), a private network (e.g., a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN)), a wired network (e.g., Ethernet network), a wireless network (e.g., an 802.11 network or a Wi-Fi network), a cellular network (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network), routers, hubs, switches, server computers, and/or a combination thereof. In one implementation, the data store106may be a memory (e.g., random access memory), a cache, a drive (e.g., a hard drive), a flash drive, a database system, or another type of component or device capable of storing data. The data store106may also include multiple storage components (e.g., multiple drives or multiple databases) that may also span multiple computing devices (e.g., multiple server computers).

The client devices110A through110Z may each include computing devices such as personal computers (PCs), laptops, mobile phones, smart phones, tablet computers, netbook computers, network-connected televisions, etc. In some implementations, client device110A through110Z may also be referred to as “user devices.” Each client device includes a media viewer111. In one implementation, the media viewers111may be applications that allow users to view content, such as images, videos, web pages, documents, etc. For example, the media viewer111may be a web browser that can access, retrieve, present, and/or navigate content (e.g., web pages such as Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) pages, digital media items, etc.) served by a web server. The media viewer111may render, display, and/or present the content (e.g., a web page, a media viewer) to a user. The media viewer111may also display an embedded media player (e.g., a Flash® player or an HTML5 player) that is embedded in a web page (e.g., a web page that may provide information about a product sold by an online merchant). In another example, the media viewer111may be a standalone application (e.g., a mobile application or app) that allows users to view digital media items (e.g., digital videos, digital images, electronic books, etc.). According to aspects of the disclosure, the media viewer111may be a content sharing platform application for users to record, edit, and/or upload content for sharing on the content sharing platform, and implements sound recording to composition connection proposals for the content sharing platform. In some implementations, the content sharing platform provides a music streaming service, and the media viewer111is a music streaming services application that provides music content and implements sound recording to composition connection proposals as part of the music streaming service.

The media viewers111may be provided to the client devices110A through110Z by the server130and/or content sharing platform120. For example, the media viewers111may be embedded media players that are embedded in web pages provided by the content sharing platform120. In another example, the media viewers111may be applications that are downloaded from the server130.

Functions described in one implementation as being performed by the content sharing platform120can also be performed on the client devices110A through110Z in other implementations, if appropriate. In addition, the functionality attributed to a particular component can be performed by different or multiple components operating together. The content sharing platform120can also be accessed as a service provided to other systems or devices through appropriate application programming interfaces, and thus is not limited to use in websites.

In one implementation, the content sharing platform120may be one or more computing devices (such as a rackmount server, a router computer, a server computer, a personal computer, a mainframe computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, etc.), data stores (e.g., hard disks, memories, databases), networks, software components, and/or hardware components that may be used to provide a user with access to media items and/or provide the media items to the user. For example, the content sharing platform120may allow a user to consume, upload, search for, approve of (“like”), dislike, and/or comment on media items. The content sharing platform120may also include a website (e.g., a webpage) or application back-end software that may be used to provide a user with access to the media items.

In implementations of the disclosure, a “user” may be represented as a single individual. However, other implementations of the disclosure encompass a “user” being an entity controlled by a set of users and/or an automated source. For example, a set of individual users federated as a community in a social network may be considered a “user”. In another example, an automated consumer may be an automated ingestion pipeline, such as a topic channel, of the content sharing platform120.

The content sharing platform120may host data content, such as media items121. The data content can be digital content chosen by a user, digital content made available by a user, digital content uploaded by a user, digital content chosen by a content provider, digital content chosen by a broadcaster, etc. Examples of a media item121can include, and are not limited to, digital video, digital movies, digital photos, digital music, website content, social media updates, electronic books (ebooks), electronic magazines, digital newspapers, digital audio books, electronic journals, web blogs, real simple syndication (RSS) feeds, electronic comic books, software applications, etc. In some implementations, media item121is also referred to as a content item.

A media item121may be consumed via the Internet and/or via a mobile device application. For brevity and simplicity, an online video (also hereinafter referred to as a video) is used as an example of a media item121throughout this document. As used herein, “media,” media item,” “online media item,” “digital media,” “digital media item,” “content,” and “content item” can include an electronic file that can be executed or loaded using software, firmware or hardware configured to present the digital media item to an entity. In one implementation, the content sharing platform120may store the media items121using the data store106.

In one implementation, the server130may be one or more computing devices (e.g., a rackmount server, a server computer, etc.). In one implementation, the server130may be included in the content sharing platform120. The server130may include a rights management component140to implement sound recording to composition connection proposals for the content sharing platform120. In some implementations, rights management component140of server130may interact with content sharing platform120to provide implementations of the disclosure.

In one implementation, rights management component140allows owners (owner users of the content sharing platform120) to submit information regarding their ownership of resources to the rights management component140. A resource is a discrete item that can be associated with the ownership rights of one or more owners. For example, a resource may refer to a container (e.g., a class, a data structure, or an abstract data type (ADT) whose instances are collections of other objects; containers store objects in an organized way that follows specific access rules) for metadata, reference material, ownership information, and policies, which are all connected with a specific piece of content (e.g., media item (content item)121of content sharing platform120).

Examples of types of resources include, but are not limited to, composition (such as of a song), sound recording, film, TV show, video, book, article, or other artistic or creative work. Resources can be incorporated into or be otherwise present in one or more content items121of the content sharing platform120, both partially and in full. For example, a content item121can reproduce a resource or a portion of a resource, such as a content item reproducing a clip of a movie. Alternatively, a content item121can incorporate resources, for example a video including a song as background audio with overlapping dialogue.

In some cases, a single resource can be owned partially by multiple owners in a variety of ways. Examples includes, but are not limited to, partial ownership based on geographic region (territory) or media type, or based on a percentage ownership split. As owners provide additional information to the rights management component140, the rights management component140can adapt its understanding of the ownership of resources based on new information. For example, the rights management component140allows owners, via client devices110A-110Z, to describe resources and affiliated content items that they own rights to via a disclosure graphical user interface (GUI) presented on the client devices110A-110Z.

The rights management component140further allows owners, via a GUI on a client device110A-110Z, to disclose and assert their rights over resources incorporated into content items121associated with the content sharing platform120. Owners may provide an indication or statement that a specific content item of the content sharing platform120comprises a resource owned by an owner or otherwise affects an owner's rights to a resource. Based on receiving such an indication from an owner, the rights management component140can associate a content item with a resource owned by that owner.

In some implementations, the content sharing platform120may take action based on requests from owners of resources associated with a content item. For example, the content sharing platform120can restrict a content item121from being displayed to some or all users based on a request by an owner associated with a resource included within the content item. The content sharing platform120is able to access rights information for resources associated with content items from the rights management component140to determine whether particular content items121are permitted to be presented to particular client devices110A-110Z. The rights management component140can be integrated into the content sharing platform120, connected to the content sharing platform120over the network105, directly connected to the content sharing platform120(for example over an Ethernet connection), or otherwise connected to the content sharing platform120by any suitable method.

As discussed above, due to the large number of media content items121and the potentially complex structure of ownership rights for each content item121, errors and inaccuracies in information about ownership rights can be common within the rights management component140. To address this, the rights management component140may maintain a rights management data structure (e.g., stored in data store106) to organize the resources of the content sharing platform120and to indicate connections between the resources and the resource owners. In particular, the data structure may model every sound recording resource in the data structure as though it has its own embedded composition resource. Using this model, owners of compositions can be asked to explicitly identify each sound recording resource maintained in the data structure that embodies each of the owner's compositions

However, even such structuring of sound recording resources with embedded compositions based on explicit owner-provided information can lead to gaps and missing information in the data structure of the content sharing platform. For example, utilization of explicit owner identification of the sound recordings that should embed the owner's compositions can result in missed connections between sound recordings and compositions, as a composition owner may not be aware of all of the sound recording resources in the content sharing platform that may embody the composition. Furthermore, errors can still result from incorrect information and connections mistakenly inputted by an owner of a composition.

Aspects of the disclosure address the above-mentioned and other challenges by providing a rights management component140that includes a connection proposal generator145to assist owners in providing data for the connections between sound recording resources and compositions. The connection proposal generator145proposes potential connections (i.e., links or relationships) between sounds recordings and compositions in the data structure based on existing connections explicitly identified by owners and other signals garnered from data of the resources of the data structure. The connection proposal generator145may provide the proposed connection to the owners (at client device110A-110Z) as a suggestion for acceptance as an explicit connection in the data structure. If the proposed connection is accepted, the rights management component140can add the proposed connection as an explicit connection between sound recording and composition in the data structure of resources managed by the rights management component of the content sharing platform. This results in a more comprehensive ownership and rights data for the resources of the content sharing platform120. Further description of the rights management component140and connection proposal generator145, as well as their specific functions, are described in more detail below with respect toFIG.2.

Although implementations of the disclosure are discussed in terms of content sharing platforms and providing sound recording to composition connection proposals for the content sharing platform, implementations may also be generally applied to any type of social network providing connections between users. Implementations of the disclosure are not limited to content sharing platforms that provide channel subscriptions to users.

FIG.2is a block diagram illustrating a rights management component140in accordance with one implementation of the disclosure. As discussed above, the rights manager component140may interact with a single network (for example content sharing platform, such as content sharing platform120or a social network), or may be utilized among multiple networks (e.g., provided as a service of a content sharing platform that is utilized by other third party networks such as social networks). In one implementation, the rights management component140includes a device interface component210, a serving data structure component220, a hypothesis data structure component230, a connection proposal generator240, and a serving data structure update component250. In one implementation, connection proposal generator240is the same as connection proposal generator145described with respect toFIG.1. More or less components may be included in the rights management component140without loss of generality. For example, two of the modules may be combined into a single module, or one of the modules may be divided into two or more modules. In one implementation, one or more of the modules may reside on different computing devices (e.g., different server computers, on a single client device, or distributed among multiple client devices, etc.). Furthermore, one or more of the modules may reside on different content sharing platforms, third party social networks, and/or external servers.

The rights management component140is communicatively coupled to the data store106. For example, the rights management component140may be coupled to the data store106via a network (e.g., via network105as illustrated inFIG.1). The data store106may be a memory (e.g., random access memory), a cache, a drive (e.g., a hard drive), a flash drive, a database system, or another type of component or device capable of storing data. The data store106may also include multiple storage components (e.g., multiple drives or multiple databases) that may also span multiple computing devices (e.g., multiple server computers). The data store106includes content item data290, user data291, and rights data292(which may further include resource data293, serving data294, and hypothesis data295).

As discussed above, the rights management component140enables providing sound recording to composition connection requests (proposals) for rights management in a content sharing platform according to implementations of the disclosure. As such, in implementations of the disclosure, the rights management component140proposes potential connections (i.e., links or relationships) between sounds recordings and compositions based on the existing connections explicitly identified by owners and other signals garnered from data of the resources.

The device interface component210allows the rights management component140to communicate with user devices (such as user device110A-110Z ofFIG.1) and vice versa. Specifically, the device interface component210receives information describing asserted resources or claims from user devices. Similarly, the device interface component210transmits information about potential claims to one or more user devices. The device interface component210can receive and transmit information to user devices by any suitable method, such as through a website, through a dedicated software application, through email, or through any other suitable inter-device communication method.

The device interface component210also provides a graphical user interface (GUI) accessible to owners, for example through a user device, that allows an owner to view, update, or add to information about their associated asserted resources managed by the rights management component140. The asserted resources may be maintained as part of rights data292, specifically as resource data293, in data store106. As discussed above, a resource may refer to a container (e.g., a class, a data structure, or an abstract data type (ADT) whose instances are collections of other objects; containers store objects in an organized way that follows specific access rules) for metadata, reference material, ownership information, and policies, which are all connected with a specific piece of content (e.g., as stored in content item data290of data store106). Examples of types of resources include, but are not limited to, composition (such as of a song), sound recording, film, TV show, video, book, article, or other artistic or creative work. Resources can be incorporated into or be otherwise present in one or more content items of the content sharing platform, both partially and in full.

The GUI provided by device interface component210allows owners to submit claims and displays proposals (such as the sound recording to composition proposals described herein) associated with the owner's resources to the owners. Generally, an owner is able to access or modify information provided by that owner, however other policies may apply. An owner interacts with individual asserted resources through the GUI on the user device. One or both of the owner and GUI uses the asserted resource IDs as a means for transacting with the right management component140regarding information to be added, updated, deleted, claims to be made, etc. The rights management component140can be configured so that even if the reconciled resource associated with an asserted resource is modified, split, merged, or changed, the asserted resource ID remains consistent, and the changes in the reconciled resource do not affect the owner's interaction with their associated asserted resource.

Once resource information is received via device interface component210and stored as resource data293in rights data292, serving data structure component220generates and/or updates a serving data structure (also referred to herein as a serving structure) with the received resource information. The serving data structure maintained by serving data structure component220may represent resources and connections between resources that have been explicitly provided and/or approved by owners of the content sharing platform. As such, data, such as resources and connections, is represented in the serving data structure when an owner provides or approves this data (i.e., no inferred connections are represented in the serving data structure).

In one implementation, the serving data structure is used by the content sharing platform as a model of ownership rights and policies that are applied to content items of the content sharing platform. As such, playability of content items and/or payments associated with content items is based on the serving data structure maintained by the rights management component140. The serving data structure may be maintained as serving data294of rights data292in data store106.

The serving data structure may include a serving graph implemented as a graph data structure. A graph data structure may include structured information about a corpus of resources and relational connections between the corpus of resource, wherein the corpus of resource comprises the resources. A graph data structure may include a finite set of vertices (or nodes or points), together with a set of unordered pairs of these vertices for an undirected graph or a set of ordered pairs for a direct graph. These pairs are known as edges, arcs, or lines for an undirected graph and as arrows, directed edges, directed arcs, or directed lines for a direct graph. Different data structures may be used for the representation of graphs including, but not limited to, an adjacency list, an adjacency matrix, or an incidence matrix.

In some implementations, data structures other than a graph data structure may be used to represent the resources and connections of the content sharing platform in the serving data structure. For example, a table data structure may be implemented to represent the resources and connections between resources of the content sharing platform. Implementations of the disclosure are not limited to solely graph data structures. However, for ease of explanation and simplicity, graph data structures are referenced in the description below.

Utilizing the serving data structure, the hypothesis data structure component230may generate a hypothesis data structure (also referred to herein as an hypothesis structure) that is used to infer additional connections between resources in the serving data structure. As discussed above, the serving data structure is generated based on the policy that owners of a composition resource should explicitly identify each sound recording resource that embodies the owner's composition in order to benefit from uses of that sound recording resource across the content sharing platform. Accordingly, the serving data structure illustrates those explicit connections between sound recordings and composition, and not connections that could be inferred from other data and information of the serving data structure. The hypothesis data structure component230is provided to generate a separate hypothesis data structure that can be used to identify inferred (non-explicit or not owner-identified) connections between sound recordings and compositions that can be used to increase comprehensiveness of the serving data structure.

In one implementation, the hypothesis data structure may include a hypothesis graph implemented as a graph data structure. In one implementation, the hypothesis data structure may be maintained as hypothesis data295in rights data of data store106.

In one implementation, the hypothesis data structure component230may infer the additional connections in the hypothesis data structure using a variety of techniques. The inferred additional connections may be selected based on various data provided from primary data sources of the sound recording and composition resources, as well as from secondary data sources. The primary data examined by the hypothesis data structure component230may be metadata found in the composition resources themselves, such as a title, writers, industry identifiers for compositions (e.g., ISWC, HFA, etc.), industry identifiers for sound recordings (e.g., ISRC), and ownership, to name a few examples. The secondary data sources may include the sound recordings and sound recording owners, who can provide feedback on whether the composition is related to the sound recording (e.g., do the songs sound alike, similar metadata, etc.).

In one implementation, using the above noted data, the hypothesis data structure component230can apply a “W pattern” or “M pattern” to the generated hypothesis data structure to identify inferred connections between sound recordings and compositions.FIG.3is an example of application of a “W pattern” to a hypothesis data structure to identify inferred connections (also referred to as “proposed connections”).

FIG.3is a block diagram illustrating at least a portion of hypothesis data structure300according to implementations of the disclosure. In one implementation, hypothesis data structure300is a hypothesis graph that is generated and maintained by rights management component140ofFIGS.1and2, and stored as hypothesis data295in data store106. In hypothesis data structure300, circles310A-310D represent sound recordings, squares320A-320D represent compositions, and triangles330,332,334represent ownership by a particular owner. In the hypothesis data structure300, each sound recording310A-310D includes one or more embedded compositions320A-320D. The solid lines340represent an explicit (e.g., owner-provided or approved) link or connection that exists between an owner of a composition320A-320D and a sound recording310A-310D. The dashed lines350represent an inferred or proposed (not indicated by an owner) link or connection that exists between an owner of a composition320A-320D and a sound recording310A-310D.

The hypothesis data structure300ofFIG.3illustrates some potential sound recording to composition connection proposals for the owner corresponding to the O2 resource332. As shown inFIG.3, O1 resource330, which represents a first owner of a composition, and O2 resource332, which represents a second owner of the composition, have explicitly established, via explicit connections340, co-ownership of the composition COMP SR2320B embedded in the sound recording SR2310B, via asserted compositions resources330,332(shown as embedded within COMP SR2320B. The hypothesis data structure300may then infer proposed connections350between O2 resource332and both of COMP SR1320A and COMP SR3320C, which are the other sound recordings to which O1 resource330has been explicitly linked. This is an application of a “W pattern” or “M pattern”, as the common explicit connections340of 2 or more owners are used to generate proposed connections350in a visual “W pattern” or “M pattern” format.

Furthermore, based on the hypothesis data structure300, the hypothesis data structure component230ofFIG.2may decide not to propose SR4310D to the owner corresponding to the O2 resource332, because this owner of the O2 resource332has not explicitly expressed agreement that O1 resource330and O2 resource332refer to the same composition. However, if the owner corresponding to the O2 resource332accepts the proposal of the proposed connection350to SR3310C, then the hypothesis data structure component230has a better signal to support proposing SR4310D to the owner corresponding to the O2 resource332.

Based on the hypothesis data structure300, the hypothesis data structure component230ofFIG.2could also decide to propose SR4310D to the owner corresponding to O1 resource330, as well as SR1310A and SR2310B to the owner corresponding to the O3 resource334.

The decision by the hypothesis data structure component230to infer connections between sounds recording and compositions (or, in some cases, to select an inferred connection for a proposal) may be based on signals corresponding to the primary and secondary data discussed above. For example, metadata provided by a composition resource of proposal recipient should be consistent with the other metadata provided by owners of embedded (explicitly) composition resources in the destination sound recording. For example, with reference to hypothesis data structure300ofFIG.3, the metadata of O2 resource332as compared to the metadata provided by O1 resource330and O3 resource334on the embedded compositions for SR3310C. In one example, the metadata of the composition resources may be compared to determine whether the industry identifiers for the compositions resources are the same, whether the writer names in the compositions resources are consistent, whether the titles provided by the composition resources are consistent, and so on.

In implementations of the disclosure, different techniques, other than the W pattern/M pattern, can be used for inferring connections between sound recording and compositions based on data in a hypothesis data structure. For example, as discussed above, machine learning may be applied to the hypothesis data structure to identify inferred connections between sound recordings and compositions. Machine learning may refer to a technique that provides computing devices the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. Machine learning utilizes a machine learning model that may refer to a model artifact that is created by a training engine using training data that includes training inputs and corresponding target outputs (correct answers for respective training inputs). A training engine, which trains the machine learning model, may find patterns in the training data that map the training input to the target output (the answer to be predicted), and provide the machine learning model that captures these patterns. The machine learning model may be composed of, e.g., a single level of linear or non-linear operations (e.g., a support vector machine [SVM]) or may be a deep network, i.e., a machine learning model that is composed of multiple levels of non-linear operations. An example of a deep network is a neural network with one or more hidden layers, and such machine learning model may be trained by, for example, adjusting weights of a neural network in accordance with a backpropagation learning algorithm or the like.

Depending on the particular technique implemented by the hypothesis data structure component230to identify and/or selected inferred connections between sound recordings and compositions, more or less proposed connections350than illustrated in hypothesis data structure300inFIG.3may be inferred.

Referring back toFIG.2, once the inferred connections are generated and/or selected by the hypothesis data structure component230from the hypothesis data structure, a proposal to an owner may be generated corresponding to these inferred connections. The rights management component140includes a connection proposal generator240to assist owners in providing data for the connections between sounds recording resources and compositions. The connection proposal generator240may generate and provide proposals for the selected inferred connections (i.e., a sound recording to composition connection proposal) from the hypothesis data structure to the owners. The proposal may include a suggestion for the owner to accept the proposed connection as an explicit link in the serving data structure.

If the proposed connection is accepted, the serving data structure update component250can add the proposed connection as an explicit connection between sound recording and composition in the serving data structure managed by the rights management component140. This results in a more comprehensive ownership and rights data for the resources of the content sharing platform. In one implementation, the proposal is provided to the owner via a GUI.FIG.7described further below details one example of a GUI for a sound recording to composition connection proposal that may be provided by the connection proposal generator240to an owner. In other implementations, the proposal may be provided to the owner via other communication mediums, such as e-mail message, word processing document, spreadsheet (e.g., comma separated value (CSV) document, and so on.

If the proposed connection is rejected by the owner, then proposed connection is not added to the serving data structure and is also removed as an inferred connection from the hypothesis data structure. In both cases, the acceptance or the rejection by an owner is provided as feedback data that is input to the hypothesis data structure component for use in later generation and/or maintenance of the hypothesis data structure.

As some owners in a content sharing platform may receive a large number of proposals from the connection proposal generator240, the connection proposal generator may provide an automatic acceptance feature in conjunction with the proposal. The automatic acceptance feature, when configured to be implemented by an owner, causes proposals sent to the owner to be automatically accepted by the connection proposal generator240on the owner's behalf after expiration of a determined time period (e.g., immediately, hours, days, weeks, etc.). The determined time period of the automatic acceptance feature may be configured by the owner. Furthermore, the automatic acceptance feature can be configured with varying levels of granularity, for example, by applying the automatic acceptance feature to those proposals that are associated with a determined level of accuracy confidence. For those proposals that do not satisfy the determined level of accuracy confidence, the connection proposal generator240may indicate in the proposal that the proposal should be manually reviewed by the owner.

In one implementation, the connection proposal generator240may also generate proposals to remove explicit connections from the hypothesis data structure, and therefore the serving data structure as well. When the hypothesis data structure component230determines, with a high level of confidence, that an explicit connection between a sound recording and a composition is incorrect, the connection proposal generator240can indicate this to the owner and can, optionally, attach an automatic acceptance feature to this deletion proposal as well.

FIG.4is a flow diagram illustrating a method400for determining connections between sound recordings to compositions, according to an implementation of the disclosure. The method400may be performed by processing logic that comprises hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions run on a processing device to perform hardware simulation), or a combination thereof.

Method400begins at block410where a processing device maintains a serving structure to represent resources of the content sharing platform and explicit connections between the resources, wherein the resources correspond to sound recording resources and composition resources associated with content items of the content sharing platform. At block420, the processing device generates a hypothesis structure from the serving structure, the hypothesis structure comprising the resources and the explicit connections of the serving structure and inferred connections between the resources, the inferred connections identified based on data comprised in the resources of the serving structure. The serving structure and the hypothesis structure may be implemented as graph data structures in implementations of the disclosure.

Subsequently, at block430, the processing device creates a proposal to add at least one of the inferred connections to the serving structure. Lastly, at block440, the processing device, provides the proposal to an owner corresponding to a composition resource of the resources, the composition resource associated with the inferred connection.

FIG.5is a flow diagram illustrating another method500for determining connections between sound recordings to compositions, according to some implementations of the disclosure. The method500may be performed by processing logic that comprises hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions run on a processing device to perform hardware simulation), or a combination thereof. In one implementation, method500may be performed by rights management component140as shown inFIGS.1and2.

Method500begins at block510where a processing device maintain a serving graph or other serving data structure to represent resources of the content sharing platform and explicit connections between the resources, wherein the resources correspond to sound recording resources and composition resources associated with content items of the content sharing platform. Then, at block520, the processing device generates a hypothesis graph or other hypothesis data structure from the serving graph/other serving data structure, the hypothesis graph comprising the resources and the explicit connections of the serving graph and inferred connections between the resources. In one implementation, the inferred connections are identified based on application of at least one of a W pattern or a machine learning model to the serving graph. In one implementation, the W pattern includes utilizing common explicit connections of two or more owners to generate proposed connections in a visual “W pattern” or “M pattern” format. In another implementation, the machine learning includes a technique that provides computing devices the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. Machine learning utilizes a machine learning model that may refer to a model artifact that is created by a training engine using training data that includes training inputs and corresponding target outputs (correct answers for respective training inputs). Furthermore, the inferred connection may be identified based on data comprised in the resources of the serving graph.

Subsequently, at block530, the processing device sends, to a user device of the owner corresponding to a composition resource of the resources, a request to approve at least one of the inferred connections in the hypothesis graph. Lastly, at block540, the processing device updates the serving graph with the at least one of the inferred connections responsive to receiving an indication of acceptance of the request. The updated serving graph, or other updated serving data structure, may then be used to, for example, control access to the resources of the content sharing platform, such as the sound recordings and/or the compositions. For example, a rights management component, such as the rights management component140ofFIGS.1and2may control access to the resources of the content sharing platform on the basis of the updated serving graph (or other updated serving data structure).

FIG.6is a flow diagram illustrating a method600for receiving a sound recording to composition connection request at a user device, according to some implementations of the disclosure. The method600may be performed by processing logic that comprises hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions run on a processing device to perform hardware simulation), or a combination thereof. In one implementation, method600may be performed by client device110A-110Z as shown inFIG.1.

Method600begins at block610where a processing device receives, via a graphical user interface (GUI), a request to add an inferred connection between a composition and a sound recording. In one implementation, the inferred connection represented in a hypothesis structure generated from a serving structure representing sound recording resources and composition resources associated with content items of a content sharing platform. In one implementation, the request is the same as the proposal discussed herein. Then, at block620, the processing device provides, via the GUI, an indication of at least one of acceptance or rejection of the request.

Subsequently, at block630, the processing device transmits the indication to a server device maintaining the hypothesis structure, the indication to cause at least one of the hypothesis structure or the serving structure to be updated. Lastly, at block640, the processing device updates the GUI to reflect a result of the request based on the indication.

FIG.7is an example screenshot of a sound recording to composition connection request UI700according to implementations of the disclosure. UI700may be displayed to notify an owner (e.g., a composition owner corresponding to a particular composition resource of a content sharing platform) of a proposed connection between their composition (as represented by the composition resource) and one or more sound recordings of the content sharing platform. In some implementations, the UI700may include a composition resource identification portion701that includes a composition resource title702, a resource type703(e.g., composition share), and data and time stamp data704for when the composition resource was generated. UI700may also include a composition resource tab portion705including a metadata tab706, an ownership and policy tab707, and a sound recordings tab708. The sound recordings tab708is shown as currently selected (e.g., underlined) in UI700, and may include one or more sound recordings associated with the composition resource. UI700may further include a sound recording to composition connection proposal portion710.

In some implementations, the sound recording to composition connection proposal portion710may include an active tab711, a proposed tab712, and a declined tab713. The active tab711, when selected, may provide identification of one or more sound recordings that are explicitly linked to the composition resource (e.g., the composition resource is embedded in the sounds recordings). The proposed tab712, when selected, may provide identification of one or more sound recordings that are inferred to be related to the composition resource and have proposals pending to link to generate an explicit link to the composition resource. The declined tab713, when selected, may provide identification of one or more sounds recordings that were previously proposed to be linked to the composition resource but were declined by the owner.

As shown in UI700, the proposed tab712is currently shown as being selected in the UI700. As previously discussed, the proposed tab712may provide identification of one or more sound recordings that are inferred to be related to the composition resource and have proposals pending to link to generate an explicit link to the composition resource. In one implementation, the sound recording to composition connection proposal generation described with respect toFIGS.1through7above may be used to generate the proposals provided in proposed tab712. Proposed tab712may include one or more sound recording entries715A-715N, that each include sound recording identifying information716, such as a title and creation date, as well as sound recording metadata717(e.g., industry identifier, number of claims, daily views, etc.) corresponding to the particular sound recording715A-715N. Proposed tab712may also include a search box714to allow a user to input search terms to locate a particular sound recording listed in the proposed tab712. In addition, the sound recording entries715A-715N may be arranged based on different criteria (e.g., approximate daily views, etc.) using a sort by element740(such as a drop down box to select the criteria to apply to the sound recording entries715A-715N for ordering purposes).

Each sound recording entry715A-715N may also include a selection element720(such as a check box, etc.) to enable an owner to select the respective sound recording entry715A-715N. Once selected, the owner may input a decision regarding the proposed connection of the sound recording to the composition resource. The decision may include accepting (e.g., add share) or rejecting (e.g., remove share) the proposal. For example, the user may select the accept element725to accept the proposal to link the selected sound recording to the composition resource, or may select the reject element730to reject the proposal to link the selected sound recording to the composition resource. The selection element720enabled the user to select more than one sound recording entry715A-715N to apply a decision (i.e., accept or reject) against. As discussed above, in some implementations, an automatic acceptance feature may be configured by the owner to automatically accept proposals after a determined time period has passed, thus bypassing the manual decision process provided via UI700.

The exemplary computer system800includes a processing device802, a main memory804(e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) (such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), etc.), a static memory806(e.g., flash memory, static random access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storage device818, which communicate with each other via a bus830. Any of the signals provided over various buses described herein may be time multiplexed with other signals and provided over one or more common buses. Additionally, the interconnection between circuit components or blocks may be shown as buses or as single signal lines. Each of the buses may alternatively be one or more single signal lines and each of the single signal lines may alternatively be buses.

The computer system800may further include a network interface device808. The computer system800also may include a video display unit810(e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), an alphanumeric input device812(e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device814(e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device816(e.g., a speaker).

The data storage device818may include a computer-readable storage medium828(also referred to as a machine-readable storage medium), on which is stored one or more set of instructions822(e.g., software) embodying any one or more of the methodologies of functions described herein. The instructions822may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory804and/or within the processing device802during execution thereof by the computer system800; the main memory804and the processing device802also constituting machine-readable storage media. The instructions822may further be transmitted or received over a network820via the network interface device808.

The computer-readable storage medium828may also be used to store instructions to perform a method for providing a sound recording to composition connection proposals for a content sharing platform, as described herein. While the computer-readable storage medium828is shown in an exemplary implementation to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable storage medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing information in a form (e.g., software, processing application) readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, magnetic storage medium (e.g., floppy diskette); optical storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM); magneto-optical storage medium; read-only memory (ROM); random-access memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory (e.g., EPROM and EEPROM); flash memory; or another type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions.

The preceding description sets forth numerous specific details such as examples of specific systems, components, methods, and so forth, in order to provide a good understanding of several implementations of the disclosure. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that at least some implementations of the disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known components or methods are not described in detail or are presented in simple block diagram format in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the disclosure. Thus, the specific details set forth are merely exemplary. Particular implementations may vary from these exemplary details and still be contemplated to be within the scope of the disclosure. For example, any feature that is described herein with reference to one aspect or implementation may be provided in any other aspect or implementation.

Reference throughout this specification to “one implementation” or “an implementation” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the implementation is included in at least one implementation. Thus, the appearances of the phrase “in one implementation” or “in an implementation” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same implementation. In addition, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or.”