Patent ID: 8527651

Claim:
A content identification method, comprising: selecting, by a secure content identification mechanism (SCIDM) client, a first identification mechanism for a content to be identified; extracting first identification information of the content corresponding to the first identification mechanism selected by the SCIDM client; sending a first content identification request by the SCIDM client, wherein the first content identification request comprises the first identification mechanism and the first identification information, and wherein the first content identification request requests an SCIDM server to search content data stored in the SCIDM server for the first identification information by using the first identification mechanism and to send an attribute of the content when the SCIDM server determines that the first identification information matches the content data stored in the SCIDM server; and when the SCIDM server determines that the first identification information does not match the content data stored in the SCIDM server, selecting, by the SCIDM client, a second identification mechanism for the content to be identified, extracting second identification information of the content corresponding to the second identification mechanism, and sending the second identification mechanism and the second identification information to the SCIDM server to request the SCIDM server to search the content data stored in the SCIDM server for the second identification information by using the second identification mechanism, wherein selecting the first identification mechanism or selecting the second identification mechanism comprises selecting the identification mechanism for the content to be identified based at least in part on a load condition of a content identification system, wherein a simple content identification mechanism is selected when the content identification system is under a low load, and wherein a complex content identification mechanism is selected when the content identification system is under a high load.