Method and system for managing digital assets

Abstract

A digital asset management method and system are responsive to user interactions with digital assets. Rankings are generated to reflect the value of the digital assets to a user, based in part on the access frequency and recency, and the number and types of uses of the digital assets. A storage access hierarchy is derived from the ranking, wherein higher ranked digital assets are more easily accessed than lower ranked digital assets. The digital assets can include any of digital images, audio files, and Uniform Resource Locators. The invention can distinguish between different types of uses, e.g. passive viewing or playback, file sharing, transport, and editing, wherein some types of uses imbue an asset with greater value than others. The user may assign subjective values to digital assets that can be factored into the ranking independently of usage patterns. A volatility-dampening attribute may moderate volatility in the access hierarchy.

1 . A method for managing digital assets across a network, comprising the steps of:
 providing at least one memory that is accessible to each of a plurality of devices associated with the network, wherein each of the at least one memory has an access time associated therewith;   monitoring interactions with the digital assets by a user through at least one of the plurality of devices, to track the extent of use and specific types of use of the digital assets by the user;   ranking the digital assets based on the monitored interactions; and   providing hierarchical storage of the ranked digital assets in the at least one memory based on the ranking step, wherein highly ranked digital assets are accessed in less time from the at least one memory than lower ranked digital assets.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the interactions with the digital assets comprise any of access to the digital assets or navigation to the digital assets. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of monitoring interactions comprises the steps of:
 identifying one or more types of use of any of the digital assets, wherein the types of use comprise any of visitation, playback, viewing, activation, sharing, transporting, and editing; and   assigning a score based on each identified type of use by the user associated with the monitoring step;   wherein the ranking step comprises ranking the accessed digital assets based on an accumulation of the assigned scores of the digital assets.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising the step of:
 re-ranking the digital assets only if a score of a first digital asset exceeds a score of a second previously higher ranked digital asset by a predetermined threshold.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the transporting comprises any of transmitting or receiving the digital assets. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the ranking step is based at least partially on any of recency of interactions, frequency of interactions, and number of interactions with the digital assets. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the ranking step further comprises the step of:
 applying a user-assigned value when providing the hierarchical storage.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the digital assets comprises any of a digital image file, a digital audio file, or an URL. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the monitoring step comprises the step of:
 monitoring a Web browser's navigation history.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising the step of:
 assigning a first score to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) based on the length of time spent by the user visiting a Web page represented by the URL and a second score if the user downloads digital information from a Web site associated with the URL; and   wherein the ranking step is at least partially based upon the first score and the second score.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising the steps of:
 assigning cumulative scores to a plurality of URL's activated by the user;   re-ranking the plurality of URL's only if a cumulative score assigned to a first URL exceeds a cumulative score assigned to a second previously higher ranked URL by a predetermined threshold.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
 sharing the hierarchically stored ranked digital assets with a plurality of networked devices.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein at least one of the networked devices comprises any of a computer, a CD player, an MP3 player, or a DVD player. 
     
     
         14 . A system for managing digital assets across a network, comprising:
 at least one memory that is accessible to each of a plurality of devices associated with the network, wherein each of the at least one memory has an access time associated therewith; and   at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to
 monitor interactions with the digital assets by a user through at least one device of the plurality of devices, to track the extent of use and specific types of use of the digital assets by the user, 
 rank the digital assets based on the monitored interactions, and 
 hierarchically store the ranked digital assets in the at least one memory based on the ranking, wherein highly ranked digital assets are accessible in less time from the at least one memory than lower ranked digital assets. 
   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the interactions with the digital assets comprise any of access to the digital assets or navigation to the digital assets. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the monitoring of interactions by the at least one processor comprises:
 an identification of one or more types of use of any of the digital assets by the user, wherein the types of use comprise any of visitation, playback, viewing, activation, sharing, transporting, and editing; and   an assignment of a score based on each identified type of use by the user associated with the monitoring; and   wherein the ranking of the digital assets by the at least one processor is based on an accumulation of the assigned scores of the digital assets.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to re-rank the digital assets only if a score of a first digital asset exceeds a score of a second previously higher ranked digital asset by a predetermined threshold. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the transporting comprises any of a transmission of the digital assets or a receipt of the digital assets. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the ranking of the digital assets by the at least one processor is based at least partially on any of recency of interactions, frequency of interactions, or number of interactions with the digital assets. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the ranking of the digital assets further by the at least one processor comprises:
 an application of a user-assigned value.   
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the digital assets comprise any of digital images, digital audio files, and URL's.