Tools and Techniques for Globally Unique Content Identification

The EHU/SMPTE Task force report highlighted the requirement for the unique identification of essence with the aim of tracking content throughout the television production process from acquisition to delivery. The term unique material identifier (UMID) was coined in order to be essentially different from the many unique program identifiers (UPID) that exist today. UPIDs rely on a registration process to assign numbers and these may be unique to an organization or (more recently) globally unique. UPIDs are a simple label whereas UMIDs identify every component part of a program and provide a linkage between the essence and its associated metadata. — This paper outlines the specification of the SMPTE UMID and shows how it can link metadata to essence in both streaming and storage applications. Even in a server-only-based solution, separation of metadata and essence is attractive from the viewpoint of access speed for program decisionmaking. Although the UMID is a key part of television production, it is essential to both analog and digital archives, where metadata is the key to speedy access of the desired material. The paper also addresses the operational issues arising from the introduction of the UMID into the program chain with particular regard to migration into existing systems.

Print ISSN

0036-1682

Published

2000-10

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J17572