System and method for providing supplemental information relevant to selected content in media

A computer system for providing supplemental information to a user of media, comprising:

• a digital media database;
• a supplemental information database;
• and
• a digital media server in communication with the digital media database and supplemental information database, wherein the digital media server is configured to:
• receive an image of selected content in the media;
• generate a new data type representation of the selected content from the image;
• identify a source of the selected content from which the selected content derives, wherein the source of the selected content is identified using the new data type representation;
• retrieve supplemental information from the supplemental information database that is relevant to the source of the selected content;
• and
• provide the supplemental information to the user of the media,
• wherein the digital media database contains content of known source, and the digital media server is configured to identify the source of the selected content by recognizing some or all of the selected content in the new data type representation and searching the digital media database for matching content, and when matching content is found, identifying the source of the selected content based on the known source of the matching content.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents stored thereon cause a computing system to:

• obtain an image of selected content in media being used by a user without requiring affirmative input from the user;
• generate a new data type representation of the selected content from the image;
• automatically identify an author of the selected content, wherein the author of the selected content is identified using the new data type representation;
• obtain supplemental information that is relevant to the author of the selected content;
• and
• provide the supplemental information in a form accessible to the user of the media,
• wherein the new data type representation is a digital signature generated from the image of the selected content, and
• wherein the author of the selected content is identified by:
• generating the digital signature from the image of the selected content;
• searching digital signatures of content of known source for a matching digital signature;
• and
• when a matching digital signature is found, identifying the author of the selected content based on the known source of the image having the matching digital signature.

A computer-implemented method for providing supplemental information to a user of media in which the supplemental information is relevant to selected content in the media, the method comprising:

• obtaining an image of the selected content in the media;
• generating a new data type representation of the selected content from the image;
• identifying a source of the selected content using the new data type representation;
• obtaining supplemental information that is relevant to the source of the selected content;
• and
• providing the supplemental information to the user of the media,
• wherein the new data type representation is a digital signature generated from the image of the selected content, and
• wherein the source of the selected content is identified by:
• generating the digital signature from the image of the selected content;
• searching digital signatures of content of known source for a matching digital signature;
• and
• when a matching digital signature is found, identifying the source of the selected content based on the known source of the image having the matching digital signature.