News Metadata
2 minute read
Many media workflows are becoming dependent on accurate metadata. That often requires up-front integration effort and on-going maintenance as the metadata evolves to meet fast changing business needs.
MetaRex is a framework to allow metadata to flow between creators and consumers of metadata, especially in networks where non-AV transport can be problematic.
The figure 1, above, shows a simple example of what MetaRex can achieve. The yellow boxes show the mrx-worker
that is a platform & operating system agnostic piece of code that you can download from the
metarex GitHub
site.
The intention of the mrx-worker is to provide most of the tedious functionality required to get at & validate the core
metadata types in a workflow. In each application there are likely to be a few lightweight functions needed to adapt
the core services to specific requirements.
The diagram shows a simple example of a demonstration done in 2024 where an LPX feed (live production exchange) was
being queried by a workflow controller. The mrx-worker acted as a proxy for the query and it took the response and
was able to translate it and provide alternative transforms of the data to other workflow controllers in the demo.
MetaRex is agnostic to the nature of the metadata. It relies on identifying the metadata to be processed, discovering the services provided for that metadata and then publishing or acting as a proxy for those services to downstream devices.
Using MetaRex to abstract the services allows a common interface for the cleaning, validation and fire-walling of
data that might be toxic to a workflow.
The core features of the mrx-worker are shown in the diagram above. Inside the mrx-worker is a register of known
metadata types. The mrx-worker can synchronize the internal register with parent nodes and child nodes so that a
device / team / facility / corporation / global hierarchy of metadata types can be shared and exchanged.
Caching services code locally can reduce costs and latency. Synchronizing the register with parent devices can ensure a global source of truth for dynamic metadata types - especially those that are invented in the morning and used in productions in the afternoon.
Encryption, Authentication and Authorization features can be put into the worker on request.
MetaRex wants to partner with organisations thant see the value in the secure flow of metadata.
Contact information at metarex.media