FINGERPRINTING DATA FOR MORE AGGRESSIVE DE-DUPLICATION

1 . A method comprises:

determining, by a computing device of a dispersed storage network (DSN), an image or video is substantially a same content as a previously stored image or video stored in memory of the DSN;

comparing, by the computing device, a quality of the image or video with the quality of the previously stored image or video;

determining, by the computing device and based on the comparison, whether the quality of the image or video is higher than the quality of the previously stored image or video;

when the image or video is the higher quality than the previously stored image or video:

storing, by the computing device, the higher quality image or video in the memory of the DSN;

associating, by the computing device, a data tag of the higher quality image or video with the storage of the higher quality image or video; and

deleting, by the computing device, the previously stored image or video.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprises:

when the image or video is not the higher quality than the previously stored image or video:

generating, by the computing device, a link-object to include a DSN address of a storage location associated with storage of the previously stored image or video;

storing, by the computing device, the link-object in the memory of the DSN; and

associating, by the computing device, the data tag with storage of the link-object.

3 . The method of claim 2 further comprises:

determining the image or video includes one or more of a first encoding type and a first transformation type; and

determining the previously stored image or video includes one or more of a second encoding type and a second transformation type.

4 . The method of claim 3 further comprises:

when the first encoding type is not the same as the second encoding type:

generating metadata that indicates the first and second encoding types; and

storing the metadata with one of the storage of the link-object or the storage of the higher quality image or video.

5 . The method of claim 3 further comprises:

when the first transformation type is not the same as the second transformation type:

generating metadata that indicates the first and second transformation types; and

storing the metadata with one of the storage of the link-object or the storage of the higher quality image or video.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the determining the image or video is substantially the same content as the previously stored image or video includes:

generating a data fingerprint of the image or video;

generating a data tag based on a data type of the image or video and the data fingerprint; and

determining whether the data tag is associated with the previously stored image or video in the memory of the DSN; and

when the data tag is associated with the previously stored image or video, indicating the image or video is substantially the same content as previously stored image or video.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the quality is based on determining one or more of:

a resolution;

a frame rate;

a fidelity level;

x-y dimensions;

a file size;

a type of compression;

a compression level;

a type of transformation;

a type of encoding; and

a revision level.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the image or video may include one or more of:

a Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format;

a Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format;

a Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) format;

a bitmap (BMP) format;

a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) format;

a Moving Picture Experts Group 4 Part 10 Advanced Video Coding (MPEG-4 AVC) format; and

a Windows Media Video (WMV) format.

9 . A computing device of a dispersed storage network (DSN) comprises:

memory;

an interface; and

a processing module operably coupled to the memory and the interface, wherein the processing module is operable to:

determine an image or video is substantially a same content as a previously stored image or video stored in memory of the DSN;

compare a quality of the image or video with the quality of the previously stored image or video;

determine based on the comparison, whether the quality of the image or video is higher than the quality of the previously stored image or video;

when the image or video is the higher quality than the previously stored image or video:

store the higher quality image or video in the memory of the DSN;

associate a data tag of the higher quality image or video with the storage of the higher quality image or video; and

delete the previously stored image or video.

10 . The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the processing module is further operable to:

when the image or video is not the higher quality than the previously stored image or video:

generate a link-object to include a DSN address of a storage location associated with storage of the previously stored image or video;

store the link-object in the memory of the DSN; and

associate the data tag with storage of the link-object.

11 . The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the processing module is further operable to:

determine the image or video includes one or more of a first encoding type and a first transformation type; and

determine the previously stored image or video includes one or more of a second encoding type and a second transformation type.

12 . The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the processing module is further operable to:

when the first encoding type is not the same as the second encoding type:

generate metadata that indicates the first and second encoding types; and

store the metadata with one of the storage of the link-object or the storage of the higher quality image or video.

13 . The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the processing module is further operable to:

when the first transformation type is not the same as the second transformation type:

generate metadata that indicates the first and second transformation types; and

store the metadata with one of the storage of the link-object or the storage of the higher quality image or video.

14 . The computing device of claim 9 wherein the processing module is operable to determine the image or video is substantially the same content as the previously stored image or video by:

generating a data fingerprint of the image or video;

generating a data tag based on a data type of the image or video and the data fingerprint; and

determining whether the data tag is associated with the previously stored image or video in the memory of the DSN; and

when the data tag is associated with the previously stored image or video, indicating the image or video is substantially the same content as previously stored image or video.

15 . The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the processing module is operable to determine the quality is based on one or more of:

a resolution;

a frame rate;

a fidelity level;

x-y dimensions;

a file size;

a type of compression;

a compression level;

a type of transformation;

distributed data storage parameters;

a type of encoding; and

a revision level.

16 . The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the image or video may include one or more of:

a Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format;

a Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format;

a Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) format;

a bitmap (BMP) format;

a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) format;

a Moving Picture Experts Group 4 Part 10 Advanced Video Coding (MPEG-4 AVC) format; and

a Windows Media Video (WMV) format.