the present invention relates generally to processing audio and video data . one claim recites a method of accessing content stored in a remote database . the method includes : receiving video or audio data ; decoding an auxiliary machine - readable code from the video or audio data ; deriving a fingerprint , which fingerprint is separate from the machine - readable code , from the video or audio data itself ; providing user characteristics or an index to user characteristics ; and by using the machine - readable code , fingerprint and user characteristics or information obtained with the index to user characteristics , accessing the content stored in the remote database . of course , additional combinations and claims are provided as well .