Multimedia information providing method and apparatus

• US 20030103524A1
• Filed: 09/27/2002
• Published: 06/05/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hasegawa, Koyo
• Granted Patent: US 7,260,108 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/465
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6181 involving transmission via a mobile phone network arrangements for providing broadcast or conference services to substation in data switching networks in combination with wireless systems H04L12/189; wireless uplink channel access H04W74/004
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/631 Multimode Transmission, e.g. transmitting basic layers and enhancement layers of the content over different transmission paths or transmitting with different error corrections, different keys or with different transmission protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64707 for transferring content from a first network to a second network, e.g. between IP and wireless

Abstract

Media for videophone communication, media for communication navigation, media for i-mode packet communication, and media for handling video data as streaming data are linked to a server so that the server can receive data from the media of each type. A user of data of different types of communication specifications performs communication by using an information terminal (e.g., in a vehicle) so as to simultaneously capture data of the different types from the server. The server converts the data of the different types into data in accordance with a single (e.g., H.323 or H.324) communication protocol, and adds codes to each type of data. The type of data is re-divided depending on a predetermined data amount for each data item, and numbers are sequentially added to the divided data segments. The divided data segments are rearranged and transmitted. The user performs a reverse process to restore the original data for use as an output.

Claims

1. A multimedia information providing method comprising:

the acts, performed by a data processor, of;

receiving data of different types of communication specifications;

converting the received data into data of a single specification type;

adding an identifier to each of the data types and dividing the obtained data into data segments; and

sequentially arranging the divided data segments and transmitting the arranged data segments; and

the acts, performed by an information terminal, of;

receiving the transmitted data segments;

re-dividing the received data segments into the divided data segments;

sequentially rearranging the divided data segments for each identifier; and

providing the rearranged data segments for each identifier as an output.

2. A multimedia information providing method according to claim 1, wherein the single specification type is a streaming protocol.

3. A multimedia information providing method according to claim 2, wherein said streaming protocol is one of the H.323 communication protocol and the H.324 communication protocol.

4. A multimedia information providing method according to claim 1, wherein sequence numbers for each identifier are added to the divided data segments, and the data segments having sequence numbers added thereto are rearranged based on the identifier and the sequence numbers.

5. A multimedia information providing method according to claim 1, wherein the data of different types of communication specifications include Internet data, videophone data, and communication navigation data.

6. A multimedia information providing apparatus including a data processor comprising:

data receiving means for receiving data of different types of communication specifications;

data converting means for converting the received data into data of a single specification type;

single-communication-specification-data dividing means for adding an identifier to each of the data types and dividing the obtained data into data segments;

single-communication-specifications-data arranging means for arranging the divided data segments; and

data transmitting means for transmitting the arranged data segments.

7. A multimedia information providing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the single specification type is a streaming protocol.

8. A multimedia information providing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said single-communication-specification-data arranging means includes data-transmission-priority setting means for arranging the divided data segments in accordance with a data-transmission priority.

9. A multimedia information providing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the data-transmission priority is one of a predetermined priority, a priority which is set beforehand by a user, a priority which is determined by a transmission-data capacity, and a priority which is changed in response to a request from the user.

10. A multimedia information providing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the data of different types of communication specifications are communication data for uses including the Internet, videophone communication, and communication navigation.

11. A multimedia information providing apparatus including an information terminal comprising:

data receiving means for receiving data from a data processor performing the acts of converting data of different types of communication specifications into data of a single specification type, dividing the obtained data into data segments, sequentially arranging the divided data segments for each identifier, and transmitting the arranged data segments;

re-dividing means for re-dividing the received data into the divided data segments;

sequentially rearranging the divided data segments for each identifier; and

data output means for providing the rearranged data segments for each identifier as an output.

12. A multimedia information providing apparatus including an information terminal, according to claim 11, wherein the single specification type is a streaming protocol.

13. A multimedia information providing apparatus including an information terminal, according to claim 11, wherein the data of different types of communication specifications are communication data for uses including Internet data, videophone data, and communication navigation data.

14. A multimedia information providing apparatus including a portable information terminal, according to claim 11, wherein said information terminal is one of a cellular phone, a communication navigation device, and a portable information terminal.

15. A multimedia information providing apparatus including an information terminal, according to claim 11, wherein said information terminal notifies said data processor of one of a protocol and a function which are adapted for said information terminal.

16. A multimedia information providing apparatus including an information terminal, according to claim 11, wherein said information terminal displays multimedia information of a plurality of types.

17. A multimedia information providing system comprising:

a data processor comprising;

data receiving means for receiving data of different types of communication specifications;

data converting means for converting the received data into data of a single specification type;

single-communication-specification-data dividing means for adding an identifier to each of the data types and dividing the obtained data into data segments;

single-communication-specifications-data arranging means for arranging the divided data segments; and

data transmitting means for transmitting the arranged data segments; and

an information terminal comprising;

data receiving means for receiving the transmitted data segments;

re-dividing means for re-dividing the received data into the divided data segments;

sequentially rearranging the divided data segments for each identifier; and

data output means for providing the rearranged data segments for each identifier as an output.

18. A multimedia information providing system according to claim 17, wherein the single specification type is a streaming protocol, and said streaming protocol is one of the H.323 communication protocol and the H.324 communication protocol.

19. A multimedia information providing system according to claim 17, wherein sequence numbers for each identifier are added to the divided data segments, and the data segments having sequence numbers added thereto are rearranged based on the identifier and the sequence numbers.

20. A multimedia information providing system according to claim 17, wherein the data of different types of communication specifications include Internet data, videophone data, and communication navigation data.