Consistent digital item adaptation

• US 20030156108A1
• Filed: 02/20/2002
• Published: 08/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Vetro, Anthony
• Application Number:
  US10/078,960
• Publication Number:
  US 20030156108A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/418
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/85403 by describing the content as an MPEG-21 Digital Item

Abstract

A method and system adapts a digital item by parsing the digital item into a resource and a description of the resource. The resource is then adapted according to a digital item adaptation description to produce an adapted resource. The descriptor is then modified according to the digital item adaptation description to produce a modified descriptor consistent with the adapted resource. The modified descriptor and the adapted resource are combined to form a modified digital item.

Claims

1. A method for adapting a digital item, the digital item including a resource and a descriptor of the resource, comprising:

adapting the resource according to a digital item adaptation description to produce an adapted resource and modified descriptor values;

modifying the descriptor according to the modified descriptor values to produce a modified descriptor consistent with the adapted resource; and

combining the modified descriptor and the adapted resource into a modified digital item.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the descriptor is related to the resource internal to the digital item, and the digital item adaptation description is related to resources external to the digital item, and the modified digital item is substantially consistent with the external resources.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the external resources include a computer system for processing the modified digital item.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the external resources include a network for transmitting the modified digital item.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the external resources include user preferences.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the external resources include a natural environment.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the external resources include a user device for consuming the modified digital item.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

parsing the digital item using a digital item declaration parser to obtain the resource and the descriptor.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the resource is adapted using a transcoder.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the adapting summarizes the resource.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the digital item adaptation description is generated within a network used to distribute the digital item.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the digital item adaptation description is generated by a terminal device consuming the digital item.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the digital item includes a plurality of resources, and a plurality of associated descriptors.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the resource includes multimedia content.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

coordinating the adapting and modifying via a descriptor/resource interface.

16. A system for adapting a digital item, the digital item including a resource and a descriptor of the resource, comprising:

a parser configured to separate a digital item into a resource and a descriptor;

a resource adaptation engine configured to adapt the resource according to a digital item adaptation description to produce an adapted resource;

a descriptor modification engine configured to modify the descriptor according to the digital item adaptation description to produce a modified descriptor consistent with the adapted resource; and

a combiner configured to combine the modified descriptor and the adapted resource into a modified digital item.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

a descriptor/resource interface connecting the resource adaptation engine and the descriptor modification engine.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the resource adaptation engine includes a transcoder.