Index structure of metadata, method for providing indices of metadata, and metadata searching method and apparatus using the indices of metadata

• US 20040210572A1
• Filed: 05/14/2004
• Published: 10/21/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Shin, Hyoseop
• Granted Patent: US 7,979,437 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/81 Indexing, e.g. XML tags; Data structures therefor; Storage structures

Abstract

An index structure of metadata provided for searching for information on contents, a method for providing indices of the metadata, and a method and an apparatus for searching for the metadata using the index structure of the metadata are provided. The index structure of the metadata includes a list of keys corresponding to fields of the metadata, and location information for defining a key, wherein at least a part of the location information is expressed as a predetermined code.

Claims

1. A method of searching for metadata divided into fragments, using an index having a list of keys corresponding to fields of the metadata, and location information for defining the keys, the method comprising:

searching from the index of the metadata, a key corresponding to a search condition of a field of the metadata, wherein at least a part of the location information defining the key is expressed as a predetermined code value; and

extracting a fragment of the metadata using the searched key.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the searching of the key comprises:

determining location information corresponding to the field of the search condition with respect to the metadata; and

searching for the key corresponding to the location information with respect to the field of the search condition.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the extracting of the fragment comprises:

searching for a value of the key meeting the search condition among values of the key from the index; and

extracting the fragment of the metadata using identification information on the fragment corresponding to the value of the key.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein in response to a plurality of values of the key meeting the search condition, the extracting of the fragment comprises extracting ones of the fragments of the metadata corresponding to the values of the key meeting the search condition.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the searching of the value comprises:

searching for a representative key value meeting the search condition, among representative key values of the index corresponding to ranges of values of the key; and

searching for the value among a range of values corresponding to the representative key value.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the index comprises:

a key index list section comprising the list;

a sub-key index section comprising ranges of values of the key and identification information on ones of the fragments of the metadata corresponding to the values of the key; and

a key index section comprising representative key values representing the respective ranges of values of the key.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the location information comprises location information of the fragment of the metadata including the key, and location information of the key within the fragment.

11. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions for performing the operations recited in claim 1.

8. A method of searching for metadata divided into fragments, the method comprising:

accessing a list comprising a plurality of combinations of location information on a fragment and location information defining at least one key within the fragment, wherein one of the location information on the fragment and the location information defining the at least one key is expressed as a predetermined code; and

searching from the list, a combination corresponding to a search condition of at least one key of the metadata.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the other location information is expressed as another predetermined code or XPath.

10. The method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising extracting one or more fragments of the metadata corresponding to identification information on the metadata identified by the selected combination.

12. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions for performing the operations recited in claim 8.

13. An apparatus for searching for metadata divided into fragments, using an index having a list of keys corresponding to fields of the metadata, and location information defining the keys, comprising:

an input unit receiving a search condition having a field of the metadata as a search parameter; and

a control unit searching from the index of the metadata, a key corresponding to the search condition, wherein at least a part of the location information defining the key is expressed as a predetermined code value, and extracting a fragment of the metadata using the searched key.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the location information comprises location information of a fragment of the metadata including the key, and location information of the key within the fragment.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein one of the location information of the fragment and the location information of the key is expressed as the predetermined code value.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the other one of the location information of the fragment and the location information of the key is expressed as another predetermined code value or XPath.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the predetermined code value comprises XPath as additional information where the respective fragment/key corresponds to a user defined type.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the control unit searches a value of the key meeting the search condition among values of the key from the index, and extracts identification information on the fragment of the metadata corresponding to the value of key.

19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein in response to a plurality of values of the key meeting the search condition, the control unit extracts ones of the fragments of the metadata corresponding to the values of the key meeting the search condition.

20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the control unit searches for a representative key value meeting the search condition, among representative key values of the index corresponding to ranges of values of the key, and searches for the value among a range of values corresponding to the representative key value.

21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, further comprising:

a receiving unit receiving the metadata;

a storage unit storing therein the received metadata; and

an output unit outputting the search result by the control unit.

22. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the metadata has a structure of metadata as defined by the TV-Anytime Forum.

23. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the index comprises:

a key index list section comprising the list;

a sub-key index section comprising ranges of values of the key and identification information on ones of the fragments of the metadata corresponding to the values of the key; and

a key index section comprising representative key values representing the respective ranges of values of the key.

24. An apparatus for searching for metadata divided into fragments, comprising:

an input unit receiving a search condition of at least one key of the metadata; and

a control unit selecting from a list comprising a plurality of combinations of location information on a fragment and location information defining at least one key within the fragment, a combination corresponding to the search condition, wherein one of the location information on the fragment and the location information defining the at least one key is expressed as a predetermined code.

25. The apparatus as claimed in claim 24, wherein the other location information is expressed as another predetermined code or XPath.

26. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the control unit extracts one or more fragments of the metadata corresponding to identification information on the metadata identified by the selected combination.