Multimedia content generator

• US 20060010366A1
• Filed: 05/03/2005
• Published: 01/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Takahashi, Nozomu, Hashimoto, Takako, Kunieda, Takayuki, Soulier, Christophe
• Application Number:
  US11/119,796
• Publication Number:
  US 20060010366A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A multimedia content generator automatically generates a commercial content (for example, a preview of a movie) from an original content (i.e. the movie). The multimedia content generator includes a use purpose setting unit, a use environment setting unit, and a content generator. The content editor generates the commercial content according to: use purpose of the commercial content set by the use purpose setting unit; and use environment (such as a terminal which reproduces the commercial content) set by the use environment setting unit.

Claims

1. A multimedia content generator that generates a multimedia content from a plurality of materials extracted from an original content, comprising:

a use purpose setting unit that sets use purpose of the multimedia content;

a use environment setting unit that sets use environment in which the multimedia content is reproduced; and

a content generator that generates the multimedia content based on the use purpose and the used environment.

2. The multimedia content generator according to claim 1, wherein the multimedia content is a commercial content.

3. The multimedia content generator according to claim 2, wherein the commercial content is any one of a preview of a movie, a product presentation, and a promotion video.

4. The multimedia content generator according to claim 1, further comprising a user profile database that stores information on each user including information on the use purpose and information on the use environment information, wherein

the use purpose setting unit sets the use purpose according to the information stored in the user profile database, and

the use environment setting unit sets the use environment according to the information stored in the user profile database.

5. The multimedia content generator according to claim 1, wherein the content generator includes:

a template setting unit that selects a template for generating the multimedia content based on the use purpose and the use environment;

a music setting unit that selects a music specified in the template;

a material retrieval unit that retrieves the materials from the original content specified in the template; and

a combining unit that combines the selected music and the retrieved materials.

6. The multimedia content generator according to claim 5, further comprising a template database that stores a plurality of templates, wherein

the template setting unit selects one of the templates stored in the template database based on the use purpose and the use environment.

7. The multimedia content generator according to claim 6, wherein the template setting unit creates a new template according to a user'"'"'s instruction and stores the new template in the template database.

8. The multimedia content generator according to claim 5, further comprising a music database that stores a plurality of music, wherein

the music setting unit selects one of the music specified in the template.

9. The multimedia content generator according to claim 5, wherein the music setting unit selects a background music of the multimedia content.

10. The multimedia content generator according to claim 5, further comprising an original content database that stores a plurality of original contents, wherein

the material retrieval unit retrieves the materials from the original content specified in the template and stored in the original content database.

11. The multimedia content generator according to claim 5, wherein the material retrieval unit includes:

a keyword extracting unit that extracts keyword from the original content;

an image extracting unit that extracts image from the original content;

a video extracting unit that extracts video from the original content; and

a sound extracting unit that extracts sound from the original content.

12. The multimedia content generator according to claim 11, wherein the keyword extracting unit calculates importance of each keyword included in the original content and extracts the keyword based the importance.

13. The multimedia content generator according to claim 11, wherein the image extracting unit calculates importance of each image included in the original content and extracts the image based on the importance.

14. The multimedia content generator according to claim 11, wherein the video extracting unit calculates importance of each scene included in the original content and extracts the scene as the video based on the importance.

15. The multimedia content generator according to claim 11, wherein the sound extracting unit calculates importance of each sound included in the original content and extracts the sound based on the importance.

16. The multimedia content generator according to claim 1, further comprising a restriction setting unit that designates a part of the materials not to be included in the multimedia content.

17. The multimedia content generator according to claim 1, further comprising a priority setting unit that sets, for each category of materials, a priority at which the materials are included in the multimedia content.

18. A method for generating a multimedia content from a plurality of materials extracted from an original content, comprising:

setting use purpose of the multimedia content and use environment in which the multimedia content is reproduced; and

generating the multimedia content based on the use purpose and the used environment.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the multimedia content is a commercial content.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the setting includes:

setting the use purpose according to use purpose information stored in a user profile database; and

setting the user environment according to use environment information stored in the user profile database.

21. A computer-readable recording medium that stores a computer program for generating a multimedia content from a plurality of materials extracted from an original content, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute:

setting use purpose of the multimedia content and use environment in which the multimedia content is reproduced; and

generating the multimedia content based on the use purpose and the used environment.