STREAMING CONTENT MANAGEMENT APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20080060029A1
• Filed: 03/23/2007
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Sung Jin, Kim, Joon Oo, Jeong, Jin Guk, Oh, Yun Je, Kwon, Won Sang
• Granted Patent: US 9,077,946 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/89
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/322 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/877 by assembling picture element blocks in an intermediate memory

Abstract

A streaming content management apparatus and method for recording and replaying video and audio data using a real time video indexing function are provided. A streaming content management apparatus of a multimedia broadcast receiver includes a recording unit for recording an incoming content stream in units of segment together with indexes and a player for replaying the content stream recorded by the recording unit in response to an index that is input to request playback from a segment corresponding to the input index. The streaming content management apparatus divides the streaming content incoming through a broadcast channel in units of segment and stores segments of the streaming content with storage index and chapter information such that it is possible to quickly retrieve a playback position using the storage index or chapter information.

Claims

1. A streaming content management apparatus of a multimedia broadcast receiver, comprising:

a recording unit for recording an incoming content stream in units of segment together with indexes; and

a player for replaying the content stream recorded by the recording unit in response to an index that is input to request playback from a segment corresponding to the input index.

2. The streaming content management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the segment is a time duration having a predetermined length.

3. The streaming content management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the segment is a chapter defined by a metadata included in the content stream.

4. The streaming content management apparatus of claim 1, wherein the recording unit comprises:

a storage;

a content management unit for generating indexes corresponding to the segments of the content stream; and

a recorder for storing the content units into the storage with the indexes generated by the content management unit.

5. The streaming content management apparatus of claim 4, wherein the recording unit further comprises:

an electronic program guide server for providing electronic program guide information on the content stream.

6. The streaming content management apparatus of claim 5, wherein the content management unit generates the indexes referring to the electronic program guide information.

7. The streaming content management apparatus of claim 4, wherein the recording unit further comprises:

a streaming controller interposed between the recorder and the content management unit that adjusts a transmission rate and format of the content stream transmitted from the recorder to the content management unit.

8. The streaming content management apparatus of claim 4, wherein the recording unit further comprises:

a metadata database for storing metadata and the indexes generated by the content management unit.

9. The streaming content management apparatus of claim 8, wherein the player receives the indexes of the content stream and the metadata from the metadata database.

10. A streaming content management method for a multimedia broadcast receiver, comprising:

segmenting an incoming content stream in segment units;

generating indexes corresponding to the segment units;

storing the content stream in units of segment with the corresponding index;

determining whether an index is input for playback; and

starting a playback of the content stream from a segment corresponding to the index input for the playback.

11. The streaming content management method of claim 10, wherein the segment is a time duration having a predetermined length.

12. The streaming content management method of claim 10, wherein the segment is a chapter defined by a metadata included in the content stream.

13. The streaming content management method of claim 10, wherein storing the content stream comprises:

determining whether the content stream is an analog signal or a digital signal stream;

generating, indexes by analyzing the content stream of an analog signal

encoding the content stream into a digital signal stream; and

storing the digital signal stream with the indexes.

14. The streaming content management method of claim 13, wherein storing the content stream further comprises:

storing the content stream as a digital signal stream;

decoding the content stream into an analog signal; and

generating the indexes by analyzing the decoded analog signal.

15. The streaming content management method of claim 10, further comprising extracting metadata from the content stream.

16. The streaming content management method of claim 15, wherein starting a playback of the content stream comprises outputting the metadata corresponding to currently replayed segment.

17. The streaming content management method of claim 16, wherein the metadata comprises chapter information, highlight information, and text abstract information.

18. The streaming content management method of claim 13, further comprising:

converting a determined digital signal stream into an analog signal.