INDEX STRUCTURE FOR TV-ANYTIME FORUM METADATA HAVING LOCATION INFORMATION FOR DEFINING A MULTI-KEY

• US 20080133464A1
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Published: 06/05/2008
• 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 8,307,009 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/81 Indexing, e.g. XML tags; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

An index structure of metadata provided for searching for information on contents and 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, in which the index structure of the metadata includes values of multi-keys and identification information of the metadata corresponding to the values of the multi-keys, wherein the multi-keys are structured by a combination of predetermined fields of the metadata.

Claims

1. An index structure of metadata comprising:

values of multi-keys, and

identification information of the metadata corresponding to the values of the multi-keys,

wherein the multi-keys are structured by a combination of predetermined fields of the metadata.

2. The index structure of claim 1, wherein each multi-key corresponds to a combination of fields of the metadata used simultaneously to locate and extract a fragment of metadata.

3. The index structure of claim 1, wherein the identification information is expressed in a language for addressing parts of a markup language document.

4. The index structure of claim 3, wherein the identification information is expressed in XPath.

5. The index structure of claim 1, wherein the metadata is metadata as defined in the TV-Anytime (“

TVA”

) Forum.

6. A method of providing an index structure for metadata divided into fragments, the method comprising providing a list of multi-keys corresponding to a combination of fields of the metadata, and location information for defining a multi-key of the list.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each multi-key corresponds to a combination of fields of the metadata used simultaneously to locate and extract a fragment of metadata.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the location information is expressed in a language for addressing parts of a markup language document.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the location information is expressed in XPath.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the metadata is metadata as defined in the TV-Anytime (“

TVA”

) Forum.

11. A method of providing an index structure for metadata divided into fragments, the method comprising:

providing a key index list section comprising a list of multi-keys, each multi-key corresponding to a combination of fields of the metadata;

providing a key index section; and

providing a sub-key index section, wherein for a multi-key of the key index list;

the sub-key index section comprises ranges of values of the multi-key and identification information on ones of the fragments of the metadata corresponding to the values of the multi-key, and

the key index section comprises representative key values representing the respective ranges of values of the multi-key.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each multi-key corresponds to a combination of fields of the metadata used simultaneously to locate and extract a fragment of metadata.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the identification information is expressed in a language for addressing parts of a markup language document.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the identification information is expressed in XPath.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the metadata is metadata as defined in the TV-Anytime (“

TVA”

) Forum.

16. A method of searching for metadata divided into fragments, using an index having a list of multi-keys and location information for defining the multi-keys, the method comprising:

searching from the index of the metadata, a multi-key corresponding to search conditions of a combination of fields of the metadata; and

extracting a fragment of the metadata using the searched multi-key.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein each multi-key corresponds to a combination of fields of the metadata used simultaneously to locate and extract a fragment of metadata.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the location information is expressed in a language for addressing parts of a markup language document.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the location information is expressed in XPath.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the metadata is metadata as defined in the TV-Anytime (“

TVA”

) Forum.

21. An apparatus for searching for metadata divided into fragments, using an index having a list of multi-keys and location information defining the multi-keys, comprising:

an input unit receiving search conditions; and

a control unit searching from the index of the metadata, a multi-key corresponding to the search conditions of a combination of fields of the metadata, and extracting a fragment of the metadata using the searched key.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein each multi-key corresponds to a combination of fields of the metadata used simultaneously to locate and extract a fragment of metadata.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the location information is expressed in a language for addressing parts of a markup language document.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the location information is expressed in XPath.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the metadata is metadata as defined in the TV-Anytime (“

TVA”

) Forum.