INFORMATION PROVISIONING APPARATUS AND INFORMATION PROVISIONING METHOD

• US 20110252454A1
• Filed: 06/21/2011
• Published: 10/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: EMURA, Koichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,555,328 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2353 specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/238 Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. adapting the transmission rate of a video stream to network bandwidth; Processing of multiplex streams hybrid fiber coaxial [HFC] networks for downstream channel allocation for video distribution H04L12/2801; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/242 Synchronization processes, e.g. processing of PCR [Program Clock References] arrangements for synchronising broadcast or distribution via plural systems in broadcast distribution systems H04H20/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43074 of additional data with content streams on the same device, e.g. of EPG data or interactive icon with a TV program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4586 Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/845 Structuring of content, e.g. decomposing content into time segments
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

Information provisioning includes acquiring one of an audio and a video elementary stream of content that is composed of a plurality of segments, and actual data of metadata that includes information related to the content. The metadata is divided into metadata processing units (MPU) corresponding to segments subjected to processing in the plurality of segments. A transport stream of a MPEG-2 system is generated that includes packetized elementary stream (PES) packets acquired by packetizing the segments of the data stream and metadata PES packets acquired by packetizing at least one MPU.

Claims

1. An information provisioning apparatus, comprising:

an acquirer that acquires one of an audio and video elementary stream of content that is composed of a plurality of segments, and actual data of metadata that includes information related to the content;

a unitizer that divides the metadata into metadata processing units (MPU) corresponding to segments subjected to processing in the plurality of segments; and

a multiplexer that generates a transport stream of a MPEG-2 system that includes packetized elementary stream (PES) packets acquired by packetizing the segments of the data stream and metadata PES packets acquired by packetizing at least one MPU.

2. The information provisioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the metadata PES packets comprise control information of the metadata, and the control information of the metadata comprises at least one of a metadata type, a time synchronization flag, and a data length of the at least one MPU.

3. The information provisioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the metadata PES packets comprise control information of the metadata, and the control information of the metadata comprises a metadata type, a time synchronization flag, a start time and a duration of audio/video (AV) data, and a data length of the at least one MPU.

4. The information provisioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the actual data of metadata comprises information related to the content and information related to one of a display method and a program.

8. The information provisioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the metadata PES packets comprise control information of the metadata, and the control information of the metadata comprises a time synchronization flag.

5. An information provisioning method, comprising:

acquiring, by executing a set of instructions by a computer, one of an audio and video elementary stream of content that is composed of a plurality of segments, and actual data of metadata that includes information related to the content;

dividing, by executing the set of instructions by the computer, the metadata into metadata processing units (MPU) corresponding to segments subjected to processing in the plurality of segments; and

generating, by executing the set of instructions by the computer, a multiplexed transport stream of a MPEG-2 system that includes packetized elementary stream (PES) packets acquired by packetizing the segments of the data stream and metadata PES packets acquired by packetizing at least one MPU.

6. The information provisioning method according to claim 5, wherein the metadata PES packets comprise control information of the metadata, and the control information of the metadata comprises at least one of a metadata type, a time synchronization flag, and a data length of the at least one MPU.

7. The information provisioning method according to claim 5, wherein the metadata PES packets comprise control information of the metadata, and the control information of the metadata comprises a metadata type, a time synchronization flag, a start time and a duration of audio/video (AV) data, and a data length of the at least one MPU.

9. The information provisioning method according to claim 5, wherein the metadata PES packets comprise control information of the metadata, and the control information of the metadata comprises a time synchronization flag.