Method of describing multiple level digest segment information scheme for multimedia contents and apparatus for generating digest stream from described multiple level digest segment information scheme and method thereof

• US 7,406,655 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2004
• Issued: 07/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Jun, Sung-Bae
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore; William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; MaiKhanh
• Application Number:
  US11/018,319
• Publication Number:
  US 20050108622A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,315 Days
• Field of Search: 715/500.1, 715/501.1, 715/716, 715/802, 707/3, 707/100, 707/101, 707/104, 707/102
• US Class Current: 715/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/489 using time information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234327 by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234381 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. decreasing the frame rate by frame skipping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26233 involving content or additional data duration or size, e.g. length of a movie, size of an executable file
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440281 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. by frame skipping television signal recording using magnetic recording on tape for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4508 Management of client data or end-user data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4621 Controlling the complexity of the content stream or additional data, e.g. lowering the resolution or bit-rate of the video stream for a mobile client with a small screen arrangements for using the results of monitoring on user's side in broadcast systems H04H60/65; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8453 by locking or enabling a set of features, e.g. optional functionalities in an executable program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8549 Creating video summaries, e.g. movie trailer retrieval in video databases by using presentations in form of a video summary G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only
• 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

The present invention is intended to provide multiple levels of digest streams for multimedia contents with small amount of additional storage using a multiple level digest segment information scheme. In the present invention, a multiple level digest segment information is contained in the content-based data area of the multimedia content by representing a level information of each digest segment by multiple levels in a content-based data area of a multimedia content, describing the digest level of the digest segment and the time range information of the digest segment in the digest segment information scheme, and outputting digest segments whose digest level is less than or equal to requested digest level by decoding, upon receipt of the digest level of the digest segment.

Claims

1. A method implemented by an apparatus for processing multimedia content, the method comprising:

receiving an audio-visual content stream;

receiving segment information describing a plurality of digest segments in the audio-visual content stream, each digest segment representing a continuous temporal portion of the audio-visual content stream, the segment information being separate from the audio-visual content stream and defining each digest segment by a start time and a segment duration;

receiving digest segment group information describing alternative digest segment groups, the digest segment group information being separate from the audio-visual content stream and specifying that each alternative digest segment group includes two or more corresponding digest segments from the plurality of digest segments to represent a single stream of highlights concatenating non-contiguous and time ordered portions from the audio-visual content stream,

wherein the digest segment group information specifies a respective highlight duration for each alternative digest segment group based on a sum of the segment durations of the corresponding digest segments in the group;

storing, in the apparatus, digest information that includes the segment information and the digest segment group information;

receiving user input indicating desired highlights from the audio-visual content stream, wherein the desired highlights have a desired duration; and

based on the desired duration of the desired highlights indicated in the user input and based on the digest segment group information, generating a digest stream by concatenating non-contiguous and time ordered portions from the audio-visual content stream, wherein the digest stream corresponds to the single stream of highlights represented by one of the alternative digest segment groups.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the digest segment group information specifies level information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the digest segment group information specifies a longer highlight duration for one of the alternative digest segment groups than for the other alternative digest segment groups, wherein the alternative digest segment group with the longer highlight duration provides a longer digest stream and a more extensive summary from the audio-visual content stream.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the alternative digest segment group with the longer highlight duration includes all digest segments from another alternative digest segment group.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the digest stream includes:

selecting a first digest segment group from the alternative digest segment groups based on the desired duration and the respective highlight duration for each alternative digest segment group.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving segment information includes receiving at least a portion of the segment information along with the audio-visual content stream.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving digest segment group information includes receiving at least a portion of the digest segment group information along with the audio-visual content stream.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the digest stream includes recording the digest stream.

9. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a machine readable storage medium, for processing multimedia content, the computer program comprising instructions to cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving an audio-visual content stream;

receiving segment information describing a plurality of digest segments in the audio-visual content stream, each digest segment representing a continuous temporal portion of the audio-visual content stream, the segment information being separate from the audio-visual content stream and defining each digest segment by a start time and a segment duration;

receiving digest segment group information describing alternative digest segment groups, the digest segment group information being separate from the audio-visual content stream and specifying that each digest segment group includes two or more corresponding digest segments from the plurality of digest segments to represent a single stream of highlights concatenating non-contiguous and time ordered portions from the audio-visual content stream,

wherein the digest segment group information specifies a respective highlight duration for each alternative digest segment group based on a sum of the segment durations of the corresponding digest segments in the group;

storing, in the apparatus, digest information that includes the segment information and the digest segment group information;

receiving user input indicating desired highlights from the audio-visual content stream, wherein the desired highlights have a desired duration; and

based on the desired duration of the desired highlights indicated in the user input and based on the digest segment group information, generating a digest stream by concatenating non-contiguous and time ordered portions from the audio-visual content stream, wherein the digest stream corresponds to the single stream of highlights represented by one of the alternative digest segment groups.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the digest segment group information specifies level information.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the digest segment group information specifies a longer highlight duration for one of the alternative digest segment groups than for the other alternative digest segment groups, wherein the alternative digest segment group with the longer highlight duration provides a longer digest stream and a more extensive summary from the audio-visual content stream.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the alternative digest segment group with the longer highlight duration includes all digest segments from another alternative digest segment group.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein generating the digest stream includes:

selecting a first digest segment group from the alternative digest segment groups based on the desired duration and the respective highlight duration for each alternative digest segment group.

14. An apparatus for processing multimedia content, the apparatus comprising:

a media stream processing unit to receive and process an audio-visual content stream;

a user input unit to receive user input indicating desired highlights from the audio-visual content stream, wherein the desired highlights have a desired duration;

a data storage; and

a digest stream processing unit configured to;

(i) receive segment information describing a plurality of digest segments in the audio-visual content stream, each digest segment representing a continuous temporal portion of the audio-visual content stream, the segment information being separate from the audio-visual content stream and defining each digest segment by a start time and a segment duration;

(ii) receive digest segment group information describing alternative digest segment groups, the digest segment group information being separate from the audio-visual content stream and specifying that each alternative digest segment group includes two or more corresponding digest segments from the plurality of digest segments to represent a single stream of highlights concatenating non-contiguous and time ordered portions from the audio-visual content stream, wherein the digest segment group information specifies a respective highlight duration for each alternative digest segment group based on a sum of the segment durations of the corresponding digest segments in the group;

(iv) store, in the data storage, digest information that includes the segment information and the digest segment group information; and

(v)generate, based on the desired duration of the desired highlights indicated in the user input and based on the digest segment group information, a digest stream by concatenating non-contiguous and time ordered portions from the audio-visual content stream, wherein the digest stream corresponds to the single stream of highlights represented by one of the alternative digest segment groups.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the digest segment group information specifies level information.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the digest segment group information specifies a longer highlight duration for one of the alternative digest segment groups than for the other alternative digest segment groups, wherein the alternative digest segment group with the longer highlight duration provides a longer digest stream and a more extensive summary from the audio-visual content stream.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the alternative digest segment group with the longer highlight duration includes all digest segments from another alternative digest segment group.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the digest stream processing unit is configured to select a first digest segment group from the alternative digest segment groups based on the desired duration and the respective highlight duration for each alternative digest segment group.