Method of providing an index structure for TV-anytime forum metadata having location information for defining a multi-key

• US 7,428,553 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2004
• Issued: 09/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Shin, Hyoseop
• Primary Examiner(s): Mofiz; Apu
• Assistant Examiner(s): LU, CHARLES EDWARD
• Application Number:
  US10/845,443
• Publication Number:
  US 20040210946A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,593 Days
• Field of Search: 707/100, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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. A method of generating an index structure for metadata for storage in a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the metadata is divided into fragments, and the index structure is for use in locating and extracting a portion of the metadata within a fragment, the method comprising:

storing in the computer readable storage medium a key index list section comprising a list of multi-keys, each multi-key corresponding to a combination of fields of the metadata, wherein each multi-key is a plurality of keys used simultaneously to locate and extract the fragment of metadata;

storing in the computer readable storage medium a key index section; and

storing in the computer readable storage medium 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,

wherein with respect to comparison of the values of a multi-key in size, the multi-key comprises fields (k1, k2, k3 . . . kn) of the metadata which are prioritized (k1>

k2>

k3>

. . . Kn), and the combined fields are compared in sequence, starting from a first field having a highest order of priority, wherein the values are compared on an arithmetic basis where the values of the multi-key are numerical or ranked in lexicographical order where the values of the multi-key are alphabetical,

wherein for two multi-key values, (a1, a2, . . . , an) and (b1, b2, . . . , bn);

(a1, a2, . . . , an) is larger than (b1, b2, . . . , bn) if and only if there exists an integer i (0≦

i≦

n−

1) such that for every j (0≦

j≦

n−

1), aj=bj and ai>

bi;

(a1, a2, . . . , an) is smaller than (b1, b2, . . . , bn) if and only if there exists an integer i (0≦

i≦

n−

1) such that for every j (0≦

j≦

n−

1), aj=bj and ai<

bi; and

(a1, a2, . . . , an) is equal to (b1, b2, . . . , bn) if and only if for every j (0≦

j≦

n−

1), ai=bi.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the metadata is metadata as defined in the TVA Forum.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the representative key values is a value among the corresponding range of values of the multi-key.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the key index list section further comprises location information for defining the multi-keys, wherein at least a part of the location information is expressed as a predetermined code.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the location information is expressed in XPath.