Data processing device and method for selecting media segments on the basis of a score

• US 7,552,382 B1
• Filed: 12/20/1999
• Issued: 06/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/25/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Munetsugu, Toshihiko, Etoh, Minoru, Emura, Koichi, Araki, Shouichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton; Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Maikhanh
• Application Number:
  US09/467,231
• Time in Patent Office: 3,473 Days
• Field of Search: 715/500.1, 715/513, 715/514, 715/501.1, 715/516, 715/716, 715/723, 715/200, 715/204, 715/205, 715/207, 715/234, 715/255, 715/256, 715/273, 715/713, 715/719, 715/730, 715/732, 715/760, 715/850, 715/968, 715/FOR.211, 715/FOR.223, 715/FOR.224, 345/853, 345/713, 345/730, 707/2, 707/3, 707/100, 707/103.R, 707/200, 707/E17.013, 707/E17.014, 707/E17.015, 707/E17.103, 707/E17.118, 707/E17.14
• US Class Current: 715/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/71 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/739 in form of a video summary, e.g. the video summary being a video sequence, a composite still image or having synthesized frames
• 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: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A context of media content is represented by hierarchical context description data for describing a plurality of segments. Each of the segments represents a scene of media content. Scores that are attribute information of the media content, and for representing a degree of importance of each of the plurality of segments based on a context of the media content, is input and/or appended, as an attribute, to a number of the hierarchical layers of the description data. One of the plurality of segments can then be selected based upon the scores.

Claims

1. A data processing apparatus for processing media content comprised of a plurality of scenes, said apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

an input unit operable to input context description data including a plurality of segments each for describing one of said plurality of scenes of media content, said context description data also including a plurality of importance attributes each associated with a corresponding one of said plurality of segments, said importance attributes having a value representing a degree of contextual importance of said corresponding one of said plurality of segments; and

an output unit operable to output at least one of said segments based on at least one of said importance attributes,

wherein said context description data further includes a plurality of time attributes each associated with one of said plurality of segments for determining a start time and one of an end time and a duration of said one of said plurality of segments in relation to said media content, and

wherein said context description data further includes linkage information for linking to dominant data that represents at least one of said segments.

2. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of segments are hierarchically described.

3. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said context description data further includes supplemental information.

4. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the media content corresponds to video data and/or audio data.

5. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said dominant data is one or more of text data, image data and audio data.

6. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said context description data is previously generated outside of said data processing apparatus prior to said inputting.

7. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said outputting is in response to a user query regarding the context.

8. A data processing method, performed by a computer system, for processing media content comprised of a plurality of scenes, said method comprising the steps of:

inputting context description data including a plurality of segments each for describing one of said plurality of scenes of media content, said context description data also including a plurality of importance attributes each associated with a corresponding one of said plurality of segments, said plurality of importance attributes having a value representing a degree of contextual importance of said corresponding one of said plurality of segments; and

outputting at least one of said segments based on at least one of said importance attributes,

wherein said context description data further includes a plurality of time attributes each associated with one of said plurality of segments for determining a start time and one of an end time and a duration of said one of said plurality of segments in relation to said media content, and

wherein said context description data further includes linkage information for linking to dominant data that represents at least one of said plurality of segments.

9. The data processing method according to claim 8, wherein said plurality of segments are hierarchically described.

10. The data processing method according to claim 8, wherein said context description data includes supplemental information.

11. The data processing method according to claim 8, wherein the media content corresponds to video data and/or audio data.

12. The data processing method according to claim 8, wherein said dominant data is one or more of text data, image data and audio data.

13. The data processing method according to claim 8, wherein said context description data is previously generated prior said inputting.

14. The data processing method according to claim 8, wherein said outputting is in response to a user query regarding the context.

15. A data processing apparatus comprising:

a processor,

a memory coupled to the processor,

input means for inputting hierarchically arranged context description data that describes a plurality of scenes of the media contents of one or more media files, said context description data including;

a plurality of segment elements each for describing one of said plurality of scenes,

a plurality of section elements each having either one or more of said plurality of section elements as children, or having one or more of said plurality of segment elements as children,

a plurality of context attributes each having a value for describing a corresponding context of said media content and each being an attribute associated with one or more of said segment elements and including at least one keyword for describing the contents of the scenes described by the associated one or more of said segment elements,

a plurality of importance attributes each associated with a corresponding one of said segment elements and having a value representing a degree of importance of the scene corresponding to said corresponding segment element in relation to one context attribute that is also associated with corresponding segment element, and

a plurality of time attributes each associated with one of said plurality of segments for determining a start time and one of an end time and a duration of said one of said plurality of segments in relation to the media content; and

selection means for selecting one or more of said segment elements based on an analysis of one or more of said context attributes and the associated importance attributes, wherein one or more of said plurality of scenes is selected based on the selected segment elements and the segment element(s) start time attribute(s) and the end time or duration attribute(s).

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said section elements are each associated with some corresponding portion of said media contents, and wherein said context description data further includes:

another plurality of context attributes each having a value for describing a corresponding context of said media content and each being an attribute associated with one or more of said section elements and including at least one keyword for describing the contents of the corresponding portion described by the associated one or more of said section elements, and

another plurality of importance attributes each associated with a corresponding one of said section elements and having a value representing a degree of importance of the portion corresponding to said corresponding section element in relation to one of the another context attributes that is also associated with the corresponding section element.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein each segment element can be a child of only one section element, and wherein each section element can be a child of only one other section element, and further wherein when a child of any of said section elements includes a segment, that section element can only have additional segment elements as children.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein a given section element describes that portion of the media contents that is described by the compilation of the children elements of said given section element.