Method for grouping and transmitting multimedia data

• US 8,230,461 B1
• Filed: 11/09/2000
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Swisscom AG (Government of Switzerland)
• Inventors: Herrmann, Beat, Ledermann, Daniel, Ben Yacoub, Souheil, Schlauss, Denis
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): ANDRAMUNO, FRANKLIN S
• Application Number:
  US10/415,888
• Time in Patent Office: 4,275 Days
• Field of Search: 725/46, 725/133, 725/141, 725/153
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/483 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/232 Content retrieval operation locally within server, e.g. reading video streams from disk arrays storage management G06F3/0604; details of querying and searching of video data from a database G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18

Abstract

A method for the aggregation and the transmission of multimedia data is proposed, in which multimedia data (52) is analyzed according to its content and corresponding metadata (51) is generated and a user profile (21) is established. The user stipulates and/or modifies at least parts of the user data (211) of the user profile (21) in advance of a purchase of multimedia data from the central unit (20) by means of a communication device (10). Multimedia data (52) are selected utilizing the metadata (51) and based upon the user profile, and content oriented and user specific optimized multimedia data are produced out of the selected multimedia data by means of a repackaging module (30). The content oriented and user specific optimized multimedia data are stored and made available to the user via a database (41) of a content module (40) of the central unit (29). Particularly, the content oriented and user specific optimized multimedia data are made available to the user for various receiving devices of the user in the database (41) of the content module (40).

Claims

1. A method for selection and transmission of multimedia data, comprising:

storing multimedia data in a first database, the multimedia data being associated with metadata, the metadata including context-based keywords related to the multimedia data;

creating enhanced metadata, associating the enhanced metadata to multimedia data, and storing the enhanced metadata in the first database, the enhanced metadata being created based on user data of user profiles stored at a central management unit and being performed during a search for multimedia data by a search agent at the central management unit;

selecting multimedia data from the first database based on the metadata, the enhanced metadata, and a user profile;

modifying said selected multimedia data to produce user-specific multimedia data using a repackaging module, the modifying based on at least one of user specific hardware characteristics or user specific network characteristics, the at least one of user specific hardware characteristics or user specific network characteristics stored in the user profile;

storing the user-specific multimedia data in a second database; and

accessing the user-specific multimedia by the user terminal from the second database.

2. The method for selection and transmission of multimedia data according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating an alarm to an user interface of the user terminal, if in said producing the user-specific multimedia data from said profiled multimedia data it was not possible to generate the user-specific multimedia data in conformance with the at least one of user specific hardware characteristics or user specific network characteristics.

3. The method for selection and transmission of multimedia data according to claim 1, wherein the user profile further includes multiple hardware profiles for different terminal devices associated to the user, the method further comprising:

selectively producing user-specific multimedia data optimized for the different terminal devices based on the multiple hardware profiles from the profiled multimedia data.

4. The method for selection and transmission of multimedia data according to claim 1, further comprising:

encrypting the user-specific multimedia data that is stored on the second database by an access control module of the repackaging module.

5. The method for selection and transmission of multimedia data according to claim 1, wherein the user profile further includes reusable conditions data, the reusable conditions data indicating a user behavior history, the method further comprising:

analyzing the user behavior history of accessing the user-specific multimedia data to set the reusable conditions data; and

reducing a purchase fee for the enhanced multimedia data based on the reusable conditions data.

6. The method for selection and transmission of multimedia data according to claim 1, wherein the user specific hardware characteristics of the user profile includes information on a picture resolution and a compression scheme, and said producing user-specific multimedia data further comprises:

converting the profiled multimedia data to user-specific multimedia data by applying the compression scheme and the picture resolution.

7. The method for selection and transmission of multimedia data according to claim 1, wherein

the modifying is further based on network load optimization.

8. The method for selection and transmission of multimedia data according to claim 1, wherein

the user profile further includes user specific behavior data related to a use of multimedia data,

and said step of creating enhanced metadata to multimedia data is performed based on the user specific behavior data.