EP2016768A1

EP2016768A1 - Apparatus and method for matching of fractionalized data contents

Info

Publication number: EP2016768A1
Application number: EP07728710A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jean-Yves Bitterlich; Jürgen Sessler
Original assignee: Palm Inc
Current assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Priority date: 2006-05-02
Filing date: 2007-05-02
Publication date: 2009-01-21
Also published as: DE102006020169B4; DE102006020169A1; WO2007125128A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for matching of fractionalized data contents with a receiving unit for reception of a data stream (DS) with payload data (ND), marking data (MD) and additional data (ZD), with the marking data (MD) marking variable fractionalized data contents within the payload data (ND) and with the additional data (ZD) having alternative contents for the variable fractionalized data contents. An evaluation unit (3) evaluates the additional data (ZD) on the basis of preference data (PD) in order to determine an alternative content (B) to be inserted. This determined alternative content (B) is then inserted by an insertion unit (4) into the fractionalized data contents of the payload data (ND) which have been marked as being variable, thus resulting in matched payload data (ND*). This allows personalized matching of payload data (ND) to a respective user behaviour to be carried out.

Description

description

Apparatus and method for adjusting fractionalized data contents

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for adjusting fractionalized data contents, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for personalized adaptation of multimedia data streams.

In future telecommunications networks increasingly so-called multimedia services are offered, which may have a so-called broadcast or broadcast functionality comparable to conventional television or radio stations. Such broadcast services are also referred to as so-called audio streaming, video streaming or digital TV (eg DVB-H Digital Video Broadcasting), for example, audio or video data downloaded from a server from a network and displayed by a telecommunications terminal ,

In contrast to so-called on-demand services, in which a respective user or a respective terminal specifically requests data and receives specially prepared according to his needs, no adjustments are made to a respective user at least on the transmitter side in the aforementioned broadcast stations. A personalized adaptation to respective user preferences is therefore usually not possible with these systems.

The invention is therefore based on the object to provide an apparatus and a method for adjusting fractionalized data content, wherein also in connection with such broadcast services, a personalized adaptation of data content can be done. According to the invention, this object is achieved by a device for adjusting fractionalized data contents comprising a receiving unit for receiving a data stream with user data having fractionalized data contents, marker data marking changeable fractionalized data contents, and additional data representing alternative contents for the variable fractionalized data contents exhibit; a preference data memory for storing preference data; an evaluation unit for evaluating the additional data and for determining an alternative content on the basis of

Praferenzdaten; and an insertion unit for inserting the determined alternative content into the changeable marked fractional data contents of the payload data.

In particular, a personalized adaptation of the received user data can be carried out on the basis of the marking data additionally transmitted to the user data as well as additional data.

Preferably, a tag data checking unit checks whether explicit or implicit tag data is present in the data stream, wherein a tag data converting unit converts the implicit tag data into explicit tag data, and the insert unit, depending on the explicit tag data, matches the detected tag data.

Add content. The implicit or explicit marking of the user data provides maximum flexibility of the user data to be transmitted.

For storing at least one further local alternative content, a local content memory can furthermore be present, wherein the evaluation unit can also use the at least one local alternative content in addition to the alternative contents of the additional data. Furthermore, the evaluation unit can also use the external alternative content stored in an external content memory. In this way, a respective user can also store the user data by means of the terminal device. content or content stored on the network.

Preferably, the user data as well as the alternative content to be inserted are image, audio and / or video data, whereby essentially all multimedia services can be adapted.

Time and / or local values are preferably used as marking data for the fractionalized data contents of the user data. In this way, both temporally and locally defined regions within e.g. an audio sequence or image data are replaced by alternative content.

The preference data preferably has user properties, user preferences, and / or terminal properties, whereby adaptation can be performed depending on a particular user and / or terminal.

The alternative contents preferably have a classification, wherein the evaluation unit compares a classification of a respective alternative content with the preference data and selects the alternative content with the greatest agreement. An adaptation of the user data can thereby be greatly simplified and accelerated.

Furthermore, the additional data may include information about a way of adapting the marked fractionalized data contents. By means of such additional information, for example, it is possible to determine what is to be done with the respectively marked fractionalized data contents and how this should be done. The realization of special effects in the adaptation of the user data can thereby be greatly simplified. With regard to the method for adapting fractionalized data contents, first a data stream with user data, marking data and additional data is received, then the received additional data for determining an alternative content is evaluated on the basis of preference data and finally the determined alternative content can be changed as into inserted fractional data content of the user data inserted.

In the further subclaims further advantageous embodiments of the invention are characterized.

The invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment with reference to the drawings.

Show it:

Figure 1 is a simplified block diagram of an overall system in which the present invention may be used;

Figure 2 is a simplified block diagram of the device according to the invention; and

FIG. 3 shows a simplified flowchart for illustrating the method according to the invention.

Figure 1 shows a simplified block diagram of a telecommunications system in which the present invention may be used.

The telecommunication network N according to FIG. 1 can represent, for example, a broadcast network, a point to multipoint or point to point network. Examples include a circuit-switched network or a packet-switched network such as the so-called Internet called. To this network N, for example, a so-called multimedia server S is turned on, which multimedia services in the network N available represents and in particular has a so-called broadcast functionality in which, for example, multimedia data is sent independently of a specific request.

Further illustrated in Figure 1 are telecommunication terminals TE, which may for example be a mobile terminal such as e.g. a mobile phone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or any other device with radio interface represent. In the same way, however, the telecommunication terminal can also be a wired terminal such as a PC, laptop or other multimedia-enabled terminal.

The telecommunication terminal TE can now receive or request the multimedia services offered by the server S via the network N and output them at its internal output unit. For example, in this case so-called picture, video, audio streaming services or the so-called digital TV, such as DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting) or DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) may be mentioned, wherein images, music and / or receive videos or downloaded and displayed on a display unit or output via a loudspeaker.

In order to adapt this data downloaded from the network N or the server S to, for example, respective user preferences, the device described below for adapting fractionalized data contents, i. the respective data to be transferred are broken down into individual fragments and the corresponding method is used.

FIG. 2 shows a simplified block diagram of such a device for adapting fractionalized data contents, as can be realized, for example, in a wireless or wired telecommunication terminal TE. According to FIG. 2, the telecommunication terminal TE has a receiving unit 1 for receiving a data stream DS, which can be downloaded from the network N or from the server S. In this case, the receiving unit 1 can have a wireless receiving unit with a radio interface for receiving a wireless data stream DS, as can be present, for example, in UMTS, GSM, cordless and cell-based devices. Of course, W-LANs (Wireies Local Area Networks) WiMAX, Bluetooth interfaces and the like are also conceivable. On the other hand, the receiving unit 1 may also have a wired interface, such as ISDN, lOBaseT, or DSL interfaces.

In the present exemplary embodiment, a DVB data stream is assumed, which represents a European standard for new digital television distribution services, which are broadcast, for example, via satellites (DVB-S) but also terrestrially (DVB-T, DVB-H). Usually, "pre-compiled" fixed multimedia data contents are used for the most diverse multimedia services.

According to the present invention, a respective data stream DS is now modified such that, in addition to the usually present useful data ND, it also has so-called marking data MD and additional data ZD. The user data ND here have fractionalized data contents, ie the data to be transmitted in each case are broken down into individual predefined fragments. The marking data MD now contain information about such fractionalized data contents of the user data ND, which are readable and changeable by the user or by his telecommunications terminal. The marking data MD thus mark which areas of the useful data ND can be changed. The additional data ZD can also have so-called alternative contents A, B or C, which are available for the areas of the user data ND marked as variable or for the fractionally marked data contents marked as variable. For storing preference data PD, the telecommunication terminal TE may further comprise a preference data memory 2. The preference data PD stored in this preference data memory 2 has, for example, user characteristics, user preferences and / or terminal characteristics. For example, for purposes of illustration, a user property may indicate a respective gender, ie, "male" or "female," of the user. The user preferences indicate, for example, whether a user prefers to hear "classical" or "rock / pop" in terms of his musical taste. In the terminal device properties, for example, information can be stored, for example, provide a graphic support of special effects of the terminal information.

An evaluation unit 3 now evaluates the additional data ZD contained in the data stream DS on the basis of the preference data PD stored in the preference data memory 2 and in this case determines a suitable alternative content. From the three alternative methods contained in the additional data ZD, for example,

Contents A, B and C therefore selects the evaluation unit 3 in response to the preference data PD from a suitable content B from. This determined alternative content B is then fed to an insertion unit 4, which inserts or adds the determined alternative content B into the payload ND at the respective marked areas or as variably marked fractional data contents, whereby the marked area of the payload ND is replaced by the Alternative content B is replaced. In this way, customized user data ND * are obtained, which are adapted to a respective user or a respective terminal in accordance with the information stored in the preference data memory 2.

The additional data ZD with their respective information can be transmitted temporally independent of the user data. For example, the alternative contents A, B and C already long (hours before) before the user data ND be transmitted with appropriately marked areas.

In order to generate output-adapted adjusted useful data ND *, a corresponding generator unit 5 can furthermore be present, the output data thus processed and output-adapted custom data being output by an output unit 6. Both the generator unit 5 and the output unit 6 are usually present by default in a multimedia-enabled telecommunication terminal TE anyway. The output unit 6 is preferably a display unit and / or a loudspeaker.

Optionally, according to FIG. 2, a marking data checking unit 7 can also be provided, which checks the data stream DS as to whether explicit or implicit marking data MD is present. In the case of implicit marking data MD, marking data conversion unit 8, which is also optional in this case, converts this into explicit marking data, the explicit marking data being supplied to insertion unit 4 and, depending on the explicit marking data, applying the determined alternative content B in FIG inserts the marked areas of the payload data stream ND.

A data stream DS, which is equipped with marking information and with alternative contents for the marked areas, can thus be adapted in a very simple and cost-effective manner with the device according to the invention. In particular when using user-related data for the reference data, a personalized adaptation of the data stream DS and in particular of the user data ND can thus be carried out. More specifically, according to a user behavior or user preferences and / or the device properties, a respective received user data stream ND can be adapted in a targeted manner. The user data ND preferably represent image data, audio data and / or video data, whereby in particular multimedia services can be realized. Correspondingly, the alternative contents preferably also represent image, audio and / or video data which can replace the regions marked as variable in the respective user data.

In this case, the alternative contents can not only be made available via the additional data ZD of the data stream DS, but optionally also stored in a local content memory 9, wherein the evaluation unit 3 in addition to the alternative contents A contained in the additional data ZD , B and C also consider and use the at least one local alternative content D in the local content memory 9.

Similarly, the external alternative contents E stored in an external contents memory 10 may be further considered and used. The external content memory 10 can be connected via a suitable interface directly to the telecommunication terminal TE, such as an external hard drive, or in the network N, for example, on a content server (not shown) stored. The corresponding access control is also realized by the evaluation unit 3 and is not further described here.

Preferably, the fractionalized data contents of the user data ND are marked temporally and / or locally by the implicit or explicit marking data MD, whereby both entire audio or video sequences and / or specific image regions (pixels) of an image can be marked. Accordingly, for example, a multimedia service may include various variable service sections, such as fragments of audio data, video data or images, etc. that are selectively alterable. The predetermined alternative content can hereby be made available specifically by the service provider or else by the Users are provided to a third person, such as a network operator or the like. As a result, the preset alternative contents can be administrated by the user as well as by the server or by any other person.

The definition and specification of a respectively changeable or replaceable section or area can be proposed by the service provider or network provider and should at least meet the technical requirements of a respective telecommunication terminal TE. Preferably they should meet necessary standards.

By merging the two data streams or data contents, i. User data ND with a corresponding alternative content is given a fully user-specified multimedia content, which is further provided without delay, i. can be processed and output in real time.

Preferably, the alternative contents A to E contained in the additional data ZD in the local content memory 9 or in the external content memory 10 may each have a classification which facilitates an evaluation or a selection of a suitable alternative content. Such a classification can in this case with regard to the in the

Reference data used PD terms. Accordingly, for example, certain alternative contents may be more likely to be associated with a "male" or "female" clientele or music genre, etc. In this case, the evaluation unit 3 compares a classification of a respective alternative content A to E with the preference data PD, the alternative Content with the largest match between Preference Data Info and Classification Info is selected as content to be pasted. If, for example, the alternative content offered in the additional data stream has a classification information "man", "woman" or "child" and, for example, in the preference data PD, the preference data information "Woman" is filed (or activated), the alternative content B classified as "female" is selected and fed to the inserting unit 4.

To illustrate the present invention, some applications of the present invention will be described in more detail below.

Implicit marking data

To illustrate a data stream DS with implicit marking data MD, for example, a video can be loaded (streaming), which was recorded in the so-called "blue-screen" technique For example, in this video, a completely blue was used for the alternative realization of advertising content on a beverage can colored beverage can used (or was subsequently digitally discolored), which can now be replaced by appropriate alternative content such as colors and lettering a "Coca Cola" can or "Pepsi CoIa" - can, etc. Since the first blue colored tin so to speak As a placeholder directly, ie implicitly contained in the video data, one speaks of implied marking data which must be evaluated on the terminal side for the exact location and time determination of the marked areas After a corresponding evaluation of the areas marked in this way for the realization of explicit marking data, that is to say, eg Coordinates of pixels or time and frequency ranges of tone sequences, the insertion of the alternative content in the marked area can now be done.

Explicit tag data

As an alternative to the above-mentioned implicit marking data or in addition thereto, explicit marking data may also be present in the data stream DS, wherein it is now not in the user data stream ND but preferably in the additional data ZD are included. In this case, for example, it can be specified exactly which pixels or pixels or tone sequences, etc. in the payload data stream ND are classified as changeable. The insertion of the alternative content here preferably takes place directly without further evaluation of the explicit marking data. For example, in a transferred movie every 15 minutes an advertising break for 2 minutes be explicitly marked, using this explicit marking data in the period of, for example, 15 minutes to 17 minutes, a respective alternative video recording takes place, depending on is selected from the present preference data PD. For example, if the preference data information includes "man" and the alternative content includes a commercial or video sequence for "beer,""toy," and "cosmetics," then, for example, the beer advertisement is selected as the commercial to be inserted and inserted at the specified location in the movie.

In particular, for the protection of minors or other vulnerable groups of persons, the present invention can thus be used for appropriate adaptation of multimedia services (preference data info includes, for example, "older than 18 years" or "younger than 18 years").

Furthermore, the additional data ZD may include information about a way of adapting the marked fractionalized data contents. In this way, a particularly lifelike adaptation of the user data to be displayed can be realized. For example, in a downloaded game, faces of actors may be replaced with alternative faces such as the face of a favorite actor, the face of the friend, the face of one's own, and so forth. Since, however, there are usually different film settings, such setting data present in each case in the user data stream ND can be supplied as additional data in order to adjust the marked data contents. simple or easier. In this way even complex changes in the alternative data contents can be realized relatively easily.

In particular, with device properties stored in the preference data PD, the contents can be optimally adapted to a respectively existing telecommunication terminal TE on the basis of optional special effects.

Local alternative content

According to another application, the user of a mobile telecommunications terminal, such as a mobile phone, for example, may request a presentation from the service provider about a particular city that he is currently visiting. The service provider thus provides a presentation about the city with a city or typical background music. However, if in a local content memory 9 a preferred favorite music is deposited by the user and this preference is further stored in the preference data PD of the

Preference data memory 2 is specified, it can be played in the adaptation of the user data stream ND also a presentation of the city, being played as the background music now the favorite music of the user.

External alternative content

As an alternative to the above-mentioned application, the background music can also be stored on an external content memory 10.

As further examples of alternative contents to be transmitted or replaced, for example, colors, country identifiers, figures, voices, languages, target group-specific resources, etc. are named, which can be selected either by the user or by the user

Service provider or provided by a third party. In this way you get a value for both a particular user, a particular service provider, or a network operator or other third party. Consequently, marked areas can be optionally and flexibly replaced or added, whereby in particular multimedia applications stand in the foreground.

The alternative contents can be defined both by the service provider, the network operator and locally by the user. Preferably, the handling of the marked areas is performed according to user-defined or standardized technologies. In addition to the above-mentioned audio, video and image data, other data formats such as e.g. animated pictures and so on.

By means of the present invention, on the one hand, the advertising possibilities for third-party providers and information filtering for the user can be improved. In particular, for the protection of minors or vulnerable persons, the invention can replace harmful data contents by corresponding harmless alternative data contents. An acceptance of multimedia services can be greatly improved in this way.

Furthermore, the alternative content provided can be coupled with different payment forms or charges, which can be used to achieve a further improvement and acceptance of multimedia services.

Furthermore, according to the invention, security aspects in such a device can be substantially increased since the preference data required for adapting the user data need not be output to a third person but are located locally at the user.

Finally, the advantage of an increased speed is pointed out, as the limited alternative Content a bandwidth requirement is only insignificantly strained. Especially for mobile devices with relatively low bandwidths, this represents a further advantage.

FIG. 3 shows a simplified flow chart for illustrating essential steps of the method according to the invention, reference being made to the description of the device in order to avoid repetitions.

After a start in step S1, a data stream DS with user data ND, marking data MD and additional data ZD is initially received in a step S2. The marking data may here be implicitly present within the payload ND or explicitly for example in the additional data ZD. The payload data ND here have a multiplicity of fractionalized data contents, while the mark data designate or mark changeable fractionalized data contents within the payload data. The additional data contains alternative contents for the variable fractionalised data contents or information on this. The additional data can be decoupled in time from the user data.

In an optional step S8 it can now be determined whether the marker data MD is explicit or implicit marker data. If it concerns explicit marking data, a branch is made to a step S3. However, if there are only implicit marking data, ie the marking data is contained in the useful data ND, then in a further optional step S9, explicit marking data are first determined from these implicit marking data. Depending on a particular implicit marking used, speech recognition, image recognition or other programs can be used. In a step S3, an alternative content to be inserted at the marked position is then determined using precedence data PD and the alternative content available. In principle, the step S3 can also be inserted before the steps S8 or between the steps S8 and S9. For example, in this evaluation, a classification of each alternative content may be compared with the preference data PD, and an alternative content having the largest match may be selected as an alternative content to be inserted.

In a step S4, the determined alternative content is subsequently inserted into the fractional data content of the user data ND marked as variable. More specifically, at the area indicated by the explicit marker data within the payload ND for generating adjusted payload ND *, the determined alternative content may be added or replaced.

The user data ND * adapted in this way, for example, to the user behavior are then converted into output-capable user data ND * in a step S5 and output by an output unit in a step S6. The method ends in a step S7.

The particular application cases as well as advantages of the present method correspond to the application traps and advantages of the associated device according to FIG. 2, for which reason a repeated description is omitted below.

The invention has been described above with reference to a multimedia service such as e.g. the DVB-H described. However, it is not limited to this and, in the same way, also includes other data streams that allow for a corresponding adaptation.

Furthermore, the invention has been described in particular for mobile telecommunication terminals and in particular mobile phones. she However, it is not limited thereto and can be used in the same way in other telecommunication terminals or receiving devices such as digital television receivers or the like.

Furthermore, the invention has been described with reference to specific applications. However, it is not limited to this but also includes alternative use cases in the same way.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 receiving unit 2 reference data memory

3 evaluation unit

4 insertion unit

5 generator unit

6 output unit 7 marking data checking unit

8 tag data conversion unit

9 Local content store

10 External content memory N Network DS data stream

S server

TE telecommunications terminal

ND user data

MD marking data ZD additional data

ND * adapted user data

A to E Alternative content

PD reference data

Sl to S9 process steps

Claims

claims

An apparatus for adjusting fractionalized data contents with a receiving unit (1) for receiving a data stream

(DS) with

User data (ND), which have fractionalized data content,

Marking data (MD) which mark at least one fractionalized data content as changeable, and

Additional data (ZD) having alternative contents (A, B, C) for the fractionally marked data content marked as variable; a preference data memory (2) for storing preference data (PD); an evaluation unit (3) for evaluating the additional data (ZD) and for determining an alternative content (B) on the basis of

Preference data (PD); and an insertion unit (4) for inserting the determined alternative content (B) into the changeable flagged fractional data content and for generating adapted payload data

(ND *).

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein a generator unit (5) for generating output-adapted adapted payload data from the adapted payload data (ND *); and an output unit (6) for outputting the output adapted custom payload (ND *).

Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by a tag data checking unit (7) for checking whether explicit or implicit tag data (MD) is present in the data stream (DS) and a tag data converting unit (8) for converting the implicit tag data (MD) in explicit mark- The insertion unit (4) inserts the determined alternative content (B) as a function of the explicit marking data (MD).

4. Device according to one of the claims 1 to 3, characterized by a local content memory (9) for storing at least one further local alternative content (D), wherein the evaluation unit (3) in addition to the alternative contents (A, B, C) the additional data (ZD) also uses the at least one local alternative content (D).

5. Device according to one of the claims 1 to 4, in that the evaluation unit (4) furthermore also uses the at least one further external alternative content (E) stored in an external content memory (10).

6. Device according to one of the claims 1 to 5, d a d c h e c e n e c e s in that the user data (ND) image, audio and / or video data.

7. Device according to one of the claims 1 to 6, d a d u r c h e c e n e c e in that the marker data (MD) mark the fractionalized data contents of the user data (ND) temporally and / or locally.

8. Device according to one of the claims 1 to 7, in that there is an image, audio and / or video data in the alternative contents (A-E).

9. Device according to one of the claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the preference data (PD) have user characteristics, user preferences and / or terminal properties.

10. Device according to one of the claims 1 to 9, d a d c h e c e s in that the alternative contents (A-E) have at least one classification.

11. The device according to claim 10, wherein the evaluation unit compares the at least one classification of a respective alternative content with the preference data and selects the alternative content with the greatest match.

12. Device according to claim 1, wherein the additional data (ZD) further comprises information about a way of adapting the marked fractionalized data contents.

13. Method for adapting fractionalized data contents with the steps: receiving a data stream (DS) with

User data (ND), which have fractionalized data content,

Marking data (MD), which mark at least one fractionalized data content as variable, and additional data (ZD), which contain alternative contents (A, B, C) for the fractionally marked data content marked as variable (S2);

Evaluating the additional data (ZD) and determining an alternative content (B) on the basis of the reference data (S3); and inserting the determined of the alternative content (B) into the fractionally scaled data content marked as variable to produce adjusted useful data (S4).

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized by the further step ^¬ te: Generating output-capable adjusted user data (ND *) from the adjusted user data (S5); and

Outputting the output-adapted custom user data (S6).

15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, characterized by the further steps ^¬ te:

Checking for explicit or implicit tag data (MD) in the data stream (DS) (S8); and converting the implicit tag data (MD) into explicit tag data, wherein the inserting in response to the explicit tag data (MD) inserts the determined alternative content (B) (S9).

16. Method according to one of the claims 13 to 15, wherein, in addition to the alternative contents (A, B, C) of the additional data (ZD), at least one local alternative content (D) is also used in the evaluation.

17. Method according to one of the claims 13 to 16, wherein, in the evaluation, at least one external alternative content (E) stored in an external content memory (10) is also used.

18. Method according to one of the claims 13 to 17, characterized in that the user data (ND) have image, audio and / or video data.

19. Method according to one of the claims 13 to 18, characterized in that the marking data (MD) mark the fractionalized data contents of the useful data (ND) temporally and / or locally.

20. The method according to any one of the claims 13 to 19, characterized in that the alternative contents (AE) comprise image, audio and / or video data.

21. Method according to one of the claims 13 to 20, characterized in that the preference data (PD) have user properties, user preferences and / or terminal device properties.

22. Method according to one of the claims 13 to 21, characterized in that the alternative contents (A-E) have at least one classification,

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that in the evaluation (S3) the at least one classification of a respective alternative content (A to E) compared with the reference data (PD) and the alternative content (B) is selected with the largest match ,

24. Method according to one of the claims 13 to 23, characterized in that the additional data (ZD) further comprises information about a way of adapting the marked fractionalized data contents.