Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/01—Protocols
  • H04L67/02—Protocols based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
  • G06F16/90—Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
  • G06F16/95—Retrieval from the web
  • G06F16/958—Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/01—Protocols
  • H04L67/06—Protocols specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/01—Protocols
  • H04L67/04—Protocols specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability

Definitions

• the invention relates to the edition of multimedia pages with terminals, in particular in the context of multimedia services offered on mobile telephones that are designed to cooperate with cellular networks.
• a server distributes, to one or more terminals, at least part of multimedia pages in the form of instructions for arranging objects within a multimedia page to be constructed.
• the same object can be used in particular by several successive multimedia pages and keep, or not, the same layout parameters from one multimedia page to another.
• multimedia page is understood to mean, for example, a graphic scene to be edited with the terminal, where appropriate embellished with one or more sound sequences to be played on the speakers or headphones of the terminal.
• the same object for example a graphic object such as a road map
• the same object is likely to be edited in several successive scenes if the terminal user applies an interactive command of the zoom / zoom out or "left arrow / right arrow, up / down" type to adjust a position of visualization of the plan.
• the server on each user interaction command, the server usually transmits the same data relating to the graphic object to be edited, if necessary with parameters for the arrangement of the object in the graphic scene (for example example a zoom value), which are different.
• the present invention provides a data storage mechanism specific to objects intended to be arranged within multimedia pages. More particularly, the invention proposes a process of transmission and decoding of “cache” functions (that is to say a read anticipation followed by a storage) of the object data, prior to the spatial-temporal arrangement. of these objects in a multimedia page.
• One of the aims of the present invention relates to the reduction of the memory of the terminals, necessary for editing complex multimedia pages, or of a succession of such pages.
• Another object of the present invention relates to the reduction of the computing resources necessary for editing such pages, or of a succession of these pages.
• Another object targeted by the present invention is to provide a method making it possible to achieve the objectives referred to above while offering compatibility with conventional decoding techniques. More generally, an aim of the present invention is to offer greater flexibility in terms of requests and data exchanged between the server and the terminal.
• the present invention firstly proposes a method of editing multimedia pages with a terminal, in which a server distributes, to one or more terminals, at least part of the multimedia pages in the form of instructions for arranging objects within a multimedia page to be constructed, the method comprising: a) at least one prior step during which the server transmits data relating to at least one object to be arranged in a multimedia page to be constructed, with an instruction to storage of said data, identified by a link, in a memory of the terminal, b) and at least one current step during which the server transmits a descriptive file comprising said link, for editing, with the terminal, said object in at least one multimedia page under construction, by reading the data stored in the terminal memory.
• step b) alone can be repeated several times to editing the same object in several successive multimedia pages, advantageously without necessarily downloading from the server the data relating to the object for each multimedia page to be constructed.
• the server transmits said data and the instruction to store in at least one data packet to the terminal.
• Storage in the memory of the terminal is preferably temporary and the aforementioned storage instruction includes, in this embodiment, a timeout parameter of predetermined value defining an expiration date from its reception with the terminal.
• the aforementioned instruction is of “cache” type between the server and the terminal, with a memory area of the terminal allocated for the storage of the data associated with this instruction, in order to accelerate a repeated subsequent execution of the step b), for, the same object.
• the storage instruction includes information relating to a number of data that the terminal must store in memory.
• the storage instruction may include a marker for the start of data recording and a marker for the end of data recording, so that the aforementioned number of data is defined by this pair of markers.
• the descriptive file -precited includes a script including one or more links in the form of URL requests (for "UNIVERSAL RESSOURCE LOCATOR").
• the storage instruction is carried out in the form of a command corresponding to a low-level function.
• the object is a graphic type object comprising at least one of the elements from:
• the present invention also relates to a program product in the form of computer code, and comprising a storage instruction, in a memory of a terminal. , of data relating to an object intended to be published, with said terminal, in one or more multimedia pages in which the object - is capable of intervening.
• the present invention also relates to a signal comprising this code. This signal and / or the program product itself, can be transmitted from the server to the terminal, or even emanate from a memory medium which cooperates with a reader of the terminal (such as a CD-ROM or other reader).
• - Figure 2 shows schematically and partially the elements of a TER terminal
• - Figure 3 shows interacting software agents for editing multimedia pages with the TER terminal.
• the mobile terminal TER requests one or more multimedia pages, for example graphic animation content, from a SER server (step 11).
• the server SER returns content (step 12) comprising data (audio, video, text, or other) specific to an object, for example a graphic object to be edited in a graphic scene.
• content is described a temporary storage function "CACHE” (corresponding to the above-mentioned storage instruction), as shown in table 12-a.
• CACHE temporary storage function indicates that a set of graphic objects will be stored in memory in the terminal and will, if necessary, be accessible in response to a request from the same terminal.
• This function therefore indicates to the TER terminal that it must store data relating to an object capable of intervening in one or more future graphic scenes to be constructed.
• This object is identified by a graphic node "node i" to which we therefore associate DATA data specific to the graphic object.
• the terminal stores this DATA data (step 13) in a memory zone ZMi of the terminal, identifiable by a link, for example a character string "node i".
• the SER server sends (step 15) the description of a scene incorporating the "node i" object, if necessary with Attr attributes of arrangement of the object in the scene (descriptive file for example in the form of script 15-b).
• the TER terminal recognizes the "node i" link to the memory zone ZMi and recovers (step 16) the DATA data previously stored in step 13 to edit a graphic scene including the object corresponding to the node "node i", with the Attr layout attributes that the server transmitted in step 15. If necessary, the terminal can ask the server for new attributes, for the same "node i" object, for editing a new graphic scene including this same object (step 14), if the lifetime of the storage of DATA data with the terminal allows it, as will be seen below.
• This CACHE command is used to temporarily store a set of DATA specific to an object of a scene to be constructed.
• This command is preferably grouped with the DATA data in the same packet (for example a - AccessUn packet in MPEG-4 / System, or even an RTP packet).
• the server transmits following packets (containing one or more commands).
• the terminal includes a communication module 21, in particular with the SER server, from which it receives the above-mentioned "CACHE" command.
• CACHE CACHE command
• This memory zone ZMi is provided in a memory MEM that the terminal TER comprises.
• a following command transmitted by the server and relating to the object identified by the node "node i" will be interpreted by the terminal as targeting the content of the memory area ZMi and will therefore make it possible to recover the DATA data relating to this object .
• These DATA data are then processed in a working memory 22 (for example by software of the terminal called "PLAYER"), possibly separate from the memory MEM.
• the information allowing the editing of the scene to be constructed is then transferred to an interface 23, for example a graphical interface for displaying the scene (or even by a sound interface for a sound rendering).
• these DATA data are preferably temporary, reference will be made to the hourly value read from a clock 24, usually provided in a terminal (in particular in its processor).
• a "cacheObject" packet makes it possible to send in advance a content which will execute for example in response to a URL request (for example following steps 14 and 15 of FIG. 1).
• This request can be made following a command from a user of the terminal (interactive command).
• a cacheObject can be permanent, in its definition, and stored in memory at any time.
• the data associated with the cacheObject has an expiration date (in the memory of the terminal) defined by the time of reception and the TTL lifetime (for "Time To Live”) of its temporarily stored data. This TTL attribute indicates in seconds the time after which the cacheObject is no longer valid.
• the attributes which are associated with this cacheObject command are for example the following: • TTL: the duration of cacheObject validity • URL: the cacheObject data is retrieved from MEM memory, in response to this URL link • Source: DATA data to be stored and which can then be recovered.
• Attr attributes which are then sent with the node "node i"
• the CACHE command is declared by the instruction const bit (4) 12 which means that this command is declared by the integer "12" which must be found in the first four bits of the bit stream received by the terminal. Thus, if these first four bits have the integer "12", they will declare the CACHE command. Then, the bit (6) sglD command declares the integer msglD which, depending on its value, when it is received by the terminal, can trigger various actions with the terminal. Here, these actions are "Permanent” (indicates whether the terminal must keep the object's data in memory or not) and “Replace” (indicates whether the terminal must replace the content of its stored data with the new incoming data) . Combinations of these actions (or non-actions) are also provided, depending on the value of msglD. t
• uint (X) commands declare: - the number of bytes to read and store "payloadLength”, - the lifetime of the data stored in memory "TTL”, and
• the byte (8) [payloadLength] payload command indicates that the terminal must read and, if necessary (depending on the value of 0 the msglD variable), save all the data it receives from the server until it reads the "payloadLength” marker.
• command STZString defines a way5 of reading a character string to read a URL link either to the memory of the terminal, or to html pages of the server.
• the server transmits multimedia pages which contain links and the responses associated with these links with an instruction to store these responses on the terminal.
• the terminal can either accept 'or refuse to store these responses, for example if they are too large or if the timeout st or5 too short too long. •
• the terminal access priority to the response stored on the device, if it is actually stored .0
• FIG. 3 We now refer to FIG. 3 to describe a model of transmission and rendering of graphic scenes.
• a plurality of modules 42 are stored in memory 41 of the terminal TER, as memory residents.
• client software 45 “PLAYER” is also stored as a memory resident in memory 41.
• the PLAYER 45 allows you to view animated, interactive and multimedia content on the mobile terminal. Essentially, this software downloads or reads information that describes the spatio-temporal arrangement of graphic objects, the way they are synchronized and the interactions of the terminal user that are possible on this content.
• the PLAYER 45 interprets the interactions of the user and deduces the appropriate behaviors. graphic objects or requests to be made on the content server.
• PLAYER 45 (for example of type
• STREAMEZZO includes functions for rendering graphic objects and engines for visualization (graphic rendering engine 50) and interaction (interaction engine
• the PLAYER 45 uses modules 42, 43, 44 as API ("Application Program
• Content for editing includes animated vector graphics, sound, video, and user interactions.
• Viewing interactive multimedia content in mobile environments usually requires the use of compression techniques to ensure efficient provision of content and optimization of the rendering of the graphic objects making up that content. This content can then be viewed in good conditions on mobile terminals.
• the information read or downloaded by the PLAYER 45 is therefore highly compressed and the PLAYER must therefore decompress this data and interpret it on the fly to play the content.
• the PLAYER 45 comprises audio and video decoding modules, respectively 46 and 47, a decoded flow analyzer 49, a media manager 48, a rendering engine (graphic or sound) 50 and an interactivity engine 51 .
• the operation of the PLAYER can be described in the following steps: input of the input data through a connection "Network or file playback, decompressing the data to obtain a description of graphic objects directly usable by the audio and graphic rendering engine 50, composition of the graphic objects together to create a graphic scene, - actual graphic rendering of the audio and graphic objects, by displaying visual objects or by playing a sound, taking account for user interactions, such as a click of a pointer, or pressing a key, or the like, establishing a connection to a local or remote information source if necessary.
• this last step will consist in opening a connection to the SER server and recovering a bit stream.
• This bit stream is analyzed by the PLAYER 45 which then creates a ScèneGraph object containing the various scene objects in the form of nodes of a graph.
• the information flow is divided into packets which group together information which, in a preferred embodiment, is valid only at a given instant and corresponds to a single type of information (principle of 1 "AccessUnit" of the MPEG standard -4).
• the PLAYER analyzes each packet and executes the commands described therein according to its clock (not shown in the figures), which provides the time of the multimedia scene and, if applicable, the TTL validity duration of the DATA data associated with a command. HIDDEN.
• this PLAYER 45 in particular with the other modules 42, 43 and 44 of the terminal, can ensure the process of reception and decoding of a CACHE storage function for data of graphic objects intervening in graphic scenes, within the meaning of the present invention.
• This storage function makes it possible to manage the representation of an object and / or the modification of its arrangement in a scene, without having to systematically download the same data of the object in the terminal.
• this function makes it possible to link several graphic scenes in a composite multimedia service, advantageously when the same object frequently occurs in these scenes.
• the method within the meaning of the invention allows a reduction in the memory (for example the graphic memory) of the terminal, since only the data storage instruction is stored on the graphic nodes.
• the method within the meaning of the invention also allows a gain in the use of computing resources, since, typically, the use of programmatic content as defined above would induce a net additional computation cost, at least for certain animations.
• the method within the meaning of the invention using a mechanism conforming to a conventional graphical command rendering process, in a preferred embodiment, is then easy. to be implemented, in particular for a system with mobile terminals cooperating with cellular networks.
• the method within the meaning of the invention also offers compatibility with conventional decoding techniques, since the method can be implemented in most graphic rendering devices.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)

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• 2004
  • 2004-02-13 US US10/589,198 patent/US20080243857A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2004-02-13 EP EP04710896A patent/EP1714458A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2004-02-13 WO PCT/FR2004/000337 patent/WO2005088927A1/fr active Application Filing

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