JP2000090107A - Moving-picture relative information retrieval system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To view both a moving picture and its relative information on the same screen by acquiring the relative information only by specifying a specific position on the moving picture. SOLUTION: This system is equipped with an analyzing means 21 which cuts a part on the screen including a specified position when the position is specified on the moving picture and makes a request for moving-picture relative information regarding the part, an inquiry data base 19 which stores many pairs of information regarding parts cut out of the moving picture and retrieval destination information on moving-picture relative information corresponding to the parts, a retrieval destination information acquiring means 29 which matches cutout information received from the analyzing means 21 against information regarding the parts and takes retrieval destination information of the moving-picture relative information out of the inquiry data base, and a retrieving means 27 which acquires moving-picture relative information from a retrieval destination according to the retrieval destination information taken out by the retrieval destination information acquiring means 29.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a moving picture related information search system, and more particularly to a moving picture related information search system suitable for searching for information related to video information on an intranet VOD.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent development of computer and communication technologies,
Video-on-demand (VOD) has been developed for transmitting video online according to a client's request.
Among these VODs, an intranet VOD that provides video images to clients within a relatively narrow range, such as an in-house network system in a company or a network system in a facility having many customers such as a hotel, has come to be used. I have.

[0003] With respect to the intranet VOD, it is considered that an in-house network provides, for example, educational videos, and a hotel network provides, for a fee, videos and movies desired by customers in each room. .

[0004]

However, the conventional video-on-demand system is simply a browser (Browse).
r) has a function only to play a moving image, and even if the client wants to obtain relevant information on the video, no means for obtaining such information has been provided.

[0005] For example, a client watching a video of a fashion show may want more information about a particular garment, such as a vendor. In some cases, an employee watching an in-house training video may request more information about the business unit referred to.

[0006] In such a case, it is very convenient if it is possible to inquire related information only by clicking the relevant portion of the moving image on the browser with a mouse or the like. The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and it is possible to obtain relevant information by simply specifying a predetermined position on a moving image.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a moving image related information search system that allows both a moving image and its related information to be viewed on the same screen.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when a certain position on a moving image is designated, an analyzing unit displays the designated position on a screen including the designated position. Is cut out, and the cut-out information is attached to request the moving image related information on the portion.

On the other hand, there is provided an inquiry database that stores a large number of pairs of information on a portion that can be cut out from a moving image and search destination information of moving image related information corresponding to the portion.

[0009] When a request for the moving picture related information is made from the analyzing means, the clipped information is collated with the information on the portion by the search destination information acquiring means, and the moving picture related information corresponding to the clipped information is searched. Prior information is retrieved from the query database.

[0010] Then, based on the retrieved retrieval destination information, moving image related information is obtained from the retrieval destination by the retrieval means. Therefore, the related information can be obtained only by specifying a predetermined position on the moving image, and both the moving image and the related information can be viewed on the same screen.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a moving image related information search system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The moving picture related information retrieval system according to the present embodiment is configured as an intranet VOD. An internet network 2 is connected to an intranet 1, and another web server 3 other than the intranet 1 is connected to the internet network 2. Is connected.

The intranet 1 has a data transmission path 11
A plurality of client terminals 12, a web server 13,
An application server 14, a video server 15, an in-net database system 16, and a router 17 connected to the Internet 2 are connected to each other.

In the intranet 1, an application server 14 controls a video server 15 in response to a request from a browser 18 of a client terminal 12, and the video server 15 provides a video (moving image) to the client terminal 12. It constitutes VOD.

The application server 14 is connected to an inquiry database 19, and the video server 15
Is obtained from the inquiry database 19 as search destination information of related information on the moving image provided by. The inquiry database 19 is provided with search information such as a URL corresponding to a specifiable portion on the moving image, and is configured to store a large number of combinations of the specifiable portion and search destination information.

The in-net database system 16 is a database for storing moving picture related information. The information stored here is, for example, in-company information in an in-company network, or information such as a restaurant menu or a cleaning service of the hotel in a hotel network.

On the other hand, the other web server 3 is an information search destination for moving image related information that is not stored in the in-net database system 16. For example, it provides catalog information of a clothing maker, or provides information on details of home electric appliances of an electric maker.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of each main part and a processing flow in the moving image related information retrieval system of the present embodiment. The client terminal 12 is provided with a browser 18 and an analysis application 21. The analysis application 21 is downloaded from the web server 13 together with the video watching function 22 on the browser 18.

The analysis application 21 always analyzes a moving image provided from the video server 15 and responds to an information search input from a client. When there is a designation input from the client using the input device 23 such as a mouse, first, the position of the designated position on the moving image is analyzed. That is, the analysis application 21
Cuts out which part of the moving image is selected, and transmits the data of the cut-out part to the application server 14 together with the request for the moving image related information as a candidate for a specifiable part that can be referred to for moving image related information. . For example, when a sweater is designated on a certain screen, the sweater is cut out by the image recognizing means and designated as a candidate for a specifiable portion.

The video viewing function 22 includes a video server 15
Is a function on the web for selecting a video that can be provided from the Web site and watching it on the display device 24. In FIG.
A video watching function 22 for video B and video C has been downloaded.

Note that the browser 18 is a web server 13
When the client receives the moving image related information requested by the client, the information is displayed on the video display screen. Web server 1
3 includes a homepage download unit 25 for transferring a homepage in response to a browser request, an analysis application download unit 26 for similarly transferring an analysis application to a client terminal, and a search unit 27 for other webs. . Based on the search destination information of the moving image related information obtained from the inquiry database 19, the other web search unit 27 sends the moving image related information to the in-net database system 10 or the other web server 3 outside the intranet. It requests information and sends the obtained moving image related information to the browser 18.

The application server 14 includes a video server control unit 28 and an inquiry DB search unit 29. The video server control unit 28 controls the video server 15 to transmit the requested video to the client terminal 12 according to the request from the browser 18.

On the other hand, upon receiving a search request for video-related information from the analysis application 21, the query DB search unit 29 retrieves the corresponding search destination information from the query database 19 based on the candidates for the specifiable portion. A search request for the moving image related information is transmitted to the web browser 13 and the web search unit 27 together with the search destination information. For example, if you receive sweater information as a candidate for a specifiable part,
The same sweater information as the sweater is stored in the inquiry database 1
9 is searched for, and if there is a sweater, the corresponding search destination information is extracted. At this time, the sweater received from the analysis application 21 and the inquiry database 19
Even if the sweaters are not exactly the same, they are assumed to be the same when they are considered to be the same after performing predetermined image processing. If the candidate for the specifiable portion is a portion that cannot be referred to for information, the fact is notified to the browser via the search section 27 such as another web.

Next, the operation of the moving picture related information retrieval system according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the browser 18
Requests the web server 13 to download the home page (FIG. 2: a), and in response to the request, the web server 13 transfers the home page and the analysis application to the browser 18 (b). In this case, the home page displays that videos A, B, and C can be viewed.

Next, when the user selects a video that he / she wants to watch from A, B, and C, in this case, video C, the video watching function 22C issues a video transmission request to the application server 14 ( c). Further, the application server 14 is controlled to transmit the video C to the client terminal 12 (d).

Thus, the video C, which is a movie created in cooperation with the apparel maker, is displayed on the display device 24 from the video server 15 via the analysis application 21 and the browser 18 (e).

As described above, when a movie from the video server 15 is being shown on the browser 18 and the user wants to know the information of the clothes worn by the performers of the movie, the user uses the mouse to move the clothes portion. click.

With the image recognition technology used in the analysis application 21, selected parts such as clothes, hats, and shoes are extracted as data.
The analysis application 21 transmits the data of the selected portion as a candidate of the specifiable portion to the application server 14 together with the information inquiry request (f). Then, the application server 14 receiving this request
The extracted information (candidate) is compared with the information on the database 19, and if the information on the clothes is present on the database 19, that is, if the candidate is a specifiable part. The corresponding search destination information is retrieved from the inquiry database 19 (g).

When the search destination information cannot be obtained, the browser notified of the fact via the web server ignores the user request and does nothing particularly. On the other hand, when the search destination information is obtained, the search destination information is notified to the other web or other search unit 27 of the web server 13 (h), and the other web or other search unit 27 searches for the moving image related information. . Here, if the URL of the maker providing the clothing is obtained as the search destination information, the web server 3 of the clothing maker is accessed via the Internet network 2,
The homepage is downloaded (i1; in the case of accessing the in-net database system 16, the process is i2).

FIG. 3 is a diagram conceptually showing the flow of processing in this embodiment. That is, the search destination information is displayed on the web and the search destination information is obtained from the inquiry database for the relevant information of the selected moving image portion, and further, the Web server of the search destination is accessed to download the moving image relevant information such as a catalog. It is shown.

As described above, the information retrieved by the retrieval section 27 for other web etc. is transferred to the browser 18 (FIG. 2:
j), it will be displayed on the browser. Upon receiving the moving image-related information, the browser 18 provides a new display unit and displays it, or switches to the moving image being displayed to temporarily display the information. Therefore, on the same screen,
While watching the movie, you can also view the information on the web server related to the movie at the same time.

As described above, in the moving image related information search system according to the embodiment of the present invention, search destination information is obtained from the inquiry database 19 corresponding to the portion on the moving image cut off by the analysis application 21, Since the search for video related information is performed based on this search destination information, it is possible to obtain the relevant information simply by specifying a predetermined position on the video, and to search for the video and the related video on the same screen. It is possible to see both of the moving image related information designated by the user.

By adding such a service function, it is possible to increase the added value of a moving picture supply system such as video on demand and to differentiate the system. In addition, by applying the present invention, on-demand, such as watching a moving image or viewing web information on the same screen, is realized, and further development of the VOD technology can be achieved.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but can be variously modified without departing from the scope of the invention. The method described in the embodiment may be a program (software means) that can be executed by a computer (computer), for example, a magnetic disk (floppy disk, hard disk, etc.), an optical disk (CD-ROM, DVD, etc.), semiconductor It can also be stored in a storage medium such as a memory or transmitted and distributed via a communication medium. The program stored on the medium side includes a setting program for causing the computer to execute software means (including not only an execution program but also a table and a data structure) to be executed in the computer. A computer that realizes the present apparatus reads a program recorded in a storage medium, and in some cases, constructs software means by using a setting program, and executes the above-described processing by controlling the operation of the software means.

[0035]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to acquire related information only by specifying a predetermined position on a moving image, and to view both the moving image and the related information on the same screen. And a video-related information search system capable of performing the search.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a moving image related information search system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view showing a configuration of each main part and a processing flow in the moving image related information search system of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary view conceptually showing a processing flow of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Intranet 2 ... Internet network 3 ... Other web server 11 ... Data transmission path 12 ... Client terminal 13 ... Web server 14 ... Application server 15 ... Video server 16 ... Net database system 17 ... Router 18 ... Browser 19 ... Inquiry database 21 ... Analysis application 22 ... Video watching function 23 ... Input device 24 ... Display device 25 ... Homepage download unit 26 ... Analysis application download unit 27 ... Other web search unit 28 ... Video server control unit 29 ... Inquiry DB search unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 15/70 410

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An analysis means for, when a certain position on a moving image is designated, cutting out a part on the screen including the specified position, attaching the cutout information and requesting moving image related information about the part, A query database that stores a large number of pieces of information about a portion that can be cut out from a video and search destination information of the video-related information corresponding to the portion, and cut-out information received from the analysis unit. With the information on the portion, and search target information acquisition means for extracting search target information of the video-related information corresponding to the cut-out information from the query database; and search destination information extracted by the search destination information acquisition means. And a search means for obtaining the moving picture related information from the search destination based on the search result.