JP4732418B2 - Metadata processing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a metadata processing method for processing metadata using hint information for metadata regeneration.

  In the conventional moving image management apparatus, after dividing the video into a plurality of scenes, the section information necessary for playback of each scene, the scene number, and an index that is a collection of images representing the scene are edited, and one or more scenes are edited. Means for creating an index, means for assigning a title indicating the search purpose to each index, and means for searching the index by title and reproducing the scenes of the index one after another according to the order of scene numbers Thus, it is possible to reproduce only the necessary scene by editing the index so that the necessary scenes are arranged (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2001-028722 A (first page, FIG. 1)

  However, the above-described conventional moving image management apparatus has a problem in that all descriptors included in the metadata must be analyzed in order to regenerate the metadata.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and it is possible to omit the analysis of metadata itself for metadata regeneration, and in light of a syntax file that defines the grammar of metadata. Information indicating whether or not a descriptor that can be considered to have child elements actually contains all child elements in the metadata can eliminate the analysis of descriptors that do not meet the regeneration condition. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to obtain a metadata processing method capable of reducing processing costs (processing amount, memory usage amount, etc.) associated with metadata analysis and regeneration.

A metadata processing method according to the present invention is a metadata processing method performed by a metadata distribution device that distributes metadata describing the content contents, and the metadata distribution device is configured to reproduce and edit the content. A metadata analysis / regeneration unit that performs processing of the necessary metadata, and the metadata analysis / regeneration unit describes one or more of the semantic content, structure, and characteristics of the content from the metadata extracting the descriptor, by the metadata analysis and re-generation unit, and a step of manipulating the metadata using the hint information, the hint information, syntax specifies the syntax of the metadata or descriptor is determined that can have a child element in light of the file, actually it contains all of the child elements in the metadata Information indicating whether those are described.

The metadata processing method according to the present invention can omit the analysis of the metadata itself for metadata regeneration , and can determine that the metadata processing method can have child elements in light of the syntax file that defines the metadata grammar. By analyzing the information that indicates whether or not the descriptor actually contains all the child elements in the metadata, it is possible to omit the analysis of the descriptor that does not meet the regeneration condition. There is an effect that it is possible to reduce processing costs (processing amount, memory usage, etc.) associated with the creation.

  Hereinafter, the metadata editing device according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention, the metadata reproducing device according to the third embodiment, the content distribution system according to the fourth embodiment, the metadata distribution server according to the fifth embodiment, The metadata search server according to the sixth embodiment, the client terminal according to the seventh embodiment, and the content distribution server according to the eighth embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
In the first embodiment, a multimedia content including moving images and audio is divided into a plurality of scenes, and a hierarchical structure description of scenes and metadata (index information) including feature quantities of each scene are created. A data editing apparatus will be described.

  A metadata editing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a metadata editing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In addition, in each figure, the same code | symbol shows the same or equivalent part.

  In FIG. 1, a metadata editing apparatus 100 includes a content reproduction / display unit 2, a scene dividing unit 3, a thumbnail image generating unit 4, a scene description editing unit 5, a text information adding unit 6, and a feature extracting unit 7. A user input unit 8 and a metadata description unit 9.

  The content playback / display unit 2 plays back / displays the multimedia content 10 to be edited including video data, audio data, and the like. The scene dividing unit 3 divides the content into a plurality of scenes. The thumbnail image generation unit 4 extracts a representative frame of the scene as a thumbnail image. The scene description editing unit 5 hierarchically edits scenes by grouping scenes divided by the scene dividing unit 3, combining scenes, deleting scenes, generating scene relation information, and the like. The text information adding unit 6 adds various text information to each scene. The feature extraction unit 7 extracts scene features.

  Also, the user input unit 8 sends instruction information from the user to the user input information to the content playback / display unit 2, the scene division unit 3, the thumbnail image generation unit 4, the scene description editing unit 5, and the text information addition unit 6. 11 is output.

  Further, the metadata description unit 9 includes the scene segmentation unit 3, the thumbnail image generation unit 4, the scene description editing unit 5, the text information addition unit 6, and the scene section information metadata 12 output from the feature extraction unit 7, The thumbnail image information metadata 13, the scene structure information metadata 14, the text information metadata 15 and the feature description metadata 16 are integrated to generate metadata 17 describing the contents and structure of the multimedia content according to a prescribed format. .

  Next, the operation of the metadata editing apparatus according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a news video that is an example of an editing target of the metadata editing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

  An example of editing a news video having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 will be described.

  First, the content playback / display unit 2 of the metadata editing apparatus 100 plays back for editing when multimedia content 10 such as video content stored in a content storage unit (not shown) is input via a network or the like. ·indicate.

  When the user of the metadata editing apparatus 100 inputs the position to be cut out as a scene, that is, the start position and end position of the scene from the user input unit 8 while watching the reproduced video, the scene dividing unit 3 is input by the user. Scene section information metadata 12 indicating the start position and end position of the scene is generated.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the section information metadata of the scene of the scene division unit of the metadata editing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

  The section information metadata 12 shown in FIG. 3 shows an example generated from the news video shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, for each scene such as “news digest”, “domestic news”, “international news”, etc. cut out from the news video content by the scene dividing unit 3, the start position and end of the scene Scene section information metadata 12 indicating the section information of the position is generated.

  In the scene description editing unit 5, when a user instructs to edit the scene via the user input unit 8, the scene description editing unit 5 continuously cuts out the scene division unit 3 based on the scene section information metadata 12 from the scene division unit 3. The scene is hierarchically edited and the scene structure information metadata 14 is output. Hierarchical editing of scenes includes, for example, scene grouping, scene subdivision, scene combination, and scene deletion. Scene grouping refers to, for example, one scene related to a specific feature such as “domestic news”, “international news”, “economic news” as shown in FIG. 4 from the news video shown in FIG. To be organized into a “news” group. The scene re-division is to divide one scene into a plurality of scenes. The combination of scenes is to combine a plurality of scenes into one scene.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the scene structure information metadata of the scene description editing unit of the metadata editing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

  The scene structure information metadata 14 shown in FIG. 4 describes a hierarchical structure of video content generated as a result of editing by the scene description editing unit 5. In FIG. 4, the scene description editing unit 5 edits the scenes such as scene grouping, scene re-division, scene combination, etc., so that the scene “news” becomes “news digest”, “news”, “special feature”. “News”, “Sports”, etc., and “News” is edited hierarchically as “Domestic News”, “International News”, “Economic News”

  For example, the metadata 14 shown in FIG. 4 generated by the scene description editing unit 5 is output to the metadata description unit 9.

  On the other hand, the thumbnail image generation unit 4 generates a representative frame as a thumbnail image from each scene cut out by the scene division unit 3 based on the scene section information metadata 12 from the scene division unit 3, and generates the generated thumbnail. Information is output to the metadata description unit 9 as thumbnail image information metadata 13 and registered in the metadata description unit 9. Here, the user can select a thumbnail from the user input unit 8, but the head frame or a plurality of frames with fixed time intervals are automatically set as representative frames, or scene change points are automatically detected, The frame can be used as a representative frame. The thumbnail image information metadata 13 is location information (frame number or time) of thumbnails in the video content, or location information such as the URL of the thumbnail image.

  In addition, the feature extraction unit 7 uses the scene segment information metadata 12 from the scene division unit 3 to visually represent the scene such as movement, color, or shape of the object included in the scene. Extract features. The extracted feature quantity is output to the metadata description unit 9 as the feature description metadata 16 and registered.

  In addition, the text information adding unit 6 performs various types of text such as a title, abstract, keyword, comment, and scene importance level for each scene based on the scene section information metadata 12 from the scene dividing unit 3. Give information. The addition of text information may be given automatically when the user inputs from the user input unit 8 or automatically by analyzing audio information and caption included in the content. The text information is output to the metadata description unit 9 as text information metadata 15 and registered in the metadata description unit 9.

  FIG. 5 shows a screen image example of the content reproduction / display unit and the user input unit 8 of the metadata editing apparatus according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 5, a video playback screen G1 corresponds to an example of a screen image in the content playback / display unit 2, and the video playback screen G1 plays back / displays content for editing. Although not explicitly shown in FIG. 5, a user provided in a normal video playback apparatus such as “play”, “stop”, “rewind”, “fast forward”, “frame forward” playback instruction buttons, and the like. Assume that it has an interface. A scene division instruction screen G2 is displayed below the video playback screen G1. The scene division instruction screen G2 has, for example, a slider format, and the user can determine the start position and end position of the video scene displayed on the video playback screen G1 while viewing the video displayed on the video playback screen G1. Can be directed. Further, the scene division instruction screen G2 can simultaneously instruct the thumbnail position between the start position and the end position of the scene. Here, when the position of the thumbnail is specified on the scene division instruction screen G2, the thumbnail image generation unit 4 generates a thumbnail image from the frame at the specified position of the video content.

  Also, the thumbnail image whose position is specified on the scene division instruction screen G2 is displayed on the scene division information display screen G3 as scene division information. On the scene division information display screen G3, in addition to the thumbnail image, information indicating the start position and end position of the scene can be displayed for each scene as shown in FIG.

  Next, on the tree structure generation instruction / display screen G4, the user is instructed to edit the scene. The user generates a tree representing the hierarchical structure of the video content while viewing the scene division information such as thumbnail images displayed on the scene division information display screen G3.

  As an operation method, for example, when scenes are grouped, a new node is added on the tree, and a scene to be grouped is added to the node. As a scene addition operation, a method of selecting a scene to be added on the scene division information display screen G3 and adding a scene to a node by drag and drop may be considered. On the scene division information display screen G3 and the tree structure generation instruction / display screen G4, a user input unit as a user interface for selecting a scene and adding text information to the scene via the text information adding unit 6 8 is provided, and text information for the scene can be entered.

  The metadata description unit 9 integrates various metadata output from the scene division unit 3, the thumbnail image generation unit 4, the scene description editing unit 5, the text information adding unit 6, and the feature extraction unit 7, and follows a prescribed description format. Generate the described metadata file. The metadata description format can be described in a uniquely defined format, but in the first embodiment, MPEG-7 standardized by ISO is used. MPEG-7 defines a format for describing the structure and characteristics of content, and there are an XML file format and a binary format.

  Therefore, according to the metadata editing apparatus 100 of the first embodiment, the scene description editing unit 5 that hierarchically edits the scene and the feature extraction unit 7 that extracts features from the scene are provided. It is possible to generate metadata describing the hierarchical structure of the content and the feature amount of each scene.

  Note that the multimedia content 10 input to the content playback / display unit 2 is acquired from a content server (not shown) on the network, or a content storage unit (not shown) in the metadata editing apparatus 100. ) From the storage medium (not shown) such as a CD or DVD. Similarly, metadata output from the metadata description unit 9 is stored in a metadata server (not shown) on the network, or a metadata storage unit (not shown) in the metadata editing apparatus. ) Is stored together with the content on a storage medium (not shown) such as a CD or DVD.

  In the first embodiment, the scene description editing unit 5 and the feature extraction unit 7 are provided. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and only the scene description editing unit 5 is provided or only the feature extraction unit 7 is provided. Of course, it may be provided.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the first embodiment described above, all the scene divisions are performed manually. However, in the second embodiment, a data editing apparatus including a scene change detection unit that automatically detects a scene change point. explain.

  A metadata editing apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the metadata editing apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

  6, the metadata editing apparatus 100A includes a content reproduction / display unit 2, a scene division unit 3, a thumbnail image generation unit 4, a scene description editing unit 5, a text information addition unit 6, and a feature extraction unit 7. A user input unit 8, a metadata description unit 9, and a scene change detection unit 39. Reference numeral 40 denotes scene start position information that is automatically detected.

  Next, the operation of the metadata editing apparatus according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the metadata editing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  The operations other than the scene change detection unit 39 and the scene division unit 3 are the same as those in the first embodiment. An operation unique to the second embodiment will be described.

  The scene change detection unit 39 automatically performs scene change and cut point detection. Scene change detection is performed based on, for example, inter-frame pixel differences, inter-frame colors, luminance histogram differences, and the like. The scene division unit 3 determines the start position and the end position of the scene based on the scene change point detected by the scene change detection unit 39.

  Here, the processing of the scene change detection unit 39 and the scene division unit 3 will be described in detail by taking as an example the case where the content to be edited is a news video.

  A case where a color histogram is used as a feature amount for scene change detection will be described as an example.

  The scene change detection unit 39 calculates a color histogram for each frame. As the color system, there are HSV, RGB, YCbCr, and the like. Here, the HSV color space is used. This HSV color space is composed of three elements of hue (H), saturation (S), and lightness (V). A histogram of each element is calculated. Next, a histogram difference between frames is calculated from the obtained histogram based on, for example, the following (Formula 1). It is assumed that N frames (for example, N = 3) from the start frame of the scene have the same scene, that is, no scene change point. As an initial feature amount of the scene, an average (mean) and standard deviation (sd) of histogram differences between the first N frames are obtained based on (Equation 2) below.

  After N + 1 frames, a frame in which the difference between the frames of the histogram is larger than mean + λ · sd is set as a scene change point, and a new scene start position candidate is set.

  When a plurality of scene start position candidates are obtained, a case where an image of a pattern determined by news switching or the like is inserted as in a news video is considered.

  News videos are often switched by news, and for example, images of a fixed pattern such as an image composed of an announcer and a background studio set, and explanatory text (captions) are often inserted. Therefore, these predetermined pattern images (referred to as template images) or metadata describing the feature amounts of the template images are registered in advance. The feature amount of the template image includes a color histogram of the template image, or a motion pattern (such as a portion where an announcer is captured due to news switching, and there is little motion).

  When the template image is registered in advance, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, the image corresponding to the scene change point is matched with the template image, and when the similarity is high, the scene change point is set. Register as the start position of the scene. Similarity matching includes inter-frame differences and color histogram differences between frames.

  In addition, when the feature amount of the template image is registered in advance, the feature amount is extracted from the image corresponding to the scene change point, matched with the feature amount of the template image, and when the similarity is high, The scene change point is registered as the start position of the scene. Information on the scene start position is output to the scene division unit 3.

  The scene division unit 3 determines the start position and end position of the scene based on the scene start position information automatically detected by the scene change detection unit 39. Note that the scene dividing unit 3 according to the second embodiment can determine the start position and the end position of the scene based on an instruction from the user, as in the first embodiment.

  The scene division unit 3 outputs the scene section information metadata 12 describing the start position and end position of the scene to the scene change detection unit 39, and the scene change detection unit 39 determines the scene change points included in the scene. It can also be detected.

  The scene description editing unit 5 can re-divide or integrate the scenes automatically detected by the scene change detection unit 39 based on the scene section information metadata 12 from the scene dividing unit 3. The details of the scene description editing unit 5 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  Therefore, according to the metadata editing apparatus 100A according to the second embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, the metadata describing the hierarchical structure of the content such as video data and the feature amount of each scene is stored. In addition to providing the scene change detection unit 39, the scene change point of the content can be automatically detected.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
In the third embodiment, description will be given of a metadata reproduction apparatus that performs summary reproduction, search, etc. of an image using metadata generated by the metadata editing apparatuses of the first and second embodiments.

  A metadata reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a metadata reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

  In FIG. 8, a metadata playback device 200 includes a metadata analysis unit 19, a structure display unit 20, a thumbnail image display unit 21, a user input unit 22, a search unit 23, a search result display unit 24, and a summary. A creation unit 25, a summary structure display unit 26, and a content reproduction unit 27 are provided.

  The metadata analysis unit 19 analyzes the metadata 28 in which the hierarchical scene structure of the content, the information regarding the thumbnails of each scene, the feature amount of each scene, and the like are described. The structure display unit 20 displays a scene structure 29 acquired from the metadata analysis result, that is, a hierarchical structure of content. The thumbnail image display unit 21 displays thumbnail image information 30 acquired from the metadata analysis result.

  The user input unit 22 gives an instruction such as search or reproduction. The search unit 23 performs a search based on a search instruction (search condition 31) from the user and a scene feature amount or text information 32 acquired from the metadata. The search result display unit 24 displays the search result 33. The summary creation unit 25 creates a summary based on a summary creation instruction (summary creation condition 34) from the user. The summary structure display unit 26 displays the summarized content structure 38. The content reproduction unit 27 reproduces / displays content based on the summary information 35, the content reproduction instruction 36, and the content 37 to be reproduced.

  Next, the operation of the metadata reproducing apparatus according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, the metadata analysis unit 19 receives the metadata 28 describing the hierarchical scene structure of the content, the information about the thumbnails of each scene, the feature amount of each scene, and the like, and analyzes the metadata.

  In the third embodiment, the metadata 28 is described in the format defined by the MPEG-7 generated by the metadata description unit 9 in the first and second embodiments, so the metadata is described in XML. It may be a text file or a binary file encoded in a binary format.

  For this reason, the metadata analysis unit 19 has a function of an XML parser that analyzes an XML file if the metadata 28 is described in XML. Further, if the metadata 28 is encoded in a binary format, it has a decoder function for decoding the metadata 28.

  The structure display unit 20 inputs the analysis result of the metadata analysis unit 19 and displays the hierarchical scene structure 29 of the content. The scene structure of the content is displayed as a tree together with the title of each scene, for example, as shown in FIG.

  The thumbnail image display unit 21 inputs the analysis result (thumbnail image information 30) of the metadata analysis unit 19 and displays a thumbnail image list of content.

  The search unit 23 searches for a scene included in the content in response to a search instruction from the user via the user input unit 22. At that time, the user input unit 22 inputs a search condition by presenting a keyword or a sample image. The search unit 23 selects a scene that matches a search condition (keyword or sample image feature) 31 presented by the user based on text information 32 such as a scene feature amount described in the metadata and a scene title. Perform a search.

  When the search by the search unit 23 is completed, the search result display unit 24 inputs the search result 33 of the search unit 23 and displays the search result. As a display method of the search result, for example, a thumbnail image of a scene that matches the search condition is displayed.

  The summary creation unit 25 creates a content summary based on a summary creation instruction from the user via the user input unit 22. At that time, the user input unit 22 inputs information such as the playback time of the summarized content and user preferences. For example, when the content is a news video, user preference information such as wanting to watch sports in the news mainly or summarizing one hour of news into 20 minutes is input. In addition, the summary creation unit 25 creates summary information 35 that matches the summary conditions based on the text information 32 such as the scene playback time and the scene title described in the metadata. The summary information 35 is, for example, a playback list of scenes included in the summarized content, and is a list listing location information such as the URL of the content and the start position and end position of the scene to be played back in the content. It is.

  Further, the content playback / display unit 27 specifies the target content based on the location information of the content included in the summary information 35, and acquires, plays back, and displays the scene to be played back based on the scene list included in the summary information. . As another example, there may be a case where the structure of the scene in which the summary information is summarized is described hierarchically.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of hierarchically described summarized scene structures. FIG. 4A shows an example of the scene structure of the original content. The importance is added to each scene in the range of 0.0 to 1.0. 1.0 means the highest importance and 0.0 means the lowest importance. For example, the importance level is calculated based on user preference. For example, if a user's preference that a user wants to see a scene related to a soccer game of team A, in particular, a game result and a scoring scene, is registered in advance, an importance level reflecting the user's preference is added to each scene.

  In FIG. 9A, when a summary is generated only with the scene having the highest importance, the summarized scene structure is as shown in FIG. 9B. Each scene has location information such as URL of content including the scene and metadata such as position information (start position and end position) in the content of the scene. Information regarding the summarized scene structure 38 is transferred to the summary structure display unit 26, and the summary structure display unit 26 displays the summarized scene structure in a tree format as shown in FIG. 9B, for example.

  In addition, the user can select the scene structure displayed on the structure display unit 20 or the summary structure display unit 26 via the user input unit 22 or the thumbnail of each scene displayed on the thumbnail image display unit 21 or the search result display unit 24. When one or more scenes to be reproduced are selected from the inside, the content reproduction / display unit 27 can reproduce / display a scene included in the content.

  Therefore, according to the metadata reproducing apparatus 200 according to the third embodiment, only the scenes that the user wants to see are collected using the metadata generated by the metadata editing apparatus described in the first and second embodiments. The desired scene can be searched using the feature amount described in the metadata.

  In the third embodiment, the content playback / display unit 27 is in the metadata playback device 200, but the content playback / display unit may be in another device. This is because, for example, operations and display related to metadata playback, such as scene structure and thumbnail image display, are performed on a mobile phone or a personal digital assistant, and processing and display related to multimedia content playback are It is conceivable to use a terminal (for example, a PC) connected to a portable information terminal or the like via a network.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
In the fourth embodiment, a metadata distribution server (metadata distribution device) that distributes content metadata to client terminals, and contents that are configured and distributed in a scalable manner according to the terminal capabilities of the client terminals The distribution server will be described.

  A content distribution system according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a content distribution system according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention.

  10, the content distribution system 300 includes a metadata distribution server 400, various client terminals 481 to 48n, and a content distribution server 500.

  The metadata distribution server 400 includes a metadata storage unit 41, a metadata analysis unit 42, a terminal capability determination unit 43, a metadata regeneration unit 44, and a metadata distribution unit 45.

  In the metadata storage unit 41, for example, metadata generated by the metadata editing apparatus according to the first and second embodiments is stored. The metadata analysis unit 42 analyzes the metadata 49 describing the structure and features of the content. The terminal capability determination unit 43 determines the terminal capability of the client terminal based on the information 51 regarding the performance of the client terminal. Based on the metadata analysis result 50, the metadata regeneration unit 44 reconstructs the content according to the terminal capability of the client terminal, and regenerates the metadata 52 describing the content. The metadata distribution unit 45 distributes the metadata 53 regenerated by the metadata regenerating unit 44 to the various client terminals 481 to 48n.

  Note that the metadata storage unit 41 may be provided outside the metadata distribution server 400 of the fourth embodiment. In that case, the metadata distribution server 400 inputs the metadata 49 from the metadata storage unit 41 via a network (not shown) or the like.

  The content distribution server 500 includes a content storage unit 46 and a content distribution unit 47.

  The content storage unit 46 stores the content 55. The content distribution unit 47 distributes the content 56 in response to the content distribution request 54 from the client terminals 481 to 48n.

  As in the case of the metadata distribution server 400 described above, the content storage unit 46 may be provided outside the content distribution server 500. In that case, the content distribution server 500 inputs the content data 55 via a network (not shown).

  Next, the operation of the content distribution system according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, on the metadata distribution server 400 side, the metadata analysis unit 42 analyzes the metadata stored in the metadata storage unit 41. The operation of the metadata analysis unit 42 is the same as that of the metadata analysis unit 19 of the metadata reproduction apparatus 200 of the third embodiment. The metadata analysis unit 42 acquires information on the structure and characteristics of each content by analyzing the metadata.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing structure information of content (example of news video) output from the metadata analysis unit of the metadata distribution server according to the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 11, the hierarchical scene structure of the content is displayed using a tree. Each node of the tree corresponds to each scene, and various scene information is associated with each node. Scene information refers to scene features such as scene titles, abstracts, time information of scene start and end positions, scene thumbnails, representative frames, thumbnail shots, representative shots, visual features such as color and movement, etc. It is. Note that FIG. 11 shows only the title of the scene among various scene information.

  Here, the client terminal is assumed to be various information home appliances having different terminal capabilities. The terminal capability includes communication speed, processing speed, reproducible / displayable image format, image resolution, user input function, and the like. For example, the client terminal 481 is assumed to be a PC (personal computer) having sufficient performance in communication speed, processing speed, display performance, and user input function. The client terminal 482 is assumed to be a mobile phone, and the other client terminals are assumed to be PDAs or the like. Each client terminal 481-48n transmits information regarding the terminal performance.

  The terminal capability determination unit 43 analyzes the information 51 on the terminal performance transmitted from each of the client terminals 481 to 48n, determines the image format that can be distributed, the maximum image resolution, the content length, etc., and regenerates the metadata To the unit 44. For example, when the original content is a video content with a large resolution encoded by MPEG-2, the client terminal 481 having sufficient performance can reproduce the original content. The client terminal 481 is assumed to have a function capable of image summary playback and search described in the third embodiment. On the other hand, it is assumed that the client terminal 482 can reproduce only a short video shot encoded by MPEG-4 and has a small maximum displayable resolution.

  The metadata regenerating unit 44 reconfigures the content according to the terminal performance of each of the client terminals 481 to 48n from the terminal capability determining unit 43, regenerates the metadata 52 describing the structure and content, and generates metadata. The data is output to the distribution unit 45. For example, since the original metadata is distributed as it is to the client terminal 481, the content is not reconstructed. On the other hand, since the client terminal 482 has only a short video shot playback function, it cannot play back all scenes. Thus, the content is reconstructed with short video shots of important scenes.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a structure example of content after reconfiguration by the metadata regenerating unit of the content distribution system according to the fourth embodiment. As shown in FIG. 12, an important scene is extracted from each news scene, and is composed of only a representative shot or a representative frame of the scene. Further, since the client terminal 482 does not have the search function described in the third embodiment, it is not necessary to describe the feature amount of the scene used for the search in the metadata among the various pieces of scene information. Therefore, the metadata regeneration unit 44 regenerates metadata describing only the reconstructed scene structure and position information of the representative shot or representative frame of the scene, and outputs the metadata to the metadata distribution unit 45.

  The metadata distribution unit 45 distributes the metadata 53 generated by the metadata regeneration unit 44 to the client terminals 481 to 48n.

  Each of the client terminals 481 to 48n analyzes the metadata 53 distributed from the metadata distribution unit 45 and acquires the scene structure information of the content. When the user of each client terminal 481 to 48n selects a scene to be reproduced, the position information of the selected scene is transmitted from each client terminal 481 to 48n to the content distribution unit 47 of the content distribution server 500.

  The content distribution unit 47 of the content distribution server 500 acquires the position information of the scene transmitted from each client terminal 481 to 48n, acquires the corresponding content 55 from the content storage unit 46, and distributes it to the client terminals 481 to 48n. . In the case of the client terminal 481, the start position and end position of the scene are transmitted, and the corresponding scene of the original content is distributed. In the case of the client terminal 482, the location information (URI etc.) of the representative shot of the scene is transmitted. If the representative shot has an image format that cannot be reproduced / displayed on the client terminal 482, an image resolution, an image file size, or the like, the content distribution unit 47 reduces the format conversion, resolution conversion, and file size. Summarize the content and send it.

  Therefore, according to the metadata distribution server 400 of the fourth embodiment, it is possible to regenerate the metadata according to the capabilities of the client terminals 481 to 48n and distribute it to the client terminals.

  In FIG. 10, the metadata distribution server 400 and the content distribution server 500 are separately configured. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a content distribution server may be provided in the metadata distribution server. Alternatively, a metadata distribution server may be provided in the content distribution server. Of course, the metadata distribution server and the content distribution server may be provided in the same server. In this way, since the content distribution unit 47 can easily know the capabilities of the client terminals 481 to 48n from the terminal capability determination unit 43, content such as format conversion is performed according to the capabilities of the client terminals 481 to 48n. Can be reconfigured and distributed to each of the client terminals 481 to 48n.

  In the fourth embodiment, the metadata stored in the metadata storage unit 41 has been described as being generated by, for example, the metadata editing apparatus according to the first and second embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Of course, it is possible to store metadata generated by other than the metadata editing apparatuses of the first and second embodiments.

Embodiment 5 FIG.
In the fifth embodiment, another example of the metadata distribution server described in the fourth embodiment will be described. In the metadata distribution server of the fourth embodiment, the metadata is regenerated based on the terminal information transmitted from the client terminal. In the fifth embodiment, in order to regenerate metadata more appropriately, metadata that regenerates metadata using metadata optimization hint information that is hint information for metadata regeneration. A metadata distribution server (metadata distribution apparatus) including an analysis / regeneration unit will be described.

  A metadata distribution server according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a metadata distribution server according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention.

  In FIG. 13, the metadata distribution server 400 </ b> A includes a hint information analysis unit 61, a metadata analysis / regeneration unit 63, and a metadata distribution unit 45.

  The hint information analysis unit 61 analyzes the metadata optimization hint information 60 and outputs the result. Based on the analyzed metadata optimization hint information 62, information on the performance of the client terminal, or conditions 65 on metadata regeneration such as user preferences, the metadata analysis / regeneration unit 63 And metadata 49 describing the characteristics and analyzing and reconstructing metadata 64 is output. The metadata distribution unit 45 distributes the metadata 53 to the client terminal.

  In the metadata storage unit 41 (see FIG. 10), metadata 49 describing the structure and characteristics of the content and metadata optimization hint information 60 of hint information for regenerating the metadata 49 are stored. Yes. The metadata optimization hint information 60 for regenerating the metadata 49 describes what kind of information is included in the metadata 49, how much information is included, and the outline and complexity of the metadata 49. Is.

  Next, the operation of the metadata distribution server according to the fifth embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

  The metadata optimization hint information 60 will be described in detail by taking video content having the structure shown in FIG. 14 as an example.

  The video content (Root) (Soccer game program) is mainly composed of the first half game and the second half game of the two scenes (Scene1, Scene2). ..., Scene1-n) (goal scene, corner kick scene, etc.). In FIG. 14, the temporal hierarchical structure between scenes is shown by a tree structure.

  The corresponding metadata 49 describes the temporal hierarchical structure of such content, that is, the temporal relationship between scenes and the start time and length of each scene. For each scene, in addition to the features of the scene according to the level of the hierarchy (for example, color histogram and movement complexity), text information such as title, abstract, genre, annotation, importance, Etc. are described. In the fifth embodiment, MPEG-7 standardized by ISO is used as a metadata description format.

  FIG. 15 shows an example of metadata description when MPEG-7 is used. In MPEG-7, each scene is described in units called “video segments”. Each video segment describes time information (scene start point and length), title, outline, genre, and the like. Note that information described in a video segment may differ depending on the video segment hierarchy. In the example of FIG. 15, the importance level is described in the video segments of level 2 and level 3, but the importance level is not described in level 4. Also, color and motion feature quantities are described only within the level 4 video segment.

  The temporal hierarchical relationship between scenes can be expressed by recursively describing video segments. In the description example of FIG. 15, the description “time division” describes that one video segment is composed of a plurality of video segments divided in time. In MPEG-7, the spatial hierarchical structure of content can be described in the same way. In this case, instead of the description “time division”, the description “space division” is used to indicate that one segment is composed of a plurality of spatially divided segments.

  The metadata optimization hint information 60 for regenerating the metadata 49 describes the type and content of information (descriptor) included in the metadata 49. Accordingly, the metadata optimization hint information 60 includes, for the metadata in FIG. 15, a descriptor (“time division”) that represents a temporal hierarchical structure of content, a color histogram, and a motion complexity. Descriptors that express gender, titles, abstracts, genres, and importance are included. Further, as an index indicating the content and complexity of the description, the depth of the hierarchical structure of the video segment is 4 (level 1 to level 4) at the maximum. The importance takes five discrete values ({0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0}). As the viewpoint of importance, the importance when viewed from the viewpoint of “TeamA” and the importance when viewed from the viewpoint of “TeamB” are described. Further, the hierarchical position where the importance is described (which level is described in the video segment) is also included.

  FIG. 16 shows a format example of the metadata optimization hint information 60. The metadata optimization hint information 60 shown in FIG. 16 includes metadata file information and metadata component information.

  The metadata file information includes the location of the metadata file, the metadata file size, the metadata file format (indicating the file format such as XML format, binary format), syntax file information (the syntax file that defines the grammar of the metadata). Location), the number of appearing elements indicating the number of elements included (appearing) in the metadata, and other resources required for processing the metadata (memory size and meta data required for storing and analyzing the metadata) Information for predicting a processing system (S / W, etc.) necessary for analyzing data is described. The syntax file that defines the format of the metadata file corresponds to, for example, a DTD file or a schema file that defines the description format (grammar) when the metadata is described in XML. The syntax file information describes the location of a syntax file such as a DTD file or a schema file.

  The metadata component information is information that describes the types of descriptors constituting the metadata and their contents. This metadata component information includes the name of the descriptor contained in the metadata, the frequency (number of times) that the descriptor appears in the metadata, and any grammar that the descriptor may contain. A description of whether or not a descriptor is included (completely descriptive), and if the descriptor is recursively described, includes the temporal or spatial hierarchy (maximum depth) of the descriptor It is. For example, in the metadata description example shown in FIG. 15, “video segment” is a descriptor that is recursively described, and has a structure of a maximum of four layers. Therefore, the depth of the layer that the “video segment” descriptor has Becomes a maximum of 4.

  Further, for descriptors included in descriptors described recursively, the appearance position (hierarchy) where the descriptor appears is also hint information. For example, “importance” is a descriptor included in “video segment”, but is included in “video segment” of level 3 or higher, that is, not included in video segment of level 4 The position where “degree” appears is up to 3. As described above, the appearance position can also be specified at a hierarchical level. However, when an ID is assigned to a “video segment” including “importance” or “video segment” itself, the appearance position is set. It can also be described as a list of IDs. In the case of a descriptor having a value, the descriptor type and the range of values that the descriptor can take are also hint information. For example, it is expressed by five discrete values ({0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0}) from the viewpoints of importance “TeamA” and “TeamB”. In this case, possible values of “importance” are lists {0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0} having a floating-point type. The above description is repeated for each descriptor that is a component of metadata.

  FIG. 17 shows an example of metadata optimization hint information described according to the format of FIG. It can be seen that the example of the metadata optimization hint information 60 shown in FIG. 17 includes metadata file information and metadata component element information “video segment” and “title”.

  Next, a method for regenerating metadata using the metadata optimization hint information 60 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The hint information analysis unit 61 analyzes the metadata optimization hint information 60 described in a prescribed format. The metadata analysis / regeneration unit 63 analyzes the metadata 49 using the analyzed metadata optimization hint information 62 output from the hint information analysis unit 61, and satisfies the condition 65 related to metadata regeneration. Based on this, the regenerated metadata 64 is output.

  FIG. 18 shows an example of a metadata analysis method by the metadata analysis / regeneration unit 63 using the analyzed metadata optimization hint information 62. In this example, it is assumed that only a video segment having a feature with an importance of 0.5 or more is extracted from the original metadata 49, and metadata including only a description related to the extracted video segment is regenerated.

  First, the metadata analysis / regeneration unit 63 specifies metadata necessary for regeneration based on the condition 65 for metadata regeneration (step S1). Here, since only video segments having features with importance of 0.5 or more are extracted, “importance” and “video segment” are descriptors necessary for regeneration.

  Next, it is determined from the analyzed metadata optimization hint information 62 whether or not the descriptor specified in step S1 is included in the metadata 49 (hereinafter, descriptor “importance” will be described as an example) ( Step S2).

  If the “importance” descriptor is included in the metadata, the metadata is analyzed (step S3). If the “importance” descriptor is not included, the metadata is analyzed. The process ends (step S4).

  In addition, when the analyzed metadata optimization hint information 62 specifies that the occurrence position of “importance” is up to level 3 of the hierarchical structure, the analysis of the video segment up to level 3 is finished. (Step S5), the analysis process is terminated without performing the analysis for the level 4 or lower (Step S6).

  Note that the processing from step S1 onward is repeated in order to analyze another metadata 49 as necessary. Further, when the number of occurrences of the “importance” descriptor is specified as 20 in the metadata optimization hint information 62, when the 20 “importance” descriptors have been analyzed (step S5). Then, the metadata analysis is terminated (step S6). Further, after completing the metadata analysis process in step S4 or step S6, the process from step S1 is repeated in order to analyze another metadata as necessary.

  FIG. 19 shows another example of a metadata analysis method using the analyzed metadata optimization hint information 62. In this example, it is assumed that only the video segment including the “title” descriptor is extracted to regenerate the metadata. The determination as to whether the metadata includes a “title” descriptor is the same as in the example of FIG.

  When the metadata includes a “title” descriptor, the metadata analysis / regeneration unit 63 determines whether the video segment matches the ID of the appearance position described in the metadata optimization hint information 62. (Step S13).

  If the ID does not match, since the video segment does not include the “title” descriptor, the analysis of the description of the video segment is skipped (step S16).

  If the ID matches the ID, the description of the video segment is analyzed to obtain the “title” descriptor (S15).

  Next, when all the video segments that match the ID of the appearance position have been analyzed (step S17), there is no video segment including the “title” descriptor any more in the metadata. Is finished (step S18).

  In addition, in order to analyze another metadata as necessary, the processing from step S11 is repeated. The metadata 64 reconstructed with the descriptor extracted through the above analysis processing is output.

  The metadata distribution unit 45 distributes the reconfigured metadata 64 to various client terminals.

  Although not shown, the metadata file location, metadata file size, number of elements that appear in the metadata, and information about the metadata components change after the metadata regeneration. The metadata optimization hint information corresponding to may be regenerated.

  As described above, all the descriptors included in the metadata had to be analyzed in the past in order to regenerate the metadata. However, in the fifth embodiment, the descriptors included in the metadata 49 have to be analyzed. Since the metadata optimization descriptor 60 is analyzed using the metadata optimization hint information 60 in which the appearance position and number of appearances of lists and descriptors are described, the metadata 49 itself for regenerating metadata is used. Analysis and descriptors that do not meet the regeneration conditions can be omitted depending on the appearance position and the number of appearances, so the processing cost (processing amount and memory usage) associated with metadata analysis and regeneration Amount, etc.) can be reduced.

Embodiment 6 FIG.
In the fifth embodiment, the metadata distribution server that uses the metadata optimization hint information for metadata regeneration to reduce the processing cost associated with the metadata analysis and regeneration has been described. In the sixth embodiment, a metadata search server (metadata search device) that reduces processing associated with metadata search using metadata optimization hint information will be described.

  A metadata search server according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a metadata search server according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention.

  In FIG. 20, the metadata search server 600 includes a hint information analysis unit 61, a metadata analysis unit 71, and a search unit 73.

  Since the hint information analysis unit 61 is the same as that of the fifth embodiment, description thereof is omitted. The metadata analysis unit 71 uses the analyzed metadata optimization hint information 62 and the search condition 70 to efficiently analyze an enormous amount of metadata 49 describing the structure and features of the content at a low processing cost. The search unit 73 uses the metadata analysis result 72 to search for content that meets the search conditions.

  Next, the operation of the metadata search server according to the sixth embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing the operation of the metadata analysis unit of the metadata search server according to the sixth embodiment.

  The metadata analysis unit 71 performs analysis of one or more metadata using metadata optimization hint information 62 corresponding to each metadata. Here, the metadata analysis is to extract feature descriptions necessary for search from the metadata. For example, when a video segment color feature amount is given as a search condition and a video segment having a feature close to the video segment is searched, it is necessary to extract a video segment having a color feature description. In the metadata example shown in FIG. 15, since a color feature description (“color histogram”) is added to the level 4 video segment, a description about the level 4 video segment is extracted.

  The metadata analysis unit 71 analyzes the search condition 70 and specifies a descriptor effective for the search (step S21). As search conditions, there are a case where a feature amount according to a description prescribed in MPEG-7 is given and a case where an image or a keyword is given. When the search condition is given as a feature amount (for example, color arrangement information) according to the description of MPEG-7, the descriptor (color arrangement information) is a descriptor effective for the search. Further, when a search condition is given as a keyword, a text format descriptor (title, abstract, annotation, etc.) is an effective descriptor for the search.

  Next, with reference to the metadata optimization hint information 62, it is determined whether or not the selected descriptor is included in the metadata 49 (step S22). When the descriptor used for the search is not included in the metadata 49, the analysis process of the metadata 49 is ended (step S24), and another metadata 49 is analyzed as necessary.

  If the selected descriptor is included in the metadata 49, the metadata is analyzed (step S23). As for the metadata analysis method, the metadata analysis processing shown in FIGS. 18 and 19 is efficiently performed using the metadata optimization hint information 62 as in the case of the fifth embodiment (steps S25 to S26). Through the above processing, the feature description necessary for the search is extracted from the metadata analysis unit 71.

  The search unit 73 uses the metadata analysis result (feature description necessary for search) 72 output from the metadata analysis unit 71 to search for content that meets the search conditions. In the above-described example, the description about the video segment having the color feature description (“color histogram”) is output from the metadata analysis unit 71, and therefore, the color feature amount (histogram) given as the search condition The suitability is determined, and the information of the adapted video segment (for example, “time information”) is output as the search result 74.

  As described above, in the sixth embodiment, since the metadata 49 is analyzed using the metadata optimization hint information 60, the analysis of the metadata 49 itself for regenerating the metadata can be omitted. Further, since it is possible to omit analysis of descriptors that are not necessary for the search depending on the appearance position and the number of appearances, it is possible to reduce processing costs (processing amount, memory usage, etc.) associated with searching for metadata.

Embodiment 7 FIG.
In the fifth embodiment or the sixth embodiment described above, the server side using the metadata optimization hint information has been described. However, in the seventh embodiment, a client terminal (metadata) using the metadata optimization hint information is used. Regeneration condition setting device) will be described.

  A client terminal according to Embodiment 7 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the client terminal according to Embodiment 7 of the present invention.

  In FIG. 22, the client terminal 48 </ b> A includes a hint information analysis unit 80 and a metadata regeneration condition setting unit 82.

  Note that FIG. 22 shows only a part related to a means for setting a condition for regenerating metadata using the metadata optimization hint information 60 among the functions provided in the client terminal 48A.

  Next, the operation of the client terminal according to the seventh embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

  The hint information analysis unit 80 analyzes the metadata optimization hint information 60 described in a prescribed format. Since the hint information analysis unit 80 is the same as that of the fifth embodiment, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The metadata regeneration condition setting unit 82 performs metadata regeneration condition setting 83 based on the analysis result 81 output from the hint information analysis unit 80. The condition setting includes, for example, selecting a descriptor unnecessary for the client terminal 48A from the types of descriptors included in the metadata optimization hint information 60. If the client terminal 48A does not have a search function using feature quantities, descriptors that represent feature quantities such as color histograms and motion complexity are unnecessary.

  As another example of condition setting, when the metadata complexity increases as the hierarchical structure describing the scene relationship of content increases, the maximum depth of the hierarchical structure described in the metadata optimization hint information 60 Based on the above, the depth of the hierarchical structure that can be processed by the client terminal is set. In another example, based on information on values that can be taken by the importance described in the metadata optimization hint information 60, a viewpoint focused by the user and a threshold of importance of the scene to be selected are set. .

  As described above, five discrete values ({0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0}) from the viewpoints of importance “TeamA” and “TeamB”, respectively. In such a case, setting such as selecting only a scene having an importance of 0.5 or more from the viewpoint of “TeamA” can be performed.

  The metadata regeneration condition 83 set by the metadata regeneration condition setting unit 82 is transmitted to the metadata distribution server. On the metadata distribution server side, the metadata is reconfigured based on the conditions for metadata regeneration and the terminal performance of the client terminal. For example, when the maximum depth of the hierarchical structure of the original metadata is 4 and the depth of the hierarchical structure that can be processed by the client terminal is set to 2 in the metadata regeneration condition, The metadata structure is reconfigured so that the maximum depth of the structure is 2.

  Also, if the metadata regeneration condition is set to select only scenes with an importance level of 0.5 or higher from the viewpoint of “TeamA”, metadata composed only of scenes that match the same conditions is selected. Regenerate. Metadata regeneration can be efficiently performed using metadata optimization hint information as in the fifth embodiment.

  As described above, in the seventh embodiment, conditions for metadata regeneration can be set using the metadata optimization hint information 60, so that appropriate metadata can be set according to the client terminal and application. Can be generated.

Embodiment 8 FIG.
In the fifth embodiment or the sixth embodiment, the server that regenerates metadata using the metadata optimization hint information and distributes the regenerated metadata has been described. In the eighth embodiment, A content distribution server (content distribution device) that analyzes metadata using metadata optimization hint information and regenerates and distributes content suitable for a client terminal or user preference using the analysis result will be described.

  A content distribution server according to Embodiment 8 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a content distribution server according to Embodiment 8 of the present invention.

  23, the content distribution server 500A includes a hint information analysis unit 61, a metadata analysis unit 86, and a content reconstruction / distribution unit 88.

  Next, the operation of the content distribution server according to the eighth embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

  Since the operation of the hint information analysis unit 61 is the same as that of the fifth embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  The metadata analysis unit 86 analyzes the metadata 49 using the analyzed metadata optimization hint information 62 output from the hint information analysis unit 61, and information on the client terminal or content such as user preference A description that matches the condition 85 regarding reconstruction is extracted. The analysis method using hint information is the same as in the fifth embodiment, but the difference from the fifth embodiment is that the content is reconstructed instead of regenerating metadata using the extracted description. Is a point. The description extracted by the metadata analysis unit 86, that is, the analyzed metadata 87 is output to the content reconstruction / distribution unit 88.

  The content reconstruction / distribution unit 88 reconstructs the content 89 based on the description extracted by the metadata analysis unit 86. Here, description is made using the example described in the fifth embodiment. In the example of the fifth embodiment, only the video segment having the feature with the importance of 0.5 or more is extracted from the metadata 49, and the metadata including only the description about the extracted video segment is regenerated.

  In the eighth embodiment, only the video segment having the feature of importance of 0.5 or more is extracted from the metadata 49, and the content 90 composed only of the scene corresponding to the extracted video segment is reconstructed and distributed. To do. Since the description of the extracted video segment describes the location of the corresponding content and the position (time information) of the video segment in the content, the corresponding scene is cut out from the content and reconstructed into one content 90 However, the corresponding scene can be cut out from the content, and the cut-out scene can also be distributed sequentially.

  As described above, in the content distribution server 500A according to the eighth embodiment, the metadata optimization hint information 60 in which the list of descriptors included in the metadata 49, the appearance positions of the descriptors, the number of appearances, and the like are described. Since the metadata is analyzed using the metadata 49, the analysis of the metadata 49 itself for the metadata regeneration can be omitted. In addition, because it is possible to omit the analysis of descriptors that do not match the regeneration conditions, depending on the appearance position and the number of appearances, analysis of metadata and content when regenerating and distributing content suitable for client terminals and user preferences The processing cost (processing amount, memory usage, etc.) associated with the reconfiguration can be reduced.

  As described above, the present invention divides multimedia contents including moving images and audio into a plurality of scenes, edits the divided scenes, and describes a scene structure information meta-data that describes the hierarchical structure of the multimedia contents. Since data is generated, it is possible to generate metadata describing a hierarchical structure of multimedia contents including video data and the like.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the metadata editing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the news image | video which is an example of the edit object of the metadata editing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the area information metadata of the scene of the scene division part of the metadata editing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the scene structure information metadata of the scene description edit part of the metadata editing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen image of the content reproduction | regeneration / display part of the metadata editing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention, and a user input part. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the metadata editing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the metadata editing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the metadata reproduction apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the metadata reproduction apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the content delivery system which concerns on Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure information of the content (example of a news image) output from the metadata analysis part of the metadata delivery server which concerns on Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the content after the reconstruction by the metadata reproduction | regeneration part of the content delivery system which concerns on Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the metadata delivery server which concerns on Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the video content for demonstrating metadata optimization hint information by the metadata delivery server which concerns on Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a metadata description at the time of using MPEG-7 by the metadata delivery server which concerns on Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a format of the metadata optimization hint information which the metadata delivery server which concerns on Embodiment 5 of this invention uses. It is a figure which shows the metadata optimization hint information which the metadata delivery server which concerns on Embodiment 5 of this invention uses. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the metadata analysis / regeneration part of the metadata delivery server which concerns on Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the metadata analysis / regeneration part of the metadata delivery server which concerns on Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the metadata search server which concerns on Embodiment 6 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the metadata analysis part of the metadata search server which concerns on Embodiment 6 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the client terminal concerning Embodiment 7 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the content delivery server which concerns on Embodiment 8 of this invention.

Claims (1)

A metadata processing method performed by a metadata distribution device that distributes metadata describing the content content,
The metadata distribution device includes a metadata analysis / regeneration unit that performs processing of the metadata necessary for reproduction and editing of the content,
By the metadata analysis and re-generation unit, extracting from the meta data, the semantic content of the content, structure, one or more descriptors that describe the characteristics,
A step of operating the metadata using hint information by the metadata analysis / regeneration unit,
The hint information indicates whether or not the descriptor that is determined to have child elements in the syntax file that defines the metadata grammar actually includes all the child elements in the metadata. Information to be described,
Metadata processing method.

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