JPH10275118A - Multimedia content distributing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to send and receive contents wherein location information and reference information are put together by sending information showing the position relation of objects on a screen and the entities of the respective objects at the same time. SOLUTION: Layout information which is a set of information showing the position relation of the objects on the screen and URL path information on a network 300 as information on the locations of the objects or/and directory path information on a device is sent and received to distribute arrangement information on the objects. Namely, a sender prepares a document conforming with the HTML (hypertext mark-up language) syntax by using a document preparing means 102 of a transmission-side device 100. The document after being created is converted into a transfer message and the document is sent from the transmission side device 100 to a reception/side device 200. Consequently, the contents wherein the layout information and reference information are put together can be sent and received.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multimedia content distribution method for distributing multimedia content, which is information for displaying an object including a still image and a moving image at a predetermined position on a screen, over a network. The present invention relates to a multimedia content distribution method for transmitting content in multimedia communication while preserving arrangement information on a screen or a storage position thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the distribution of so-called multimedia contents including still images, moving images, and other documents in multimedia communication, there are conventionally the following methods.

[0003] (1) In the conventional distribution of contents, the purpose is to transmit and receive texts, and binary data such as images and sounds are sent separately in the form of attached documents. The receiving side browses the attached data using dedicated software.

(2) Data created by a word processor or the like can include an image and the like, and such data adopts a special format.

(3) Recently, HTML (Hyper Text Marku)
p Language) documents to SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer P)
Some e-mail systems that can send and receive data using a protocol based on "rotocol" have come out. In these products, after receiving, the reference object (the object pointed to by the reference information) is referred to as an HTTP (Hyper texttr).
ansfer protocol) It accesses the server and displays it.

[0006]

Among the conventional methods described above, the method (1) does not include positional information on the screen mainly composed of text of each object included in the transmitted content. Each data such as an image must be displayed independently of the text, and there is a problem that it cannot be associated with the text.

[0007] In the method (2), the object included in the content can be displayed on the same screen, but there is a problem that it does not have a function of referring to an object at another site. is there.

Further, in the method (3), when the recipient views the received content, the content of the reference destination has already been changed or deleted, and the displayed content may be different from the display content intended by the sender. In the method (3), layout information is created in the terminal on the transmitting side using reference information and position information of the object in the network for referring to the object in the network, and the layout information is created together with the reference object. Even if it is transmitted to the recipient, there is no guarantee that the directory in which each object stored when it is received on the receiving side is the same as the directory at the time of transmission, and there is no guarantee that this content can correctly refer to the object.

[0009] The present invention has been made in view of the above,
The purpose of the method is to provide a multimedia content distribution method capable of transmitting and receiving contents in which layout information and reference information including information indicating the positional relationship of objects on a screen and location information indicating the location of each object are combined. To provide.

[0010]

To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a multimedia content which is information for displaying an object including a still image and a moving image at a predetermined position on a screen. A method for distributing multimedia content above, wherein information indicating a positional relationship between objects on a screen and an entity of each object are simultaneously transmitted.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, information indicating the positional relationship of the object on the screen and URL path information on the network, which is the location information of the object, and / or the information on the disk. The layout information in which the directory path information is set is transmitted and received, and the arrangement information of the object is distributed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multimedia content distribution method for distributing multimedia content, which is information for displaying an object including a still image and a moving image at a predetermined position on a screen, on a network. Transmitting layout information including information indicating a positional relationship of the object on the screen and information indicating an access method to the object, wherein the access method determines whether the entity of the object exists on a network by reference to the existing position on the network. When it is an access, the location information indicating the location of the entity of the object on the network is transmitted without transmitting the entity of the object, and the access method is an access to the entity of the transmitted object. When sending the location information Ku, to increase the transmission entity objects.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, layout information including information indicating a positional relationship of an object on a screen and information indicating an access method to an object is transmitted, and the access method is used to determine whether or not the entity of the object is an actual object. If the access is by reference to the location of the object on the network, the location information indicating the location of the entity of the object on the network is transmitted without transmitting the entity of the object. When it is an access, the entity of the object is transmitted without transmitting the location information.

Further, the present invention according to claim 3 provides the invention according to claim 2.
In the invention described above, in transmitting the layout information, the gist is that the directory path information on the disc is rewritten so as to indicate a storage destination directory storing the entity of the object, and the layout information is transmitted.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in transmitting the layout information, the directory information on the disk is rewritten so as to indicate a storage destination directory storing the substance of the object, and the layout information is transmitted. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a group of the transmitted content layout information and the object entity is displayed on the same screen on the receiving side based on the layout information. The point is to do.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a group of the transmitted layout information and the actual object is displayed on the same screen on the receiving side based on the layout information.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a transmitting device and a receiving device that implement a multimedia content distribution method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a transmitting device 100 is connected to a receiving device 200 via a network 300, and controls a central control device 1a, a pointing device 4a, and an input device 5 that control the entire operation.
a, an output device 7a, a storage device 104 in which objects as transmission candidates are stored, a display device 11a, an input control unit 101 for controlling the input device 5a and the pointing device 4a, a document creation unit 102, a created layout Structural analysis means 10 for structurally analyzing a document containing information
3. Conversion means 105 for converting each object according to a specified coding method; multimedia transfer format conversion means 106 for converting a coded object that is a transmission candidate into a multimedia transfer format to generate a transfer message; Transmission means 10 for transmitting a transfer message
8, a network interface 9a connected to the receiving apparatus 200 via the network 300.

The receiving device 200 includes a central control device 1b for controlling the entire operation, a pointing device 4b,
Input device 5b, output device 7b, local storage device 113 for storing each received object, display device 11
b, display control means 116 for controlling the display device 11b and output device 7b, layout information screen composition means 1 for constructing a screen of the stored objects based on the layout information
14. Rewriting means 120 for adding the location information of the storage device 113 to the reference information that has received the entity, file name giving means 119 for giving a file name to each received object and storing it, and analyzing the received transfer message, A multimedia transfer format analyzing unit 112 for separating the object into a plurality of objects, an inverse transforming unit 111 for inversely transforming the coding applied to each object at the time of transmission, a receiving unit 110 for receiving a transfer message, and a transmitting unit 100 via the network 300. It comprises a connected network interface 9b.

The operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. In the present embodiment, HTML is used as layout information, a URL (Uniform Resource Lecator) schema is used as a method (access schema) for selecting an access method to a reference object, and when an entity is transmitted, a file URL is used. When using the schema and transmitting only the reference information, use the http URL schema, and further use M as the multimedia transfer format.
The case where IME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) is adopted will be described.

First, the sender creates a document using the document creating means 102 of the sending apparatus 100. In the present embodiment, a document according to an HTML syntax as shown in FIG. 2 is created. In this example, reference information to one external site (http://www.ntt.co.jp/images/logoi.gif) and two local reference information (file: / C: / mydoc / images / party.
jpg) and (fill: / C: /system/windows/glass.gif).

In the creation of a document, layout information is created by the document creating means 102. The layout information is a description of the arrangement method of each object based on a certain grammar. At this time, the reference information is added to the location information (a reference destination, in this case, a directory path) on the local storage device 104 for an object whose entity is to be transmitted together with the layout information. An entity transfer schema (an access schema indicating that an entity is transferred) is added to describe the location information. On the other hand, if any other access schema is assigned, no entity is transmitted.

The location information is information indicating a reference destination of an entity. When indicating an object in a local storage device, the location information indicates a directory path of a file in which the object exists, and when indicating an object in a network. Means a URL path.

As described above, when the creation of the document is completed, the document is converted into a transfer message, and the document is transmitted from the transmitting device 100 to the receiving device 200. The transmission process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In the transmission processing shown in FIG. 3, first, the analysis of the document created as described above, that is, the analysis of the layout information which is a transmission candidate, is performed by the structure analysis means 103 of the transmission side apparatus 100 (step S11). ), And a text display portion is extracted (step S12). The text portion other than the tag thus extracted is converted into a multimedia transfer format text part by the multimedia transfer format converter 106 and stored (step S20). This means that even if the receiving side receives this transfer message using a receiving means that can only display text, the extracted text display part can be read in the text part of the multimedia transfer format so that only the text part can be read. Is stored in Note that the multimedia transfer format is a format in which each object is converted according to a specified coding method, and given header information is concatenated. Also, a message obtained by adding information necessary for transmission to this will be referred to as a transfer message.

On the other hand, reference information starting with "IMG SRC" is analyzed (step S13). In the analysis of the reference information, the access schema is analyzed and "file"
When the schema is described, the following processing is performed. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the location information under "file" is rewritten to the file name generated as described above (step S14). The rewritten document is converted into a multimedia transfer format document by the multimedia transfer format conversion means 106 and stored in the HTML part (step S15).

The entity of the reference destination is read into the memory (step S16), coded by the conversion means 105 (step S17), and a new file name is given to each object (step S18). The data is stored in the parts corresponding to the object formats by the transfer format conversion means 106 (step S
19). At this time, the generated file name is stored in each header part.

More specifically, in the analysis of the document created as described above, that is, in the analysis of the layout information, the location information using the entity transfer schema is extracted, and the object transmitting the entity is recognized. A unique file name is given to each of the extracted objects in the group of objects in the one layout information. At this time, save and attach the extension. The location information specifying the entity transfer schema in the layout information that is a transmission candidate is rewritten to the file name given above.

The content type of each of the extracted objects is determined based on the respective file extensions.
After converting to the code format specified in advance by 05,
The data is converted into a multimedia transfer format by the multimedia transfer format converter 106. At this time, the assigned file name is stored in the header part of each object part.

The layout information of the multimedia transfer format completed as described above, object parts and text parts are connected to add necessary information to generate a transfer message.
(Steps S21, S22, S23). FIGS. 7, 8, and 9 are diagrams showing examples of transfer messages when MIME is adopted as the multimedia transfer format used in the present embodiment, and are continuous from FIGS.

Next, a receiving process in the case where the transfer message transmitted from the transmitting device 100 as described above is received by the receiving device 200 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0033] From the transmission side apparatus 100 to the network 300
Is transferred by a protocol such as SMTP and delivered to the recipient's mail spool. The receiver receives the transfer message staying in his or her spool from the network 300 by the receiving means 110 via the network interface 9b (step S51).

The transfer message received by the receiving device 200 is inversely converted into a multimedia transfer format by the inverse conversion means 111, and the multimedia transfer format analysis means 11
2 (step S52), the layout information part of the multimedia transfer format (step S53),
The object part in the multimedia transfer format (step S56) and the text part in the multimedia transfer format (step S59) are separated. The text extracted from the text part is added to the generated file name as ".tx
t ”is added and stored.

The layout information part in the multimedia transfer format adds a storage destination path to the reference information that has received the entity (step S54), and is stored with a title name (step S55). The object part is decoded (step S57) and stored with the file name given to the header of each part (step S58). Each object extracted from each object part is
It is saved in the terminal directory with the file name stored in each header.

More specifically, the encoding applied at the time of transmission is inversely transformed by the inverse transforming means 111 to extract each object. Each object is stored in a directory specified in advance by the receiver of the local storage device 113 with the file name stored in the header part of each part by the file name assigning means 119.

With respect to the layout information, the location information is added to the reference information, the entity of which is received, by using the rewriting means 120.

The screen of the stored object is formed using the layout information screen forming means 114 based on the grammar of the layout information. At this time, the reference information composes the processed result screen according to the indicated access schema,
The display is performed using the display control means 116 for controlling the display device 11b and the output device 7b.

Further, a unique file name is generated in the storage device 113 by the file name assigning means 119. This is for example the message I of the received message
This is performed by using D or the like. Under the specified directory of the storage device 113 (in the example shown in FIG. 6, "A: / PROGRA-1 / mm
mail ”), create a new directory with the file name generated as described above. This directory is the terminal directory.

The extracted HTML document is analyzed by the rewriting means 120, and if the “file” schema is described in the reference information starting with “IMG SRG” or the like, as shown in FIG. It is added and stored.

The recipient reads out the received message stored as described above, composes a screen with the layout information screen composing means 114, displays it on the display control means 116, and browses it.

As described above, according to the multimedia content distribution method of the present embodiment, the information indicating the positional relationship of the object on the screen and the location where the object exists (URL path information or / and
And directory path information on the disc) as a set, thereby transmitting and receiving the layout information of the objects. The layout information includes information indicating the positional relationship of each object on the screen and location information indicating the location of each object. Of these, the information indicating the positional relationship of each object on the screen is required information. It is always transmitted, and location information indicating the location of each object is not transmitted when transmitting the entity of the object.

Further, among the location information, the directory path information may be different from the directory path at the location where the object exists and the one at the receiving location. Sent after the conversion process to point to the destination directory. Further, when transmitting the entity of the object, the entity of the object is converted so as to pass through the network transparently, that is, converted to a format in which the most significant bit is set to 0 and transmitted.

In general, in the distribution of multimedia contents, objects are often embedded at predetermined positions in the text. Therefore, the "information indicating the positional relationship of each object on the screen" is used in this case. Is "information indicating the positional relationship of each object in the text". However, the present invention does not necessarily assume that text is transmitted and received as the basis of object display. That is, it is assumed that only the layout information and the object are transmitted.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to transmit and receive contents in which layout information and reference objects are put together, and the receiving side can display a screen in which the received reference objects are arranged based on the layout information. By applying the present invention, an HTML document can be registered in a server by e-mail or the like. In a special format such as a file generated by a word processor, even if you do not have the dedicated software, you can not even read it, but this multimedia content distribution method adopts a widely spread format, so It is possible to browse even if the user does not own the software adopting the method proposed in this method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a transmitting device and a receiving device that implement a multimedia content distribution method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document when HTML is used for layout information.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing at the time of transmission in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a conversion example of location information at the time of transmission when a URL is used as reference information.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing at the time of reception in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of conversion of location information after reception when a URL is used as reference information.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a transfer message when MIME is adopted as a multimedia transfer format used in the present invention.

8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transfer message in the case where MIME is adopted as a multimedia transfer format used in the present invention, and is a part following FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transfer message when MIME is adopted as a multimedia transfer format used in the present invention, and is a part that follows FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a, 1b Central control device 5a, 5b Input device 7a, 7b Output device 9a, 9b Network interface 11a, 11b Display device 100 Transmission side device 101 Input control means 102 Document creation means 103 Structural analysis means 104, 113 Storage device 105 Conversion means 106 multimedia transfer format conversion means 108 transmission means 110 reception means 111 inverse conversion means 112 multimedia transfer format analysis means 114 layout information screen construction means 116 display control means 120 rewriting means 200 receiving device 300 network

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A multimedia content distribution method for distributing multimedia content, which is information for displaying an object including a still image and a moving image at a predetermined position on a screen, over a network, the positional relationship between the objects on the screen Multimedia content distribution method, characterized in that information indicating the information and the entity of each object are transmitted simultaneously. 2. A multimedia content distribution method for distributing multimedia content, which is information for displaying an object including a still image and a moving image at a predetermined position on a screen, over a network, comprising: And transmitting layout information including information indicating an access method to the object, and when the access method is an access by referring to a location of the entity of the object on a network, the entity of the object is transmitted. And transmitting location information indicating the location of the entity of the object on the network without transmitting the location information. If the access method is access to the entity of the transmitted object, the location information is transmitted. Without sending the object A multimedia content distribution method characterized by trusting. 3. The transmission of the layout information, wherein the directory information on the disk is rewritten so as to indicate a storage destination directory in which an entity of the object is stored, and the layout information is transmitted. The multimedia content distribution method described in the above. 4. The multimedia content according to claim 1, wherein a group of the transmitted layout information and the entity of the object is displayed on the same screen on the receiving side based on the layout information. Distribution method.