KR100813880B1 - Searching apparatus and system of tv-anytime using agent module - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, one or more agent modules or t-agent modules can be used to distribute the search process and search various contents, and perform a search according to the extended get_DATA parameter. A search apparatus and method for an anytime system. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a content retrieval apparatus of a TV-Anytime system, comprising: a first t-agent module requesting a search condition from a user and performing a search for remote content stored remotely according to the search condition; And an agent module that searches for local content and returns a search result to the first t-agent according to a request of the first t-agent module.

Description

Searching device and searching method of TV-Anytime system using agent module {SEARCHING APPARATUS AND SYSTEM OF TV-ANYTIME USING AGENT MODULE}

1 is a block diagram showing a search apparatus of a TV-Anytime system according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the t-agent module of the search apparatus of the TV-Anytime system according to the present invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an agent module of the search apparatus of the TV-Anytime system according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a search method of a TV-Anytime system according to the present invention.

The present invention relates to a TV-Anytime system and a search method using an agent module. In particular, the present invention can distribute a search process and search various contents by using one or more agent modules or t-agent modules. The present invention relates to a search apparatus and method of a TV-Anytime system using an agent module that can control a search process by performing a search.

The TV-Anytime Forum defines two metadata web services: well-defined behavior and remote procedures for input and output sets. In the WSDL standard, the remote procedure is defined as an operation. The metadata retrieval operation is a get_Data operation, and the user description submission operation is a submit_Data operation. The request / response types used in the TV-Anytime metadata service are defined in the namespace urn: tva: transport: 2002. The namespace is provided as a tool for verifying various messages. Metadata specification [see TV-Anytime Specification on Metadata, SP003 v1.3 The TV-Anytime Forum ()] and Content referencing standard [see TV-Anytime Specification on Content Referencing, SP004 v1.2 The TV-Anytime Forum ()] The types defined in are referenced in the transport namespace. Schema fragments are defined in the namespace. The namespace provider is defined as "tns:" in the schma fragment. The complete XML Schema file is tva_transport_types_v10.xsd.

Hereinafter, the get_Data Operation according to the prior art will be described in detail.

The get_Data operation provides the client with the ability to retrieve TV-Anytime data from the server for a program or group of programs. Below is an example of what a TV-Anytime metadata provider can provide using the get_Data operation.

The operation returns the content referencing data for this CRID using the CIRD list.

② The operation returns the TV-Anytime metadata for this CRID using the CIRD list.

③ The operation receives a query about a special metadata property (genre, actor, etc.) and returns the corresponding program.

④ The operation returns the program through a query for a specific time or a specific channel.

The get_Data operation in principle rounds up all query types and provides a wide range of queries for metadata constraints.

① Request Format

Specify three types of parameters to the client. Description of each parameter is as follows.

<element name = "get_Data" type = "tns: get_Data" />

 <complexType name = "get_Data">

  <sequence>

   <element name = "QueryConstraints">

    <complexType>

     <choice>

      <element name = "PredicateBag" type = "tns: PredicateBagType" />

      <element name = "BinaryPredicate" type = "tns: BinaryPredicateType" />

      <element name = "UnaryPredicate" type = "tns: UnaryPredicateType" />

     </ choice>

    </ complexType>

   </ element>

   <element name = "RequestedTables" type = "tns: RequestedTablesType" />

  </ sequence>

  <attribute name = "maxPrograms" type = "unsignedInt" />

 </ complexType>

② Response Format

The get_Data response contains zero or one or more XML instance documents for the next element.

TVAMain

ContentReferencingTable

InvalidFragments

 <element name = "get_Data_Result" type = "tns: get_Data_ResultType" />

 <complexType name = "get_Data_ResultType">

  <sequence>

   <element name = "TableSortingInformation"

        type = "tns: RequestedTablesType" minOccurs = "0" />

   <element ref = "tva: TVAMain" minOccurs = "0" />

   <element ref = "cr: ContentReferencingTable" minOccurs = "0" />

   <element name = "InvalidFragments"

        type = "tns: InvalidFragmentsType" minOccurs = "0" />

  </ sequence>

  <attribute name = "serviceVersion" type = "unsignedInt" use = "required" />

  <attribute name = "truncated" type = "boolean" />

  There are several ways to search for multimedia content in an interactive environment. Among them, the get_Data operation defined in TV-Anytime SP006-1 checks a server that supports a search through UDDI or performs a search through a get_Data operation to a TV-Anytime service server. The search result through the get_Data operation is provided to the user, and the user waits until the result value is returned. This method has to perform N get_Data operations when the number of servers to be searched is increased by N. If the search time is long for each server, a serious search time is caused.

According to the present invention, one or more agent modules or t-agent modules can be used to distribute the search process and search various contents, and perform a search according to the extended get_DATA parameter. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for searching an Anytime system.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a content retrieval apparatus of a TV-Anytime system, comprising: a first t-agent module requesting a search condition from a user and performing a search for remote content stored remotely according to the search condition; And an agent module performing a search for local content and returning a search result to the first t-agent according to a request of the first t-agent module.

The first t-agent module comprises a remote search module for searching the remote content; A local search module for searching the local content; A query management module for determining whether a duplicate query exists; And a user information management module that manages user information required for query execution and management.

The agent module may include a local search module for searching the local content; A query management module for determining whether a duplicate query exists; And a user information management module that manages user information required for query execution and management.

The search condition may include a search time limit, a search start time, and the designation of the t-agent.

Content retrieval apparatus of the TV-Anytime system according to the present invention may further include one or more second t-agent module for performing a search for the remote content or local content in response to a request of the first t-agent module. It may include one or more agents.

The first t-agent may perform a search by using an agent searched through UDDI.

Content search method of the TV-Anytime system according to the present invention comprises the steps of (a) requesting a search condition to the user; (b) a first t-agent module receiving the search condition and searching for remote content stored remotely according to the search condition; (c) the agent module receiving the search condition from the first t-agent module, performing a search for local content according to the received search condition; (d) returning a search result of the agent module to the first t-agent module; And (e) returning a search result of the first t-agent module and a search result of an agent module to the user.

The content searching method of the TV-Anytime system according to the present invention may further include the first t-agent performing a search for the local content.

The search condition preferably includes a search time limit, a search start time, and the designation of the t-agent.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a content searching method of a TV-Anytime system may be performed by a second t-agent module receiving a search condition from the first t-agent module to search for remote content or local content according to the received search condition. The method may further include performing the step.

In the step (c), it is preferable that one or more agent modules receiving the search condition from the first t-agent module perform a search for local content according to the received search condition.

The content search method of the TV-Anytime system according to the present invention may further include searching for one or more agents to perform a search through UDDI.

A computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program according to the present invention comprises the steps of: (a) requesting a search condition from a user; (b) a first t-agent module receiving the search condition and searching for remote content stored remotely according to the search condition; (c) the agent module receiving the search condition from the first t-agent module, performing a search for local content according to the received search condition; (d) returning a search result of the agent module to the first t-agent module; And (e) returning a search result of the first t-agent module and a search result of an agent module to the user.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail.

1 is a block diagram showing a search apparatus of a TV-Anytime system according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a search apparatus of a TV-Anytime system according to the present invention includes a first t-agent module 100a and an agent module 110a, and a second t-agent module 100b and a third device. One or more t-agent modules such as t-agent module 100c and one or more agent modules 110b may be further included.

The first t-agent module 100a requests a search condition from the user 1000 and receives a search condition specified by the user 1000. The first t-agent module 100a searches for the remote content stored in the remote database 120 or the local content stored in the local databases 130a, 130b, and 130c according to the received search condition. The search may be directly performed by the first t-agent module 100a or through the second t-agent module 100b or the third t-agent module 100c. It may also be performed through the agent module 110a.

The agent module 110a performs a search for local content according to a request of the first t-agent module 100a and returns a search result to the first t-agent 110a.

As shown in FIG. 1, the first t-agent module 100a transmits a search condition specified by the user to the agent module 110a, the second t-agent module 100b, or the third t-agent module 100c. The third t-agent module 100c receiving the search condition may transmit the search condition to another agent module 110b to perform the search. The agent module can search only the local database, and the t-agent module can search the remote or local database directly or through another t-agent module or agent module.

Hereinafter, the configurations of the t-agent module and the agent module will be described in detail.
Meanwhile, the term 't-agent module' described throughout the present specification including the claims refers to a module that performs an agent function that enables a remote multimedia search request, and the term 'agent module' refers to a remote multimedia search request. This means a module that performs the impossible agent function. The t-agent module and the agent module described herein both correspond to the broadest agent or module performing an agent function, and distinguish the characteristic agent module of the present invention related to multimedia search from the conventional agent or agent module. For this purpose, the term “t-agent module” is used. In contrast, a module that performs an agent function that cannot perform a remote multimedia search request is referred to as an agent module.

2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the t-agent module of the search apparatus of the TV-Anytime system according to the present invention.

2, the t-agent module of the search apparatus of the TV-Anytime system according to the present invention includes a remote search module 200, a local search module 210, a query management module 220, and a user information management module ( 230).

The remote search module 200 searches the metadata of the remote content 120 stored in the remote database to find content that meets the search conditions provided by the user.

The local search module 210 searches the metadata of the local content 130a, 130b, 130c stored in the local database to find content that meets the search condition provided by the user.

The query management module 220 determines whether the duplicate query is a duplicate query, so that the first t-agent does not search for the duplicate query.

The user information management module 230 manages user information necessary for query execution and management.

3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an agent module of a search apparatus of a TV-Anytime system according to the present invention.

The agent module of the search apparatus of the TV-Anytime system according to the present invention includes a local search module 210, a query management module 220, and a user information management module 230.

The local search module 210 searches the metadata of the local content 130a, 130b, 130c stored in the local database to find content that meets the search condition provided by the user.

The query management module 220 determines whether the duplicate query is a duplicate query, so that the first t-agent does not search for the duplicate query.

The user information management module 230 manages user information necessary for query execution and management.

Hereinafter, a TV-Any-time system search method according to the present invention will be described in detail.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a search method of a TV-Anytime system according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a user requests a search condition (S100). The user enters a search condition and returns it to the first t-agent module. The search condition is provided as an internal parameter of the search operation (AgentConstraintsType) at the time of search, for example extended parameters such as search time limit (TimeLimit), search start time (StartTime), and t-agent module designation (StartTAgent). It is possible.

Currently, SP006 specifies three types of parameters on the client for querying and one type for query results. RequestedTables type for double query results. RequtstedTablesType may request query results for ClassificationSchemeTable, ProgramInformationTable, GroupInformationTable, CreditsInformationTable, ProgramLocationTable, ServiceInformationTable, ProgramReviewTable, and SegmentInformationTable as follows.

<element name = "get_Data" type = "tns: get_Data" />

 <complexType name = "get_Data">

  <sequence>

   <element name = "QueryConstraints">

    <complexType>

     <choice>

      <element name = "PredicateBag" type = "tns: PredicateBagType" />

      <element name = "BinaryPredicate" type = "tns: BinaryPredicateType" />

      <element name = "UnaryPredicate" type = "tns: UnaryPredicateType" />

     </ choice>

    </ complexType>

   </ element>

   <element name = "RequestedTables" type = "tns: RequestedTablesType" />

  </ sequence>

  <attribute name = "maxPrograms" type = "unsignedInt" />

 </ complexType>

 <complexType name = "RequestedTablesType">

 <sequence>

  <element name = "Table" maxOccurs = "unbounded">

  <complexType>

   <sequence>

      <element name = "SortCriteria" type = "tns: SortCriteriaType" minOccurs = "0" maxOccurs = "unbounded" />

   </ sequence>

   <attribute name = "type" use = "required">

   <simpleType>

      <restriction base = "string">

      <enumeration value = "ContentReferencingTable" />

      <enumeration value = "ClassificationSchemeTable" />

      <enumeration value = "ProgramInformationTable" />

      <enumeration value = "GroupInformationTable" />

      <enumeration value = "CreditsInformationTable" />

      <enumeration value = "ProgramLocationTable" />

      <enumeration value = "ServiceInformationTable" />

      <enumeration value = "ProgramReviewTable" />

      <enumeration value = "SegmentInformationTable" />

      </ restriction>

   </ simpleType>

   </ attribute>

   </ complexType>

   </ element>

   </ sequence>

   </ complexType>

In addition to the basic parameters described above, the search apparatus and method according to the present invention provide the extended parameters.

First, a search time limit (TimeLimit) is a parameter that configures a search execution time for a result when a query is requested. When the user requests a search for the t-agent module, the user can determine how long to perform the search. The t-agent module collects the search results of the user only for a predetermined time, and the user may receive the search results from the t-agent module after a predetermined time. While the existing get_Data operation cannot set the time for performing a search, the present invention can set the time for performing a search.

Search start time (StartTime) is a parameter that specifies the time to start searching first. At the user-specified search start time (StartTime), the t-agent module starts the search.

The designation of a specific t-agent module (StartTAgent) is a parameter that designates a t-agent module to be used.

The above-described extension parameter can be used as follows.

<complexType name = "AgentConstraintsType">

 <sequence maxOccurs = "unbounded">

   <element name = "StartTAgent" type = "string" minOccurs = "0" />

   <element name = "StartTime" type = "mpeg7: TimeType" minOccurs = "0" />

   <element name = "TimeLimit" type = "mpeg7: TimeType" minOccurs = "0" />

   <element name = "RetrievalID" type = "string" minOccurs = "1" />

  </ sequence>

   <attribute name = "UseUDDI" type = "boolean" default = "true" />

   <attribute name = "GetResult" type = "boolean" default = "false" />

 </ complexType>

Next, the first t-agent module receiving the search condition performs a search for the remote content stored locally or the local content stored locally according to the search condition (S110). The first t-agent module may directly perform a search, and if necessary, may request the second t-agent module to search.

In addition, the first t-agent module or the second t-agent module may transmit a search condition to the agent module and the agent module may search for local content according to the search condition (S120). In this case, the first t-agent or the second t-agent may request a content search from an agent found through UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration). Whether or not the t-agent uses UDDI is determined by the 'UseUDDI' parameter.

There are two ways for a t-agent module to recognize a t-agent module or an agent module. The first is a method of explicitly recording and storing the corresponding t-agent module or agent module, and the second is a method of recognizing it by searching through the aforementioned UDDI server. That is, the user requests a search query that he or she needs from the t-agent module, and the t-agent module sends the corresponding search contents based on the t-agent module or agent module information registered to the user. It will ask the agent modules.

When a search is requested from one or more t-agent modules or agent modules, a search by a t-agent or agent that receives a search request may be duplicated through a detour connection. To avoid this, each agent module should be able to determine the duplication of search. The agent module determines redundancy based on the search time, the user who requested the search, and the contents of the query. To this end, the search query operation includes a 'RetrievalID' parameter that is information for identifying a search query.

For example, if you set [RetrievalID = Ethernet card mac address + user ID], you can prevent duplication of each search. In addition, the server can be distinguished by a combination of RetrievalID, start time (StartTime), and query condition.

Next, the second t-agent module or the agent module returns a search result to the first t-agent module (S130). That is, the first t-agent module collects search results of other t-agent modules or agent modules. In this case, the parameter used is 'GetResult' parameter. If GetResult = true, the first t-agent requests each agent or second t-agent for the completed query result (search result). If GetResult = false, the agent or agent 2 Ask the t-agent to query.

The second t-agent and / or the agent delivers the search result to the first t-agent (S130), and the first t-agent returns it to the user (S140).

The search apparatus and method of the TV-Anytime system using the agent module according to the present invention can distribute the search process and search various contents by using one or more agent modules or t-agent modules, and according to the extended get_DATA parameter The advantage of performing a search is that the search process can be controlled.

Claims (14)

A first t-agent module requesting a search condition from a user and performing a search for remote content stored remotely according to the search condition; And An agent module performing a search for local content and returning a search result to the first t-agent according to a request of the first t-agent module Content search apparatus of the TV-Anytime system comprising a. The method of claim 1, The first t-agent module A remote retrieval module for retrieving the remote content; A local search module for searching the local content; A query management module for determining whether a duplicate query exists; And User information management module that manages user information required for query execution and management Content search apparatus of the TV-Anytime system comprising a. The method of claim 1, The agent module A local search module for searching the local content; A query management module for determining whether a duplicate query exists; And User information management module that manages user information required for query execution and management Content search apparatus of the TV-Anytime system comprising a. The method of claim 1, And the search condition includes a search time limit, a search start time, and a designation of the t-agent. The method of claim 1, One or more second t-agent modules that perform a search for the remote or local content at the request of the first t-agent module Content search apparatus of the TV-Anytime system further comprising. The method of claim 1, Content search apparatus of the TV-Anytime system, characterized in that it comprises at least one agent. The method of claim 1, And the first t-agent performs a search by using an agent searched through UDDI. (a) requesting a search condition from a user; (b) a first t-agent module receiving the search condition and searching for remote content stored remotely according to the search condition; (c) the agent module receiving the search condition from the first t-agent module, performing a search for local content according to the received search condition; (d) returning a search result of the agent module to the first t-agent module; And (e) returning a search result of the first t-agent module and a search result of an agent module to the user Content search method of the TV-Anytime system comprising a. The method of claim 8, The first t-agent further comprises the step of performing a search for the local content. The method of claim 8, And the search condition includes a search time limit, a search start time, and a designation of the t-agent. The method of claim 8, And performing a search for the remote content or the local content according to the received search condition by the second t-agent module receiving the search condition from the first t-agent module. How to search content in time system. The method of claim 8, Step (c) comprises the step of performing the search for the local content according to the received search conditions at least one agent module receiving the search condition from the first t-agent module How to search content in time system. The method of claim 8, And searching for one or more agents to perform a search through UDDI. (a) requesting a search condition from a user; (b) a first t-agent module receiving the search condition and searching for remote content stored remotely according to the search condition; (c) the agent module receiving the search condition from the first t-agent module, performing a search for local content according to the received search condition; (d) returning a search result of the agent module to the first t-agent module; And (e) returning a search result of the first t-agent module and a search result of an agent module to the user A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for performing the program.

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