KR101304422B1 - Method for displaying section information of contents, contents reproducing apparatus and contents providing system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for displaying content section information, a content reproducing apparatus, and a content providing system. According to an embodiment of the present invention, when playing content, one or more preferred sections may be distinguished from other sections other than the preferred section in a progress bar indicating a reproduction state of the content, wherein the preferred section is metadata about the content. It can be determined based on. The metadata may include the number of preferred sections and the start time of the corresponding section and the length of the corresponding section for each preferred section, or the start time and end time of the corresponding section, and the corresponding section in the progress bar for each preferred section. A start position and a length corresponding to a start time of or a start position of the corresponding section and an end position corresponding to an end time of the corresponding section may be displayed. In addition, the user may easily identify the preferred section by distinguishing the color, the density, or the thickness of the preferred section from the other sections.

Description

Method for displaying content section information, content reproducing apparatus and content providing system {Method for displaying section information of contents, contents reproducing apparatus and contents providing system}

The present invention relates to a method for displaying content section information, a content reproducing apparatus, and a content providing system, and more particularly, to a method for differentiating and displaying a popular section of multimedia content.

Multimedia content is generally played over time. In application programs for playing multimedia content, such as Winamp or Gom Player, a progress bar is displayed at the bottom of the content screen to inform the user of the current playback position and remaining time. In addition, a thumbnail or the like may be displayed together for the purpose of predicting or guiding the content of a position to be played back.

As mobile terminals such as smart phones and portable multimedia players (PMPs) are widely used, and as multimedia contents are played back through them, there is a tendency to select and view only the necessary parts rather than playing the entire contents from the beginning to the end. This is to reduce the battery consumption by reducing the terminal usage time, and to reduce the cost of using the Internet connection for playing the streaming content.

Accordingly, the present invention was created in view of the above situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for effectively notifying a user of a popular section of content.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for allowing a user to select a section suitable for his or her taste in content to be played.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for evaluating the popularity and preference of each section in the content.

Content section information display method according to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, the step of receiving a request to play the content; And expressing one or more preferred sections by distinguishing them from other sections other than the preferred section in the progress bar informing of the reproduction state of the content, wherein the preferred section is determined based on metadata about the content. It is done.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the metadata includes at least one section of the attribute information of the content creator, the analysis value of the video or audio, the value related to the number of transmissions, the value related to the number of recommendations of at least one property information The preference section may be determined based on the attribute information.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the metadata includes preferred section information, and the preferred section information includes the number of preferred sections and the start time of the corresponding section and the length of the corresponding section or the start time of the corresponding section for each preferred section. And an end time, and the expressing may include, for each preferred section, a start position and a length corresponding to the start time of the section in the progress bar, or correspond to the start position and the end time of the section in the section. Can be displayed the end position.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the color, density, or thickness of the preferred section may be distinguished from the other sections. The metadata may include an evaluation score for each preference section, and the expressing may be performed by varying the color, density, or thickness of each preference section according to the evaluation score of the corresponding preference section. It can be distinguished from the preferred interval of.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the start mark and the end mark indicating the start position and the end position may be distinguished from each other and placed at the start position and the end position of the preferred section. The start mark and the end mark may be distinguished from each other by displaying the start mark and the end mark in different shapes or by placing the start mark and the end mark at symmetrical positions with respect to the progress bar. The metadata may include an evaluation score for each preference section, and the expressing may be performed by varying the size of the mark according to the evaluation score of the corresponding preference section for each preference section. Can be distinguished from the interval.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the metadata includes the number of classification items, the name of each classification item, and preference section information for each classification item, and the expressing of the classification items may include: For each preferred section of the selected one or more classification items, the progress bar may display a start position and a length corresponding to the start time of the section or an end position corresponding to the start position and the end time of the section in the section. Can be.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the meta data may be first transmitted before the content data streaming method is transmitted.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the metadata for the preferred section may be transmitted as a parameter to link information for linking the content.

In one embodiment of the present invention, if the user manipulates the input unit in a predetermined pattern or designates a position of the progress bar while playing the content, the identification information of the content and the current playback progress time or the designated A recommendation message including a time corresponding to the location may be sent to the server for the content.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the content may be played while moving in units of the preferred section. In this case, the content data of one or more preferred sections later than the portion currently being played may be previously received from the server and buffered. In addition, in the progress bar, a portion in which content data is already buffered may be expressed differently from a portion which is already reproduced or a portion which is not yet buffered.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of displaying content section information, the method comprising: receiving a request for playing content; And expressing one or more sections separately from other sections according to evaluation scores of the corresponding sections on a progress bar indicating a reproduction state of the contents, wherein the metadata for the contents are each of the plurality of sections constituting the contents. And information on some or all of the plurality of sections includes at least one attribute information used to determine an evaluation score of the corresponding section.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the information on the section may further include one or more of a value related to the number of transmissions of the corresponding section and a value related to the number of recommendation as the attribute information.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the information on the section may further include at least one of the evaluation value of the content creator or the analysis value of the video or audio for the section as the attribute information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when two or more pieces of attribute information are selected, the evaluation score of the section may be determined by weighting the selected attribute information according to a predetermined evaluation criterion. In addition, the selection of the attribute information or the predetermined evaluation criteria may be changed by a user who views the content.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the step of expressing, can be expressed only the interval of the evaluation score of the predetermined value or more according to the evaluation score of the corresponding section.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the step of expressing, depending on the evaluation score of the section, the color, density, thickness of the section, histogram, the size of the reduced picture representing the section, or the display order of the sections to be expressed differently Can be.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the metadata includes the number of classification items and the name of each classification item, and the information on some or all of the sections includes classification information indicating a classification item to which the corresponding section belongs, In the expressing, the sections belonging to one or more classification items selected from among the classified items displayed with names are found based on the classification information, and the evaluation scores of the corresponding sections are determined using the attribute information of the found sections. According to the determined evaluation score can be expressed differently from other intervals.

Content reproduction apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, the input unit for receiving a user's command; A playback unit for playing the content; And a display unit for displaying the content played in the playback unit. And when the content is requested to be played through the input unit, determines a preferred section based on metadata for the content, and displays a progress bar indicating the playing status of the content through the display unit together with the displayed content. And a control unit for controlling one or more preferred sections to be distinguished from other sections other than the preferred section in the bar.

An apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention comprises an application program and a storage means for storing data necessary for its execution and a display means for displaying the content to be reproduced, wherein the application program, in the device When executed, reproduces the content requested by the user and outputs a reproduction signal to the display means, and when the metadata for the content includes information for each of the plurality of sections constituting the content, a part of the plurality of sections Alternatively, the evaluation score is determined based on one or more attribute information included in the information on all sections, and one or more sections are distinguished from other sections according to the evaluation scores determined for the sections on a progress bar indicating a content playback state. To generate a graphic to be displayed and to be displayed on the display means. It is characterized by outputting.

Content providing system according to another embodiment of the present invention, the storage server for storing the content; A network server for providing the content to a content reproducing apparatus or uploading the content from a content creator; And dividing the content into a plurality of sections, the information on each section includes a data start time of the section, managing the number of transmissions of the section for each section as attribute information, and based on the number of transmissions. And a metadata server for determining the above-described preferred section and generating information on the determined preferred section and recording the information in the metadata for the content, wherein the metadata includes information about each preferred section. The information on the preferred section may include a start time and a length of the corresponding preferred section or a start time and end time of the corresponding preferred section.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the metadata server may compensate for the number of transmissions for the section belonging to the head of the content with a predetermined compensation function, and determine the preferred section based on the compensated number of transmissions. .

In one embodiment of the present invention, the preferred interval, considering the compensated transmission number of each section and the distribution of the compensated transmission number of each section and the compensated transmission number of each section through comparison with a predetermined absolute value It can be determined by comparison with the value determined.

In one embodiment of the present invention, when transmitting the content to the content playback device in a streaming manner, the network server may transmit the meta data prior to the transmission of the content data.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the network server provides a web page for introducing content provided by streaming to the content playback device, one or more content included in the web page corresponds to link information for connecting itself Information on a preferred section of the content may be further included as a parameter.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the metadata server may generate information about the preferred section for each of two or more classification items and record the information on the metadata. In this case, the metadata server records the number of classification items and the name of each classification item in the metadata, and further includes data indicating one or more classification items allocated to the corresponding section in the information about each section. can do.

In one embodiment of the present invention, if the continuous transmission is stopped or terminated after the network server starts transmitting the content data to the content playback apparatus in a streaming manner, the metadata server uses the data start time of each section. One or two sections corresponding to the time of the data starting the transmission and the time of the data ending the transmission may be searched, and the number of transmissions for the one or two sections and the section therebetween may be increased.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the metadata server may manage the number of recommendations of the corresponding section for each section as the attribute information. In addition, when the network server receives a recommendation message including a data time from the content playback device, the metadata server searches for a section corresponding to the data time included in the message using the data start time of each section. The number of recommendations for the searched section may be increased. The metadata server may increase the number of recommendations for a predetermined number of surrounding sections including the searched section, and when the surrounding section is configured, the number of sections preceding the searched section is determined. It can be more than the number of later sections. The metadata server may increase an increase in the number of searches of the searched section greater than an increase in the search count of the remaining sections except for the searched section in the surrounding section.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the metadata server may further manage an evaluation value of the content creator or a data analysis value for the corresponding section as the attribute information for each section. The data analysis value may be determined based on the degree of motion or the volume of the image, and the metadata server may fit the divided section when the divided section does not match the divided section by the content creator. The evaluation value of the content creator may be converted.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the content uploader further comprises a conversion server for generating one or more different versions of the content by varying one or more of the resolution, codec, bit rate uploaded content, the metadata The server can integrate and manage the number of transfers for different versions of the same content.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the metadata server, for each section, further manages one or more of the number of recommendations, the evaluation value of the content creator or the data analysis value as the attribute information, and at least two in the attribute information The preference period may be determined by selecting and applying a predetermined weight. The metadata server may give a high weight to the number of recommendations and the evaluation value of the content creator among the attribute information.

Content providing system according to another embodiment of the present invention, the storage server for storing the content; A network server for providing the content to a content reproducing apparatus or uploading the content from a content creator; And dividing the content into a plurality of sections, managing at least one of the number of transmissions and the number of recommendations for the section for each section, and including the number of the divided sections and the start time of the section with information about each section. And a metadata server for generating metadata about the content, wherein the metadata server is related to the number of transmissions of the corresponding section to information about some or all sections of the plurality of sections of the metadata. And at least one of a value or a value related to the number of recommendations of the corresponding section is recorded as attribute information necessary for calculating the evaluation score of the corresponding section.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the metadata server further manages one or more of an evaluation value and a data analysis value of the content creator of the corresponding section for each section, and the metadata server may be configured to manage the partial or all of the sections. At least one of an evaluation value and a data analysis value of the content creator of a corresponding section may be recorded as attribute information in the section information.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the metadata server further includes data for indicating one or more classification items allocated to the section in the information about each section, and manages the number of classification items and the name of each category. May be recorded in the metadata, and classification information indicating a classification item to which the corresponding section belongs may be recorded in the information on the partial or all sections.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the metadata server may record information indicating whether the attribute information is included in the information about each section in the metadata.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the metadata server, the information for identifying the number of the attribute information recorded in the corresponding section and the type of the attribute information recorded in the information on the section including the attribute information in the metadata; Can be recorded.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the metadata server may record the attribute information in the information about the corresponding section in the metadata only when the number of times of transmission or recommendation of the section becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined reference value.

Therefore, the user can easily check the popular section of the content to be played, and can effectively watch the main part of the content.

In addition, the preference of each section can be evaluated and the popular section can be selected according to the intention of the content creator and the response of the viewer.

In addition, the content can be played while moving in units of popular sections, and the popular sections can be continuously played without delay.

In addition, only the section corresponding to the genre or item desired by the user can be selected and played.

1 illustrates a configuration of a content reproducing apparatus to which the method for displaying content section information according to the present invention is applied.
2 illustrates an example in which an image window, a control window, a time window, and a progress bar of a content to be played are displayed.
3 illustrates various embodiments according to the present invention for displaying section evaluation information by dividing at least one or more sections from other sections in a progress bar of the content,
4 illustrates various embodiments in accordance with the present invention that indicate the start position and length of a popular segment and the length or start and end of the popular segment on or below the progress bar,
FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment in which information indicating a popular section for the corresponding content is added to the link information of the content as a parameter.
FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment in which a special button is provided in a control window to allow playback while moving in units of popular sections.
FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment in which content data for a popular section is received from a server in advance and buffered;
8A and 8B illustrate an embodiment in which a user selects attribute information and adjusts a weight of the selected attribute information to determine an evaluation score of a section.
9 illustrates a configuration of a content providing system serving as a server for providing content to a content reproducing apparatus.
FIG. 10 illustrates a method of determining a start time and an end time and an evaluation score of a popular section using the number of transmissions or the number of recommendations.
11 shows a graph of the transmission count, the transmission change rate, and the transmission compensation function.
12 illustrates an embodiment of selecting a popular section for each classification item and displaying it on the progress bar.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a content section information display method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a content reproducing apparatus to which the method for displaying content section information according to the present invention is applied. The content reproducing apparatus 100 may store a multimedia content file or transmit and receive content data by streaming. It may be a content player such as a PMP, an electronic dictionary, an e-book, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a notebook, a PC, or the like.

The content reproducing apparatus 100 is connected to the outside through the Internet, the network unit 110 for sending and receiving data, the storage unit 120 for storing the content file, the content data processing the image signal and audio signal An output unit including a playback unit 130 for converting and outputting a signal to a display unit, a screen for displaying an image signal processed by the playback unit 130, and optionally a speaker or an external output terminal for outputting an audio signal 140, an input unit 150 for detecting an input or selection of a user and outputting an input signal, for controlling some or all of the components to perform an operation corresponding to the input signal from the input unit 150. It may be configured to include a controller 160 and a memory 170 for storing data necessary for the operation of the controller 160.

The content reproducing apparatus 100 may further include an interface unit (not shown) such as USB (Universal Serial Bus) or IEEE1394 for connecting with a host to download necessary data. Devices that do not include the unit 110 must include an interface unit as a component.

In addition, the content reproducing apparatus 100 connects an external flash memory such as a security digital (SD) card, a compact flash (CF) card or a memory stick to overcome the storage capacity limit of the storage unit 120. It may further include a memory card interface (not shown).

The network unit 110 includes a modem and a codec according to a corresponding method so as to support wired or wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) or to be connected to the outside according to a mobile communication method such as 2G, 3G, or 4G. Can be configured.

The storage unit 120 may be configured as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state disk drive (SSD) for storing high-capacity data, and the storage unit 120 may include the memory card interface. The data 170 may be integrated with the memory 170 to store only data necessary for the operation of the content reproducing apparatus 100 and the controller 160.

The playback unit 130 is a video codec such as MPEG-4, H.264, MKV, DivX, WMV, XviD, MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC to support various types of audio, video, and still picture formats. , Content data can be processed, including some or all of viewers such as audio codecs such as FLAC and WAV, still picture codecs such as JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, and other document files.

The playback unit 130 is implemented as a software module in an application for playing content when the content playback device 100 is a general-purpose computer such as a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a PC, an MP3 player, a PMP, an electronic dictionary, In the case of a dedicated player such as an e-book or a smart phone, it may be implemented as a separate hardware chipset, or a lacking or new codec or viewer may be added as a software module through an application.

The output unit 140 and the input unit 150 may be implemented as an internal component of the content playback device 100 if the content playback device 100 is portable, but may be separately configured in the case of a PC. It may be.

In the output unit 140, a screen for displaying an image signal may be configured to include a display panel and a driver for driving the same, a speaker for outputting an audio signal may be built in, and an audio signal may be outputted in line. The terminal may be included.

The input unit 150 may include one or more buttons for a user's operation command, and may further include a touch sensor attached to a front surface of the display panel to receive an operation command according to a user's touch.

The content reproducing apparatus 100 of FIG. 1 is a physical device of the components for realizing the operation of the controller 160 or the application of the memory 170 executed by the controller 160 described below. An operating system (O / S) may also be provided for performing appropriate signaling and / or information exchange with resources. In the description of the operation of the controller 160 or the operation of the application executed by the control unit 160, it is assumed that an appropriate mediation operation of the operating system is assumed, and a description of the mediation operation is omitted.

The configuration of the content reproducing apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 is only one example for showing the description of the present invention in detail and illustratively, and components of various functions not shown may be further included.

The content that the user wants to play may be stored in the form of a file in a memory card connected to the storage unit 120 or a memory card interface (not shown), or to a content providing server connected through the network unit 110. It may be stored and provided in a streaming form.

When a user requests a list of files stored in the storage unit 120 or the memory card through an operation of the input unit 150, the controller 160 may provide file system information of the storage unit 120 or the memory card. (E.g., File Allocation Table FAT) is searched and a list of files stored on the basis of the file allocation table FAT is displayed on the output unit 140. The application may be performed by executing an application for browsing a directory (or a folder), and the application may search for a file or directory stored from file system information to generate a screen for displaying a file list and display the same on the output unit 140. Can be done.

When the user selects one of the files listed in the list and requests playback, the controller 160 sequentially reads a part of the selected file from the storage 120 and controls the playback unit 130. Converts the read data into an image signal and / or an audio signal, and outputs the converted image signal and the audio signal through the output unit 140. It can be implemented by executing a designated application (stored in the memory 170) for playback.

Alternatively, the user may first select and execute an application for playing the corresponding content in order to play the desired content, and select and play the desired content through a user interface provided by the executed application.

Alternatively, a user may download or stream desired content from a remote server through a browser application provided by the content reproducing apparatus 100, and play the received content. The control unit 160 controls the network unit 110 to Except for exchanging data with the server, since the content stored in the storage unit 120 is not significantly different from that of playing the content, a description of the process of receiving and playing the content file or the content data from the server is omitted.

When playing the content, the control unit 160, as shown in Figure 2, one or more operations for controlling the operation of the video window including the image of the content, the playback, pause, stop, volume control of the content, etc. A control window including a button, a time window displaying a current playing time and / or a total playing time, and a progress bar for displaying a current playing progress can be generated as one screen and displayed through the output unit 140. have. The controller 160 may display only one video window as one screen and divide the remaining control window, time window, and progress bar into another screen, and display a screen including the video window when playing content including only audio. It may be replaced by an image or an equalizer screen which is not displayed or is expressed using an audio signal.

Graphic data for displaying the control window, time window, and progress bar are stored in the memory 170 in advance, and the controller 160 generates screen data for content reproduction using the output unit 150. For this purpose, a graphic generation module for generating an output graphic using graphic data may be included in the controller 160 or may be included in the content reproducing apparatus 100 as a separate component. Alternatively, a playback application for playing the content may include a software module or graphic data for generating such graphics.

In a preferred embodiment according to the present invention, the user overlaps or proceeds with the progress bar of the content so that the user can easily identify, select, and play a popular section or a preferred section having high or good rating in the content being played or desired to play. One or more popular sections may be displayed differently from other sections among a plurality of sections constituting the content in the vicinity.

When the controller 160 displays at least one or more sections separately from other sections on the progress bar of the content that is being played or is to be played back, as shown in FIG. It can be divided into several stages or different color intensities, the preferences or ratings of the intervals can be expressed as relative values (e.g., divided into quartiles) rather than absolute values, or expressed in histogram form. The thickness of the section (the width in the direction perpendicular to the time course) can be expressed differently in proportion to the degree of preference or evaluation, and the size of the section is displayed while displaying a thumbnail of the section at the bottom or another section. In addition, the order of the intervals may be proportional to the degree of evaluation, or the order of displaying the intervals in order of preference or rating of the intervals, in order of high or low. There may be reversed expressed may be displayed if you paste a region number to each region so that we can notify the user to change the progression of time.

Alternatively, the controller 160 may display all the sections proportionally to the degree of preference or evaluation, and display only the sections where the degree of preference or evaluation is above a predetermined level so as to be distinguished from other sections as the popular section. For this purpose, the start position and length of the popular section or the start and end of the popular section may be displayed on the progress bar or above or below the progress bar. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the progress bar expresses the popular section in a different concentration or color or a different section thickness from the other section, or indicates the start of the popular section in the progress bar or above and / or below the progress bar. The start mark (or identification symbol) and the end mark indicating the end can be displayed in different shapes. Alternatively, the start mark and the end mark may be displayed in the same shape without distinguishing shapes, but the positions of placing the marks may be distinguished from each other based on the progress bar. They can be placed at the bottom to distinguish them from each other and vice versa. In addition, while displaying a section that is above a predetermined level to distinguish it from other sections other than the popular section, each of the popular section may be expressed differently according to the evaluation degree of the corresponding section, concentration, color, thickness of the section, mark The degree of evaluation or the evaluation score can be expressed by the size.

Therefore, the user can check a section in which a preference or evaluation degree is differentiated and displayed on the progress bar of the content to be played, and intuitively select and play a popular section having a high preference.

The content file may be composed of content data including video, audio, etc. and metadata including additional information about the content. The content file creator, creation date / time, playback time, screen resolution, video codec, and frame rate Data related to the content, such as audio codec and data bit rate, may be recorded in the metadata. The metadata may further include URL information of a server for providing content or updating metadata of the content.

The content file for applying the present invention may include, as metadata, information for determining a rating score of a content creator or a popular section with high viewer preference, and a server providing content or updating metadata is directly popular. The section may be determined and provided, or the server may provide attribute information for determining the popular section as information on at least one section, and the content reproducing apparatus may determine the popular section based on the information.

When the server determines and provides a popular section, the metadata includes information about the number of popular sections included in the content and information about each popular section. The information about each popular section includes a start position of the corresponding section (for example, For example, a start time such as a PTS (Presentation Time Stamp) and a length of the corresponding section or an end position of the corresponding section, and may further include an evaluation score of the corresponding section.

In order for the content reproducing apparatus to determine the popular section, the content file is divided into a plurality of sections, and information on each section is included in the metadata. Each section should be headed by an I-picture so as to be able to decode itself, and may be divided evenly over a predetermined time (for example, 5 seconds) or may have different time lengths depending on the story flow of the content. In addition, the metadata should further include the number of sections included in the content and information on each section. The information on each section includes the start time of the section and further includes the number (or identifier) of the section. You may. The information on the at least one section may further include attribute information or evaluation information on the corresponding section.

The attribute information for the section is analyzed by evaluating the evaluation value evaluated by the corresponding content creator, the value related to the number of times the section data is transmitted, the value related to the number of times the viewer responded or recommended it, and the section data. One or more of the values may be included, and the attribute information may be expressed by, for example, the quartile of 0 to 4 or 1 to 5. The content reproducing apparatus may calculate an evaluation score for each section and determine whether or not it is a popular section based on predetermined evaluation criteria based on the attribute information. The evaluation criteria for calculating the evaluation score may also be changed according to a user's preference.

When the user selects and plays a content file stored in the storage unit 120, the controller 160 searches for meta data included in the selected content file to display a play time and each section for dividing the corresponding content ( Or at least one or more sections), the evaluation information or the information on the popular section, and the like, and when the screen including the image window, the control window, the time window, and the progress bar is displayed through the output unit 140 Is displayed on the time window, and according to any one of the embodiments shown in FIG. 3 or 4, the corresponding section is differentiated from other sections or only the popular section to match the evaluation information identified for at least one or more sections. Differentiated from the section, for example, the color density of the section can be displayed in a dark or light proportional to the evaluation score.

When displaying multiple sections overlapping the progress bar or in the upper or lower area of the status progress bar, the boundaries of each section may be displayed, but consecutive sections with the same score are indicated by the border in the middle. You may not. In addition, only an interval in which an evaluation score is greater than or equal to a predetermined criterion may be divided and displayed in proportion to the evaluation score, and an interval below the criterion may be displayed in the same manner without reflecting the evaluation score and the boundary may not be displayed.

In addition, when the user requests to play the content stored in the server through a browser, for example, by streaming, the controller 160 controls the network unit 110 to transmit content data and metadata from the server. Prior to the transmission of the content data, the metadata is first downloaded, analyzed and analyzed so that the popular section with high preference or high evaluation score can be displayed differently from other sections by the method described above in the time window and the progress bar.

Thereafter, the controller 160 controls the network unit 110 to sequentially stream data of the selected content starting from the first section, and temporarily stores the data of the selected content in the storage unit 10 or the memory 170 while temporarily reproducing the playback unit 130. The video / audio signal is processed through the output unit 140 and output through the output unit 140. The user views a popular section displayed through the progress bar and selects one section or one time position through the input unit 150. If you request playback (for example, by dragging the cursor pointing to the current progress position to the location, or moving the operation pointer to select or control the entire operation of the content playback device, press the Select button). ), You can check the section or location selected by the user and play data from the server in order. The.

At this time, when requesting the server to transmit data from the location selected by the user, the controller 160 transmits a request message including the playing time information of the location selected by the user to the server, and the message is used to identify the corresponding content. Content identification information may be further included.

When content is delivered in a streaming fashion, information about popular segments is added as a parameter to the link information for linking the content, instead of being included in the metadata and transmitted separately, so that the content is immediately available when the user selects the content. Information about a popular section of may be confirmed.

As shown in FIG. 5, the content listed in the web page provided by the server includes not only the path and file name of the corresponding content in the link information but also information indicating a popular section (for example, the status display below in FIG. 5). Bar, # popular = 25-35 & 80-95) can be added as a parameter, where # popular = 25-35 & 80-95 is where the popular segments are 25-35% of the time and 80-95% Can indicate that you are in a location.

When the user selects arbitrary content on the content introduction page of the server through a browser, the controller 160 sends a content transmission request message including a path and a file name included in link information of the corresponding content to the server, By executing a content reproducing application to generate a video window, a control window, a time window, a progress bar as shown in Figure 2 to display through the output unit 140, the selected content before the data for the content is transmitted from the server Based on the parameters included in the link information for the popular bar can be displayed differently from the other sections in the manner as shown in FIG.

In general, when a user operates a fast forward button or a rewind button (for example, >> or << in FIG. 2) provided in a control window, a position that is a predetermined time from a position where playback is currently in progress is performed. The playback position changes to the later position, and the content data is played back from that position. However, in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the playback operation on the content data may be performed while changing the playback position in units of popular or preferred sections by a simple operation of the user.

When the fast forward button of the control window is selected for a predetermined pattern, for example, 2 seconds or more through the input unit 150 (for example, when the user touches the touch sensor attached to the front of the display panel) If you press the forward button for more than 2 seconds), you can change the playback position to the next popular section closest to the current playback position. To this end, the controller 160 retrieves the next popular section closest to the current playback position from the metadata and requests the server to transmit data of the start position of the found popular section, and receives and plays the content data transmitted from the server. Can be.

Alternatively, in an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, a special button (P button in FIG. 6) may be provided in the control window so as to be played while moving in units of popular or preferred sections. The P button may be toggled between an unselected state and a selected state, and the color of the button may be changed so that the state change may be displayed. As shown in the following figure of FIG. 6, although the P button is not selected, even if the fast forward button is operated, the playback is moved to a position before a predetermined time as in the conventional fast forward button function, but in the state where the P button is selected When the fast forward button is operated, the playback position may be changed to the next popular section closest to the current playback position.

In general, the content reproducing apparatus 100, in the case of reproducing the content data in a streaming manner, in preparation for the case where the transmission is paused as shown in the upper portion of FIG. Since data at a position preceding the ongoing content data is received from the server in advance and buffered, when the fast forward button is operated, playback may be performed by using the already buffered content data. When the buffering capacity of the content reproducing apparatus 100 is sufficient, as the content is played back, the amount of content data that is buffered in advance increases, so that data at a position far ahead of the current playback position may be buffered.

However, in the case of playing while moving in the unit of the popular section or the preferred section, if the P button and the fast forward button are operated together while the data of the next popular section is not buffered in advance, request data transmission of the next popular section and The playback operation may stop while receiving this from the server.

In order to solve this problem, as shown in the lower part of FIG. 7, the controller 160 can buffer the content data of the popular section in advance while the playback of the content is in progress, and buffer the content data. To determine the start position and the end position of each popular section from the metadata, or determine the section where the evaluation score is a predetermined value or more as the popular section, and confirm the start position and the end position, and sequentially You can ask the server to send it and buffer it. Before buffering the data of the popular section, the controller 160 firstly moves the data of the position to be moved when the fast forward button (the normal fast forward button, not the movement of the popular section unit) is operated from the current playback position. Buffering is desirable. The portion of the content data already buffered and ready for playback may be displayed differently in the progress bar so that the user can recognize the same. In FIG. 7, the portion already buffered is indicated by hatching.

On the other hand, in the metadata about the content, the evaluation value evaluated by the corresponding content creator, the value related to the number of transmissions that transmitted the section data, the value related to the number of recommendations that the viewer responded or recommended, and the data obtained by analyzing the section data When more than one attribute information of the analysis values is included, the user may change the evaluation criteria for determining the evaluation score.

The controller 160 provides a menu for allowing the user to directly change the evaluation criteria, and as shown in FIG. 8, selecting attribute information to be used for calculating an evaluation score (FIG. 8A) and selected attribute information. It may provide a process (Fig. 8b) that can change the weight to be applied to. The controller 160 lists each attribute information included in the section information of the metadata as shown in FIG. 8A and selects each of them, and changes the weight for the selected attribute information as shown in FIG. 8B. If two attribute information is selected (the above embodiment in Fig. 8b), the weight of each element can be adjusted within the range 0-1 by changing the cursor position at the center of the attribute information located on both sides of the straight line. Complementaryly changeable, each element is arranged at a predetermined angle when the attribute information is three or more (the embodiment below in FIG. 8B). For example, when three attribute information A, B, and C are selected, the attribute information A When the weights of, B, and C are a, b, and c, respectively, moving one cursor within the range of 0-1 indicates that the other two cursors move automatically while satisfying the condition a + b + c = 1. The weight of the information It can be adjusted.

The controller 160 provides a predetermined recommendation button to a video window, a control window, etc. that is currently playing content, and selects the recommendation button as an operation pointer for selecting or controlling the entire operation of the content playback device. It is possible to recommend the position or section currently being played, or to operate the predetermined button of the input unit 150 in a predetermined pattern by moving the operation pointer to an arbitrary position in the progress bar, for example, When clicked, the user can recommend the location or the section including the location.

When the user selects and recommends an arbitrary location or section, the controller 160 may include a recommendation message including identification information for identifying content currently playing and time information of the location selected by the user or identification information of the section. It may be generated and transmitted to the server through the network unit 110, but when the content is reproduced while being streamed from the server may not transmit the identification information for identifying the content.

However, when the content file stored in the storage unit 120 is played, the recommendation message may be transmitted using the URL of the server included in the metadata as a destination, and the content identification information may be included in the recommendation message. If the URL of the server included in the meta data is specified differently for each content, the content identification information may not be included in the recommendation message.

The content section information displaying method described so far may be programmed as an application, stored in the memory 170 of the content reproducing apparatus 100, and executed by the controller 160 to implement the above-described operation.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 9, the content providing system 200 serving as a server for providing content includes a network for providing content data to a content reproducing apparatus in a streaming or download manner or uploading content from a content creator. The server 210, the storage server 220 for storing the content data and / or metadata about the content, and the evaluation information generated by the content creator for the uploaded content are analyzed and the content is divided into a plurality of sections. It may be configured to include a metadata server 230 for automatically analyzing the video or audio of the section to generate metadata or to update the metadata to reflect the transmission of the content stored in the storage server or the user's response or evaluation. There is, the network server 210, storage server 220 and meta data Server 230 may be implemented in a single server in module form for performing the feature or may be implemented separately as a separate server, respectively. The metadata may be stored in the metadata server 230 instead of being stored in the storage server 220. When the metadata is managed separately from the content data, the metadata may further include identification information for identifying the content.

In addition, the content providing system 200 may provide the content provided from the content creator with different resolutions, different codecs, and different content so that the content can be provided to various content playback devices having different performance and transmission environments such as data processing and storage capacity. A conversion server (not shown) for converting at a bit rate may be further included. In this case, the content of the same content may exist in various versions in the storage server 220.

The content providing system 200 is provided with a content file from a content creator, the content creator may simply provide a content file, or divide the content into a predetermined number of sections and the content creator directly for each section or one or more sections. It can also be provided with a rating value.

The storage server 220 may store the content data and / or the metadata in the form of a file or store the content data and the metadata separately from each other, and may also manage a list of the stored content. If there is a request for transmission of content stored from the network server 210, the network server 210 may transmit the content to the network server 210 at once or sequentially.

The network server 210 may support a content transmission request from the content reproducing apparatus 100 connected to the Internet by supporting one or both of a download method and a streaming method as a transmission method. The network server 210 transmits a content list managed by the storage server 220 to the content reproducing apparatus 100 according to a request of the connected content reproducing apparatus 100, and further, the storage server 220. ) And content data managed by the storage server 220 or the metadata server 230 may be transmitted to the content reproducing apparatus 100.

When the content reproducing apparatus 100 requests the storage server 220 to transmit the content managed by the streaming method, the network server 210 first transmits the metadata of the requested content and then transmits the content. Content data can be streamed sequentially.

The content providing system 200 generates, as metadata, information for determining an evaluation score of a content creator or a popular section having a high preference of a viewer, and transmits the generated metadata to a content reproducing apparatus, directly through the metadata server 230. The content reproducing apparatus may determine a popular section and include information on the popular section in the metadata, or include attribute information for determining the popular section in the metadata as information on at least one or more sections. You can also make a decision.

First, an embodiment in which the content providing system 200 directly determines a popular section and includes the information in metadata is described.

The metadata server 230 may include a content creator, a creation date / time, a playback time, a screen resolution, a video codec, a frame rate, an audio codec, a data bit rate, a number of popular sections, information about each popular section, and contents. URL information of a server that provides a metadata may be generated as metadata and stored together with the content data or separated from the metadata and stored in the storage server 220 or only the metadata itself. It may include a start time and an end time (or length) of the corresponding section, and may further include an evaluation score of the corresponding section.

The element or attribute information for determining the popularity interval may include an evaluation value of the content creator and an analysis value obtained by analyzing the video and / or audio of the content data. These values may include metadata after the content is uploaded. This value is determined at creation time and is not updated later. In addition, there may be further the number of transmissions for transmitting data as the attribute information for determining the popular section and the number of recommendations that the viewer responds to or recommends. These values are values that are continuously updated according to the viewing or recommendation of the corresponding content.

When the content is uploaded, the metadata server 230 divides the entire content into a plurality of sections at a predetermined time interval (for example, 10 seconds) or a predetermined size, in consideration of the playing time of the content or the number of the entire sections. It is advantageous to start with an I-picture so that the interval or size of the sections can be adjusted and at least each section can be played independently. In addition, the data of each section may be divided into smaller units such as TCP / IP packets and transmitted.

When the section divided by the content creator and the newly divided section do not match, the metadata server 230 may convert the evaluation value provided by the content creator for each section according to the new section. As a simple example, the new section X contains sections A and B divided by the content creator, and the evaluation value of each section is v (A) and v (B), and the proportion of sections A and B in the new section X each occupies a, b. In this case, the evaluation value of the content creator for the new section X may be determined as (a * v (A) + b * v (B)) / (a + b).

The metadata server 230 may analyze the image data and / or audio data of each section and assign an analysis value of each section, and the viewer may view the video based on the degree of motion of the image, the volume of the volume, and the like. It can be determined whether this is high to determine the analysis value. The analytical value can be divided, for example, into five quartiles, giving the highest value 4 (or 5) and the lowest value 0 (or 1).

The metadata server 230 may store the evaluation value and the analysis value of the content creator, which have been converted as described above as information on each section, or store only values obtained by applying predetermined weights to the evaluation value and the analysis value. In this case, the information on each section may be managed as basic metadata for generating information on the popular section separately from the metadata provided to the content reproducing apparatus. The basic metadata may include a number of sections, a start position (or start time) of each section, an evaluation value and an analysis value for each section, and may further include a number (or identifier) of each section. . In addition, the basic metadata may further include a transmission count and a recommendation count for each section to be described later. Alternatively, the basic metadata may be attribute information of each section for determining a popular section, and include only the number of transmissions and / or the number of recommendations, and may not include an evaluation value and an analysis value of the content creator.

The metadata server 230 may determine an initial popularity section of the first uploaded content by using an evaluation value and / or an analysis value for each section stored in the basic metadata. For example, When the analysis value is expressed in the fifth quartile, which is a relative value, the intervals for which the evaluation value, the analysis value, or a weighted value thereof is a predetermined value, for example, 4 or more, are determined as the popularity interval, and the number of the determined popularity intervals is determined. First metadata may be generated including a start time and an end time (or a length) of each popular section. In this case, for example, when the evaluation value, the analysis value, or the weighted value of the three, four, five, six intervals is 4 or more, the three, four, five, six intervals become one popular interval, The start time of the popular section is the start time of three sections and the end time of the corresponding section is the end time of six sections.

When the network server 210 is requested to transmit content data from the content reproducing apparatus 100, the data corresponding to time information (for example, PTS) included in the transmission request message (the same as or earlier than the time information). I-picture or the first I-picture of the section including the time information may be found and sequentially streamed from the found data to the content reproducing apparatus 100. In this case, the network server 210 may temporarily store the time information or the checked time included in the transmission request message.

When the network server 210 receives the transmission request message requesting to transmit data from the content reproduction device 100 from the specific time while transmitting the content data, the network server 210 stops the transmission of the data in progress and the transmission request. Data corresponding to the time included in the message may be sequentially transmitted again, and time information included in the requested message may be temporarily stored. At this time, the network server 210 checks the time information of the last transmitted data and the time information included in the previous transmission request message that is already temporarily stored and transfers the two pieces of time information. It is sent to the metadata server 230 together with content identification information for identifying the content so that the metadata server 230 can update the number of transmission intervals. Even when the data transmission is stopped or the data transmission is terminated while the content data is being transmitted, the metadata server may include the time information of the last transmitted data and the time information included in the previous transmission request message that is already temporarily stored. 230).

When the metadata server 230 receives two pieces of time information from the network server 210, the metadata server 230 searches for a start position of each section included in the basic metadata and includes two sections including the received time information. It is possible to increase the number of transmissions for all sections in between, including the identified two sections. When the sections including the received two pieces of time information are the same or immediately adjacent sections, the number of transmissions for one matching section or two adjacent sections may be increased.

In addition, when the network server 210 receives a recommendation message including time information from an arbitrary content reproducing apparatus 100, the network server 210 sends the recommendation message to the metadata server 230, and sends the message to the metadata server 230. May further include identification information for identifying the content to be recommended. When the recommendation message is transmitted to a URL related to a specific content, the network server 210 may transmit identification information of the content corresponding to the corresponding URL to the metadata server 230 in addition to the transmitted recommendation message.

The metadata server 230 confirms content identification information included in a message related to the recommendation received from the network server 210, and time information included in the message in relation to basic metadata of the identified content. It is possible to update the number of recommendations for the section including.

Increasing the number of recommendations only for a section corresponding to the time (recommended time) included in the recommendation message may not meet the intention of the viewer, that is, the viewer views the situation from a short time before sending the recommendation message and transmits the recommendation message. In order to take the necessary action (for example, select a recommendation button), increasing the number of recommendations for two or more sections including a section corresponding to the recommendation time may be more in line with the intention of the viewer.

For example, when the recommendation time corresponds to section 11, the number of recommendations may be increased for five sections (section 8 to section 12) including section 11. That is, when increasing the number of recommendations of five sections, three sections ahead of the section corresponding to the recommendation time may be included, and only one section later than the section corresponding to the recommendation time may be included. In addition, the increase in the number of recommendations may be different for each section. For example, a section corresponding to the recommendation section may increase the recommendation number by 2 and the remaining four sections may increase the recommendation number by 10,000.

The metadata server 230 may determine a popular section based on the number of transmissions or the number of recommendations for each updated section. For example, FIG. 10 illustrates a method of determining a popular section using the number of recommendations. It demonstrates by reference.

When the number of recommendations for each section is represented by the curve shown in FIG. 10 (the horizontal axis is time and the vertical axis is the number of times), the metadata server 230 divides the number of recommendations into five quartiles based on four predetermined absolute values. For example, 1 to 5 values are set based on 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, and 7,000 values, and a popular section is determined for a section having a value of 4 or more, and the evaluation score and popularity of the popular section are determined. The start time (T ₅ ^S , T ₄ ^S ) and end time (T ₅ ^E , T ₄ ^E ) of the section can be obtained as shown in FIG. 10.

Alternatively, the metadata server 230 may determine the fifth quartile value by converting the quartile value into a fifth quartile value based on the number of recommendations of each section through a relative comparison with a corresponding value of another section. The average and standard deviation of the number of recommendations for each section can be obtained and the quartile value can be determined according to the position where the number of recommendations for that section is located in the normal distribution. It can be set to 3 out of 5 and to 5 if it is at 90% or more.

On the other hand, according to the viewing pattern of the viewer, the number of transmissions in each section, as shown in the above graph of FIG. 11, for example, is the largest in the content introduction portion and decreases over time. Viewers tend to accurately reflect the number of transfers of preference. Therefore, if the number of transmissions is used as it is when determining the popularity section, there may be a distortion in the degree of recommendation or popularity in the introduction portion of the content. In order to solve this problem, the metadata server 230 transmits each section in consideration of the number of transmissions, the rate of change of the number of transmissions (that is, the differential value of the number of transmissions) (intermediate graph in FIG. 11), time, and the like. The number of times can be converted to a quartile value, which is a predetermined transmission that increases over time for the interval from the beginning of the content, for example, to T / 5 (where T is the total duration of the content) or to a predetermined absolute time. The multiplication compensation function (graph below in FIG. 11) is multiplied by the number of transmissions, and the increase in the predetermined function can be corrected using the rate of change in the number of transmissions.

The method of converting the compensated number of transmissions into the fifth quartile value is the same as the method of converting the number of recommendation described above into the fifth quartile value.

Alternatively, the metadata server 230 may determine, as a popular section, a section larger than the value based on one absolute value or a relative value without undergoing a conversion process to the fifth quartile value.

Alternatively, the metadata server 230 may select two or more pieces of attribute information of the content creator's evaluation value, analysis value, the number of transmissions, and the number of recommendations for each section managed in the basic metadata, and select the predetermined attribute information in the selected attribute information. An evaluation score for each section may be calculated by applying weights, and based on this, the start time and end time of the one or more popular sections, the evaluation score of the corresponding popular section may be determined, and updated metadata may be generated. The metadata generation operation may be performed at predetermined time intervals, for example, at 1 hour, 6 hours, 12 hours or 1 day. By such updating, the metadata may have a different number of popular sections, a start time and end time of each popular section (or a length of time of the corresponding section), and an evaluation score of each popular section from previous metadata.

When calculating the evaluation score for each section by applying weights to the selected attribute information, the selected attribute information, in particular, the number of transmissions and the number of recommendations may be first converted into a quartile value prior to applying the weight. When determining a popular section by using the evaluation score for each section, it can also be based on one of the above-described absolute value (for example, 4 points in the fifth quartile).

The selection of the attribute information or the weight to be applied to the selected attribute information may be determined automatically or by an operator. A high weight may be applied to the evaluation value or the number of recommendations of the content creator, and a medium weight may be applied to the number of transmissions. Relatively low weights may be applied to the analysis values.

Even when there are multiple versions of the same content in the storage server 220, the metadata and / or basic metadata may be managed together to update the number of transmissions and the number of recommendations for each version in the same manner. have.

As described with reference to the embodiment of FIG. 5, the content providing system 200 directly plays content through a web page that introduces content instead of separately transmitting information about a popular section in the content metadata. It can be provided to the device. The metadata server 230 determines information about a popular section (position of a popular section and / or an evaluation score of the corresponding popular section) for each content based on the basic metadata, and transmits the information to the storage server 220. The storage server 220 may add information about the popular section as a parameter to link information about each content when constructing a web page for introducing content.

Also, in another embodiment of the present invention, the content providing system 200 may classify sections of content based on various items to manage popular sections and provide them to a content reproducing apparatus. Since the show time is usually very long (more than 3 hours) and several genres such as action, erotic, music video, drama, etc. are mixed based on time, the genre that the viewer wants to watch may be a popular section.

Or, for example, in a soccer game, each player can manage the popular section separately, for a video corresponding to the game of the Korean national soccer team, a few players (Ki Sung-yong, Park Ji-sung, Lee Chung-yong, Ji Dong-won in the example of Figure 12) Using as a classification item, the popular section for each item can be separately managed and provided as metadata.

To this end, the metadata server 230 may allocate one or more classification items to each section according to a predetermined classification criterion through analysis of image data and / or audio data of each section or according to an operator's command. Acquisition or update of the evaluation value, analysis value, transmission count, recommendation count, etc. for each section may be performed as described above. The basic metadata may include the number of categories, the number of categories, in addition to the number of sections described above, a start position (or start time) of each section, and information (evaluation value, analysis value, number of transmissions, number of recommendations) for each section. Further including the name of the item, the information on each section may further include data indicating one or more classification items assigned to the section.

For example, if the classification criteria are soccer players, and the classification items are Ki Sung-yong, Park Ji-sung, Lee Cheong-yong, and Ji Dong-won, the number of classification items is 4, and each player's name is the name of the classification item, At least four bit values may be allocated to the information, indicating whether each athlete is allocated to the corresponding section from the first bit to the fourth bit.

The metadata server 230 may generate metadata to be provided to the content providing device by using the basic metadata. For each category, the metadata server 230 identifies a section belonging to the category and checks the section. Popular intervals for the corresponding classification items may be determined based on the evaluation value, the analysis value, the number of transmissions, and the number of recommendations. The metadata generated as described above may include the number of categorized items, the names of each categorized items, and information about each categorized item, and the information on each categorized item may include the number of popular sections included in the categorized item and the popularity of each categorized item. It may include the start time and end time (or length) of the interval.

Next, an embodiment of including attribute information for determining the popular section in the metadata as information on at least one section so that the content reproducing apparatus can determine the popular section.

The metadata server 230 may include a content creator, a creation date / time, a playback time, a screen resolution, a video codec, a frame rate, an audio codec, a data bit rate, the number of sections constituting the content, and a section for each section. Information, URL information of a server providing content, and the like are generated as metadata, and the information on each section may include a start time of the corresponding section and further include a number (or section identification information) of the corresponding section.

In addition, the metadata server 230 may record two or more pieces of attribute information for determining a popular section in the information on at least one or more sections. As described above, the evaluation value and analysis of the content creator are included. Value, the number of transmissions, and the number of recommendations may be included. The number of transmissions and the number of recommendations are managed as cumulative values in the basic metadata, and when recorded in the information on the interval of the metadata, It is advantageous to convert them to relative values.

The attribute information may be recorded only in the attribute information for some sections without recording the attribute information in the information about all the sections. The attribute information may be recorded only for the section in which a predetermined one of the attribute information is equal to or greater than the reference value. To this end, a flag indicating whether to include attribute information may be included in the information on each section. The information on the section including the attribute information may further include information for identifying the number information of the recorded attribute information and the type of the attribute information to be recorded. The number information and the type identification information of the attribute information may include attributes. It may also be included only in the information about the first section including the information. For example, if 4 bits are allocated to the information on the first section including the attribute information, and each bit is sequentially assigned an evaluation value, an analysis value, a transmission number, and a recommendation number of the content creator, the bit value is 1b. If the attribute information is recorded and 0b, it may indicate that the attribute information is not recorded.

The transmission of the content data or the metadata, the processing of the transmission request message of the contents data, and the processing of the recommendation message include the embodiment in which the content providing system 200 directly determines a popular section and includes the information in the metadata. Almost identical. The section request information or the section identification information may be included in the transmission request message or the recommendation message instead of the time information. Since the basic metadata includes the section identification information, the process for this case is also performed by the network server 210 and the metadata. It is almost the same as described above except that the server 220 uses section identification information instead of time information.

When the content belongs to all or some sections according to a predetermined classification criterion, the metadata server 230 adds the number of classification items and the name of each category to the metadata. The classification information indicating the classification item to which the corresponding section belongs may be recorded in the information about all the sections or the information about some sections (for example, only the section including the attribute information).

The method for determining a popularity section for an arbitrary category using the metadata transmitted by the content reproducing apparatus 100 may be performed by the metadata server 230 for each category using the basic metadata. It is the same as the method of determining the popular section.

If there are two or more classification items in the metadata for the content, the content reproducing apparatus 100 can select each of the classification items while listing the names of the classification items in the progress bar or the video window, as shown in FIG. Read the popular sections recorded in the metadata for the category selected by the user and display the popular sections in the progress bar, or find the sections belonging to the selected category by using the classification information, and use the attribute information of the found sections to evaluate the scores. Based on this, a popular section may be determined and displayed on the progress bar. When more than one category is selected (when Park and Lee Cheong-yong are selected in FIG. 12), the popular segments for each selected category can be read or determined and displayed together in the progress bar. When a part of the popular section for another category is overlapped, the indication of the start position and the end position of the overlapping section is omitted (third embodiment in FIG. 12) or the popular section for each category is performed in the fourth in FIG. 12. For example, it may be expressed in different forms such as hatching in different directions, and overlapping parts may be expressed.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. Addition or the like.

100: content playback device 110: network portion
120: storage unit 130: playback unit
140: output unit 150: input unit
160: control unit 170: memory
200: content providing system 210: network server
220: storage server 230: metadata server

Claims (55)

Receiving a request for playing content;
Expressing one or more preferred sections by distinguishing one or more preferred sections from other sections other than the preferred section in the progress bar indicating the reproduction state of the content, wherein the preferred section is determined based on metadata for the content; And
And playing the content while moving in units of the preferred section, and receiving and buffering content data of one or more preferred sections which are later than the portion currently being played from the server in advance.
The metadata includes attribute information in information on some or all sections of the plurality of sections constituting the content, and the information on the sections includes two or more of the number of transmissions, the number of recommendations, and the evaluation of the content creator. Is included as the attribute information, and the number of transmissions of the section is a value in which the number of transmissions for the section belonging to the head of the content is compensated by a predetermined compensation function,
The expressing may include determining the preference section based on an evaluation score obtained by weighting two or more of the attribute information. delete The method of claim 1,
The method of claim 1, wherein the color, density, or thickness of the preferred section is distinguished from the other sections. The method of claim 1,
The expressing may be performed by varying the color, density, thickness of the section, histogram, size of the reduced picture representing the section, or display order of the sections according to the evaluation score of each preferred section. How information is displayed. The method of claim 1,
And displaying a start mark and an end mark indicating a start position and an end position of the preferred section on the progress bar. 6. The method of claim 5,
And displaying the start mark and the end mark in different shapes or distinguishing the start mark and the end mark from each other by placing the start mark and the end mark at symmetrical positions with respect to the progress bar. The method according to claim 5 or 6,
In the expressing step, the content section information displaying method may be different from the preferred section of another evaluation score by varying the size of the mark according to the evaluation score of the corresponding preferred section. The method of claim 1,
The metadata includes data indicating the number of classification items, the name of each classification item, and one or more classification items allocated to the corresponding section in information about each section,
The expressing may include a start position and a length corresponding to a start time of the corresponding section in the progress bar, or the start position of the corresponding section, for a section to which one or more classification items selected from among the classified items for which a name is displayed are assigned. And displaying an end position corresponding to an end time of the corresponding section. The method of claim 1,
The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata is first transmitted prior to the streaming of the content data. The method of claim 1,
Meta data about the preferred section is added to the link information for connecting the content as a parameter, characterized in that the transmission method. The method of claim 1,
If the user manipulates the input unit in a predetermined pattern or specifies one position of the progress bar while playing the content, the user includes identification information about the content and a time currently in progress or corresponding to the designated position. And transmitting a recommendation message to the server for the content. delete delete The method of claim 1,
And in the progress bar, a portion in which content data is already buffered is expressed differently from a portion which is already played or a portion which is not yet buffered. delete delete delete delete delete An input unit for receiving a command of a user;
A playback unit for playing the content; And
A display unit for displaying the content played in the playback unit;
Communication unit for transmitting and receiving data with the server related to the content; And
When the content is requested to be played through the input unit, a preference section is determined based on the metadata of the content, and when the progress bar indicating the playing status of the content is displayed along with the displayed content through the display unit, the progress bar is displayed. And a control unit for controlling one or more preferred sections to be distinguished from other sections other than the preferred section,
The controller controls the communication unit to receive and buffer content data of one or more preferred sections which are later than the part currently being played, and controls the playback unit to play the contents while moving in units of the preferred sections,
The metadata includes attribute information in information on some or all sections of the plurality of sections constituting the content, and the information on the sections includes two or more of the number of transmissions of the corresponding section, the number of recommendations, and the evaluation of the content creator. Is included as the attribute information, and the number of transmissions of the section is a value at which the number of transmissions for the section belonging to the head of the content is compensated by a predetermined compensation function, and the control unit evaluates the result obtained by weighting two or more of the attribute information. And determining the preferred section based on a score. delete The method of claim 20,
And the controller distinguishes the color, density, or thickness of the preferred section from each other by being different from the other sections. The method of claim 20,
The controller may be configured to express the color, density, thickness, histogram, the size of the reduced picture representing the corresponding section, or the display order of the sections according to the evaluation score of each preferred section. The method of claim 20,
The controller may allow a start mark and an end mark indicating a start position and an end position of the preferred section to be displayed on the progress bar. The method of claim 20,
And the control unit controls the communication unit to receive the meta data first before transmission by streaming of the content data. The method of claim 20,
The control unit, when the user selects the content in the web page, which introduces the content provided by the server connected through the communication unit, the content from the information added as a parameter to the link information for connecting the selected content And obtaining metadata about a preferred section for. The method of claim 20,
The controller, if the user manipulates the input unit in a predetermined pattern or specifies and recommends a position of the progress bar through the input unit while playing the content, the identification information of the content and the current playback progress time or the Generating a recommendation message including a time corresponding to a designated location, and controlling the communication unit to transmit the generated recommendation message to the server. delete An apparatus comprising: storage means for storing an application program and data necessary for its execution, and display means for displaying a content to be reproduced,
When the application program is executed in the device, the application program reproduces the content requested by the user and outputs a reproduction signal to the display means, and the metadata of the content includes information on each of a plurality of sections constituting the content. In this case, the preferred section is determined according to an evaluation score calculated based on at least two pieces of attribute information included in the information on some or all of the plurality of sections, and the one or more sections correspond to a progress bar that informs the playback status of the content. Generates a graphic that is distinguished from other sections according to the evaluation score determined for the section, and outputs the graphic to be displayed on the display means, and receives and buffers content data of one or more preferred sections that are later than the part currently being played. Move the content by the preferred section Play it,
The information on the section includes at least two of the number of times of transmission of the section, the number of recommendation, and evaluation of the content creator, and the number of times of transmission of the section has a predetermined number of times of transmission of the section belonging to the head of the content. And a value compensated by a compensation function, wherein the application program determines two or more pieces of attribute information and weights the selected attribute information according to a predetermined evaluation criterion to determine an evaluation score of the section. delete 30. The method of claim 29,
And the application program provides a menu for allowing a user to select attribute information or change the predetermined evaluation criteria. A storage server for storing content;
A network server for providing the content to a content reproducing apparatus or uploading the content from a content creator; And
The content is divided into a plurality of sections, the information on each section includes a data start time of the corresponding section, and the number of transmissions of the corresponding section is managed as attribute information for each section, and at least one based on the number of transmissions. And a metadata server for determining a preference section and generating information on the determined preference section and recording the metadata in the metadata for the content.
The metadata includes information about each preferred section, the information about each preferred section includes a start time and a length of the corresponding preferred section or a start time and end time of the corresponding preferred section,
And the metadata server compensates the number of transmissions for the section belonging to the head of the content with a predetermined compensation function, and determines the preferred section based on the compensated number of transmissions. delete The method of claim 32,
The preferred interval may be compared with a value determined in consideration of the number of compensated transmissions in each section and a predetermined absolute value or in consideration of the distribution of the number of compensated transmissions in each section and the number of compensated transmissions in each section. Content providing system, characterized in that determined. The method of claim 32,
The network server, when transmitting the content to the content reproducing apparatus in a streaming manner, the content providing system, characterized in that for transmitting the metadata prior to the transmission of the content data. The method of claim 32,
The network server provides a web page for introducing content provided by streaming to the content reproducing apparatus, and the one or more contents included in the web page provides information on a preferred section of the corresponding content to link information for linking itself. Content providing system characterized in that it further comprises as a parameter. The method of claim 32,
The metadata server generates the information on the preferred section for each of two or more classification items and writes the information to the metadata. 39. The method of claim 37,
The metadata server records the number of classification items and the name of each classification item in the metadata, and further includes data indicating one or more classification items allocated to the corresponding section and manages the information on each section. Content providing system characterized in that. The method of claim 32,
If the continuous transmission is stopped or terminated after the network server starts to transmit the content data to the content reproducing apparatus in a streaming manner, the metadata server uses the data start time of each section and the time of the data that started the transmission. And searching for one or two sections corresponding to the time of the data whose transmission has ended, and increasing the number of transmissions for the one or two sections and the section in between. The method of claim 32,
The metadata server manages the recommendation number of the corresponding section for each section as the attribute information, and when the network server receives the recommendation message including the data time from the content reproducing apparatus, the data start time of each section is determined. And searching for a section corresponding to the data time included in the message, and increasing the number of recommendations for the searched section. 41. The method of claim 40,
The metadata server may increase the number of recommendations for a predetermined number of surrounding sections including the searched section, and when the surrounding section is configured, the number of sections ahead of the searched section is later than the searched section. Content providing system, characterized in that more than the number of. 42. The method of claim 41,
The metadata server is a content providing system, characterized in that the increase in the number of searches of the searched section is greater than the increase in the number of searches of the remaining sections except the searched section in the surrounding section. The method of claim 32,
The metadata server may further manage an evaluation value of the content creator or a data analysis value for the corresponding section as the attribute information for each section. 44. The method of claim 43,
The data analysis value is a content providing system, characterized in that determined based on the degree of motion or the volume of the image. 44. The method of claim 43,
And when the divided section does not coincide with the divided section of the content producer, the metadata server converts the evaluation value of the content creator to match the divided section. The method of claim 32,
And a conversion server for generating one or more different versions of the content by varying one or more of the resolution, codec, and bit rate of the content uploaded by the content creator.
The metadata server is a content providing system, characterized in that the integrated management of the number of transfers for the content of different versions of the same content. The method of claim 32,
The metadata server further manages one or more of the number of recommendation, the evaluation value of the content creator, or the data analysis value for each section as the attribute information, selects two or more from the attribute information, and selects the selected attribute information. The content providing system, characterized in that for determining the preferred interval by applying a weight of the. 49. The method of claim 47,
The metadata server is a content providing system, characterized in that to give a higher weight to the number of the recommendation and the evaluation value of the content creator than the other selected attribute information among the attribute information. A storage server for storing content;
A network server for providing the content to a content reproducing apparatus or uploading the content from a content creator; And
The content is divided into a plurality of sections, and for each section, one or more of the number of transmissions and the number of recommendations of the section are managed, and the number of the divided sections and the start time of the section with information about each section. Including a metadata server for generating metadata about the content,
The metadata server evaluates one or more of a value related to the number of transmissions of the corresponding section or a value related to the number of recommendation of the corresponding section in the information on some or all of the plurality of sections of the metadata. Recorded as attribute information required for the calculation of,
The metadata server compensates the number of transmissions for the section belonging to the head of the content with a predetermined compensation function and obtains a value related to the number of transmissions based on the compensated number of transmissions. . 50. The method of claim 49,
The metadata server may further manage at least one of an evaluation value and a data analysis value of the content creator of the corresponding section for each section,
And the metadata server further records at least one of an evaluation value and a data analysis value of the content producer of the corresponding section as the attribute information in the information on the partial or all sections. 50. The method of claim 49,
The metadata server may further include data indicating one or more classification items allocated to the section in the information about each section, manage the number of classification items and the name of each category in the metadata, And classifying information indicating a classification item to which the corresponding section belongs in the information about the part or all of the sections. delete 50. The method of claim 49,
And the metadata server records information indicating whether the attribute information is included in information about each section in the metadata. 54. The method of claim 53,
The metadata server records the information for identifying the number of the attribute information recorded in the corresponding section and the type of the attribute information recorded in the information on the section including the attribute information in the metadata. Provide system. 50. The method of claim 49,
And the metadata server records the attribute information in the information about the corresponding section in the metadata only when the number of times of transmission or recommendation of the section becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined reference value.

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