KR101343408B1 - System and method for providing index information related to contents in video on demand service - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to video on demand (VOD), and more particularly, to providing index information or additional information about content in a VOD service.

The system for providing index information on content in an on-demand video service according to the present invention is an index generator for generating index information on content based on an input of an administrator and the user in response to a request from the user terminal. It includes an index providing unit for transmitting to the terminal, wherein the index information is generated in a form separated from the content.

Video on Demand (VOD), index, additional information, additional video

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDEING INDEX INFORMATION FOR CONTENT IN Demand Video Services {SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING INDEX INFORMATION RELATED TO CONTENTS IN VIDEO ON DEMAND SERVICE}

The present invention relates to video on demand (VOD), and more particularly to providing index information or additional information about content in a VOD service.

Recently, as the high-speed information communication network has become popular and video related technologies have been developed, the scope of application of multimedia contents has been greatly expanded. In particular, video on demand (VOD: Video On Demand) provides customized video information according to the taste of subscribers at a desired time and place. ) Is growing in interest.

Video-on-demand (VOD) is used in a wide variety of fields, such as on-demand movie services, on-demand news services, services that provide video catalogs of user-selected products, video conferencing services, and distance learning services.

In the related art, an offline content such as a DVD title is provided with an index, so that the user can easily move to a desired position. However, online video-on-demand (VOD) offers only Skip, Fast Forward, and Fast Backward, indexing features like DVD titles. Was not provided.

Therefore, the conventional online on-demand video service has no choice but to use a function such as skip, fast forward, and fast backward to find a desired position in the content. There was a problem that the search was very slow. In addition, since the user must go through several attempts to find the desired content, a fast and accurate search was difficult.

In particular, in the case of entertainment programs, news, video lectures, etc., in which a plurality of chapters or programs distinguished from each other in a single content, the user experiences great inconvenience due to the absence of an index.

In addition, the conventional on-demand video service (VOD) is not provided with appropriate additional information related to the content being played, there is a lack in providing a variety of information to the user.

One embodiment of the present invention is to solve the above-described problem, it is to provide the index information for the content so that the user can easily search the desired location in the content in the video on demand (VOD) provided online. The purpose.

In addition, an embodiment of the present invention is to provide a technical means for generating, managing and providing the index information for the content.

In addition, an embodiment of the present invention aims to provide additional information or additional video related during reproduction of content.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, in response to a request from an index generator and a user terminal for generating index information on content based on an input of an administrator, the index information is sent to the user terminal. It includes an index providing unit for transmitting, wherein the index information is generated in a form separated from the content provides an on-demand video service system.

In addition, a second aspect of the present invention provides a transmission and reception unit for requesting and downloading content and index information for the content, a content reproducing unit for reproducing the downloaded content, and a reproduction position of the content based on the index information. It provides an on-demand video service terminal including an index management unit for controlling and displaying the additional information.

In addition, a third aspect of the present invention is to (a) starting the download from the first file of the content consisting of a plurality of files, (b) downloading the index information for the content, (c) the downloaded Selecting a playback position of the content based on index information, (d) determining whether the selected playback position exists in a file currently being downloaded, and (e) determining the selected playback position as a result of step (d) If a playback position exists in the file currently being downloaded, moving to the playback position to play the content; and (f) as a result of the determination in step (d), the selected playback position is in the currently downloading file. If it does not exist, it stops receiving the currently downloading file and downloads from the file including the selected playback position. Comprising Start provides a content download method.

In addition, a fourth aspect of the present invention provides a method comprising the steps of (a) playing content, (b) reading index information for the content, wherein the index information includes a position value and additional information; c) checking the current playback position of the content being played; (d) determining whether the position value of the index information and the current playback position match, and (e) matching in step (d). If it is determined to do so, it provides a content reproduction method comprising the step of displaying the additional information of the index information.

According to one of the aforementioned problem solving means of the present invention, since index information for content is separately generated, managed, and provided so that a user can easily search for a desired position within the content, Regardless, you can search for the desired location within the content, which has the effect of fast and accurate search.

According to one of the other problem solving means of the present invention described above, since a single content can be divided into a plurality of files, when the user selects and moves specific index information, the VOD service system can move to the corresponding index position. There is no need to download all the content can prevent the download of unnecessary content data and there is an effect that can be faster search.

According to one of the other problem solving means of the present invention described above, it is possible to provide a variety of information to the user because it provides the additional information or additional video associated with the reproduction of the content.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. In order to clearly illustrate the present invention, parts not related to the description are omitted, and similar parts are denoted by like reference characters throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part is referred to as being "connected" to another part, it includes not only "directly connected" but also "electrically connected" with another part in between . Also, when an element is referred to as "comprising ", it means that it can include other elements as well, without departing from the other elements unless specifically stated otherwise.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a video on demand (VOD) system providing index information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, an on-demand video service system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an index server 100, a content server 200, a user terminal 300, and a network 400.

The index server 100 generates, provides, and manages index information about content. In detail, the index server 100 generates an index information on content to be provided to the user terminal 300 by receiving an administrator's input and records the content in the content itself or in a separate database or file.

When the file format itself of the content to be provided to the user terminal 300 is provided with a function of recording index information, that is, when the content file format supports storing index information, the index information may be recorded in the corresponding content file. Can be.

In addition, when the file format of the content to be provided to the user terminal 300 does not support storing the index information, it may be recorded in a separate database or a file for storing the index information.

The index information generated as described above is provided to the user terminal 300 together with the specific content when the user terminal 300 requests a service request for the specific content.

In the present specification, the content includes all content having movement in units of frames, including FLASH files, including file formats or codecs such as MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264, WMV, ASF, AVI, DIVX, and XVID.

The content server 200 serves to provide VOD content to the user terminal 300 similarly to the existing VOD service.

In addition, when the content is divided by the index server 100, the divided content is stored and serves to provide corresponding content at the request of the user terminal 300.

The user terminal 300 receives content from the content server 200, receives index information from the index server 100, and plays the content.

In the present specification, for example, a user terminal includes not only a set-top box (STB) but also a personal computer, a notebook, a kiosk, a PDA, a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC), a tablet PC (Tablet PC), and the like. .

The network 400 includes a dedicated line, a LAN, a QAN, a VAN, an intranet, a private telephone network, a public telephone network, a PSTN network, and a combination thereof, so that each network component shown in FIG. 1 can communicate with each other smoothly. It is a comprehensive data communication network, and includes wired internet, wireless internet and mobile wireless communication network.

As described above, the roles of the index server 100 and the content server 200 are logically divided, and may be configured through other physical divisions. In other words, each component described as a single type may be implemented in a distributed manner, and similarly, components described as distributed may be implemented in a combined form.

Hereinafter, a detailed function of the index server 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2. 2 is a detailed block diagram of an index server 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the index server 100 includes an index generator 110, an index provider 120, a content divider 130, and an index DB 140.

The index generator 110 receives the administrator's input to generate index information for the content, and records the index information in the content itself or in a separate DB. A method of generating an index in the index generator 110 will be described later.

The index providing unit 120 serves to provide the user terminal 300 with index information on the requested content in response to a content providing request from the user terminal 300.

The content dividing unit 130 divides the content into a plurality of files in order to prevent downloading of unnecessary content data. In other words, the content dividing unit 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention divides one content into a plurality of files, and the index generator 110 divides the index information into the identifier of the divided file and the position value in the corresponding file. To produce a combination of.

Therefore, when a user selects and moves specific index information in a VOD service of downloading and playing content, the VOD service system according to an embodiment of the present invention needs to download all contents up to the corresponding index position. There is no.

In other words, when a user wants to move to a specific index, the download process proceeds from the file including the index and stops the download of the previous file, thereby quickly moving to the designated index and preventing unnecessary download of the file. can do.

Index DB 140 stores the index information generated by the index generator 110.

3 illustrates an example of an index management table stored in the index DB 140 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the index management table includes, for example, an index field 141, a position value field 142, an index name field 143, a division field 144, and an additional information field 145. can do.

In the index field 141, a serial number or identifier of the index is recorded.

The location value field 142 has a location value in the content that the user terminal 300 can recognize. The location value is not limited to any value as long as the user terminal 300 recognizes the value such as a time offset value and a presentation time stamp (PTS) value and moves to the corresponding location in the content.

The index name field 143 records a corner name or corner description to be shown to the user or a description of the index when providing the index to the user.

The division field 144 may include, for example, a manual index and an automatic index, and the automatic index may further include an additional information index and an image information index.

The manual index refers to an index that can be moved to a specific position in the content by manual selection by the user.

The automatic index refers to additional information or image information that the user terminal 300 will automatically expose on the screen while playing content.

The additional information field includes not only additional information or additional description about the index, but also a URL, a text file, a sound file, an image file, a video file, etc. of an Internet web page to be displayed while the content is being played back or stopped.

Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the text or image to be displayed together with the reproduction of the content is referred to as additional information, and a video such as an advertisement that needs to be paused and reproduced while playing the content is called image information. However, this may be arbitrarily changed according to the design of the designer, and it is also possible to reproduce the image information together with the content being reproduced by a method such as picture in picture (PIP).

 Hereinafter, an index generation method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 4. 4 is a view for explaining an index generation method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the administrator selects the index setting 112 through the image viewing interface 111 at a desired position while playing content to be provided through the VOD service. When the index information input window is displayed, index information for content is generated by inputting an index name and additional information. At this time, the content reproducing apparatus automatically finds the position value in the content and records it along with the index name. In this case, when the index generating unit 110 designates the position value for the file divided by the content dividing unit 120, the index generation unit 110 records the position value by a combination of the identifier of the file and the position information in the file.

For example, in the case of servicing a TV entertainment program including four corners, the manager sets an index for the beginning of each corner using the index generator 110 and records a description of the index. To create an index management table as illustrated in FIG.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 5, the configuration and function of the user terminal 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. 5 is a detailed block diagram of a user terminal 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, the user terminal 300 includes a user input unit 310, a transceiver 320, a content player 330, an index manager 340, a controller 350, and a database 360. do.

The user input unit 310 receives and transmits various commands input by the user to the control unit 350. For example, the user input unit 310 receives a content download command, a content play command, a move command to a specific index, and the like.

The transmitter / receiver 320 requests and downloads necessary content from the content server 200 according to a control signal of the controller 350 and stores the required content in the content storage unit 362. At this time, the index information for the corresponding content is downloaded from the content server 200 together, or the index server 100 requests the index information for the corresponding content separately. The downloaded index information is stored in the index information storage unit 364 in the database unit 360.

The content reproducing unit 330 decodes and reproduces specific content according to a control signal of the control unit 350.

The index manager 340 moves to a position corresponding to the index selected by a user's manual input or displays additional information, additional video, and the like in synchronization with the current playback position of the content.

The control unit 350 not only controls the transceiver 320 and the content reproducing unit 330 based on the control command input through the user input unit 310, but also based on the request of the index management unit 340. 330 is controlled.

6 is an example of a screen in which a user manually selects an index by calling an index screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the user calls the index screen through the user input unit 310, for example, an index table displaying the index name and additional information is displayed on the screen, and the user may move to the index screen. You can select and move the desired index information.

7 is a screen for automatically displaying additional information in the index manager 340 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 7, when there is additional information corresponding to the playback position of the content currently being played, the additional information may be displayed on the screen in the form of text or an image at the same time.

Hereinafter, referring to FIG. 8, a method of selecting a specific index and moving to a corresponding position when downloading and playing content according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of selecting an index according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 8, first, the index manager 340 calls the index search window according to a user's call command (S800). In response to the index call command, an index search window is displayed on the screen (S802). In this case, the index search window includes, for example, an index name and additional information.

The user selects a specific index to be played in the index search window (S804), and the index manager 340 reads the position value of the index selected by the user (S806).

The index manager 340 checks whether the read position value exists in the current file being played (S808), and if the position value exists in the current file, transmits the position value to the content playback unit 330. In operation S810, the content reproducing unit 330 plays the content by jumping to the corresponding position in operation S814.

On the other hand, if the check result (S808) does not exist in the currently downloaded file, the download of the file being received is stopped, and the content file including the corresponding position value is requested and downloaded (S812).

Thereafter, similarly, the corresponding position value is transmitted to the content reproducing unit 330 (S810), and the content reproducing unit 330 plays the content by jumping to the corresponding position (S814).

Hereinafter, referring to FIG. 9, a method of automatically displaying additional information or video information during content playback according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying additional information or video information by the index manager 340 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 9, when a user selects and requests a specific content (S900), the index server requests index information (S902), and receives the requested index information to store the index information in the user terminal 300 ( 364) (S904).

Thereafter, the index manager 340 sequentially reads the stored index information (S806). As described above, the index information includes, for example, an index field, a position value field, an index name field, a division field, and an additional information field.

The index manager 340 checks whether the value of the segment field in the index information is an automatic index (S908), and if the value of the segment field is an automatic index, stores the corresponding index information in the monitoring index list (S910).

Thereafter, it is checked whether the index information retrieved is the last index information (S912). If not, the flow advances to step S906 to repeat the index information browsing.

After reading all the last index information and storing all the index information whose value of the division field is the automatic index in the monitoring index list, the index manager 340 reads the current playback position of the content being played (S914).

Thereafter, the index manager 340 checks whether the current playback position read in step S914 matches the position value of the index information included in the monitoring index list (S916).

As a result of the check (S916), if the current playback position does not match the position value, the process moves to step S914, and if it matches, it is checked whether or not the value of the division field of the index information is image information (S918).

If the result of the inspection (S918) and the value of the division field is not the image information, the value of the additional information field is read and the corresponding additional information is displayed on the screen (S920). As already described, the additional information includes a text file, an image file, a URL of an internet web page, and the like.

Thereafter, the index manager 340 reads the current playback position of the content that is being played back (S914).

As a result of the check in step S918, when the value of the division field is video information, the position value of the content currently being played is temporarily stored (S922), and the playback of the content is paused (S924).

Thereafter, an image such as an advertisement stored in the additional information field is reproduced on the screen (S926). When the reproduction of the additional image is completed, the paused content is continuously reproduced (S928).

Thereafter, the index manager 240 repeatedly reads the current playback position of the content currently being played (S914).

One embodiment of the present invention may also be embodied in the form of a recording medium including instructions executable by a computer, such as program modules, being executed by a computer. Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. In addition, the computer-readable medium may include both computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Communication media typically includes any information delivery media, including computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave, or other transport mechanism.

While the methods and systems of the present invention have been described in connection with specific embodiments, some or all of those elements or operations may be implemented using a computer system having a general purpose hardware architecture.

The foregoing description of the present invention is intended for illustration, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be easily modified in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features of the present invention. will be.

It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive. For example, each component described as a single entity may be distributed and implemented, and components described as being distributed may also be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is shown by the following claims rather than the above description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention. do.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a Video On Demand (VOD) system for providing index information according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a detailed block diagram of an index server according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 illustrates an example of an index management table stored in an index DB according to another embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a view for explaining an index generation method according to another embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a detailed block diagram of a user terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a screen in which a user manually calls an index screen and selects an index according to an embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a screen for automatically displaying additional information in the index management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

8 is a flowchart for explaining an index selection method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying additional information or video information by an index management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawing

100: index server 110: index generator

120: index storage unit 130: content division unit

140: index DB 200: content server

300: user terminal 310: user input unit

320: transceiver 330: content playback unit

340: Index management unit 350: control unit

360: database unit 362: content storage unit

364: index information

Claims (16)

In a Video On Demand (VOD) system, A content server configured to transmit content to the user terminal at the request of the user terminal; An index generator for generating index information of the content based on an input of an administrator; An index provider which transmits the index information to the user terminal in response to a request of the user terminal; And A content divider for dividing the content into a plurality of files; And the index generator generates the index information as a combination of an identifier of the partitioned file and a position value in the partitioned file. delete The method of claim 1, The index information includes an index name, a position value in the content, and additional information. The method of claim 3, wherein The additional information includes one or more of the URL, text, sound source, image, video of the Internet web page. The method of claim 1, And the content server transmits a part of the plurality of divided files to the user terminal based on a request of the user terminal. In a video on demand (VOD) terminal, A transmission / reception unit for requesting and downloading contents divided into a plurality of files and index information generated by a combination of an identifier of the divided file and a position value in the divided file with respect to the contents; A content reproducing unit reproducing the downloaded content; And And an index manager configured to control a playback position of the content and display additional information based on the index information. The method of claim 6, And the index information includes an index name, a position value in the content, distinguishing information, and the additional information. The method of claim 7, wherein And the index management unit displays the additional information when the current reproduction position of the content coincides with a position value in the content of the index information when the segmentation information of the index information is an automatic index. The method of claim 6, The additional information may include at least one of the URL, text, sound source, image, video of the Internet web page. 9. The method of claim 8, And the index manager displays the additional information at the same time as playing the content. The method of claim 9, And the index manager plays the additional information in a picture in picture (PIP) manner. 9. The method of claim 8, And the index management unit stops displaying the additional information and displays the content. 13. The method of claim 12, The additional information is an on-demand video service terminal, characterized in that the advertising video. The method of claim 7, wherein And the position value in the content is a time offset value or a presentation time stamp (PTS) value. In the method for downloading on-demand video service content, (a) starting to download from the first file of the content divided into a plurality of files; (b) downloading index information generated by a combination of an identifier of the divided file and a position value in the divided file for the content; (c) selecting a playback position of the content based on the downloaded index information; (d) determining whether the selected playback position exists in a file currently being downloaded; (e) if the selected playback position is present in the file currently being downloaded as a result of the determination of step (d), moving to the playback position and playing the content; And (f) As a result of the determination of step (d), if the selected playback position does not exist in the currently downloading file, the reception of the currently downloading file is stopped, and download is started from the file including the selected playback position. A method of downloading content comprising the steps of starting. In the method of playing on-demand video service content, (a) playing the content divided into a plurality of files; (b) reading index information generated by a combination of an identifier of the divided file and a position value in the divided file for the content, wherein the index information includes the position value and additional information; (c) checking a current playback position of the content being played; (d) determining whether the position value of the index information and the current reproduction position match; And and (e) displaying the additional information of the index information when it is determined to coincide in step (d).

Images