KR20040024634A - A device and a method for playing automated section-repeating multimedia content and a recording medium having automated section-repeating multimedia content - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A device and a method for playing the automatic section repetition multimedia contents, and a recording medium storing the multimedia contents are provided to automatically replay the section without fixing a repetition section. CONSTITUTION: A contents analysis unit(202) detects the section to be repeatedly played by analyzing a structure and/or a kind of the received or read multimedia contents. A playback operation control unit(204) repeatedly plays the section by controlling playback operation of the multimedia contents based on the analyzed information. A contents playback unit(206) plays the section by matching with the kind of the received or read multimedia contents under control of the playback operation control unit.

Description

A device and a method for playing automated section-repeating multimedia content and a recording medium having automated section-repeating multimedia content}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a multimedia content automatically repeating a section, and a playback device and a method of playing the same, and more particularly, to a multimedia content, a playback device and a playback method thereof, and a particular section is automatically played back repeatedly.

Currently known multimedia content such as analog or digital audio content or video content, such as magnetic tape, compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), hard disk And recorded in various media such as a memory chip, and reproduced by various playback apparatuses corresponding to the media.

Such conventional multimedia contents can be played in various playback methods in combination with the functions of the playback apparatus or independently of the functions of the playback apparatus. For example, regeneration methods such as double speed forward regeneration or double speed reverse regeneration and the like. However, up to now, such conventional multimedia contents require a user to specify a section to be repeated in order to repeatedly play a specific section. Accordingly, in order to repeatedly play a predetermined section of a specific multimedia content, a user may designate a start point and an end point of a desired section or input data of the start point and the end point of the section while watching the playing of the multimedia content. The section to be reproduced repeatedly is designated by the method of the present invention.

The interval repetition function is recognized as a necessary function to increase the learning effect, especially in language multimedia contents including contents for language learning.

However, as described above, in the conventional multimedia contents or playback apparatuses known to date, there is a problem in that a start point and an end point of a section to be repeated must be specified.

In addition, when a section to be repeated is found while playing the remaining part after the designated repeat section, there is a problem in that the playback must be stopped and reversed to find the start point of the second repeat section.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a multimedia content in which a predetermined section is automatically played repeatedly without specifying a repeating section to be repeatedly played.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for automatically repeating a section of multimedia content that can repeatedly play a section of a specific multimedia content even if the user does not designate a section to be repeated.

1 is a diagram conceptually showing a structure of automatic section repeating multimedia content according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a diagram conceptually showing a structure of a device for reproducing automatic section repeating multimedia contents according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart conceptually illustrating a method of playing automatic section repeating multimedia content according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 conceptually illustrates a structure of automatic section repeating multimedia content according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a reproducing apparatus for automatically and repeatedly playing a predetermined section of multimedia content, wherein the unit to be reproduced by analyzing the structure and / or type of the received or read multimedia content A content analysis unit for detecting at least one section; A playback operation control for generating a control signal for controlling the playback operation of the multimedia content and repeatedly playing the at least one section based on the information on the structure of the multimedia content analyzed by the content analysis unit; unit; And a content reproducing unit for reproducing the at least one section according to the type of the received or read multimedia content under the control of the reproducing operation control unit.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a structure of automatic section repeating multimedia content according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the multimedia content 100 according to the present embodiment is classified as one unit by the header H indicating the first head and the terminal EOF indicating the end thereof. In addition, the multimedia content 100 includes at least one section (S.1, S.2 to S.N) that is independently divided between the header and the end.

Each of the sections includes a part of the contents of the multimedia content 100 as contents to be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus (hereinafter, simply referred to as a reproducing apparatus) of the automatic section repeating multimedia contents according to the present invention as described below. A section body (S.1.B, S.2.B or SNB) and a section endpoint (S.1.E, S.2.E or SNE) indicating the end of the section. If each of the section endpoints can be recognized as different kinds of data distinguished from the section body which is the content data of the multimedia content 100, there is no particular limitation on the data format. That is, the data format of the end point of the section may vary according to the type and / or production method of the multimedia content 100 or an applied compression algorithm.

For example, if the multimedia content 100 is audio content in the conventional mono wave file format, a section may be inserted by successively inserting two bytes of (FF) (00) at a predetermined position of the content. An endpoint can be implemented. These two consecutive bytes are played as the loudest and the smallest sounds, respectively. When a normal sound file is played, it is very rare for the smallest sound to be played immediately after the loudest sound is played. Consecutive bytes can be used as section endpoints.

Alternatively, if the multimedia content 100 is an uncompressed moving picture content, three consecutive frames having data of (00), (FF) and (00) are inserted at the end of the section. Method can be used. It goes without saying that the data amount of each frame depends on the type and type of the content. In general, when three consecutive frames of moving picture content of a specific type have the same values as above, a frame cannot be included in the actual moving picture content because the entire screen suddenly changes from white to black and then to white. This can be used as the section endpoint. Of course, even in this case, the end point of the section does not necessarily have an amount of data corresponding to three consecutive frames. As described above, the section end point may have various values according to the format and type of the multimedia content 100, compression or the like.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, each of the section end points includes a repeat playback command (not shown) for repeatedly playing the section body to a playback device capable of playing it according to the type of the multimedia content 100. can do.

The repetitive reproducing command may be implemented, for example, by including a reversing command signal for causing the reproducing apparatus to retreat to a predetermined reversing position and a forward reproducing command signal for reproducing forward again after reversing to the reversing position. The backward position is the head of the section body, and information about the position is determined according to the type of the multimedia content 100 and the type of the recording medium. For example, in the case of the multimedia content 100 recorded on the compact disc, it may be a playback time of the section body. In the case of the MP3 type multimedia content 100 recorded in the memory chip, it may be the first storage address of the section body. . Further, the backward command signal may be a signal for jumping the optical pickup of the playback device to the backward position, for example, in the case of a compact disc, and in the case of a memory chip containing an MP3 file, the playback device for playing the back. May be a series of instructions for designating a file read address from the memory chip as the backward position.

Meanwhile, the multimedia content 100 according to the present invention does not necessarily have to be a digital file format. For example, when the multimedia content 100, which is audio content, is recorded on a magnetic tape, a playback device capable of playing the magnetic tape is used, and the multimedia content 100 may be an analog signal. In this case, the end point of the section is also configured as an analog signal, wherein the playback command included therein is a signal which generates the same signal as that generated when the rewind button of the cassette tape playback device is pressed for a predetermined time, and thereafter. It can be implemented as a signal for generating the same signal as that generated when the play button is pressed again.

Once the multimedia content 100 having the above configuration is received or read by the reproducing apparatus capable of playing the multimedia content 100, the multimedia content 100 starts playing from the first section S.1 located immediately after the header. Then, after all of the section bodies of the original section have been regenerated, the section body of the original section is regenerated by the section end point of the original section. This process is repeated repeatedly until the user issues a progress command as described below. Thus, the user can continuously watch or listen to the content of the first section without taking any special action.

This has a great advantage, for example, when the multimedia content 100 is language content. That is, if the section body of each section of the multimedia content 100 is composed of one foreign language word and its explanation (i.e., interpretation of Korean meanings and examples and examples), the user may take further action until the foreign language word is fully memorized. You can listen repeatedly without taking. Thereafter, after the contents contained in the first section are fully understood, the above-described order is processed to view or listen to the contents contained in the second section. After the contents of the section body of the second section are reproduced, the contents of the second section body are also repeatedly played by the section end point of the second section. In other words, the user can implement repeat playback of the second section without taking any action other than a single progress command. Therefore, only viewing or listening can be continued until the contents contained in the second section are fully understood. After that, the repeated playback in the above manner is possible until the end of the multimedia content 100 is reached.

According to the multimedia content 100 according to the present invention as described above, the user can repeatedly watch or listen to the content, which is particularly useful when it is difficult to perform a complicated button operation such as driving or moving.

On the other hand, as will be described later, by setting the playback mode of the playback apparatus according to the present invention in various ways, it is also possible to continuously watch or listen to the whole one multimedia content 100. In other words, if this is called the continuous playback mode, the playback apparatus is set to the continuous playback mode, and the specific multimedia content 100 is received or read. The received or read multimedia content 100 once reproduces the section body of its original section as described above. The playback device then detects a playback command by the section endpoint of the first section and generates a signal to ignore it or a signal equal to the progress command by the user. The same applies to subsequent sections. According to this method, it is possible to continuously reproduce all of the specific multimedia content 100. Of course, the processing time in the playback apparatus may take a while, but it can be designed to be a short time that is difficult for the viewer or listener to detect.

Next, a reproduction apparatus for reproducing the multimedia content 100 according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2. 2 is a diagram conceptually showing a structure of an apparatus for reproducing automatic section repeating multimedia contents according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the playback apparatus 200 according to the present invention includes a content analysis unit 202 for analyzing the structure and / or type of the received or read multimedia content 200, and a multimedia content 100 analyzed by the content analysis unit 202. A playback operation control unit 204 for controlling a playback operation of the multimedia content 100 on the basis of the related information, and under the control of the playback operation control unit 204, playback of the received or read multimedia content 100 corresponding to the type thereof; And a content reproduction unit 206.

The content analysis unit 202 grasps the structure of the received or read multimedia content 100. That is, the header of the multimedia content 100 is first detected, and then the received or read data is detected as the section body of the first section, and then the received or read data is detected as the section endpoint of the first section. The same goes for the subsequent sections, and finally detects the end of the multimedia content 100. In addition, the content analysis unit 202 detects each component of the multimedia content 100 and records position information of each section body according to the type of the multimedia content 100.

In the basic playback mode in which the section is repeatedly played before a user's progress command is received, it is sufficient to sense each component as described above. However, in order to perform various modes of operation, it is desirable to map each detected section with its location information.

That is, the user may want to play the second section again while playing the sixth section repeatedly. Furthermore, the user may want to repeatedly play all five sections from the second section to the sixth section, or may selectively playback only the second, fourth and sixth sections. Such repetitive reproducing operations will be referred to herein as a program reproducing mode. All reproduction modes such as the program reproduction mode may be implemented by the reproduction mode control unit 208 described above, but for this purpose, the above mapping operation is preferably performed.

Next, the playback operation control unit 204 causes the section body of the specific section to be repeatedly played using the information about the multimedia content 100 analyzed by the content analysis unit 202. That is, the playback apparatus 200 is controlled using the position information so that the contents of the section body are continuously played unless there is a progress instruction by the user.

For example, when playing a compact disc, the playback operation control unit 204 continuously controls the optical pickup to be located in the section body of the section. However, for example, when a progress command is given, the reproduction operation control unit 204 controls the optical pickup to be positioned as the section body of the next section. Or, for example, when set by the user in the continuous play mode, the optical pickup is continuously controlled to move to the section body of the next section until it is located at the end of the multimedia content 100, if the program is set in the program play mode Control to move to the section body of an existing section. Such information is of course preferably supplied to the reproduction operation control unit 204 by the reproduction mode control unit 208.

Next, the content reproduction unit 206 reproduces the content of the section instructed to be reproduced by the reproduction operation control unit 204 according to the type of the received or read multimedia content 100. For example, when the multimedia content 100 is digital audio data recorded on a compact disc, the content reproducing unit 206 decodes the data read from the compact disc, converts the data into an analog audio signal, and amplifies and supplies the same to the speaker. Decoding algorithms according to the type of multimedia content 100 are already well known, and thus their details are omitted.

Furthermore, according to an embodiment of the present invention, as described above, the apparatus may further include a reproduction mode control unit 208 for assisting the control of the reproduction operation control unit 204 to implement various reproduction operation modes according to a user's desire. . The reproducing mode control unit 208 is a user for a reproducing mode selected from various reproducing modes such as a basic repetitive reproducing mode, a continuous reproducing mode, a program reproducing mode, and the like through a user interface (not shown) such as a button of the reproducing apparatus 200. Receives input from The combination of parameters and commands necessary to perform the received playback mode is set, and the combination is used to support the playback control operation of the playback operation control unit 204.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage device control unit 210 for controlling the storage device 212 for storing the multimedia content 100 itself and the storage device 212 to control the reading operation of the multimedia content 100 stored therein. It may further include. The storage device 212 may be an internal memory of a conventional CPU (not shown), or may be main memory controlled by a CPU, and may be a hard disk, a floppy disk, a compact disk, a DVD, a flash memory. Any memory device currently known, such as a device, can be used. The storage device control unit 210 also controls the storage device 212 to read necessary data in the multimedia content 100 from a predetermined position.

According to an embodiment, the communication unit 216 for receiving the multimedia content 100 from an external system (not shown) and the operation of controlling the communication unit 216 to receive the multimedia content 100 from the external system may be performed. The communication operation control unit 214 may be further included for controlling. The communication unit 216 establishes a communication channel with the external system via a wired or wireless communication network to transmit and receive data. In addition, the communication operation control unit 214 controls the communication unit 216 to receive necessary data in the multimedia content 100 from the external system.

The reproduction mode control unit 208, the storage device control unit 210, the storage device 212, the communication operation control unit 214, or the communication unit 216 are components that may be selectively included in the reproduction device 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention. These are shown by dashed lines in FIG. 2.

The reproducing apparatus 200 of the present invention described above may be implemented as separate hardware including the units, or may be implemented by programming a conventional computer system. In addition, the reproducing apparatus 200 may be implemented by adding a microprocessor programmed to implement operations of the units in a conventional reproducing apparatus. Furthermore, the playback device 200 may be implemented by a computer program installed or loaded in a conventional computer system and executed. These various hardware or software implementations are merely referred to herein as devices, and it is obvious that the above-described implementation forms are not excluded from the technical scope of the present invention by this name.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a flowchart conceptually illustrating a method of playing automatic section repeating multimedia content according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, when the operation is started, first, data of the multimedia content 100 desired by the user is received or read from an external system (not shown) or the storage device 212 (step 302). In this case, it is not necessary to receive or read all of the multimedia content 100 at a time. That is, depending on the embodiment, it should be noted that only the first section or a specific section designated by the user may be first received or read out to proceed to the next step.

Next, the data of the received or read multimedia content 100 is analyzed to extract information about the section body and the section end point of each section (step 304), and in particular, the section viewpoint information of the section to be played currently is stored (step 306). ).

Next, the section of the received or read multimedia content 100 is played (step 308). During playback, it is determined whether the section end point of the section is detected (step 310), and the playback operation of the section continues while not detected (step 308).

However, if the section endpoint of the section is detected, a determination is made as to whether to proceed to the next section (step 312). However, if it is not determined to proceed to the next section, the flow advances to step 308 to repeat playback of the section currently being played.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, the determination as to whether to proceed to the next section should be performed continuously after the operation is started. In Fig. 3, this is shown as an assisting progress arrow on the side of each of the above steps.

If at any time it is determined to proceed to the next section, the operation of the current step is stopped, and the flow proceeds to step 314 to determine whether the reproduction of the entire multimedia content 100 has ended (step 314). If not, perform the above steps from step 302 for the next section.

If it is determined that the reproduction of the multimedia content 100 has ended, control is returned to a predetermined step (step 316). Here, returning to the predetermined step may be, for example, returning control to the initial state and waiting for the user's instruction.

In FIG. 3, the operation of the basic repetitive reproduction mode has been described. However, since the operation of the continuous reproduction mode or the program reproduction mode may also be understood, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the above, the case where the multimedia content 100 is one content (one file) having one head (in the case of a digital file, the header) and one end (in the case of a digital file, the file end (EOF)) will be described. It was.

However, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the multimedia content does not necessarily need to be one content. That is, referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 conceptually illustrates a structure of automatic section repeating multimedia content according to another embodiment of the present invention. For example, if the multimedia content is a digital file, as shown in FIG. 4, each of the sections may exist as one independent content file F1, F2 or FN. Each of the content files, of course, has its own header (H.1, H.2 or HN) and end (EOF.1, EOF.2 or EOF.N), and each end of each content file has its respective section endpoint It corresponds to. Each content file may also have its own content body (FB.1, FB.2 or FB.N) between its header and its end. The content body corresponds to a section body, and contains the content of content to be played.

In this case, the multimedia content 400 may be configured as a plurality of files including these content files and a playlist of the content files. The playlist may be designated by the user or by the playback apparatus 200 according to the embodiment.

When the multimedia content 400 is received or read, first, the received or read data is analyzed to identify the playlist and the content files. Of course, not all content files need to be received or read at one time or completely.

Next, the first content file F1 designated by the play list is continuously and repeatedly played until there is an instruction to proceed by the user. At any moment, when a progress command is issued by the user, the second content file F2 designated by the playlist is continuously played repeatedly until there is a progress command of the user.

In this case, the case where the pre-created playlist is used by the reproducing apparatus 200 will be the basic repetitive reproducing mode, and the case where the user creates and uses the playlist as desired will be the program mode. In addition, the continuous playback mode will be a case where one content file is played only once using a pre-created playlist.

According to the present invention, a predetermined section of the multimedia content can be automatically played repeatedly without specifying a repeating section to be repeatedly played.

According to the present invention, another section of the multimedia content can be repeatedly played with only one operation of the user.

Claims (12)

A playback apparatus for automatically and repeatedly playing a predetermined section of multimedia content, A content analyzing unit which analyzes the structure and / or type of the received or read multimedia content and detects at least one section which is a unit to be repeatedly played; A playback operation control for generating a control signal for controlling the playback operation of the multimedia content and repeatedly playing the at least one section based on the information about the structure of the multimedia content analyzed by the content analysis unit; unit; And And a content reproducing unit for reproducing the at least one section in response to a type of the received or read multimedia content under control by the reproducing operation control unit. The method of claim 1, And the playback operation control unit is further configured to generate a control signal for repeatedly playing a section other than the section currently being played when a user's progress command is given. The method of claim 1, And a reproduction mode control unit for assisting control of the reproduction operation control unit to implement various reproduction operation modes according to a user's desire. The method according to claim 1, wherein If the multimedia content is a digital file, The at least one section exists as one independent content file, The content file has its own header, end and its content body between the header and the end, wherein the end corresponds to the section endpoint, the content body corresponds to the section body, And the multimedia content comprises at least one content file and a playlist of the at least one content file. In the playback method for automatically repeatedly playing a predetermined section of the multimedia content, Receiving or reading multimedia contents desired by a user; Analyzing at least one structure and / or type of the received or read multimedia content to detect at least one section which is a unit to be repeatedly played; Generating a control signal for controlling a playback operation of the multimedia content to repeatedly play the sensed at least one section; And And reproducing the at least one section corresponding to the type of the received or read multimedia content. The method of claim 5, And generating a control signal for repeatedly playing a section other than the currently playing section when a user's progress command is given. The method of claim 5, And setting a play mode to implement various play modes according to a user's desire. The method according to claim 5 to 7, If the multimedia content is a digital file, The at least one section exists as one independent content file, The content file has its own header, end and its content body between the header and the end, wherein the end corresponds to the section endpoint, the content body corresponds to the section body, And the multimedia content comprises at least one content file and a playlist of the at least one content file. In a recording medium containing multimedia content in which a predetermined section is automatically and repeatedly reproduced, The multimedia content, It is divided as one unit by the header (H) which shows its head, and the terminal (EOF) which shows the terminal, And at least one section that is independently separated and repeatedly played between the header and the end. The method of claim 9, A recording medium containing automatic section repeating multimedia content, in which a section other than the currently playing section is repeatedly played when a user's progress command is given. The method of claim 9, Each of the above sections, A section body containing a part of the contents of the multimedia content; And Recording medium containing automatic section repeating multimedia content including a section endpoint indicating the end of said section. The method according to claim 9, wherein If the multimedia content is a digital file, The at least one section exists as one independent content file, The content file has its own header, end and its content body between the header and the end, wherein the end corresponds to the section endpoint, the content body corresponds to the section body, The multimedia content is a recording medium for recording the automatic interval repeating multimedia content including at least one content file and a playlist of the at least one content file.