KR20160056859A - Apparatus and method for displaying multimedia contents - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for playing multimedia content. The method includes: playing content selected via a user input unit; if a part of the played content is requested to be registered as content of interest, creating and storing metadata on the part of content by using metadata on the played content; and storing the created metadata as metadata of interest on the content of interest according to an input via the user input unit. Accordingly, when a user wants to play desired scenes from desired content, the user can continuously watch the desired scenes of the desired content without searching for the scenes and waiting until the scenes are buffered.

Description

[0001] APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DISPLAYING MULTIMEDIA CONTENTS [0002]

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for reproducing multimedia contents, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for collecting and viewing only desired multimedia contents.

As the Internet develops, Internet users can receive various multimedia contents such as voice, image, and data by accessing the Internet through a communication device such as a personal computer, a notebook, and a mobile phone. In recent years, multimedia contents can be provided through a satellite or terrestrial DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) or a portable DMB receiver.

However, when accessing the Internet and viewing multimedia contents, the user must access the server storing the contents and wait for the contents to be buffered. In addition, in order to view a desired scene, there is a need to play from the beginning each time the content is viewed, to find a desired scene by using FF (Fast Forward) or REW (Rewind) buttons and wait until the scene is buffered.

Accordingly, there is a need for a method for allowing a user to easily extract and view a desired section or scene from a plurality of multimedia contents.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for reproducing multimedia contents, which enables users to collect desired scenes from desired contents.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for playing multimedia contents by managing meta data of contents desired by a user so that the user can collect desired scenes from desired contents.

A method of reproducing multimedia contents according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of reproducing first multimedia contents received from a first server and reproducing first multimedia contents of the first multimedia contents during reproduction of the first multimedia contents, Generating first metadata including time information of the selected first part and position information of the first multimedia content in the first multimedia content based on the selection; 2 multimedia contents; and selecting, based on the selection of the second portion of the second multimedia content during reproduction of the second multimedia content, time information for the selected second portion in the second multimedia content, Generating second metadata including location information of the second multimedia content; The method comprising: generating one integrated metadata including first metadata and second metadata; generating first multimedia contents and first multimedia contents stored in the first server using location information included in the generated integrated metadata; Accessing second multimedia contents stored in a second server, using the time information related to the first part and the time information related to the second part within the second multimedia content in the first multimedia content And buffering the second portion of the second multimedia content while playing the first portion of the first multimedia content.

In addition, the apparatus for reproducing multimedia contents according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a display unit, and a display unit for reproducing the first multimedia contents received from the first server through the display unit, and while reproducing the first multimedia contents, Generates first metadata including time information of the selected first portion and position information of the first multimedia content in the first multimedia content based on selection of the first portion of the content, Wherein the second multimedia content received from the second multimedia content is played through the display unit while the second multimedia content is played back based on the selection of the second portion of the second multimedia content, The second multimedia contents including time information of the second multimedia contents and location information of the second multimedia contents And generating one integrated metadata including the first metadata and the second metadata by using the location information included in the generated integrated metadata, 1 multimedia content and second multimedia content stored in the second server, the time information relating to the first portion within the first multimedia content and the time information relating to the second portion within the second multimedia content, And to control to buffer the second portion of the second multimedia content while playing the first portion of the first multimedia content using the information.

Effects obtained by representative ones of the inventions disclosed below will be briefly described as follows.

In order to play only desired scenes from desired contents, the user must play from the beginning each time he / she watches the corresponding contents or find a desired scene using the FF / REW button The desired scenes of the desired content can be viewed continuously without interruption without waiting for the scene to be buffered.

1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a content providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a user terminal 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating a user interface screen for registering and reproducing interesting contents according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a view showing another embodiment of a user interface screen for registering and reproducing interest contents according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of registering a content of interest in a user terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an operation principle of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear. The following terms are defined in consideration of the functions of the present invention, and these may be changed according to the intention of the user, the operator, or the like. Therefore, the definition should be based on the contents throughout this specification.

Generally, various multimedia contents such as video contents provided on a web site are transmitted to a user terminal in the form of a streaming service for real-time service. Accordingly, when the user wishes to view a specific video segment or scene again while viewing the multimedia content, the user can download the entire multimedia content or view the corresponding video segment or scene again by manipulating the search bar of the player during viewing of the multimedia content .

Accordingly, in order to solve such a hassle, the embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In the embodiment of the present invention, at least one region of interest information corresponding to a video section or a scene (hereinafter referred to as " (Hereinafter, referred to as "interested contents") on the basis of the ROI information in the case where there is a user's playback request, or reproduce the multimedia content selectively.

In order to register the region of interest, the user terminal can use various terminals such as a mobile phone, a PDA, a PMP, a notebook, and a palm top capable of reproducing multimedia contents. The user terminal has a client program for registering and storing the ROI.

The client program may be configured to reproduce a plurality of registered interest contents or to reproduce at least one selected interest contents in response to a reproduction request through the user terminal.

In addition, when a user uses a plurality of user terminals, the user can upload the interest area information registered from each user terminal to a predetermined web site subscribed as a member, and then another user authenticated through the web site, It is possible to access the web site and watch the corresponding region of interest.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in order to allow the interested contents to be downloaded and reproduced from a web site in a streaming manner without being directly stored in a user terminal, the interested area information may include location information, Usage rights, and the like. Here, the region of interest information may be composed of metadata.

It is also possible to directly store a plurality of multimedia contents in the user terminal, to register a plurality of pieces of interest area information on the stored multimedia contents, and to configure the client program to play the corresponding interested contents.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when the interest area information is managed in a predetermined web site, the interested contents can be reproduced using a general terminal in which the client program is not installed. In this case, the web site managing the region of interest extracts only the interested contents from the multimedia contents and provides the extracted contents to the terminal in the form of a streaming service.

In the embodiment of the present invention, it is assumed that the region of interest information is composed of metadata. And, if the interested area information can be downloaded in a streaming form through a web site, various known data formats can be used.

To briefly describe the metadata, the metadata means data to be given to the contents according to a certain rule in order to efficiently find and use the information found in a large amount of information. The metadata may include at least one of a location and content of the content, information on the creator, a rights condition, a use condition, and a usage history. By using such metadata, a user can directly access a server providing the contents after confirming desired contents of interest, thereby reducing the time required for searching for contents desired by the user.

1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a content providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, a content providing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a user terminal 110, a content server 120, a metadata server 130, and a billing and authentication server 130 connected to the Internet 100. [ (140).

The user terminal 110 can access the content server 120 through the Internet (Internet Protocol) -based Internet 100 and receive and play desired content.

The content server 120 provides content to the user terminal 110 and provides a user interface so that a user can manage a part of content desired by the user through metadata.

The metadata server 130 provides the content server 120 with metadata about the content provided to the user.

The billing and authentication server 140 performs billing and settlement of the contents provided to the user.

Although the content server 120, the metadata server 130, and the billing and authentication server 140 are shown as separate devices in FIG. 1, these servers may be composed of one device.

2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a user terminal 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2, the user terminal 110 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a user input unit 111, a metadata generation unit 112, a metadata storage unit 113, a content playback unit 114, And a display unit 115. At least one of the components of the user terminal 110 of FIG. 2 may be implemented with the client program described above.

The user input unit 111 receives information such as playback / fast forward / rewind of content from a user. In addition, the user inputs time information on the start and end of the content desired to be cut and separated into the contents of interest.

The metadata generating unit 112 receives information on the interested contents selected by the user from the user input unit 111 and generates metadata about the information. The metadata generated at this time is metadata about the contents of interest and the metadata about the contents provided by the contents server 120 is processed according to the information received from the user input unit 111. [ Also, the metadata generating unit 112 generates metadata for a plurality of interested contents according to information from the user input unit 111, and outputs the generated metadata as one metadata (hereinafter referred to as "interest metadata") Reorganize. The reconstructed interest metadata is an integrated metadata of the contents of interest requested by the user such that a plurality of contents of interest are reproduced consecutively at a time. Such attention meta data includes information on a location where the content is stored, a storage area, a kind of content, a usage right, and the like.

The metadata storage unit 113 stores the reconstructed interest metadata generated by the metadata generation unit 112.

The content reproducing unit 114 checks the metadata of the contents requested to be reproduced in accordance with the input from the user input unit 111 in the metadata storage unit 113 and accesses the content server according to the metadata, The control unit 111 controls the content to be reproduced. In this case, when the contents requested to be reproduced are the contents of interest, the contents to be reproduced next may be buffered in advance while the current contents are reproduced in order to allow the contents provided by the different contents servers to be seamlessly reproduced.

The display unit 115 displays the content to be reproduced under the control of the content reproduction unit 115 on the screen so that the user can view the content. The display unit 115 may display not only the contents but also information about the contents of interest stored by the user so that the user can select desired contents of interest among the various contents of interest through the user input unit 111. [

3 is a diagram illustrating a user interface screen for registering and reproducing interesting contents according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the user interface includes a screen display area 310 and a metadata display area 320 for displaying a content playback screen.

The screen display area 310 displays various icons for play, a screen size adjustment icon, a volume adjustment icon, and play time display information, etc., which can reproduce the content selected in the metadata area 320.

The metadata display area 320 may display a list of interesting contents (323, 324) selected and stored by the user. At this time, the contents of interest may be classified by the user and managed as a folder (322). Also, the metadata display area 320 may display an interesting content registration icon 321 that allows a part of the currently playing content to be stored as interesting content. The user can register some of the images displayed in the screen display area 310 as his or her interested contents by clicking the interested content registration icon 321. [ It is also possible to add a part of the currently playing content to the already registered interest contents. In addition, the user may delete the undesired portion by playing back the registered interest contents. To this end, the metadata display region 320 may further include an interest content deletion icon (not shown).

FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment of a user interface screen for registering and reproducing interest contents according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is an example of applying the present invention to video education contents.

As shown in FIG. 4, the user interface includes a screen display area 410 and a metadata display area 420 for displaying a content reproduction screen.

The metadata display area 420 is configured similar to the metadata display area 320 of FIG.

According to characteristics of the video education contents, the screen display area 410 includes a moving picture display part 411 and a text display part 412 in which lecture contents according to moving picture lectures are displayed as characters. Accordingly, the user can register a desired portion as interest contents by using a scroll bar for playing back the video. However, by clicking or dragging the text data corresponding to the video lecture of the desired portion, You can also register. At this time, not only the main screen of the content but also the main text data can be displayed in the interested contents list 423 and 424 of the metadata display area 420. [

5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of registering contents of interest in a user terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, first, in step 510, a user terminal reproduces contents selected through a user input unit. If it is requested to register some of the contents currently being reproduced through the user input unit as interesting contents in step 520, the metadata generating unit may receive the selected partial contents And stores it in a metadata storage unit.

In step 540, it is determined whether there is content to be added as interest content in the currently playing content. If there is content to be added, steps 520 and 530 are repeated. If there is no content to be added, the generated metadata is generated and stored as interest metadata for the interested content according to the user's selection at step 550, or the interest metadata is added to the already generated and stored interest metadata do.

Meanwhile, the metadata of interest generated in step 530 may be stored in a blog or the like of a web site, and may be shared with users of the web site. In this case, it is possible to generate interest metadata storing information on a region of interest for each content, or to generate and store a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) for each region of interest.

When generating interest metadata for each content, the URI of the contents is included in the interest metadata, and information on the interest region in the content is also included in the interest metadata. The URI of the content indicates the position of the corresponding content, and the information on the start point and the selected section of the ROI can be stored in byte offset, time, and frame type.

Also, when creating URIs for each area of interest, the standards of the W3C Media Fragment Working Group follow the W3C Media Fragmentation Working Group.

In this way, while the metadata of interest is stored in the blog, the user can access the blog to perform user authentication, check the list of interested contents stored in the blog, select desired interest contents, and play it on the web.

Also, the user who has been authenticated by the user can edit the interest metadata stored in the blog, reconstruct the interest metadata of the desired form, and store it as a list of contents of interest. In this case, if the user subsequently accesses the blog and authenticates the user, the user can check his / her previously stored list of interested contents, and can select desired interest contents from his / her favorite contents list and play the selected contents on the web.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, It belongs to the scope of right.

Claims (10)

A method for reproducing multimedia contents,
Reproducing the first multimedia contents received from the first server,
Wherein the time information of the selected first portion and the position information of the first multimedia content are stored in the first multimedia content based on the selection of the first portion of the first multimedia content during the reproduction of the first multimedia content Generating first metadata including the first metadata;
Reproducing second multimedia contents received from a second server,
Wherein the time information of the selected second portion and the position information of the second multimedia content are stored in the second multimedia content based on the selection of the second portion of the second multimedia content during the reproduction of the second multimedia content Generating second metadata including the second metadata,
Generating one integrated metadata including the first metadata and the second metadata;
Accessing the first multimedia contents stored in the first server and the second multimedia contents stored in the second server using the location information included in the generated integrated metadata;
During the playing of the first portion of the first multimedia content using the time information about the first portion within the first multimedia content and the time information about the second portion within the second multimedia content And buffering the second portion of the second multimedia content.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the integrated metadata includes information about at least one of a content marker, a content type, a usage right condition, a usage condition, and a usage history for each of the first and second portions.
The method according to claim 1,
And receiving information on a first text content corresponding to the first portion.
4. The method of claim 3,
And if the information on the first text content is received, the first text content and the second text content corresponding to the second part are further included.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the buffering comprises:
And reproducing the first portion having the first text content using the time information about the first portion within the first multimedia content and the time information about the second portion within the second multimedia content And buffering the second portion having the second text content for a predetermined period of time.
An apparatus for reproducing multimedia contents,
A display section,
And reproducing the first multimedia content received from the first server through the display unit and selecting the first portion of the first multimedia content while reproducing the first multimedia content, Generating first metadata including time information of the selected first part and location information of the first multimedia content, reproducing the second multimedia contents received from the second server through the display unit, Wherein the second multimedia content includes time information of the selected second portion and location information of the second multimedia content in the second multimedia content based on the selection of the second portion of the second multimedia content during playback of the content, And generating metadata including the first metadata and the second metadata, Accessing the first multimedia contents stored in the first server and the second multimedia contents stored in the second server using the location information included in the generated integrated metadata, During reproduction of the first portion of the first multimedia content using the temporal information about the first portion within the multimedia content and the temporal information about the second portion within the second multimedia content, And a controller for controlling the buffering of the second portion of the multimedia content.
The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the integrated metadata includes at least one of a content marker, a content type, a usage right condition, a usage condition, and a usage history for each of the first portion and the second portion.
The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the controller controls to receive information on the first text content corresponding to the first portion.
9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein,
Wherein the control unit controls to generate the one integrated metadata including the first text content and the second text content corresponding to the second part if the information on the first text content is received, Device.
10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein,
And reproducing the first portion having the first text content using the time information about the first portion within the first multimedia content and the time information about the second portion within the second multimedia content And buffering the second portion having the second text content for a predetermined period of time.

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