WO2003090225A1

WO2003090225A1 - Information storage medium for recording interactive contents version information, recording and reproducing method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2003090225A1
Application number: PCT/KR2003/000508
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kil-Soo Jung; Jung-Wan Ko
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2002-04-16
Filing date: 2003-03-15
Publication date: 2003-10-30
Also published as: CN100440356C; TW200305873A; US20030196165A1; CN1659655A; JP2005523555A; EP1495467A1; US20070073747A1; US20070067716A1; AU2003217514A1; PL373274A1; TWI242208B; EP1495467A4

Abstract

An information storage medium on which interactive contents version information is recorded, a recording method, and a reproducing method are provided. Even though a markup document can after be displayed in a reproducing apparatus having a version lower than the version of an authoring tool used to author the markup document, if the version of the authoring tool is higher than a specification version supported by the reproducing apparatus, due to specification version information automatically written in the markup document using the authoring tool, interactive contents may not be correctly reproduced. Thus, the information storage medium further includes minimum interactive contents version information and/or minimum multimedia version information that can be reproduced by the reproducing apparatus such that a reproducing apparatus can reproduce interactive contents smoothly.

Description

INFORMATION STORAGE MEDIUM FOR RECORDING INTERACTIVE CONTENTS VERSION INFORMATION, RECORDING AND REPRODUCING METHOD THEREOF

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of interactive contents information storage media, and more particularly, to an information storage medium on which minimum markup version information and/or minimum multimedia version information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus supporting an interactive presentation mode is recorded, a recording method, and a reproducing method.

Background Art

Recently, interactive digital versatile discs (DVDs) that can be reproduced in an interactive presentation mode on a personal computer (PC) have been proposed. Interactive DVDs are DVDs on which a markup language document (hereinafter, referred to as a markup document) is recorded together with audio and/or video (AV) data. AV data recorded on interactive DVDs can be reproduced in two ways: in a video mode in which reproduced AV data are displayed in the same way as data recorded on a conventional DVD, and in an interactive mode in which reproduced AV data are displayed in a display window defined by a markup document. If the interactive mode is selected by a user, a viewer installed in a DVD reproducing apparatus parses a markup document recorded on an interactive DVD. AV data selected by the user are displayed in the display window of the markup document. A HTML document is a typical markup document.

Contents (hereinafter, referred to as interactive contents) of a markup document for a conventional interactive presentation mode are shown in the following Examples 1 and 2.

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> < tml> <head>

</head>

<body>

</body> </html>

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">

<html>

<head>

<title>HTML 4.01 Transitional</title> <meta name="generator" content="name of Authoring Tool"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"content="text/html;charset=EUC-KR">

</head>

<body>

</body> </html>

As shown in Examples 1 and 2, a specification version of interactive contents based on a markup language is declared by describing a document type DOCTYPE in an initial part of each markup document.

Also, due to the gathering of various multimedia elements (i.e., image files, flash files, and moving image files), interactive contents stored on an information storage medium are displayed in a display window of the markup document in various formats. These formats have their respective versions. The function of a viewer is to comprehend these versions, to parse through formats corresponding to. the versions, and to display a markup document on the screen of a display. The viewer is installed in a DVD reproducing apparatus for reproducing an information storage medium on which interactive contents are stored. Unlike in a PC, it is very inconvenient to upgrade a viewer installed in other types of home electronic devices. Thus, interactive contents included in an information storage medium that can be reproduced in home electronic devices should be of a version that can be recognized by the viewer so that they can be correctly reproduced. However, in a current interactive presentation mode based on a PC, as the format of interactive contents is continuously improved, resulting in the frequent introduction of new upgraded format versions, the version of viewers that can interpret and display each format version must also be upgraded. Under these circumstances, in order to smoothly reproduce interactive contents in home electronic devices, the following problems should be considered: a problem caused by a markup language version, and a problem caused by a variety of formats of multimedia elements contained in a markup document.

First, the problem caused by the markup language version is as follows. Interactive contents to be stored in an information storage medium are formed in a graphic user interface (GUI) environment using an authoring tool. As the version of a markup language is updated, authoring tools for are improved to write in the upgraded version of the markup language. Thus, an author authors interactive contents using an authoring tool that uses a higher version markup language than is supported by a current DVD reproducing apparatus. Even though a markup document authored by the above procedure can sometimes be reproduced in a DVD reproducing apparatus that supports only the previous version, if the version of the authoring tool is higher than a specification version supported by the DVD reproducing apparatus, due to specification version information automatically written in the markup document using the authoring tool, interactive contents may not be correctly reproduced.

Next, the problem caused by the variety of formats of multimedia elements formulated in a markup language is as follows. Many markup documents presented in a current web environment are formed by adding text files using a markup language and various multimedia elements (referred to as resource files), e.g., image files such as joint picture-experts groups (JPEGs), graphic image files (GIFs), and flash files having an extension format such as a SWF format. These elements have version information themselves. For example, in the case of flash files having a current version 6.0 (referred to as MX), as in the case of markup documents, flash files having a lower version can be reproduced by an upper version DVD reproducing apparatus, but flash files having an upper version cannot be reproduced by a lower version DVD reproducing apparatus. Thus, even though the version of the markup language is the same as the version of a viewer installed in home electronic devices, if the version of flash files included in the markup document is higher than the version of the viewer installed in the home electronic devices, the flash files cannot be correctly reproduced. Accordingly, even if an author authors flash files that can be recognized by a lower version viewer using an upper version flash editor, the flash files cannot be reproduced by a DVD reproducing apparatus that is lower than the version of the flash files having an upper version.

Disclosure of the Invention

The present invention provides an information storage medium on which minimum markup version information indicating the minimum version of a markup language supported by a reproducing apparatus supporting an interactive presentation mode is stored, a recording method, and a reproducing method.

The present invention further provides an information storage medium on which specification version information declared in advance using an authoring tool in a reproduction control information file for an interactive presentation mode, and minimum user agent (UA) version information indicating the minimum version of a UA that can interpret a markup document, are stored, a recording method, and a reproducing method.

The present invention still further provides an information storage medium on which version information of a viewer supporting minimum markup version information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus is added to reproduction control information data for supporting an interactive presentation mode, a recording method, and a reproducing method.

The present invention still yet further provides an information storage medium on which minimum viewer version information indicating the minimum version of a viewer with which multimedia elements can be smoothly reproduced is added to interactive contents, a recording method, and a reproducing method.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information storage medium. The medium includes AV data including audio data and/or video data, a markup document in which in order to reproduce an AV scene obtained based on the AV data in an interactive presentation mode, a display window in which the AV scene is displayed is defined, and minimum interactive contents version information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus. It is preferable that the minimum interactive contents version information is stored in a reproduction control information file in the markup document, and more preferable, in a management information table of the reproduction control information file in the markup document.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information storage medium. The medium includes AV data including audio data and/or video data, a markup document in which in order to reproduce an AV scene obtained based on the AV data in an interactive presentation mode, and a display window in which the AV scene is displayed is defined. The markup document includes specification version information of the markup document and minimum user agent (UA) version information for interpreting the markup document.

It is preferable that the medium further includes version information on multimedia elements in the markup document and minimum viewer version information indicating the minimum version of a viewer that can reproduce the multimedia elements. According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information storage medium. The medium includes AV data including audio data and/or video data, a markup document in which in order to reproduce an AV scene obtained based on the AV data in an interactive presentation mode, a display window in which the AV scene is displayed is defined, and minimum markup version information and/or minimum multimedia version information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus.

It is preferable that the minimum markup version information and the minimum multimedia version information are stored in a reproduction control information file in the markup document. It is also preferable that the minimum multimedia version information is stored in a tag <META> in the markup document.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording method. The method comprises (a) recording audio and/or video (AV) data, and (b) recording a markup document in which a display window in which the AV data is displayed is defined, and recording specification version information of the markup document and minimum interactive contents version information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus in the markup document.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording method. The method comprises (a) recording audio and/or video (AV) data, (b) recording a markup document in which a display window in which the AV data is displayed is defined, and (c) recording minimum markup version information and/or minimum multimedia version information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for reproducing AV data recorded on an information storage medium in an interactive presentation mode. The method comprises (a) reading specification version information of a markup document to be reproduced together with the AV data and minimum interactive contents version information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus from the information storage medium, and (b) even if the specification version information of the markup document is higher than version information of a reproducing apparatus for reading the information storage medium, interpreting and displaying the markup document according to the minimum interactive contents version information.

It is preferable that the method further comprises (c) determining whether multimedia elements other than text files exist in the markup document, and (d) if the multimedia elements exist in the markup document, checking a current version of the multimedia elements in the markup document and a minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements, and reproducing the multimedia elements according to the result of checking. According to still yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for reproducing AV data recorded on an information storage medium in an interactive presentation mode. The method comprises (a) determining whether multimedia elements other than text files exist in a markup document to be reproduced together with the AV data read from the information storage medium, and (b) if multimedia elements exist in the markup document, checking a current version of the multimedia elements in the markup document and a minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements, and reproducing the multimedia elements according to the result of checking.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a DVD reproducing apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 shows an example of the structure of a directory of an information storage medium supporting an interactive presentation mode;

FIG. 3 shows another example of the structure of a directory of an information storage medium supporting an interactive presentation mode;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are reference diagrams illustrating an interactive presentation mode;

FIG. 5 shows an example of the contents and structure of a reproduction control information file for an interactive presentation mode in which interactive contents version information is recorded, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a recording method according to the present invention; FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of a reproducing method according to the present invention; and

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of a reproducing method according to the present invention.

Best mode for carrying out the Invention

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

The meanings of certain terms used in the description are as follows. Markup document means a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML, a script language (i.e., JavaScript), or an execution code (i.e., Java Applet), including a source code or execution code linked to the document or inserted into the document. Markup document further includes all files linked to or inserted into a markup document and used to display a screen. That is, a markup document may be a kind of application required to reproduce AV data in an interactive presentation mode. Minimum interactive contents version information means minimum version information of a markup document that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus in which a user agent (UA) such as a viewer or browser is installed.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a DVD reproducing apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1 , a DVD reproducing apparatus includes a reader 1 , a controller 2, a decoder 4, and a blender 5. A presentation engine 3 is installed in the controller 2.

The reader 1 reads AV data, a markup document, and reproduction control information from a disc, that is, an interactive DVD 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The controller 2 controls the presentation engine 3, the decoder 4, and the blender 5 so that the AV data, the markup document, and the reproduction control information are reproduced in a representative video mode or interactive presentation mode according to a user input. The presentation engine 3 is an interpretation engine which interprets and executes a client interpretation program language such as JavaScript, Java, ASP, and PHP. Further, the presentation engine 3 includes plug-in applications. Plug-in applications allow you to download files in a variety formats included in or linked to a markup document. In the interactive presentation mode, the presentation engine 3 brings a markup document from a predetermined node of a network, interprets the markup document and checks the location of a display window in which an AV data stream output from the decoder 4 is displayed. The blender 5 blends the AV data stream with the interpreted markup document and displays an AV scene and a markup document scene together in a display 200 connected to the reproducing apparatus so that the decoded AV data stream is displayed in the display window defined by the markup document, that is, so that the AV scene is embedded in the markup document scene. In particular, the presentation engine 3 seeks a reproduction control information file for a markup document read by the reader 1 and checks whether a specification version declared in advance, using an authoring tool when an initial document is authored, in the reproduction control information file, is higher than a version supported by a user agent (UA) in the reproducing apparatus. If the specification version is higher than the version supported by the user agent (UA), the presentation engine 3 reads minimum interactive contents version information from the reproduction control information file. If the read minimum interactive contents version is higher than the version supported by the UA in the current reproducing apparatus, the presentation engine 3 displays an alarm message indicating that the presentation engine 3 cannot support the reproduction of the disc installed in the current reproducing apparatus, in the display 200. On the other hand, if the specification version declared in advance using the authoring tool is not higher than the version supported by the UA in the current reproducing apparatus, or the minimum interactive contents version is not higher than the version supported by the UA in the current reproducing apparatus, the presentation engine 3 reads a markup document through the reader 1 and interprets and executes a markup language read from the markup document.

Also, the presentation engine 3 determines whether multimedia elements excluding text files exist in the markup document and checks the current version of only multimedia elements that exist in the reproduction control information file or are used as interactive contents defined using tag <META> in tag <HEAD> in the markup document, and minimum viewer information in which these multimedia elements can be smoothly reproduced. The presentation engine 3 determines whether the current version of the multimedia elements in tag <META> is higher than the version of a viewer installed in the reproducing apparatus. If the current version of the multimedia elements is higher than the version of the viewer installed in the reproducing apparatus, the presentation engine 3 determines whether a minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements is higher than the version of the viewer installed in the reproducing apparatus. If the minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements is higher than the version of the viewer installed in the reproducing apparatus, the presentation engine 3 reproduces replacement elements (character or graphic messages) in a layout area of corresponding multimedia elements. If the current version of the multimedia elements is not higher than the version of the viewer installed in the reproducing apparatus or the minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements is not higher than the version of the viewer installed in the reproducing apparatus, the presentation engine 3 interprets and executes the corresponding multimedia elements.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the structure of a directory of an information storage medium for supporting an interactive presentation mode. Referring to FIG. 2, a video directory VIDEO_TS in which AV data are included, an audio directory AUDIO_TS in which audio data is included, and an interactive presentation directory DVD_ENAV in which information for supporting the interactive presentation mode is included, are provided in a root directory. Here, the audio directory AUDIO_TS . may not exist separately.

Meanwhile, a reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO for a markup document is recorded in the interactive presentation directory DVD_ENAV. For example, definition and structure of a corresponding directory, the number of titles, basic information on titles, information on languages used in titles, sub-titles, and fonts, markup document display information such as resolution and colors, copyright information, and text information authored by a contents author are recorded in the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO. Further, an index document INDEX.HTM to be displayed together with video titles, a backup file DVD_ENAV.BUP of the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO, and other markup documents are stored in the interactive presentation directory DVD_ENAV. A file inserted in the markup document and displayed together with video titles such as the index document INDEX.HTM may also be stored in the interactive presentation directory DVD_ENAV.

FIG. 3 shows another example of the structure of a directory of an information storage medium for supporting an interactive presentation mode. Referring to FIG. 3, the structure of the directory shown in FIG. 3 is the same as the structure of the directory shown in FIG. 2 in that a video directory VIDEO_TS in which AV data are included, an audio directory AUDIO_TS in which audio data is included, and an interactive presentation directory DVD_ENAV in which information for supporting the interactive presentation mode is included, are provided in a root directory. However, the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO for a markup document is not recorded in the interactive presentation directory DVD_ENAV, whereas an index document INDEX.HTM to be displayed together with video titles, a flash file INDEX.SWF, graphic files 1.GIF and 2.GIF are recorded in the interactive presentation directory DVD_ENAV.

Since the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO for a markup document is not recorded in the directory DVD_ENAV, in order to perform the function of the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO, although not displayed on a screen, a document START_UP.HTM that, before the files in the directory DVD_ENAV are executed, interprets a screen ratio of the reproducing apparatus and an aspect ratio of the authored markup document and properly pre-loads the files stored in the directory DVD_ENAV based on the results of interpretation, may be stored in the directory DVD_ENAV.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are reference diagrams illustrating an interactive presentation mode. Referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B, if a user installs an interactive DVD in the reproducing apparatus, an interactive presentation mode is selected in a menu screen displayed on a display such as a television or monitor. When the interactive DVD has the structure shown in FIG. 2, the reproducing apparatus reads a reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO for a markup document recorded on the DVD, interprets the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO, reads an index document INDEX.HTM designated as a startup document and reproduces corresponding video titles based on the read index document INDEX.HTM. Also, since the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO is linked to the index document INDEX.HTM, when the resolution of a screen and languages of language information displayed in a markup document scene are changed, the reproducing apparatus may move to another index document INDEX.HTM through the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO, read the index document INDEX.HTM and reproduce corresponding video titles based on the read index document INDEX.HTM.

As a result, a state in which nothing is displayed, shown in FIG. 4A, is changed into an interactive presentation mode in which an AV scene in which video titles are reproduced and a markup document scene in which a markup document (i.e., HTML) is reproduced, are displayed together, as shown in FIG. 4B. Here, AV scene means a scene in which AV data are reproduced and displayed, and markup document scene means a scene in which a markup document is reproduced and displayed. For example, when the AV data is a movie, a moving image is output in the display window of the markup document, and various additional information including scenario, history, and actors' pictures related to the movie are displayed in the remaining part of a screen excluding the display window of the markup document. The additional information includes image or text files. FIG. 5 shows an example of the contents and structure of a reproduction control information file for an interactive presentation mode in which interactive contents version information is recorded, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In other words, FIG. 5 shows the contents and structure of reproduction control information stored in the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO in the interactive presentation directory DVD_ENAV shown in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 5, an ENAV manager (EMG) in which the contents of the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO for a markup document is described, includes ENAV manager information (EMGI) in which search information of the markup document or information on initial access, reproduction information of an EMG, and a text data information are described, an ENAV object set (EOBS) for an EMG menu in which reproduction control information and data search information are stored, and a backup file EMGLBUP of the EMGI.

The EMGI may include an ENAV manager information management table (EMGLMAT), an ENAV HTML displayable language unit table which designates the type of displayable languages of a markup document, and a text data manager.

An identifier of the EMG, the sizes of the EMG and the EMGI, a startup address of each piece of information in the EMG, the specification version of ENAV contents, the minimum version of a user agent (UA) which interprets ENAV contents for implementing the present invention, an identifier of a disc, and attribute information of an ENAV object set EMGM_EOBS for an EMG menu are provided in the EMGLMAT. Minimum interactive contents version information is provided in the EMGLMAT in the EMGI as the following field name. The minimum interactive contents version information has the form of PRS_UA_VERN and a size of 2 bytes. For example, if the minimum version number of a UA which can interpret a markup document is "0X10", the version which can be interpreted by the UA, represents a markup language specification version 1.0.

Meanwhile, as in a markup language, minimum viewer version information which multimedia elements indicating the minimum version of a viewer with which can be reproduced by the reproducing apparatus, may be added to the reproduction control information file for supporting the interactive presentation mode. The minimum viewer version information may be added to the reproduction control information file using tag <META> in tag <HEAD> in the markup document. This is because, in the case of the markup language, a viewer installed in the reproducing apparatus cannot interpret from an initial part of a markup document authored in a version higher than the viewer, and thus, markup language version information is added to reproduction control information data that do not have no relationship with the markup language, but in the case of multimedia elements included in the markup document, version information on the multimedia elements is significant only when the markup document can be interpreted by the viewer installed in the reproducing apparatus, without storing the version information on the multimedia elements in the reproduction control information data, and thus, the version information thereon may be used tag <META> which serves to provide information in the markup document. A usage example is shown below.

<?XML version="1.0" >

<html>

<head>

<TITLE>Examplθ< TITLE>

</body> </html>

As in the Example 3, even though a flash file included in the markup document is authored in a version 6.0, information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus having a viewer supporting a version 5.0, that is, minimum viewer version information MinimumVersion 5.0 that can reproduce multimedia elements is added to the markup document, thereby providing a smooth reproduction environment.

A method for recording and reproducing an information storage medium having the above structure will be described below. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a preferred embodiment of a recording method according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 6, in step 601 , a recording apparatus records AV data on an information storage medium. In step 602, the recording apparatus records a markup document to be reproduced together with AV data on the information storage medium. In doing so, the recording apparatus also records the specification version of interactive contents and information on the minimum version of a UA that can interpret the interactive contents, that is, minimum interactive contents version information, on the ENAV manager information (EMGI) in the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO shown in FIGS. 2 and 4.

Meanwhile, if multimedia elements exist in the markup document, in step 602, the recording apparatus further records the specification version of the multimedia elements and minimum viewer version information for the multimedia elements, that is, minimum multimedia elements version information in the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO. If the markup document including the multimedia elements has the structure of the directory shown in FIG. 2, the version of the multimedia elements and the minimum viewer version information can be stored in the reproduction control information file. If the markup document including the multimedia elements has the structure of the directory shown in FIG. 3, the version of the multimedia elements and the minimum viewer version information can be stored in tag <META> in the markup document. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a preferred embodiment of a reproducing method according to the present invention, which can be applied to a case where interactive contents having the structure of the directory shown in FIG. 2 are reproduced.

Referring to FIG. 7, in step 701 , if an interactive DVD (disc) is installed in a reproducing apparatus, the presentation engine 3 of the reproducing apparatus searches for a file system in the DVD and searches for a reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO for a markup document in step 702. Here, after step 701 is performed, the reproducing method further includes a step of a user setting an interactive presentation mode or an interactive presentation mode being set as a default mode. In step 703, the reproduction control information file

DVD_ENAV.IFO designated in IFO JRI (uniform resource identifier) in which a unique address for representing a resource to execute a startup markup document is stored, is interpreted. In step 704, the specification version of interactive contents, that is, the specification version of the markup document automatically written by an authoring tool for authoring corresponding contents, is checked.

Here, in the prior art, if the specification version of interactive contents is higher than the specification version supported by the UA in the reproducing apparatus, the reproducing apparatus cannot correctly display a markup document scene intended by an author. However, according to the present invention, since the minimum UA version information for interpreting corresponding interactive contents is additionally recorded in the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO, as shown in FIG. 5, the reproducing apparatus can reproduce the corresponding interactive contents.

That is, in step 705, if the specification version of the interactive contents is higher than the version of the UA in the reproducing apparatus, the minimum UA version that can interpret the interactive contents is read from the reproduction control information file DVD_ENAV.IFO. In step 706, it is checked whether minimum UA version that can interpret the interactive contents is higher than the version of the UA in the current reproducing apparatus. If the minimum UA version that can interpret interactive contents is not higher than the version of the UA in the current reproducing apparatus in step 706, in step 707, an index document INDEX.HTM to be displayed together with video titles is displayed. In step 708, if the minimum UA version that can interpret interactive contents is higher than the version of the UA in the current reproducing apparatus, an alarm message indicating that the reproduction of a disc installed in the reproducing apparatus is not supported by the reproducing apparatus, is displayed on a display. Meanwhile, if the specification version of the interactive contents is not higher than the version of the UA in the current reproducing apparatus in step 704, step 707 of displaying the index document INDEX.HTM is performed.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a preferred embodiment of a reproducing method according to the present invention, which can be applied to a case where a markup document including multimedia elements having the structure of the directory shown in FIG. 3 is reproduced.

Referring to FIG. 8, in step 801 , an interactive contents information storage medium (disc) is installed in a reproducing apparatus. In step 802, the presentation engine 3 in the reproducing apparatus searches for a file system in a disc and searches for a startup markup document. In step 803, a current markup document is interpreted, and it is checked whether the current markup document is correct in grammar, and elements are organized by forming a document object model (DOM) tree. Additionally, the DOM tree observes the following rules: first, a root node of all nodes is set to a document node, and second, all texts and elements form nodes, and third, a processing instruction, a comment, and a document type form nodes.

In step 804, it is determined whether multimedia elements other than text files exist in the markup document. If such multimedia elements exist in the markup document, in step 805, the current version of the multimedia elements in tag <META> and a minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements are checked. If such multimedia elements do not exist in the markup document, step 808 of reproducing a current page is performed.

In step 806, it is determined whether the current version of the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus. If the current version of the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus, step 807 of determining whether the minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus is performed.

If the minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements is not higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus in step 807, the current page is reproduced in step 808. If the minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus, in step 809, replacement elements are reproduced in a layout area of corresponding multimedia elements. The replacement elements may be implemented in various shapes such as character messages indicating that the corresponding multimedia elements cannot be reproduced because the minimum viewer version required that can reproduce the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus, or graphic messages such as a background screen. The recording method and reproducing method of the present invention may be implemented as a computer program. The program is stored in computer readable media, is read and executed by a computer such that a method for recording and reproducing a markup document and AV data on an information storage medium can be implemented. Suitable computer readable media include magnetic recording media, optical recording media, and carrier wave media.

Industrial Applicability

As described above, according to the present invention, minimum user agent (UA) version information for interpreting a markup document is included in the markup document such that the reproducing apparatus can display interactive contents authored using an authoring tool that supports an arbitrary interactive contents version. In addition, as in the markup document, minimum viewer version information indicating the minimum version of a viewer that can reproduce multimedia elements is included in the interactive contents such that the reproducing apparatus can reproduce the multimedia elements smoothly.

While this invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An information storage medium comprising: AV data including audio data and/or video data; a markup document in which in order to reproduce an AV scene obtained based on the AV data in an interactive presentation mode, a display window in which the AV scene is displayed is defined; and minimum interactive contents version information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus.

2. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the minimum interactive contents version information is stored in a reproduction control information file in the markup document.

3. The medium of claim 2, wherein the minimum interactive contents version information is stored in a management information table of the reproduction control information file in the markup document.

4. An information storage medium comprising: AV data including audio data and/or video data; and a markup document in which in order to reproduce an AV scene obtained based on the AV data in an interactive presentation mode, a display window in which the AV scene is displayed is defined; wherein the markup document includes specification version information of the markup document and minimum user agent (UA) version information for interpreting the markup document.

5. The medium of claim 4, wherein the specification version information of the markup document and the minimum UA version information are stored in a reproduction control information file for the markup document.

6. The medium of claim 4, wherein the specification version information of the markup document and the minimum UA version information are stored in a management information table of the reproduction control information file in the markup document.

7. The medium of claim 4, further comprising version information on multimedia elements in the markup document and minimum viewer version information indicating the minimum version of a viewer that can reproduce the multimedia elements.

8. The medium of claim 7, wherein the version information on the multimedia elements and the minimum viewer version information that can reproduce the multimedia elements are stored in a reproduction control information file in the markup document.

9. The medium of claim 7, wherein the version information on the multimedia elements and the minimum viewer version information that can reproduce the multimedia elements are stored in a tag <META> in the markup document.

10. An information storage medium comprising: AV data including audio data and/or video data; a markup document in which in order to reproduce an AV scene obtained based on the AV data in an interactive presentation mode, a display window in which the AV scene is displayed is defined; and minimum markup version information and/or minimum multimedia version information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus.

11. The medium of claim 10, wherein the minimum markup version information and the minimum multimedia version information are stored in a reproduction control information file in the markup document.

12. The medium of claim 10, wherein the minimum multimedia version information is stored in a tag <META> in the markup document.

13. A recording method comprising: (a) recording audio and/or video (AV) data; and

(b) recording a markup document in which a display window in which the AV data is displayed is defined, and recording specification version information of the markup document and minimum interactive contents version information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus in the markup document.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein in (b), the minimum interactive contents version information is recorded in a reproduction control information file in the markup document.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein in (b), the minimum interactive contents version information is recorded in a management information table of the reproduction control information file in the markup document.

16. A recording method comprising:

(a) recording audio and/or video (AV) data;

(b) recording a markup document in which a display window in which the AV data is displayed is defined; and (c) recording minimum markup version information and/or minimum multimedia version information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein in (a), the AV data is recorded in a video directory, and in (b), the markup document is recorded in an interactive directory, and in (c), the minimum markup version information and/or minimum multimedia version information is stored in a reproduction control information file in the interactive directory.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein in (a), the AV data is recorded in a video directory, and in (b), the markup document is recorded in an interactive directory, and in (c), the minimum markup version information is stored in a reproduction control information file in the interactive directory, and the minimum multimedia version information is recorded in the markup document.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein in (c), the multimedia version information is recorded in a tag <META> in the markup document.

20. A method for reproducing AV data recorded on an information storage medium in an interactive presentation mode, the method comprising:

(a) reading specification version information of a markup document to be reproduced together with the AV data and minimum interactive contents version information that can be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus from the information storage medium; and

(b) even if the specification version information of the markup document is higher than version information of a reproducing apparatus for reading the information storage medium, interpreting and displaying the markup document according to the minimum interactive contents version information.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein (b) comprises: (b1 ) checking the specification version information of the markup document and the version information of the reproducing apparatus;

(b2) if the specification version information of the markup document is higher than the version information of the reproducing apparatus in (b1), checking the minimum interactive contents version information and the version information of the reproducing apparatus; and

(b3) if the minimum interactive contents version information is not higher than the version information of the reproducing apparatus in (b2), interpreting and displaying the markup document.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein (b) further comprises (b4), if the specification version information of the markup document is not higher than the version information of the reproducing apparatus in (b1), interpreting and displaying the markup document.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein (b) further comprises (b5), if the minimum interactive contents version information is higher than the version information of the reproducing apparatus in (b2), displaying an alarm message indicating that reproduction of the information storage medium is not supported by the reproducing apparatus.

24. The method of claim 21 , wherein the minimum interactive contents version information is stored in a reproduction control information file in the markup document.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein the minimum interactive contents version information is stored in a management information table of the reproduction control information file in the markup document.

26. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

(c) determining whether multimedia elements other than text files exist in the markup document; and

(d) if the multimedia elements exist in the markup document, checking a current version of the multimedia elements in the markup document and a minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements, and reproducing the multimedia elements according to the result of checking.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein (d) comprises:

(d1) determining whether the current version of the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus;

(d2) if the current version of the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus, determining whether a minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus; and

(d3) if the minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements is not higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus in (d2), or if the current version of the multimedia elements is not higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus, reproducing the multimedia elements.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein (d) further comprises (d4), if the minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus in (d2), reproducing replacement elements in a layout area of corresponding multimedia elements.

29. A method for reproducing AV data recorded on an information storage medium in an interactive presentation mode, the method comprising:

(a) determining whether multimedia elements other than text files exist in a markup document to be reproduced together with the AV data read from the information storage medium; and

(b) if multimedia elements exist in the markup document, checking a current version of the multimedia elements in the markup document and a minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements, and reproducing the multimedia elements according to the result of checking.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein (b) comprises:

(b1) determining whether the current version of the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus; (b2) if the current version of the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus, determining whether a minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus; and

(b3) if the minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements is not higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus in (b2), or if the current version of the multimedia elements is not higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus, reproducing the multimedia elements.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein (b) further comprises (b4), if the minimum viewer version that can reproduce the multimedia elements is higher than the viewer version in the reproducing apparatus, reproducing replacement elements in a layout area of corresponding

multimedia elements.