METHOD FOR AUTHORING AND PLAYING MULTIMEDIA CONTENTS
Technical Field
The present invention relates, in general, to a method of authoring and playing multimedia contents and, more particularly, to a method of authoring multimedia contents in a small file and playing the multimedia contents.
Background Art
With the development of computer and communication technology, the authoring, distribution and playing of multimedia contents including moving images as well as audio and graphics is increasing.
However, the file size of a moving image is still large notwithstanding that a method of compressing a moving image has been continually developed. In particular, in a wireless Internet environment in which data transmission speed is relatively slow, plenty of expense and time are required to transmit moving images.
Meanwhile, Multimedia Mail Service (MMS), which enables multimedia mail as well as text messages to be transmitted between mobile communication terminals, has been proposed, so that the transmission and reception of multimedia mail will be popularized soon. However, a multimedia file is difficult to author and has a large size, thus impeding the realization of the MMS.
Brief Description of the Drawings
FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example of utilizing multimedia contents according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a view illustrating the objects of the multimedia contents displayed on a screen according to the present invention; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the schematic construction of the multimedia contents according to the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a view showing the construction of the image file of the multimedia contents according to the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a view showing the construction of the audio file of the multimedia contents according to the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process of playing the multimedia contents according to the present invention; and
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process of authoring the multimedia contents according to the present invention.
Detailed Description of the Present Invention
Technical Problem
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method of displaying, authoring and playing multimedia contents, which does not impose a burden on transmission because the file size of the multimedia contents is not large. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of displaying,
authoring and playing multimedia contents, which allows the multimedia contents to be easily authored and can provide various effects.
Technical Solution
In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention enables still images to be shown as a moving image using various effects. That is, multimedia contents are displayed using various scene transition effects, such as an effect in which pages are turned over, bent or made to disappear at the time of the transition of a plurality of still images, various image alteration effects for altering the color, shape, brightness and location of a still image, various background effects, such as a snowing effect, a lightning effect and a fireworks display effect, and a dynamic characteristic effect that allows characters having various shapes to move in various methods.
Furthermore, such effects are not stored in an animation form but in a script form, and a dedicated player interprets the script and displays various effects on a screen, so that various multimedia contents can be represented using a small file size.
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention
Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the attached drawings below.
FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example of utilizing multimedia contents according to the present invention. The multimedia contents authored according to the present invention can be transmitted through a mobile communication network 300 or the Internet 500. A gateway is provided between the mobile
communication network 300 and the Internet 500, thus enabling multimedia contents to be transmitted between the mobile phones 100a and 100b connected to the mobile communication network 300 and the computer 100c connected to the Internet.
Furthermore, multimedia contents can be transmitted between the mobile phones 100 and 100b through base stations 200a and 200b and the mobile communication network
300. Multimedia contents received can be played by a dedicated multimedia content player installed in each of the terminals 100a, 100b and 100c.
In the present invention, an entire screen is referred to as a canvas 10, and graphic components included in the canvas 10 are referred to as objects 21 and 22 (refer to FIG. 2). A plurality of objects 21 and 22 can coexist on a single canvas 10. Such an object is represented in a vector map format, or as a texture in which a bitmap graphic is represented in a triangle or quadrangle formed by three or four points.
The multimedia contents of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, include a script 31 describing various effects, image data 32 to be displayed on a screen with respect to individual objects, and audio data 33 to be used as background music.
In the script 31, the time periods, during which the image data 32 are displayed, and image alteration effects, which are applied to the images, are described.
Furthermore, screen transition effects, which are provided at the time of the transition of the image data 32, are indicated. Furthermore, the time periods, during which background effects are displayed, are indicated.
Examples of the image alteration effect to be applied to an image include image color alteration, image brightness alteration, application of various filtering effects to images, image size alteration, image frame alteration, image movement, image reversal, and an image reflection effect by a lake. Examples of the background effect include a raining effect, a snowing effect, a
rain-soaked effect, a lightning effect, and a fireworks display effect. Furthermore, it is possible to designate the background effect to react to the current characteristics of audio data designated as background music. For example, in the case where the fireworks display is the background effect, the color, number and size of fireworks can be determined according to the frequency, pitch, and volume of the audio data.
Examples of the scene transition effect include an effect in which pages are turned over, an effect in which a previous image fades away and a subsequent image slowly appears while overlapping with the previous image, and an effect in which a previous image slides to one side and a subsequent image slides while following the previous image.
In FIG. 4, an example of the construction of the image file of multimedia contents according to the present invention is shown.
VID Tag is a tag indicating the start of image data therefrom, and VID Size indicates how large the image data is. In the example of FIG. 4, VID Size indicates the size of Header and Video excluding the size of VID Tag and VID Size data parts.
In Header, information on the size of Header and how many image files constitute Header is recorded.
Video includes Video index for identifying image files, Video size for indicating the size of a corresponding image file, and the image file. In the case where image files in various formats can be used, information on the formats of the image files can be stored.
In FIG. 5, an example of the construction of the audio file of multimedia contents according to the present invention is shown.
AUD Tag is a tag indicating the start of audio data therefrom, and AUD Size indicates the size of the audio data. In the example of FIG. 5, the AUD Size indicates
the size of Header and Audio excluding the size of AUD Tag and AUD Size data parts. In Header, information on the size of Header and how many audio files constitute Header is recorded. Only a single audio file may be inserted according to an embodiment, in which Audio num can be omitted. Audio includes Audio index for identifying audio files, Audio size for indicating the size of a corresponding audio file, and the audio file. In the case where audio files in various formats can be used, information on the formats of the audio files can be stored.
Thereafter, with reference to FIG. 6, a method of playing multimedia contents according to the present invention is described.
First, a multimedia player reads a script 31 included in the multimedia contents at step 601. Furthermore, background music designated by the script is loaded from the audio data part 33 at step 603 and played at step 605.
Thereafter, an image file designated by the script is loaded from an image data part 32 at step 607, image alteration processing is performed on an image according to an image alteration effect designated by the script 31 at step 609, and background processing is performed according to a background effect designated for a current time period at step 611. Furthermore, the image processed at step 609 and the background processed at step 611 are composed and output to a screen at step 613. In the case where an image is changed to another image, that is, scene transition occurs, during such screen processing ("Yes" at step 615), the next designated image is loaded at step 617, a scene transition effect designated by the script is applied to the next image and the next image is output to the screen at step 619. Furthermore, step 609 and the following steps are performed on a new image. Meanwhile, in the case where the scene transition is not required, whether the
playing time period according to the script has ended is determined at step 621. Playing is stopped if the playing time period has ended, and step 609 and the following steps are repeatedly performed if the playing time period has not ended.
Meanwhile, it is possible to process a background effect to react to the current characteristics of the audio data. For example, in the case of a fireworks display background effect, it is possible to determine the color, number and size of fireworks according to the frequency, pitch and volume of the audio data.
A program for performing such a method of playing multimedia content may be installed in the mobile phone or computer of a user, or may be a program installed in a server that is executed by a client computer connected to the server. Alternately, the program may be a program automatically downloaded and executed when a client is connected to a specific web page using a web browser. For example, the program is automatically installed in a client terminal using the Microsoft ActiveX Control or the Sun Micro Systems Java applet, and a multimedia content authoring tool is used in the client terminal only when the client is connected to a server and the client requires the authoring tool.
With reference to FIG. 7, the flow of a method of authoring the multimedia content according to the present invention is described below.
In the case of authoring the multimedia contents, an image file to be used is loaded first at step 701. At this step, a plurality of image files can be loaded. Furthermore, alteration effects are designated for the loaded image files, and the time periods, during which the alteration effects are displayed, are designated at step 703. At the step, it is possible to successively designate various alteration effects for a single image. Furthermore, it is possible to designate various image files to be displayed in the same time period.
Furthermore, background effects to be applied for time periods are designated at step 705. It is possible to independently designate the time periods for images to be displayed and the time periods for the background effects.
In the case where scene transition occurs between various images, it is possible to designate scene transition effects between the images at step 707. Furthermore, an audio file to be used as background music is inserted at step 709, thereby completing the authoring of the multimedia contents. Meanwhile, it is possible to insert the audio file before or while background effects are applied to the image file.
Although the present invention has been described in conjunction with several preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention.
Industrial Applicability
According to the present invention, various effects and background effects for images are not represented in a moving image file form but in a script form, so that the present invention is advantageous in that file sizes are not large.
Furthermore, multimedia contents are authored by loading images to be used and designating effects and time periods to be applied, so that the present invention is advantageous in that multimedia contents can be easily authored and various effects can be provided.