Abstract:
The present invention relates to a method for generating a user profile in indexing/browsing of multimedia data and a multimedia browsing method using the same. The multimedia data browsing method is characterized in that: (a) constructing a user profile by incorporating a user-preferred application description scheme indicating a user-preferred multimedia browsing method or browsing criterion, wherein the browsing method or browsing criterion is described in different way according to a type of the multimedia data in terms of genre; (b) analyzing the user-preferred application description scheme and selecting a relevant application for implementing a user-preferred browsing; and (c) browsing corresponding multimedia data using the selected preferred application.

Description:
[0001]     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/667,072, filed Sep. 21, 2000 entitled USER PROFILE INFORMATION DATA STRUCTURE BASED ON USER PREFERENCE AND MULTIMEDIA DATA BROWSING SYSTEM USING THE SAME, and claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 41137/1999 filed Sep. 22, 1999. The entire disclosure of the prior applications are considered as being part of the disclosure of the accompanying application and are hereby incorporated by reference therein. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates, to a method of generating a user profile for browsing of multimedia data and a multimedia browsing method using the same, and more particularly, to a content-based multimedia data indexing and browsing system in which a user-preferred browsing method is described in the user profile, and multimedia browsing based on user preference is provided using user-preferred browsing information contained in the user profile.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Background Art  
         [0005]     In multimedia data indexing and browsing in the conventional art, there have been introduced techniques for variously displaying multimedia data based on user preference.  
         [0006]     In internet shopping by using of a multimedia data indexing and browsing system based on user preference, there is a method of selecting only preferred items stored in an user profile by each user and displaying each product in a different way, not displaying all information items used in the internet shopping.  
         [0007]     For example, in the case that some user mainly uses price and specification information, some user mainly uses design information, and some user mainly uses product information of a certain particular company in checking electronic products through the internet shopping, each user is given the above preferred information as its own user profile. In case that an user mainly uses price and specification in this preferred information, merely the information containing only price and specification is displayed to the user although other information such as photographs is provided by the user. And, in case of an user who prefers design information, design (photograph) information is mainly displayed. In this way, the information appropriate for the preference of each user is displayed.  
         [0008]     In addition, there have been introduced techniques for providing a terminal desk-top interface such as a computer to an user in an user-desired form in a multimedia indexing and browsing system based on user preference in the conventional art.  
         [0009]     In other words, the terminal desktop interface that the corresponding user prefers (or designates) is recorded in its user profile, and then the form of the interface stored in the corresponding user profile is provided to the user.  
         [0010]     Besides, there have been techniques for supporting help information in the form that user prefers using the recorded usage pattern of user in another conventional art.  
         [0011]     The above-mentioned techniques considering user preference (use pattern) in the conventional art all reflects partial user preference in the current restricted application.  
         [0012]     Nowadays, the content description is described in the data for supporting the content-based multimedia indexing/browsing. In the case the various browsing method are possible, so if there is the information describing user preference, user can browse multimedia data in the preferred browsing method using preferred browser.  
         [0013]     In other words, among a variety of browsers for performing content-based multimedia data indexing and browsing, there may be browsers that is particularly preferred, or browsers that is preferred by the type of multimedia data to the user. However, since the maintenance and management of such data is not achieved, the user cannot enjoy his or her right to various selection, but also must be satisfied with parts of the browsers restrictively provided in a given environment.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0014]     Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for generating a user profile to provide a user-preferred multimedia data indexing and browsing, and a multimedia data browsing method using the same.  
         [0015]     It is another object of the present invention to provide a multimedia browsing method using a user profile in which a user-preferred browsing method is described therein, for displaying the multimedia data in a user-preferred form.  
         [0016]     It is another object of the present invention to provide a multimedia browsing method using a user profile in which a user-preferred browsing method is identified from a user profile, and an application or browser is designated according to user preference if there are plurality of applications providing the corresponding browsing method, or an application satisfying the corresponding service is downloaded from other designated place and is provided to the user if there is not such an application.  
         [0017]     To achieve the above objects, in a content-based multimedia data browsing, there is provided a method for generating a user profile to provide a user-preferred multimedia browsing, which incorporate information on a user-preferred application description scheme including information on a browser in the user profile, wherein the information on a browser includes a user-preferred browsing method or a user-preferred browsing criterion, which is described in different way according to a type of multimedia data in terms of a genre.  
         [0018]     In addition, the user-preferred application description scheme incorporated in the user profile includes an application ID, or a locator to find a relevant application and a reference to functionality indicating a user-preferred browsing method or browsing criterion.  
         [0019]     In addition, the application description scheme incorporated in the above user profile further includes a layout description scheme of an application, wherein the layout includes a weight for the layout and a reference to a browser for indicating reference to the browser.  
         [0020]     In addition, the number of user-preferred application description schemes incorporated in the user profile may be plural, and each of the application description schemes further includes a weight for describing user preference of the application.  
         [0021]     In addition, the user-preferred application description schemes incorporated in the user profile are different from one another according to a type or a genre of a multimedia data, each of the application description schemes is structured hierarchically, and each part of the application description scheme has a weight for describing user preference.  
         [0022]     To achieve the above objects of the present invention, in a content-based multimedia data browsing, there is provided a method for browsing multimedia data containing a content description scheme to be used for indexing/browsing multimedia data; comprising: (a) constructing a user profile by incorporating a user preferred application description scheme indicating a user-preferred multimedia browsing method or browsing criterion as an application description scheme for user-preferred browsing; (b) analyzing the user-preferred application description scheme and selecting a relevant application for implementing a user-preferred browsing, and (c) browsing the multimedia data using the selected user-preferred application. In addition, in the multimedia data browsing method of the present invention, the user-preferred multimedia data browsing method or browsing criterion are described differently according to the type or genre of multimedia data, and a multimedia data is browsed based on the description scheme indicating each user-preferred browsing method or browsing criterion.  
         [0023]     In addition, in the multimedia data browsing method of the present invention, the user-preferred multimedia browsing method or browsing criterion is a character-oriented browsing, a character/place relation-oriented browsing, a scene-oriented browsing according to a time sequence, or a combination thereof.  
         [0024]     In addition, in the multimedia data browsing method of the present invention, the number of browsing method or browsing criterion described differently according to the type of multimedia data may be one or plural with respect to one type or genre thereof, and weighted values can be added on these browsing methods or browsing criteria.  
         [0025]     In addition, in the multimedia data browsing method of the present invention, if there is no application satisfying the user-preferred multimedia browsing method or browsing criterion in the current terminal, in displaying the corresponding multimedia data, such an application is downloaded or plugged-in for thereby implementing the same.  
         [0026]     In addition, in the multimedia data browsing method of the present invention, if there are a plurality of applications satisfying the user-preferred multimedia browsing method or browsing criterion in the current terminal, in displaying the corresponding multimedia object based on the user-preferred multimedia browsing method or browsing criterion, a locator of an application or browser is included so as to select an appropriate application among the plurality of applications, and the multimedia object is displayed by selecting the application indicated by the locator of the application or browser.  
         [0027]     In order to achieve at least the above objects and advantages in a whole or in part, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of generating a user profile to describe user preferences pertaining to navigation of and access to multimedia contents that includes providing user preference information for the user profile and incorporating a browsing information in the user preference information, wherein the browsing information, which may be differently described according to a genre of multimedia contents, includes a plurality of browsing criterion and a preference value indicating relative priority or weight assigned to each of said browsing criterion.  
         [0028]     Additional advantages, objects and features of the invention will become more apparent from the following descriptions.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0029]     The present invention will become better understood with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are given only by way of illustration and thus are not limitative of the present invention, wherein:  
         [0030]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view illustrating the construction of a multimedia system according to the present invention;  
         [0031]      FIG. 2  is a view illustrating an example of a content description scheme structure of a multimedia object according to the present invention;  
         [0032]      FIG. 3  is a view illustrating a user profile information data structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0033]      FIG. 4  is a view illustrating a user profile information data structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0034]      FIG. 5  is a view illustrating a user-preferred application description scheme in a user profile information data structure according to the present invention;  
         [0035]      FIG. 6  is a view illustrating an example of a browsing based on user preference;  
         [0036]      FIG. 7  is a view illustrating another example of a user-preferred application description scheme in a user profile information data structure according to the present invention; and  
         [0037]      FIG. 8  is a view illustrating another example of a browsing based on user preference. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0038]     The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0039]     First,  FIG. 1  is a schematic view illustrating an example of the construction of a multimedia data service system according to the present invention;  
         [0040]     A multimedia object  101  has a content description  101   a  for content-based indexing/browsing and a data stream  101   b.    
         [0041]     A terminal  102  includes a central processing unit  103  for performing a content-based multimedia indexing and browsing control, a memory  104  for storing a variety of data, a display device  105  for displaying various information relating to multimedia data indexing and browsing, an user profile reader  106  for reading user profile information, and an user profile.  
         [0042]     Here, the user profile reader  106  can have the function of a writer for updating information recorded in the user profile  107  based on the feedback of a user.  
         [0043]     In addition, the user profile  107  can be a movable medium capable of recording and storing information in the form of a smart card.  
         [0044]     In addition, a user-preferred browsing method or browsing criterion is described in the user profile  107 , and such information can be updated by learning.  
         [0045]     The information contained in the user profile  107  is read out from the user profile reader  106 , and is downloaded to the memory  104 .  
         [0046]     The central processing unit  103  decodes the user profile information downloaded to the memory  104  to thus browse the multimedia object  101  using the corresponding display device  105  by the user-preferred browsing method or browsing criterion.  
         [0047]      FIG. 2  is a view illustrating an example of a contents description scheme structure of a multimedia object for content-based indexing/browsing according to the present invention.  
         [0048]     The contents description scheme structure has an audio/visual description scheme  201  including a syntactic DS  202  and a semantic DS  203 . The syntactic DS  202  includes a segment DS  204 , region DS  205 , and segment/region relational graph DS  206 . The semantic DS  203  includes an event DS  207 , object DS  208 , and event/object relational graph DS  209 .  
         [0049]     The syntactic DS  202  describes a physical structure of actual multimedia data, and has segments and regions of the actual multimedia data and information on the relation link) between them, thus making it possible to index and browse a corresponding section or scene of the multimedia data.  
         [0050]     The semantic DS  203  describes a semantic structure of multimedia data. In case of a multimedia data, for example, moving pictures such as drama, events, objects (characters, places, etc,), and the relation between events and characters or places are described, thus enabling content-based indexing and browsing of multimedia data.  
         [0051]     The description scheme structure of the multimedia data for content-based multimedia data indexing and browsing is not limited to that as shown in  FIG. 2 , and can be varied in various forms for the purpose of more effective browsing.  
         [0052]      FIG. 3  is a view illustrating a user profile information data structure for content-based multimedia data browsing according to a first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0053]     The user profile information data structure has a data browsing DS  301  including data type DS  302  and a browsing preference DS  303 . Such a data browsing DS structure can be given by the type or genre of each multimedia object.  
         [0054]     The browsing preference DS  303  corresponds to the data type DS  302 .  
         [0055]     The browsing preference DS  303  includes a browser DS  308  as an application DS satisfying user preference and a functionality DS  304  for describing a browsing method or browsing criterion.  
         [0056]     The functionality DS  304  for describing a browsing method or browsing criterion has a reference to browser DS  305  for connecting a corresponding browser, a function DS  306  for selecting a browser, and a weight DS  307  for describing a corresponding weight value.  
         [0057]     The application DS  308  has a weight DS  309 , locator DS  310 , and reference to functionality DS  311  for reference to a description scheme for describing a browsing method or standard.  
         [0058]     Therefore, by means of the user profile relating to such a user-preferred browsing method (or browsing criterion), it is possible to display a certain particular multimedia data by the user-preferred browsing method or standard in a system of  FIGS. 1 and 2 .  
         [0059]     In other words, when an user displays a multimedia data based on the user profile information, a corresponding application (browser) satisfying description schemes  304  through  307  for describing the user-preferred browsing method or standard for the corresponding data, or having been described in the application description schemes  308  through  311  is indexed in the terminal.  
         [0060]     If the corresponding application exists in the terminal, multimedia data is displayed using the same, or if it does not exist in the terminal, the corresponding application is downloaded using the locator DS  310 .  
         [0061]     In addition, the number of application (browser) included in the application DS is one or more than one. If the number of application is plural, an user-preferred application is employed using the weight DS  309  which is learned based on user preference (user feedback/user&#39;s usage pattern of a certain particular browser) for each application.  
         [0062]      FIG. 4  is a view illustrating an user profile information data structure for content-based multimedia browsing according to a second embodiment of the present invention, which is formed by further including a layout description scheme of a browser in addition to the structure as described in  FIG. 3 . In this case, the user can describe preference on a browser according to a certain particular type of multimedia data, but also can describe layout preference DS of the corresponding browser.  
         [0063]     As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the user profile information data structure has a data browsing DS  401  including a data type DS  402  and a browsing preference DS  403 . Such a data browsing DS structure can be given by the type or genre of each multimedia data.  
         [0064]     The browsing preference DS  403  corresponds to the data type DS  402 .  
         [0065]     The browsing preference DS  403  includes a browser DS  408  as an application DS satisfying user preference, a functionality DS  404  for describing a browsing method or browsing criterion, and a layout DS  413  of the browser.  
         [0066]     The functionality DS  404  for describing a browsing method or browsing criterion has a reference to browser DS  405  for reference to a corresponding browser, a function DS  406  for selecting a browser, and a weight DS  407  for describing a corresponding weight value.  
         [0067]     The application DS  408  has a weight DS  409 , locator DS  410 , reference to functionality DS  411  for reference to a description scheme for describing a browsing method or standard, and reference to layout DS  412  for layout.  
         [0068]     The layout DS  413  has a weight DS  414  for the layout and a reference to browser DS  416  for reference to the browser.  
         [0069]     Therefore, by means of the user profile relating to such a user-preferred browsing method (or browsing criterion), it is possible to display a certain particular multimedia data by the user-preferred browsing method or standard in a system of  FIGS. 1 and 2 . In addition, the layout preference DS of the corresponding browser can be described.  
         [0070]     In other words, when an user displays a multimedia data based on the user profile information, a corresponding application (browser) satisfying description schemes  404  through  407  for describing the user-preferred browsing method or standard for the corresponding object, or having been described in the application description schemes  408  through  411  is indexed in the terminal.  
         [0071]     At this time, a user-preferred layout of the browser is displayed using the layout DS  413  through  416  and the reference to layout DS  412  in the browser DS.  
         [0072]     If the corresponding application exists in the terminal, multimedia data is displayed using the same, or if it does not exist in the terminal, the corresponding application is downloaded using the locator DS  410 .  
         [0073]     In addition, the number of application (browser) included in the application DS is one or more than one. If the number of application is plural, a user-preferred application is employed using the weight DS  409 , which is learned based on user preference for each application.  
         [0074]      FIG. 5  is a view illustrating a description scheme of a browsing method or criterion in an user profile information data structure as shown in  FIG. 3  or  FIG. 4  according to a first embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0075]     The structure of  FIG. 5  is a function description scheme structure for indexing and displaying a corresponding multimedia data based on character/relation, and includes a basic key item  501  and an order of key item  502 .  
         [0076]     The basic key item describes browsing on the basis of character and relation  503  and  504 .  FIG. 6  illustrates an example of a browsing according to such a scheme structure.  
         [0077]     As shown in a video browser (user interface) of  FIG. 6 , a character screen unit  602  of a character relational screen unit  601  displays characters, and a character-relation screen unit  603  displays character-relation satisfying a relation which is selected here.  
         [0078]     In addition, a main scene screen unit  604  displays main scenes satisfying the corresponding relation in key frames  604   a.  Here, it is shown that a main screen unit  605  displays a selected particular scene in more detail.  
         [0079]      FIG. 7  is a view illustrating a description scheme of a browsing method or criterion in a user profile as shown in  FIG. 3  or  FIG. 4  according to a second embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0080]     The structure of  FIG. 7  is a function description scheme structure for displaying a corresponding multimedia data using a 3-level tree in time sequential key frames, and includes a basic key item  701  and an order of key item  702 .  
         [0081]     The basic key item describes browsing on the basis of key frames, and the order of key item  702  describes time sequential browsing, and describes that the basic key item has a hierarchical structure (depth of key item, level  1 =3 . . . ).  
         [0082]      FIG. 8  is a view illustrating an example of an interface of a browser using the function description scheme structure of  FIG. 7 .  
         [0083]     As shown in a video browser (user interface) of  FIG. 8 , a key frame unit  601  displays multimedia contents in key frames in a time sequence, and a main screen unit  802  displays a section which is selected here and is represented by key frames.  
         [0084]     According to the user profile information data structure and browsing method using the same of the present invention, while implementing content-based moving picture indexing and browsing, an user-preferred browsing method (application) can be provided by each corresponding multimedia data.  
         [0085]     Therefore, with respect to a multimedia data selected by the user, the user-preferred browser (application) can display the corresponding multimedia data.  
         [0086]     In addition, in the present invention, since the corresponding multimedia data is indexed and browsed by a browser, which is close or identical to the user-preferred browsing method (application), an user-friendly and user-adaptive indexing and browsing environment can be provided when multimedia data is indexed and browsed based on contents.  
         [0087]     As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within the meets and bounds of the claims, or equivalence of such meets and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.