Patent ID: 7403968

Claim:
A method implemented by an apparatus for processing multimedia content and related user preferences, the method comprising: providing a user preference description describing a plurality of browsing preferences of a multimedia consumer for browsing audio-visual content, the user preference description including a hierarchical data structure in which a first container includes a first set of browsing elements and a genre element specifying that the browsing elements in the first set apply to browsing audio-visual content of a first genre, wherein each browsing element in the first set has a respective weight value that indicates relative importance of the corresponding browsing element for user preferred browsing of the audio-visual content having the first genre, and wherein a first browsing element in the first set describes a preferred content element for browsing the audio-visual content of the first genre, the preferred content element corresponding to one or more events or objects depicted in the audio-visual content of the first genre; storing the user preference description in a data storage device; receiving a content description about an audio-visual program having the first genre, the content description describing events and objects depicted in the audio-visual program; using the respective weight values to select the first browsing element in the first set for processing the received content description; and selecting portions from the audio-visual program for a user-preferred browsing, wherein the selection is based on the preferred content element of the first browsing element and the corresponding events and objects described in the received content description of the audio-visual program.