Patent ID: 7797715

Claim:
A method of providing a user information-based search using a get_Data operation of a TV-ANYTIME metadata service, the method comprising: (a) adding a user information element as an element of a request message of the get_Data operation; (b) receiving at a TV-ANYTIME service providing apparatus the request message of the get_Data operation transmitted from a TV-ANYTIME service receiving apparatus; (c) extracting information on a user of the TV-ANYTIME metadata service from the user information element in response to reception of the request message; (d) conducting a user information-based search on program contents stored in the TV-ANYTIME service providing apparatus using the user information; and (e) transmitting a result of the user information-based search to the TV-ANYTIME service receiving apparatus using a response message of the get_Data operation, wherein the get_Data operation includes an attribute, which is a Boolean type value, indicating whether user information is used for searching program contents, wherein, in operation (d), if the Boolean type value is “true,” the user information-based search is conducted using the user information, and if the Boolean type value is “false,” the user information-based search is conducted without using the user information, wherein the request message of the get_Data operation is defined as follows: <element name= “get Data” type= “tns:get_DataType”/> <complexType name=“get_DataType”> <sequence> <element name=“ResourceID” type= “disco:ResourceIDType” minOccurs=“0”/> <element name=“QueryConstraints”> <complexType> <choice> <element name=“PredicateBag” type= “tns:PredicateBagType”/> <element name=“BinaryPredicate” type=“tns:BinaryPredicateType”/> <element name=“UnaryPredicate” type=“tns:UnaryPredicateType/> </choice> </complexType> </element> <element name=“PersonalInformation” type= “tva2:ExtendedUserDescriptionType” minOccurs=“0”/> </sequence> <attribute name=“maxPrograms” type= “unsignedInt”/> <attribute name=“personalInfoUse” type=“boolean” default=“true”/> </complexType>.