HK1120650B - Method of storing metadata from a storage medium in a reproducing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Method of storing metadata from storage medium to reproducing apparatus

Technical Field

This application is a divisional application of a patent application entitled "storage medium storing audio-visual data including metadata, and reproducing apparatus and method for searching for audio-visual data using the metadata" filed as international filing date on year 2005, month 11 and 2, national application No. 200580038630.7.

Background

A disc is a recording medium that stores various contents including audio-visual data, such as movies, games, and advertisements. The disc also stores metadata, i.e., information about content recorded thereon. Specifically, the metadata includes information about a title, a production date, actors, a director, and the like. By browsing the metadata, the user can easily find the contents of a desired title or the contents of a desired actor starring.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Technical problem

When a disc is loaded into a reproducing apparatus, metadata recorded on the disc is stored in the reproducing apparatus in the form of a disc library (disc library). As the number of discs loaded into a reproducing apparatus increases, metadata stored in the discs is accumulated in the reproducing apparatus, and thus the reproducing apparatus requires a larger storage space for a disc library. In addition, the user must spend much time browsing the metadata to find the desired content. Therefore, when the number of discs loaded into a reproducing apparatus is large, metadata management is required to efficiently manage storage space.

Technical solution

An aspect of the present invention relates to a storage medium storing audio-visual data including metadata, and a reproducing apparatus and method of searching for the audio-visual data using the metadata.

Advantageous effects

According to the present invention, metadata of a plurality of discs constituting a volume is divided into common data common to all discs of the volume and unique data unique to each disc, and is stored in a representative disc (representative disc) and the remaining general discs (general disc) of the volume accordingly. Each disc stores a volume label (i.e. an identifier) representing the disc, by means of which volume label the metadata of the volume can be accessed (refer to). Thus, the volume label can be used to access metadata downloaded from each disc. Thus, storage space can be saved and search efficiency can be improved, thereby improving effective management of the disc.

Drawings

The above and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows the structure of metadata;

fig. 2 illustrates a conventional method of configuring a disc library using metadata;

FIG. 3 illustrates a conventional disc library configured according to the method of FIG. 2;

fig. 4 is a block diagram of a multimedia data reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating a method of configuring a disc library using metadata according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6A illustrates a conventional method of configuring a disc library;

FIG. 6B illustrates a method of configuring a disc library according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6C illustrates a method of configuring a disc library according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 illustrates a method of reproducing a disc using metadata according to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in fig. 6B;

fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of searching multimedia data using metadata according to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in fig. 6B; and

fig. 9 illustrates a data structure including a disc name of a volume label in disc information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Best mode

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium for storing: audio-visual data; and metadata for searching for desired audio-visual data among the audio-visual data stored in the storage medium; wherein the metadata includes a volume identifier indicating a volume including a plurality of discs used to create a disc library.

The disc may store audio-visual data and the storage medium may be one of the discs. The disc library may be a set of metadata stored in a storage unit of the reproducing apparatus, the set of metadata being used to search for desired audio-visual data among the audio-visual data stored in the disc. The volume identifier may be a volume label. The metadata may further include a disc name, the disc name may include a replacement element, and the replacement element may include the volume label.

The volume label may be used to indicate metadata of a volume included in the set of metadata of the disc library stored in the storage unit.

The metadata may further include disc information and title information common to the plurality of discs, and information specific to each disc. The disc information may include a disc name.

The storage medium may be an optical disc that can be inserted into or removed from a reproducing apparatus. Alternatively, the storage medium may be connected to the reproducing apparatus through a network. The metadata may be downloaded to a storage unit of a reproducing apparatus to create a disc library and used to search for desired audio-visual data.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reproducing apparatus for reproducing audio-visual data stored in a storage medium, the apparatus comprising: a storage unit storing metadata for searching for desired audio-visual data among the audio-visual data stored in the storage medium; and a search unit that searches for desired audio-visual data using metadata stored in the storage unit, wherein the metadata includes a volume identifier indicating a volume including a plurality of discs used to create a disc library stored in the storage unit.

The metadata may further include disc information and title information common to the plurality of discs, and the search unit creates a disc library using the disc information, the title information, and the volume identifier, and searches for the desired audio-visual data using the created disc library.

The metadata may further include information specific to each disc, and the search unit creates a disc library using the information specific to each disc and the volume identifier, and searches for desired audio-visual data using the created disc library.

The apparatus may further comprise: the apparatus includes a user interface unit through which a user inputs a search condition corresponding to desired audio-visual data, and a display unit which displays the desired audio-visual data on a screen when the search unit finds the desired audio-visual data.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of searching for audio-visual data stored in a storage medium, the method comprising: receiving a search condition corresponding to desired audio-visual data; and searching for desired audio-visual data by searching for metadata that meets the search condition among metadata for searching for the desired audio-visual data; wherein the metadata includes a volume identifier indicating a volume including a plurality of discs used to create a disc library.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium storing metadata for searching desired data, wherein the metadata stored in the storage medium includes an identifier identifying a set of metadata units used to create a metadata library.

The metadata base may include a copy of any piece of metadata common to at least two metadata units of the set of metadata units, so that redundant pieces of metadata may be removed with respect to the set of metadata units.

The metadata stored in the storage medium may further include: title information about a title of the audio-visual data. The header information may include: at least one of title name, title type, organization participating in the production and distribution of the title, actor, director, producer, composition, drama, genre, language, parental guide, movie rating, review, abstract, prize table, and URL address of related information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reproducing apparatus for reproducing data stored in a storage medium, the apparatus including: a storage unit that stores a metadata base; and a search unit searching for desired data among data stored in a storage medium using the metadata database; wherein the storage medium has stored therein metadata to be used for searching for desired data among data stored in the storage medium; wherein the metadata base includes metadata stored in a storage medium; and wherein the metadata stored in the storage medium includes an identifier for identifying a set of metadata units used in creating the metadata base.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for searching for desired data among data stored in a storage medium, the method including: searching for desired data among data stored in a storage medium using a metadata database; wherein the storage medium has stored therein metadata to be used for searching for desired data among data stored in the storage medium; wherein the metadata base includes metadata stored in a storage medium; wherein the metadata stored in the storage medium includes an identifier for identifying a set of metadata units used in creating the metadata base.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium encoded with processing instructions for execution by a computer to implement a method of searching for desired data among data stored in a storage medium. The method comprises the following steps: searching for desired data among data stored in a storage medium using a metadata database; wherein the storage medium has stored therein metadata to be used for searching for desired data among data stored in the storage medium; wherein the metadata base includes metadata stored in a storage medium; wherein the metadata stored in the storage medium includes an identifier for identifying a set of metadata units used in creating the metadata base.

The computer readable medium may be one of a magnetic recording medium, an optical recording medium, and a carrier wave.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

Fig. 1 shows the structure of metadata 110. Referring to fig. 1, metadata 110 recorded on a disc includes: disc information 120 (i.e., information about a disc or information generally applied to all titles), and title information 130 about titles recorded on the disc.

The disc information 120 may include: metadata about disc creation, metadata about disc format, metadata about material related to the disc, and other metadata defined by the author of the disc. Specifically, the metadata regarding disc creation includes: disc name, table of contents, copyright, and release information. The metadata about the disc format includes: the aspect ratio (aspect ratio), subtitle, run time, and audio support metadata about disc-related material may include: thumbnail of related information and URL address.

Similarly, the header information 130 may include: metadata about the creation of the content, metadata about the format of the content, metadata about the material associated with the content, and other metadata defined by the author of the content.

Metadata regarding content creation includes: title name, title type, and organization associated with the production and release of the title. The metadata about the content format includes: roster, promotional information, content type and review. The list refers to information about persons who participated in the production of the title (such as actors, director, composition, and drama). The publicity information includes: genre, language, and parental guidance (movie rating). Metadata about material related to content may include: summary, prize table and URL address of the relevant information.

Fig. 2 illustrates a conventional method of configuring a disc library using metadata. Referring to fig. 2, conventional metadata 110 is recorded on each of the first to fourth discs 10. When each of the first to fourth discs 10 is inserted and loaded into the reproducing apparatus 1, metadata 110 corresponding to each of the first to fourth discs 10 is separately stored in the storage unit 20 (i.e., hard disk) of the reproducing apparatus 1. Therefore, as the number of discs loaded into the reproducing apparatus 1 increases, the amount of metadata 110 stored in the storage unit 20 of the reproducing apparatus 1 also increases.

Since the metadata 110 of the first to fourth discs 10 are stored in the storage unit 20 of the reproducing apparatus 1, the user can retrieve information about a desired disc using the stored metadata 110. The disc library refers to a set of metadata that is stored in a storage unit of a reproducing apparatus and is used to search for information on a specific disc. Referring to the stored disc library, the reproducing apparatus 1 can provide various search functions to the user even when the first to fourth discs 10 are not loaded.

Since the discs 10 having different contents also have different metadata, the metadata 110 is downloaded separately from each of the first to fourth discs 10 and then stored accordingly. As shown in fig. 2, metadata 110 of the first to fourth discs 10 are stored in the storage unit 20 of the reproducing apparatus 1, respectively. Therefore, the increase in the number of discs loaded into the reproducing apparatus 1 causes a proportional increase in the amount of metadata 110 stored in the storage unit 20 of the reproducing apparatus 1, thereby making it difficult to efficiently use the storage space. In addition, since the amount of metadata that a user must search to find desired data increases, search efficiency is reduced.

Although not shown, the metadata 110 of the first to fourth discs 10 may also be downloaded from a network to the reproducing apparatus 1. In this case, the same problems as described above occur. In order to solve this problem, a method of efficiently downloading and managing the metadata 110 even when the number of discs increases is required.

Fig. 3 illustrates a conventional disc library configured according to the method of fig. 2. Referring to fig. 3, a disc library created when there is one disc is shown on the left side, and a disc library created when there are a plurality of discs constituting a volume is shown on the right side. As shown on the right side, as the number of discs loaded into the reproducing apparatus increases, the amount of metadata included in the disc library also increases proportionally.

However, the disks that make up a volume may have many overlapping metadata. For example, where a volume includes multiple discs for a soap opera, a martial arts series, or a complete collection of classical music, each disc may include many overlapping metadata.

In order to solve this problem, a storage medium storing audio-visual data including metadata for efficiently managing a plurality of discs, and a reproducing apparatus and method for searching for audio-visual data using the metadata will now be described in detail.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of the multimedia data reproducing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 4, the multimedia data reproducing apparatus 1 searches for metadata stored in the metadata storage unit 41 using the search unit 42 according to the search condition and displays the search result on the display unit 44. Based on this, the multimedia data reproducing apparatus 1 includes: a metadata storage unit 41, a search unit 42, a user interface unit 43, and a display unit 44.

The metadata storage unit 41 stores metadata received from a storage medium (such as a disk) or from a network. After the user inserts and loads the storage medium into the multimedia data reproducing apparatus 1, the metadata of the storage medium is not deleted even when the storage medium is ejected, but is retained in the metadata storage unit 41. The user interface unit 43 receives a search condition for the set of metadata (i.e., disc library) thus stored from the user. In other words, the user interface unit 43 receives a search keyword (such as a disc title, an actor, or a director) through a remote controller or various user interface devices.

The search unit 42 searches for metadata in a disc library and outputs metadata corresponding to a search condition input by a user to the display unit 44, and a method of searching for metadata using the search unit 42 will be described later.

Fig. 5 illustrates a method of configuring a disc library using metadata according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 5, the metadata 110 of the plurality of discs 10 is organized as metadata 200 of volume a, and the metadata 200 of volume a is stored into the storage unit 20 of the reproducing apparatus 1 later. In the case of a conventional disc library, metadata of each disc is separately stored and managed. However, in the present embodiment, metadata to be managed separately per disc in the conventional method is packaged (bundle) as a volume, and stored and managed in volume units. That is, metadata is divided into metadata common to the entire volume and metadata specific to each disc, and is stored and managed accordingly.

A conventional method of configuring a disc library using metadata will now be compared with a method of configuring a disc library using metadata according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6A illustrates a conventional method of configuring a disc library. Typically, a soap opera for each season is released as one volume, and more than 20 episodes are stored in multiple discs in each volume. For example, 24 episodes included in volume a of a series are stored in 4 different discs, respectively. In other words, a volume includes 4 discs, and each disc includes 6 titles. Accordingly, the metadata 110 of each disc includes disc information 120 and 6 pieces of title information 130 about the disc.

Referring to fig. 6A, a volume a including 4 disks contains 4 pieces of metadata 110. That is, 4 pieces of disc information 120 and 24 pieces of title information 130 are included in the volume a. Most of the metadata 110 (such as disc title, actors, release date, encoding scheme, aspect ratio, video format, rating, and manufacturer) of the 4 discs are overlapping. According to a conventional method of configuring a disc library using metadata, the metadata is separately stored and managed per disc. Therefore, the amount of overlapped metadata increases in proportion to the number of discs.

However, in the method of configuring a disc library using metadata according to the present invention, metadata of a plurality of discs constituting a volume is divided into metadata common to the entire volume and metadata specific to each disc, and is stored and managed accordingly.

Fig. 6B illustrates a method of configuring a disc library according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 6B, the representative disk of volume a stores metadata 200 of the entire volume a, and the remaining general disks store metadata 250 about a volume label 201 of the representative disk. Accordingly, when the representative disc is loaded into the reproducing apparatus, the metadata 200 of the entire volume a is downloaded and stored into the storage unit of the reproducing apparatus. The remaining general discs may access the metadata 200 of the entire volume a using the identifier of the representative disc (i.e., the volume label 201) even without separate metadata.

Thus, since the amount of metadata that a user must search to find desired data is reduced, storage space can be saved and a more efficient search function is provided.

The metadata 200 of the entire volume a stored in the representative disc is divided into a volume label 201 of the representative disc, common data 202 common to the discs, and unique data 204 unique to each disc. In other words, the disc information 120 and the title information 130, which constitute the metadata of each disc, are common data stored in the common data area 202, and the unique data of each disc is stored in the unique data area 204. Since overlapping portions of metadata of a plurality of discs are packaged and unique data of each disc is separately stored in this manner, the size of metadata included in a volume is reduced. Unlike the conventional metadata shown in fig. 6A, the metadata shown in fig. 6B has an overlapping portion removed. Therefore, the method of configuring metadata according to the present embodiment makes it possible to configure metadata so that the metadata can be stored and searched more efficiently.

Fig. 6C illustrates a method of configuring a disc library according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 6C, the representative disc of volume a stores information about a volume label and metadata common to all discs included in volume a. Each of the remaining general disks stores information about the volume label and its own specific metadata. Accordingly, when the representative disc is loaded into the reproducing apparatus, metadata common to all discs included in the volume a is downloaded and stored in the storage unit of the reproducing apparatus.

When the remaining general discs are loaded into the reproducing apparatus, metadata specific to each of the remaining general discs is downloaded and stored in a storage unit of the reproducing apparatus using the volume label. Subsequently, metadata common to all disks included in the volume a is combined with metadata specific to each disk to create a disk library. By searching this disc library, the user can find out the audio-visual data that meets the desired search condition.

Thus, since the amount of metadata that a user must search to find desired data is reduced, storage space can be saved and a more efficient search function is provided. Unlike the conventional metadata shown in fig. 6A, the metadata shown in fig. 6C has an overlapping portion removed. Therefore, the method of configuring metadata according to the present embodiment makes it possible to configure metadata so that the metadata can be stored and searched more efficiently.

Fig. 7 illustrates a method of reproducing a disc using metadata according to the embodiment illustrated in fig. 6B. Referring to fig. 7, when a representative disc of volume a is loaded into the reproducing apparatus 1, metadata 200 of volume a is stored in the storage unit 20 of the reproducing apparatus 1. The audio-visual data may be retrieved by using the stored metadata 200. Further, once the remaining general discs in the volume a are loaded into the reproducing apparatus 1, the audio-visual data can be retrieved by referring to the stored metadata 200 of the volume a using the identifier (i.e., volume label) recorded on each disc.

Although not shown in the embodiment shown in fig. 7, when a representative disc of volume a of the embodiment of the present invention shown in fig. 6C is loaded into the reproducing apparatus 1, metadata common to all discs included in volume a is stored in the storage unit 20 of the reproducing apparatus 1. When the remaining general discs are loaded into the reproducing apparatus 1, metadata specific to each disc is stored in the storage unit 20 of the reproducing apparatus 1. Subsequently, metadata common to all disks included in the volume a is combined with metadata specific to each disk to create a disk library. By searching this disc library, the user can find out the audio-visual data that meets the desired search condition. Here, the audio-visual data may be retrieved by referring to the metadata 200 of the stored volume a using an identifier (i.e., a volume label) recorded on each disc.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of searching multimedia data using metadata according to an embodiment of the present invention illustrated in fig. 6B. Referring to fig. 8, it is checked whether a representative disc of a corresponding volume is loaded into a reproducing apparatus (operation 300). If it is determined that the representative disc is loaded, metadata of the entire volume recorded on the loaded representative disc is downloaded and stored in a storage unit of the reproducing apparatus (operation 310). If it is determined that the representative disc is not loaded, i.e., a general disc is loaded, metadata of the entire volume stored in a storage unit of a reproducing apparatus is read using an identifier (i.e., a volume label) recorded on the loaded disc (operation 320).

Multimedia data such as audio-visual data is searched using the read metadata (operation 330). In other words, multimedia data that meets a desired search condition input through the user interface unit can be found with reference to the metadata of the entire volume. Further, although not shown in the embodiment of the present invention shown in fig. 8, the metadata may be used to search for the audio-visual data according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in fig. 6C.

Fig. 9 illustrates a data structure of a disc name 400 including a volume label in the disc information 120 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 1 and 9, metadata 110 according to the present invention includes: disc information 120 including a disc name 400. Fig. 9 illustrates a data structure of a disc name 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The disc name 400 includes: name element 402, replace element 404, numSets element 406, and setNumber element 408.

The name element 402 indicates a disc name. The replacement element 404 indicates a replacement name of the disc, such as a title abbreviation, a nickname, and a volume label. As described above, the volume label indicates a plurality of discs constituting a volume. In other words, the volume label indicates the volume to which the disc belongs. Accordingly, metadata included in the disc library can be efficiently searched with reference to the volume label. A numSets element 406 indicates the number of disks that make up a volume, and a setNumber element 408 indicates the serial number of the disks in the volume, i.e., the location of the disks in the volume.

Examples of storing metadata from disk have been described above. Metadata can also be downloaded from the network in a similar manner, saving storage space and enhancing search functionality.

The present invention can also be embodied as computer readable codes on a computer readable recording medium. Codes and code segments for implementing the present invention can be easily written by programmers skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains.

The computer-readable recording medium is any data storage device that can store data which can be thereafter read and executed by a computer. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include: magnetic recording media, optical recording media, and carrier waves.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

Application in industry

As described above, the present invention relates to a storage medium storing audio-visual data including metadata for efficiently managing a plurality of discs, and a reproducing apparatus and method for searching for audio-visual data using the metadata.

Claims (1)

1. A reproduction apparatus for reproducing audio-visual data, the reproduction apparatus comprising:

a metadata storage unit that stores metadata received from the disks, wherein metadata common to all disks included in the volume is combined with metadata specific to each disk included in the volume to create a disk library;

a user interface unit receiving a search condition of a disc library from a user;

a search unit searching metadata in the disc library to output metadata corresponding to the search condition,

wherein the metadata includes disc information and title information, the disc information including a disc name, the disc name including a name element indicating the disc name, a replacement element indicating a replacement name of the disc, a numSets element indicating the number of a plurality of discs constituting the volume, and a setNumber element indicating a position of the disc in the volume.