JPH0926965A - Video information retrieval method and system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform the control of segmenting the part or all the parts of a video material based on an operation manual by registering the video material and stipulation information for stipulating the using conditions of the video material in a management table in a set and retrieving the video material based on a retrieval request. SOLUTION: This system is constituted of a video material storage part 10, a retrieval device 400 and a terminal equipment 300. The video material storage part 10 is constituted of a video data package 100 and a retrieval information table device 200 and the video data package 100 among them stores video retrieval data 110 for which the operation manual 111 and contents 112 are turned to one set. By providing a package structure for which a video material main body and a video material operation manual for stipulating the using conditions and a copyright, etc., for partial video materials for which the video material main body is divided are turned to one pair in such a manner, the desired video material is segmented and retrieved based on the video material operation manual. Thus, a labor cost is substantially reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video information retrieval method and system, and more particularly to video, animation,
There are restrictions on intellectual property rights such as copyrights and portrait rights for the use of digital moving image data such as computer graphics (CG) and motion capture, and video material data such as digital still image data such as electronic still photography. The present invention relates to a video information search method and system for extracting video material data in a certain case.

In recent years, various media have been created due to the progress of digital technology, and with the diversification of their expression methods, usage forms, distribution forms, and creation process, copyrights, portrait rights, etc. of these materials have become known. Protection by intellectual property rights is required. It is necessary to check whether or not each material needs to be processed for intellectual property rights by the usage method. The present invention relates to a video information search method and apparatus capable of providing a material protected by an intellectual property right if a certain condition is satisfied.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when retrieving video material that should be protected by intellectual property rights, only those who have acquired all intellectual property rights for the video material or who have all licensed are exclusive. It is often stored in a storage device or storage medium such as a video server or a CD-ROM, and searched for.

Moreover, conventional video storage device of the video server for storing and storing the image material is video material A ₁ is a video, ..., when searching for A _n, always, the use conditions of the image material There is a system structure that refers to the search guidebook that is managed collectively. A conventional video server search system will be described.

FIG. 11 shows a conventional video server search system. In the system shown in the figure, each video material A ₁ , from each terminal device connected via a network such as a LAN,
When searching for A _n , a search guidebook that describes the usage conditions of each video material in detail is searched, and the video material that can be searched by the search guidebook is supplied to the terminal.

FIG. 12 shows a conventional access system to a video material memory. As shown in the figure, when a video material memory is accessed from a terminal such as a personal computer, it is roughly classified into a center type storage device such as a video server and a personal computer peripheral storage device such as a CD-ROM.

When accessing these storage devices, the terminal uses the video material access program set for each storage device to access each storage device. This video material access program is a program that incorporates the usage conditions of the video material, and when the user does not have the right to use the video material, the video material access program is controlled so as not to be accessed.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional video server search system, the information that the intellectual property right is acquired by the purchase of the intellectual property right or the license is obtained from the intellectual property right holder. Information is stored, but the number of video materials that can receive all intellectual property rights is limited. For example, if the image material has portrait rights of A talent and B talent, and A talent is allowed for the search, but B talent is not, it is usually difficult to use this video material. Further, if only the video material of the licensed A talent portion is used, the cost for re-editing the video increases. In this way, if you try to use video material partially due to intellectual property rights,
There is an economic problem of increased costs.

Further, _if the use conditions of each of the image materials A _{1 to} A _n are described in detail, the storage table of the search guide will increase and the search method will become complicated. In addition, if the usage conditions are flexibly changed depending on the time, it becomes more complicated. As described above, there is a second problem that the efficiency of the search process and the change process is reduced.

With the sophistication of communication networks such as local area networks (LANs), the market is expanding from a center type storage device of a video server to a distributed video material storage device. In the meantime, the cut-out image material is often transferred as a file.
At that time, in the method shown in FIG. 11, it is easy to cut out the video material, but it is complicated to cut out the partial information of the search guidebook corresponding to each video material.

In the system shown in FIG. 12, when accessing the video material memory, it is divided into a center type storage device (including a distributed storage device) and a personal peripheral storage device. There are a plurality of types of access programs installed in a personal computer for these devices, and the accesses are not uniform. This is because the hardware product is sold as a pair with its instruction manual, and the software product has a package structure that is a pair of video material and an instruction manual that specifies its usage conditions. Not in that. That is, since the image material and the instruction manual do not form a paired package structure, it is difficult to distribute and store the image material using various storage devices or a storage medium such as a CD-ROM. There is.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has a package structure in which a video material and an instruction manual defining the usage conditions, copyright, contact information, royalty fee, etc. are made into a pair and handled. It is an object of the present invention to provide a video information search method and system capable of controlling cutting out a part or all of a video material based on a manual.

[0013]

According to the present invention, in a video information retrieval method for retrieving stored video material information, a set of a video material and regulation information defining a use condition of the video material is set in a management table. It is registered and the video material is searched based on the regulation information when the user requests the search.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention. Further, according to the present invention, the search condition of the video material desired by the user is accepted (step 1), and the regulation information of the management table is referred to based on the search condition (step 2).
Determine whether it is possible to extract video material (step 3),
Only when the video material can be extracted, the video material is extracted from the management table and provided to the user (step 4). When the video material cannot be extracted, a message indicating that the video material cannot be extracted is displayed Is displayed (step 5).

Further, the definition information stored in a pair with the video material of the present invention has a document structure. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention. According to the present invention, in a video information search system for searching stored video material information, search information storage means 100 for storing video material information 112 and regulation information 111 defining the usage conditions of the video material information 112 as one set. And the search permission determination means 420 for determining whether the video material information 112 is searchable based on the regulation information 111 stored in the search information storage means 100, and the video material information according to the result of the search permission determination means 420. And providing means 440 for providing all or part of the above.

Further, the present invention includes a stored information specifying unit that receives a search request from a user and specifies the search information storage unit in which the video material information corresponding to the search request is stored. Further, the above-mentioned search permission judging means is a prescribed information notifying means for notifying the user of the retrieval request source of the prescribed information as a message, and when the user inputs an answer corresponding to the message, the user And the answer judging means for judging whether the correctness and the prescribed information are satisfied.

Further, the above-mentioned regulation information has a document structure. As described above, the present invention manages a video material and an instruction manual (regular information) of the video material that defines the usage conditions of the video material as a pair to manage a video material and an access condition for one video material. It is possible to search for a video material by always corresponding to.

In general, the use condition differs for each video material, but it is possible to judge whether or not the video material can be cut out by referring to the prescribed condition managed in pair with the video material. It can cover the usage conditions of the video material. Further, since each prescribed condition is described not by the program structure but by the document structure, it is only necessary to change the document content when the prescribed condition is changed due to the change of the rights relationship.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Video search data is stored in a storage device or storage medium having a package structure as a pair of a content made up of video material and a content instruction manual that defines the usage conditions of the content, and used. When a content search request is issued by a user, refer to the instruction manual of the content to be searched to determine whether the content can be provided, cut out part or all of the video material, and provide it to the user. To do.

FIG. 2 is a basic conceptual diagram of the present invention. The system shown in the figure includes a video material storage unit 10 and a search device 40.
0 and the terminal device 300. The video material storage unit 10 includes a video data package 100 and a search information table device 200. Of these, the video data package 100 includes an instruction manual 111 and contents 112.
The video search data 110 is stored as one set.

The search information table 200 stores the description information about the package contents such as the name, outline and characteristics of each package. When a search request for video data from the user's terminal is input to the search device 400, the search device 400
Refers to the search information table 200 in the video material storage unit 10 according to the search request. Search information table 20
Video data package 100 corresponding to a search request from 0
Select Next, the search device 400 refers to the instruction manual 111 of the video data package 100, determines whether or not the video data corresponding to the instruction manual 111 can be acquired, and if the video data package 100 can be acquired, the content 112 is acquired. Is acquired and transferred to the terminal device 300.

[0022]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a video material search system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the video material search system shown in the figure, the same components as those in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

The system shown in FIG. 4 has a terminal device 300,
The search device 400 and the video material storage unit 10 are included.
The video material storage unit 10 includes a search information table 200 and a video data package 100.

The terminal device 300 is composed of a keyboard and a display device, and when a user acquires video data, the user inputs a title of desired video data as search request condition information from the keyboard. The search device 400 displays a guide message or video information on the display device.

The search device 400 includes a table search unit 410.
And a package search unit 420 and a user file 430. The table search unit 410 uses the terminal device 30.
When the search information table 200 is searched based on the search request condition input from 0 and there is no video data package 100 having the video data corresponding to the condition,
It notifies that there is no package that meets the conditions on the display of the terminal device 300. When the address of the video data package 100 that satisfies the condition is acquired, the address is notified to the package search unit 420.

The package search unit 420 accesses the video data package 100 based on the address of the video data package 100 acquired by the table search unit 410. At this time, first, it is determined whether the video data can be extracted by referring to the instruction manual. If the content can be extracted, the content is read and transferred to the terminal device 300.

The user file 430 is an I file for each user.
D, registration password, name, address, occupation, account number, etc. are stored. FIG. 5 shows an example of the search information table according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the search information table 200 includes package title information and description information of the package. Package title information is
It is composed of a package ID uniquely set for each package and a package name. The package description information stores the outline of the package, the characteristics of the data, the contents of the package, the in-package address, and the like.

In the example shown in the figure, it is assumed that the information of the video data recording the election campaign of the US president is set. In this example, the package ID is "AA10",
The package name is “Presidential election”, the outline is “Election activity”, the characteristic is “Document”, and the package contents are
"Candidate", "Speech A", "Speech B", "Speech C",
"Speech D" and "TV talk" are registered. Here, the table search unit 410 of the search device 400 searches the package description column of the search information table 200 for a package ID and an in-package address corresponding to the search condition based on the search condition input from the terminal device 300. . It is assumed that a keyword that is generally used for a database search is input from the terminal device 300, and the table search unit 410 searches the data corresponding to the keyword input from the search information table 200.

In this example, when the name A of the presidential candidate is input from the terminal device 300, the contents of the package are searched for data corresponding to the name. In this example, the content of the package includes “Speech A”, which indicates that the speech of the candidate with the name A is recorded. Therefore, the table search unit 410 causes the package search unit 420 to do so.
For "AA10" and the package address "AA1"
0-2000 "is transferred.

FIG. 6 shows the contents of a video data package according to an embodiment of the present invention. Video data package 100
Is composed of a plurality of package information including a package ID 120 unique to each package, an address 113, an instruction manual 111, and a digital image 112 as contents.

Address 113 is assigned to each set of instruction manual 111 and digital video information 112. The instruction manual 111 is based on SGML (Standard Generalized Mar
kup Language: World Standards Organization ISO convention ISO8879
-It is expressed in the document format of 1986 and Japanese Industrial Standard JIS x 4151). The SGML document describes access conditions for using the corresponding digital video. The SGML document describes access conditions for using the corresponding digital video 112. The SGML document is roughly classified into an overall access condition in which usage conditions for accessing the entire digital video 112 are defined, and
It has a document structure composed of partial access conditions in which the digital video is divided and the usage conditions for accessing the divided partial digital videos are defined.

In the digital video information 112 shown in FIG. 6, the information corresponding to the entire access condition is "X", and the information corresponding to the partial access condition is X1 and X2.
It is. At this time, in the instruction manual 111, if “X” is accessible as the overall access condition,
If "CALL X" is specified and "X1" is accessible as a partial access condition, "CALL X"
X1 ”is designated.

Further, as restriction information for accessing these conditions, user qualification information such as ID and password, various provisions regarding intellectual property rights such as portrait right and copyright,
There are usage charges such as royalties and initials, contact information such as production addresses and telephone numbers, precautions for use, and message information to the user such as warning texts. When such restriction information is satisfied, the digital video information 112 can be accessed according to the whole access condition or the partial access condition.

Next, the operation of accessing a series of video materials will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an outline of the access operation of the video material according to the embodiment of the present invention. Step 100) The operator inputs an ID, a password, and a search keyword as video material access conditions from the terminal device 300.

Step 200) The table search unit 410 of the search device 400 searches the search information table 200 based on the input video material access condition. At this point, if there is no term corresponding to the search keyword entered on the search information table 200, the terminal device 300 is given as a message that there is no information to be searched.
Return to. In step 200, when there is a term that matches the search keyword input on the search information table 200, the in-package address corresponding to the package ID of the search information table 200 is transferred to the package search unit 420.

Step 400) Package search unit 42
0 is the package I acquired from the table search unit 410
The video data package 100 corresponding to D is searched.
At this time, the package I of the video data package 100
The acquired package ID is collated with D120. In the collated package 10, the address 113 is searched for at the in-package address, and the content 112 is acquired according to the instruction manual 111 stored at the address 113.

Step 500) Obtained content 1
12 is transferred to the terminal device 300 as a search result. Next, each of the above operations will be described in detail. FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the search information table search process according to the embodiment of this invention.

Step 201) The table search unit 410 of the search device 400 receives the I input from the terminal device 300.
The user qualification is checked from D and the password, and it is determined whether or not it is registered in the user list registered in the user file 430 in advance. If it is not registered, it is determined that the user is not qualified to use the terminal device. It is returned to 300 as a message. If it is a legitimate use registered in the user list, the input search keyword is subjected to morphological analysis or the like and divided into words for searching the video material.

Step 202) Of the words divided by the morphological analysis, the words corresponding to the noun are taken out in order from the beginning, and the search information table 200 is searched with the word. When searching the search information table 200, a record having a word that matches the word of the package name, outline, characteristics, and package contents is acquired. In addition, in such a search, when a keyword for searching the search information table 200 is given to the operator in advance, the search information table 200 having matching words is provided.
It is possible to obtain the record of, but is not limited to this example, and a known fuzzy search may be used for the search.

Step 203) Table search unit 410
Determines whether a term corresponding to the keyword is registered in the search information table 200. If not registered, the process proceeds to step 204, and if registered, the process proceeds to step 206.

Step 204) Search information table 20
When the term corresponding to the word of the keyword input to 0 is not registered, and when the search of the search information table 200 is completed for all the words of the keyword, the process proceeds to step 205 and still If there is a word to be searched next, the process proceeds to step 202.

Step 205) A message indicating that the corresponding information does not exist in the search information table 200 is returned to the terminal device 300 as a message. Step 206) The package ID and the in-package address acquired from the search information table 200 are transferred to the package search unit 420.

Next, the video material (content) of the video data package 100 based on the package ID and the in-package address acquired from the table search unit 410.
The process of acquiring will be described. FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of a video data package search process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Step 301) Package search unit 42
When 0 acquires the package ID and the in-package address from the table search unit 410, first, the package ID
Based on the above, the package ID 120 of each video data package 100 is searched, and the video data package 100 that matches the transferred package ID is acquired.

Step 302) Package search unit 42
0 searches the address part 113 of the package based on the in-package address and finds the matching address part 1
It is determined that the record has 13. Step 303) The package search unit 420 refers to the instruction manual 111 of the determined record. User qualifications, portrait rights, copyrights, various regulations concerning intellectual property rights, usage fees such as royalties and initials, production address, inquiry information such as telephone numbers, precautions and warnings in use It has various kinds of information such as message information to users. Package search unit 42
0 refers to the user file 430 and refers to the instruction manual 1
It is determined whether or not the user qualification of 11 is satisfied, and if it is not satisfied, the content 112 is not searched and the terminal device 300 is notified that it is unavailable.

Furthermore, the terminal device 30 is selected by selecting the information such as the usage charge and the warning message that the operator should recognize in advance.
Notify 0 as a message. Here, the terminal device 30
If a message to continue the search is returned from 0 as it is, the process proceeds to the next step.

Step 304) Package search unit 42
0 searches the content 112 according to the searchable range defined in the instruction manual 111. The searchable range is set by the start point address and the end point address. Further, this searchable range can be changed according to the conditions input from the terminal device 300, for example, the payment amount. The content 112 in the determined searchable range is read. Read the read content in the instruction manual 111
If necessary, various edits can be made based on the usage conditions of.

Step 305) In step 304, if the operator cannot provide the information in the range requested by the operating conditions of the instruction manual 111, the terminal device 300 is notified by a message. Further, based on the instruction manual 111, the contact information, guide messages such as cautions, warning sentences, etc. are transferred to the terminal device 300.

Step 306) In step 304, the read content is transferred to the terminal device 300. Next, a method of extracting the content (digital video) in step 304 will be described.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining how to extract digital video information according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, it is assumed that the instruction manual 111 describes the following conditions.・ Use qualification information ID and password match ・ Regular information Portrait right-Allowed copyright-Licensed by usage fee ・ Usage fee Royalty-300,000 yen Initial ・ Contact information Production address-0-2-3 Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo Phone No. -03-1111-1234 ・ Search range all information ・ Message information Inquiry message "For diversion and duplication of this digital video information,
Please pay the usage fee of 300,000 yen. If you agree, enter your ID, password and # 1. "Warning message" Forbidden diversion of this accessed digital image information "Package search unit 420 based on the above access conditions
Will be described.

Step 501) First, the terminal device 300
ID and password input from user file 4
It is determined whether or not it is registered in 30. If not registered, the process proceeds to step 506. Step 502) It is determined whether the instruction manual 111 includes inquiry information to the user, and if not, the process proceeds to step 507.

Step 503) If the instruction manual 111 contains inquiry information for the user,
The message “For diversion and duplication of this digital video information,
Please pay the usage fee of 300,000 yen. If you agree, enter your ID, password and # 1. 』Transfer. As a result, the I
If D, the password, and "# 1" indicating approval are input, the process proceeds to step 504, and if they are not input, the process ends.

Step 504) When the ID and password and "# 1" are entered, the ID and password are checked in the same manner as in Step 501, and the user's account number is referenced by referring to the user file 430. Determine if there is a registration. Step 505) As a result of the check in Step 504,
If the content 112 is accessible, step 5
If the access is impossible, the process proceeds to step 506.

Step 506) If the access is not possible, the terminal device 300 is notified as a message that the access is not possible, and the process is terminated. (Step 507) It is determined whether the access range is the whole information or the partial information by referring to the instruction manual 111. If the whole information is accessible, the process proceeds to step 508 and the partial information is accessed. If it is possible, the process proceeds to step 509. In the above example,
Since the information is the whole information, the process proceeds to step 508.

Step 508) Access the whole information. Step 509) Partial information is accessed according to the partial access condition. (Step 510) If the information obtained by accessing needs to be edited, the process proceeds to step 511,
If that is not the case, the process proceeds to step 512.

Step 511) When the editing conditions are set in the instruction manual 111, various editing is performed based on the conditions. The editing process includes a process of adding a guide message. In the above example, "Forbidden unauthorized use of this accessed digital video information" is added to the accessed digital video information as a warning message.

Step 512) The edited message or the like is added to the digital video information and the digital video information is transferred to the terminal device 300. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications and applications are possible within the scope of the claims.

[0058]

As described above, according to the video information search method and system of the present invention, a video image defining a usage condition, a copyright, a contact point, a royalty fee, etc. for a video material body and a partial video material obtained by dividing the video material body. By having a package structure with a pair of material instruction manuals, it is possible to cut out and search for desired video materials based on the video material instruction manuals, so that images involving intellectual property rights such as copyright Re-editing of materials is not necessary, and it is possible to significantly reduce labor costs.

Further, since the video material instruction manual describing the usage rules such as usage conditions is expressed by a document structure such as SGML, correction / change is facilitated, and search processing and change processing are efficient. Furthermore, by making a pair of the video material main body and the video material instruction manual that defines the usage method, it becomes easy to change the storage location to a different storage device or storage medium such as a video server or CD-ROM. Distribution of materials
Saves easily.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a basic conceptual diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a video material search system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a search information table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the contents of a video data package according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an outline of an access operation of a video material according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a search information table search process according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a video data package search process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining how to extract digital video information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a conventional video server search system.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a conventional video material memory access system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 video material storage unit 100 video data package, search information storage unit 111 instruction manual 112 contents 113 address unit 120 package ID 200 search information table 300 terminal device 400 search device 410 table search unit 420 package search unit, search permission determination unit 430 User file 440 providing means

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A video information retrieval method for retrieving stored video material information, wherein a set of video material and regulation information that prescribes usage conditions of the video material is registered in a management table, and the regulation information is stored. A method for searching video information, characterized in that the video material is searched based on. 2. A search condition for the video material desired by a user is accepted, and based on the search condition, it is determined whether or not the video material can be extracted by referring to the regulation information in the management table. The video material is extracted from the management table only when the video material can be extracted, and when the video material cannot be extracted, a message indicating that the video material cannot be extracted is displayed to the user. The video information search method according to claim 1. 3. The video information search method according to claim 1, wherein the prescribed information stored in pair with the video material is composed of a document structure. 4. A video information retrieval system for retrieving stored video material information, comprising a search information storage means for storing the video material information and regulation information defining a usage condition of the video material information in one set. A search permission determining unit that determines whether the video material information is searchable based on the regulation information stored in the search information storing unit; A video information search system comprising: a providing unit that provides all or a part of the image information. 5. A search request from the user is accepted,
The video information search system according to claim 4, further comprising stored information specifying means for specifying the search information storage means in which video material information corresponding to the search request is stored. 6. The prescribed permission notifying means for obtaining the inquiry information from the prescribed information and notifying the user of the retrieval request source as a message to the user who made the retrieval request, and responding to the message from the user. The video information search system according to claim 4, further comprising: a response determination unit that determines whether the user's legitimacy and the condition of the regulation information are satisfied when a response is input. 7. The video information search system according to claim 4, wherein the regulation information has a document structure.