Patent Application
20140104367
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of a Korean patent application filed on Oct. 12, 2012 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office and assigned Serial No. 10-2012-0113841, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present disclosure was made by or on behalf of the below listed parties to a joint research agreement. The joint research agreement was in effect on or before the date the present disclosure was made and the present disclosure was made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of the joint research agreement. The parties to the joint research agreement are 1) SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. and 2) UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COOPERATION GROUP OF KYUNG HEE UNIVERSITY
The present disclosure relates to a multimedia communication system. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for communicating media information in a multimedia communication system.
With the adoption in the marketplace of smartphones, tablet Personal Computers (PCs), and smart TeleVisions (TVs), a smart media environment exists. Development of smart devices led by the smartphone fulfills a cross media environment while promoting the use of multi-screens for smart TVs, tablet PCs, and cloud computing, while replacing three related-art screens for the PC, the TV and the mobile devices. With the growth of smart media and cloud computing, and a change in a communication environment, full-scale multi-screen services are expected to emerge.
The multi-screen service refers to a next generation computing/network service for exchanging one or more media in various terminals, such as smartphones, PCs, smart TVs, tablet PCs, etc. The multi-screen service enables users to use media in any place as well as to use a variety of media simultaneously with many terminals.
The multi-screen service has some similar aspects to scene configuration information in that a large number of media may be used by a large number of terminals at the same time and that arrangement of shared media on the screen may be required. Accordingly, a need exists for a method for exchanging media between terminals for a multi-screen service with scene configuration information.
Providing the scene configuration information and multi-screen information means that two services are provided through different applications, which may cause two problems. First, providing different services at the same time may burden the terminals. Second, if a user sees two running applications displayed on a single screen, the media mismatch may cause degraded quality of service and user experience.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.
Aspects of the present disclosure are to address at least the above-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a method and apparatus for communicating media information in a multimedia communication system.
The present disclosure also provides a method and apparatus for communicating media between terminals using scene configuration information.
The present disclosure also provides a method and apparatus that enables multiple terminals to configure a screen efficiently based on media communication.
In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method for sending media information by a first terminal in a multimedia communication system is provided. The method includes generating scene configuration information that includes information regarding at least one medium of multiple media, and sending the scene configuration information to a second terminal, wherein the information regarding the at least one medium includes at least one of information indicating whether to allow reproduction of the at least one medium in the second terminal, resource information used to reproduce the at least one medium, position information used to reproduce the at least one medium on a screen, and reproduction time information for the at least one medium.
In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for receiving media information by a second terminal in a multimedia communication system is provided. The method includes receiving from a first terminal scene configuration information that includes information regarding at least one medium of multiple media, and reproducing the at least one medium based on the scene configuration information, wherein the information regarding the at least one medium includes at least one of information indicating whether to allow reproduction of the at least one medium in the second terminal, resource information used to reproduce the at least one medium, position information used to reproduce the at least one medium on a screen, and reproduction time information for the at least one medium.
In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a first terminal of a multimedia communication system is provided. The first terminal includes a controller for generating scene configuration information that includes information regarding at least one medium of multiple media, and a transmitter for sending the scene configuration information to a second terminal, wherein the information regarding the at least one medium includes at least one of information indicating whether to allow reproduction of the at least one medium in the second terminal, resource information used to reproduce the at least one medium, position information used to reproduce the at least one medium on a screen, and reproduction time information for the at least one medium.
In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a second terminal of a multimedia communication system is provided. The second terminal includes a receiver for receiving from a first terminal scene configuration information that includes information regarding at least one medium of multiple media, and a controller for reproducing the at least one medium based on the scene configuration information, wherein the information regarding the at least one medium includes at least one of information indicating whether to allow reproduction of the at least one medium in the second terminal, resource information used to reproduce the at least one medium, position information used to reproduce the at least one medium on a screen, and reproduction time information for the at least one medium.
Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure.
The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain embodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood to refer to like parts, components, and structures.
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.
The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting to the disclosure.
It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms including technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for communicating media information in a multimedia communication system. Specifically, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for providing media communication related attributes by using scene configuration information in order for one or more media to be reproduced (or played) by another terminal, a method for defining events for providing times to obtain and return media, and a method for transferring media resource information and scene configuration information. Other various embodiments of the present disclosure may also provide apparatuses associated with the methods.
In various embodiments of the present disclosure, media services using scene configuration information (interchangeably called Composition Information (CI)) will be explained. However, embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the media services using the scene configuration information but may be applied to any other areas that offer services by configuring various multimedia in combination.
In various embodiments, the scene configuration information may include time and space information of various media and information for describing relationships between elements of the scene configuration information.
The scene configuration information may be created with eXtensible Markup Language (XML). The scene configuration information and associated information are defined as shown in Table 1.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.
In a case where there are multiple terminals in a multimedia communication system, media communication between the terminals may be performed. That is, a terminal may provide media to another terminal, which may in turn reproduce (or play) the media.
As used herein, a terminal that provides media to another terminal is referred to as a primary device, and the other terminal that receives the media from the primary device is referred to as a secondary device.
The primary device or the secondary device may each configure a screen by using CI as represented in Table 2. Table 2 represents an example of the CI.
Referring to <body> part in Table 2, there are three video assets, “video1”, “video2”, and “video3”, which may be arranged respectively in “Area1”, “Area2”, and “Area3”, each of which has different spatial information. The three video assets may be represented in the form of resource information and media types as shown in <LoA> part under <head>, and “video1” and “video2” among the three video assets may be arranged in a view based on two divLocations of <div>. A screen based on the CI of Table 2 may be configured as shown in
Referring to
If there are multiple terminals, e.g., the primary device and the secondary device, the primary and secondary devices each reproduce (or play) the medium by configuring a screen in various forms depending on the CI. The CI may be provided by e.g., a media server to each of the primary and secondary devices, or may be provided by the primary device to the secondary device as will be described below.
In various embodiments, methods for enabling the primary and secondary devices to reproduce media with various forms of screen configuration are provided. Specifically, the embodiments include (1) a method for restricting media reproduction at the secondary device, (2) a method for enabling the secondary device to reproduce particular media, (3) a method for reproducing the same media in the primary and secondary devices, (4) a method for transferring media to the secondary device for reproduction, and (5) a method for reconfiguring a screen in response to media communication.
Each of the methods will be described in detail below.
In order to restrict media reproduction in the secondary device, CI as shown in Table 3 may be used.
Table 3 represents CI that has additional information for restricting reproduction at the secondary device, in addition to the CI as shown in Table 2, and the additional information is referred to as reproduction restriction information (plungeOut=“disable”). In the CI of Table 3, plungeOut=“disable” represents that reproduction of “video1” included in Area 1 indicated by divLocation of “divL1” is restricted.
One or more assets may be enclosed in an Area, and thus the Area is conveniently used to transfer multiple assets to the secondary device. Thus, the Area may be used as a unit of transferring assets. DivLocation provides features for arranging the Area on a screen, so it may also provide information regarding media communication, i.e., the reproduction restriction information. According to the method, operations of the primary device and secondary device are illustrated in
Referring to
In operation 202, the primary device adds the reproduction restriction information (plungeOut=“disable”) to CI, indicating that reproduction of the selected at least one medium is to be restricted. In operation 204, the primary device sends the CI that includes the reproduction restriction information to the secondary device.
In operation 206, the primary device reproduces media based on the CI. The primary device may reproduce the at least one medium whose reproduction is restricted at the secondary device.
Referring to
If the CI does not contain the reproduction restriction information, in operation 308, the secondary device reproduces the media based on the CI. If the CI contains the reproduction restriction information, in operation 304, the secondary device detects at least one medium based on the reproduction restriction information. In operation 306, the secondary device reproduces other media than the detected at least one medium.
Referring to
Table 4 represents the CI that has additional information for allowing for reproduction in the secondary device, in addition to the CI as shown in Table 2, and the information is referred to as reproduction allowance information (plungeOut=“complementary”). In the CI of Table 4, plungeOut=“complementary” is provided in divLocation as information regarding media communication, indicating that “video3” of Area3400 which is present but not shown in the view based on divLocation is allowed to be reproduced in the secondary device while being restricted in the primary device.
According to this method, operations of the primary device and secondary device are illustrated in
Referring to
In operation 502, the primary device adds the reproduction allowance information (plungeOt=“complementary”) that indicates to reproduce the selected at least one medium, to the CI together with resource information of the selected at least one medium.
In operation 504, the primary device sends the resultant CI to the secondary device, and in operation 506, the primary device reproduces corresponding media based on the CI. The primary device may reproduce other media than the at least one medium allowed to be reproduced in the secondary device.
Referring to
If the CI contains the reproduction allowance information, in operation 604, the secondary device detects from the CI at least one medium based on the reproduction restriction information. In operation 606 the secondary device reproduces the at least one medium based on the resource information of the at least one medium contained in the CI.
If the CI does not contain the reproduction allowance information, the secondary device ends the procedure.
Referring to
Such simultaneous media reproduction may make use of CI as represented in Table 5.
Table 5 represents the CI that has additional information for allowing for simultaneous reproduction in the primary and secondary devices, in addition to the CI as shown in Table 2, and the information is referred to as simultaneous reproduction allowance information (plungeOut=“sharable”). In the CI of Table 5, plungeOut=“sharable” is provided in divLocation as information regarding media communication, indicating that “video2” is allowed to be reproduced in the primary device at Area2120 and the secondary device at Area2700, simultaneously.
According to this method, operations of the primary device and secondary device are illustrated in
Referring to
In operation 802, the primary device adds the simultaneous reproduction allowance information (plungeOt=“sharable”) that indicates simultaneous reproduction of the selected at least one medium, to the CI together with resource information of the selected at least one medium.
In operation 804, the primary device sends the resultant CI to the secondary device, and in operation 806, the primary device reproduces corresponding media based on the CI. The primary device may reproduce the same media as that of the secondary device.
Referring to
If the CI contains the simultaneous reproduction allowance information, in operation 904, the secondary device detects at least one medium based on the simultaneous reproduction restriction information. In operation 906 the secondary device reproduces the at least one medium based on the resource information of the at least one medium contained in the CI.
If the CI does not contain the simultaneous reproduction allowance information, the secondary device ends the procedure.
Referring to
To assign the primary device the new spatial information for Area1100, time information about when the media communication has performed between terminals. To provide such information through media communication between terminals, events about when to obtain and return media may be defined in CI, as represented in Table 6.
Referring to Table 6, information that is added to divLocation of “divL1”, begin=“0s AreaBack”end=“divL2.AreaOut”, indicates time to start reproduction and time to stop reproduction for Areal 100 as shown in
Information added to divLocation of “divL2”, plungeOut=“dynamic”, indicates that an area for reproducing “video2” is dynamic, meaning that “video2” may be transferred to the secondary device for reproduction.
Furthermore, information added to divLocation of “divL3”, begin=“divL2.AreaOut”end=“AreaBack”, indicates when to start and stop reproduction in Area11000, as shown in
According to this method, operations of the primary device and secondary device are illustrated in
Referring to
In operation 1102, the primary device determines where and when to reproduce media in response to transfer and return of the at least one medium. Specifically, information about where to reproduce media may contain information regarding positions of other media being reproduced than the at least one medium on the screen of the primary device in a case the at least one medium is to be reproduced in the primary device, and information regarding positions of other media than the at least one medium on the screen of the screen of the secondary device in a case the at least one medium is to be reproduced in the secondary device.
Information about when to reproduce media may contain information regarding time to start and stop reproducing other media than the at least one medium in the case the at least one medium is to be reproduced in the primary device, and information regarding time to start and stop reproducing other media than the at least one medium in the case the at least one medium is to be reproduced in the secondary device.
In operation 1104, the primary device adds resource information for the selected at least one medium to CI and sends the CI to the secondary device. The information about when and where to reproduce media may be added to the CI, but may be left out of the CI that is sent to the secondary device.
In operation 1106, the primary device reproduces other media than the at least one medium based on the information about when and where to reproduce media.
In operation 1108, the primary device determines whether the at least one medium is to be returned from the secondary device, i.e., whether the at least one medium is indicated to be reproduced back in the primary device, according to the user selection.
In operation 1110, in the case the at least one medium is returned, the primary device reproduces other media than the at least one medium based on the information about when and where to reproduce media in response to the media return.
Referring to
In operation 1206, the secondary device returns the at least one medium to the primary device upon selection of the user. Specifically, the secondary device may return the at least one medium to the primary device by sending a request in a particular message to the primary device to reproduce the at least one medium or sending the primary device the resource information for the at least one medium.
The primary device may receive from the secondary device at least one Area that contains media while displaying a particular Area based on CI. In this case, the primary device may rearrange the screen to display the received at least one Area together with the particular Area. Related explanation will be described in connection with
As shown in
For this, the primary device may use CI as represented in Table 7 as an example.
Referring to Table 7, information added to View1, begin=“0s divL3. AreaOut AreasOurend=”AreaIn(1)“, indicates that display of Area11300 starts from 0 second, or starts when there is no other Area to be displayed in a position where the Areal is to be displayed and ends if there is any other Area to be displayed in the position. That is, View1 is displayed if only Area11300 exists.
Information added to View2, begin=“AreaIn(1)” end=divL3. AreaOut AreasOut”, indicates that display of Area11300 starts when there is another additional Area to be displayed in a position where the Area1 is to be displayed and ends if there is no other Area to be displayed in the position. That is, View2 is displayed if there is an additional Area in addition to Area11300.
Another information added to View2, plungeIn=“1” and plungeIn=“2”, indicates where to arrange the received Areas on the screen, e.g., where to arrange the first received Area 1340 and where to arrange the second received Area 1360.
According to the CI of Table 7, as shown in
DivLocation of “divL3” of View2 is determined to be an empty area according to an attribute added thereto through media communication, which becomes first received area 1340 according to a value of the attribute, plungeIn=“1”. DivLocation of “divL4” of View2 is also determined to be empty area 1360 according to a value of the attribute, plungeIn=“2”.
Reproduction of View2 stops when an Area of “divL3” is returned or when a stop event occurs when all Areas once transferred are returned, and Viewl resumes being reproduced according to a start event.
Operations of the primary device according this method will be described in connection with
Referring to
Upon reception of the Area, in operation 1404, the primary device configures a second screen through screen rearrangement such that an additional reproduction area (empty area) for the received Area may be created. In operation 1406, the primary device assigns the received Area for the additional reproduction area.
In this regard, the primary device may receive multiple Areas from the secondary device, and may create multiple additional reproduction areas. The primary device may assign multiple Areas for multiple additional reproduction areas on a predetermined basis. For example, the primary device may assign Areas for areas determined in the receiving order.
In operation 1408, if the primary device determines that the received Area has been returned, in operation 1410, the primary device releases the additional reproduction area(s) and returns to the first screen.
Although
Table 8 represents an example of information regarding an Area to be sent from the primary device to the secondary device through media communication.
Referring to Table 8, it can be seen that information that has to be provided first includes spatial information of the Area, src information of assets within the Area, and information regarding assets' reproduction times thus far, and that subsequent information includes information regarding each asset's reproduction time to provide synchronization among assets.
Referring to
In operation 1502, the user may request the primary device to perform media communication of Area1-2, i.e., to transfer Area1-2 to the secondary device for reproduction. Then, in operation 1504, the primary device may send resource information for Area1-2 and scene configuration information, i.e., CI to the secondary device. In operation 1506, the primary device ends reproduction of the Area1-2.
In operation 1508, an event that occurs from the Area transfer causes new scene configuration information to be applied in the primary device. In operation 1510, the event causes new scene configuration information to be applied in the secondary device. For example, Area1-1 being reproduced in the primary device and Area2 being reproduced in the secondary device may be rearranged at new positions.
In operation 1512, the secondary device starts reproducing Area1-2. The secondary device reproduces the Area1-2 at a position determined from the information regarding Area and information regarding empty area in the CI received from the primary device. In the embodiment of
Symbol ‘A’ indicates operation 1512 of
Referring to
Subsequently, in operation 1520, the secondary device returns to its previous scene configuration in response to an event that occurs from the media return. In operation 1522, the primary device returns to its previous scene configuration in response to an event that occurs from the media return. In operation 1524, the primary device resumes reproducing Area1-2.
The terminal may correspond to the primary device or the secondary device.
Referring to
The controller 1600 controls general operation of the terminal, including operations of the transmitter 1602, receiver 1604, and memory 1606.
Especially, the controller 1600 performs operations of the primary device or the secondary device in terms of various embodiments of the aforementioned methods.
The transmitter 1602 and the receiver 1604 perform wireless communication of the terminal, and may further include separate components.
The memory 1606 stores data and information generated from operations of the terminal, media, etc.
According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a technology to provide information used for media communication between terminals by using scene configuration information may become a base for providing scene configuration and multi-screen services in a single application, and may be efficiently used to reduce duplicate usages of overlapping functionalities between the two services.
While the present disclosure has been shown and described with reference to various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2012-0113841 | Oct 2012 | KR | national |
