JP2003256432A - Image material information description method, remote retrieval system, remote retrieval method, edit device, remote retrieval terminal, remote edit system, remote edit method, edit device, remote edit terminal, and image material information storage device, and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To precisely retrieve image materials stored in a large-capacity archive from a remote place. <P>SOLUTION: The attribute information of image material in the archive 2 is described in an MPEG-7 file and structured as a database. In this file, further representative still-picture of the material and voice are described. The material is retrieved from the DB according to a genre dictionary by a remote retrieval/edit terminal 1, and the retrieval result is transmitted from the archive 2 to the terminal 1 by the MPEG-7 file. At the terminal 1, necessary material is selected according to the transmitted file, and edited. The edit result is transmitted as EDL data to an edit device 3. In the edit device 3, according to the transmitted EDL data, the material is obtained from the archive 2 to automatically perform the actual edit work. The material in the archive 2 can be easily retrieved from the terminal 1 at the remote place of the archive 2 and the edit device 3, and actual edit work can be automatically performed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video material suitable for use when a video material stored in a video material library is searched from a remote location and an editing operation using the searched video material is performed from a remote location. Information description method, remote search system,
The present invention relates to a remote search method, a remote search device and a remote search terminal, a remote editing system, a remote editing method, a remote editing device and a remote editing terminal, and a video material storage device and method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A remote editing system has been proposed in which video material stored in a large-capacity archive is edited from a remote editing terminal device via a communication network. The editing result by the editing terminal device is transmitted to the remote editing terminal to the editing center at a remote location, and the editing center extracts the video material from the archive based on the editing result, edits it, and outputs it as an edited video. To do.

FIG. 33 schematically shows the structure of an example of a remote editing system according to this conventional technique. The large-capacity archive 310 is composed of, for example, a large number of hard disk devices and can store an extremely large number of video materials. The video material stored in the large-capacity archive 310 can be retrieved and retrieved by a predetermined method. An archive center 300 having such a large-capacity archive 310
And an editing center 3 having a large-scale editing system 311
01 and a remote editing terminal 302 capable of performing a relatively small-scale editing work are connected to each other via a communication network 304.

The purpose of this configuration is to control the editing system 311 from the remote editing terminal 302 to perform editing work using the video material stored in the large-capacity archive 310. By using the communication network 304 as the Internet, for example, even if the remote editing terminal 302 is located far away from the large-capacity archive 310 and the editing center 301, the video material stored in the large-capacity archive 310 can be used. Remote editing terminal 30
2 is to be able to do.

First, the operator remotely edits the terminal 30.
2 is operated, and from the remote editing terminal 302 to the large-capacity archive 310 via the communication network 304,
A search for the required video material is required. In the large-capacity archive 310, the video material is searched based on this request,
A video signal based on the searched video material is transmitted to the remote editing terminal 302 via the communication network 304. In this case, the video signal is compression encoded by a predetermined compression encoding method and transmitted. In the remote editing terminal 302, editing work is performed using the transmitted video signal. The editing result is transmitted to the editing system 311 via the communication network 304 as editing result data such as IN point, OUT point, effect processing content, and the like.

The editing system 311 obtains the same video material as that used for editing at the remote editing terminal 302 from the large-capacity archive 310 based on the received editing result data. At this time, the video material is not compressed and encoded in order to maintain high image quality, but is transmitted in a transmission format such as SDI (Serial Digital Interface) defined by SMPTE 259M. Editing center 301
Then, editing is performed using the video material based on the editing result data transmitted from the remote editing terminal 302. The video of the edited result is recorded on, for example, the video tape 313.

In such a system, it is necessary to accurately retrieve the video material required by the operator from the extremely large number of video materials stored in the large-capacity archive 310. Conventionally, many text searches have been performed using keywords. This is because, for example, when a video material is stored in the large-capacity archive 310, text that is a keyword of the stored video material is input, and the input text is stored in the large-capacity archive 310 in association with the video material. To be done. A keyword search for video material is performed based on the text associated with this video material.

Further, in recent years, a system capable of searching by still images and moving images has also appeared. For example, when a video material is stored in the large-capacity archive 310, a still image or a moving image which is the video material itself is automatically extracted from the stored video material by, for example, detecting a scene change. Still images and moving images are stored in the large-capacity archive 310 in association with video materials.

At the time of search, for example, a required video material can be searched for while previewing a still image or a moving image associated with the video material. By combining this with the above-mentioned text-based search, the video material searched by text can be previewed with a still image or a moving image associated with the video material, and the video material can be searched more accurately. be able to.

[0010]

It can be said that the above-mentioned retrieval by the keyword requires a small amount of data transmission for the retrieval and is suitable for use in a communication network. However, the keyword search has a problem in that it is difficult to obtain the necessary video material as a search result because the amount of information is small.

Similarly in a search using a still image, a still image obtained by automatically extracting a predetermined one frame of a video material does not necessarily represent the video material accurately.
Even in this case, there is a problem that it is difficult to obtain the necessary video material as a search result.

On the other hand, if a search is performed using a moving image based on a video material, it is expected that the required video material can be obtained as a search result with higher accuracy than the above-described search by text or search by a still image. . However, in this case, since the moving image data has a large data capacity, there is a problem in that the communication traffic is compressed at the time of data transfer and is not suitable for use via a communication network.

For example, the communication network 304 described above
By using the Internet, a home computer device or the like connected to the Internet can also be used as the editing terminal device 302 described above. In this case, in editing, it takes a very long time to transmit all the moving image data of the video material used for editing via the communication network 304, or the data transfer rate is extremely high. A network will be needed. Therefore, considering the use from the Internet, there is a problem that it is not realistic to search the video material using the moving image.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to describe a video material information description method, a remote search system, and a remote search that enable a more accurate search from a remote location for video materials stored in a large-capacity archive. A method, a remote search device and a remote search terminal, a remote editing system, a remote editing method, a remote editing device and a remote editing terminal, and a video material storage device and method.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a video material information description method used in a database in which search terms are shared in order to universally use the video database. The attribute information of the material is described by dividing the video material into the whole and parts, and the search terms are standardized in order to universally use the video database for the description of the attribute information of the whole and the part of the video material. Is a method for describing video material information, characterized in that data necessary for retrieval is described by using, and a still image and audio corresponding to the video material are embedded.

Further, according to the present invention, the video material is searched using the video material information described by the video material information description method used in the database in which the search terms are shared so that the video database can be used universally. In the remote search system, the video database is used globally for the video archive in which the video material is stored and the video material stored in the video archive is divided into whole and part. The data required for the search is described as the attribute information of the video material using a common search term for this purpose, and the database that stores the data in which the still image and audio corresponding to the video material are stored, and the video The video material stored in the video archive is geographically separated from the archive and database. Via the communication network a search request to perform search and a remote search terminal to be sent to the database, the search results for the search request by the remote retrieval terminal,
The remote search system is characterized in that it is transmitted from a database to a remote search terminal via a communication network as a file described by a common search term.

Further, according to the present invention, the video material is searched using the video material information described by the video material information description method used in the database in which the search terms are standardized so that the video database can be used universally. In the remote search method as described above, a step is taken to store the video material in the video archive, and for the video material stored in the video archive, the video material is divided into whole and part, and the video database is shared globally. The data required for the search is described as the attribute information of the video material by using the search terms common to the use, and the data in which the still image and the audio corresponding to the video material are embedded is stored in the database. Video from steps and remote search terminals geographically separated from the video archive and database. And a step of transmitting a search request for searching the video material accumulated in the archive to the database via the communication network, and the search result for the search request by the remote search terminal is described by common search terms. The file is transmitted as a file from the database to the remote search terminal via the communication means.

Further, the present invention is, in an editing apparatus for editing using video material, the video material transmitted from the remote search terminal and accumulated in the video archive by the remote search terminal, as a whole or in part. The data necessary for the search is described as the attribute information of the video material by using the search terms that are shared for the divided use of the video database globally. Receiving means for receiving edit result data indicating the result of editing performed based on the still image and the sound obtained as a result of searching the database in which the data in which the voice is embedded is searched, and the receiving means. Based on the editing result data, it has an editing means to obtain the video material from the video archive and edit the acquired video material. , Edited by the editing means is editing apparatus characterized in that it is possible to automatically perform based on the edited result data.

Further, the present invention is an editing method for editing using video material, wherein the video material transmitted from the remote search terminal and accumulated in the video archive by the remote search terminal includes the video material in whole or in part. The data required for the search is described by using the common search terms for the divided video database to be used globally, and the attribute that the still image and audio corresponding to the video material are embedded The receiving step of receiving edit result data indicating the result of the edit performed based on the still image and the sound obtained by the search of the database storing the information, and the edit result data received by the receiving step Based on the above, there is an editing step of performing acquisition of the video material from the video archive and editing the acquired video material, Edited by condensing step is the editing method characterized in that it is possible to automatically perform based on the edited result data.

Further, according to the present invention, the video material is searched by using the video material information described by the video material information description method used in the database in which the search terms are shared so that the video database can be used universally. In the remote search terminal, the search request for searching the video material stored in the video archive in which the video material is stored is divided into the whole and part of the video material stored in the video archive. For each of them, the data necessary for the search is described as the attribute information of the video material by using the search terms that are standardized for the worldwide use of the video database, and the still image and audio corresponding to the video material are also described. A remote search means for transmitting via a communication network to a database storing embedded data, and The search result corresponding to the search request is transmitted from the database, the file described by the common search term is received through the communication network, and the still image and the sound embedded in the received file are extracted. However, it is a remote search terminal that is located geographically apart from the video archive and database.

Further, the present invention uses a video material information described by a video material information description method used in a database in which search terms are shared in order to universally use the video database, and the video material is used in a remote search terminal. In the remote search method that searches for the video material, the search request to search the video material stored in the video archive is stored. For each of these, the data required for the search is described as the attribute information of the video material using the search terms that are standardized so that the video database can be used globally Geographically separate from video archives and databases in databases that store data with embedded images and audio. A remote search step in which a remote search terminal at a location sends it via a communication network, and a search result for a search request by the remote search step is sent from a database and a file described by a common search term is remotely searched. A still image and audio received by the terminal via the communication network and embedded in the received file.

Further, according to the present invention, in a video material information description method used for a database in which search terms are shared in order to universally use the video database, the attribute information of the video material is set to the whole or part of the video material. Separately described, and using the search terms that are standardized for universal use of the video database for the description of the attribute information of the whole and part of the video material, it is necessary for editing using the video material. This is a video material information description method characterized by describing data.

Further, according to the present invention, the video material is edited by using the video material information described by the video material information description method used in the database in which the search terms are standardized so that the video database can be used universally. In the remote editing system, the video database is used globally for the video archive in which the video material is stored and the video material stored in the video archive is divided into whole and part. A database that stores data in which the data necessary for editing using video material is described as attribute information of the video material using a search term that is common to the video archive and a location geographically separated from the video archive and database. The data required for editing described as attribute information of the video material stored in the video archive. Edit the video material using the, and edit the video material from the video archive based on the remote editing terminal that sends the editing result data indicating the editing result via the communication network and the editing result information sent from the remote editing terminal. It has an editing device that obtains and edits the obtained video material, and the data necessary for editing is supplied to the remote editing device in a file described using a common search term and edited. The remote editing system is characterized in that the editing by the device can be automatically performed based on the editing result information.

Further, according to the present invention, the video material is edited by using the video material information described by the video material information description method used in the database in which the search terms are shared so that the video database can be used universally. In the remote editing method as described above, the step of storing the video material in the video archive and the use of the video database in the world for each of the video materials stored in the video archive are divided into whole and part. In order to do this, the step of storing in the database the data in which the data necessary for editing using the video material is described as the attribute information of the video material using the common search terms, and the geographical separation from the video archive and the database. Edited as attribute information of video material stored in video archive Edit the video material using the necessary data and send the edit result data indicating the result of the edit from the remote editing terminal via the communication network. Based on the send step and the edit result information sent by the send step. , A step of obtaining video material from a video archive and editing the obtained video material with an editing device, and the data required for editing is a file described using a common search term. The remote editing method is characterized in that it is supplied to the remote editing apparatus and the editing by the editing apparatus can be automatically performed based on the editing result information.

Further, according to the present invention, in an editing apparatus for editing using a video material, the video material of the video archive in which the video material is stored and the video material stored in the video archive is divided into whole and part. For each of them, there is a database that stores data that describes the data necessary for editing using video material using the search terms that are standardized for universal use of the video database as the attribute information of the video material. Edit results sent from a remote editing terminal that edits video material using data necessary for editing that is described as attribute information of video material stored in a video archive that is geographically separated. Receiving means for receiving the edit result data shown via the communication network, and a video image based on the edit result data received by the receiving means. It is characterized in that it has an editing means for obtaining a video material from a Kaibu and editing the obtained video material, and the editing by the editing means can be automatically performed based on the edited result data. It is an editing device.

Further, according to the present invention, in the editing method for editing using video material, the video material of the video archive in which the video material is stored and the video material stored in the video archive is divided into whole and parts. For each of them, there is a database that stores data that describes the data necessary for editing using video material using the search terms that are standardized for universal use of the video database as the attribute information of the video material. Edit results sent from a remote editing terminal that edits video material using data necessary for editing that is described as attribute information of video material stored in a video archive that is geographically separated. Based on the editing result data received by the receiving step and the receiving step of receiving the editing result data shown through the communication network. It has an editing step of obtaining video material from the video archive and editing the acquired video material, and the editing by the editing step can be automatically performed based on the editing result data. This is an editing method characterized by the above.

Further, according to the present invention, the video material is edited by using the video material information described by the video material information description method which is used in the database in which the search terms are standardized so that the video database can be used universally. In the remote editing terminal, the common search term is used to globally use the video database for each of the video materials stored in the video archive, which are divided into whole and part. Editing means for editing the video material using attribute information that describes the data necessary for editing using the video material, and transmission of the result of editing by the editing means to the editing device via the communication network A remote editing terminal having means and being located at a geographically distant location from the video archive and database.

Further, according to the present invention, the video material is remotely edited by using the video material information described by the video material information description method used in the database in which the search terms are shared so that the video database can be used universally. In the remote editing method performed by the editing terminal, for each of the video materials stored in the video archive, which are divided into whole and part, a search term common to the video database is used globally. Using the attribute information that describes the data required for editing using the video material, an editing step of editing the video material at a remote editing terminal that is geographically distant from the video archive and database, A step of transmitting the result of the editing by the editing step to the editing device via the communication network. It is a remote editing and wherein the door.

Further, the present invention is stored in a video archive in a video material information storage device for storing attribute information of video materials described by a common search term for universal use of the video database. For each and every part of the video material, the data required for the search is described as the attribute information of the video material by using the search terms that are standardized so that the video database can be used globally. The image material information storage device is characterized in that data in which a corresponding still image and audio are embedded is stored.

Further, the present invention is a video material information storage method for storing attribute information of video material described by a common search term for universal use of the video database, which is stored in a video archive. For each and every part of the video material, the data required for the search is described as the attribute information of the video material by using the search terms that are standardized so that the video database can be used globally. A method for storing image material information, characterized in that data in which a corresponding still image and audio are embedded is stored in the image material information storage device.

Further, according to the present invention, in a video material information storage device used for a database in which search terms are shared in order to universally use a video database, all or part of the video material stored in a video archive is stored. On the other hand, the data necessary for editing using the video material is stored by using the search terms that are standardized for universal use of the video database, and the data that is described as the attribute information of the video material is stored. Is a video material information storage device.

Further, the present invention is a video material information storage method for storing video material information in a video material information storage device used for a database in which search terms are shared in order to use the video database universally. The attribute data of the video material is the data necessary for editing with the video material using the search terms that are standardized for universal use of the video database for all or part of the video material stored in The video material information storage method is characterized in that the data described as is stored in the video material information storage device.

Further, the present invention is a remote editing system for searching a video archive in which video materials are stored, from a location geographically distant from the video archive, and performing editing using the searched video material. , The text-based attribute information of the video material stored in the video archive, the database in which the still images and audio corresponding to the video material are registered, and the location that is geographically distant from the video archive and stored in the video archive A search is performed to search the created video material based on the attribute information registered in the database and the still image and audio, edit the video material based on the search result by the search, and output the edited result as edit result data. Obtain video material from the video archive based on the editing result data output from the editing terminal and the search editing terminal, A remote editing system characterized by having an editing device for performing actual editing by hand video material.

Further, the present invention is a remote editing method for searching a video archive in which video materials are stored, from a location geographically distant from the video archive, and performing editing using the searched video material. In, in the text-based attribute information of the video material accumulated in the video archive,
The step of registering the still image and audio corresponding to the video material in the database, and the attribute information in which the video material accumulated in the video archive is registered in the database by the search and editing terminal geographically separated from the video archive. And the still image and the sound are searched, and the editing using the video material is performed based on the search result by the search, and the step of outputting the editing result as the editing result data, and the output from the search editing terminal The remote editing method is characterized in that it comprises a step of obtaining a video material from a video archive based on the edited result data, and using the obtained video material to perform actual editing with an editing device.

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the attribute information of the video material is described by dividing the video material into the whole and the part, and the attribute information of the whole and the part of the video material is described. On the other hand, in order to describe the data required for the search using the search terms that are standardized for the worldwide use of the video database, the still images and audio corresponding to the video material are embedded, The video material can be easily searched based on the attribute information of the material, and the video material can be searched while referring to the still image and the sound of the video material.

In the invention according to claims 10 and 12, the video archive in which the video material is stored and the video material in the video archive stored in the video archive are divided into whole and part. On the other hand, the data necessary for the search is described as the attribute information of the video material using the search terms that are standardized for the worldwide use of the video database, and the still image and audio corresponding to the video material are embedded. A remote search terminal that sends a search request to the database via a communication network, which is located geographically distant from the database in which the stored data is stored and the video archive and the database, and searches for the video material stored in the video archive. The search result for the search request by the remote search terminal is described by a common search term. Since it is sent as a file from the database to the remote search terminal via the communication network, the search of the video material stored in the video archive can be performed by the remote search terminal located geographically apart from the video archive and the database. It is possible to easily search from the video material and search for the video material while referring to the still image and the sound of the video material.

Further, in the invention according to claims 13 and 14, the video material of the video material transmitted from the remote search terminal and accumulated in the video archive by the remote search terminal is divided into whole and part. For each, the data required for the search is described using a common search term for universal use of the video database, and the attribute information in which the still image and audio corresponding to the video material are embedded is stored. Receives edit result data indicating the result of edits made based on still images and audio obtained as a result of searching the database, and obtains video material from the video archive based on the received edit result data And since it is possible to automatically edit the acquired video material, it is possible to use geographic data from the video archive and database. Based on an instruction from the remote search terminal at a remote location, it is possible to actually perform the editing using the image material stored in the image archive.

Further, in the invention according to claims 15 and 17, the search request for searching the video material stored in the video archive in which the video material is stored is geographically separated from the video archive and the database. For each of the video materials stored in the video archive from the location and divided into the video materials in whole and in part, it is necessary to search using the common search terms for universal use of the video database. The data is described as the attribute information of the video material, and it is sent via the communication network to the database that stores the data in which the still images and audio corresponding to the video material are stored, and the search results for the sent search request are displayed. Receives the files described by the common search terms sent from the database via the communication network Since the still images and audio embedded in the received file are extracted, it is possible to search the video material stored in the video archive at a location geographically distant from the video archive and database. At the same time, the search can be performed while referring to the still image and audio of the video material.

According to the eighteenth aspect of the present invention, the attribute information of the image material is described by dividing the image material into the whole and the part, and the attribute information of the whole and the part of the image material is described in the image. In order to use the database universally, the search terms that are standardized are used to describe the data necessary for editing using video material.
Editing using the video material can be performed based on the attribute information of the video material.

The invention described in claims 23 and 25 is directed to a video archive in which the video material is stored and a video material stored in the video archive, in which the video material is divided into whole and parts. On the other hand, a database that stores data in which the data necessary for editing using video materials is described as the attribute information of the video materials by using the search terms that have been standardized for universal use of the video database, and the video. Edit result that shows the result of editing by editing the video material using data necessary for editing which is located in a geographically distant location from the archive and database and described as the attribute information of the video material stored in the video archive. Based on the remote editing terminal that sends data via the communication network and the editing result information sent from the remote editing terminal, The remote editing device has an editing device that obtains video material from Eve and edits the obtained video material, and the data required for editing is a file described using a common search term. The video material stored in the video archive is stored in the video archive from a location geographically distant from the video archive and database. The actual editing used can be done.

The invention described in claim 26 and claim 28 relates to the video archive in which the video material is stored and the video material stored in the video archive for each of which the video material is divided into whole and parts. , The database that stores the data that describes the data necessary for editing using the video material as the attribute information of the video material by using the search terms that are made common to use the video database globally Editing result showing the editing result sent from the remote editing terminal that edits the video material using the data necessary for editing, which is described as the attribute information of the video material stored in the video archive, which is located at a remote place. Data is received via the communication network, and the video material is acquired from the video archive and acquired based on the received edited result data. Since it is possible to automatically edit the video material, the video actually stored in the video archive is based on the instruction from the remote editing terminal that is geographically distant from the video archive and database. You can edit using the material.

Further, in the invention described in claims 29 and 31, the video material of the video material accumulated in the video archive is divided into whole and part from a location geographically distant from the video archive and the database. For each of the above, the video material was edited using the attribute information that describes the data necessary for editing using the video material using the search terms that were made common for the worldwide use of the video database. Since the result of the above is transmitted to the editing device via the communication network, editing is performed using the video material accumulated in the video archive at a location geographically distant from the video archive and database. be able to.

In the inventions as claimed in claims 32 and 41, a common search term for globally using the video database is provided for each and every part of the video materials stored in the video archive. By using the stored attribute information, the data necessary for retrieval is described as the attribute information of the video material, and the data in which the still image and audio corresponding to the video material are embedded is stored. The video material stored in the archive can be easily searched, and the search can be performed while referring to the still image and audio of the video material.

The invention described in claims 42 and 47 is a common search for globally using a video database for each and every part of video material stored in a video archive. Since the data necessary for editing using the video material is described as the attribute information of the video material by using the term, the data stored in the video archive can be stored by using the stored attribute information. You can edit it.

Further, the inventions according to claims 48 and 50 include a database in which text-based attribute information of the video material stored in the video archive and a still image and audio corresponding to the video material are registered. A search and edit terminal located geographically distant from the video archive was used to search the video material stored in the video archive based on the attribute information, still images and audio, and the video material was used based on the search results of the search. Edit, output the result of editing as edit result data, obtain video material from the video archive based on the edit result data output from the search editing terminal, and use the obtained video material to perform actual editing by the editing device. Since the editing is done, it is stored in the video archive with a search editing terminal located geographically distant from the video archive. When the editing using the video material, it is possible to suppress the communication traffic between the video archive and retrieve editing terminal.

[0046]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows the configuration of an example of a remote editing system applicable to the present invention. The remote search / editing terminal 1, the large-capacity video archive 2 and the video editing device 3 are connected to each other via a network 4. The network 4 is, for example, the Internet. The remote search / editing terminal 1 is provided at a remote location which is geographically distant from the large capacity video archive 2 and the video editing apparatus 3.

The large-capacity video archive 2 is composed of, for example, a large number of hard disk devices, and has a large capacity.
An extremely large number of video materials can be stored. In addition, information regarding the video material accumulated in the large-capacity video archive 2 is registered in the database. By inputting search conditions to this database based on a predetermined format, the video material stored in the large-capacity video archive 2 is searched,
As a search result, video material according to the search condition can be output.

The video editing device 3 edits and outputs the input video material. For example, a plurality of input video materials are connected by cut editing based on a predetermined instruction.
Output as video contents of book. The video editing apparatus 3 can automatically perform editing work by supplying data necessary for editing such as identification information capable of identifying video material used for editing and a time code indicating an editing point. It is made possible.

The remote search / editing terminal 1 may be a general computer device connectable to the Internet 4, such as a personal computer. This remote search / edit terminal 1 is a GUI (Graphical User Interface).
rface) is applied, and intuitive operation by a user using a pointing device such as a mouse is possible. For example, by indicating a button or the like that is arranged and displayed on the screen on the basis of the coordinate information output from the pointing device and performing a predetermined operation on the pointing device, the function assigned to the displayed button Can be executed. Hereinafter, a series of processes for displaying a button using this pointing device will be referred to as “operating a button”, “pressing a button”, and the like. Of course, not only the pointing device but also other input means such as a keyboard can be used to execute a predetermined function. Further, the remote search / editing terminal 1 includes a voice reproduction means for converting digital voice data into analog voice data and outputting the voice.

In such a configuration, the remote editing / editing by the remote search / editing terminal 1 using the video material stored in the large-capacity video archive 2 is roughly performed as follows. First, video material is stored and registered in the large-capacity video archive 2. At this time, a file in which attribute information of the video material necessary for searching and editing the video material is described in a predetermined format is generated. This file is registered in the database of the large-capacity video archive 2 in association with the video material.

When registering the video material, a genre is set for the video material based on a predetermined genre dictionary.

The remote search / edit terminal 1 searches the large-capacity video archive 2 through the Internet 4 for the material required for the content. A genre can be used as a search keyword. The search result is transmitted from the large-capacity video archive 2 to the remote search / editing terminal 1 via the network 4 as a file described in the above-mentioned predetermined format.

The remote retrieval / editing terminal 1 obtains attribute information required for editing from the received file, and edits the video material based on the attribute information. When the edit is confirmed, edit result data is generated based on the edit content. Edit result data is EDL (Edit Decision List)
It is described as edit list data called IN and OUT points on the reproducing side and the recording side, effect information, etc., which is called data. This EDL data can be searched remotely
It is transmitted from the editing terminal 1 to the video editing apparatus 3 via the Internet 4.

In the video editing device 3, necessary video materials are stored in the large-capacity video archive 2 based on the transmitted EDL data.
And the editing work is performed according to the description of the EDL data. The video material is, for example, MPEG (Moving Pictures).
Experts Group) -1, MPEG-2 or MPEG
It is compressed and encoded by a compression encoding method such as -4 and transmitted from the large-capacity video archive 2 to the video editing device 3.

In the above, when the video material is stored and registered in the large-capacity video archive 2, the division position can be designated appropriately. Further, for a video material, an image representative of the video material is designated as a representative still image.
It is also possible to specify a voice as the representative voice together with the representative image. The division of the video material and the designation of the representative still image and the sound are performed by the provider of the video material such as a photographer.

FIG. 2 shows an example of division of video material and designation of a representative still image and audio. As shown in FIG. 2A, the division position is designated so that the video material indicated by the material number A is divided into 3 parts based on the contents. Each of the pieces divided at the specified division position is called a partial material. Further, in the following, specifying the division position is simply referred to as division. For example, when the material number A is a video material containing "ecology of wild birds", based on the content of the video, the first partial material-1 is a video of a group of wild birds taken in the distant view, and the intermediate partial material-2 is This image material is divided into 3 partial materials, such as a close-up image of each wild bird and a final partial image 3 of the surrounding landscape. The division position is designated by the provider of this video material, for example.

A classification number for identifying each is given to each divided partial material. For example, material number A
Each of the partial materials-1, 2 and 3 of the above material is represented as material numbers A-1, A-2 and A-3, respectively.

As shown in an example in FIG. 2B, each partial material of the divided video material can be further divided. In the example of FIG. 2B, the partial material-2 is further divided into three partial materials-a, partial materials-b and partial materials-c. In this case as well, a more detailed classification number is given to each of the divided partial materials, and the respective parts a, b and c of the part 2 are, for example, material numbers A-2-a, A-2-b, A. -2
It is expressed as -c.

Further, a representative still image and a representative voice can be designated for each partial material. As shown in FIG. 2C, an arbitrary position of the partial material is designated. The still image data corresponding to the designated position is extracted from the partial material, and the audio data of a predetermined time length is extracted from the designated position. The position can be designated by the provider of this video material based on his / her subjectivity, for example, “recommended scene”. The position is 1
It is possible to specify a plurality of video materials, for example, for each of the partial materials.

The material number A is, for example, a unique number on a global scale, and is the content I described later.
D can be used.

In this way, the representative still image and the representative audio designated for each video material are embedded in the file showing the search result of the video material in the large-capacity video archive 2 based on the instruction from the remote search / edit terminal 1. Then, it is transmitted to the remote search / edit terminal 1 via the network 4. The remote search / edit terminal 1 that has received this file extracts the representative still image and the representative audio embedded in the file and displays and reproduces the extracted still image and representative audio. The operator of the remote search / editing terminal 1 can select the necessary video material appropriately by referring to the representative still image and the representative audio.

In the present invention, the file for transmitting the search result in the large-capacity video archive 2 described above is
The description is based on MPEG-7, which is a standard currently being developed by the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG). MP
The official name of EG-7 is "Multimedia Content Descrip
tion Interface "(according to ISO / IEC 15938), which is a standard for searching multimedia contents. According to MPEG-7, a search term for multimedia contents is standardized so that a database of multimedia contents can be used universally. MPEG-7 is a conventional MPEG-1, MP
It is not a substitute for the compression encoding and transmission method of video and audio data such as EG-2 and MPEG-4, but is used as incidental information of these digital videos.

The MPEG-7 will be briefly described below, and then a concrete application example of the MPEG-7 to the remote editing system according to the present invention will be described.

An outline of MPEG-7 will be described. M
Media handled by PEG-7 include not only video and audio, but also still images and graphics. Also, in MPEG-7, since the portion to describe the content is specified by the start time and the length based on the time code of the video, it is possible to describe the analog video only with the time code or position information in place of it. It

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates the MPEG-7 scheme. In MPEG-7, as a main standardization target, a language for defining a content description tool (DDL: Descript
ionDefinition Language), description scheme (DS: Desc)
A ription scheme) and a descriptor (D: Descriptor) are defined. Further, a mechanism for compressing the content description data expressed as text as binary data and a mechanism for decompressing the binary data into text data are also standardization targets. The compression / decompression method of binary data and text data in MPEG-7 is BiM (B
It is called inary format for MPEG-7).

The content description, which is an MPEG-7 standard, is called metadata. This is because the content description data is considered to be data derived from the video data of the description target, with respect to the video data of which the content is described.
FIG. 4 shows an example of using metadata. Metadata 5
2 allows, for example, a GUI (Graphical
The video data 53 is indirectly handled via the User Interface) 50. The metadata 52 can also handle the video data 53 by being directly operated by the processor 51 such as a computer device.

As an example, the processor 51 searches the metadata 52 according to the input from the GUI 50, and the video data 53 is referred to based on the search result. For example, when the partial data of the video data 53 is referred to, the partial data is passed to the processor 51 and reproduced and the GUI 5
Displayed by 0.

In MPEG-7, the language for defining the description method for describing the video contents is DDL (Descripti).
on Definition Language). The DDL uses an XML (Extensible Markup Language) schema as a base language. Furthermore, the MPEG-7 standard includes extensions specific to MPEG-7, which are required for multimedia content description. In MPEG-7, the content description is XML.
By doing so, the affinity with the Internet is enhanced and many useful XML-related tools are available.

Since XML is described by text data, the amount of data becomes enormous, which may cause a problem during data transmission or storage. Therefore, in MPEG-7, the original compression tool BiM described above is standardized. B
The iM compresses MPEG-7 data into binary data structured so that partial update, deletion, addition, and access are possible. However, the visual-related description schema (DS) and descriptor (D) are standards that allow binary data to be manipulated by uniquely determining the binary syntax.

There are two types of content description data (metadata) of MPEG-7: low-level description data and high-level description data.

The low-level description data is a feature amount of a video image signal and a sound / voice signal, and most of them are automatically calculated by a computer. Therefore, in the search based on the low-level description data, first, the feature amount is calculated for the given reference video, and then the similarity between the calculated feature amount and the feature amount of the search target video is calculated. Then, a video with a high degree of similarity is searched. As the low-level descriptive data, with respect to the image signal, characteristic points such as color, texture, shape, motion, and area for the entire frame or the subject are standardized. Further, with respect to the sound / voice signal, characteristic points such as silence, voice, tone color, sound effect, and melody are standardized.

The high-level description data describes the contents of video in text, and most of them are manually input. A high-level content description framework
Designed using the book metaphor. That is, for example, if there is a table of contents and an index, and chapters and sections can have a nested hierarchical structure in the table of contents, and the keyword is known,
It has a structure that can be used to find the corresponding part using the index. For video content,
For example, chapters and highlight scenes can correspond to a table of contents and index, respectively. By taking such a hierarchical structure, it is possible to easily search for a necessary portion without looking at the entire data.

Note that this high-level description is MPEG
-7: MDS (Multimedia Description Scheme)
Is defined as Details of the MDS will be described later.

Next, the above-mentioned DDL and text-based MPEG-7 metadata will be described in more detail. DDL is a schema definition language for MPEG-7 metadata defined as MPEG-2 standard part 2. As described above, the DDL is the W3C (World Wid
It is defined by adding various data types and the like necessary for describing the characteristics of multimedia contents, based on the XML schema, which is a schema language standardized by the e Web Consortium). That is, the metadata of MPEG-7 is expressed using XML (eXtensible Markup Language).

What is actually defined by DDL is MP
The EG-7 standard is a schema definition for forming MPEG-7 metadata. A schema definition (or simply “schema”) defines the syntax of individual metadata (elements included and their structure). A schema is defined and metadata is generated according to the definition. The schema definition corresponding to each metadata in the MPEG-7 standard is defined in other corresponding standard parts (part 3 (visual), part 4 (audio) and part 5 (MDS)).

FIG. 5 shows an example of a schema and metadata given using the schema definition. The schema definition illustrated in FIG. 5A defines each element of metadata. The metadata provided by the schema definition of FIG. 5A has a nested structure in which, as seen in FIG. 5B, an element sandwiched between a start tag and an end tag further contains an element sandwiched between a start tag and an end tag. To have. This structure is represented by a tree structure in which a containing element is associated with a node higher than the included element. 6 is shown in FIG.
The metadata tree which represented the metadata shown by B by the tree structure is shown.

From the above, the structure of the metadata is determined by the schema definition, the shape of the corresponding metadata tree is determined by knowing the schema definition, and the type of the metadata element corresponding to each node of the tree is uniquely determined. Can be specified. That is, by providing the schema definition, the encoding / decoding of MPEG-7 metadata can be replaced with the encoding / decoding of pure tree data to be processed.

FIG. 7 shows a data format of MPEG-7. As shown in FIG. 7, the MPEG-7 data format has a decoder standard (Decoder Configurati
on), an access unit (Access Unit: AU), a fragment update unit (FUU), and a fragment payload (Fragment Payload).

The data format of MPEG-7 is M
It is associated with the PEG-7 metadata tree. Figure 8
An example of a correspondence relationship between an MPEG-7 data format and a metadata tree will be shown. As shown in FIG. 8, the tree data of the metadata tree is decomposed into fine subtrees, each decomposed subtree is converted into data, and stored in the fragment payload. In MPEG-7, tree data is divided using an access unit and a fragment update unit, and is treated as a small operation unit.

Each component of the MPEG-7 data format shown in FIG. 7 will be described. The decoder rule is placed at the beginning of the MPEG-7 data format, and information for decoding the subsequent data is recorded. This is a reference pointer (URN) to the definition schema.
(Specification by (Uniform Resource Name)) is registered, and the schema definition that gives the following metadata is given.

The MPEG-7 data stream consists of one or more access units following the decoder rules described above. The access unit (AU) is MPEG-7
It is a basic concept for handling metadata on the system,
The definition is a set of metadata (subtree data) handled at a certain single time. That is, the access unit is the minimum structural unit associated with the time information.
The access unit consists of a header and one or more fragment update units.

The fragment update unit consists of a header, command information, path information and a fragment payload. The binary format described below supports multiple fragment payloads. In the fragment update unit in the text format, the number of fragment payloads is limited to 1.

The fragment update unit handles the fragment payload included in the fragment update unit, that is, subtree data. Command information and path information, which are information for reconstructing tree data and updating metadata elements, are added to the fragment payload to form a unit of handling.
The command information indicates how to process the subtree data.
The path information indicates the node position information on the tree that executes the process. Further, in each fragment payload, as shown in FIG. 8 described above, each decomposed subtree is converted into data and stored.

In MPEG-7, the data format is TeM (Textual format for MPEG-7) which is a text format based on the XML text format.
And BinM that is a binary format that is a binary representation
Two types (Binary format for MPEG-7) are defined.

These two types of formats are basically specifications having a one-to-one correspondence, and have common structural elements such as the above-mentioned decoder rule, access unit, fragment update unit, and fragment payload.
However, TeM is readable, and because it is text-based, it is easy to handle data at any position and expand data, while Bi is converted into bit data.
In M, they are not easy. Therefore, in BiM,
By providing the original random access function with the access marker, the original extension function, and the skip function for undefined data by embedding the data length information, these functional requirements are satisfied.

BiM, which is an MPEG-7 binary format, will be described. As already mentioned, MP
The EG-7 metadata is so-called tree data having a tree structure, and is generated based on the above-mentioned DDL, that is, the schema definition given by the schema language. Bi
M is for uniformly encoding / decoding metadata having a tree structure given by such a schema definition. That is, BiM can be applied to not only MPEG-7 metadata but also existing language metadata, XML data, and the like in principle.

BiM is roughly composed of two technical elements: navigation coding / decoding and subtree coding / decoding. FIG. 9 conceptually shows these two technical elements. The navigation code corresponds to the command information and path information code in the fragment update unit described above. The subtree code is an efficient binary data conversion of the subtree stored in the fragment payload.

In BiM, a function such as addition, deletion, or replacement of subtree data at an arbitrary node position of tree data is realized with a fragment update unit as a unit. By using this function, it is possible to send and receive subtree data in any order without any particular restrictions such as the order relation for each subtree data obtained by dividing the tree data. Data can be updated. In order to realize this function, command information and path information are coded and given in the navigation code.

The command information is a fragment update command (Fragment Update) for updating the fragment payload.
Command), which is given according to the processing to be executed. The fragment update command has "add",
"Replace""delete" and "reset"
There are four types of "(reset)".

"Add", as an example is shown in FIG. 10A, adds the subtree stored in the fragment payload in the same fragment update unit to the node position of the tree given by the path information described later. The “replacement” replaces the subtree at the node position indicated by the path information with the subtree in the fragment payload, as shown in FIG. 10B. “Delete” is shown in FIG.
As shown in C as an example, the subtree below the node position indicated by the path information is deleted. Therefore, the "delete" command does not include the fragment payload in the fragment update unit. "Reset" returns the tree to the initial state. The reset command does not include path information and fragment payload in the fragment update unit.

The path information represents the node position in the tree data that executes the above fragment update command.
In BiM, it is represented by a navigation mode and a navigation path.

In the navigation mode, flag bits specify the following modes for the navigation path. (1) Whether the navigation path is an absolute path or a relative path (2) Presence or absence of a random access marker (3) Whether the fragment payload is single or plural

Whether the navigation path is an absolute path or a relative path is specified by the navigation mode described above. FIG. 11 schematically shows absolute paths and relative paths. In the absolute path mode, as shown in FIG. 11A, all the branch codes (total branch codes) of the path traced from the root node of the tree to the designated node position are recorded. In the relative path mode, as shown in FIG. 11B, the total branch code from the current node to the designated node position at the end of the processing of the previous stage is recorded.

A tree branch code is a code that gives a relationship between connected nodes at each branch that passes through when a path is sequentially traced. The branch code indicates what number child node the next node viewed from a certain node is, what number realization value of which child node, or the parent node.

Each child node corresponds to various elements included in the metadata corresponding to the parent node. Also, if the metadata has multiple elements of the same type, they need to be distinguished. For this reason, the schema branch code (S
A chema branch code) and a position code (position code) are included. The schema branch code indicates the element type, that is, the number of the child node. Depending on the position code,
The distinction among a plurality of same-type elements, that is, the order of the realized value of the child node is indicated.

The number of child nodes added to a certain node, that is, the number of types of elements that the metadata has, and the number of realized values of each child node, that is, the number of similar elements that the metadata can have are The branch code is given by the minimum number of bits defined by the schema definition. From this, in BiM, navigation coding is performed with an optimal code amount for the schema definition.

The binary data (code) of the subtree in the fragment payload of BiM is adaptively generated by being given the schema definition. FIG. 12 shows M
7 shows the decoding process defined for subtree codes in BiM of the PEG-7 system.

A finite state automaton 102 showing the decoding process is generated from the given schema 101.
The transition state in the finite state automaton 102 is determined by the bits sequentially read from the input subtree code 103, whereby the subtree code is decoded and the subtree data 104 is obtained.

Before the finite state automaton 102 is generated, the schema optimization process 101 optimizes the schema 100. With this optimization, the data syntax tree (Syn
tax tree) is transformed into the simplest transformable tree. Since each of the divided sub-trees is closed as a tree structure, such optimization processing is possible. By this optimization processing, the BiM subtree code is given with an optimal code amount for the schema definition.

13 and 14 show a data syntax tree and a decoder automaton (finite state automaton 1 generated based on the schema definition shown in FIG. 5 described above.
02) are shown respectively. Binary data (subtree code 103) for the metadata subtree of FIG. 5B
Is each instance "Watanab" in the metadata
The binary data of "e", "Shuichi", and "28" are given as serially arranged data. This data is read word by word by the decoder automaton as shown in FIG. The subtree code is decoded while the state is updated (q0, q1, q2, ...).

Incidentally, "Watanabe", "Shui"
string data such as "chi" is UTF (U
niversal multiple-octet coded character set transf
ormation format) -8, an integer like "28"
The (integer) data is binarized in the BiM unique format.

Next, the above MDS will be described.
FIG. 15 shows an overview of MDS based on the classification of various tool groups defined by MDS. As shown in FIG. 15, the tools constituting the MDS are roughly classified into the following six types. (1) Basic elements (2) Content management tool (Content management) (3) Content description tool (4) Content navigation and access tool (Navigation & Access) (5) Content organization Tool (Content organization) (6) User-related tool (User interaction) Hereinafter, representative tools in each category will be sequentially described.

In the basic element category of (1), MPEG
-7 Schema The MPEG-7 Schema Definition Tool (Schema Tools) that defines the architecture, and the basic data type (Basic) required to describe multimedia contents.
datatypes), media reference tools (Links & media localization) for the purpose of referring to the content to be described, and basic tools used as components of other tools
(Basic Tools) is specified.

In the MPEG-7 schema definition tool, an architecture definition tool that defines the inheritance relation of each tool defined by MPEG-7, a start tag (Root element) <Mpeg7> of MPEG-7 metadata, and a content description. Complete description version MPEG-7, which will be described later according to the work
Various higher-level elements that serve as an introductory part in generating metadata
(Top level element) is specified.

In the MPEG-7 schema design, it is possible to map the inheritance relationship between tools to the class inheritance relationship in C ++ and Java (registered trademark), which are commonly used programming languages, in order to be type-centric. (Type centric approach) is adopted. As a result, the start tag <Mpeg7> of MPEG-7 metadata becomes
It is the only global element in the tools defined by the MPEG-7 schema. That is, MPE
G-7 schema validated metadata must always have tag <Mpeg7
> Is started.

In the basic data type, in addition to the various basic data types defined by the XML schema, the basic data types required for describing multimedia contents are additionally specified in MPEG-7. For example, an integer data type corresponding to the number of allocated bits in binary data, a data type representing a vector or matrix, and a MIME (Multipurpose
Media type based on Internet Mail Extensions), IS
According to the O standard, data types representing countries, regions, and money are defined.

In the media reference tool, an identifier (Unique I
D), MediaTime that refers to a specific part of content such as video based on the time axis of the content, and Me, which is a general media reference tool that integrates these
diaLocator etc. are specified. It should be noted that the identifier is defined as a place (placeholder) for storing various identifiers.
r), and in the data type UniqueID, an identifier based on an arbitrary scheme can be stored.

Among the basic elements, among the tools other than the schema definition tool, the basic data type and the media reference tool described above, the tools commonly used as components of various other tools are the basic tools (Basic Tool). Tools). For example, a set of controlled terms
Classi to define an external reference schema
ficationScheme DS (Description Sch
eme), Classification Scheme D
ControlledTermUs for referencing S
e, Agent DS that describes people, groups, and organizations,
Place DS that describes the location, Graph DS that describes the graph structure, R that describes the relationship between the metadata
relation DS, Ordering Key DS that describes the order between the metadata elements, and Affective D that describes the viewer's sensitivity information for the content.
S and the like are defined as basic tools.

Furthermore, in MPEG-7, as a text annotation description tool, FreeTextAnnotation that enables text annotation based on free format, and Str that enables text annotation based on 6W1H are used.
structuredAnnotation, which enables text annotation as a structured document including the relation between words D
The "ependancyStructure" and the like are specified.

In the content management tool category (2), a media-related description tool (Media) that makes a description about the medium of the content to be described, and a production-related description tool (Creation & Prod) that makes a description about the production of the content.
uction), and a content usage description tool (Usage) that describes the usage of the content.

As a media-related description tool, Medi
aInformation DS is provided. This M
In the mediaInformation DS, various media format description tools (MediaFormatD) are defined. In addition, Media Information DS
Now, MediaTran for media format conversion
scodingHints D (Descriptor), MediaQuality D that describes the quality of media, MediaInstance that describes the relationship between these description contents and multiple multimedia contents to be described.
The DS is defined.

As a production-related description tool, Creator
onInformation DS is provided. Cr
In the formationInformation DS, CreationDS that describes production information (title, producer, production place, production date, etc.) is defined. In addition, Creation Information DS
, Describes classification of multimedia content from various aspects.
Relate that enables description of DS and related contents
dMaterial DS is defined.

As a content usage pattern description tool,
UsageInformationDS is provided.
In Usage Information DS,
Rights D that describes the rights information is defined. Furthermore, in UsageInformation DS, Availability that describes the usage conditions of the content
Us in describing usage record of content DS, content
The ageRecordDS is defined.

In the content description tool category (3), a content structure description tool (Structural aspects) for describing the structure of the content and a content semantic content description tool (Semantic aspect) for describing the meaning of the content.
s) is specified.

The Content Structure Description Tool provides tools for describing the structure of multimedia content. As a tool for describing the structure of general audiovisual content, StillR for describing a still image is used.
section DS, Video for describing moving images
Segment DS is provided. Furthermore, a moving structure that describes a temporally and temporally changing visual object in a moving image is described by a content structure description tool.
nDS, AudioSeg that describes audio content
ment DS is provided.

Furthermore, the audio for collectively describing the audiovisual information by the content structure description tool
oVisualSegment DS, AudioVi
A dualRegion DS is provided. Audio
VisualSegmentDS is the above-mentioned Video
Segment DS and AudioSegmentDS
It is equivalent to the added tool. Similarly, Aud
ioVisualRegion DS is based on Mov mentioned above.
ingRegion DS and AudioSegment
It corresponds to a tool in which DS and DS are added together. In addition, Mu for describing general multimedia contents
ltmediadiaSegmentDS is provided.

Each of the tools provided by the content structure description tool recursively divides into a description of the content form targeted by another tool (Decompositi
on) It is possible. This gives, for example, first A
Some video content described using audioVisualSegmentDS allows video and audio features to be described independently of the VideoSegme.
It is divided into descriptions using nt DS and AudioSegment DS. Also, for example, VideoSegment to describe a certain key frame as a still image.
The description using DS is as follows: Still Region
It is divided into DS-based descriptions. This means that these tools can express the structure of contents hierarchically.

By the content structure description tool,
Vi that describes the text on moving images and still images such as subtitles
deoText DS and ImageText D
S, M for expressing the background of the moving image as one still image
osaic DS and the like are defined as derived from the audiovisual content structure description tool. InkSe for describing spatiotemporal information in handwritten characters
videoEdit that describes the editing process extracted by analyzing gment DS, a video program
ng DS, various Relation Ds for describing the relationship between the logical structural elements of these described contents
S is prepared by the content structure description tool.

Content Meaning By the content description tool, S
Tools are provided to describe the semantic content of the content, such as the electronic DS. In addition, by using the content semantic content description tool, the world (N
Object DS for describing the semantic entities (Objects) that make up the arrative world), Event DS for which it is possible to describe the events that occur in this world, and Concept DS for describing the concepts that include them are provided. It

Further, as the constituent elements of these content meaning description tools, basic tools for describing agents, times, and places are respectively AgentObject.
ctDS, SemanticTime DS, Sema
NicPlace DS. In addition, various Relation DSs are provided to describe the relationships between the semantic content descriptions of the content.

In the content navigation and access tool category of (4), a content summary description tool (Summaries) for describing the summary of the content and a content view description tool (View) for describing various views of the content based on signal processing. , Derived content description tools (Variations) that describe various derived contents obtained from a certain content are specified.

The content summary description tool, as a tool for describing the summary of multimedia contents, makes it possible to collectively describe various reproduction times and accuracy summaries by giving the summary itself a hierarchical structure. A hierarchical summary DS that provides a description of a summary including a description of a flexible playback method such as dynamically changing a playback time according to the importance of a summary component is provided. The components of these summaries are video
In addition to clips, still images such as keyframes, audio clips, etc. are included in the target.

The content view description tool is a set of tools for describing the appearance when multimedia signals are subjected to various signal processings in space-time and frequency space. View DS that describes various appearances after signal processing with Partition that specifies a partial area in the space of multimedia content and Filtering that describes various filtering by the content view description tool, and the relationship of those various appearances. Vie for describing hierarchically
wDecomposition DS and the like are provided.

Various derived contents can be generated from one multimedia content by various signal processing and the like. The content summary described above is an example of the derived content. In addition to this, the derived content is
There are various parameters such as the frame rate and the number of samples for data size compression, conversion of the media format itself, conversion of the audio text, and other changes in the content format itself. As a tool for describing the generation history, reproducibility of the original content, priority, various relations between the derived contents, etc. with respect to the generation of various derived contents of these multimedia contents, the derivative contents description tool is used to implement Var.
iation DS is provided.

In the content organization tool category (5), a content aggregate description tool (Colle) that directly describes an aggregate of a plurality of contents and their descriptive data.
ction), model description tools (Models) for describing features as a set of multimedia contents and descriptions based on various models.

The content organization tool provides a tool for describing a collection of a plurality of multimedia contents and content descriptions themselves. In this,
Especially as a tool to directly describe these aggregates, Col
collection DS is provided. Collecti
on DS is Content Collection DS for describing a collection of contents, Segm for describing a collection of structure description of contents.
Description for describing a collection of feature descriptions such as entCollection DS, video or audio.
ptorCollection DS, a Concept for describing a collection of concept descriptions in the semantic content description
It is classified into tCollection DS and the like. In addition, St is used as a tool to describe the relationship between these aggregate descriptions.
The ruledCollection DS is specified.

While the above-mentioned Collection DS directly describes the collection itself of contents or content description, Mode is used as a tool for describing the features extracted from these collections based on the model.
l DS is defined. Specifically, a ProbabilityModel DS using a probability statistical model, a FiniteStateModel DS using a finite state model such as a Hidden Markov Model (HMM), and an Anal that associates these modeling results with the semantic content description.
yticModel DS, a ClassificationM that associates a set of content with a semantic content description
ode DS and the like are specified.

In the user-related tool category (6),
User preference description tool (User Pref
erences) and a user operation history description tool (User History) that describes the operation history of the user.

UserPr as a user preference description tool
efferences DS is provided. UserPr
In the Efences DS, Create that describes the taste regarding various production information such as title and creator.
IonPreferences ClassificationPreferences describing preferences regarding various classification information such as DS, genre, language used, release time, etc.
cesPre, which describes preferences regarding various supplier information such as DS, media type, supplier, supply time, etc.
Browsi that describes the preferences for various browsing methods such as ferences DS, summarization methods, summarization conditions, etc.
ngPreferences DS and the like are provided.
In addition, as a tool for describing these combinations in a hierarchical manner, FilteringAndSearchPref
erences DS is defined.

As a user operation history description tool,
geHistory DS is provided. UsageH
In the action DS, UserAction
History DS can describe the operation history of the user when viewing multimedia contents in the past and the relationship with the viewed content.

Next, the description of the metadata in MPEG-7 will be described more specifically. As described above, the MPEG-7 schema verified description data is provided as text data as an XML document starting with the <mpeg7> tag. Here, in MPEG-7,
The description data takes one of the following forms. (1) Description unit version MPEG-7 metadata
Unit) (2) Complete description version MPEG-7 metadata
scription)

The description unit version MPEG-7 metadata of (1) will be described. In MPEG-7, all tools defined as D or DS can independently generate their own descriptive data.
The description data generated in this way is the description unit version MP
It is called EG-7 metadata. FIG. 16 shows a description of an example of the description unit version MPEG-7 metadata. This Figure 1
The description shown in 6 is an example in which a certain address is described using Place DS.

As shown in FIG. 16, the description unit version MP
In the EG-7 metadata, t in the start tag <Mpeg7>
As the value of the ype attribute, "descriptionUni
By giving "t", it is indicated that this description data is description unit version MPEG-7 metadata. In this case, the element following the start tag becomes the element <DescriptionUnit>, and the document model (Content model) of the description data actually generated in the element <DescriptionUnit> is given by the value of the xsi: type attribute of the element. . That is,
In FIG. 16, an element <Name> and an element <GeographicPosition> according to the document model defined by Place DS.
Will be generated. Note that this FIG.
The definition name in the MPEG-7 schema in the above example is "P
raceType ”.

A complicated tool such as VideoSegment DS can also generate the description data in such a form. Also, since most of the tools defined in Part 3 and Part 4 of the MPEG-7 standard are defined as D (Descriptor) for describing visual or auditory characteristics, they are defined in Part 3, for example. Visual feature description data based on DominantColor D, which is one of the created tools, can also be generated in such a form.

On the other hand, most of the tools included in the basic tools are defined as data types. These tools cannot generate descriptive data by themselves. This is because many tools defined as data types are defined on the assumption that they are used as a part of other D or DS constituent elements. For example, as a result of the above-mentioned MediaTime being defined as a data type, the description data alone cannot be generated as description unit version MPEG-7 metadata.

In the description unit version MPEG-7 metadata,
Descriptive data based on any D and DS can be generated. However, for example, Place in FIG.
In the description example of the place based on the DS, even if this description data exists alone, it is not obvious what role or role it plays in the multimedia content description. That is, the description unit version MPEG-7 metadata is a context in which it is used.
It can be generated independently of interoperability (I
In order to achieve (nteroperability), it is necessary to determine the context between the applications in advance.

The complete MPEG-7 metadata of (2) will be described. In MPEG-7 metadata, "com" is set as the type attribute value in the start tag <Mpeg7>.
If "plete" is given, the metadata is referred to as full description version MPEG-7 metadata. This indicates that the given description data is self-sufficient description data from the viewpoint of specific content description work. Figure 17 shows the full description version of MPE
A description of an example of G-7 metadata is shown. FIG. 17 is an example of description data that will be obtained by content description work for a still image.

In FIG. 17, the element <ContentDescription> following the start tag <Mpeg7> indicates that this is content description data. Here, in particular, xsi:
The type attribute is "ContentEntityType.
The value “e” indicates that this metadata is description data for multimedia contents themselves such as still images and moving images. Following element <Mul
timediaContent> allows xsi: type of the element
Along with the attribute value “ImageType”, it is indicated that the target content is a still image. Also, the element <I
mage> indicates a specific description of a still image according to StillRegion DS.

Here, the element <MediaLocator> indicates a reference to the still image targeted by this description data.
<TextAnnotation> describes a text annotation based on free format. Also, with the element <VisualDescriptor>,
The video characteristics of this still image are described. Xs of this element
As the value of the i: type attribute, "DominantCol"
"orType" is given, so the DominantCol specified in Part3
The video feature according to or D is described.

As shown in FIG. 17, the full description version MP
In the EG-7 metadata, a top level element following the start tag <Mpeg7> selectively captures the schema that the description data should follow from the viewpoint of the description work of a certain multimedia content. .

FIG. 18 shows the relationship between the possible values of these upper elements and the upper elements. As shown in FIG. 18, in the complete description version MPEG-7 metadata, first, there is a description of the contents of the multimedia content having it.
(Content Description) or description about content management
(Content Management) The classification result is the tag <ContentDescription> or the tag as the top element.
It is indicated by starting with <ContentManagement>.

If the content is classified as a description of the content, a description of the multimedia content itself (Content Entity) or a description of the derivative of the content or the like (Content Abstraction)
Are classified as If the description is for the content itself, follow the tag <ContentDescription> with the tag <Mul.
timediaContent> is generated and included in this xsi:
Still image (ImageType), video (VideoType) with type attribute value
The content type such as is specifically specified.

On the other hand, when it is classified as a description related to content management, the description data included in it is defined as the semantic content description (WorldDescription) according to the value set in the xsi: type attribute of the element <ContentDescription>.
Model Description or Summary Description (Summ
ary Description).

Next, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG.
The remote editing system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail. First, with reference to FIG. 19, a large-capacity video archive 2 of video material according to this embodiment will be described.
The registration by the remote search / editing device 1 of the registered video material will be described. In FIG. 19, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 described above are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

For example, an image captured by the video camera 10 by a photographer (not shown) is output as the image material 11. The video material 11 is stored in the archive 12, which is a video material storage unit of the large capacity video archive 2.

The division of the video material 11 described above with reference to FIG. 2 can be performed when the video material 11 is stored in the archive 12, for example. The video material 11 is provided by the provider of the video material 11 (for example, the photographer of the video material 11).
The upper division position is designated based on the original time code of the video material 11, for example. The division position can be arbitrarily designated by a person who designates the position, such as a provider of the video material 11.

Next, from each of the divided partial materials of the video material 11, for example, a partial material that the photographer likes or a recommended partial material (hereinafter, recommended partial material) is provided by the provider of the video material 11. Selected by. Then, a scene that represents the selected recommended partial material is selected and held as a still image. The still image of this representative scene is called a representative still image. Furthermore, a voice corresponding to the representative still image (referred to as a representative voice) is given for a predetermined time (for example, 5 seconds).
Can only hold.

A plurality of representative still images and representative audio can be designated for one image material 11.
For example, a representative still image and a representative audio can be designated for each partial material obtained by dividing the video material 11. Further, the division of the video material 11 and the designation of the representative still image and the representative audio are performed, for example, by the registration terminal 1 described later.
You can start from step 3. Not limited to this, archive 1
2 may be provided with a dedicated interface adapted to perform these processes.

When the video material 11 is stored in the archive 12, the registration terminal 13 inputs the attribute information of the video material 11. For one video material 11, for example, "material number", "genre classification", "title name", "material length", "shooting location", "shooting date" and "original time code" Difference ”is input as the attribute information. Further, more detailed attribute information is described for the partial material obtained by dividing the video material 11. For example, "partial title name", "start time code", "length of partial material", "representative still image", "representative audio", etc. are described as attribute information of the partial material.

The original time code is a time code unique to the video material 11 and is the time code at the time of shooting or the time code at the time of registration in the archive 12. By using the original time code, the EDL data once edited can be used as a general-purpose EDL that can be used anywhere.

The attribute information of the video material 11 and the partial material of the video material 11 is described in the above-mentioned MPEG-7 format and registered in the database 15 as an MPEG-7 file. Further, the representative still image and the representative audio held for the video material 11 are converted into a predetermined data format and embedded in the MPEG-7 file. The description of the attribute information of the video material 11 in the MPEG-7 format will be described later using a more specific example.

Of the attribute information of the video material 11 described above,
The item "genre classification" is preferably entered by referring to a table called the genre dictionary 14, which facilitates later retrieval of the video material 11. The genre dictionary 14 is a table that hierarchically represents possible genres for multimedia contents. The genre dictionary 14 is
It may be stored in the large-capacity video archive 2, for example, the database 15, or may be provided in another place accessible via the Internet 4.

FIG. 20 shows an example of this genre dictionary. In this example, "event", "information", "culture",
Genres that are medium-classified are set under the major categories, such as "Landscape" and "Other",
Further, for each of the genres that are further classified, genres that are sub-classified into more specific items are provided.

In the example of FIG. 20, the middle category “traditional”, “special skill” and “life” are provided for the large category “culture”. Further, for example, for the middle category "traditional", the minor categories "Kurokawa Noh", "Takamatsu Washi", "Kaisha" and "Tendo Yaki" are provided. There may be a case where a small classification for the middle classification is not provided like the middle classification "life" for the large classification "culture".

Although FIG. 19 shows that only one genre dictionary 14 exists, a plurality of genre dictionaries 14 can actually be provided on the Internet 4 (not shown in FIG. 19). In this way, a plurality of genre dictionaries 14 each having a different classification are provided on the Internet 4.
With the provision, the user can appropriately select and refer to the genre dictionary 14 according to the purpose.

That is, the structure of the genre dictionary 14 is considered to differ depending on the method of using the video material.
For example, since the genre dictionary 14 shown in FIG. 20 is supposed to be used for transmitting information from rural areas,
As described above, the major categories, middle categories, and minor categories of genres are items specialized for the region. In the genre dictionary 14 'for another purpose, it may be easier for the user to perform different classification.

The search of the video material registered in the large-capacity video archive 2 by the remote search / editing apparatus 1 is performed as follows, for example. First, the user accesses the genre dictionary 14 from the remote search / editing device 1, and the user inputs a keyword into the genre dictionary 14. The genre dictionary 14 is searched according to this keyword, and the search result is transmitted to the remote search / editing device 1. The remote search / editing apparatus 1 narrows down the genre of the video material 11 required by the user based on the search result.

For example, when the genre dictionary 14 is accessed from the remote search / editing device 1, the items of the major categories of the accessed genre dictionary 14 are listed in the remote search / editing device 1.
Is displayed on the screen. When the user selects one genre from the displayed list of large categories, the selection information is transmitted from the remote search / editing device 1 to the genre dictionary 14. Based on the transmitted selection information, each item of the middle category provided under the selected major category genre is transmitted to the remote search / editing apparatus 1 and displayed as a list on the screen of the remote search / editing apparatus 1. . In the same manner, one genre is selected from the list of middle categories, the items of the minor category provided below the selected category of the minor category are displayed, and the desired genre is selected from the items of the minor category. .

The database 15 is searched based on the genre narrowed down in this way, and the MPEG-7 file in which the corresponding genre is described as "genre classification" is output as the search result. MPEG of this search result
-7 file is transmitted to the remote retrieval / editing terminal 1. The remote search / edit terminal 1 extracts the representative still image and the representative audio embedded in the sent MPEG-7 file.

The representative still image extracted from the MPEG-7 file is displayed on the remote retrieval / editing terminal 1. The representative voice can also be reproduced. The editing work in the remote search / editing terminal 1 is judged using the representative image and the representative sound, and a video is produced by combining some necessary partial materials. As a result of this editing work, ED
L data is generated.

That is, based on the original time code (original start time code of the partial material) and the length of the partial material described in the MPEG-7 file corresponding to the partial material used for editing, the original start time code of the partial material. And the original end time code is obtained. Based on these start and end time codes and the material number described in the MPEG-7 file corresponding to the partial material used for editing, the ED of the edited result is obtained.
L data is generated.

FIG. 21 shows an example of a screen display for selecting and editing video material based on the representative still image and the representative audio. FIG. 21A shows an example of a video material selection screen 150 for selecting a desired video material 11 using the representative still image and the representative audio. In the title bar 151, for example, the genres narrowed down by the search are displayed along with the process. M of the search result is displayed on the display units 152, 152, ...
The representative still image extracted from the PEG-7 file is displayed. In this example, a plurality of video materials 11 are obtained as search results in the small classification narrowed down by the search,
The representative still images of the plurality of video materials 11 are 152, 15
2, ... are displayed respectively.

Button 1 provided at the bottom of display unit 152
Reference numerals 53 and 154 indicate voice reproduction and text display, respectively. For example, by operating the button 153 in a predetermined manner with a pointing device such as a mouse,
The audio reproduction means of the remote search / edit terminal 1 reproduces the representative audio of the video material 11 corresponding to the representative still image displayed on the display unit 152 immediately above.

By operating the button 154 in a predetermined manner, the attribute information of the video material 11 corresponding to the representative still image displayed on the display section 152 immediately above is displayed on a text basis. For example, by operating the button 154, information such as the photographer of the video material 11, the shooting date, the shooting location, the content ID, the original time code, and the length is displayed. This text-based display can be displayed on another display screen (not shown).

As described above, since the representative still image and the representative audio of the video material 11 can be displayed and reproduced, the user can easily select the necessary material. In addition, since the video material 11 is not a still image such as a scene change point, but a scene recommended by the provider of the video material 11 is used as a representative still image, the user can identify the characteristics of the video material 11. It can be easily grasped.

Furthermore, since the video material 11 is selected using a still image instead of the moving picture extracted from the video material 11, the traffic when transmitting the search result via the Internet 4 is saved. be able to.

That is, the representative still image to be displayed on the display unit 152 has a size of, for example, about 320 pixels × 200 pixels, and if this is compressed using a compression encoding method such as JPEG, its file size is reduced. Is at most 10
It is about several kB (kilobytes). Similarly, with respect to the representative voice, if the voice data for several seconds is reduced in bit rate and further compressed by a compression encoding method such as MP3, the file size can be at most 10 and several kB. In addition, the size of the MPEG-7 file itself, in which the representative still image and the representative audio are not embedded, is set to 10
Even if it is about kB, the total size of these is 30 kB-
It will be about 50 kB.

Therefore, the candidate video material is, for example, 10
Even if 0 items are collected, the total data amount is about several MB (megabytes). It can be said that the collection of about 100 video materials is sufficiently practical at the present when the speed of the transmission line has been increased.

.. of the video material selection screen 150 of FIG. 21A in which representative still images are displayed on the display portions 152, 152 ,. Done. FIG. 21B shows an example of the editing screen 160 for performing this editing. Where computer equipment,
OS (Operating System) of personal computer
Most of those distributed as a GUI support, as one of the GUI functions, a function called drag and drop, which allows intuitive operations such as moving files and objects. In this example, the editing work can be intuitively performed by using drag and drop.

This drag and drop is a predetermined operation for the pointing device when the cursor indicating the position corresponding to the operation of the pointing device is on the desired object (icon or the like) on the screen of the computer device. The object to be performed is brought into a selected state, and the pointing device is operated while keeping the selected state to move (drag) the held object to a desired position on the screen. Here, by releasing the selection state by the pointing device, the object is placed (dropped) at the position. These operations are collectively referred to as drag and drop. If the dropped position is a position designated by the program in a predetermined manner, it is possible to perform processing according to the object dropped at the position.

Edit screen 160 on remote search / edit terminal 1
In parallel with or simultaneously with the video material selection screen 150. Editing screen 160 and video material selection screen 150
It is easy to realize the same application. The display parts 152, 152 of the video material editing screen 150,
Select the required video material 11 based on the representative still image displayed, the corresponding representative voice, text information, etc.,
The representative still image (display unit 152) corresponding to the selected video material 11 is edited by the drag & drop operation described above.
It moves to the track screen 161 of 60. As a result, the moved representative still image is displayed on the track screen 161.
It is displayed as 62. When this process is repeated, the representative still images 162, 162, ... Are displayed side by side on the track screen 161 in correspondence with the time axis of the edited result, that is, the reproduction order. The representative still images 162, 16
2, ... Can be rearranged as necessary using, for example, the above-described drag-and-drop method.

The editing work is not limited to the above drag & drop, and may be performed by inputting necessary information from the keyboard, for example.

When the necessary video materials are prepared and the reproduction order is decided, the decision of editing is instructed by pressing the decision button 164, for example, and the representative still images 162, 162, ... Displayed on the track screen 161 are dealt with. Based on the attribute information of the video material 11 to be edited, EDL (Edit Decision L
ist) data is generated. This EDL data is transmitted to the video editing device 3 (not shown). In the video editing device 3, the video material 11 is extracted from the large-capacity video archive 2 based on this EDL data, and the extracted video material 1
Editing is performed using 1. This editing can be automatically performed based on the EDL data.

Next, the description of the above-described MPEG-7 file will be described more specifically with reference to FIGS. 22 to 27 are excerpts from the same MPEG-7 file regarding a certain video material 11.

FIG. 22 shows an excerpt of an example of the beginning part of an MPEG-7 file in which such a description is made for the video material 11. This beginning part makes this MPEG
-7 The information of the file itself is shown. The first tag indicates that this file is described in XML, and the encoding method of the character code of this file is Shift JI.
It is indicated that the S (Japan Industrial Standard) method is used. In addition, information of software used for creating this MPEG-7 file and the like are shown.

FIG. 23 shows an excerpt of an example of a portion in which information of the video material 11 itself described by the MPEG-7 file is described. In the portion shown in FIG. 23, information for identifying the video material 11 and the video material 11
The information of the place where is present is described. In the example of FIG. 23, the content ID is used to identify the video material 11. Tag "<InstanceIdentifier ....>"
The content ID of the video material 11 indicated by the MPEG-7 file is, for example, “0027/20010” in the part sandwiched between the tag and the tag “</ InstanceIdentifier>”.
805 ”. The content ID described here is an example, and is different from the formal one.

Below the tag "<MediaLocator ...>", information for specifying the location of the video material 11 shown in this MPEG-7 file is described. The location information in the database of the video material 11 is stored in the URI (Universal R) in the part between the tag "<MediaUti>" and the tag "</ MediaUri>".
esource Identifier). Location information is URI
Since it is described in, the location of the video material 11 can be shown anywhere on the Internet 4.

The tag "<MediaRelTimePoint ...>" is also used.
And the start point of the video material 11 is described by "tag </ MediaRelTimePoint>". This is, for example, the start position of the video material 11 in the moving image file indicated by the above-mentioned URI. In this example, the start point is “P0DT0H0M0S0N30F”.
Of these, "P" is the point, and "D"
"T" is day, "H" is time, "M" is minute, "S" is second,
“N” indicates each frame. The last "30F"
Indicates that the frame display for one second is 30 frames. In this example, it is shown that the beginning of the moving image file indicated by the above-mentioned URI is the start frame of the video material 11.

Also, the tag "<MediaIncrDuration ...>"
And the tag "</ MediaIncrDuration ...>" describes the length (Duration) of the video material 11 in frame units. In this example, the video material 11 is 39
It is shown to have a length of 03 frames (130 seconds + 3 frames). Note that the unit information of length is the tag "<M
ediaIncrDuration ...>"description" timeUnit = "...
Specified by "".

FIG. 24 shows an example of a portion in which the title attached to the video material 11 is described. The tag `` <Name ...
A title “Hanagasa 2001” of the video material 11 is described in a portion sandwiched between “>” and a tag “</ Name>”.

FIG. 25 shows an example of a portion in which the difference between the original time code of the video material 11 and the start point shown in FIG. 23 is described. Comment tag `` <!
--OrigTC ...->"," + 00T0H30M20
"S10N30F" describes the difference, that is, the offset of the start point of the video material 11 with respect to the original time code. By thus describing the difference from the original time code, the original time code of the video material 11 can be reproduced.

FIG. 26 shows an example of a portion in which the attribute information about the partial material into which the video material 11 is divided is described. In this example, the title of the partial material is described in the portion sandwiched between the tag "<FreeTextAnnotation ...>" and the tag "</ FreeTextAnnotation>". Tag "<M
ediaRelTimePoint ...>"and the tag"</ MediaRelTimeP
The start position “P0DT0H0M0S0N in the video material 11 of the relevant partial material is placed in the portion sandwiched by“ oint> ”.
30F "is described. This indicates that the partial material starts from the beginning of the video material 11.
Also, the tag "<MediaIncrDuration ...>" and the tag "<
The length of the partial material is described in the part sandwiched between “MediaIncrDuration>”.

According to the description shown in FIG. 26, the title of the partial material is "Yamagata Solid".
“Ay Tourists”, starting from the 0th day, 0th hour, 0th minute, 0th frame, and the length of this partial material is 24
It is shown that there are 98 frames, that is, 1 minute 23 seconds and 8 frames.

FIG. 27 shows an example of a description of attribute information regarding other partial materials in the video material 11. Since the description shown in FIG. 27 has the same format as the description shown in FIG. 26, detailed description thereof will be omitted. According to the description shown in FIG. 27, the title of the partial material is “Sembatsu Team”, the start position is 0: 01: 23: 8 frame, and the length is 1405.
It is shown that there are frames, ie 46 seconds. Also,
It can be seen that the partial material of the description shown in FIG. 27 starts immediately after the partial material shown in FIG.

The attribute information of a plurality of partial materials divided from the video material 11 can be described in one MPEG-7 file. For example, the description of the partial material shown in FIG. 26 and FIG.
It is described in the G-7 file.

As described above, in this embodiment,
The representative still image and the representative audio are embedded in the MPEG-7 file. FIG. 28 shows a description of an example of an MPEG-7 file in which a representative still image and a representative audio are embedded. Representative still image and representative audio MPEG
The embedding in the -7 file is performed as follows, for example.

The representative still image is extracted from the image material 11 and is, for example, JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Grou
It is compression-encoded by the p) method and stored as a JPEG file. Since the JPEG file itself is represented by binary data, it cannot be embedded as it is in the MPEG-7 file represented by TeM, which is a text format. Therefore, the JPEG file of binary data is encoded into text data in ASCII code.

For this encoding, for example, Base64
It is possible to use an encoding method called as. In this Base64, the binary data is divided into 6 bits, and 2-bit data "00" is added to the beginning of each divided data. By associating the 8-bit code thus generated with the ASCII code, binary data is encoded into the ASCII code. According to this Base64, all binary data are ASC
It can be converted into text data composed of II code.

Since the JPEG file encoded in the ASCII code in this way is the text data, it can be embedded in the MPEG-7 file. Further, the embedded data is decoded into the original binary data by deleting the leading 2 bits of the ASCII code of 8 bits for each of the ASCII codes forming the text data.

The representative voice represented by binary data is also
By similarly encoding to ASCII code,
It can be embedded in an MPEG-7 file. The decoding method is also the same as described above.

In the example of FIG. 28, it is described that a JPEG file is embedded below in the portion sandwiched by the tag "<Name ...>" and the tag "<Name>", and the tag "</ Classi
ficationScheme> ”, the representative still image 200 encoded in the text data is embedded. Similarly for the representative voice, the tags "<Name ...>" and "</ Na
The audio file (MP3 (Moving Pictures Experts Group 1 Audio in this case)
It is described that a sound file compressed in Layer 3) format is embedded, and the tag "</ ClassificationSc
Next to “heme>”, the representative voice 201 encoded in the text data is embedded.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the representative still image and the representative voice originally represented by binary data are converted into text data and described in the TeM format MPEG-7 file. . Therefore, this file is described as text data as a whole, and the above-mentioned Bi defined by MPEG-7 is specified.
M makes it possible to convert to a binary representation.

FIG. 29 schematically shows an example of EDL data which is the editing result by the remote search / editing terminal 1. ED
The L data is obtained by extracting information mainly relating to the time code from the description of the MPEG-7 file described above and calculating it. Editing can be executed by applying the EDL data to the editing device 3.

In the first line, a title attached to the edited video generated as a result of editing is described. The title can be input, for example, at the timing of editing with the editing screen 160 of FIG. 21B described above. In the example of FIG. 29, the cuts are “0001”, “0002”, ...
It is indicated that the edited video indicated by the title is composed of four cuts. The cut corresponds to, for example, the partial material into which the video material 11 is divided as described above.

Below the line indicating the data item, information of each cut (partial material) used for editing is described. The partial material information is described based on the contents of the MPEG-7 file of the video material 11 that is the source of each partial material. For example, the cut with the number “0001” corresponds to the description of the MPEG-7 file shown in FIG. 26, and the content I indicating the video material 11 which is the source of the partial material.
D (“0027/20010805”) is described, and a title (“Yamaga”) attached to the partial material is described.
ta Holistic Tour ”) is described.

Items "P-VTR IN" and "P-V"
The position of the partial material on the video material 11 is described by “TR OUT”. This position is obtained by adding the offset of the entire video material 11 shown in FIG. 25 to the description of the start position shown in FIG. Item "P-VTR
“IN” indicates the starting point, and the item “P-VTR OUT” indicates the ending point. In this example, the start point “0 day 0: 30: 20: 10 frame” is added to the start position “0 day 0: 00: 00: 0 frame” of the partial material in the video material 11 so that the start point is “0 day”. 0: 30: 20: 10 frames ”. The end point is the “length (Durat) of the partial material described in the MPEG-7 file of the relevant video material 11.
Ion) ”.

Items "R-VTR IN" and "R-V
“TR OUT” describes the position when the partial material is recorded on the recording medium (for example, video tape) of the editing destination. The item "R-VTR IN" indicates the starting point, and the item "R-VTR OUT" indicates the ending point. In this example,
Although the starting point is “0 day, 0 hour, 0 minute, 0 second, 0 frame”, in practice, an arbitrary point on the recording medium of the editing destination can be designated as the starting point.

In this way, the information specifying the video material (partial material) used for editing and the position information in the video material are extracted from the MPEG-7 file and described, and the position information of the editing destination is also described. Is described and EDL data is generated. 21B for information on video material (partial material)
If a plurality of video materials (partial materials) are selected on the editing screen 160 described above, all information on the selected video materials (partial materials) is described. In the example of FIG. 28, for example, four video materials (partial materials) are selected on the editing screen 160 of FIG. 21B, and the selected materials are numbered “0001”, “0002”, “0003” and “0”.
004 ”, respectively.
As described above, the order of description, that is, the reproduction order in the video of the editing destination is the track screen 1 of the editing screen 160.
This corresponds to the order of the representative still images 162, 162, ...

The generated EDL data is transmitted to the editing device 3 via the network 4 (not shown). The editing device 3 searches for the video material 11 required for editing based on the content ID described in the EDL data. As described above, since the content ID is the only one in the world, no matter where the video material 11 described in the EDL data is on the Internet 4, the location of the video material 11 can be specified. The material 11 can be supplied to the editing device 3.

When the necessary video material 11 is supplied, the editing device 3 uses the video material 11 based on the start and end position information described in the EDL data and the recording start and end position information at the editing destination. Editing work is performed.
The editing work can be automatically executed by the EDL data. The edited image is recorded on, for example, a video tape. Of course, it may be transmitted to the remote search / edit terminal 1 via the Internet 4.

Next, the content ID will be briefly described. Content ID is the world's only identification code standard for multimedia content proposed by the Content ID Forum (MPEG-21). By applying the content ID to the video material, the video material can be easily searched and the copyright can be protected.

FIG. 30 shows the overall structure of the content ID. As shown in FIG. 30A, the content ID has an ID center management number (called a unique code) for identifying the content, a content attribute and a right attribute determined when the content is created, and a right determined when the content is distributed. Operational attributes, distribution attributes, and distribution attributes are prepared. Further, in the content ID, a free area that enables future attribute expansion and system management information for validation of the content ID are prepared.

The content ID has a three-step management method as shown in FIG. 30A. First stage (# 1)
Is managed by a unique code. The unique code is the key for database access. Therefore, this unique code is targeted for digital watermarking. Figure 3
0B shows the structure of the unique code in more detail. The first 16 bits are predetermined identification information, to which a version number, area code and ID management center number are assigned. Subsequent to the ID management center number, a copyrighted work ID that indicates the copyrighted work of the content managed by this content ID and an issue ID that is an ID related to the issue of this content are stored. This work ID / issue ID
Is a unique ID that has an arbitrary length and can be assigned by the content ID management center.

The second stage (# 2) is DCD (Distributed
Management by Content Descriptor). This DCD
Is a part of the attributes that make up the content ID added to the unique code. When the digital watermark is not performed, this DCD is a key for accessing the database. The third stage (# 3) is management by all content IDs. That is, in the third stage, the content ID is managed by adding all the attributes forming the content ID to the unique code. In the third stage, the content ID is centrally managed by the intellectual property management database in the content ID management center. By using such a management system, the data to be superimposed on the video data itself as a digital watermark can be minimized (for example, only the unique code).

[0205] In the entire copyrighted content ID / issue ID area, the content ID
It has been proposed to embed the original time code of the video material managed by. Here, the embedded original time code is, for example, the original time code of the starting point of the video material.

FIG. 31 shows an example of the unique code in the content ID when the original time code is embedded in the content ID. In the example of FIG. 31, 100 bits are assigned to the unique code as shown in FIG. 31A. Of the 100 bits, excluding the 16 bits on the head side in which predetermined identification information is stored,
The 84 bits that can be assigned by the content ID management center (hereinafter referred to as center number) are divided into two, and the first 20 bits of the center number are the material ID or finished product ID, and the latter 64 bits are the original time. It is regarded as a code.

The first 20 bits of the first half of the in-center number serve as a flag indicating whether the video managed by this content ID is a material or a finished product. FIG. 31B and FIG. 31C show an example of a unique code structure for a material and a finished product, respectively. In the unique code for the finished product, as shown in FIG. 31C,
Original timecode is not embedded.

FIG. 32 shows an example of the configuration of an editing system using the content ID in which the original time code is embedded. In addition, in FIG. 32, in FIG.
19 and the portions corresponding to those in FIG. 19 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0209] For example, the original image material 11 imaged by the video camera 10 is supplied to the large capacity image archive 2. The VTR 21 extracts the original time code and the attribute information about the video material 11 from the video material 11. The attribute information can also be manually input. The original time code is Content I
It is supplied to the D generation unit 22. The attribute information is MPE.
It is supplied to the G-7 encoder 23.

On the other hand, the video material 11 reproduced from the recording medium by the VTR 21 is supplied to the archive 12 and registered and accumulated. At this time, the database management unit 24 generates a unique material ID in the archive 2 for the video material 11 registered in the archive 2. The material ID is the material 1 in the database 15.
It is registered as the management information of No. 1 and the content ID
It is supplied to the generation unit 22.

When the video material 11 is registered in the archive 12, the video material 11 is divided, the representative still image and the representative audio are designated, as described above.

[0212] The content ID generation unit 22 generates a globally unique content ID for the video material 11 using the supplied original time code and material ID. That is, as shown in FIG. 31B described above, the original time code is embedded in the latter 64 bits of the 84-in-center number in the unique code, and 19 bits excluding the first 1 bit of the first 20 bits are used as the material. The ID is stored. This content ID
Is supplied to the MPEG-7 encoder 23.

In the MPEG-7 encoder 23, the VTR
21 and the attribute information of the video material 11 supplied from 21 and the content ID supplied from the content ID generation unit 22.
And are used to generate an MPEG-7 file for the video material 11. The generated MPEG-7 file is associated with the video material 11 and registered in the database 15.

A content ID can be embedded in the video material 11 by using a digital watermark technique. For example, a video signal is converted into a DCT (Discrete Cosine Tra) using the technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-164129.
It is possible to embed the content ID in the low frequency region when the content has been formed. Video material 1 played on VTR21
The content ID is embedded in the 1 video signal by the digital watermark by the superimposing unit 25. Content ID
The video material 11 in which is embedded is registered and accumulated in the archive 12.

The user transmits a keyword from the remote search / editing terminal 1 to the database management unit 24, and based on the keyword, the genre dictionary 14 (not shown) is narrowed down and the database 15 is searched. The information of the video material 11 obtained as a result of the search is M
It is returned to the remote search / edit terminal 1 as a PEG-7 file. In the remote search / editing terminal 1, the user selects the necessary video material or partial material based on the representative still image, representative audio, attribute information, etc. embedded in this MPEG-7 file, and the editing work of the video material 11 is performed. Done. When the editing is decided, the above-mentioned EDL data in which the editing result is described is written from the remote search / editing terminal 1 to the editing device 3
Sent to.

The editing device 3 searches for the video material 11 used for editing, based on the content ID described in the transmitted EDL data. For example, although not shown, the location of the video material 11 indicated by the content ID is inquired to the content ID management center based on the content ID. Based on the location information obtained as a result of the inquiry, for example, the video material 11 from the archive 12
Is obtained.

The obtained video material 11 is temporarily stored in the local server 30 in the editing device 3. Then, the video material 11 is reproduced on the local server 30 under the control of the time code conversion / control unit 33 based on the EDL data sent from the remote search / edit terminal 1. For example, the reproduction of the video material 11 is controlled based on the start and end position information of the video material 11 described in the EDL data.

Here, when the content ID is superimposed on the video material 11 by a digital watermark, the superposition decoding unit 34 extracts the content ID superimposed on the video material 11, and the time code conversion / control unit is used. Three
3 is supplied. Time code conversion / control section 3
3, the time code offset process of the video material 11 can be performed based on the original time code included in the content ID.

The video material 11 reproduced by the local server 30 is supplied to the SW / MIX 31, which is an editing device including a switcher and a mixer, and the actual video signal is edited according to the EDL data. The editing process is
It can be done automatically according to EDL data. The edited finished product is supplied to the VTR 32 and recorded on, for example, the video tape 40.

[0220]

As described above, according to the present invention, the attribute information for the video material registered in the video archive is registered in the database as text-based data based on the common search term. Therefore, there is an effect that the video material registered in the video archive can be quickly searched from a remote location.

Further, since a still image or sound representing a video material is embedded in the attribute information, there is an effect that the video material can be searched more accurately.

Further, according to the present invention, when the video material is searched, only the attribute information of the video material is collected without collecting the video material itself. Therefore, the search information can be obtained via the network such as the Internet. There is an effect that can be done at high speed.

Furthermore, the attribute information of the video material registered in the database describes the location information indicating the whereabouts of the video material and the information necessary for editing such as the original time code of the video material. Therefore, by obtaining only the attribute information of the video material, it is possible to edit the video material and output the editing result as EDL data.

Also, since EDL data can be generated from the attribute information, there is an effect that remote automatic editing of video material can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram schematically showing a configuration of an example of a remote editing system applicable to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of division of video material and designation of a representative still image and audio.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram schematically showing an MPEG-7 scheme.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of using metadata.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a schema and metadata given using the schema definition.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a metadata tree in which metadata is represented by a tree structure.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a data format of MPEG-7.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a correspondence relationship between an MPEG-7 data format and a metadata tree.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram conceptually showing two technical elements of navigation coding / decoding and subtree coding / decoding.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram schematically showing processing by a fragment update command.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram schematically showing an absolute path and a relative path.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing a decoding process defined for a subtree code in BiM of the MPEG-7 system.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a data syntax tree generated based on a schema definition.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a decoder automaton generated based on a schema definition.

FIG. 15 is a general view of MDS based on the classification of various tool groups defined by MDS.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram showing a description of an example of the description unit version MPEG-7 metadata.

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram showing a description of an example of complete description version MPEG-7 metadata.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between possible values of upper elements and upper elements in the complete description version MPEG-7 metadata.

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram for explaining registration of a video material in a large-capacity video archive and search of a registered video material by a remote search / editing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a genre dictionary.

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a screen display for selecting and editing video material based on a representative still image and a representative audio.

FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram showing an example of description of an MPEG-7 file.

FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of description of an MPEG-7 file.

FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of description of an MPEG-7 file.

FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of description of an MPEG-7 file.

FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of description of an MPEG-7 file.

FIG. 27 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a description of an MPEG-7 file.

FIG. 28 is an M in which a representative still image and a representative audio are embedded.
It is an approximate line figure showing description of an example of a PEG-7 file.

FIG. 29 is a schematic diagram schematically showing an example of EDL data.

FIG. 30 is a schematic diagram showing an overall structure of a content ID.

FIG. 31 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an example of a unique code in a content ID when embedding an original time code in the content ID.

FIG. 32 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an example of a remote editing system using a content ID in which an original time code is embedded.

FIG. 33 is a schematic diagram schematically showing a configuration of an example of a remote editing system according to a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Remote search / editing terminal, 2 ... Large-capacity video archive, 3 ... Video editing device, 4 ... Network, 11 ... Video material, 12 ... Archive, 13
... Registration terminal, 14 ... Genre dictionary, 15 ...
Database, 22 ... Content ID generation unit, 23
... MPEG-7 encoder, 24 ... Database management unit, 30 ... Local server, 31 ... SW
/ MIX, 33 ... Time code conversion / control section, 150 ... Video material selection screen, 160 ... Editing screen

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5B075 ND12 NK10 NK24                 5C052 AA01 AB02 AB03 AB04 AB05                       AC08 CC11 DD04                 5C053 FA14 FA21 FA23 FA28 GB06                       GB21 GB37 HA29 JA21 KA24                       LA11 LA14    (54) [Title of Invention] Video material information description method, remote search system, remote search method, editing device and remote search terminal, remote                     Editing system, remote editing method, editing device and remote editing terminal, and video material information storage device                     And method

Claims (50)

[Claims] 1. A video material information description method used for a database in which search terms are shared for universal use of a video database, wherein attribute information of a video material is described in whole and part of the video material. Then, with respect to the description of the attribute information of each of the whole and the part of the video material, the data necessary for the search is described by using the search terms that are made common for the worldwide use of the video database. At the same time, a still image and audio corresponding to the above-mentioned image material are embedded, and a method of describing image material information. 2. The video material information description method according to claim 1, wherein the data necessary for the search is identification information capable of identifying the video material. 3. The video material information description method according to claim 1, wherein the data required for the search is genre information corresponding to the contents of the video material. 4. The video material information description method according to claim 1, wherein the data necessary for the search is a title name given to the video material. 5. The video material information description method according to claim 1, wherein the data required for the search is length information indicating the length of the video material. 6. The video material information description method according to claim 1, wherein the data required for the search is shooting location information indicating a shooting location of the video material. Method. 7. The video material information description method according to claim 1, wherein the data required for the search is shooting date / time information indicating a shooting date / time of the video material. Method. 8. The video material information description method according to claim 1, wherein the still image and audio are the entire video material and / or the video material.
Alternatively, a video material information description method characterized by being a still image and audio corresponding to an arbitrary position of a part. 9. The video material information description method according to claim 1, wherein the attribute information is described in accordance with the MPEG-7 standard. 10. A remote system adapted to search for video material using video material information described by a video material information description method used in a database in which search terms are shared for universal use of the video database. In the search system, for the video archive in which the video material is stored and for each of the video material stored in the video archive, the video material is divided into whole and part,
The data necessary for the search is described as the attribute information of the above-mentioned video material by using the search terms that are standardized for universal use of the video database, and the still image and audio corresponding to the above-mentioned video material are embedded. The database that stores the data that is stored in the video archive and the database that is geographically distant from the video archive and the database, and sends a search request to the video archive stored in the video archive to the database via the communication network. A remote search terminal for transmitting, and a search result for the search request by the remote search terminal is sent from the database to the remote search terminal via the communication network as a file described by the common search term. A remote search system characterized by being transmitted. 11. The remote search system according to claim 10, wherein the search by the remote search terminal is performed by a text search based on the file based on the data necessary for the search, and the still image and the voice are recorded. A remote search system characterized by being able to perform while referring. 12. A remote system adapted to search for video material using video material information described by a video material information description method used in a database in which search terms are shared in order to universally use the video database. In the search method, for the step of storing the video material in the video archive and for each of the video material stored in the video archive, the video material being divided into whole and parts,
The data required for the search is described as the attribute information of the above-mentioned video material by using the search terms that are standardized for the worldwide use of the video database, and the still image and audio corresponding to the above-mentioned video material are embedded. Data is stored in a database, and a search request for searching the video material stored in the video archive from a remote search terminal located geographically distant from the video archive and the database. Transmitting to the database via the database via the communication network as a file in which the search result for the search request by the remote search terminal is described by the common search term. A remote feature characterized by being transmitted to the above remote search terminal Search method. 13. An editing device for editing using video material, wherein the video material of the video material transmitted from the remote search terminal and accumulated in the video archive by the remote search terminal is divided into whole and parts. In addition, the data necessary for the search is described as the attribute information of the above-mentioned image material by using the search terms that are made common to use the image database globally, and the still image corresponding to the above-mentioned image material and Receiving means for receiving editing result data indicating a result of editing performed based on the still image and the sound obtained as a result of searching the database storing the attribute information in which the sound is embedded, and the receiving means. Based on the received editing result data, the video material from the above video archive is obtained and the obtained video material is edited. And a editing means, edited by the editing means, the editing apparatus characterized by being can be automatically performed on the basis of the editing result data. 14. An editing method for performing editing using video material, wherein the video material of the video material transmitted from the remote search terminal and accumulated in the video archive by the remote search terminal is divided into whole and parts. In addition, the data necessary for the search is described as the attribute information of the above-mentioned image material by using the search terms that are made common to use the image database globally, and the still image corresponding to the above-mentioned image material and A receiving step of receiving editing result data indicating a result of editing performed based on the still image and the sound obtained as a result of searching the database storing the attribute information in which the sound is embedded; Acquisition of the video material from the video archive and matching of the acquired video material based on the editing result data received by the step. That editing is carried out and a step of editing, the edited by the step of the editing, the editing method characterized in that it is possible to automatically perform based on the editing result data. 15. A remote adapted to search a video material by using video material information described by a video material information description method used in a database in which search terms are shared so as to use the video database universally. In the search terminal, the search request for searching the above-mentioned video material stored in the video archive in which the video material is stored is divided into the whole and part of the above-mentioned video material stored in the above-mentioned video archive. For each of them, the data necessary for the search is described as the attribute information of the above-mentioned image material by using the search terms that are made common for the worldwide use of the image database, and the still image corresponding to the above-mentioned image material and A remote search means for transmitting via a communication network to a database in which voice-embedded data is stored; The file in which the search result for the search request by the search means is transmitted from the database and described by the common search term is received via the communication network, and the still image embedded in the received file is received. And a means for retrieving audio, the remote search terminal being located geographically distant from the video archive and the database. 16. The remote search terminal according to claim 15, wherein the search by the remote search terminal is performed by a text search based on the file based on data necessary for the search, and by the still image and voice. A remote search terminal characterized by being able to perform. 17. A video material is searched by a remote search terminal using video material information described by a video material information description method used in a database in which search terms are shared for universal use of the video database. In the remote search method as described above, a search request for searching for the above-mentioned video material stored in the video archive in which the video material is stored, is issued as a whole or part of the video material stored in the video archive. For each of the above, the data necessary for the search is described as the attribute information of the above-mentioned video material by using the search terms that are standardized so that the video database can be used globally The above-mentioned video archive and the above-mentioned database are stored in the database that stores the data with embedded still images and audio. And a step of remote search which is transmitted from a remote search terminal located at a geographically distant place via a communication network, and a search result for the search request by the remote search step is transmitted from the database A file described by a search term is received by the remote search terminal via the communication network, and the still image and the sound embedded in the received file are taken out. . 18. In a video material information description method used for a database in which search terms are shared for universal use of a video database, attribute information of a video material is described by dividing the video material into whole and parts. However, for the description of the attribute information of each of the whole and the part of the video material, the search terms common to the worldwide use of the video database are used to edit using the video material. A video material information description method characterized in that necessary data is described. 19. The video material information description method according to claim 18, wherein the data necessary for the editing is identification information capable of identifying the video material. 20. The video material information description method according to claim 18, wherein the data necessary for the editing is a time code indicating a start position of the video material. 21. The video material information description method according to claim 18, wherein the data necessary for the editing is length information indicating the length of the video material. 22. The video material information description method according to claim 18, wherein the attribute information is described in accordance with the MPEG-7 standard. 23. A remote adapted to edit a video material by using video material information described by a video material information description method used in a database in which search terms are shared for universal use of the video database. In the editing system, for the video archive in which the video material is stored and for each of the video material stored in the video archive, the video material is divided into whole and part,
A database that stores data in which data necessary for editing using the video material is described as attribute information of the video material by using a search term that is standardized for universal use of the video database; The video material is located in a geographically distant location from the video archive and the database, and the video material is edited using the data necessary for the editing described as the attribute information of the video material stored in the video archive, A remote editing terminal that sends edit result data indicating the result of the editing via a communication network, and a video material was obtained from the video archive based on the edit result information sent from the remote editing terminal. An editing device for editing the video material is used, and the data necessary for the editing uses the common search terms. Above file written Te is supplied to the remote editing apparatus, the above-mentioned editing by the editing apparatus, remote editing system characterized in that it is possible to automatically perform based on the editing result information. 24. The remote editing system according to claim 23, wherein the data necessary for the editing is identification information capable of identifying the video material, a time code indicating a start position of the video material, and a length of the video material. Length information indicating the length, the remote editing terminal extracts the identification information, the time code, and the length information from the file, performs the editing based on the extracted information, and edits the result data. A remote editing system which is characterized by generating. 25. A remote adapted to edit a video material using video material information described by a video material information description method used in a database in which search terms are shared for universal use of the video database. In the editing method, the step of storing the video material in the video archive and the step of storing the video material in the video archive stored in the video archive into the whole and the parts respectively,
Storing in the database data in which data necessary for editing using the video material is described as attribute information of the video material by using a search term that is shared for universal use of the video database, Edit the above-mentioned video material using the data necessary for the above-mentioned editing, which is located in a geographically distant location from the above-mentioned video archive and the above-mentioned database and is stored as the above-mentioned attribute information of the above-mentioned video material stored in the above-mentioned video archive. A step of transmitting edit result data indicating a result of the edit from a remote editing terminal via a communication network, and obtaining video material from the video archive based on the edit result information transmitted by the step of transmitting,
Editing the obtained video material by an editing device, and the data necessary for the editing is supplied to the remote editing device as a file described using the common search term. The remote editing method is characterized in that the editing by the editing device can be automatically performed based on the editing result information. 26. In an editing device for editing using a video material, the video archive in which the video material is stored and the video material stored in the video archive are divided into whole and part, respectively. On the other hand, a database storing data in which data necessary for editing using the video material is described as attribute information of the video material by using a common search term for universal use of the video database. Sent from a remote editing terminal that edits the video material using data necessary for the editing described as the attribute information of the video material stored in the video archive, which is geographically distant from Also, receiving means for receiving the edited result data indicating the result of the editing via the communication network, and the receiving means received by the receiving means. And editing means for performing acquisition of the video material from the video archive and editing of the acquired video material based on the editing result data, and the editing by the editing means is automatically performed based on the editing result data. An editing device characterized in that it has been made possible. 27. The editing apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the data necessary for the editing includes identification information capable of identifying the video material, a time code indicating a start position of the video material, and a length of the video material. An editing device characterized in that it is length information indicating. 28. In an editing method for editing using a video material, the video archive in which the video material is stored and the video material stored in the video archive are divided into whole and part, respectively. On the other hand, a database storing data in which data necessary for editing using the video material is described as attribute information of the video material by using a common search term for universal use of the video database. Sent from a remote editing terminal that edits the above-mentioned video material using the data necessary for the above-mentioned editing described as the above-mentioned attribute information of the above-mentioned video material stored in the above-mentioned video archive, which is geographically separated. The receiving step of receiving the edited result data indicating the editing result via the communication network, and the receiving step And an editing step of performing acquisition of the video material from the video archive and editing of the acquired video material based on the received edit result data, wherein the editing by the editing step is the editing result data. An editing method characterized in that it can be automatically performed based on. 29. A remote adapted to edit a video material by using video material information described by a video material information description method used in a database in which search terms are shared so as to universally use the video database. In the editing terminal, for each of the video materials stored in the video archive, which are divided into the whole and the parts, the video is searched using a common search term in order to universally use the video database. Editing means for editing video material using attribute information that describes data necessary for editing using material, and transmitting means for transmitting the result of editing by the editing means to an editing device via a communication network And a remote editing terminal which is located at a geographically distant location from the video archive and the database. 30. The remote editing terminal according to claim 29, wherein the data required for the editing includes identification information for identifying the video material, a time code indicating a start position of the video material, and a length of the video material. A remote editing terminal characterized by being length information indicating the length. 31. A remote editing terminal edits a video material by using video material information described by a video material information description method used in a database in which search terms are shared for universal use of the video database. In the remote editing method, for each of the video materials stored in the video archive, which are divided into the whole and the parts, by using a common search term for universal use of the video database, Using the attribute information that describes the data necessary for editing using the video material, an editing step of editing the video material at a remote editing terminal that is geographically distant from the video archive and the database, and , A step of transmitting the result of the editing by the above-mentioned editing step to the editing device via the communication network. Remote editing method which is characterized in that. 32. In a video material information storage device for storing attribute information of video material described in a common search term for universal use of a video database, the entire video material stored in a video archive. For each of the parts and the parts, the data necessary for the search is described as the attribute information of the video material by using the search terms that are common for the worldwide use of the video database, and the data corresponds to the video material. A video material information storage device characterized in that data in which a still image and audio are embedded is stored. 33. The video material information storage device according to claim 32, wherein the data necessary for the search is identification information capable of identifying the video material. 34. The video material information storage device according to claim 32, wherein the data required for the search is genre information corresponding to the contents of the video material. 35. The video material information storage device according to claim 32, wherein the data necessary for the search is a title name given to the video material. 36. The video material information storage device according to claim 32, wherein the data required for the search is length information indicating the length of the video material. 37. The video material information storage device according to claim 32, wherein the data necessary for the search is shooting location information indicating a shooting location of the video material. apparatus. 38. The video material information storage device according to claim 32, wherein the data required for the search is shooting date and time information indicating a shooting date and time of the video material. apparatus. 39. The video material information storage device according to claim 32, wherein the still image and audio are the entire video material and / or the video material.
A video material information storage device, which is a still image and audio corresponding to an arbitrary position of a portion. 40. The video material information storage device according to claim 32, wherein the attribute information is described based on the standard of MPEG-7. 41. A video material information storage method for storing attribute information of video material described by a common search term for universal use of a video database, wherein the entire video material stored in a video archive is stored. For each of the parts and the parts, the data necessary for the search is described as the attribute information of the video material by using the search terms that are common for the worldwide use of the video database, and the data corresponds to the video material. A video material information storage method, wherein data in which a still image and audio are embedded is stored in a video material information storage device. 42. A video material information storage device, which is used for a database in which search terms are standardized for universal use of a video database, in a video archive for each of all or part of video material stored in a video archive. It is characterized in that the data necessary for editing using the above-mentioned video material is stored as the attribute information of the above-mentioned video material is stored by using the search terms that are made common for the worldwide use of the database. Video material information storage device. 43. The video material information storage device according to claim 42, wherein the data necessary for the editing is identification information capable of identifying the video material. 44. The video material information storage device according to claim 42, wherein the data necessary for the editing is a time code indicating a start position of the video material. 45. The video material information storage device according to claim 42, wherein the data necessary for the editing is length information indicating a length of the video material. 46. The video material information storage device according to claim 42, wherein the attribute information is described in accordance with the MPEG-7 standard. 47. A video material information storage method for storing video material information in a video material information storage device, which is used for a database in which search terms are shared for universal use of a video database, and is stored in a video archive. The data necessary for editing using the above-mentioned video material is described as the attribute information of the above-mentioned video material for each of the whole and part of the video material using a search term that is standardized to use the video database globally. A method for storing image material information, wherein the stored data is stored in an image material information storage device. 48. A video archive in a remote editing system for searching a video archive in which video materials are accumulated from a location geographically distant from the video archive and performing editing using the searched video material. The text-based attribute information of the video material stored in, the database in which the still images and audio corresponding to the video material are registered, and the location that is geographically distant from the video archive and is stored in the video archive. The video material is searched based on the attribute information registered in the database, the still image and the audio, and the video material is edited based on the search result by the search, and the editing result is edited. Based on the search and edit terminal that outputs as result data and the edit result data output from the search and edit terminal, the video A remote editing system, comprising: an editing device that obtains the above-mentioned video material from an archive and performs actual editing using the obtained video material. 49. The remote editing system according to claim 48, wherein the attribute information registered in the database, and the still image and the sound have a common search term for universal use of the video database. A file that is described based on the video material information description method used in the database described above, and the search result of the database by the search editing terminal is a file in which the attribute information and the still image and audio are described based on the video material information description method. Is transmitted from the database to the search editing terminal as a remote editing system. 50. A remote editing method for searching for a video material from a location geographically distant from the video archive in a video archive in which the video material is stored, and performing editing using the searched video material. By the text-based attribute information of the video material stored in, the step of registering still images and audio corresponding to the video material in the database, and the search and edit terminal geographically distant from the video archive, The video material stored in the video archive is searched based on the attribute information registered in the database and the still image and audio, and editing using the video material is performed based on the search result by the search. And the step of outputting the editing result as editing result data, and the editing result output from the search editing terminal. A remote editing method comprising the steps of: obtaining the video material from the video archive based on the result data; and actually editing the video material using the obtained video material using an editing device.