Method of describing multiple level digest segment information scheme for multimedia contents and apparatus for generating digest stream from described multiple level digest segment information scheme and method thereof

A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a machine readable storage medium, for processing multimedia content, the computer program comprising instructions to cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

• receiving an audio-visual content stream;
• receiving segment information describing a plurality of digest segments in the audio-visual content stream, each digest segment representing a continuous temporal portion of the audio-visual content stream, the segment information being separate from the audio-visual content stream and defining each digest segment by a start time and a segment duration;
• receiving digest segment group information describing alternative digest segment groups, the digest segment group information being separate from the audio-visual content stream and specifying that each digest segment group includes two or more corresponding digest segments from the plurality of digest segments to represent a single stream of highlights concatenating non-contiguous and time ordered portions from the audio-visual content stream,
• wherein the digest segment group information specifies a respective highlight duration for each alternative digest segment group based on a sum of the segment durations of the corresponding digest segments in the group;
• storing, in the apparatus, digest information that includes the segment information and the digest segment group information;
• receiving user input indicating desired highlights from the audio-visual content stream, wherein the desired highlights have a desired duration;
• and
• based on the desired duration of the desired highlights indicated in the user input and based on the digest segment group information, generating a digest stream by concatenating non-contiguous and time ordered portions from the audio-visual content stream, wherein the digest stream corresponds to the single stream of highlights represented by one of the alternative digest segment groups.

An apparatus for processing multimedia content, the apparatus comprising:

• a media stream processing unit to receive and process an audio-visual content stream;
• a user input unit to receive user input indicating desired highlights from the audio-visual content stream, wherein the desired highlights have a desired duration;
• a data storage;
• and
• a digest stream processing unit configured to:
• (i) receive segment information describing a plurality of digest segments in the audio-visual content stream, each digest segment representing a continuous temporal portion of the audio-visual content stream, the segment information being separate from the audio-visual content stream and defining each digest segment by a start time and a segment duration;
• (ii) receive digest segment group information describing alternative digest segment groups, the digest segment group information being separate from the audio-visual content stream and specifying that each alternative digest segment group includes two or more corresponding digest segments from the plurality of digest segments to represent a single stream of highlights concatenating non-contiguous and time ordered portions from the audio-visual content stream, wherein the digest segment group information specifies a respective highlight duration for each alternative digest segment group based on a sum of the segment durations of the corresponding digest segments in the group;
• (iv) store, in the data storage, digest information that includes the segment information and the digest segment group information;
• and
• (v)generate, based on the desired duration of the desired highlights indicated in the user input and based on the digest segment group information, a digest stream by concatenating non-contiguous and time ordered portions from the audio-visual content stream, wherein the digest stream corresponds to the single stream of highlights represented by one of the alternative digest segment groups.