Method and apparatus for converting the modality of multimedia contents to support the quality of service according to media resource

In a system including an apparatus for processing multimedia contents, a method for building an overlap content model for a multimedia item which is available in any one of a plurality of alternative modalities, the overlap content model being for providing a desired modality from the plurality of modalities in response to a resource value which is a value of one or more media resources, the method comprising:

• (1) for each said modality, obtaining by the system a content value specification associated with a set of one or more resource values each of which is a value of the one or more media resources each of which is a resource of a network or terminal, the content value specification providing a content value for each of said one or more resource values in the associated set, wherein the sets associated with at least two of the modalities overlap;
• (2) determining by the system, from the content value specifications, sub-sets of said sets, wherein for each said sub-set, one of the content value specifications provides a maximum content value for each resource value in the sub-set, wherein the modality associated with said one of the content value specifications is the desired modality for each resource value in the sub-set;
• wherein at least one of the sub-sets includes a resource value belonging to at least two of said sets;
• wherein at least one said content value specification is obtained by combining quality specifications associated with respective different qualities, each quality specification providing, for each resource value in the associated set, a content value based on the respective quality.

In a system including an apparatus for processing multimedia contents, a method for selecting a desired modality from a plurality of modalities each of which is adoptable by a multimedia item as an alternative to any other modality of the plurality of modalities, the desired modality being for adopting the multimedia item to one or more media resources, the method comprising:

• (1) for each said modality, obtaining by the system a content value specification associated with a set of one or more resource values each of which is a value of the one or more media resources each of which is a resource of a network or terminal, the content value specification providing a content value for each of said one or more resource values in the associated set, wherein the sets associated with at least two of the modalities overlap;
• (2) obtaining by the system a resource value v1 belonging to at least two of the sets;
• and
• (3) selecting by the system the desired modality from the modalities whose associated sets contain the resource value v1, the desired modality being selected using the content value specifications of the modalities whose associated sets contain the resource value v1;
• wherein the method further comprises, after operation (3), converting by the system the multimedia item's modality into the desired modality;
• wherein the content value specifications are obtained from content value curves and scale factors for said modalities;
• wherein each of the content value specifications is obtained by combining quality curves that are measured according to two or more different qualities.

A method of converting a modality of multimedia contents to support Quality of Service (QoS) of the multimedia contents according to media resources, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a modality conversion descriptor in which characteristics of modality conversion of the multimedia contents are described;
• receiving the multimedia contents;
• and
• converting the modality of the multimedia contents into a modality that is determined according to a media resource and the modality conversion descriptor,
• wherein the modality conversion descriptor describes modalities of the media resource, a scale factor for each of the modalities of the media resource, and for each modality describes a plurality of quality curves, and a scale factor for each quality curve, wherein for each modality the corresponding quality curves and the scale factors define a content value curve for the modality of the media resource, wherein each of the content value curves is obtained by combining quality curves that are measured according to two or more different qualities.

An apparatus for converting a modality of multimedia contents to support QoS of the multimedia contents according to media resources, comprising:

• means for receiving a modality conversion descriptor in which characteristics of modality conversion of the multimedia contents are described;
• and
• means for converting the modality of the multimedia contents into a modality that is determined according to a media resource and the modality conversion descriptor,
• wherein the modality conversion descriptor describes modalities of the media resource, a scale factor for each of the modalities of the media resource, and for each modality describes a plurality of quality curves, and a scale factor for each quality curve, wherein for each modality the corresponding quality curves and the scale factors define a content value curve for the modality of the media resource, wherein each of the content value curves is obtained by combining quality curves that are measured according to two or more different qualities.