Method of searching or browsing multimedia data and data structure

Abstract

A method of searching or browsing multimedia data which can effectively search or browse an image is disclosed. In the present method, the searching or browsing is performed in consideration of at least one of a reliability information on a weight of a feature of an input multimedia data and an authority code. According to the method, the system selects reference multimedia data, and searches the multimedia data using a weight of a feature and/or a feature element of the input multimedia data. A user gives feedback on the relevance of the searched or browsed multimedia data, and the system calculates a new weight using the relevance information. Thus, the system updates and maintains new weights of features and/or feature elements.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method of searching or browsing multimedia data comprising: 
 (a) receiving a reference multimedia data with data structure including features of said reference multimedia data and weight information of said features;    (b) searching for said reference multimedia data using the features and the weight information;    (c) receiving user feedback on a relevance of resultant multimedia data found in (b);    (d) measuring a similarity of the reference multimedia data to the resultant multimedia data and calculating a new weight information of said features using the measured value; and    (e) updating the weight information of said features in said data structure of the reference multimedia data using the new weight information.    
     
     
         2 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein in (c), increasing weights of features which would increase a similarity between the reference multimedia data and the resultant multimedia data if the user feedback is a positive relevance information  
     
     
         3 . A method of  claim 2 , wherein in (c), increasing weights of features which would increase a dissimilarity between the reference multimedia data and the resultant multimedia data if the user feedback is a negative relevance information.  
     
     
         4 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the data structure of the reference multimedia data further comprises reliability information indicating a reliability of the weight information.  
     
     
         5 . A method of  claim 4 , wherein a reliability of a weight assigned to a feature is proportional to the amount of training by user feedback.  
     
     
         6 . A method of  claim 4 , wherein the data structure of the reference multimedia data further comprises authority information which limits an update of the weight information by a user feedback.  
     
     
         7 . A method of  claim 6 , wherein the authority information includes a plurality of authority levels, wherein each authority level has degree values affecting the degree of weight information update in (e).  
     
     
         8 . A method of  claim 7 , wherein a higher reliability is given to user feedback by a user with a high authority level.  
     
     
         9 . A method of  claim 6 , wherein in (e), updating the weight information of said features in said data structure of the reference multimedia data depending upon the reliability information and the authority information.  
     
     
         10 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the data structure of the reference multimedia data further comprises authority information which limits an update of the weight information by a user feedback.  
     
     
         11 . A method of  claim 10 , wherein the authority information includes a plurality of authority levels, wherein each authority level has degree values affecting the degree of weight information update in (e).  
     
     
         12 . A method of  claim 11 , wherein receiving a password from a user to determine an authority level of the user.  
     
     
         13 . A method of searching or browsing multimedia data comprising: 
 searching for a reference multimedia data using variable information representing an importance of a feature of the reference multimedia data;    receiving user feedback on relevance of the searched multimedia data;    calculating a new variable information using the relevance information as training information or using user pattern information stored in the system; and    updating the variable information using the calculated new variable information and/or reliability information, and maintaining the updated variable information.    
     
     
         14 . A method of  claim 13 , wherein the variable information is one or a combination of: 
 a weight of features used for searching for the reference multimedia data;    a weight of a frame or segment used for searching or browsing a specific video;    a weight of user-dependent information representing a user preference or user habit and a portion of data used for searching or browsing a main region or main object of the multimedia data; and    information for multimedia grouping of a similarity list and a cluster model.    
     
     
         15 . A method of  claim 13 , wherein if at least two identical multimedia data having different variable information for a search or browsing are provided, selecting a multimedia data which has a relatively high reliability with respect to the variable information to calculate the new variable information.  
     
     
         16 . A method of  claim 13 , wherein if at least two identical multimedia data having different variable information for a search or browsing are provided, combining the provided multimedia data in proportion to the reliability of the variable information value to calculate the new variable information.  
     
     
         17 . A method of searching or browsing multimedia data comprising: 
 searching for a reference multimedia data using variable information representing an importance of a feature of the reference multimedia data;    receiving user feedback on relevance of the searched multimedia data; and    updating the variable information using the relevance information as training information or using a prestored user pattern information, and/or reliability information, and maintaining the updated variable information.    
     
     
         18 . A data structure for a multimedia data searching or browsing system comprising: 
 a multimedia data; and    a variable information representing features of the multimedia data.    
     
     
         19 . A data structure of  claim 18 , further comprising a reliability information representing a reliability of the variable information.  
     
     
         20 . A data structure of  claim 19 , wherein the reliability information includes information on the number of variable information updates by a user.  
     
     
         21 . A data structure of  claim 19 , further comprising an authority code.  
     
     
         22 . A data structure of  claim 21 , wherein the reliability information is variable and includes a number of authority levels, a degree of variable information update for each authority level, and a number of variable information updates by a user of each authority level.  
     
     
         23 . A data structure of  claim 21 , wherein the reliability information is fixed and includes a number of variable information updates by a user of fixed authority levels.  
     
     
         24 . A data structure of  claim 18 , further comprising an authority code.  
     
     
         25 . A method of searching or browsing a multimedia data having a data structure as in  claim 18 .  
     
     
         26 . A method of searching or browsing a multimedia data having a data structure as in  claim 19 .  
     
     
         27 . A method of searching or browsing a multimedia data having a data structure as in  claim 21 .  
     
     
         28 . A method of searching or browsing a multimedia data having a data structure as in  claim 24.