JP2001265895A - Contents managing device, contents generation support device, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a contents managing device which enables effective reuse of raw material data although there was the problem point that the raw material data used for contents are not effectively reused. SOLUTION: Meta-date regarding contents data and raw material data that a contents creator has registered are managed by a meta-information management part 7 and at a request from a user terminal 4, an information providing part 8 outputs an instruction to a contents meta-information retrieval part 10 and a raw material meta-information retrieval part 11 to retrieve and obtain meta-information and send it to the user terminal 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a content management apparatus used when managing and creating Web contents,
The present invention relates to a content creation support device and a recording medium, and more particularly to an improvement on reuse of material data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent spread of the Internet, many Web sites have been created. These Web
The content forming a site generally includes a plurality of multimedia material data, and there are many types of each material data such as still images, moving images, and audio.

[0003] Such material data is generally reusable in various contents. However, if the material data is reused without confirming the copyright relationship of the creator who recorded the material data, it can be used by others. Reuse may be difficult because of the possibility of infringing on intellectual property rights.

Therefore, in recent years, so-called “copyright-free materials” that provide material data while indicating that they can be reused in advance have been provided on CD-ROMs and networks.

[0005]

However, since the copyright-free material obtained in such a form emphasizes versatility, a part of the material data required on the Web site is supplementarily provided. It's just that. Therefore, in the conventional Internet environment, there is a problem that the material data is not effectively reused.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a content management device, a content creation support device, and a recording medium capable of effectively utilizing material data.

[0007]

In a content management apparatus according to the present invention, content providing means for providing content including material data and reusability of material data belonging to the content in units of the content are indicated. A setting unit for setting a first attribute or a second attribute indicating reusability in a unit of material data, and a content unit to which the specific material data belongs in response to an inquiry request for an attribute related to reusability of the specific material data Attribute acquisition means for acquiring at least one of the first attribute set in the first attribute or the second attribute set in the specific material data, based on the attribute related to the reusability for content creation. The material data is selectively provided.

In the content management device according to the present invention, in the content management device according to claim 1, the setting means sets the first attribute for each type of material data belonging to the content. is there.

[0009] In the content management apparatus according to the present invention, the storage means for storing the material data in a hierarchical manner, and the first attribute indicating the reusability of the material data in the hierarchical unit or the reproduction of the material data in the material data unit A setting means for setting a second attribute indicating usability, a first attribute set in a layer unit to which the specific material data belongs in response to an inquiry about an attribute related to reusability of the specific material data, Attribute acquisition means for acquiring at least one of the second attributes set in the material data.

[0010] In the content management device according to the present invention, the content management device according to claim 3, wherein the setting means further includes at least a first attribute related to reusability set for an upper hierarchy. An inheritance attribute is set so that a part of the attribute is inherited and reflected in a first attribute of a lower hierarchy. When the first attribute set in a specific hierarchy is acquired, the inheritance attribute sets a higher hierarchy by using the inheritance attribute. Is inherited by the first attribute of the upper hierarchy.
The attribute is to be obtained.

[0011] In the content management device according to the present invention, in the content management device according to claim 4, the setting means sets an inheritance attribute for each type of the material data.

[0012] In the content creation support apparatus according to the present invention, for each of the material data stored on the content providing side via the network, means for acquiring an attribute relating to reusability of the material data, Therefore, means for acquiring the entity or reference information of the material data based on the attribute relating to the reusability is included.

In a computer-readable recording medium according to the present invention, a module for providing content including material data and an attribute relating to reusability of the material data are set in the content unit or the material data unit. Module and receives a request for an attribute regarding the reusability of the specific material data, specifies the content to which the specific material data belongs, and if there is an attribute set in the content unit, provides the attribute, If there are no attributes set at the content level,
A module for acquiring an attribute set for each specific material data in the unit of material data, and a content creation support program for selecting the material data based on the attribute related to reusability for content creation. It is decided to do.

[0014] In the computer-readable recording medium according to the present invention, for each material data stored on the content providing side via a network, a module for acquiring an attribute relating to reusability of the material data; And a module for acquiring the entity or reference information of the material data based on the content creation support program.

In the content management device according to the present invention, the first attribute indicating the reusability of the material data belonging to the content in units of contents including the material data or the second attribute indicating the reusability in the unit of material data Setting means for setting an attribute, and receiving a query request for an attribute relating to reusability of specific material data, setting the first attribute or the specific material data set in content units to which the specific material data belongs Attribute acquisition means for acquiring at least one of the obtained second attributes.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 The content management device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
The content production terminal 3 and the user terminal 4 are connected via the network 2. Content management device 1
Is a receiving unit 5 as a setting unit, a content data managing unit 6 as a storing unit, a meta information managing unit 7, an information providing unit 8, and a content providing unit and a content as a unit for acquiring the substance of material data. A data acquisition unit 9;
It comprises a content meta information search unit 10 and a material meta information search unit 11. Here, the content meta information search unit 10 and the material meta information search unit 11 correspond to the attribute acquisition unit of the present invention.

Hereinafter, each part will be described in detail. The content management device 1 receives and stores web pages and documents, still images, moving images, audio, and other material data used in the web pages, and distributes them upon request. In addition, the content management device 1 receives and stores attributes relating to reusability in units of content data or units of material data, and provides the attributes upon request. The content management device 1 will be described later in detail. Network 2 is the Internet or LAN (Lo
cal Area Network).

The content production terminal 3 captures photos, videos, sounds, etc., accumulates character strings and the like input from a keyboard or the like and retains the data as material data. Of the content management device 1 via the network. That is, the content production terminal 3 first operates as a normal Web site generation tool. Also, a feature of the present embodiment is that the content production terminal 3 registers reusability information relating to content data or material data in the content management device 1.

That is, in the content production terminal 3, for the stored material data, the copyright information, the operating environment, the usage information, the billing information, etc. are set as the material metadata for each material data. This material metadata corresponds to the second attribute of the present invention. Here, the copyright information includes permission for re-use, limited use information such as "for non-commercial use only" or "for educational use only", permission for alteration, "requires copyright notice" or "needs advance notice". And the like. The operating environment includes the type of OS and hardware requirements (“Pentium (registered trademark) 100
MHz or more "," memory 32MB or more "," display resolution 800x600 or more ", etc.) and" Shockwave
(Trademark) software required. " Further, the usage information indicates the purpose of creating the material data by the content creator storing the material data. Furthermore, the billing information is not only classified as “paid” or “free”, but “X yen for commercial use”
"X circle per use" may be used.

Similarly, in this content production terminal 3,
For content data as a combination of material data, copyright information, operating environment, usage information, and billing information are set as content metadata for each content data (collectively for a plurality of material data). This content metadata corresponds to the first attribute of the present invention.

The user terminal 4 operates a Web browser such as NetscapeNavigator (trademark), accesses the content management apparatus 1 via the network 2, and acquires content data, content metadata, and material metadata.

Here, the operation of the content management device 1 will be described in detail. The receiving unit 5 receives content data (including at least one material data) and content metadata or material metadata (hereinafter, collectively referred to as “metadata”) from the content production terminal 3 via the network 2, The content data is output to the content data management unit 6, and the metadata is output to the meta information management unit 7.

The content data management section 6 stores content data and material data received from the content production terminal 3 by the receiving section 5 in a hierarchical manner as shown in FIG.
This hierarchical structure is also specified from the content production terminal 3 side. In general, content data stores a plurality of files including material data and a plurality of subfolders including content data in a tree diagram with a folder called a content top folder as a root. Specifically, in FIG. 2, the content data B, the content data C, and the material data group D are located immediately below the content top folder A.
Is stored, and below the content data C, the content data E and the material data group F are further stored.

The meta information management section 7 manages content metadata set for each piece of content data and material metadata set for each piece of material data. These metadata are received from the content production terminal 3 by the receiving unit 5. As shown in FIG. 3, the content metadata managed by the meta information management unit 7 is managed using a content ID as a key for each piece of content data, and includes a content name, an identifier of a creator, a registration date, a storage destination, Path (storage destination in the content data management unit 6),
It is associated with reuse information. Here, the reuse information includes the copyright information P and the operating environment Q as shown in FIG.
, Usage information R, and billing information S. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the material metadata includes, for each material data, the ID of the content data in which the corresponding material is used, the material data ID for each content data, the material name, and the identifier of the creator. And the type of material data (different of photo, video, audio, etc.), storage destination path, and reuse information. Here, the reuse information may be the same as that for the content data shown in FIG.

The information providing unit 8 receives a request to acquire content data from the browser of the user terminal 4 via the network 2 and requests the content data acquiring unit 9 to acquire the requested content. The content data is input from the unit 9 and distributed to the user terminal 4 via the network 2. Further, the information providing unit 8 receives a request for acquiring material metadata for the material data from the browser of the user terminal 4, and stores the content metadata of the content including the requested material metadata and the material metadata of the material data. An instruction to search for data is output to the content meta information search unit 10 and the material meta information search unit 11, respectively. Upon receiving an input of a search result from each, input of content metadata from the content meta information search unit 10 is performed. If there is, the content metadata is delivered as material metadata.If there is no content metadata, the material metadata is delivered.If there is no content metadata or material metadata, information indicating that an error has occurred is transmitted. To deliver.

Here, the content metadata including the material is distributed with priority over the material metadata set for each material data, but only when there is no material metadata. Content metadata may be distributed. The choice of these priorities is
It is determined by the relationship and agreement between the creator of the material data and the creator of the content data.

The content data obtaining section 9 receives a request for obtaining predetermined content data from the information providing section 8 and outputs content data including material data from a folder corresponding to the content data to the information providing section 8. Upon receiving from the information providing unit 8 a request to search for content metadata set in content data including predetermined material data, the content meta information search unit 10 first receives a request from the material metadata group shown in FIG. The content ID is identified by searching the corresponding material data, and the content metadata for the content data of the corresponding content ID is searched from the content metadata group shown in FIG. 3. The content metadata is output to the information providing unit 8.

The material meta information search unit 11 is provided with an information providing unit 8
Receives a request for searching for material metadata of predetermined material data from, and searches for the corresponding material data from the material metadata group shown in FIG. 5. And outputs the material metadata of the material data to the information providing unit 8.

Next, the operation of the content management apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described. The creator of the content data operates the content production terminal 3 to accumulate the material data, produces the content data by combining the material data, and transmits the content data to the content management device 1 via the network 2. Then, the receiving unit 5 of the content management device 1 receives the content data and stores it in the content data management unit 6 while maintaining the hierarchical relationship.

Further, the creator of the content operates the content production terminal 3 to transmit an instruction for registering the content metadata, and the content management apparatus 1 responds to the instruction to register the content as shown in FIG. An interface for registering metadata is presented to the content production terminal 3 side. The presentation of this interface can be performed using, for example, a Java (registered trademark) applet. still,
A program for displaying this interface may be copied from a recording medium on the content production terminal 3 and installed, and this program may be used.

The content creator sets and transmits the content metadata using the interface shown in FIG. 6, and the receiving unit 5 of the content management apparatus 1 receives the content metadata and sends it to the meta information management unit 7. Make settings. A feature of this interface is that it is possible to set whether or not copyright information such as a production department and a creator is also reflected in material metadata of material data included in the content data ( FIG. 6A). Here, for example, if the information of the production department is reflected in the material data but not the creator, the receiving unit 5 performs the setting specified for the content metadata related to the content data, For the material data included in the content data, set the information of the production department as material metadata,
No creator information is set. In this case, the receiving unit 5
Receives not only the content metadata but also the material metadata, and sets the meta information stored in the meta information management unit 7 based on these. As a result, items to be set collectively can be selected and set for the material data included in the content data from the interface of FIG. 6, and the operability can be improved.

Further, the creator of the content operates the content production terminal 3 to transmit an instruction for registering the material metadata, and the content management apparatus 1 responds to the instruction to transmit the material metadata as shown in FIG. Is presented to the content production terminal 3 side. In this case, similarly, instead of being presented by the content management device 1,
This interface may be displayed by software installed on the content production terminal 3 side.

It is preferable that the interface for registering the material metadata include a preview image for confirmation, in addition to enabling input of each setting item. Then, the content creator sets and transmits the material metadata. Then, the receiving unit 5 of the content management device 1 receives the material metadata and sets the material meta information of the meta information management unit 7.

When a Web page viewer operates the browser of the user terminal 4 to request browsing of specific content data, the user terminal 4 provides a content data acquisition request via the network 2. The information is transmitted to the content unit 8 and the information providing unit 8 instructs the content data acquisition unit 9 to acquire the content data. Then, the content data acquisition unit 9 acquires the corresponding content from the content data management unit 6 and outputs the acquired content to the information providing unit 8, and the information providing unit 8 distributes the content data to the user terminal 4.

Here, when the viewer of the Web page transmits a request to acquire metadata related to predetermined material data in order to reuse the material data included in the content data, the information of the content management device 1 Upon receiving the metadata acquisition request, the providing unit 8 outputs the content metadata and material metadata search requests to the content metadata search unit 10 and the material metadata search unit 11, respectively. The metadata indicating the reusability of the material is distributed to the user terminal 4 based on the material.

Thus, a Web viewer can know the reusability of the copyright information of each material data and can effectively reuse the material data.

Embodiment 2 The content management device 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention is the same as the content management device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, but content metadata is included in the content data. The difference is that the setting is made for each type of material data (still image, moving image, etc.). In the present embodiment,
For the content metadata shown in FIG. 3, the meta information management unit 7 sets a plurality of pieces of reuse information for each type of material data. This makes it possible to make more detailed settings, such as making still images free of charge among material data included in specific content data, but making moving images unusable.

Embodiment 3 The content management device 1 according to the third embodiment of the present invention is the same as the content management device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, but is stored in the meta information management unit 7. As shown in FIG. 8A, for each item of content metadata, attribute inheritance information that further associates an inheritance flag indicating whether or not the setting of the item is inherited to a subfolder is further set for each item of the reuse information. Is different.

In this case, the information providing unit 8 which has received the request for obtaining the metadata, sets the content data (folder) in the upper hierarchy of the content data including the requested material data.
If there is, the attribute inheritance information for the higher-level content data is checked, and for items set to be inherited, the content metadata for the higher-level content data is used as the metadata of the material data.
Also in this case, the attribute inheritance information is checked only when the item is not set in the lower-level content data, or only when the item is not set in both the material data and the lower-level content data. You may do it. Further, it is preferable that the inheritance setting indicates, by ranking, how many levels lower the content data reflects the setting, as shown in FIG. 8B.

In these cases, it is also preferable to set the reuse information for each type of material data.

Embodiment 4 FIG. The content management device 1 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention includes
This is the same as the content management apparatus 1 according to the third embodiment, except that the metadata stored in the meta information management unit 7 is for content data and material data managed in the content data management unit 6. The present invention is not limited to this, and includes content data and material data provided by another Web server connected to the network 2.

That is, the content management device 1 of the present embodiment operates as a content metadata search device, so to speak, for example, “search for content whose creator is“ A ”” or “content name“ Okinawa ”. "And" sea "
Search for photos of the type "Photo"].
In response to a search request such as "Search for content containing more than 20" photographs "of" Hokkaido "that is" free of charge "and" reusable ", the URL of the corresponding content data and material data is notified, Further, it accesses the URL to acquire and provide content data and material data,
In other words, it is a content creation support device.

In this case, a URL is set in the storage destination path of the content metadata and material metadata shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, and the information providing unit 8 analyzes the search request and The information search unit 10 or the material meta information search unit 11 acquires the URL of the content data or the material data corresponding to the search request with reference to the metadata stored in the meta information management unit 7 and outputs the URL to the information providing unit 8 Then, the information providing unit 8 distributes the URL as it is, or distributes an instruction to make the browser of the user terminal 4 access the URL.

In this case, the content creator places the produced content on a Web server (not shown) as a predetermined content providing side on the network 2, and stores content data and materials included in the content. The metadata of the data is registered in the content management device 1 of the present embodiment.

Further, in the content management apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, it is not always necessary to store the content data itself, and thus the content data management unit 6 is not necessarily required.

[0046]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the content providing means provides the content including the material data, and the setting means indicates the reusability of the material data belonging to the content in content units. A first attribute or a second attribute indicating reusability in units of material data is set,
The attribute acquiring means receives a request for an attribute relating to reusability of the specific material data, and receives a first attribute set for each content to which the specific material data belongs or a second attribute set for the specific material data. Since the content management device is configured to acquire at least one of the attributes, by providing at least one of the acquired first and second attributes, information on reusability of the material data is provided to the user side, and the material data is provided. Can be effectively reused.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the setting means sets the first attribute for each type of material data belonging to the content, so that the operability of attribute setting is provided. Can be improved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the storage means stores the material data hierarchically, and the setting means stores the material data in the first attribute indicating the reusability of the material data in the unit of hierarchy or in the unit of the material data. Set a second attribute that indicates the reusability of
The attribute acquiring unit receives an inquiry about an attribute relating to reusability of the specific material data, and receives a first attribute set in a layer unit to which the specific material data belongs and a second attribute set in the specific material data. Since the content management device is configured to acquire at least one of the attributes, by providing at least one of the acquired first and second attributes, information on reusability of the material data is provided to the user side, and the material data is provided. Can be effectively reused.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the setting means inherits and reflects at least a part of the reusability first attribute set for the upper hierarchy to the first attribute of the lower hierarchy. When the attribute acquiring unit acquires the first attribute set in the specific hierarchy, the part in which the first attribute of the higher hierarchy is inherited is referred to by referring to the inherited attribute. Since the content management apparatus according to the third aspect acquires the first attribute, the operability of attribute setting can be improved.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the setting means sets the inheritance attribute for each type of material data, so that the operability of attribute setting can be improved.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, for each of the material data stored on the content providing side via the network, an attribute relating to the reusability of the material data is obtained, Since the content creation support device acquires the entity or reference information of the material data based on the attribute related to the reusability, it provides the user with the information related to the reusability of the material data so that the material data can be effectively reused. Can be achieved.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the present invention according to the first aspect is a computer-readable recording medium storing a program embodied by software, the computer-readable recording medium stores the program. By causing the program to be read and executed, information on the reusability of the material data is provided to the user side, and the material data can be effectively reused.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, since the present invention of the sixth aspect is a computer-readable recording medium storing a program embodied by software, the computer-readable recording medium stores the program. By causing the program to be read and executed, information on the reusability of the material data is provided to the user side, and the material data can be effectively reused.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the setting means sets the first attribute indicating the reusability of the material data belonging to the content in the unit of the content including the material data or the reusability in the unit of the material data. The attribute acquisition unit sets a second attribute shown in the table, and receives a request for an attribute relating to reusability of the specific material data, and the first attribute or the specific attribute set in content units to which the specific material data belongs. Since the content management device is configured to acquire at least one of the second attributes set in the material data, it is possible to provide the user with information on reusability of the material data to achieve effective reuse of the material data. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a network system including a content management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state of hierarchical management of content data.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of content metadata.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of reuse information.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of material metadata.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an interface for setting content metadata.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an interface for setting material metadata.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of attribute inheritance information.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 content management device, 2 network, 3 content production terminal, 4 user terminal, 5 reception unit, 6 content data management unit, 7 meta information management unit, 8 information providing unit, 9 content data acquisition unit, 10 content meta information search Section, 11 material meta information search section.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. Content providing means for providing content including material data, and a first attribute indicating reusability of material data belonging to the content in units of the content or indicating reusability in material data units A setting means for setting a second attribute; and a first attribute or the specific material data set in units of contents to which the specific material data belongs in response to a request for an attribute inquiry regarding the reusability of the specific material data. An attribute acquisition unit that acquires at least one of the second attributes set in the content management device. 2. The content management device according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit sets the first attribute for each type of material data belonging to the content. 3. A storage means for hierarchically storing material data, and a first attribute indicating reusability of the material data in a unit of the hierarchy or a second attribute indicating reusability of the material data in a unit of the material data. Setting means for setting, and upon receiving an inquiry about an attribute relating to reusability of specific material data, a first attribute set for each layer to which the specific material data belongs, and a first attribute set for the specific material data A content management device comprising: an attribute acquisition unit that acquires at least one of two attributes. 4. The setting unit further sets an inheritance attribute for inheriting and reflecting at least a part of the reusability first attribute set for an upper hierarchy to a first attribute of a lower hierarchy. The attribute acquiring means, when acquiring the first attribute set in a specific hierarchy, determines, by the inherited attribute, a portion in which the first attribute of a higher hierarchy is inherited by the first attribute of the higher hierarchy. The content management device according to claim 3, wherein the content management device acquires the content. 5. The content management apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the setting unit sets an inheritance attribute for each type of the material data. 6. A means for acquiring, for each piece of material data stored on the content providing side via a network, an attribute related to reusability of the material data, and an attribute related to the reusability for creating content. Means for acquiring the substance or reference information of the material data based on the content data. 7. A module for providing content including material data, a first attribute indicating reusability of the material data belonging to the content in a unit of the content, or a second attribute indicating reusability in a unit of the material data. In response to a module for setting an attribute and an inquiry request for an attribute related to reusability of specific material data, the first attribute set in the content unit to which the specific material data belongs or the specific attribute set in the specific material data is set. And a module for acquiring at least one of the second attributes. A computer-readable recording medium storing a content management program including: 8. A module for acquiring, for each piece of material data stored on the content providing side via the network, an attribute relating to the reusability of the material data, and a module relating to the reusability for creating the content. A computer-readable recording medium storing a content creation support program including: a module for acquiring entity or reference information of material data based on an attribute. 9. A setting means for setting a first attribute indicating reusability of material data belonging to the content in units of contents including the material data or a second attribute indicating reusability in unit of material data. Upon receiving an inquiry request for an attribute relating to reusability of specific material data, at least one of the first attribute set in the content unit to which the specific material data belongs or the second attribute set in the specific material data A content management device, comprising: an attribute acquisition unit that acquires one of them.