JPH09146809A - Multimedia scenario editing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To change the directory paths of files that media refer to for a multimedia scenario at a time. SOLUTION: A path editing management means 14 checks all the media in a scenario storage means 13 and saves all file names and paths separately in a path storage means 15. The path storage means 15 generates a table of media names in the scenario and the names of files that the media refer to, path by path. After all the media are checked, it is checked whether or not there are media in separated paths through a file input/output means 10 and the file presence/absence state is displayed on a display. When a user changes a path, the corresponding path name in the path storage means is changed. After the editing is completed, the path names and file names are updated for the media of the scenario.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for editing a multimedia scenario which describes a presentation position, presentation order, and presentation effect of multimedia data including a moving image, a sound, a still image, and a text, and in particular, a path for storing a medium The present invention relates to a device and method for changing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional multimedia scenario, there are a format in which a file name of media to be presented is stored in the scenario in a format including a path name, and a type in which the media is directly read into the scenario. The former has the advantage that the scenario is treated as an external file, so the capacity of the scenario is small and the media file displayed in the scenario can be changed easily. On the other hand, the latter has the advantage that since the media data is read into the scenario, there is no need for media management as in the former method, and handling when the scenario is moved to another system is easier.

As an example of the former, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-307675
"Computer display system", JP-A-2-16298
6 "Multimedia information presentation system and method of handling multimedia information", etc.
MacroMedia authoring software Dire
Ctor (Director user's manual) and the like. However, even in the latter case, for a medium such as a moving image that has a very large capacity, the designation method by external reference is used.

[0004]

Since the former method refers to an external file, there is a problem that the medium cannot be displayed if the drive configuration is changed or the storage directory name is changed. Furthermore, when the scenario becomes huge, it is difficult to understand which media cannot be referenced.

On the other hand, the latter method has a problem that since the medium is read, the scenario file becomes large, the memory is compressed, and the processing performance deteriorates. Furthermore, the latter makes the work extremely complicated when changing or modifying the medium.

Therefore, the former method is effective when the performance of scenario execution is good and the media is frequently modified, but there is a need for a method that can easily implement path management / change of the reference media. It was

[0007] For example, in the former method, the medium is designated by a file name and a path name. The path name has a relative path and an absolute path specification. The relative path specification is a method of describing a relative path from a directory in which a scenario is set, and the absolute path specification is a path specification from a root directory. If you specify the media of a different drive here, you must specify the absolute path.

Here, when a large number of media of drives with different scenarios are designated, absolute paths are designated. Therefore, when the drive configuration is changed, the path changing process for each medium in the scenario is performed for each medium. It has to be processed, which is a very complicated work.

In other words, even if the drive or path is changed, the function to change the scenario in a lump is not provided.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and is intended for presenting multimedia data including moving images, voices, still images, texts, computer graphics, etc. on a display. An apparatus for editing a multimedia scenario, characterized by collectively changing a storage path or a storage drive of media included in a scenario.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, an embodiment of a scenario to be edited in the present invention will be described. The scenario targeted by the present invention can be managed in units called media and nodes, as shown in FIG. The scenario holds a node management list and pointers to the nodes included in the scenario. The media is an object that manages the presentation of media data, and specifies the presentation position of the media, the presentation timing, the presentation effect, and the like. On the other hand, the node specifies how to present a plurality of media on the screen, and describes the hierarchical relationship when media data is presented in an overlapping manner, the presentation order, the erasing order, and the like. A scenario is one in which such nodes are linked by hyperlinks. The hyperlink description can be set as one attribute of the medium.

The medium holds the file name of the content to be presented or a pointer to the storage position of the content, and holds the effect, presentation size, and presentation position when presenting the media data. Further, if there is a link, the link destination information, link activation condition, etc. are held.

On the other hand, the node manages the media held by the node in the media management table. The media management table consists of a media stacking order list, a presentation order list,
It is composed of an erasing order list, and holds the upper and lower relations of the overlapping display at the time of presenting the media, the order of presentation, and the order of erasure, and refers to the pointer to the media held by the node.

The above-mentioned scenario is only an example, and the attribute management location may be changed.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a path changing device for a multimedia scenario according to this embodiment. In FIG. 1, the path changing device is a file input / output management means 10
The display management unit 11, the input management unit 12, the scenario storage unit 13, the path edit management unit 14, and the path storage unit 15.

The file input / output management means 10 is a means for reading / writing a scenario file to be edited and searching for a media file.

The display management means 11 is means for processing the display of menus, dialog boxes and the like.

The input management means 12 converts the signals from the mouse and keyboard into commands and sends them to the path edit management means 14.

The scenario storage means 13 is means for storing a scenario for changing a path on a memory.

The path edit management means 14 is means for managing the path change processing. The path edit management means 14 receives a path change end command, a path designation command, a path change command, a scenario read command, and a scenario save command from the input management means. The operation of the path edit management means 14 will be described later.

The path storage means 15 internally holds a path table. The path table is composed of path names and media table names as shown in FIG. The media table contains the media name, the file name included in the path,
It is a table holding a flag indicating whether or not a file exists (file confirmation flag). The file confirmation flag holds two states of no file and file.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the editing user interface of the path changing device according to the present invention. FIG.
Indicates that LIST1 of the path list in FIG. 3 is displayed. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 51 is a path list display control for displaying the path name of the path list, and the path name to be changed can be selected with the mouse. Reference numeral 52 is a text editing control for editing and changing the path name highlighted in the path list display control 51.
If you change the path name displayed in this control,
The highlighted part of the path list display control 51 and the corresponding path name in the path list are also changed. Reference numeral 53 is a control for displaying the media included in the selected path in a list format. Reference numeral 54 is a reference button for displaying a file selection dialog for browsing a path. The path name specified in the file selection dialog is written in the text edit control 52. Reference numeral 55 is an edit end button. The path edit management means 14 is notified that the change of the path name is completed. Reference numeral 56 denotes a cancel button, which cancels editing. Reference numeral 57 represents the state of the file confirmation flag, and the case of ∘ indicates that the file exists, and the case of × indicates that the file does not exist.

The file selection dialog is
Windows 3.1 from Microsoft (Microsoft
Use the dialog provided by the OS such as Windows 3.1 User's Guide. Select a path,
When the file selection dialog is terminated, the path name on the text editing control 52 is changed to the selected path name.

When the mouse is clicked on each control, the input management means 12 is notified. Input management means 12
Determines the control from the position where the mouse button is pressed, and sends the corresponding command to the path edit management means 14.

For example, in the input management means 12, when the path list display control 51 is selected with the mouse,
The input management means 12 sends a path selection command to the path edit management means 14. When the edit end button 55 is selected,
Send a path change command. When the path name is changed on the text editing control 52, a path change command is sent. Similarly, a file path change command can be sent by activating the reference button 54 to display a file selection dialog and selecting a path name. When the edit end button 55 is pressed, a path change end command is sent. When the cancel 56 is pressed, an edit cancel command is sent and the edit is canceled.

Next, the operation of the path edit management means 14 will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 shows the path edit management means 1
6 is a flowchart illustrating a path changing operation of No. 4; When the apparatus is activated, a file selection dialog is displayed (step 40), a scenario to be changed is selected (step 41), the file selection dialog is closed (step 42), and the selected scenario is read into the scenario storage means 13 (step 41). Step 43). Next, the scenario storage means 13
The media inside is searched (step 44). If all media are not searched, the media path name and file name are separated and stored in the path storage means 15 (step 4).
5). If there is no path name with the same name as the separated path name in the path table in the path storage means 15, a new path name is added (steps 46 and 47). The media name and file name are added to the media table referenced by the path table (step 48). Next, the file input / output unit 10 confirms whether the added file exists in the designated path (step 49). The confirmation result of the presence or absence of the file is set in the file confirmation flag (step 41).
0). If there is a file, "file exists" is set, and if there is no file, "no file" is set. After step 410 ends, the process returns to step 44. When all media have been processed in step 44, a path change dialog box is displayed on the display management means 11 (step 411). When the path name is changed and the path change command is received (step 412), the file input / output means 10 is checked whether or not a file in the media list exists in the changed path (step 413). The presence / absence of a file is set in the file confirmation flag of the path storage means 15 (step 414). Thereafter, the display of the file confirmation flag display control 57 is changed, and the process returns to step 412 (step 415). If an edit stop instruction is received in step 412, the process ends (step 416). In the case of the path change end command (step 417), the changed contents of the path storage means 15 are recorded in the scenario storage means 13 (step 418), and the processing is ended.

It is easy to incorporate the device of the present invention into a conventional multimedia scenario editing system or multimedia scenario presenting system. In these integrated systems, this device is started when the scenario is read,
It is also possible to change the path, etc.

[0029]

According to the present invention, even if the storage location (drive or path) of the multimedia data specified in the scenario is changed, it can be changed in a batch, so that the path name of the media can be changed as before. There is no need to change each one.

Further, by preparing files with the same name in different directories and changing the path name, it is possible to easily create applications with different contents in a common scenario.

Further, since the medium whose file name cannot be referred to is displayed as "no medium" due to the change of the directory name, it is possible to easily determine which path name is changed. This makes it easy to find out which media is not included in the path. The apparatus described above can be easily realized in addition to a conventional scenario editing apparatus, for example, the scenario editing apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-41573 “Data editing method and apparatus”.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a device of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a scenario of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a path table of a path storage means 15 of this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart explaining the operation of the path edit management means 14 of this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an editing user interface of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 File Management Means 11 Display Management Means 12 Input Management Means 13 Scenario Storage Means 14 Path Editing Management Means 15 Path Storage Means 51 Path List Display Controls 52 Text Editing Controls 53 Media List Display Controls 54 File Dialog Start Buttons 55 Editing End Buttons 56 Cancel button 57 File confirmation flag display control

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location H04N 7/173 H04N 5/91 N

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A multimedia scenario editing apparatus for presenting multimedia data including moving images, audio, still images, texts, computer graphics, etc. on a display, and a storage path of media included in the scenario. A multimedia scenario editing device having a function of collectively changing. 2. The multimedia scenario editing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the presence / absence of a media file referenced by the media in the scenario is displayed on a display device for each path.