Information processing apparatus, information delivery system, information processing method, and recording medium
A multimedia file has a format in which actual data is embedded in a file structure. The multimedia information is assembled in blocks, each composed of a header area and a data area, and has a hierarchical structure in which a block is embedded in another block. Header area information may include a file name identification information (block name), a number of child blocks information and data length identification information. This arrangement facilitates the creation and editing of a multimedia file, permitting high-speed data searching.
1. An apparatus for processing information, comprising:
an information acquisition means for acquiring multimedia information having a structure of block data including a header area and a data area holding data;
a data extractor means for extracting desired data from the multimedia information acquired by the information acquisition means, through searching, based on the content described in the header area of the multimedia information; and
a reproducing means for reproducing the data extracted by the data extractor means,
wherein said desired data includes data without any links,
wherein the data area of one piece of block data stores at least one piece of block data while the header area of one piece of block data has a structure in which block name identification information describing a name identifying the content of at least current block data, child block data count identification information indicating the number of pieces of child block data stored in the data area of the current block data, and data length identification information indicating the data length are arranged in a predetermined order, and
wherein the data extractor means searches for data to be extracted, based on the block name identification information, the child block data count identification information, and the data length identification information.
2. A method for process multimedia information, comprising the steps of:
acquiring, from outside, multimedia information, having a structure of block data, including a header area and a data area holding data;
extracting, through searching, desired data from the multimedia information acquired through the acquiring step, based on the content described in the header area of the multimedia information; and
reproducing the data extracted by the data extracting step,
wherein said desired data includes data without any links,
wherein the data area of one piece of block data stores at least one piece of block data while the header area of one piece of block data has a structure in which block name identification information describing a name identifying the content of at least current block data, child block data count identification information indicating the number of pieces of child block data stored in the data area of the current block data, and data length identification information indicating the data length are arranged in a predetermined order, and
wherein the data extracting step searches for data to be extracted, based on the block name identification information, the child block data count identification information, and the data length identification information.
3. A recording medium for recording desired data extracted from multimedia information, having a structure of block data, including a header area and a data area holding data,
wherein said desired data includes data without any links, and
wherein the data area of one piece of block data stores at least one piece of block data while the header area of one piece of block data has a structure in which block name identification information describing a name identifying the content of at least current block data, child block data count identification information indicating the number of pieces of child block data stored in the data area, and data length identification information indicating the data length of the current block data are arranged in a predetermined order.