Methods, systems and devices for multimedia-content presentation

1. A method for processing multimedia data, said method comprising:

receiving multimedia data, wherein said multimedia data comprises a plurality of storylines;

segmenting said multimedia data into a first plurality of scenes;

identifying said plurality of storylines, wherein said identifying is based on a co-occurrence of a first plurality of story characters in a second plurality of scenes, from said first plurality of scenes, and a spoken reference, in said second plurality of scenes, to a second plurality of story characters;

associating each scene in said first plurality of scenes with at least one storyline in said plurality of storylines; and

generating a by-storyline data sequence for each storyline in said plurality of storylines, wherein each of said by-storyline data sequences comprises all of said scenes, in said first plurality of scenes, associated with said storyline.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said multimedia data comprises a stream of at least one of video, audio and text elements.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said identifying said plurality of storylines comprises generating three-dimensional accumulation matrix.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said generating said by-storyline data sequence comprises concatenating said plurality of scenes associated with said storyline to a previously-stored data sequence corresponding to said storyline.

5. A method according to claim 1 further comprising detecting a new storyline.

6. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said identifying said plurality of storylines comprises:

determining, for each pair of story characters from a third plurality of story characters and each of said additional story characters in said third plurality of story characters, the number of scenes, in said first plurality of scenes, in which said pair of story characters appears and in which said pair of story characters refer to said additional story character, thereby producing a three-dimensional co-occurrence matrix;

determining a plurality of peaks in said three-dimensional co-occurrence matrix; and

identifying said plurality of storylines based on said plurality of peaks.

7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein said determining, for each pair of story characters from said third plurality of characters and each of said additional story characters in said third plurality of story characters, the number of scenes, in said first plurality of scenes, in which said pair of story characters appears and in which said pair of story characters refer to said additional story character, thereby producing a three-dimensional co-occurrence matrix comprises parsing closed-captioning data associated with said multimedia data.

8. A system for processing multimedia data, said system comprising:

a receiver for receiving multimedia data, wherein said multimedia data comprises a plurality of storylines;

storage for said multimedia data;

a segmentor for segmenting said multimedia data into a first plurality of scenes;

a storyline identifier for identifying said plurality of storylines, wherein said identifying is based on a co-occurrence of a first plurality of story characters in a second plurality of scenes, from said first plurality of scenes, and a spoken reference, in said second plurality of scenes, to a second plurality of story characters;

a storyline associator for associating each scene in said first plurality of scenes with at least one storyline in said plurality of storylines; and

a generator for generating a by-storyline data sequence for each storyline in said plurality of storylines, wherein each of said by-storyline data sequences comprises all of said scenes, in said first plurality of scenes, associated with said storyline.

9. A system according to claim 8 further comprising a transmitter for transmitting said by-storyline data to a viewing device.

10. A system according to claim 9 wherein said viewing device is a television.

11. A system according to claim 8 , wherein said multimedia data comprises a stream of at least one of video, audio and text elements.

12. A system according to claim 8 , wherein said storyline identifier for identifying said plurality of storylines comprises an accumulation-matrix generator for generating a three-dimensional accumulation matrix.

13. A system according to claim 8 , wherein said generator comprises a concatenator for concatenating said plurality of scenes associated with said storyline to a previously-stored data sequence corresponding to said storyline.

14. A system according to claim 8 further comprising storing said by-storyline data sequence on said storage.

15. A system according to claim 8 further comprising a new-storyline detector for detecting a new storyline.

16. A system according to claim 8 , wherein said storyline identifier comprises:

a co-occurrence generator for determining, for each pair of story characters from a third plurality of story characters and each of said additional story characters in said third plurality of story characters, the number of said scenes, in said first plurality of scenes, in which said pair of story characters appears and in which said pair of story characters refer to said additional story character, said co-occurrence generator thereby producing a three-dimensional co-occurrence matrix;

a peak detector for determining a plurality of peaks in said three-dimensional co-occurrence matrix; and

a peak combiner for identifying said plurality of storylines based on said plurality of peaks.

17. A system according to claim 16 , wherein said co-occurrence generator comprises a parser for parsing a closed-captioning stream associated with said multimedia data.

18. A personal entertainment device, said device comprising:

a receiver for receiving a first episode of a serial program, wherein said first episode comprises a plurality of storylines;

a storage medium for storing said first episode;

a storyline identifier for identifying a storyline, wherein said identifying is based on a co-occurrence of a first plurality of story characters in a first plurality of scenes and a spoken reference, in said first plurality of scenes, to a second plurality of story characters;

a storyline extractor for extracting a plurality of segments from said first episode, wherein said plurality of segments corresponds to at least one storyline in said plurality of storylines; and

a storyline generator for associating said plurality of segments corresponding to said at least one storyline in said plurality of storylines with a stored version of said at least one storyline in said plurality of storylines, wherein said stored version of said at least one storyline is based on a previously received episode of said serial program.

19. A personal entertainment device according to claim 18 , wherein said associating said plurality of segments corresponding to said at least one storyline in said plurality of storylines with a stored version of said at least one storyline in said plurality of storylines comprises concatenating said plurality of segments corresponding to said at least one storyline in said plurality of storylines to each of said stored versions of said at least one storylines in said plurality of storylines.

20. A personal entertainment device according to claim 18 further comprising a new storyline identifier for identifying a new storyline.