Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.V.

Freddy Snijder

Mauro Barbieri

Jan Alexis Daniel Nesvadba

Wilhelmus Henrica Gerarda Maria Van Den Boomen

Marc Andre Peters

Godefridus Antonius Maria Crienen

Esko Olavi Dijk

Alessio Stella

Jan A D Nesvadba

A device and a method for annotating content is provided. The device may comprise a means to analyze the content () and generate a first output () based upon the analysis of the content, a means to generate an annotation request (), a means to communicate (), the means to communicate being adapted to distribute the annotation request to at least one other device and to receive an annotation result from the at least one other device and a means to combine () the first output and the annotation result to provide an improved output. By combining multiple independent results of content analysis algorithms from different devices, possibly based upon background different knowledge a higher quality result is provided for the annotation.

Device and a method for annotating content

A method of managing a distributed storage system () comprising a plurality of storage devices (D, D, . . . , D) on a network (N), wherein an autonomous function can be assigned to any storage device (D, D, . . . , D) of the distributed storage system (N), which autonomous function comprises collecting content according to a configurable profile () for the storage device (D, D, . . . , D) to which the autonomous function is assigned, and wherein a first storage device (D, D, . . . , D) of the distributed storage system (), before leaving the network (N), delegates the responsibility for an autonomous function of that first storage device (D, D, . . . , D) to a second storage device (D, D, . . . , D) of the distributed storage system (), and wherein the second storage device assumes responsibility for the autonomous function of the first storage device (D, D, . . . , D), and wherein the second storage device transfers data, accumulated due to its responsibility for the autonomous function of the first storage device (D, D, . . . D), to the first storage device (D, D, . . . , D) when the first storage device (D, D, . . . , D) returns to the network (N). The invention also relates to a storage device (D, D, . . . , D) for use in a distributed storage system (), and to a distributed storage system () comprising such storage devices (D, D, . . . , D).

Method of managing a distributed storage system

A portable data storage device () is disclosed to be used for organizing content () available to the data storage device (). The device comprises means () for setting an information source () for a storage profile (), a means () for receiving storage profile update data () from the information source (), a means () for updating the storage profile () based upon the storage profile update data (), a means () for organizing content () based upon the storage profile () and a means () for triggering the means () for receiving storage profile update data () from the information source (). The device () is capable of organizing content in a dynamic manner based on data storage profiles that are also dynamic in nature whilst requiring minimum user intervention.

Organizing content using a dynamic profile

A data storage system comprises a plurality of portable data storage devices () coupled via a network (). Each of the portable data storage devices () has an associated storage profile, which defines a which data objects will be stored in the storage device. A recommended profile for at least one of the portable data storage devices us automatically generated, using the steps of&#x2014;collecting profile information about storage profiles for portable data storage devices () other than the at least one of the portable data storage devices () and/or data object information about properties of data objects stored by the portable data storage devices () other than the at least one of the portable data storage devices (), &#x2014;using the profile information and/or data information to guide generation of the recommended storage profile.

Storage profile generation for network-connected portable storage devices

An apparatus for playing video content includes a play means () for playing video content. The video content includes overlapping scenes (), with each scene having an associated scene signature. A scene hopping selector () is operative while the play means () is playing video content for selecting a hop. The selecting defines a current scene () which the play means () is playing at a time of the selection, and a current scene signature corresponding to the current scene (). A similar scene hopping processor () operates responsive to a defining of a current scene (). The similar scene hopping processor () compares the current scene signature with other scene signatures of the video content to identify a similar scene (). The similar scene hopping processor () causes the play means () to transfer the playing to the similar scene ().

Method and apparatus for similar video content hopping

Silences are detected when a local signal power is below a given fixed or relative threshold value, the duration of the local signal power being below the given fixed or relative threshold value is within a first range and at least one of the parameters signal power fall/rise rate and local power deviation falls within a respective further range. The invention further relates to the use of such a silence detection in a receiver ().

Systems and methods for detecting silences in audio signals

Estimating a signal power in a compressed audio signal [A] is provided, the audio signal comprising blocks of quantized samples, a given block being provided with a set of scale factors. The estimating is performed by extracting the set of scale factors from the compressed audio signal, and estimating the signal power in the given block based on a combination of the scale factors. Advantageously, the extracting step and estimating step are performed on only a sub-set of the set of scale factors. The signal power estimation may be used in a silence detector () for use in a receiver ().

Method and device for estimating signal power in compressed audio using scale factors

An apparatus for content indexing uses processing parameters that become available while processing multimedia content. One embodiment of this processing includes compression. A video processor receives multimedia content and generates processed multimedia content. A system for content analysis receives processing parameters from the video processor, where the processing parameters are separate from the processed multimedia content and are generated as a result of processing the multimedia content. The system for content analysis generates content descriptors representative for the multimedia content, responsively to the processing parameters generated during or while processing, e.g., encoding or decoding, the multimedia content.

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Eindhoven, Netherlands

Freddy Snijder