JP2002271736A - Contents reproducing device, contents providing device, contents reproduction program and contents providing program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a contents reproducing device that inserts and reproduces spot CM(commercial message) contents in matching with the preference of a viewer in place of a general-purpose spot CM contents in displaying the program contents on a screen. SOLUTION: Receiving the spot CM contents from a contents provider device 1, the contents reproducing device 2 extracts only the spot CM contents in matching with the preference of a viewer and stores them to an information storage means 23 based on the contents set initially by the viewer. In reproducing a program contents, a contents reproduction control means 24 reads the spot CM contents stored in the information storage means 23 and inserted and reproduces the preferred spot CM contents in place of the general-purpose spot CM contents in the program contents.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a content providing apparatus for providing a content to a viewer by a content provider, a content reproducing apparatus for reproducing content provided by the content provider, and a content reproducing apparatus. The present invention relates to a content playback program for receiving and playing back content, and a content providing program for allowing a content providing device to generate and transmit content.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, broadcasting stations provide programs for viewers such as programs such as dramas and sports, commercials for advertising purposes, and programs for introducing programs to be broadcast (hereinafter referred to as spots). Are known. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a transmission order of contents from a broadcasting station side in a conventional technique in association with a time axis. As shown in FIG. 8, conventionally, spot contents and CM contents are broadcast by being inserted into program contents in advance, and the insertion conditions at that time have been unilaterally determined by the broadcasting station side. Therefore, when viewing the program content, the viewer must be able to view the CM content and the spot content (hereinafter, general-purpose spot / CM content) inserted on the broadcast station side.

[0003]

As described above, since the general-purpose spot / CM content having no interest to the viewer may be displayed on the screen, the general-purpose spot / CM content may be displayed when the program content is viewed. Can be annoying to viewers. Similarly, even when the viewer records the program content as a video and performs time-shift playback, the general-purpose spot / CM content inserted in the program content does not necessarily conform to the viewer's preference. General-purpose spot C
Skipping M content was often seen. This is not preferable from the viewpoint of effectively allowing the viewer to appreciate the spot / CM content.

Further, when the program content is time-shift reproduced, the general-purpose spot / CM content inserted in the program content may be replaced depending on the reproduction time, for example, when the reproduction time has passed a certain period from the time of recording. May become obsolete. This is also undesirable from the viewpoint of allowing the viewer to effectively view the spot / CM content. Further, reproducing an obsolete CM or spot wastes the reproduction time itself.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and stores only the spot / CM content received from a broadcasting station that is suitable for the viewer's taste, and displays the program content on a screen. A content reproducing apparatus, a content providing apparatus, a content reproducing program, and a content providing program for inserting and reproducing spot / CM content suitable for the viewer's preference instead of general-purpose spot / CM content in the program content. The purpose is to provide.

Further, the present invention automatically updates spot / CM content that accords with the tastes of viewers to be stored, so that even when a viewer performs time-shift playback of program contents,
A content reproducing device, a content providing device, which can always insert and reproduce a fresh spot / CM content;
It is an object to provide a content reproduction program and a content providing program.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a content reproducing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention provides a spot / CM content and / or a program content including a spot content and / or a CM content for introducing a program to be broadcast. And a content reproducing apparatus that receives and reproduces the content, based on the initial setting content preset by the viewer,
Content extracting means for extracting the received spot / CM content that suits the viewer's taste, content storing means for storing the spot / CM content extracted by the content extracting means, and reproducing the program content And content playback control means for inserting and playing back the spot / CM content stored in the information storage means at the original playback timing of the spot / CM content inserted in the program content. And

[0008] With this configuration, in the content reproducing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, of the received spot / CM content, only the content that matches the taste of the viewer is extracted by the content extracting means, and the content is extracted. It is stored by the storage means. The accumulated spot / CM content is inserted by the content reproduction control means into a general-purpose spot / CM content in the program content that the viewer intends to watch. Therefore, when the viewer watches the program content, during the period when the general-purpose spot / CM content should be inserted,
The spot / CM content that matches the viewer's preference is displayed on the screen. Here, the “general-purpose spot / CM content” is inserted into the program content in advance by the content provider, and refers to generally provided spot / CM content.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a content reproducing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the content storage means of the content reproducing apparatus according to the first aspect newly stores spots and CM contents stored in the past. It is configured to overwrite with CM content.

[0010] With this configuration, in the content reproducing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, when the spot / CM content is stored by the content storage means, the spot / CM content is directed to the viewer by the spot / CM content. Spot / CM content is being updated.

Conversely, spots in the content reproduction device
If the CM content is not updated from the time of storage, the content of the spot / CM content may become obsolete depending on the reproduction time of the program content. In particular,
The spot content stored in the content playback device when the program content is played back is the introduction content of a program that has already been broadcast, or the CM content that is also stored in the content playback device has already been shipped. For example, the content of the advertisement of the product is present. In this case, for the spot content, the content reproduction device may receive the spot content of the new program and update the content of the stored spot content before the broadcast of the new program is started. Before the new product is shipped, the CM that the content reproduction device receives and accumulates the CM content of the new product
What is necessary is just to update the content of the content. Therefore, claim 2
According to the invention described in (1), when viewing the program content, the viewer can always view the fresh spot / CM content.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the content reproduction control means of the content reproduction apparatus according to the first aspect reproduces the spot content, the content reproduction apparatus is introduced with the spot content. Of a program to be recorded is reproduced on the same screen.

With such a configuration, the content reproducing apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention displays a recording reservation screen of a program introduced by the spot content simultaneously with the spot content. Therefore, if a program to be recorded is introduced as spot content, the viewer can immediately make a recording reservation for the program by performing an operation on a recording reservation screen displayed on the same screen. In addition, since the recording reservation information of the program is added to the spot content, when the recording operation is performed by the viewer, the content reproduction device designates the program with the recording reservation information and makes a recording reservation.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the content providing apparatus, wherein when transmitting the spot content for introducing a program to be broadcast, the receiver side reproduces the spot content on the same screen when the spot content is reproduced. The recording reservation information of the broadcast-scheduled program is added to the spot content so that the recording reservation screen of the broadcast-scheduled program is displayed.

Therefore, the receiving device that has received the spot content from the content providing device can utilize the recording reservation information at the time of recording reservation of the program introduced in the spot content. Since the information for specifying the program is described in the recording reservation information, the operation for specifying the program at the time of recording reservation can be omitted.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a content reproducing program for receiving and reproducing a content, comprising: transmitting a spot / CM content including a spot content introducing a program to be broadcast and / or a CM content; Means for receiving, based on the initial setting contents preset by the viewer, means for extracting, from the received spot / CM contents, those which match the tastes of the viewer, and extracting the extracted spot / CM contents. Means for storing, and when reproducing the program content, at the original reproduction timing of the spot / CM content inserted in the program content,
It is configured to function as a unit for inserting and reproducing the stored spot / CM content.

The content providing program according to claim 6, further comprising: a content providing device for transmitting the content, means for converting spot information for introducing a program to be broadcast into content data, and a recording reservation screen for the program to be broadcast. Is configured to function as means for adding recording reservation information to display the spot content, and means for transmitting the spot content to which the recording reservation information has been added.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a content reproduction system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the content reproducing system according to the present embodiment includes a content providing device 1 and a content reproducing device 2. The content providing device 1 sends out a content provided by a content provider to a viewer, The reproducing device 2 receives and reproduces the content transmitted from the content providing device 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, a content providing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment comprises content data conversion means 11 for converting edited program information and spot / CM information into content data that can be transmitted via a broadcast network. Recording reservation information adding means 12 for adding recording reservation information to the spot content output from the content data converting means 11
And content transmitting means 13 for transmitting content data to the content reproducing apparatus 2. In addition,
Functions 11 to 13 are realized by the CPU executing control based on a program recorded in a recording medium such as a memory. Here, the recording reservation information is screen information for recording a program introduced by spot content, and is described in, for example, BML (Broadcast Markup Language). The recording reservation information also describes the name of the program for specifying the program to be recorded, the outline of the program, the broadcast date and time, the channel, and the like.
FIG. 2 shows a specific example of the recording reservation screen displayed by the recording reservation information. According to this figure, when the spot content to which the recording reservation information is added is reproduced, the recording reservation is displayed on the same screen. The screen is displayed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the content reproducing apparatus 2 according to the present embodiment receives a spot / CM content by the content receiving means 21 for receiving the content from the content providing apparatus 1. From the spot / CM content that matches the viewer's preference based on the viewer's initial settings (hereinafter,
A content extracting unit 22 for extracting a favorite spot / CM content), accumulating the spot / CM content extracted by the content extracting unit 22, the program content as needed, and general-purpose content inserted into the program content. It comprises an information storage means 23 and a content reproduction control means 24 for controlling the reproduction of the content. The functions 21 to 24 are realized by the CPU executing control based on a program recorded on a recording medium such as a memory.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for schematically explaining a first embodiment of a spot / CM content insertion system according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the content reproducing apparatus 2 that reproduces the content receives the content from the content provider via a broadcast network or a communication network. The following description is based on the premise that content transmitted from a content provider is transmitted via a broadcast network. The content transmitted from the content provider includes spot / CM content and program content, and upon receiving the spot / CM content, the content reproducing apparatus, upon receiving the spot / CM content, sets the favorite spot / CM based on the initial setting contents by the viewer in advance. Extract and accumulate content. In FIG.
A specific example of an initial setting screen for the viewer to set his / her preferences is shown. The viewer can perform the initial setting in advance by displaying the initial setting screen as shown in FIG. 4 on the screen and inputting his / her preference.

The extraction / storage operation can be executed regardless of whether the content reproducing apparatus reproduces spot / CM contents in real time. However, it is desirable to preferentially reproduce the spot / CM content that the viewer could not appreciate. Therefore, when storing the spot / CM content, it is necessary to prioritize the reading so that the content is reproduced in such a manner, or to store only the spot / CM content received when the real-time reproduction is not performed. Is preferred. In addition, the real-time reproduction here refers to an operation of displaying content transmitted from a content provider on a screen in real time.

Next, when the content reproducing apparatus 2 performs real-time reproduction of the program content by the operation input of the viewer, the content reproducing apparatus 2 reads out the stored spot / CM content together with the reproducing operation, and reads the general-purpose content in the program content. The favorite spot / CM content is inserted and reproduced in place of the spot / CM content. This spot / CM content insertion / reproduction operation is performed when the reproduction of the original general-purpose spot / CM content starts, from the real-time reproduction control of the general-purpose content to the preference spot / CM
This is realized by switching to read / playback control of M content, and switching from readout / playback control of favorite spot / CM content to real-time playback control of program content at the end of playback of original general-purpose spot / CM content.

If the favorite spot / CM content is still halfway through at the end of the reproduction of the original general-purpose spot / CM content, the favorite spot / CM content is still in the middle.
After all the contents are reproduced, the control may be switched to the real-time reproduction control of the program contents.
In this case, the content reproduction device 2 temporarily saves the program content received from the content provider as a temporary file, saves the program content received from the end of the reproduction of the original general-purpose spot / CM content, and saves the favorite spot. A configuration may be adopted in which the subsequent program content is read from the temporary file when the reproduction of the CM content ends.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for schematically explaining a second embodiment of the spot / CM content insertion system according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, upon receiving the spot / CM content from the content provider, the content reproduction device 2 extracts and stores the favorite spot / CM content based on the initial settings by the viewer. Next, when the viewer performs an operation input for recording the program content, the content reproducing apparatus stores the target program content and the general-purpose spot / CM content inserted into the program content.

Thereafter, when an operation input for reproducing the recorded program content is given by the viewer, the favorite spot / CM content is read out together with the program content and the general-purpose spot / CM content, and the same as in the first embodiment. Then, the favorite spot / CM content is inserted and reproduced in place of the general-purpose spot / CM content.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of the spot / CM content insertion method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the operation of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 1 and the flowchart of FIG.

In the content providing apparatus 1 on the transmitting side, when, for example, spot content is generated by the content data converting means 11 (A1), the recording reservation information adding means 12 adds recording reservation information to the generated spot content. (A2). Content sending means 13
Transmits the spot content to which the recording reservation information is added to the content reproduction device 2 via the broadcast network (A
3).

On the content reproducing apparatus 2 side, the content receiving means 21 receives the spot content transmitted from the content providing apparatus 1 (B1), and outputs the spot content to the content extracting means 22. The content extracting means 22 extracts, from the input spot content, content that matches the viewer's preference based on the initial setting by the viewer (B2). The favorite spot content extracted by the content extracting unit 22 is stored in the favorite spot / CM database in the information storing unit 23 (B
3).

Next, the content providing apparatus 1 generates the program content and the general-purpose spot / CM content to be inserted into the program content by the content data conversion means 11 (A4), and sends out the content from the content sending means 13. Suppose (A5). The transmitted program content and general-purpose spot / CM content are received by the content receiving unit 21 of the content reproduction device 2 (B
4) The content is reproduced in real time by the content reproduction control means 24.

When reproducing the program content in real time, the content reproduction control means 24 performs the content reproduction when the content reproduction apparatus 2 performs the real time reproduction of the program content by the operation input of the stored viewer in addition to the reproduction operation. The device 2 reads the favorite spot contents from the favorite spot / CM database together with the reproduction operation, and inserts and reproduces the favorite spot contents at the timing when the general-purpose spot / CM contents in the program contents are originally reproduced (B5). At this time, a recording reservation program of the program introduced in the favorite spot content is also displayed (B6).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of the spot / CM content insertion method according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the operation in the second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 1 and the flowchart of FIG.

When the content providing apparatus 1 generates, for example, spot content by the content data conversion means 11 (A11), the recording reservation information adding means 12 adds recording reservation information to the generated spot content (A12). The content transmission means 13 transmits the spot content to which the recording reservation information has been added to the content reproduction device 2 via the broadcast network (A13).

On the content reproducing apparatus 2 side, the content transmitted from the content providing apparatus 1 is received by the content receiving means 21 (B11), and this spot content is output to the content extracting means 22. The content extracting means 22 extracts, from the input spot content, content that matches the taste of the viewer based on the initial setting by the viewer (B12). The favorite spot content extracted by the content extracting means 22 is stored in a favorite spot / CM database in the information storing means 23 (B1).
3).

Next, the content providing device 1 generates the program content and the general-purpose spot / CM content to be inserted into the program content by the content data conversion means 11 (A14), and sends out the content from the content sending means 13. Suppose (A15). The transmitted program content and general-purpose spot / CM content are received by the content receiving unit 21 of the content reproduction device 2 (B
14), received program content and general-purpose spot C
The M content is stored in a content database in the information storage means 23 (B15).

Next, when an instruction to reproduce the recorded program content stored in the content database is input from the viewer, the content reproduction control means 24 outputs the recorded program content and the general-purpose spot / CM content in the program content. The favorite spot content is read from the favorite spot / CM database, and the favorite spot content is inserted and reproduced at the original reproduction timing of the general-purpose spot / CM content, as in the first embodiment (B16). At this time, a recording reservation program of the program introduced by the favorite spot content is also displayed (B17).

[0038]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, when reproducing the program content, the general-purpose spot C inserted in the program content in advance is always used.
Instead of the M content, it is possible to reproduce the spot / CM content that matches the taste of the viewer.

According to the present invention, even when the viewer performs time-shift reproduction of the program content, fresh spot / CM content is always reproduced regardless of the length of the period from the time of reception of the program content to the time of reproduction. Can be inserted and played.

Further, according to the present invention, when a program to be recorded is introduced in spot content, if the viewer performs an operation on a recording reservation screen displayed on the same screen, the recording of the program is immediately performed. Reservations can be made.
Further, according to the present invention, an operation for designating a target program at the time of recording reservation can be omitted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram functionally showing a configuration of a content reproduction system according to an embodiment of the present invention and a content providing device and a content reproduction device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a screen display example when a recording reservation screen is displayed in the same screen when spot content that matches the taste of a viewer is inserted and reproduced.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a first embodiment of a spot / CM content insertion method according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of an initial setting screen for allowing a viewer to previously set spot / CM content suited to his / her taste.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a second embodiment of a spot / CM content insertion system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a spot C in the first embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a sequence chart showing a flow of an M content insertion method.

FIG. 7 shows a spot C according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a sequence chart showing a flow of an M content insertion method.

FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically showing a general method of transmitting program content by the content providing apparatus in association with a time axis.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 content providing device 2 content reproducing device 11 content data converting means 12 recording reservation information adding means 13 content sending means 21 content receiving means 22 content extracting means 23 information storing means 24 content playing control means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 5/445 H04N 5/76 Z 5/76 5/91 N 7/08 7/08 Z 7/081 ( 72) Inventor Tatsuya Kurioka 1-10-11 Kinuta, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo Japan Broadcasting Research Institute (72) Inventor Toshihiro Uehara 1-1-10 Kinuta, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo Japan Broadcasting Corporation F term in the laboratory (reference) 5B075 ND20 PQ02 UU34 5C025 AA30 CA09 CB08 DA01 5C052 AA01 AB03 AB04 CC06 DD04 5C053 FA14 FA20 GB06 JA16 LA21 LA06 LA07 LA14 5C063 AA01 AB03 AB07 AC01 AC10 CA36 DA03 DA07 DA13

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A spot / CM including a spot content and / or a CM content for introducing a program to be broadcast.
A content reproducing apparatus that receives and reproduces content and program content, and extracts, from a received spot / CM content, a content that meets a viewer's preference among received spot / CM contents based on an initial setting content preset by a viewer. Content extracting means, and the spots extracted by the content extracting means.
A content storage unit for storing the CM content; and, when reproducing the program content, the spot / CM content stored in the information storage unit at an original reproduction timing of the spot / CM content inserted in the program content. Content playback control means for inserting and playing back content. 2. The content reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said content storage means overwrites a previously stored spot / CM content with a newly stored spot / CM content. 3. The content according to claim 1, wherein the content reproduction control means reproduces a recording reservation screen of a program introduced by the spot content on the same screen when reproducing the spot content. Playback device. 4. When a spot content introducing a program to be broadcast is transmitted, a recording reservation screen of the program to be broadcast is displayed on the same screen when the spot content is reproduced on the receiver side. A content providing apparatus for adding recording reservation information of the program to be broadcast to the spot content. 5. A content reproducing apparatus for receiving and reproducing contents, means for receiving program contents and spot / CM contents including spot contents and / or CM contents for introducing programs to be broadcast, and presetting by a viewer. Means for extracting, from the received spot / CM content, content that matches the taste of the viewer, based on the received initial setting content, means for storing the extracted spot / CM content, and Means for inserting and playing back the stored spot / CM content at the original playback timing of the spot / CM content inserted in the program content when the content is played back. 6. A content providing device for transmitting a content, means for converting spot information for introducing a program to be broadcast into content data, and recording reservation information for displaying a recording reservation screen for the program to be broadcast. A content providing program functioning as: means for adding to the spot content; and means for transmitting the spot content to which the recording reservation information has been added.