JP2007124471A - Digital equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To manage the expiration time of contents by a simple method. <P>SOLUTION: Processing starts in step S1 and in step S2, it is determined whether a present time can be acquired. If the present time can be acquired, the processing can go to step S3 to execute comparison with the expiration time tp of the content. If the present time has not been acquired, the processing goes to step S4 to check a newest acquiring time ts in the content, and goes to step S5 to compare the expiration time tp of the content with the newest acquiring time ts in the content. If ts is later than tp, since it is assumed that the content has expired, the processing goes to S6 and the content cannot be accessed. If ts is not later than tp, since it is assumed that the content has not expired; the processing goes to step S7 to permit the access to the content, and the content can be reproduced in step S8. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital device capable of recording and viewing content having an expiration date.

  Among digital contents such as HTML texts and video streams, there are contents for which an expiration date is designated. For example, various methods have been proposed regarding permission / denial based on the current time information by setting the use banning time, the banning time, and the like in the stored content (see Patent Document 1).

  In digital television, the current time information is usually obtained from a TOT (Time Offset Table) table of program arrangement information (SI) transmitted in BS digital broadcasting or terrestrial digital broadcasting.

  When viewing content that has an expiration date (such as HTML content, video content, content stored in bridge media, etc.) When the information can be obtained, the restriction on the viewing / recording of the content based on the expiration date operates almost normally.

JP 2002-344924

  However, if the antenna is disconnected from the digital TV or the radio wave cannot be acquired due to bad weather, the TOT table cannot be acquired and the receiver cannot obtain accurate time information.

  When viewing such content on a device such as a digital television, the expiration date cannot be determined unless the current time information can be acquired. Then, there was no choice but to make it possible to view all content or not. In fact, digital TV is confused when digital home appliances cannot get the current time information, or when the contents have an expiration date, the behavior is obscure, and what cannot be viewed / cannot be viewed Therefore, there is a problem that even if the service provider distributes the desired content providing service with an expiration date, its effectiveness is doubtful.

  An object of the present invention is to manage the expiration date of content by a simple method.

  The time information at which the content is acquired is assigned to the device or the content itself, and the current time information is managed by using the latest time information using the data. Among the contents that are currently stored, the latest content is searched, and if the time has expired, viewing is disabled.

  Even if the current time information cannot be obtained, the expiration date of the content can be protected. Thereby, the expiration date of the content can be managed by a simple method. The content holder can provide reliable services.

  The digital device according to the embodiment of the present invention is an environment in which current time information can be given when content is acquired. When acquiring content, pay attention to the fact that it is possible to acquire the current time information because it is connected to some external network. If the current time cannot be obtained, it has already been saved so far Search for the latest content from the content. Then, when the storage time exceeds the expiration date of the content, viewing is disabled. As a result, content viewing due to an unauthorized operation by the user can be prevented. Hereinafter, more specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  Regarding the device according to the present embodiment, a digital television that is generally used will be described as an example. However, it is possible to apply this method to various devices that can view and / or store stored content. Examples include digital radios, mobile AV terminals (including mobile phones), analog televisions, and the like. These devices include a content acquisition unit (for example, a LAN interface) that acquires content, and a current time estimation unit (CPU) that estimates the latest time information based on the time when the content is acquired as the current time. Is provided. A storage unit that stores content (for example, an HDD that stores content) is often configured separately, for example, by a recorder or the like.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a form of a digital television for storing / viewing content according to the present embodiment and infrastructure around the digital television.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the environment A surrounding the digital television 11 includes a bridge media interface 15 that is mainly built in the television, and a storage medium 17 such as a memory and a hard disk built in the digital television 11. As a network existing in the home, there is a home network 1 including a recording device 21 using a hard disk or the like connected in IEEE1394 or Ethernet format (IEEE 802.3). The external network 3 includes an antenna connection 23 for acquiring broadcasts such as TV and radio, and an Internet connection 25 for acquiring contents such as HTML contents and video streams on the Internet.

  The digital television 11 normally receives broadcasts via the antenna connection 23. At this time, it is a normal method to obtain current time information from a TOT (Time Offset Table) table of program arrangement information (SI) transmitted by digital broadcast waves. Further, when the digital broadcast is not broadcast and the Internet connection 25 is made, the current time information can be obtained by connecting to the NTP server. Even if a connection to an NTP server is not possible, if the digital TV and a server on the Internet are connected, the current time information can be obtained, and the current time information is obtained based on the current time information. be able to. Therefore, when content is recorded on the digital television 11, content acquisition time information can be obtained by some method. This time information is referred to as “content update time information” in this specification.

  When viewing the content, the digital television can acquire the current time information in an environment similar to that at the time of content acquisition, and can provide the user with an accurate viewing time limit regarding content viewing.

  However, as mentioned above, if the antenna is unintentionally removed from the digital TV, or if the radio wave cannot be acquired at all due to bad weather, the TOT table cannot be acquired, so the receiver takes accurate time information. If this is not possible, content viewing restriction cannot be performed.

In that case, a simple viewing time limit is determined by the following method.
(1) Content update time information recording technique 1) When content is acquired, the content update time information is stored in the digital television.
2) When content is acquired, content update time information is stored in the content.
(2) Content update time information discriminating method 1) When it is known that only the content stored in the digital television exists in the digital television (for example, when only the storage medium inside the television has a reference destination), the content is recorded on the digital television. The content update time information is recognized as the latest time information, and the recognized latest time information is compared with the content viewing (valid) deadline information to determine whether the content has expired.

  2) In digital television, if it is not known that only content stored in the digital television exists (such as when there is an external storage medium), the content update time information recorded in the content is Check and recognize the latest time information of the content update time information as the latest time information, compare the recognized latest time information with the content viewing time limit information, and determine whether the content has expired Do.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a simplified flow of the above processing. As shown in FIG. 2, first, processing is started in step S1 (START), and it is determined whether or not the current time can be acquired in step S2. If the current time can be acquired (YES), the process proceeds to step S3 and can be compared with the expiration date tp of the content.

  If the current time cannot be acquired (NO), the process proceeds to step S4 to check the latest acquisition time ts in the content. Next, the process proceeds to step S5, where the expiration date tp of the content is compared with the latest acquisition time ts in the content. If ts is later than tp, it is presumed that the expiration date of the content has expired at this time, so that the process proceeds to step S6 and access to the content becomes impossible.

  If ts is earlier than tp, it is presumed that the expiration date of the content has not expired at the present time. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S7, access to the content is permitted, and, for example, the content can be reproduced in step S8. . The process ends from step S6 or step S8 (step S9: END).

  As described above, even when the current time information cannot be obtained, the expiration date can be protected for the approximate content. Therefore, the content holder can provide a reliable service. In the case of content stored on a TV or the like, the time information is obtained at the time of recording, so the content can be processed on the spot, but when acquiring content from outside such as bridge media This method is particularly effective.

  As for the content update time information, a method of always updating the content update time information when an external storage device is connected in the digital TV main body may be used.

  As described above, the television receiving digital broadcasting has been described, but the present invention can be applied to devices such as radios and mobile terminals. Furthermore, it can be applied to content viewing on an analog television or the like where it is difficult to obtain time information.

  The present invention is applicable to digital equipment.

It is a figure which shows the example of the form with the digital television which accumulate | stores / views the content by Example 1 of this invention, and the infrastructure around it. It is the flowchart figure which simplified the flow of the process in the digital television which accumulate | stores / views the content by Example 1 of this invention, and the infrastructure around it.

Explanation of symbols

A ... environment, 1 ... home network, 3 ... external network, 11 ... digital television, 15 ... bridge media interface, 17 ... storage medium, 21 ... recording device, 23 ... antenna connection, 25 ... internet connection.

Claims (3)

A content acquisition unit for acquiring content;
A digital device comprising: a current time estimating unit that estimates time information that is latest based on a time when content is acquired as a current time.   The time estimated by the current time estimation unit is compared with the content expiration date, and if the content expiration date is earlier than the estimated time, access to the corresponding content is prohibited. The digital device according to claim 1, wherein control is performed. A method for determining the expiration date of content,
Storing the time when the content was acquired;
Checking the latest acquisition time ts in the content when the current time cannot be acquired;
The content expiration date tp is compared with the latest acquisition time ts in the content, and if ts is later than tp, it is assumed that the content expiration date has passed and the content cannot be accessed at this time. And a determining method.

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