JP2007158444A - Content management apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a content management apparatus, capable of managing even titles that have been dubbed to other apparatuses via a network, similarly to the case where titles that have been dubbed to a removable storage medium, such as DVD-RAM, by means of a library. <P>SOLUTION: Library information includes category information 301 by title. When the category information 301 is a network apparatus 28, the library information furthermore includes apparatus identification information 303, such as UDN, apparatus name 304 such as "Friendly Name", and an Object ID306 for identifying the title. When the category information 301 is a DVD-RAM or an HDD 21, the library information includes disk identification information 302, such as unique disk number and title identification information 305, such as a title number unique within a disk. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

 The present invention relates to a content management apparatus for recording and managing a plurality of video contents, and more particularly to a management method for centrally managing contents recorded in network devices connected via a network.

  In recent years, home networks have been constructed in which AV devices such as HDD recorders are connected to each other via a network. A home network is an AV device such as a home TV or HDD recorder connected to each other via Ethernet (registered trademark) or wireless LAN. Video content recorded on the HDD recorder can be played back on a TV connected via the network. You can perform operations such as dubbing video content recorded on an HDD recorder to another HDD recorder via a network.

Conventionally, when the remaining recording capacity of the HDD recorder HDD is insufficient, DVD-RAM etc. must be dubbed, and as recording continues, the number of DVD-RAMs will gradually increase. Has a library function. When HDD recorders are networked, they can be dubbed directly to other devices with sufficient HDD capacity.
Japanese Patent No. 3621639 (FIG. 1)

  However, the library function described above does not manage the content dubbed via the network. For this reason, there is a problem that the user can use the dubbing to DVD-RAM and the dubbing on the network properly, but one is managed by the library function but the other is not.

Therefore, in order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a content management apparatus that can manage titles dubbed to other devices via a network in the same manner as titles dubbed to a removable storage medium. To do.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a tuner that receives video content, a fixed disk device that records the video content received by the tuner, and a recording medium in which the video content recorded on the fixed disk device is removable. Reference is made to the recording drive for recording, the communication interface for recording the video content recorded on the fixed disk device to an external network device via a communication line, and the attribute information assigned to each recorded video content And library management means for creating library information for list management. In the case of the fixed disk device and the removable recording medium, the library management means is attribute information stored in each video content. Refer to the disc identification information and title identification information included in In the case of the network device, library information is created with reference to device identification information and object ID information included in the attribute information recorded in each video content.

  Further, in order to solve the above-described problems, the library management means simultaneously displays a list of contents recorded on the fixed disk device, the removable recording medium, and the network device based on the created library information. It is characterized by doing.

  In addition, in order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention reproduces and reproduces video content based on the library information of the selected content when any content is selected using the displayed library information. is there.

  According to the present invention, a title dubbed to another device via a network can be managed by the library in the same manner as a title dubbed to a removable storage medium such as a DVD-RAM.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a home network 1 that is a content management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The home network 1 is configured using a technology that can use a bandwidth necessary for transmitting video data, such as Ethernet (trademark) and wireless LAN. HDD recorders 11 and 12 and a television 13 are connected to the home network 1. The HDD recorders 11 and 12 have an internal disk recording device such as an HDD and a DVD drive, and can receive broadcasts and record them in the HDD 2 or DVD-RAM in the MPEG2 format.

It is also possible to play back recorded MPEG2 format data. Television recorders 14 and 15 for monitoring video output are connected to the HDD recorders 11 and 12, respectively, and a playback video and an operation screen of the HDD recorder can be displayed. The television 13 can receive and view broadcasts, and has a function of acquiring and playing back video data recorded on the HDD by the HDD recorders 11 and 12.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the HDD recorder 11.

A signal from an antenna (not shown) is input to the TV tuner 16, and an analog video signal output from the TV tuner 16 is quantized by an ADC (Analog To Digital Converter) 17, for example, with a sampling frequency of 13.5 MHz. It is quantized with 8 bits. Similarly, the analog audio signal is also quantized by the ADC 17 at, for example, a sampling frequency of 48 kHz and a quantization bit number of 16 bits.

The digital video signal and digital audio signal output from the ADC 17 are sent to the encoder 18. The encoder 18 converts the input digital video signal into a compressed digital image signal based on MPEG (Moving Picture Image Coding Experts Group) 2 standard. The digital audio signal is also converted into a compressed digital audio signal based on, for example, the AC (Audio Compression) -3 standard. The encoder 18 performs signal processing so that the compressed digital video signal and digital audio signal have a format suitable for recording, and outputs the signal to the data processor.

Information encoded by the encoder 18 and management information created by the controller 19 are recorded on an optical disk such as a DVD-RAM inserted into the HDD 21 or the disk drive 22 via the data processor 20.

The signal recorded on the optical disk inserted in the HDD 21 or the disk drive 22 is output to the decoder 23 via the data processor 20, and the decoder 23 separates the video signal and the audio signal from the input signal, Has the ability to code.

The video signal output from the decoder 23 is input to the video mixer 24. The video mixer 24 synthesizes the input video signal with text data and image data while using the frame memory 25 as a buffer.

The output of the video mixer 24 is converted to a DAC (Digital To Analog Converter) 25 and then output to the outside. Similarly, the audio signal output from the decoder 23 is converted to an analog signal by the DAC 26 and then output to the outside.

The controller 19 includes an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), a ROM in which a control program is written, and a RAM that provides a work area necessary for executing the program. The controller 19 controls the above-described modules in accordance with the control program and controls the set operations such as recording and reproduction.

The controller 19 receives remote controller operation information via the infrared light receiver, and controls the operation according to the information. Further, it communicates with other devices connected to the network through the network interface 27, and performs operation control accordingly. It also provides a library library management function. The controller 19 uses the UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) standard in order to communicate with other devices connected via a network.

First, UPnP will be briefly described. The purpose of UPnP is to enable discovery and operation of devices connected to the network in a network running the TCP / IP protocol without complicated settings.

A device that provides some function to a device connected via a network is called a device, and a function provided by a device is called a service. A device that uses a service provided by a device is called a control point. Since devices and control points are conceptual models for defining a protocol, an actual device can simultaneously have a device function and a control point function.

SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol) is used to discover devices and services provided by the devices. By using SSDP, a device can notify that a device or service exists on the network, or a control point can search for a desired device.

From the device discovered by SSDP, device attribute information described in XML format called Device Description can be acquired. The Device Description describes an UDN (Unique Device Name) that is an identifier for uniquely identifying a device, a FriendlyName used for display, a list of services to be provided, and the like. Similarly, for services, data in XML format called Serivce Description can be acquired, and operations that can be executed are described.

The operations described in Service Description are called using SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol).

CDS (Contents Directory Service) is one of the services defined for AV devices such as HDD recorders. The control point can acquire attribute information of content such as video and music by accessing the CDS.

In CDS, attribute information of one content is called an object. The attribute information includes an Object ID, a title name, and the like to which a unique value is assigned for each content. In addition, there is a URL for acquiring content data as one of the attribute information, and the control point can access the acquired URL, acquire the data by HTTP (Hyper Text Transport Protocol), and perform reproduction.

The CDS defines operations such as Browse used to acquire content attribute information, Search for searching content attribute information satisfying a specified condition, and CreateObject for creating new attribute information. When dubbing from the control point to the CDS, the control point executes CreateObject for the CDS. When CreateObject is executed, a new object is added in CDS, and the URL for receiving data from the control point is defined as importURI as the attribute information. The control point can perform dubbing by acquiring the value of importURI of the created object and sending data to the URL using the HTTP POST method.

Therefore, the controller 19 in the present embodiment uses the above-described protocol to control the function of the control point using the CDS executed in other devices and the title recorded on the optical disk inserted in the HDD and the disk drive. It performs the function of CDS that publishes the information.

Next, the library function provided by the HDD recorder will be described. The library function centrally manages title information recorded on a plurality of DVD-RAMs and HDDs. For this purpose, library information is stored in the HDD 21.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of library information. The library information includes the following information for each title. The first is type information 301. The type information 301 is information indicating the type of recording device in which the title exists, that is, the network device 28, DVD-RAM (inserted into the disk drive 22), or HDD 21.

When the type information 301 is the network device 28, it further includes device identification information 303 such as UDN, a device name 304 such as FriendlyName, and an ObjectID 306 that identifies the title. When the type information 301 is DVD-RAM or HDD 21, disc identification information 302 such as a unique disc number and title identification information 305 such as a title number unique within the disc are included.

Further, as values commonly held regardless of the type information 301, there are a title name 307, a bit rate 308, genre information 309, recording start date information 310, recording end time 311, channel type 312 and channel number 313. However, these may not be set depending on the title.

The library information is updated when dubbing is performed on a device connected to the network, when recording is performed on the DVD-RAM using the HDD 21 or the disk drive 22, and when dubbing is performed on the DVD-RAM from the HDD 22. .

The most basic function of the library function is to display a title list. When the user performs an operation for displaying the title list, the controller 19 reads out the library information and displays the library list screen. On the library list screen, the place where the title exists, the title name, the icon indicating the genre, the recorded date, the channel number, and the like are displayed in a displayable range.

Here, the location where the title exists is a disk number in the case of a title existing in the DVD-RAM, an HDD in the case of a title existing in the HDD 21, and a friendly name of the device in the case of a network device. In addition to displaying a list of all titles managed in the library information, it is possible to display a display screen for each location where titles exist, and to rearrange the display for further user convenience. Can also be increased.

In this way, the user can collectively identify and manage titles including not only DVD-RAM and HDD titles but also titles dubbed to other devices.

The HDD recorder of this embodiment is described as having a fixed HDD. However, even when a removable HDD can be used via, for example, a USB interface, the same library information as in this embodiment is used. The titles recorded on the removable HDD can be managed.

That is, as in the case of DVD-RAM, it is possible to manage which title is recorded on which HDD if the disk identification information is held as part of the library information for each HDD. However, library information can of course be stored as a backup in a removable HDD, but the library information stored in a fixed HDD becomes master data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a procedure in the HDD recorder 11 when dubbing from the HDD recorder 11 to the HDD recorder 12 is executed.

First, a CreateObject operation is executed by specifying attribute information such as a title name (step S41). If the CreateObject operation is successful, attribute information about the created object is returned, and the ObjectID and importURI attribute values are acquired from the attribute information (step S42). Next, video data is transmitted to the destination indicated by the acquired importURI by the HTTP POST method (step S43). When the transmission of the video data is completed, library information having attribute information such as the network device, UDN and FriendlyName of the HDD recorder 12, and ObjectID and title name of the created object is created and added as type information (step S44).

Next, with reference to FIG. 5, an operation procedure when a title on the library list screen is selected and reproduction is performed will be described.

First, type information is acquired from library information (step S51). If the type information is DVD-RAM (DVD in step S52), the disc identification information is obtained from the library information (step S53), and it is checked whether a disc that matches the disc identification information is inserted. If the corresponding disc is inserted (Y in step S54), title identification information is acquired from the library information (step S55), and it is checked whether or not a title corresponding to the title identification information exists on the disc. If the corresponding title exists, reproduction is started (Y in step S56, step S57). On the other hand, if the type information is HDD (HDD in step S52), the title identification information is acquired from the library information (step S55), and it is checked whether a title corresponding to the title identification information exists in the HDD (step S56). . If the title exists, playback is started. If a detachable HDD is usable, it is checked whether the corresponding HDD is connected based on the disk identification information as in the case of DVD-RAM, which is not shown in FIG. If the type information is a network device (NET in step S52), device identification information is acquired from the library information (step S58), and a check is made as to whether a device corresponding to the device identification information exists among the discovered devices. (Step S59). If the corresponding device exists (Y in step S59), the library information ObjectID is acquired (step S60). Next, the attribute information of the object having the ObjectID acquired by the Browse operation is acquired (Step S61). If the Browse operation is successful (Y in Step S62), the URL for acquiring the reproduction data is extracted from the attribute information. (Step S63). When the URL for obtaining the reproduction data can be extracted, the data is received and reproduced by the HTTP GET method (step S64).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to collectively manage titles dubbed on a network-connected device using the library function. That is, titles dubbed to other devices via the network can be managed by the library in the same manner as titles dubbed to a removable storage medium such as a DVD-RAM.

It is a conceptual diagram which shows the structure of the home network in one Embodiment of this invention. 2 is a system configuration diagram of an HDD recorder that is a content management apparatus in the embodiment. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of the library information in the same embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the dubbing operation | movement in the embodiment. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a reproduction operation in the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... HDD recorder, 12 ... HDD recorder (network apparatus), 13 ... Television, 14 ... Television, 15 ... Television, 16 ... Television tuner, 17 ... ADC, 18 ... Encoder, 19 ... Controller, 20 ... Data processor, 21 ... HDD, 22 ... disk drive, 23 ... decoder, 24 ... video mixer, 25 ... DAC, 26 ... DAC, 27 ... communication interface.

Claims (3)

A tuner for receiving video content;
A fixed disk device for recording video content received by the tuner;
A recording drive for recording video content recorded in the fixed disk device on a removable recording medium;
A communication interface for recording video content recorded in the fixed disk device to an external network device via a communication line;
Library management means for creating library information for list management with reference to attribute information assigned to each recorded video content,
The library management means refers to disc identification information and title identification information included in attribute information stored in each video content in the case of the fixed disc device and the removable recording medium, and in the case of the network device, A content management apparatus that creates library information with reference to device identification information and object ID information included in attribute information recorded in each video content.   2. The content according to claim 1, wherein the library management means simultaneously displays a list of contents recorded on the fixed disk device, the removable recording medium, and the network device based on the created library information. Management device.   3. The content according to claim 2, further comprising: a playback unit that plays back video content based on library information of the selected content when any content is selected using the displayed library information. Management device.

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