JP2007336083A - Av apparatus and automatic content deletion system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an AV apparatus capable of automatically deleting a content in a storage device that is considered to be low in the degree of interest, when contents are deleted automatically in the storage device. <P>SOLUTION: The AV apparatus comprises an attached information storing means, a retrieving means, and a content deleting means. The attached information storing means stores words of predetermined types included in a program information corresponding to each content to be recorded as an attached information of the content. The retrieving means retrieves the number of Web pages, which contain an attached information of the content as a keyword, for each recorded content using a search engine, when the remaining capacity of a content storage device becomes below a specified value during recording. The content deleting means specifies a content having the lowest degree of interest among recorded contents, and deletes the specified content from the content storage device automatically, based on the number of the retrieved Web page for each recorded content. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an AV apparatus such as a digital TV with a built-in HDD and a DVD recorder having a built-in storage device for recording content, and an automatic content deletion system.

  In recent years, digital television broadcast receivers with large capacity HDDs have been developed. This kind of digital television broadcast receiver can record a large amount of content. On the other hand, when content is recorded and the remaining storage capacity of the HDD is low, it is preferable to automatically delete unnecessary content from the content already stored in the HDD.

  However, it is difficult to automatically determine which of the contents already stored in the HDD is unnecessary.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an AV device and an automatic content deletion system that can automatically delete content that is considered to be less interested when content in a storage device is automatically deleted.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, in an AV device incorporating a content storage device for recording content, communication means for connecting to the Internet, a search engine for searching a Web page on the Internet, and recording Attached information storage means for storing, for each content, a predetermined type of word included in the program information corresponding to the content as the attached information of the content. During recording, the remaining capacity of the content storage device is less than a specified value. The search means for searching for the number of Web pages that use the search engine as a keyword for each recorded content, and the Web page obtained for each recorded content. Based on the number of searches, the content that has the lowest interest in the recorded content Constant, and is characterized in that it comprises a content deleting unit to automatically delete the identified content from the content storage unit.

  The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 1, the attached information of the content is a title name.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the content deletion means identifies the content with the smallest number of web page searches as the content with the lowest degree of interest.

  The invention described in claim 4 is an automatic content deletion system comprising an AV device having a content storage device for recording content and a search server connected to the Internet. The search server is a Web on the Internet. A search engine for searching pages, a program evaluation table storing the number of Web page searches for each of a plurality of program evaluation keywords obtained from program information of broadcast programs for a certain period in the past from the present, and program evaluation Updating means for updating the table for each fixed period, the updating means acquires program information, acquires a program evaluation keyword from the acquired program information, and stores it in the program evaluation table; and for program evaluation For each program evaluation keyword in the table, use the search engine to enter the program evaluation key A search means for searching for the number of Web pages including a code, and storing the number of Web page searches obtained as a Web page search number for the program evaluation keyword in a program evaluation table; Communication means for communicating with the search server, for each content to be recorded, attached information storage means for storing the program evaluation keyword included in the program information corresponding to the content as the attached information of the content, during recording A means for acquiring, from the search server, the number of Web pages that contain the attached information of the content as a keyword for each recorded content when the remaining capacity of the content storage device is less than or equal to a specified value; Based on the number of web page searches obtained for each content, the degree of interest in the recorded content Identify the lowest content, characterized in that it comprises a content deleting unit to automatically delete the identified content from the content storage unit.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 4, wherein the program evaluation keyword is a title name.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the inventions according to the fourth to fifth aspects, the content deleting means identifies the content with the smallest number of web page searches as the content with the lowest degree of interest.

  According to the present invention, when content in the storage device is automatically deleted, it is possible to automatically delete content that is considered to be of low interest.

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

  FIG. 1 shows a system configuration.

  Reference numeral 1 denotes an AV device having a digital television broadcast receiving function and a recording function. The AV device 1 is connected to Web servers 2, 3,... On the Internet.

  FIG. 2 shows the electrical configuration of the AV device 1.

  The AV device 1 is controlled by the microcomputer 11. Connected to the microcomputer 11 are a ROM 12 for storing a control program, fixed data that does not need to be rewritten, a RAM 13 as a volatile memory for temporarily storing necessary data, and an NRAM 14 as a nonvolatile memory for storing rewritable data. Yes.

  In addition, the microcomputer 11 is used to store a digital tuner 15 for receiving digital television broadcasts, a monitor 16 for displaying received television programs, recording data (contents) of received television programs, and the like. A LAN controller 18 for connecting the microcomputer 11 to the Internet is connected.

  In the first embodiment, the microcomputer 11 of the AV device 1 has a search engine function for searching for Web pages on the Internet. That is, the ROM 12 stores a search engine (program). In this embodiment, a robot type search engine is used as the search engine.

  In a robot type search engine, web pages are automatically collected by software called a search robot, and keywords are extracted therefrom. That is, the search robot automatically collects and organizes information on the Web page. When a keyword for search is given, a Web page containing the keyword is searched based on the collected and organized information.

  In this embodiment, when a keyword for search is given, a Web page including the keyword is searched based on the collected and organized information, and the number of Web pages including the keyword is acquired. To do.

  Note that a recorded program information table is created in the HDD 17 as shown in FIG. The recorded program information table stores, for each recorded program, the ID of the recorded program, title name, broadcast date, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, presence / absence of prohibition of automatic deletion, information on the storage location of recorded data, and the number of hits Is done.

  At the start of program recording, the recorded program information table includes a storage start address in the recorded program ID, title name, broadcast date, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, presence / absence of prohibition of automatic deletion, and recording data storage location Is stored. The presence or absence of automatic deletion prohibition is information indicating whether or not automatic recording deletion is prohibited, and is information specified by the user for each recorded program. In other words, the user can specify whether to allow or forbid automatic deletion for each program to be recorded.

  In this example, the number of hits in the recorded program information table is the number of Web pages including the title name as a keyword, and is registered and updated during the automatic content deletion process described later. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the greater the number of hits, the higher the degree of interest in the program. Each recorded program information in the recorded program information table is deleted when the corresponding recorded data (content data) is deleted.

  FIG. 4 shows the procedure of the recorded data automatic deletion process performed by the microcomputer 11 of the AV device 1 during recording.

  During recording, it is monitored whether or not the remaining capacity of the HDD 17 has become a specified value or less (step S1). During recording, if the remaining capacity of the HDD 17 falls below a specified value, one recorded program information that is not prohibited from automatic deletion is selected from the recorded program information in the recorded program information table, and the title name is selected. Obtain (step S2).

  Then, the search engine searches for a Web page including the acquired title name as a keyword (step S3). Then, the total number of searched Web pages is registered as the number of hits of the recorded program information (step S4). It is determined whether or not a keyword search (the processes in steps S3 and S4) has been performed for all of the recorded program information for which automatic deletion is not prohibited in the recorded program information table (step S5).

  If keyword search is not performed for all recorded program information that is not prohibited from being automatically deleted in the recorded program information table, the process returns to step S2, and recorded programs that are not prohibited from being automatically deleted in the recorded program information table. One piece of recorded program information that is information and for which no keyword search has been performed is selected, and its title name is acquired. And the process of step S3-S5 is performed.

  In this way, when a keyword search is performed for all of the recorded program information that is not prohibited from being automatically deleted in the recorded program information table (YES in step S5), the recording for which the keyword search has been performed. Among the program information, the one with the smallest number of hits is identified (step S6). If the number of hits is the smallest (NO in step S7), the recorded program information with the smallest number of hits identified in step S6 is deleted from the recorded program information table in the HDD 17, and Recorded data (content data) corresponding to the recorded program information is deleted from the HDD 17 (step S8). Then, the process returns to step S1.

  In step S7, if there are two or more hits with the smallest number of hits (YES in step S7), the recorded program information with the oldest recording time (broadcast start time) is recorded in the HDD 17 among the plurality of recorded program information. In addition to deleting from the recorded program information table, recorded data (content data) corresponding to the recorded program information is deleted from the HDD 17 (step S9). Then, the process returns to step S1.

  In the above embodiment, the title of the recorded program is used as a keyword, the Web page including the keyword is searched, and the total number of searched Web pages is the number of hits. However, the title of the recorded program that can be acquired as program information Search for web pages that contain the keyword for each keyword, using two or more of the names, performers, authors, screenwriters, directors, and directors, and the web pages searched for each keyword The sum of the numbers may be the number of hits. In this case, it is necessary to register all words used as keywords in the recorded program information.

  FIG. 5 shows a system configuration.

  Reference numeral 1 denotes an AV device having a digital television broadcast receiving function and a recording function. The AV device 1 is connected to a search server 4 on the Internet. The search server 4 is connected to Web servers 5, 6,... On the Internet.

  FIG. 6 shows the electrical configuration of the AV device 1.

  The AV device 1 is controlled by the microcomputer 11. Connected to the microcomputer 11 are a ROM 12 for storing a control program, fixed data that does not need to be rewritten, a RAM 13 as a volatile memory for temporarily storing necessary data, and an NRAM 14 as a nonvolatile memory for storing rewritable data. Yes.

  In addition, the microcomputer 11 is connected to the Internet by a digital tuner 15 for receiving a digital television broadcast, a monitor 16 for displaying the received television program, an HDD 17 for recording the received television program, and the microcomputer 11. LAN controller 18 is connected.

  A recorded program information table as shown in FIG. 3 is created in the HDD 17. At the time of starting the program recording, the microcomputer 11 adds the recorded program information table to the recorded program ID, title name, broadcast date, broadcast start time, broadcast end time, presence / absence of prohibition of automatic deletion, and recording data storage location. Is stored.

  In the second embodiment, the AV device 1 does not include a search engine. In the second embodiment, the method for obtaining the number of hits is different from the first embodiment. A method for acquiring the number of hits will be described later.

  FIG. 7 shows the electrical configuration of the search server 4.

  The search server 4 is controlled by the microcomputer 41. Connected to the microcomputer 41 are a ROM 42 for storing the program, a RAM 43 as a volatile memory for storing necessary data, and an NRAM 44 as a nonvolatile memory for storing necessary data. The microcomputer 41 is connected to a digital tuner 45 for receiving digital television broadcasts, an HDD 46 for storing various data, and a LAN controller 47 for connecting the microcomputer 41 to the Internet.

  The search server 4 includes a search engine. The HDD 46 stores a program evaluation table as shown in FIG. The program evaluation table stores the title name, registration date, and number of hits.

  FIG. 9 shows a program evaluation table update processing procedure performed by the search server.

  This program evaluation table update processing is performed once a day at a predetermined time. For example, it is performed at AM 3:00.

  In the program evaluation table update process, first, information exceeding the expiration date is deleted from each program evaluation information in the program evaluation table (step S11). In this example, program evaluation information for which one year or more has passed since the registration date is deleted.

  Next, one of the receivable channels is selected (step S12). Then, EPG information is acquired from the EIT of the selected channel (step S13). Then, from the acquired EPG information, the title names of all the programs broadcast on the channel selected from the current AM 3:00 to the next AM 3:00 are acquired (step S14).

  One title name is selected from the acquired title names (step S15). It is determined whether or not the selected title name exists in the program evaluation table (step S16). If the selected title name does not exist in the program evaluation table, the selected title name is added to the program evaluation table together with the registration date (step S17). Then, the process proceeds to step S19.

  If it is determined in step S16 that the title name selected in step S15 exists in the program evaluation table, the program evaluation information having the same title name is deleted from the program evaluation table, and then the step S15 is performed. The title name selected in (4) is added to the program evaluation table together with the registration date (step S18). Then, the process proceeds to step S19.

  In step S19, it is determined whether or not the addition process to the program evaluation table (the processes in steps S15 to S18) has been performed for all the title names acquired in step S14. If all the title names acquired in step S14 have not been added to the program evaluation table (steps S15 to S18), the process returns to step S15 and the title names acquired in step S14. Among them, one is selected from those not yet selected. Then, the processes of steps S16 to S18 are performed on the selected title name.

  In this way, when all the title names acquired in step S14 are added to the program evaluation table (steps S15 to S18) (YES in step S19), all receivable channels are received. It is determined whether or not the processing for has been completed (step S20). If processing for all receivable channels has not been completed, the process returns to step S12 to select a channel that has not yet been selected from all receivable channels. And the process after step S13 is performed.

  In this way, when the processing of steps S12 to S19 is completed for all receivable channels, YES is determined in step S20, and the process proceeds to step S21.

  In step S21, one title name is acquired from the program evaluation table. A search engine is used to search for a Web page including the acquired title name as a keyword (step S22). The total number of retrieved Web pages is registered in the program evaluation table as the number of hits corresponding to the title name (step S23).

  It is determined whether or not a keyword search (steps S22 to S23) has been performed for all title names in the program evaluation table (step S24). If no keyword search is performed for all title names in the program evaluation table, the process returns to step S21, and one of the title names in the program evaluation table for which no keyword search has been performed is performed. Get one. And the process of step S22-S23 is performed.

  In this way, when a keyword search is performed for all title names in the program evaluation table (YES in step S24), the current program evaluation table update process is terminated.

  FIG. 10 shows the procedure of the recorded data automatic deletion process performed by the microcomputer 11 of the AV device 1 during recording.

  During recording, it is monitored whether or not the remaining capacity of the HDD 17 has become a specified value or less (step S31). During recording, if the remaining capacity of the HDD 17 falls below a specified value, one recorded program information that is not prohibited from automatic deletion is selected from the recorded program information in the recorded program information table, and the title name is selected. Obtain (step S32).

  Then, the number of hits corresponding to the acquired title name is acquired from the search server 4 (step S33). That is, the microcomputer 11 of the AV device 1 inquires the search server 4 about the number of hits corresponding to the acquired title name. In response to this inquiry, the microcomputer 41 of the search server 4 extracts the number of hits corresponding to the corresponding title name from the program evaluation table and sends it to the microcomputer 11 of the AV device 1. Thereby, the microcomputer 11 of the AV device 1 acquires the number of hits corresponding to the acquired title name.

  When the hit number corresponding to the acquired title name is acquired from the search server 4, the acquired hit number is registered as the hit number of the corresponding recorded program information in the recorded program information table (step S34). It is determined whether or not the number of hits has been acquired and registered (the processes in steps S33 and S34) for all the recorded program information that is not prohibited from being automatically deleted in the recorded program information table (step S35).

  If the number of hits has not been acquired and registered for all recorded program information for which automatic deletion in the recorded program information table is not prohibited, the process returns to step S32 and automatic deletion in the recorded program information table is prohibited. One piece of recorded program information that has not been recorded and for which the number of hits has not been acquired and registered is selected and its title name is acquired. And the process of step S33-S35 is performed.

  In this way, when the number of hits is acquired and registered for all of the recorded program information that is not prohibited from being automatically deleted in the recorded program information table (YES in step S35), the number of hits Among the recorded program information subjected to the acquisition and registration processing, the one with the smallest number of hits is identified (step S36). When the number of hits is the smallest (NO in step S37), the recorded program information with the smallest number of hits identified in step S36 is deleted from the recorded program information table in the HDD 17, and Recorded data (content data) corresponding to the recorded program information is deleted from the HDD 17 (step S38). Then, the process returns to step S31.

  In step S37, if there are two or more hits with the smallest number of hits (YES in step S37), the recorded program information with the oldest recording time (broadcast start time) is recorded in the HDD 17 among the plurality of recorded program information. In addition to deleting from the recorded program information table, recorded data (content data) corresponding to the recorded program information is deleted from the HDD 17 (step S39). Then, the process returns to step S31.

  In the second embodiment, the title of the program is used as a keyword, a Web page including the keyword is searched, and the total number of searched Web pages is used as the number of hits. However, the title of the program, the performer, and the original author , Screenwriters, directors, and directors, using two or more types as keywords, searching for a Web page containing the keyword for each keyword, and the total number of Web pages searched for each keyword as the number of hits It is good.

  In this case, the search server needs to acquire the number of hits for each word (title name, performer name, etc.) as a keyword. In addition, the AV device needs to register all words used as keywords in the recorded program information.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration of Embodiment 1. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the AV device 1. FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows a part of content of the recorded program information table. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the content automatic deletion process performed by the microcomputer 11 of AV apparatus 1 during recording. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration of Embodiment 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the AV device 1. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a search server 4. FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows a part of content of all the program information tables. It is a flowchart which shows the all-program information table update process procedure performed by the microcomputer of a search server. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the content automatic deletion process performed by the microcomputer 11 of AV apparatus 1 during recording.

Explanation of symbols

1 AV equipment 11 Microcomputer 12 ROM
17 HDD
4 Search server 41 Microcomputer 42 ROM
46 HDD

Claims (6)

In an AV device with a built-in content storage device for recording content,
Communication means for connecting to the Internet,
A search engine for searching web pages on the Internet,
Attached information storage means for storing a predetermined type of word included in the program information corresponding to the content as the attached information of the content for each content to be recorded,
During recording, when the remaining capacity of the content storage device becomes less than or equal to the specified value, a search that uses the search engine for each recorded content to search for the number of Web pages that include the information attached to the content as a keyword Based on the means and the number of web page searches obtained for each recorded content, the content with the lowest interest level among the recorded content is identified, and the identified content is automatically deleted from the content storage device. Content deletion means,
AV equipment characterized by comprising. 2. The AV device according to claim 1, wherein the attached information of the content is a title name. The AV device according to claim 1, wherein the content deleting unit identifies the content with the smallest number of web page searches as the content with the lowest degree of interest. In an automatic content deletion system including an AV device having a content storage device for recording content and a search server connected to the Internet,
The search server
Search engine for searching Web pages on the Internet, a program evaluation table storing the number of Web page searches for each of a plurality of program evaluation keywords obtained from program information of at least a certain period of broadcast programs from the present Update means for updating the program evaluation table at regular intervals, the update means acquires program information, acquires program evaluation keywords from the acquired program information, and stores them in the program evaluation table; For each program evaluation keyword in the program evaluation table, a search engine is used to search the number of Web pages including the program evaluation keyword, and the number of Web page searches obtained is used as the program evaluation keyword. Search means for storing the number of Web page searches for the program in the program evaluation table,
AV equipment
Communication means for communicating with the search server, for each content to be recorded, attached information storage means for storing the program evaluation keyword included in the program information corresponding to the content as the attached information of the content, during recording A means for acquiring, from the search server, the number of Web pages that contain the attached information of the content as a keyword for each recorded content when the remaining capacity of the content storage device is less than or equal to a specified value; Based on the number of web page searches obtained for each content, content having the lowest interest level among the recorded content is specified, and content deletion means for automatically deleting the specified content from the content storage device is provided. A content automatic deletion system characterized by 5. The content automatic deletion system according to claim 4, wherein the program evaluation keyword is a title name. The content automatic deletion system according to any one of claims 4 to 5, wherein the content deletion means identifies the content with the smallest number of searches for Web pages as the content with the lowest degree of interest.

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