JP2008252200A - Content processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that when a user purchases another title after purchasing a plurality of titles for efficient downloading of video contents, the newly purchased content is not downloaded until the titles purchased together are all downloaded and the user needs to wait for a long time to view the purchased contents. <P>SOLUTION: In a content distribution system of the present invention, a content distributing device transmits a control file containing information needed to download contents to a content processor, which performs package downloading reservation control for select titles to be downloaded based upon the control file of a plurality of selected contents, storage states of the contents, and view states of stored contents, so that the contents are downloaded. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a system that downloads and distributes content using an Internet protocol, and more particularly to a content processing apparatus that efficiently downloads content to a storage unit.

  Recently, the Internet has become widespread, and various contents have been distributed via the Internet.

  Content distribution methods include streaming distribution and download distribution.

  Distribution by streaming is generally called VOD (Video On Demand), and is a method in which a user selects and views contents listed on the screen, and has an advantage that the contents can be viewed immediately after selection. However, since the Internet generally does not guarantee the transmission speed (quality), it has a problem that it is difficult to provide high-quality video to users with high quality.

  On the other hand, distribution by download has the merit that high-quality video can be played back with high quality regardless of the transmission quality of the IP network, since the content is once recorded in the storage device provided in the terminal and played back. Since the video is viewed after being downloaded to the storage device after the selection is made, there is a drawback that the video cannot be seen immediately.

  As described above, there are two types of content distribution using the Internet protocol, and each has advantages and disadvantages.

  Of these, distribution by download is generally composed of multiple files such as license information related to rights processing, description of contents, thumbnails for display, and additional information for special playback, which can be easily downloaded. The proposal which can be made is made (patent document 1).

  In this conventional example, a browser such as Internet Explorer is installed in the content processing apparatus (terminal), and when the user accesses the service site, the browser obtains a list of provided contents in HTML or BML. Can be presented.

  When the user selects content on the browser, the server and the terminal communicate with each other, obtain a control file in which information necessary for downloading is described, and download the content with software in the terminal. After the content is downloaded to the terminal, the user gives a playback instruction and views the content. Thus, in the case of normal download delivery, content selection, download execution, and viewing are performed in order.

  Originally, downloading and registering the content to be downloaded in advance before viewing is a troublesome work.

  In the case of this conventional example, a proposal has been made that a pack in which a plurality of titles are combined into one can be described in a control file. By using a control file written in a pack of multiple titles, once downloading and registering, multiple titles will be downloaded at once, so the user does not register and download many times, but after a certain time The content is accumulated and can be viewed without any troublesome operations.

  Downloading and registering a pack in which a plurality of titles are integrated is advantageous in that the number of download registrations is reduced, but there is a problem that the storage capacity of the terminal and the waiting time until the download is completed become longer.

  For example, if a user purchases anime Gundam episode 20 in one pack and performs a batch download registration, the terminal can be used even when the user does not use the normal 20 times of download registration. Since the contents are sequentially downloaded, the user can view the contents without troublesome operations. However, after purchasing Gundam Episode 20, if you purchase another content as a single item (for example, Dragon Ball) and register for download, the Dragon Ball will be downloaded after downloading all of Gundam Episode 20, so you can watch it after purchasing it. It took a long time to complete.

The components of the download terminal include a hard disk, an MPEG decoder, and a CPU. This part is designed to be integrated with the broadcast recorder as a product because it can be shared with the broadcast recorder. In many cases, however, downloading and registering a pack of multiple contents will cause the download contents to accumulate and consume the capacity of the HDD. It was.
JP 2005-159703 A

  In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a content processing apparatus that can efficiently download a user without any inconvenience even when a plurality of contents are packed and registered for batch download.

  The content distribution system of the present invention is a content distribution system that distributes content from a content distribution device to a content processing device via a network, wherein the content distribution device downloads content including at least one title. Control file transmission means for transmitting to the content processing device a control file in which information necessary for the content is described, the content processing device comprising at least control file storage means for storing the control file of a plurality of selected contents Storage means for storing content, storage state management means for acquiring the content storage state of the storage means, stored content viewing management means for managing the viewing status of the content stored in the storage means, and the content storage state The container Package download reservation control means for selecting a title to be downloaded from the viewing status of the file and the control file stored in the control file storage means, and a download processing means for executing download in accordance with an instruction of the package download reservation control means It is characterized by that.

  With this configuration, even if the user selects another content after the user selects content packed with a plurality of titles provided by the content distribution device, the content processing device can store the stored unviewed content. By checking the number of items, the content selected next can be preferentially downloaded, so that the user can watch without waiting for a long time.

  According to the present invention, even if the user selects another content after the user selects content packed with a plurality of titles provided by the content distribution device, the content processing device does not store the stored content. By confirming the number of viewing contents, the next selected content can be preferentially downloaded, so that the user can view without waiting for a long time.

  The content distribution system of the present invention is a content distribution system that distributes content from a content distribution device to a content processing device via a network, wherein the content distribution device downloads content including at least one title. Control file transmission means for transmitting to the content processing device a control file in which information necessary for the content is described, the content processing device comprising at least control file storage means for storing the control file of a plurality of selected contents Storage means for storing content, storage state management means for acquiring the content storage state of the storage means, stored content viewing management means for managing the viewing status of the content stored in the storage means, and the content storage state The container Package download reservation control means for selecting a title to be downloaded from the viewing status of the file and the control file stored in the control file storage means, and a download processing means for executing download in accordance with an instruction of the package download reservation control means It is characterized by that.

  With this configuration, even if the user selects another content after the user selects content packed with a plurality of titles provided by the content distribution device, the content processing device can store the stored unviewed content. By checking the number of items, the content selected next can be preferentially downloaded, so that the user can watch without waiting for a long time.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the content distribution system of the present invention will be described.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 shows a content distribution system according to the present invention.

  A content distribution apparatus 11 provides a user with content such as video via the Internet.

  Reference numeral 13 denotes an Internet network. Reference numeral 14 denotes a modem, which connects the Internet network to the home network, and transmission lines include ADSL using a telephone line, a cable modem using a coaxial cable, and FTTH using an optical fiber. The transmission performance varies depending on the physical performance such as light, coaxial, and telephone line, and the environment such as the distance from the home to the station. For example, in the case of a user who is connected with FTTH and has a good connection environment, there is a user who can use a transmission speed exceeding 100 Mbps, and a user who has a contract of 12 Mbps with an ADSL user, but the distance from the telephone station is long Some users can only obtain a transmission rate of about 1 Mbps.

  A content processing device 12 has a function of receiving and playing back video content from the content distribution device.

  As described above, there are two types of content distribution systems: VOD (video on demand) method and download method. In the case of a VOD system, in order to ensure video quality, a transmission speed higher than video quality must be guaranteed. I must.

  The existing network in ordinary houses has many variations in transfer performance, and in order to increase the user coverage, it is necessary to adjust the video quality to the lower limit. On the other hand, in the case of download distribution, it is necessary to wait for the time from downloading to downloading, but on the other hand, content is temporarily stored in a storage device (generally a hard disk device) provided in the terminal and then played back. The video quality is guaranteed.

  However, if the performance of the transmission path is low, it takes a long time until the user views the content after selecting the content, so that the system is difficult to use when viewed from the user.

  In the case of such a download distribution system, a service in which orders are collectively ordered and downloaded sequentially is convenient. For example, if the user purchases a pack of serial dramas and animations, it is necessary to wait until the content of the first episode is downloaded, but the content is in the background while watching the first episode or not using the terminal. Therefore, user convenience is improved.

  FIG. 4 shows a purchase screen. The content processing device 12 is equipped with an HTML browser, displays the HTML content provided from the content distribution device 11, and displays a screen as shown in FIG. 4 to the user. In FIG. 4, an example of a service provided from the content distribution apparatus 11 is classified into categories such as a Japanese movie, a Western movie, an animation, a drama, a sport, a comedy, and the animation category is selected in FIG. 4. In the anime category, a plurality of anime contents are presented, and the user operates the remote controller to select it by pressing the enter button.

  FIG. 5 is a display screen after the animation “Gundam” is selected in FIG. 4 and the enter button is pressed. There are 20 episodes (titles) of Gundam, and 3 types are prepared so that the user can select a purchase form. One is a case of purchasing every episode, a case of purchasing 5 episodes together, and a case of purchasing all 20 episodes together. In the case of the first embodiment of the present invention, the price is set so that those who buy in bulk are cheaper, and the distribution company induces bulk buying.

  In the first embodiment of the present invention, a case where purchase of a 5-story pack is selected will be described below. FIG. 6 shows a screen after the 5-story pack is selected on the screen of FIG. Since there are 20 episodes in the 5 episode pack sales menu, it is divided into 4 sections, and the user selects the necessary pack (in FIG. 5, 6 to 10 episodes are selected). FIG. 7 is a screen after the selection in FIG. 6, and a screen for confirming the final purchase is displayed. When the user selects “Yes” and presses the “OK” button on the remote control, the purchase is confirmed.

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the content processing apparatus 12 of the present invention. In FIG. 7, when the determination button is pressed, the control file is transferred to the package download reservation control means 22 via the communication interface. The control file is stored in the control file storage means 27. FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the control file. In the download control file, URLs (Uniform Resource Locator.) Of a plurality of titles are described. In the case of the first embodiment of the present invention, the URL of each title of Gundam 6-10 episodes is described. The content processing device 12 sequentially transmits the URLs of the titles in the download control file to the download processing unit 21. The download processing unit 21 acquires a license file in which meta information necessary for reproduction, content body, reproduction conditions, and the like are described from the reproduction control file described in the URL in the download distribution apparatus, and the predetermined processing is performed. It is stored in the storage means 26 in a manner and reproduced by the reproduction means 25. In the case of the first embodiment of the present invention, when the sixth episode of Gundam is downloaded, the download is sequentially executed up to 7-10 episodes. Thus, since the content processing apparatus is downloaded in a batch process when the titles are purchased together, the troublesome purchase work can be omitted, so that the user convenience is improved and the contents processing apparatus can be used conveniently.

  FIG. 8 shows a case where a single title is purchased. As a use case, consider a case where the user wants the second episode of Dragon Ball, another title, after purchasing Gundam episodes 6-10.

  In this case, in the case of normal batch processing, Dragon Ball is downloaded after downloading 5 episodes of Gundam. In this case, the time when the user can view the dragon ball is calculated. The bit rate of video content is a high-efficiency image compression method H.264. Assuming 6 Mbps using H.264. Assuming that the title time of one episode is 20 minutes and the user's network environment is 2 Mbps, the waiting time until watching Dragon Ball is 6 episodes x 6 Mbps / 2 Mbps x 20 minutes, starting from the time when you purchased 5 episodes of Gundam ÷ 60 minutes = 6 hours later, and the user will have to wait for 6 hours.

  In the case of Embodiment 1 of the present invention, it is assumed that one episode is purchased after the purchase of five episode packs. However, if all pack (20 episodes) users have purchased, the user can view the purchased content later. Will wait about 21 hours. Also, the content capacity for one episode is 6 Mbps × 20 minutes × 60 seconds ÷ 8 bits = 900 MByte, and when 20 packs of all packs are purchased, the free capacity of the storage means 26 is about 19 GB, which is 21 episodes. If you do not secure this in advance, there is a problem that you can not see the purchased Dragon Ball later.

  In the case of Embodiment 1 of the present invention, the case where the animation is as short as about 20 minutes has been described as an example. However, some dramas have a long time and a large number of titles. The NHK drama “Chungmu's Vow” has 54 episodes in a one-hour program. If you purchase a single product after purchasing all the packs, to see the content purchased later, the storage capacity of 154 GB and 7 days Since waiting time is required, the user cannot purchase all packs with peace of mind.

  In order to cope with such a problem, the content processing apparatus of the present invention is provided with means for efficiently executing download by providing content storage management means 24 and content viewing management means 23 as shown in FIG. . The operation will be described below with reference to FIG.

  In the first embodiment of the present invention described below, the number of unviewed stored contents N = 2 will be described as an example. A DL control file queue shown in FIG. 9 is provided in the package download reservation control means 22. When a user purchases content, a DL control file is sent and registered in the DL control file queue.

  In the first embodiment of the present invention, since the DL control file queue is provided in this way, the user can purchase the contents in order without waiting for the DL to complete.

  Five control files are stored in the DL control file queue. The DL control file 1 is purchased with 5 episode packs, the DL control file 2 is purchased separately, and the DL control file 3 is purchased with 5 episode packs.

  As shown in FIG. 9, in the case of Embodiment 1 of the present invention, when DL control file 1 is registered in the DL control file queue, N = 2 titles of the five episode packs are registered in the DL registration queue. In the case of Embodiment 1 of the present invention, since up to three DL registration queues can be stored, the title 1 purchased separately included in the DL control file 2 is stored and the queue becomes full, so the DL control file 3 The title included in is waited until the DL registration queue becomes empty. The DL processing unit 21 sequentially acquires the URLs of the titles stored in the download registration queue and stores the contents in the storage unit 26. When the accumulation is completed, the DL registration queue becomes empty, and the title 1 of the DL control file 3 as the next title is stored in the download registration queue. In this way, the titles registered in the DL registration queue are sequentially processed by the DL processing unit 21 and stored in the storage unit 26.

  FIG. 10 shows a state where contents for five titles are accumulated. According to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, when two titles included in the DL control file 1 purchased for the first time are accumulated, there are two unviewed titles in the first purchase content. Next, the downloaded content is preferentially downloaded.

  In the case of Embodiment 1 of the present invention, since the content purchased for the second time is purchased separately, one title is DL-executed, and the DL of the content purchased for the second time is completed. In the third purchase, since a 5-story pack is purchased, two titles are first stored in the storage means 26.

  Among the contents purchased for the third time, when two titles are accumulated, two titles are registered in the DL queue among the titles purchased separately for the fourth time and the contents purchased for the fifth episode pack for the fifth time. .

  In this state, when the user designates and views the title 1 of the content purchased for the third time, the number of unviewed titles of the content purchased for the third time is 1, so the next DL registration is the third time. The title 3 in the purchased DL control file 3 is registered in the DL registration queue.

  As described above, the content processing apparatus according to the present invention downloads the first N titles with priority after downloading the first N titles even when a plurality of titles are purchased together. You can watch without waiting for a long time until you watch it. In addition, since the number of titles to be stored for the previously purchased content is limited, the title of the purchased content can be stored even when the storage means 26 has a small remaining capacity. Purchased expensive content.

  Further, even when the user continuously views a plurality of titles, the number of unviewed titles decreases by one when the user starts viewing, so that new titles are accumulated during viewing, so the user must wait. You can watch without being watched. At this time, in the case of a user in a network environment with low transfer performance, the larger number N is effective for continuous viewing.

  In the first embodiment of the present invention, it has been described that two titles are preferentially downloaded among the bulk-purchased contents, but the effect of the present invention is the same regardless of whether it is 1 or 3. It goes without saying that can be obtained. Further, in the first embodiment of the present invention, the DL registration queue is described as 3 for the sake of simplicity, but the DL registration queue is not necessarily required. good.

  The contents described in the first embodiment of the present invention can be easily realized by a computer program if there is DL control file information, accumulated title information, and title viewing information.

  Since the content processing apparatus 12 uses the same components as the recording apparatus such as an MPEG decoder, HDD, and CPU, the functions are often integrated into the same apparatus. In this case, when a content in which a large number of titles are packed is purchased, the capacity of the hard disk is consumed without the user's knowledge, and recording fails. In this case, as shown in FIG. 11, the remaining capacity of the storage means 26 is acquired by the content storage management means 24, and the capacity necessary for executing the program reservation from the broadcast recording reservation information 112 is set as the reserved program capacity. When the calculation unit 113 calculates and the remaining capacity is small, the download performed by the DL processing unit 21 is stopped. The recording unit 111 performs recording.

  Even if the content processing apparatus configured in this way realizes a terminal in the same housing as the broadcast program recorder, the content is packed with many titles by stopping the download due to the recording reservation information and the remaining storage capacity. Even if the user purchases the content, since the recording does not fail, the packed content can be purchased with peace of mind.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is effective for a receiving terminal that constitutes a system for distributing content such as video over the Internet, and in particular, is a download-type content distribution system and content processing that includes a storage device and temporarily stores and plays back the content. This invention is effective for the device.

Configuration diagram of content distribution system of the present invention The block diagram which shows one Example of the content processing apparatus of this invention Diagram showing an example of a control file Figure showing an example of a content purchase screen Illustration of how to purchase content The figure which shows an example of a content purchase selection screen Illustration of content purchase confirmation screen Diagram showing screen information when purchasing a single item Explanatory diagram of the download execution process of the present invention Explanatory drawing of download execution when watched Configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a content processing apparatus having a recording function

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Content delivery apparatus 12 Content processing apparatus 13 Internet 14 Modem 21 Download processing means 22 Package download reservation control means 23 Content viewing management means
24 content storage management means 25 playback means
26 Storage means 27 Control file storage means 111 Recording means 112 Reservation information 113 Reserved program capacity calculation means

Claims (2)

In a content distribution system for distributing content from a content distribution device to a content processing device via a network,
The content distribution device includes control file transmission means for transmitting a control file in which information necessary for downloading content including at least one title is described to the content processing device,
The content processing apparatus includes:
Control file storage means for storing the control file of a plurality of selected contents;
Storage means for storing at least content;
Storage state management means for acquiring the content storage state of the storage means;
Stored content viewing management means for managing the viewing status of the content stored in the storage means;
Package download reservation control means for selecting a title to be downloaded from the content storage state, the viewing status of the content, and a control file stored in a control file storage means;
A content processing apparatus comprising download processing means for executing download according to an instruction from the package download reservation control means. The download reservation control means does not download the (N + 1) th title when the number of titles that have already been accumulated and have not been viewed is N among the packed M titles included in the content. The content processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an instruction is given to the download processing means.
However, M> N.

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