JP2008262461A - Transmission method for content - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for transmitting content by preventing the intrusion of the copyright or privacy of content. <P>SOLUTION: This content transmission method includes a step in which a first internal device 15 transmits update information showing that content in the first internal device 15 has been changed or updated to an update information transfer device 70; a step in which the update information transfer device 70 transfers the update information to a second internal device 16; a step in which the second internal device 16 transmits the update information to an internal terminal on an internal network; a step in which the second internal device 16 transmits the data requesting the content to an external server on the external network in response to a request from the internal terminal 31; a step in which the first internal device 15 transmits the content to the external server belonging to a provider with which the user of the first internal device 15 has made a contract; and a step in which the second internal device 16 receives the content from the external server belonging to the provider. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a content transmission method in a network.

  Conventionally, information appliances with display (including AV planes such as digital television (DTV) and set-top box (STB)), white objects planes such as air conditioners and refrigerators, and PC planes such as PCs, printers, and digital cameras) Terminals are connected to each other and a home network (so-called home network) is constructed as an internal network. In this internal network (home network; home network), for example, a protocol such as Digital Living Network Alliance (Digital Living Network Alliance); DLNA, UPnP, ECHONET, and the like has been proposed.

  Furthermore, information appliances as terminals (internal terminals; Home Devices (HD)) on this internal network (home network; home network) are, for example, Home Access (HA); Gateway devices, Home Bridge (HB); Hubs And routers, Home Client (HC); connected to external networks (including IP networks) via controllers of information appliances, etc., unidirectional content reception mainly for broadcasting services, and communication by IP communication Provides services (two-way communication mainly using the Internet). In addition, various information home appliances are remotely operated and monitored via a home network (home network), and various services such as home security are also provided.

  By the way, when these information home appliances acquire content on an external network (including an IP network), the information home appliance requires the content once stored in an internal server (home server) on the internal network. Content is downloaded from an internal server (home server) via an internal network (home network; home network).

  For example, the gateway device as the internal server receives data related to a content acquisition address, a content identifier, and a content storage capacity from an information home appliance via a home network (home network), and uses the data as the content acquisition address via an IP network. The content is received from the corresponding server. Here, when the content identifier of the content matches the content identifier of the information appliance, the content is sent to the information appliance according to the content storage capacity. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  In addition, when transmitting information from a wide area network (WAN) to an information terminal connected to a local area network (LAN), a gateway device as an internal server (home server) temporarily stores received information received from the WAN. Some broadcast information related to received information is generated and broadcast on the LAN. Here, the information terminal determines whether or not the reception information received by the gateway device is necessary based on the broadcast communication information, and if necessary, an acquisition request is made from the information terminal to the gateway device, Received information is sent from the gateway device to the information terminal via the LAN (see Patent Document 2).

JP 2002-320282 A JP 2003-244182 A

By the way, with the spread of information technology, content such as home video is created in each home. Furthermore, in each home, various contents (text, photos, moving pictures, etc.) are laid out using a protocol such as HTML, and contents having a complicated structure are created.
However, when content created in each home is transmitted via the WAN, there is a problem that the copyright and privacy of the content may be infringed.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a content transmission method capable of transmitting content while preventing infringement of the copyright and privacy of the content.

  Specifically, the present invention provides the following.

(1) A content transmission method for transmitting content from a first internal device to a second internal device, wherein the first internal device includes an internal network including the first internal device and the second internal device Transmitting update information indicating that a change or update has occurred in the content in the first internal device to an update information transfer device connectable to an internal network including the device; and the update information transfer device Transferring the update information to the second internal device, wherein the second internal device transmits the update information to an internal terminal on an internal network including the second internal device; The second internal device is connected to an internal network including the first internal device and an internal network including the second internal device in response to a request from the internal terminal. Transmitting data requesting the content to an external server on an external network capable of transmitting, and the first internal device transmits the content to an external server belonging to a provider contracted by a user of the first internal device And a step of receiving the content from an external server belonging to the provider by the second internal device.

  By providing such a configuration, the update information transfer apparatus receives only update information. Then, the content is transmitted only to the external server belonging to the provider contracted by the user of the first internal device. Therefore, it is possible to transmit the content while preventing infringement of the copyright and privacy of the content.

  (2) The update information transmitted from the update information transfer device to the second internal device is described by RSS (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication), and is transmitted from the first internal device to the external server. The content transmission method according to (1), wherein the content transmitted to the second internal device via the network is described in XML (Extensible Markup Language).

  By providing such a configuration, the internal device can receive update information described in RSS from the update information transfer device, and can receive content described in XML from an external server.

  (3) The second internal device transmits the update information received from the update information transfer device to a terminal device outside the user of the internal device, and the external device responds to a request from the terminal device. The content transmission method according to (2), wherein a step of transmitting data requesting content to a server is performed, and the content received from the external server is transmitted to the terminal device.

  By providing such a configuration, the internal device can transmit update information to the user's outing destination, and can transmit content in response to a request from the terminal device at the outing destination.

  (4) The content is changed or updated with respect to the second internal device that receives the content from the first internal device via the external server belonging to the provider contracted by the user of the first internal device. An update information transfer device that transmits update information indicating: update information receiving means for receiving the update information from the first internal device; and transfer means for transferring the update information to the second internal device And an update information transfer device.

  By providing such a configuration, the update information transfer device receives and transfers only the update information, so that the first internal device prevents content copyright and privacy infringement while the content is transferred to the second internal It can be possible to transmit to the device.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to transmit content while preventing infringement of the copyright and privacy of the content.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
[System overall configuration]

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a content transmission system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. An internal device 15 and the like are arranged in the user house 10, and an internal device 16 and the like are arranged in the user house 11. The internal device 15 includes an internal server 20 and a gateway 60, and the internal device 16 includes an internal server 21 and a gateway 61. The internal devices 15 and 16 transmit / receive content to / from each other, but in the present embodiment, for the sake of convenience of explanation, description will be made on the assumption that content is transmitted from the internal devices 15 to 16. In this case, the internal device 15 is an example of a first internal device, and the internal device 16 is an example of a second internal device.

  The internal device 15 is connected to the internal device 16 via an external network (including an IP network) including the Web server 50. The internal device 16 is connected to the internal device 15 via an external network (including an IP network) including the Web server 51. The internal device 15 transmits content to the internal device 16 via an external network including the web server 50. The content is described in XML. This content is self-created content created by the user of the internal device 15 himself. This content is subject to copyright and includes privacy.

  In the houses 10 and 11, personal computers 30A and 31A, television devices 30B and 31B, audio devices 30C and 31C, and the like are arranged. These personal computers 30A and the like are information home appliances with a display as an internal terminal. Hereinafter, the personal computer 30A, the television device 30B, and the audio device 30C are collectively referred to as the home appliance 30, and the personal computer 31A, the television device 31B, and the audio. The device 31C is generically referred to as a home appliance 31. The home appliances 30 and 31 are connected to each other via a home network (home network, for example, DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance, UPnP, ECHONET, etc.)), and the internal network (home network; home network) 16 is connected. Thus, the internal network of the user house 10 includes the internal device 15, and the internal network of the user house 11 includes the internal device 16.

  Note that the internal network that interconnects the home appliances 30 as the terminal may be wired or wireless. The internal network may include an IP network.

In the illustrated example, the internal device 15 transmits the content stored in the internal server 20 to the internal device 16 via the Web server 50. For example, when there is a request for transmission of self-made content from one of the home appliances 31 connected to the internal device 16 in the user house 11 via the Web server 51, the internal device 15 sends the content to the internal device 16 via the Web server 50. Send.
At this time, the Web server 50 transmits data indicating the content and association by the content folder to the internal device 16.
The “self-produced content” is created by laying out images, videos, and text data captured by the home video using the HTML etc. by the user of the terminal 30 in the user house 10 by himself / herself, for example. The copyright belongs to this user. Hereinafter, “self-made content” is simply referred to as “content”.

  Then, the internal server 21 converts the content into the content tree structure data (content tree structure data) described later based on the data indicating the association between the content and the content folder, and associates the content with each node of the content tree structure data. It transmits to the household appliance 31 via an internal network.

Further, the information providing server 70 can be connected to an internal network including the internal device 15 and an internal network including 16. The information providing server 70 is an example of an update information transfer device.
[Hardware configuration of external server (Web server)]

  Here, an example of the hardware configuration of the Web servers 50 and 51 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The Web server 50 or the like includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1010 (a plurality of CPUs such as the CPU 1012 may be added in a multiprocessor configuration), a bus line 1005, a communication I / F 1040, a main memory 1050, and the like. A BIOS (Basic Input Output System) 1060, a USB port 1090, an I / O controller 1070, a keyboard and a mouse 1100, and other input means and a display device 1022 are provided.

  Storage means such as a tape drive 1072, a hard disk 1074, an optical disk drive 1076, and a semiconductor memory 1078 can be connected to the I / O controller 1070. The BIOS 1060 stores a boot program executed by the CPU 1010 when the Web server 50 or the like is started, a program depending on hardware such as the Web server 50, or the like.

  The hard disk 1074 constituting the storage unit 107 stores various programs for the external server (Web server) 10 to function as a server and programs for executing the functions of the present invention, and further configures various databases as necessary. Is possible.

  As the optical disc drive 1076, for example, a DVD-ROM drive, a CD-ROM drive, a DVD-RAM drive, or a CD-RAM drive can be used. In this case, the optical disk 1077 corresponding to each drive is used.

  A program or data can be read from the optical disk 1077 by the optical disk drive 1076 and provided to the main memory 1050 or the hard disk 1074 via the I / O controller 1070. Similarly, the tape medium 1071 corresponding to the tape drive 1072 can be used mainly for backup.

  The program provided to the Web server 50 or the like is provided by being stored in a recording medium such as the hard disk 1074, the optical disc 1077, or a memory card. This program may be read from a recording medium via the I / O controller 1070 or downloaded via the communication I / F 1040 to be installed and executed on the Web server 50 or the like.

  The aforementioned program may be stored in an internal or external storage medium. Here, as a storage medium constituting the storage unit 107, in addition to the hard disk 1074, the optical disk 1077, or the memory card, a magneto-optical recording medium such as an MD or a tape medium can be used. Further, a storage device such as a hard disk 1074 or an optical disk library provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication line or the Internet may be used as a recording medium, and the program may be provided to the Web server 50 or the like via the communication line. .

  Here, the display device 1022 displays a screen for accepting data input to the user, or displays a screen of a calculation processing result by the Web server 50 or the like. A cathode ray tube display device (CRT), a liquid crystal display device (LCD) and other display devices.

  Here, the input means accepts input by the user, and may be configured by a keyboard, a mouse 1100, and the like. The communication I / F 1040 is a network adapter that enables the Web server 50 and the like to be connected to a terminal via a dedicated network or a public network. The communication I / F 1040 may include a modem, a cable modem, and an Ethernet (registered trademark) adapter.

  In the above example, the hardware configuration of the Web server 50 and the like has been mainly described. However, the functions described above are realized by installing a program in a computer and operating the computer as the Web server 50 and the like. You can also. Therefore, the functions realized by the Web server described as an embodiment in the present invention are realized by executing the above-described method by the computer, or by introducing the above-mentioned program into the computer and executing it. Is possible.

  Next, a schematic configuration of the internal server 20 will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the schematic configuration of the internal server 21 is the same as that of the internal server 20, and thus the description thereof is omitted. As shown in FIG. 3A, the internal server 20 includes a control unit 20a and a self-made content DB 20b. The self-produced content DB 20b stores content created by the user.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3B, the control unit 20 a includes a self-made content creation / update determination unit 101, an update information transmission unit 102, and a self-made content transmission unit 103. The self-created content creation / update determination unit 101 is configured to determine that the user has created new content or has updated content already stored in the internal server 20. The update information transmission unit 102 is configured to transmit update information to the internal device 16 via the gateway 60 and the information providing server 70 when it is determined that the content has been created or updated. In other words, the information providing server 70 transfers the update information received from the internal device 15 to the internal device 16. This update information is described by RSS. The self-made content transmission unit 103 is configured to transmit content via the Web server 50 in response to a request from the internal device 16. As described above, the update information is related to the content, but is not the content itself but information indicating that the content is newly created or updated. This update information is information that causes the internal server 20 to request content from the other internal server 21, and is not subject to copyright and is not related to privacy. For this reason, the information providing server 70 does not receive the content subject to copyright or the content related to privacy, so the content subject to copyright or the content related to privacy is the provider to which the user of the internal server 20 has contracted. It is not transmitted to any other than the Web server 50 that is the server.

  Next, a schematic configuration of the information providing server 70 will be described with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 4A, the information providing server 70 includes an update information receiving unit 301 and an update information transmitting unit 302. The update information receiving unit 301 is a configuration for receiving update information from the internal device 15 and is an example of an update information receiving unit. For example, the update information transmission unit 302 is configured to transfer the update information to the internal device 16 when the update information is received from the internal device 15, and is an example of an update information transfer unit. The update information transmission unit 302 receives and transfers the update information with reference to the contact table shown in FIG. The contact address table stores a reception address and a transmission address in association with each other. For example, an address “aaaaaxx” is an address of the internal device 15, and an address “bbbyyy” is an address of the internal device 16. In the case of reception from the address aaaaxx, it is indicated that the data is transmitted to the address bbbyyy. Further, a plurality of transmission addresses may be provided for one reception address.

  Next, the configuration of the Web servers 50 and 51 and the internal servers 20 and 21 will be described with reference to FIG. 5 focusing on protocol conversion. The internal server 20 or the like includes a content request data receiving unit 201, a content request data transmitting unit 202, a user ID / password data receiving unit 203, a user ID / password data transmitting unit 204, a content data / folder association data receiving unit 205, a content tree A structure data conversion unit 206, a content tree structure data / content data transmission unit 207, and a protocol conversion unit 208 including a content tree structure data conversion unit are provided. The protocol conversion unit 208 includes the Web server 50 and the like. Protocol conversion with the home appliance 30 or the like is performed.

  The user ID / password data receiving unit 203 is connected to an information terminal device such as a PC, and receives user ID / password data as user identification data.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of content transmission processing according to an example of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. First, the internal server 20 transmits update information to the information providing server 70 via the gateway 60 and the Web server 50 (step S101 in FIG. 6). Subsequently, the information providing server 70 receives the update information (step S102) and transfers it to the other internal device 16 (step S103).

  Subsequently, the internal server 21 of the internal device 16 receives the update information via the gateway 61 (step S104) and transmits it to the terminal 31 (step S105). The user views the update information displayed on the display device of the terminal 31 and requests a predetermined content.

  The content request data receiving unit 201 of the internal server 21 receives data requesting content from the home appliance 31 on the internal network (step S106 in FIG. 7). Here, the user ID / password data receiving unit 203 of the internal server 21 may receive user ID / password data as user identification data in advance from a PC or the like. In this case, the received user ID / password data is set in the internal server 21 thereafter.

  Next, the internal server 21 converts the received request data of the content from the protocol of the internal network to the protocol of the external network, and transmits it to the Web server 51 via the external network (step S107). At this time, if a user ID / password is set in the internal server 21, the user ID / password data transmission unit 204 further transmits the user ID / password data to the Web server 51 via the external network.

  The internal server 20 transmits the requested content to the web server 50. On the other hand, the Web server 50 receives the requested content from the internal server 20 and transmits data indicating the requested content and the association of the content by the folder to the internal server 21 via the external network. Further, when the user ID / password data is further received, the Web server 50 determines whether or not the user ID / password data is registered. If the user ID / password data has been registered, the Web server 50 specifies the user ID / password data. Data indicating the customized content and link structure is transmitted to the user.

  Here, the web server 50 generates image data for displaying the content data to be transmitted in a predetermined size as necessary, and further, if necessary, a two-dimensional barcode (a QR code) representing a predetermined URL. Is generated and inserted into the image data (step S108). Thereafter, the Web server 50 transmits the content data and image data to the internal server 21 via the external network.

  Next, the internal server 21 receives data indicating the association between the content and the content folder from the Web server 50 by the content data / folder association data receiving unit 205 (step S109).

  Next, the content tree structure data conversion unit 206 of the internal server 21 converts the content tree structure data into content tree structure data based on the data indicating the link structure (step S110).

  Next, after the internal server 21 associates the content data with each node of the content tree structure (step S111), the content tree structure data / content data transmission unit 207 sends the content data to the home appliance 31 on the internal network. Tree structure data and content data are transmitted (step S112). Here, when the content data includes the image data generated by the Web server 50 described above, the internal server 50 transmits the image data as the content data.

  Then, the internal server 21 determines whether or not there is more content request data (step S113). If there is content request data, the process returns to step S106 to continue the process. If there is no content request data, the process ends. .

  By the way, when setting the user ID / password in the internal server 21, the user identification data setting process shown in FIG. 8 is performed. First, the user ID / password data receiving unit 203 receives data for setting a user ID / password as user identification data from a PC or the like connected to the internal server 21 (step S201).

  Next, the internal server 21 stores and saves this user ID password in a memory (not shown) (step S202). A plurality of user IDs / passwords may be set in the internal server 21. In that case, when receiving data requesting content from the home appliance 31 thereafter, Further, data designating one may be received.

  As described above, the information providing server 70 receives only the update information, and describes and transfers the update information in RSS. The content is transmitted only to the Web server 50 belonging to the provider contracted by the user of the internal device 15. Therefore, it is possible to transmit the content while preventing infringement of the copyright and privacy of the content.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not restricted to embodiment mentioned above. The effects described in the embodiments of the present invention are only the most preferable effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are limited to those described in the embodiments of the present invention. is not.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment will be described. Since the second embodiment overlaps in many respects with the first embodiment described above, the description of the overlapping portions will be omitted, and the description will focus on the different portions.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a content transmission system 1A according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 9, a gateway 62 is disposed in the hotel 12. A personal computer 32A and a mobile phone 32B can be connected to the gateway 62. The personal computer 32A and the like can communicate with the internal device 16 via the gateway 62 and the Web server 52. The configuration of the Web server 52 is the same as that of the Web server 50 and the like.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the control unit 21a of the internal server 21A. As shown in FIG. 10, the control unit 21a includes an update information transmitting unit 102a, a self-made content request receiving unit 104, and a self-made content requesting unit 195. The update information transmission unit 101a transmits the update information to the personal computer 32A in response to a request for the update information from the personal computer 32A, which is a terminal device disposed in the hotel 12, for example, which is a user's destination. .
Then, the self-made content request receiving unit 104 receives a content request from a personal computer 32A that is a terminal device disposed in the hotel 12, for example, where the user is out. The self-made content request unit 105 requests content from the internal device 15 via the Web server 51.
The self-made content transmission unit 103 is configured to transmit the content received via the Web server 51 to the personal computer 32A.

By providing such a configuration, the internal device 21 can transmit update information to the user's destination, and can transmit content in response to a request from the personal computer 32A.

It is the schematic which shows the structure of a content transmission system. It is a functional block diagram showing an example of a Web server. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of an internal server. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of an information provision server. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of an internal server. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of a content transmission process. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of a content transmission process. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of a user identification data setting process. It is the schematic which shows the structure of a content transmission system. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of an internal server.

Explanation of symbols

1 Content transmission system 20, 21 Internal server (home server)
30, 31 Information appliances with display (home device)
50, 51 Web server 60, 61 Gateway 101 Self-made content creation / update determination unit 102, 102a Update information transmission unit 103 Self-made content transmission unit 104 Self-made content request reception unit 105 Self-made content request unit 111 Image data generation unit 112 Two-dimensional barcode Generation unit 201 Content request data reception unit 202 Content request data transmission unit 203 User ID / password data reception unit 204 User ID / password data transmission unit 205 Content data / folder association data reception unit 206 Content tree structure data conversion unit 207 Content tree structure Data / content data transmission unit 208 Protocol conversion unit 301 Update information reception unit 302 Update information transmission unit

Claims (4)

A content transmission method for transmitting content from a first internal device to a second internal device,
The first internal device is connected to the internal network including the first internal device and the internal network including the second internal device. Sending update information indicating that the content has changed or updated;
The update information transfer device transferring the update information to the second internal device;
The second internal device transmitting the update information to an internal terminal on an internal network including the second internal device;
In response to a request from the internal terminal, the second internal device is connected to an internal network including the first internal device and an external server on an external network connectable to the internal network including the second internal device. Transmitting data requesting the content;
The first internal device transmitting the content to an external server belonging to a provider contracted by a user of the first internal device;
The second internal device receives the content from an external server belonging to the provider. The update information transmitted from the update information transfer device to the second internal device is described by RSS (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication),
2. The content according to claim 1, wherein the content transmitted from the first internal device to the second internal device via the external server is described in XML (Extensible Markup Language). Transmission method. The second internal device transmits the update information received from the update information transfer device to a terminal device outside the user of the internal device,
Performing a step of transmitting data requesting content to the external server in response to a request from the terminal device;
The content transmission method according to claim 2, wherein the content received from the external server is transmitted to the terminal device. Update indicating that the content has been changed or updated for a second internal device that receives content from the first internal device via an external server belonging to a provider contracted by a user of the first internal device An update information transfer device for transmitting information,
Update information receiving means for receiving the update information from the first internal device;
Transfer means for transferring the update information to the second internal device;
An update information transfer device comprising:

Images