JP2008283265A - Digital content link system, and digital content link server used for the same system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital content link system which is suitable for reproduction on a set box having a web browser installed. <P>SOLUTION: The digital content link system includes a plurality of streaming servers 101 (101a, 101b, ...) which stream-distribute a plurality of digital contents stored in databases 102 (102a, 102b, ...) through an electric communication line 103, a terminal device which executes a reproduction program for viewing the digital contents, and a link server 10 for the streaming servers, and individual URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) of the digital contents are specified directly from a web site that the link server provides to distribute the digital contents directly not through the link server. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital content link system that enables viewing of digital content distributed via a telecommunication line such as the Internet using a digital content playback function of a set top box.

  In recent years, various digital contents such as news and movies have been streamed via the Internet. Digital contents are distributed from a streaming server. In order to view the digital contents, a specific terminal device equipped with a web browser and necessary programs such as a personal computer (PC) is required.

  FIG. 7 illustrates a conventional mechanism for distributing digital contents from the streaming server 101 (101a, 101b,...). As shown in this figure, the streaming server 101a publishes a website through the Internet 103, and the URL of the top page is represented by “http://streeming.xxxxxx.co.jp/”, for example. Suppose. A user terminal device 104 (for example, a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”) 104a, a notebook PC 104b,...) Has a web browser and accesses the URL of the top page of the streaming server 101. be able to. The digital content may be a moving image including audio or other music data, or only music, but these are stored on the database 102 (102a, 102b,...) As files encoded according to a predetermined standard. ing.

  Distribution of digital content is started when the terminal device 104 requests (mouse click or the like) to distribute digital content on a streaming server described in HTML (HyperText Markup Language). At this time, in the terminal device on the user side, a digital content playback program (digital content player) is activated on the web browser, and the compressed digital content data sent from the streaming server is continuously decoded. The content can be viewed on the terminal device.

  In general, a website that provides digital content is created assuming that the content is viewed on a PC. For this reason, it is not sufficient to simply start the web browser or player. Other conditions such as using a specific web browser, JavaScript (registered trademark), ActiveX (registered trademark), flash player (registered) on the web browser Various conditions are set for each content distribution site, such as a web program (a program that runs on a web browser) such as a trademark) being set to be usable.

  For this reason, when such digital content is viewed on a terminal device other than a PC, the operation up to the start of viewing becomes very complicated, or viewing cannot be performed.

The set-top box is a terminal display device that can receive terrestrial digital broadcasts and reproduce DVDs. In recent years, a set-top box (IP set-top box to which a function for connecting to a web browser and Internet protocol (IP) is added ( Hereinafter, “IP-STB”) is rapidly spreading (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the present invention, the IP-STB is a generic name for devices that can connect to a television and view digital content distribution services such as video and data via an Internet protocol network (IP network). By using the IP-STB, it becomes possible to view a video distribution service based on video on demand (VOD) and to perform two-way video chat (videophone).
JP 2002-262262 A

  The IP-STB generally has a display device with a large screen, and the portion directly related to the reproduction of digital contents such as the resolution of the display screen, the decoding portion of digital data, or the audio device is harder than that of a normal PC. The wear configuration is substantial and it has a function to reproduce with high image quality and high sound quality.

  On the other hand, unlike a general PC, a web browser mounted on an IP-STB is not suitable for playing back digital content for a PC terminal because the processing capacity of the web program is low. For example, most IP-STB browsers cannot use Flash Player (registered trademark).

  In addition, there are many advertising links on the digital content site, and the images of the links are displayed as videos on Flash Player (registered trademark), etc., so it can not be displayed properly, Alternatively, it takes time to display, and it requires a lot of operations to start viewing after selecting necessary content.

  In the case of a PC, a target digital content link can be reached relatively easily by a mouse operation, but the IP-STB has no input means such as a keyboard and a mouse. The basic operation means of the IP-STB is a “remote control” that has only a move button, a determination button, a cancel button, and the like to be selected, and it is extremely difficult to select and determine a link destination of a necessary digital content. Need a lot of operation.

  As a solution to this problem, it is conceivable to increase the functionality of the IP-STB side web browser to the same level as that of a PC terminal, or to provide a mouse as an input device, but this is not compatible with existing IP-STBs. In the first place, it is difficult to operate a website created on the premise of a pointer operation with a mouse or the like with a remote control that can only be operated simply. Further, even if the browser is enhanced in function, it is preferable that only an advertisement image irrelevant to the reproduction of digital content is displayed, and an unnecessary image is not displayed.

  Large-capacity digital contents such as movies stored on a recording medium such as a DVD (digital video disc) are already generally viewed on a large screen IP-STB, and in the same way, news and weather It would be very useful to be able to easily view digital contents streamed on the Internet that anyone can view for free, such as forecasts, using IP-STB.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and provides a digital content link system suitable for playback on a set box equipped with a web browser and a digital content link server used in this system. As an objective.

  The digital content link system according to the present invention includes a plurality of streaming servers 101 (101a, 101b,...) That stream a plurality of digital contents stored in a database 102 (102a, 102b,...) Through a telecommunication line 103. ..), A terminal device 104 (104a, 104b,...) That executes a playback program for viewing the digital content, and a link server 10 to the streaming server. When the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is directly specified from the website provided by the link server, the digital content is directly distributed to the terminal device without going through the link server.

  A web browser is a program for browsing a web site published on a telecommunication line such as the Internet. In general, in order to view digital content, a web browser and a digital content playback program (player) are required. However, since a digital content site for PCs controls the activation of a program on the terminal device side from the server side. The web site is described using a web program such as JavaScript (registered trademark) or ActiveX (registered trademark).

  The web site provided by the link server 10 according to the present invention does not include such a web program, which means that it is described by so-called static HTML. However, a web program for performing an operation unrelated to the operation of the digital content reproduction program, for example, a CGI for providing an access counter may be included. Also, distribution of digital moving image content by a method other than streaming distribution, for example, a case where a moving image file is once downloaded to a terminal device and played back is different from distribution by a streaming server.

  The digital content link server 10 according to the present invention includes an HTML analysis unit 11 that analyzes URL (Uniform Resource Locator) lists of a plurality of streaming servers that store digital content, and a file list extraction unit 12 that extracts the list of files. A URL list extracting means 13 for extracting a URL list of the file, a file list and a URL list extracted by the file list extracting means 12 and the URL list extracting means 13 and reproducing the file. In order to link directly to the URL of the file based on the category classification, and the page composition means 14 that divides the reproducible file into contents categories and classifies the reproducible files according to content categories. of It characterized in that it includes a menu page screen generating means 15 for generating a new page.

  According to the above configuration, the IP-STB terminal 20 can access the digital content of each streaming server 101 through the menu page screen of one digital content link server 10 published through the Internet, and reproduce the content. For the user, since a menu having a simple screen configuration based on the category classification is displayed on the IP-STB screen, it is possible to view desired digital content only with a simple remote control operation. What is important here is that the digital content link server 10 according to the present invention itself does not have any digital content. Digital content itself is used only by content provided by individual content sites, specifically, content on a database connected to a streaming server.

  Further, when the streaming server 101 provides content update information by an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) file, the streaming server 101 further includes update information confirmation means 16 for updating the menu page based on the update information. It is preferable to do. As update information, RSS information is mentioned, for example.

  Since the digital content distributed by the streaming server is updated irregularly, the IP-STB is connected to the streaming server 101 via the digital content link server 10 according to the present invention by constantly monitoring the update information as described above. Even in this case, the time lag of content update can be minimized so that the latest content can always be viewed.

  In the file list extracting unit 12, the streaming server 101 preferably extracts a file list by using any one of the update information, site site map information, and site search function. The URL list extraction means 13 is preferably configured to extract a URL list included in XML format menu information or a menu page analysis result.

Among these, the URL list extraction means 13 is specifically implemented as the following program. That is, the URL list extraction program for the digital content link server according to the present invention extracts the URL list for designating digital content including the XML-format menu definition file held by the streaming server. You may comprise so that a digital content link server may perform.
S1: Step for obtaining an XML format menu definition file (menu.xml) S2: Step for retrieving a designated program id from a program name S3: Reading the designated program id obtained in S2 as an XML file name and reading the XML Step S4: searching for a URL designating a file including a predetermined extension that can be played back by the terminal device from the XML file read in S3.

  When accessing a streaming server through the digital content link system according to the present invention, a terminal device is provided with a web browser and a digital content playback program, but cannot use a web program such as JavaScript (registered trademark) or ActiveX (registered trademark). Can also view digital content. For example, digital contents can be viewed from a terminal device such as an IP-STB, a mobile phone, or a PC that restricts the activation of a web program from the viewpoint of security. In particular, the IP-STB generally has a large-screen, high-functional digital content playback circuit, a high-performance audio system, and the like, and is used for viewing digital content such as moving images and music compared to a general PC. Since it is suitable, IP-STB is particularly suitable as a terminal device of the digital content link system according to the present invention.

  Further, when the digital content link server 10 according to the present invention is viewed from the web browser side of the terminal device 20, it is recognized as a link page described in simple HTML, so the link server itself does not need to hold digital content. . Furthermore, since it is possible to prevent the terminal device 20 from displaying any images and links that are not necessary for the reproduction of digital content, the operation of the web browser of the terminal device 20 is light and the user can perform a desired operation with a simple operation. Of digital content.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 illustrates the system configuration of a digital content link system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. A plurality of streaming servers 101 (101a, 101b,...) Publish digital contents stored in a database 102 (102a, 102b,...) Connected to each streaming server via the Internet 103. Show.

  This digital content link system is a streaming server 101, a digital content link server 10 that provides a website for linking to the digital content of the server 101 (hereinafter simply referred to as “link server”), and reproducing the digital content. Terminal device 20 (20a, 20b,...).

  The terminal device 20 is a digital content playback device including a digital content playback program including a web browser connectable to the digital content link server, and corresponds to, for example, an IP-STB such as a digital broadcast receiver.

  A web browser normally mounted on this IP-STB does not include a function for executing a web program for controlling a digital content playback program, unlike a browser operating on a normal personal computer (PC). . Therefore, in order to directly access the streaming server 101 from the terminal device 20 and reproduce the desired digital content, a method such as directly specifying the URL of the file must be used.

  However, since the digital content link server 10 functions as a link server for digital content, the user can easily view desired digital content by selecting a menu screen provided by the link server 10. It becomes possible.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, the link server 10 in the system described in the first embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, the terminal device 20 will be described as an IP-STB. The link server 10 is basically a web server and has a function of publishing a file described in HTML on a website through an electric communication line such as the Internet. However, it does not have a function as a streaming server, and has only a function of providing a URL link to the digital contents of the streaming server.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining each functional block of the link server 10. As shown in this figure, the link server 10 includes an HTML analysis unit 11 that analyzes an HTML source of a digital content site provided by the streaming server 101, a file list extraction unit 12 that extracts a list of digital content, and a digital content The URL list extracting means 13 for extracting the URL list, and the extracted file list and the URL list are used to classify the digital content into reproducible content and non-reproducible content and classify the reproducible content into categories. Thus, page configuration means 14 for configuring the page and menu page screen generation means 15 for generating a menu page for linking to the contents of each digital content site based on the category classification are provided.

The file list detection means 12 analyzes the HTML source of the site menu page for IP-STB, acquires a file name by selecting one of the following methods (1) to (3), and generates a file list therefrom To do.
(1) When the digital content site provides RSS information In this case, a necessary file name is acquired from the RSS information.
(2) When site map information is available In this case, a file name is acquired from the HTML source of the site map.
(3) When the site search function is available In this case, the file name is acquired using the site search function.

  When a genre / category classified by the site is available, the digital contents acquired according to the genre / category can be classified.

The URL list extraction means 13 shown in FIG. 2 can be realized by a computer program.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the URL list extraction unit 13. That is, the URL list extraction means 13
S1: acquiring an XML format menu definition file (menu.xml);
S2: searching for a designated program id from the program name;
S3: The designated program id acquired in S2 is read as an XML file name, and xml is read;
S4: Extensions reproducible by IP-STB from the XML file read in S3 (for example, “MPEG-1”, “MPEG-2”, “DivX”, “Xvid”, “MPEG-4”, “H. H.264 "," .wmv ") for searching for a URL specifying a file;
It is constituted by a program that executes

  If the extension is “.asx”, a reproducible file is described in the file, and the URL specifying the file is extracted.

  FIG. 4A is a diagram for explaining an operation sequence until the terminal device 20 accesses a file on the digital content site. First, the terminal device 20 is turned on to start the terminal device. Next, the browser is activated to display the top page of the link server 10 described above.

  FIG. 4B illustrates a top page of a digital content site displayed on the terminal device 20. In this way, only the item name indicating the linked content is displayed, and the content is selected and determined by operating the remote controller (FIG. 4A). Each content is linked to the URL of the streaming server 101 that distributes the file represented by each item. When the content is selected, the link server 10 requests streaming distribution of the digital content from the URL of the link destination, and the content data is distributed to the terminal device 20. And the terminal device 20 starts a digital content reproduction program, and reproduces | regenerates data (FIG. 4 (a)).

  As described above, the system according to the present invention always passes through the link server 10 when uploading a request signal for digital content data, but is distributed directly from the streaming server 101 to the terminal device 20 when downloading digital content. Therefore, the transmission path is different between upstream and downstream.

  In addition, since the content of the streaming server 101 is frequently updated, when update information such as RSS information is available, the menu page may be automatically updated by acquiring RSS information using an RSS reader or the like. desirable.

  The page composition unit 14 distinguishes content that can be played back from digital content and content that cannot be played back. The unreproducible content corresponds to a moving image file in a format that cannot be decoded by the digital content reproduction program of the terminal device (IP-STB) 20, or a paid moving image file. When a non-reproducible file is selected in this way, the terminal device 20 displays that it cannot be replayed. On the other hand, when the terminal device 20 selects a reproducible file, it accesses the link destination URL of the content and distributes a request to start streaming distribution.

  The menu page screen generation means 15 generates a menu page from the extracted file list and link destination URL.

  FIG. 5A illustrates the top page of the web browser of the terminal device 20. For example, the top page includes a group of links to non-video sites (non-video sites 1 to 4) and a group of links to video sites (1 to 4). The link to the non-video site jumps directly to the URL specified by the domain name server of the browser of the terminal device 20 without using the link server 10 according to the present invention. On the other hand, the link to the moving image site is linked to the top page of each streaming server of the link server 10 according to the present invention.

  For example, assume that the moving image site 2 is selected in FIG. At this time, the screen of the terminal device 20 changes as shown in FIG. FIG. 5B shows that the display screen of the terminal device 20 according to the present invention is a link page to the moving image content provided by one streaming server (for example, 101a).

  And it is divided into categories such as news / weather, movies, etc., and linked to the hierarchical structure.

  FIG. 6A illustrates the next screen transition in which one category “news / weather” of the video site 2 is selected. Many content names that belong to the same category appear. Of course, it may be classified into a deeper hierarchical structure in consideration of the amount of digital content and ease of use.

  FIG. 6B illustrates a file selection screen of a streaming server displayed by a general PC web browser for comparison. In this way, a normal PC site is devised to display a large amount of information on a web browser by making use of various character fonts and images or a short video playback function using Flash Player (registered trademark). It is normal. On the other hand, in a web browser with a poor screen display function such as IP-STB, a scheduled screen is not displayed or a link destination necessary for selecting a link destination candidate one by one by remote control operation. It is clear that problems such as it takes time to reach

  Accordingly, by providing only the link information to the necessary digital content using the link server 10 according to the present invention, it is possible to view the digital content even on a browser that cannot use the web program. In the present embodiment, the terminal device 20 has been described as being an IP-STB. However, the terminal device 20 is not limited to this as long as the device has a moving image reproduction program and a browser at a minimum.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to view digital content as long as the conditions of a reproduction program required by a digital content site on the Internet are satisfied. In particular, an IP-STB, which is a display terminal that can receive terrestrial digital broadcasting or the like and reproduce a DVD and that is equipped with a web browser and has a function of connecting to the Internet, has an animation reproduction function. However, since the display function as a web terminal is not fulfilled, it is particularly effective when the present invention is applied.

FIG. 1 illustrates the system configuration of a digital content link system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining each functional block of the link server 10. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the URL list extraction unit 13. FIG. 4A is a diagram for explaining an operation sequence until the terminal device 20 accesses a moving image file of the moving image content site. FIG. 4B illustrates the top page of the moving image content site displayed on the terminal device 20. FIG. 5A illustrates the top page of the web browser of the terminal device 20. FIG. 5B shows that the display screen of the terminal device 20 according to the present invention is a link page to digital content provided by one streaming server (for example, 101a). FIG. 6A illustrates the next screen transition in which one category “news / weather” of the video site 2 is selected. FIG. 6B illustrates a file selection screen of a streaming server displayed by a general PC web browser for comparison. FIG. 7 illustrates a conventional mechanism for distributing moving image content from a streaming server.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Digital content link server 11 HTML analysis means 12 File list extraction means 13 URL list extraction means 14 Page composition means 15 Menu page screen generation means 16 Update information confirmation means 20 Terminal device 101 Streaming server 102 Database 103 Internet 104 Terminal device

Claims (6)

From a plurality of streaming servers for streaming distribution of a plurality of digital contents stored in a database through a telecommunication line, a terminal device for executing a playback program for viewing the digital contents, and a link server to the streaming server Configured,
The individual URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the digital content is directly designated from the website provided by the link server, so that the digital content is directly delivered to the terminal device without going through the link server. A featured digital content link system. HTML analysis means for analyzing URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) lists of a plurality of streaming servers storing digital contents, file list extraction means for extracting a file list of the digital contents, and URL for extracting the URL list of the files The file is classified into reproducible and non-reproducible from the file list and URL list extracted by the list extracting means, the file list extracting means and the URL list extracting means, and the reproducible A page configuration unit configured to perform page configuration by classifying files according to content categories; and a menu page screen generation unit configured to generate a menu page for directly linking to the URL of the file based on the category classification. Digital content linked server, characterized in that there. When the streaming server provides content update information by an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) file, the streaming server further comprises update information confirmation means for updating the menu page based on the update information. 2. The digital content link server according to 2. 3. The digital content link server according to claim 2, wherein the file list extraction unit extracts the file list using the update information or site map information of the site by the streaming server. 3. The digital content link server according to claim 2, wherein the URL list extraction unit extracts a URL list included in XML format menu information or a menu page analysis result. A program for causing a digital content link server to execute the following steps S1 to S4 for extracting a URL list for designating digital content including an XML format menu definition file held by a streaming server.
S1: Step for obtaining an XML format menu definition file (menu.xml) S2: Step for retrieving a designated program id from the program name S3: Step for reading the XML with the designated program id obtained in S2 as the XML file name S4: A step of searching for a URL designating a file including a predetermined extension that can be reproduced by the terminal device from the XML file read in S3.

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