JP2012141921A - Information processing device, information processing method, program and content distribution system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve high-speed display of a user interface screen in an object apparatus without depending on processing capacity of the object apparatus and improve speed of switching between the user interface screen and a content reproduction screen.SOLUTION: When transmitting a UI screen to an apparatus on a user side, a server device encodes the UI screen by an encoding method used to encode contents in real time and transmits it as a UI screen bit stream to the apparatus on the user side, instead of providing a UI application generated by using a program language to the apparatus on the user side. Both of the bit streams of the UI screen and the contents are transmitted as a single bit stream encoded by the common encoding method, from the server device to the apparatus on the user side. The apparatus on the user side can seamlessly reproduce the UI screen and the content reproduction screen, by decoding the bit stream transmitted by the server device without discriminating the UI screen from the contents.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, a program, and a content distribution system that distribute contents over a network.

  In recent years, there is a technique for distributing a bit stream such as a moving image or music to a user-side device through a large-scale network such as the Internet or a small-scale network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or a home network. In such content distribution technology, content data is compressed and encoded in order to reduce the amount of data transmitted over the network. Examples of compression encoding methods include MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) -2, MPEG-4, H.264, and the like. H.264 is known.

  In the content distribution service, configuration information of a user interface screen (hereinafter referred to as “UI screen”) for introducing content that can be viewed to the user and receiving selection of content to be viewed is also transmitted. The UI screen is generally created as a UI application using a program language such as Java (registered trademark) including the design of the UI screen and actions for various operations on the UI screen (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2004-102499 A (paragraph [0037])

  However, in the method in which the user side device draws the UI screen based on the UI application provided from the server device, the responsiveness of the UI screen display is determined depending on the processing capability of the user device. For this reason, there is a limitation in UI screen design, such as the need to adopt a UI screen that reduces the amount of drawing calculations, especially when assuming a service that targets devices with low processing capacity, such as mobile phones and smartphones. It was.

  Further, in the user side device, switching between the process of rendering the UI screen and the process of decoding the content bitstream occurs. The processing load for this switching can also be said to be a cause of damaging responsiveness.

  In view of the circumstances as described above, the object of the present invention is to speed up the display of the user interface screen on the target device and the switching between the user interface screen and the content playback screen without depending on the processing capability of the target device. An object is to provide an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, a program, and a content distribution system.

  In order to achieve the above object, an information processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes a storage unit in which a first bitstream of one or more contents encoded by an encoding method suitable for transmission is stored; A reading unit that reads the first bit stream from the storage unit, a user interface generation unit that generates a user interface screen to be provided to a counterpart device connected through a transmission path, and the generated user interface screen An encoding unit that generates a second bit stream by encoding with an encoding method; the first bit stream read by the reading unit; and the second bit stream encoded by the encoding unit A switching unit that switches and connects as a single bit stream and transmits the bit stream to the counterpart device through the transmission path.

  In the information processing apparatus of the present invention, the user interface screen is generated by the user interface generation unit, the user interface screen is encoded by the encoding unit in the same encoding method as the first bit stream of the content, and the second Get the bitstream. Then, the switching unit switches between the first bit stream of the content and the second bit stream of the user interface screen to connect to one bit stream, and transmits it to the counterpart device through the transmission path. Therefore, the counterpart device can reproduce both the user interface screen and the content by simply decoding one bit stream. This eliminates the need for drawing the user interface screen on the other device, and eliminates the need for a mechanism for switching between the drawing processing and the decoding of the first bitstream of the content. Smooth switching is possible. Further, the configuration can be simplified by reducing the processing load of the counterpart device. Furthermore, even when a service for a device with a small processing capacity is assumed, the user interface screen design is not limited by the processing capability of the target device.

  The user interface screen includes, as visible information, information related to one or more contents that can be selected as a viewing target, and the information processing apparatus is configured to select the viewing target content according to the user interface screen. The operation information output from the operation unit when the user operates the operation unit is received through the transmission path, and the content selected as the viewing target is determined based on the operation information. And an operation information processing unit for instructing the switching unit to select the first bit stream.

  Accordingly, the server device can determine the content to be viewed and selected by the user without transmitting the user interface screen as a UI application to the user device.

  The operation information processing unit is received through the transmission path with reference to an allocation table that indicates an allocation relationship between one or more types of operation information created in advance and one or more contents stored in the storage unit The content assigned to the operation information may be determined as the content selected as the viewing target.

  The user interface generation unit may generate a user interface screen based on the allocation table.

  In an information processing method according to another aspect of the present invention, a user interface generation unit generates a user interface screen to be provided to a counterpart device connected through a transmission path, and an encoding unit generates the generated user interface. The screen is encoded by the encoding method to generate a second bit stream, and the switching unit is configured to generate the second bit stream encoded by the encoding unit and the first bit stream read by the reading unit. The bit stream is switched and connected as a single bit stream, and transmitted to the counterpart device through the transmission path.

  A program according to still another aspect of the present invention includes a storage unit in which a first bit stream of one or more contents encoded by an encoding method suitable for transmission is stored, and the storage unit stores the first bit stream. A reading unit that reads a bit stream, a user interface generation unit that generates a user interface screen to be provided to a counterpart device connected through a transmission path, and a code that encodes the generated user interface screen using the encoding method. One bit stream by switching between an encoding unit that generates two bit streams, the first bit stream read by the reading unit, and the second bit stream encoded by the encoding unit As a switching unit that transmits to the counterpart device through the transmission path. A gram.

  A content distribution system according to still another aspect of the present invention includes a first information processing apparatus and a second information processing apparatus that can be connected to the first information processing apparatus through a network. The first information processing apparatus stores a first bit stream of one or more contents encoded by an encoding method suitable for transmission, and the first bit stream from the storage unit. A read interface to be read; a user interface generator that generates information on one or more contents that can be selected as a viewing target as visible information; and generates a user interface screen to be provided to the second information processing apparatus; and the generated user An encoding unit that encodes the interface screen by the encoding method to generate a second bit stream, the first bit stream read by the reading unit, and the second encoded by the encoding unit Are connected as a single bit stream, and the transmission path is connected to the second information processing apparatus. Flip; and a switching unit for transmitting. The second information processing apparatus includes: a decoding unit capable of decoding the first bit stream and the second bit stream; and reproduction information of the content and the user interface screen based on a decoding result of the decoding unit An operation unit that receives an operation input from a user for selecting the content to be viewed according to the user interface screen, and outputs operation information corresponding to the operation input, and the operation unit An operation information transmission unit that transmits the operation information output from the information processing apparatus to the first information processing apparatus through the transmission path. The first information processing apparatus further receives the operation information transmitted from the first information processing apparatus through the transmission path, and determines the content selected as the viewing target based on the operation information. And an operation information processing unit that instructs the reading unit to read the first bit stream of the content and instructs the switching unit to select the first bit stream.

  According to the present invention, high-speed display of a user interface screen and switching between a user interface screen and a content reproduction screen on the target device can be achieved without depending on the processing capability of the target device. In addition, according to the present invention, the design of the user interface screen is not limited by the processing capability of the target device.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the content delivery system which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the server apparatus of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the functional structure of the server apparatus of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the receiver of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the functional structure of the receiver of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement regarding each delivery of UI screen and content by a server apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the server apparatus based on the operation information supplied from a receiver. It is a figure which shows the example of UI screen. It is a figure which shows the connection to one bit stream by the switching of UI screen bit stream and content bit stream by a bit stream switching connector.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[Overview of this embodiment]
The present embodiment relates to a content distribution system including a server device (first information processing device) and user-side equipment (second information processing device) that can be connected to the server device through a transmission path.

The transmission path is a network such as the Internet, a LAN, or a home network.
A storage in which data of one or more contents such as moving images, music, and electronic books is stored is connected to the server device. The content stored in the storage is stored in an encoding scheme suitable for transmission, for example, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, and the like. This is a bit stream encoded by an encoding method such as H.264. The server device may transmit, for example, a user interface screen (hereinafter referred to as a “UI screen”) including, as visible information, information related to content that can be selected as a viewing target, to a user-side device connected through a transmission path. Is possible. When the server device receives a viewing request for the content selected as a viewing target by the user on this UI screen, the server device reads the bit stream of the corresponding content from the storage and transmits it to the user side device through the transmission path. As a result, the bit stream of the content is decoded by the user device, and the user can view the content.

  In this embodiment, the server device does not supply a UI application created using a program language such as Java (registered trademark) to the user device when transmitting the UI screen to the user device. The UI screen is encoded in real time by the encoding method used for encoding the content and transmitted to the user side device as a UI screen bit stream. As a result, each bit stream of the UI screen and the content is transmitted from the server apparatus to the user side device as one bit stream encoded by a common encoding method. The user side device can seamlessly reproduce the UI screen and the content reproduction screen by decoding the bit stream transmitted from the server device without distinguishing the UI screen and the content.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the content distribution system of the present embodiment will be described in detail.
<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a content distribution system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in the figure, the content distribution system 1 includes a network 10, a server device 20, a storage 30, a receiving device 40, a remote controller 50, a display device 60, and the like. Here, the server device 20 and the storage 30 are server-side devices, and the receiving device 40, the remote controller 50, and the display device 60 are user-side (client-side) devices.

  The storage 30 (storage unit) is an apparatus in which data of one or more contents (hereinafter referred to as “content bitstream”) encoded by a compression encoding method suitable for transmission is stored. The storage 30 is, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a BD (Blu-ray Disc) drive, or the like. Examples of compression encoding systems suitable for transmission include MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, and the like. However, the present invention is not limited to the compression encoding method. The type of content is, for example, video, music, electronic book, etc., but the present invention is not limited to a specific type of content. A moving image is a video stream and an audio stream multiplexed at least. The storage 30 may be incorporated in the server device 20.

  The server device 20 encodes a UI screen including information related to one or more contents that can be selected as a viewing target as visible information in real time by using a compression encoding method employed for encoding the content as a UI screen bitstream. To the device (receiving device 40) via the network 10. The server device 20 is a device that reads a bit stream of content selected by a user device as a viewing target from the storage 30 and distributes it to the user device via the network 10.

  The receiving device 40 (decoding unit, operation information transmitting unit) receives the UI screen bit stream and the content bit stream from the server device 20 through the network 10 as one bit stream, separates and extracts the video stream and the audio stream, And the video signal and the audio signal, which are the respective decoding results, are supplied to the display device 60. The receiving device 40 also performs processing for transmitting operation information from the remote controller 50 to the server device 20 through the network 10.

  The display device 60 (output unit) is connected to the receiving device 40 through a multimedia interface such as HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), and the user can view the video signal and the audio signal supplied from the receiving device 40. Is output as information. The display device 60 may be a device having a display screen and a speaker, such as a monitor, a television receiver, a personal computer, a mobile phone, and a smartphone.

  The remote controller 50 (operation unit) accepts an input operation from the user with respect to the UI screen displayed on the screen of the display device 60, and provides operation information corresponding to the input operation, for example, infrared (IrDA), radio wave, etc. This is a device that transmits to the receiving device 40 by wireless communication.

[Configuration of Server Device 20]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the server device 20.
The server device 20 is composed of typical computer hardware elements.
That is, the server device 20 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21, a program storage unit 22, a main memory 23, a network connection unit 24, an input unit 25, an output unit 26, an I / F unit 27, a bus 28, and the like. . The program storage unit 22 stores a server application program. The CPU 21 loads a server application program from the program storage unit 22 to the main memory 23, and performs arithmetic processing for interpreting and executing. Here, the application program for the server includes a module necessary for executing a service for distributing the UI screen and the content through the network 10. The I / F unit 27 is connected to a storage 30 in which the content bit stream is stored.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the server device 20 realized on the hardware shown in FIG. 2 by the server application program.
The server device 20 includes a bit stream reader 201, a UI rendering engine 202, a real-time encoder 203, a bit stream switching connector 204, an operation information processing unit 205, and an operation number assignment unit 206.

  The bit stream reader 201 (read unit) reads the content bit stream from the storage 30 based on the first control signal 221 including the content access information from the operation information processing unit 205, and supplies the content bit stream to the bit stream switching connector 204. To do.

  The UI rendering engine 202 (user interface generation unit) uses the content name and operation number assignment table created by the operation number assignment unit 206 in response to the second control signal 222 from the operation information processing unit 205. The UI screen is drawn, and the drawn UI screen data is supplied to the real-time encoder 203.

  The operation number assignment unit 206 creates an operation number assignment table for content names of viewable contents stored in the storage 30 as information necessary for the UI drawing engine 202 to draw a UI screen. The operation number assigning unit 206 also receives an operation number assignment table for the content access information necessary for accessing the content, such as a content path to which the operation number is assigned, from the receiving device 40. Created as information necessary for control based on the information.

  Based on the third control signal 223 from the operation information processing unit 205, the real-time encoder 203 encodes the UI screen data created by the UI rendering engine 202 using a compression encoding method used for content encoding. And supplied to the bit stream switching connector 204 as a UI screen bit stream.

  The bitstream switching connector 204 switches between the content bitstream from the bitstream reader 201 and the UI screen bitstream from the real-time encoder 203 based on the fourth control signal 224 from the operation information processing unit 205. This bit stream is connected and transmitted to the receiving device 40 through the network 10.

  The operation information processing unit 205 sends the control signals 221-224 to the bit stream reader 201, the UI drawing engine 202, the real time encoder 203, the bit stream so as to execute processing according to the operation information received from the receiving device 40 through the network 10. The data is selectively output to the reader 201 and the bit stream switching connector 204.

[Configuration of Receiving Device 40]
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the receiving device 40.
The reception device 40 includes a CPU 41, a program storage unit 42, a main memory 43, a network connection unit 44, a wireless reception unit 45, an I / F unit 46, a bus 47, and the like. The program storage unit 42 stores a program for the receiving device. The CPU 41 loads a program for the receiving device from the program storage unit 42 into the main memory 43 and performs arithmetic processing for interpretation. The wireless receiving unit 45 receives operation information transmitted from the remote controller 50 by wireless communication such as infrared (IrDA) and radio waves, and supplies the operation information to the CPU 41 through the bus 47. The I / F unit 46 is a multimedia interface such as HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface). A display device 60 can be connected to the I / F unit 46, and a video signal and an audio signal are transmitted from the receiving device 40 to the display device 60 by the I / F unit 46.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the receiving device 40 realized on the hardware shown in FIG. 4 by the program for the receiving device.
The receiving device 40 includes a separator 401, a video decoder 402, an audio decoder 403, an operation information receiving unit 404, and the like.

  The separator 401 separates and extracts the video stream and the audio stream from the UI screen bit stream and the content bit stream sent from the server device 20 through the network 10, supplies the video stream to the video decoder 402, and converts the audio stream to the audio decoder 403 is supplied.

The video decoder 402 decodes the video stream supplied from the separator 401 to obtain a video signal that can be processed by the display device 60.
The audio decoder 403 decodes the audio stream supplied from the separator 401 and obtains an audio signal that can be processed by the display device 60.

  The operation information receiving unit 404 performs a process of transferring the operation information from the remote controller 50 received by the wireless receiving unit 45 (see FIG. 4) to the server device 20 through the network 10.

[About operation]
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing operations related to each distribution of the UI screen and contents by the server device 20.

  The CPU 21 of the server device 20 first checks whether or not the receiving device 40 is connected to the server device 20 through the network 10 in accordance with the server application program (step S101). If the receiving device 40 is not connected, the operation for the UI screen and content distribution service for the receiving device 40 is terminated. If the receiving device 40 is connected, the CPU 21 starts an operation for a UI screen and content distribution service for the receiving device 40.

  First, the operation information processing unit 205 determines a communication mode with the receiving device 40 (step S102). Communication modes with the receiving apparatus 40 include at least a “content reproduction mode” and a “UI drawing mode”. The content playback mode is a mode in which a content bit stream is transferred from the server device 20 to the receiving device 40 through the network 10, and the content bit stream is decoded by the receiving device 40 to play back the content. In the UI rendering mode, a UI screen is created by the server device 20, the UI screen is encoded, and transferred to the receiving device 40 as a UI screen bit stream, whereby the display device 60 connected to the receiving device 40 is connected. In this mode, the UI screen is displayed.

  Immediately after the receiving device 40 is connected to the server device 20, the UI drawing mode is set. Accordingly, the operation when the UI drawing mode is set will be described.

  The operation information processing unit 205 outputs a second control signal 222 that instructs the UI drawing engine 202 to draw a UI screen, and outputs a third control signal 223 that instructs the real-time encoder 203 to execute encoding. . Further, the operation information processing unit 205 outputs a fourth control signal 224 that instructs the bit stream switching connector 204 to select the output of the real-time encoder 203.

  In response to the second control signal 222 from the operation information processing unit 205, the UI drawing engine 202 draws and creates a UI screen using the content name and operation number assignment table created by the operation number assignment unit 206. (Step S103).

Here, a UI screen and a drawing creation method thereof will be described.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a UI screen. The UI screen 70 includes, for example, a content name 71, an operation number 72 for selecting content to be viewed, a guidance 73 on how to input the operation number, for one or more viewable contents stored in the storage 30. Visible information such as an operation guide 74 for switching to another UI screen is included. Here, the operation number 72 for selecting the content to be viewed is based on the content name and operation number assignment table created in advance by the operation number assigning unit 206. As an operation number input method, there is a method of inputting a number generated by operating a numeric keypad of the remote controller 50 as an operation number. When this method is adopted, a guidance sentence such as “Please specify the operation number of the content you want to view with the numeric keypad” is adopted as the guidance 73 on how to input the operation number on the UI screen.

  On the other hand, as an operation method for switching the UI screen, for example, there is a method of operating up / down / left / right cursor keys of the remote controller 50. When there are a plurality of UI screens, for example, when the number of contents that can be viewed is large and there are a plurality of UI screens, or when a UI screen for each genre of content is used, the UI screen needs to be switched. In such a case, operability at the time of content selection can be improved by assigning different switching instructions to the up / down / left / right cursor keys. Here, the switching instructions assigned to the cursor keys of up / down / left / right are, for example, “switching to the UI screen in the next order”, “switching to the UI screen in the previous order”, and “to the UI screen of the next genre”. Switching ”,“ switching to previous UI screen of genre ”.

Return to the description of the operation.
UI screen drawing data created by the UI drawing engine 202 is supplied to the real-time encoder 203. The real-time encoder 203 encodes the UI screen drawing data by the compression encoding method used in the content encoding (step S104), and supplies the UI screen bit stream to the bit stream switching connector 204. At this time, the bit stream switching connector 204 is set to select the output of the real-time encoder 203 by the fourth control signal 224 from the operation information processing unit 205. As a result, the UI screen bitstream supplied from the real-time encoder 203 is transmitted to the receiving device 40 through the network 10 (step S105).

  When receiving the UI screen bitstream from the server device 20 via the network 10, the receiving device 40 separates and extracts the video stream from the UI screen bitstream by the separator 401 and supplies the video stream to the video decoder 402. The video signal decoded by the video decoder 402 is supplied to the display device 60 through the I / F unit 46 (see FIG. 4). As a result, the UI screen is displayed on the screen of the display device 60.

  The user follows the UI screen displayed on the display device 60, in particular, the operation method guide for selecting contents in the UI screen and the operation method guide for switching to another UI screen, for example, the numeric keypad of the remote controller 50, By operating a cursor key or the like, an intended request can be input.

  From the remote controller 50, code information corresponding to the key operated by the user is wirelessly transmitted to the receiving device 40 as operation information. The receiving device 40 receives operation information from the remote controller 50 at the wireless receiving unit 45 (see FIG. 4). The operation information reception unit 404 in the reception device 40 transmits the operation information received by the wireless reception unit 45 to the server device 20 through the network 10.

  When the server device 20 receives the operation information through the network 10, the operation information processing unit 205 sends a control signal 221-224 to the bit stream reader 201 and the UI rendering engine 202 so as to execute processing according to the operation information. , And selectively output to the real-time encoder 203, the bit stream reader 201, and the bit stream switching connector 204.

  Next, processing based on operation information by the operation information processing unit 205 will be described. Here, it is assumed that the content to be viewed can be selected by operating the numeric keypad of the remote controller 50 and can be switched to another UI screen by operating the cursor key.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server device 20 based on the operation information supplied from the receiving device 40.

  The operation information processing unit 205 determines whether the acquired operation information is a UI screen switching instruction by operating a cursor key or selection of content to be viewed by operating a numeric keypad (step S201). In the case of an instruction to switch the UI screen by operating the cursor key, the operation information processing unit 205 includes the operation information of the cursor key (that is, code information corresponding to the cursor key in the direction operated by the up / down / left / right cursor keys). In addition, the second control signal 222 including information for designating the UI screen to be switched to is supplied to the UI rendering engine 202, and the bit stream switching connector 204 is instructed to select the UI screen bit stream from the real-time encoder 203. The fourth control signal 224 is output (step S202). The communication mode remains “UI drawing mode”.

  Thereafter, returning to the flowchart of FIG. 6, the UI rendering engine 202 renders the switching destination UI screen (step S 103), the real-time encoder 203 encodes (step S 104), and the bit stream switching connector 204 performs the UI screen bit stream. And transmission to the receiving device 40 (step S105) is performed in the same manner as the previous time. As a result, the UI screen displayed on the display device 60 connected to the receiving device 40 is updated to another UI screen.

  On the other hand, a case will be described in which the operation information processing unit 205 determines in step S201 that the acquired operation information is content selection by operating a numeric keypad. In this case, the operation information processing unit 205 uses the operation information (that is, code information corresponding to the key operated on the numeric keypad) as an operation number, and the operation number assigning unit 206 transmits the content access information corresponding to the operation number. A search is made from an allocation table of content access information and operation numbers created in advance. For example, when the key “2” on the numeric keypad is operated, the operation information processing unit 205 searches the content access information associated with the operation number “2” from the content access information / operation number assignment table. To do. Subsequently, the operation information processing unit 205 outputs the first control signal 221 including the content access information obtained by the search to the bit stream reader 201 and instructs the bit stream switching connector 204 to select the content bit stream. A fourth control signal 224 is supplied (step S203). As a result, the operation mode is changed to the “content reproduction mode”.

  Returning to FIG. 6, the bit stream reader 201 reads the corresponding content bit stream from the storage 30 based on the first control signal 221 including the content access information from the operation information processing unit 205 (step S106). This is supplied to the stream switching connector 204. At this time, the bit stream switching connector 204 is set to select the output of the bit stream reader 201. Therefore, the content bit stream supplied from the bit stream reader 201 is selected from the bit stream switching connector 204 and transmitted to the receiving device 40 through the network 10 (step S105).

  When receiving the content bit stream from the server device 20 through the network 10, the receiving device 40 separates and extracts the video stream and the audio stream from the content bit stream by the separator 401, and supplies them to the video decoder 402 and the audio decoder 403, respectively. The video signal decoded by the video decoder 402 and the audio signal decoded by the audio decoder 403 are respectively supplied to the display device 60. As a result, the user can view the content through the display device 60.

  When the reading of the content bit stream by the bit stream reader 201 is completed, this is notified to the operation information processing unit 205 by the fifth control signal 225. Upon receiving this notification, the operation information processing unit 205 instructs the UI drawing engine 202 to draw a UI screen or the like related to the end of content playback by using the second control signal 222 and performs encoding to the real-time encoder 203. The third control signal 223 for instructing is output. Further, the operation information processing unit 205 outputs a fourth control signal 224 that instructs the bit stream switching connector 204 to select the output of the real-time encoder 203.

  The UI drawing engine 202 draws a UI screen related to the end of content reproduction in response to the second control signal 222 from the operation information processing unit 205 (step S103), and supplies the drawing data to the real-time encoder 203. The bit stream of the UI screen relating to the end of content playback encoded by the real-time encoder 203 is transmitted to the receiving device 40 through the network 10 by the bit stream switching connector 204 (step S105). As a result, a UI screen relating to the end of content playback is displayed on the screen of the display device 60.

  The UI screen related to the end of content reproduction may be the UI screen immediately after the connection described above, or may be a commercial screen.

  Similarly, when the content reproduction is interrupted by an instruction from the user, the operation information processing unit 205 similarly instructs the UI rendering engine 202 to render a UI screen or the like related to the content reproduction interruption, for example. The UI screen bitstream may be transmitted to the receiving device 40. It should be noted that the UI screen relating to the content reproduction interruption may be the UI screen immediately after the connection described above, or may be a commercial screen.

  In order to notify the server device 20 of the content reproduction interruption, for example, the operation information of the content reproduction interruption instruction may be assigned to a predetermined key of the remote controller 50. When the operation information processing unit 205 of the server device 20 is in the content reproduction mode and receives operation information for instructing content reproduction interruption from the receiving device 40, the UI information processing unit 205 draws a UI screen related to content reproduction interruption to the UI drawing engine 202. 2 control signal 222.

  As described above, according to the content distribution system 1 of the present embodiment, a UI screen is rendered by the UI rendering engine 202 of the server device 20, and a UI screen having the same compression encoding method as the content bitstream is rendered by the real-time encoder 203. Generate a bitstream. Then, as shown in FIG. 9, the bit stream switching connector 204 switches the content bit stream and the UI screen bit stream to connect to one bit stream, and transmits it to the receiving device 40 through the network 10. For this reason, the receiving device 40 can reproduce both the UI screen and the content by simply decoding one bit stream. Accordingly, drawing of the UI screen on the receiving device 40 is not necessary, and a mechanism for switching between decoding of the content bitstream and drawing of the UI screen is not necessary, and the calculation load on the receiving device 40 can be reduced. For this reason, even when a service intended for a device with a small processing capacity is assumed, the design of the user interface screen is not limited by the processing capability of the target device.

  On the other hand, the server device 20 has an effect that the average load on the server device 20 is reduced because the data to be encoded in real time is a UI screen.

  The embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

<Modification 1>
In the embodiment described above, the device on the user side is separated into the receiving device 40, the display device 60, and the remote controller 50. However, the receiving device 40 is a television receiver, a smartphone, a game machine, a recorder. In addition, it may be integrated into a device such as a player or a personal computer. In the above embodiment, the remote controller 50 is used as the operation unit. However, an operation input from a user for selecting content to be viewed can be received and operation information corresponding to the operation input can be output. If possible, it is not always necessary to adopt a remote controller. For example, a keyboard connected to the receiving device 40 or the display device 60 by wire or wireless may be used. Or you may make it utilize the operation part integrated in the display apparatus 60 integrally. As the display device 60 in which the operation unit is integrated, a device having a transparent touch panel on the surface of a display panel such as a liquid crystal display panel can be considered.

<Modification 2>
In the above-described embodiment, the operation number of each content is assigned to each key of the numeric keypad of the remote controller 50, and different switching instructions for the UI screen are assigned to each of the up / down / left / right keys of the cursor key. The user's instruction content is determined based on the operation information corresponding to the key. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

  For example, the UI screen may have a selection area for each viewable content. When the user selects a content selection area to be viewed by a pointing operation, the selected coordinate data is sent from the receiving device 40 to the server device 20. The server device 20 determines the user's instruction content based on the received coordinate data. In this example, the server device 20 needs to have an allocation table of content names and selection area coordinates, and further an allocation table of content access information and selection area coordinates.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Content delivery system 10 ... Network 20 ... Server apparatus 30 ... Storage 40 ... Receiving apparatus 50 ... Remote controller 60 ... Display apparatus 70 ... UI screen 201 ... Bit stream reader 202 ... UI drawing engine 203 ... Real-time encoder 204 ... Bit stream Switching connector 205 ... Operation information processing unit 206 ... Operation number assigning unit 401 ... Separator 402 ... Video decoder 403 ... Audio decoder 404 ... Operation information receiving unit

Claims (7)

A storage unit storing a first bit stream of one or more contents encoded by an encoding method suitable for transmission;
A reading unit for reading the first bitstream from the storage unit;
A user interface generation unit that generates a user interface screen to be provided to a counterpart device connected through a transmission path;
An encoding unit that generates the second bitstream by encoding the generated user interface screen using the encoding method;
The first bit stream read by the reading unit and the second bit stream encoded by the encoding unit are switched and connected as a single bit stream, and the transmission is made to the counterpart device An information processing apparatus comprising: a switching unit that transmits through a path. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The user interface screen includes, as visible information, information on one or more contents that can be selected as a viewing target,
The information processing apparatus includes:
The operation information output from the operation unit is received through the transmission path when the user operates the operation unit of the counterpart device so as to select the content to be viewed according to the user interface screen. The content selected as the viewing target is determined based on the above, and the reading unit is instructed to read the first bit stream of the content, and the switching unit is instructed to select the first bit stream. An information processing apparatus further comprising an operation information processing unit. An information processing apparatus according to claim 2,
The operation information processing unit is received through the transmission path with reference to an allocation table that indicates an allocation relationship between one or more types of operation information created in advance and one or more contents stored in the storage unit An information processing apparatus that determines content allocated to the operation information as content selected as the viewing target. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3,
The information processing apparatus, wherein the user interface generation unit generates a user interface screen based on the allocation table. A reading unit reads the first bit stream from a storage unit storing a first bit stream of one or more contents encoded by an encoding method suitable for transmission;
The user interface generation unit generates a user interface screen to be provided to the counterpart device connected through the transmission path,
An encoding unit that generates the second bitstream by encoding the generated user interface screen using the encoding method;
The switching unit switches the first bit stream read by the reading unit and the second bit stream encoded by the encoding unit to connect as a single bit stream, and An information processing method for transmitting to a device through the transmission path. A storage unit storing a first bit stream of one or more contents encoded by an encoding method suitable for transmission;
A reading unit for reading the first bitstream from the storage unit;
A user interface generation unit that generates a user interface screen to be provided to a counterpart device connected through a transmission path;
An encoding unit that generates the second bitstream by encoding the generated user interface screen using the encoding method;
The first bit stream read by the reading unit and the second bit stream encoded by the encoding unit are switched and connected as a single bit stream, and the transmission is made to the counterpart device A program that causes a computer to operate as a switching unit that transmits through a road. A first information processing apparatus and a second information processing apparatus connectable to the first information processing apparatus through a network;
The first information processing apparatus includes:
A storage unit storing a first bit stream of one or more contents encoded by an encoding method suitable for transmission;
A reading unit for reading the first bitstream from the storage unit;
A user interface generation unit that generates, as visible information, information on one or more contents that can be selected as a viewing target, and generates a user interface screen to be provided to the second information processing apparatus;
An encoding unit that generates the second bitstream by encoding the generated user interface screen using the encoding method;
The first bit stream read by the reading unit and the second bit stream encoded by the encoding unit are switched to be connected as one bit stream, and the second information processing apparatus A switching unit for transmitting through the transmission line,
The second information processing apparatus
A decoding unit capable of decoding the first bit stream and the second bit stream;
An output unit capable of outputting the content and reproduction information of the user interface screen based on a decoding result of the decoding unit;
An operation unit that receives an operation input from a user for selecting the content to be viewed according to the user interface screen, and outputs operation information corresponding to the operation input;
An operation information transmission unit that transmits the operation information output from the operation unit to the first information processing apparatus through the transmission path;
The first information processing apparatus further includes:
The operation information transmitted from the first information processing apparatus through the transmission path is received, the content selected as the viewing target is determined based on the operation information, and the first bitstream of the content is determined. A content distribution system comprising: an operation information processing unit that instructs the reading unit to read and instructs the switching unit to select the first bitstream.

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