JP2001154891A - Device and method for processing contents - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain processing such as deletion or transmission or reception in a batch without repeating the same operation to plural contents. SOLUTION: This content processor is provided with one or more album headers 301, a storing part 205 for storing plural content headers 303 and content data 305 related with the album headers 301, a display part 203 for displaying an album name described in the album header 301, an operating part 204 for selecting one or more albums to be processed from the album name displayed at the display part 203, and for instructing the start of the processing of the album header 301 of the selected album and the content header 303 and the content data 305 related with the album header, and a control part 210 for controlling the processing of the selected album header 301 and the content header 303 and the content data 305 related with the album header.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for processing content data, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for easily processing a large number of content data without repeating the same operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, digitization of information to be distributed has been advanced. Digital data to be distributed is called digital content. A typical example of digital content is music data, but still image data, moving image data,
Document data, game programs, application software, and the like are also included.

Conventionally, each piece of content data is independent. As shown in FIG. 7, in the case of music data, each piece of content only has a header corresponding to each piece of content. Therefore, when each piece of content data is deleted from a storage medium or copied from one storage medium to another storage medium, each piece of content data is specified to be deleted or copied. For example, when deleting a plurality of music data from a certain storage medium, a plurality of music data to be deleted is selected and executed.

[0004]

Conventionally, as described above, since each piece of content data has been independent from each other, for example, when deleting all songs belonging to one music album, the music album and the content belonging to the music album are deleted. I had to keep track of the relationship and repeat the delete operation one song at a time. Similarly, when copying all songs belonging to one music album, a complicated operation of repeating the copy operation one song at a time after grasping the relationship between the music album and the content belonging to the music album is necessary. there were.

[0005]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for processing content recorded on a recording medium, comprising: one or more album headers; A storage unit that stores a plurality of content headers and content data associated with the header, a display unit that displays an album name described in the album header, and a processing target based on the album name displayed on the display unit. One or more albums to be selected are selected, an album header of the selected album, a content header associated with the album header, and an operation unit for instructing the start of processing of content data, and an album header of the selected album. A control unit for controlling processing of the content header and the content data associated with the album header , Characterized by having a.

Here, processing the content data includes deleting, copying, compressing, decompressing, and transmitting / receiving the content data.

[0007] The storage section includes a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, and the like. The display unit has a liquid crystal display, plasma display,
CRT displays and the like are included. The operation unit includes an up / down key for moving a cursor displayed on the display unit up and down, a special key assigned with a specific function such as deletion, and a pointing device such as a mouse, a pen, and a trackball. The control unit includes a central processing unit (CP
U), a memory controller, a bus controller, and the like.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for processing content recorded on a recording medium, comprising one or more album headers, a plurality of content headers associated with the album header, and content data. And a display step of displaying an album name described in the album header; and selecting one or more albums to be processed from the album name displayed on the display unit, and selecting the selected album. An operation step of instructing the start of processing of the album header of the selected album, the content header and the content data associated with the album header, and the operation of the album header of the selected album, the content header and the content data associated with the album header. A process execution step of executing a process. It is characterized in.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 6 relate to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of an entire system to which a content processing apparatus and a processing method are applied, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the content processing apparatus, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating an arrangement relationship between a head, a content head, and content data; FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an album and each content included in the album; FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of data deletion processing of the content processing apparatus; FIG.
5 is a flowchart showing a flow of data transmission / reception processing of the content processing apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system comprises a user portable terminal 10, a personal computer 11, a billing center 12, a content center 13, and a communication line 14.

Each portable terminal 10 can receive contents from a contents center via a personal computer 11 and a communication line 14. Before receiving the content, each mobile terminal 10 sends electronic money corresponding to a content fee determined for each content to the charging center 1.
Pay 2 As electronic money, IC card type electronic money (for example, Mondex, etc.) in which a monetary amount is stored in an IC chip and payment is made through an IC card reader.
VISA cash) or electronic wallet (eg, NTT
Flexible electronic tickets) can be used.

When the billing center 12 receives the predetermined electronic money, it notifies the content center 13 of the receipt. Upon receiving the electronic money receipt notification from the charging center 12, the content center 13 sends the user portable terminal 1 via the communication satellite 14 and the personal computer 11.
Send the content data to "0".

The content processing method according to the present invention comprises:
The present invention is applied to the user portable terminal 10, the personal computer 11, and the content center 13. In addition, the content transmitting / receiving method of the present invention can be applied to transmission from the content center 13, reception and transmission of the personal computer 11, reception of the user portable terminal 10,
Applies to sending and receiving between The communication line 14 includes a public telephone line. Further, the content may be distributed using a communication satellite. Further, the present invention can be applied to a transmission / reception terminal (a terminal installed in a store) installed in a convenience store or the like.

After the user portable terminal 10 receives the content via the personal computer 11 or the like, the user portable terminal 10 can be freely carried away from the personal computer 11 or the like, and the received content (for example, Music) can be played and enjoyed.

[0015] The content data stored in the portable terminal 10 can be copied (transferred) to the portable terminal 10. The personal computer 11
And the terminal installed at the store are not involved. That is, the content can be transmitted and received between the two mobile terminals 10 without the personal computer 11.

As shown in FIG. 2, the portable terminal 10 includes a data transfer interface 201, an electronic wallet unit 202, a display unit 203, an operation unit 204, a storage unit 205, an encryption / decryption unit 206, and a data compression / decompression unit. 207, playback unit 20
8, output terminal 209, control unit 210 and internal bus 211
It is composed of

The data transfer interface 201 is used for data transfer between portable terminals, between portable terminals and installation terminals, or between portable terminals and personal computers. Via this interface 201, electronic money, content data and the like are transmitted and received.

The electronic wallet unit 202 can receive and pay for electronic money. For example, in the case of the prepaid method, cash is inserted into the store-installed terminal, and electronic money corresponding to the inserted amount is previously deposited on the electronic wallet unit 202 via the data transfer interface 201 from the store-installed terminal, and The electronic money may be reduced when the content fee is paid.

The display unit 203 displays a list of contents in the album, the remaining amount of electronic money in the electronic wallet, a transmission / reception state during data transmission / reception, a reproduction state during content reproduction, and the like. The operation unit 204 deletes from a plurality of albums,
It is used for operations such as selecting contents to be transmitted and received. The storage unit 705 stores content data received from the installation terminal and content data received from another mobile terminal.

The encryption / decryption unit 206 encrypts or decrypts content data. The content data stored in the storage unit is encrypted / decrypted based on the ID of the mobile terminal and the like. The data compression / decompression unit 207 compresses data or decompresses compressed data. The data to be transferred is in a compressed state to increase transfer efficiency. Therefore, the data is compressed before data transmission, and the compressed data is decompressed as needed after data reception. As a data compression method, TwinVQ (trademark), AAC (Adv
advancedAudio Coding), MPEG (M
otion Picture Experts Gro
up) Layer1, MPEG Layer3, ATR
AC (Adaptive Transform Aco)
conventional coding) can be used. Playback part 2
08 reproduces audio and the like from the content data. The reproduced sound or the like is output from the output terminal 209 to the outside. The control unit 210 controls each of the above units.

As shown in FIG. 3, the data includes an album header 301, a content header 303, and content data 305.

If the content included in the album is a song, the album header 301 includes the price of the album,
It includes the album name, the production company name, the total data amount of the contents included in the album, the total number of songs, the data amount of each song, each song name, the artist name of each song, the performance time of each song, and the like. Header of each song, that is, content header 3
03 includes information unique to the music (text data such as performance time, performer or lyrics). Each content data 305 is transmitted and received after being encrypted.

By providing the album header 301, an album and each content included in the album are displayed in association with each other as described later, and a plurality of contents included in each album are collectively deleted, copied, compressed,
Transmission and reception can be performed.

FIG. 4 is a display example of an album and each content included in the album. As shown in FIG. 4, the album name of the album A, the content name of the first song of the album A, the content name of the second song, and the content name of the third song are collectively displayed on the display unit 203. By scrolling the display screen, it is possible to display the content names included in the fourth and subsequent songs of the album A and further included in the album B. By pressing an album moving key (not shown), it is possible to jump from the screen displaying the album name of album A to the screen displaying the album name of album B. Alternatively, it is also possible to display only the album name of each album, select one of them, and display only the content names included in the selected album.

When a plurality of contents included in an album are to be collectively deleted, an album to be deleted is first displayed as shown in FIG. 5 (S101). For example, when a plurality of albums can be displayed, an album to be deleted is selected from the plurality of albums, and the selected album is highlighted. Note that a plurality of albums can be selected at a time as a deletion target and highlighted.

Next, the names of the contents included in the album to be deleted are displayed on the screen of the display unit 203 (S
102). This is for confirming whether the content included in the album to be deleted is really deleted. After confirming each content name, the user inputs an album deletion instruction (S105). For example, a button marked “Delete” is selected on the screen of the display unit 203, and the enter key is pressed. If the operator determines that it is not necessary to confirm the contents included in the album to be deleted because it accurately grasps the contents, the name of the contents in the album to be deleted is displayed (step S103) and the name of each content is confirmed. (Part of step S105) may be omitted. After an album deletion instruction is input, deletion of each content header and content data is executed (S107),
Thereafter, the album header is deleted (S109).

As described above, by selecting an album, the contents selected in the album can be selected without repeating the delete operation and without erroneously deleting the contents included in other albums. All contents included in the album can be deleted. Similarly, all contents included in the selected album can be copied, compressed, and the like at once.

When transmitting and receiving a plurality of contents included in an album at once, as shown in FIG. 6, first, the receiving side notifies the transmitting side of the ID of the album to be transmitted (S201). When requesting transmission and reception of a plurality of albums, the IDs of a plurality of albums may be continuously notified.

Next, the album header is transmitted from the transmitting side to the receiving side (S203). As described above, the album header includes an album price, an album name, a production company name, a total data amount of the contents included in the album, a total number of songs, a data amount of each song, each song name, an artist name of each song,
The performance time of each music is included.

Upon receiving the album header, the receiving side:
Check the price of the album described in the album header and the total data amount of the content. If the album price is lower than the remaining amount of electronic money in the electronic wallet unit 202 on the receiving side and the total data amount of the content is smaller than the free space of the storage medium on the receiving side, a reply of the album header reception confirmation is returned to the transmitting side. At the same time as (S205), it is notified that reception is possible. On the other hand, if the price of the album is higher than the remaining amount of electronic money in the electronic wallet unit 202 on the receiving side, or if the total data amount of the content is larger than the free space of the storage medium on the receiving side, the album header is received by the transmitting side. Along with the confirmation reply (S205), the fact that reception is not possible is notified.

Reply of album header reception confirmation (S20)
When the reception is notified together with 5), transmission of the content header and the content data is started (S).
207). When the reception of the content headers and the content data for all the contents included in the album is completed, a reception confirmation is notified to the transmission side (S209).

As described above, by selecting an album, the selected album can be selected without repeating transmission / reception operations for individual contents included in the album and without erroneously transmitting / receiving contents included in other albums. Can be transmitted and received. At the time of such transmission / reception, the electronic money corresponding to the contents of the album is transferred to the electronic wallet section 20 on the receiving side.
Subtracted from 2.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to repeat operations such as deletion, duplication, compression, and transmission / reception for each content by managing the album and each content included in the album in association with each other. Instead of deleting, copying,
It becomes possible to perform compression, transmission and reception, and the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an entire system to which a content processing apparatus and a processing method according to the present invention are applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a content processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating an album header, a content header, and content data according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of an album and respective contents included in the album according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a content deletion process of the content processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of a content transmission / reception process of the content processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an outline of a conventional content header and content data.

[Explanation of symbols]

 201 data transfer interface 202 electronic wallet section 203 display section 204 operation section 205 storage section 210 control section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for processing content recorded on a recording medium, comprising: a storage unit for storing one or more album headers; and a plurality of content headers and content data associated with the album header. A display unit for displaying an album name described in the album header; and selecting one or more albums to be processed from the album name displayed on the display unit, and an album header of the selected album; An operation unit for instructing the start of processing of the content header and the content data associated with the album header; an album header of the selected album; a control unit for controlling the processing of the content header and the content data associated with the album header; A content processing device comprising: 2. A method for processing content recorded on a recording medium, comprising: storing one or more album headers; and a plurality of content headers and content data associated with the album header. A display step of displaying an album name described in the album header; selecting one or more albums to be processed from the album name displayed on the display unit; and an album header of the selected album; An operation step of instructing a start of processing of the content header and the content data associated with the album header, and a processing execution step of executing the processing of the album header of the selected album, the content header and the content data associated with the album header And characterized by containing Ceiling processing method.