JP2002314977A - System and method for delivering information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a streaming content while adding advertisement information. SOLUTION: The information delivering system comprises a plurality of communication terminals T1,..., and a data delivery controller 10. The data delivery controller 10 comprises means 13 for adding information associated with control information to a streaming content, and a transmitting/receiving section 17 for sending the streaming content to a communication terminal T1. The communication terminal T1 comprises an image display control means 14 displaying the streaming content, i.e., dynamic image data, and the additional information, and a content control means 15 transmitting content control information for controlling the delivery conditions of the streaming content based on the control information. The content control information processing means 15 in the data delivery controller 10 controls the delivery conditions based on the transmitted content control information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an information distribution system and an information distribution method for distributing content in response to a transmission request from a communication terminal in a computer network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in an IP (Internet Protocol) network such as the Internet or an intranet, a communication terminal (client) is provided on the IP network.
Information distribution technology (called streaming), which transmits content such as video, music, and audio in response to a transmission request from a client and plays back the received content in real time, has attracted attention. FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an example of a conventional information distribution system. Base station 10
0 is the communication terminal T1 connected to the network NW
When a transmission request is received from 00, T101, and T102, a content transfer request is issued to the content distribution server 101 or the image distribution server 103 in response to the transmission request. The content distribution server 101 has a database 10
2 ₁ to 102 _n from the uptake choose content such as video which is adapted to the transfer request, can be transferred to the base station 100. Further, the image distribution server 103 can transfer the moving image captured from the imaging device 104 to the base station 100 in real time in response to the transfer request. The base station 100 transmits the content transferred from the content distribution server 101 or the image distribution server 103 to the communication terminal T100 or the like, and the communication terminal T100 reproduces the received content in real time.

[0005] On the other hand, in the WWW (World Wide Web) system, an information providing service for providing a client with a web page in which advertisement information or public information is embedded has become widespread. This type of service is to provide a user with a web page in which a dedicated space (called a banner) for embedding advertisement information or advertisement information in a part of a display area is secured. This service is described below with reference to FIG. The base station 100 has a WWW server function capable of acquiring banner information from the advertisement database 105 and transmitting a web page in which the banner information is embedded. A user such as the communication terminal T100 operates client software called a WWW browser to download and display the web page from the base station 100. There are also services that display a moving image on a banner or sequentially display a plurality of advertisement images or the like at regular intervals to enhance the advertisement effect. In addition, when a banner is linked to an information transmission site of an advertiser or an advertiser, the user can select the banner with a pointing device such as a mouse to access the information transmission site, thereby providing more detailed information. Get information.

[0004]

However, in the conventional content distribution system based on streaming, due to the particularity of the transmission format, it has not been possible to add advertisement information or the like to the content as if the advertisement information were embedded in a web page. For this reason, although the user of the communication terminal can view and listen to streaming contents such as video images and music to be reproduced, there is a problem that it is difficult to provide the user with advertising information having a large advertising effect.

[0005] In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an information distribution system and an information distribution method which can provide streaming content with advertisement information added thereto.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal for transmitting streaming content including moving image data via a network in response to a transmission request from the communication terminal. An information distribution system comprising a data distribution control device that distributes data by
The data distribution control device includes: a data adding unit that adds predetermined additional information associated with predetermined control information to the streaming content; and sends the streaming content added with the additional information to the communication terminal. The communication terminal,
An image display control means for displaying the moving image data transmitted from the data distribution control device and the additional information superimposed on the moving image data is provided.

[0007] The invention according to claim 2 is the information distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the communication terminal controls distribution conditions of the streaming content based on the control information associated with the additional information. Content control means for generating content control information, wherein the data distribution control device identifies the content control information transmitted from the communication terminal, and controls distribution conditions of the streaming content based on the identification result It has a content control information processing means.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2
In the information distribution system described above, the transmission / reception processing unit has an IP (Internet Protocol) communication function.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information distribution method for distributing streaming content including moving image data in response to a transmission request from a communication terminal in a network, wherein (a) predetermined control information is associated with the content. Adding a predetermined additional information to the streaming content; (b) transmitting the streaming content added with the additional information in the step (a) to the communication terminal; and (c). Displaying the moving image data of the streaming content transmitted in the step (b) and the additional information superimposed on the moving image data.

[0010] The invention according to claim 5 is the information distribution method according to claim 4, wherein (d) at the communication terminal, the distribution condition of the streaming content based on the control information associated with the additional information. (E) identifying the content control information generated and transmitted in step (d), and based on the identification result,
Controlling the content distribution conditions.

The invention according to claim 6 is the invention according to claim 4 or 5.
The information distribution method as described above, wherein in the step (b), the streaming content is transmitted based on IP (Internet Protocol).

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the overall configuration of an information distribution system 1 according to the present invention. The information distribution system 1 includes a distribution server SVR that transmits streaming contents such as music, audio, and moving images.
0, SVR1, and a data distribution control device 10 that obtains streaming content from the distribution servers SVR0, SVR1 in response to a transmission request from the communication terminal T1, and distributes the streaming content to the communication terminal T1 via the network NW1. I have. The communication terminals T1 to Tn are connected to the network N
Any communication device capable of bidirectional IP (Internet Protocol) communication through W1 may be used. For example, a network-compatible personal computer, set-top box (home communication terminal), mobile phone, PHS (Person
al Handyphone System), PDA (Personal Digital Assistant; Pers)
onal Digital Assistants).

The distribution server SVR0 responds to a transfer request RQT from the data distribution control device 10 as will be described later, and stores the content storage databases 20 ₁ , 20 ₂ ,.
0 _n , select a database that stores streaming content corresponding to the transfer request RQT,
It has a function of reading streaming content from the selected database and transferring it to the data distribution control device 10 in real time. Further, the distribution server SVR1 responds to the transfer request RQT from the data distribution control device 10,
Moving image data captured by the imaging device 21 and audio data captured by the microphone 22 are transmitted to the data distribution control device 10.
It has a function to transfer data in real time.

The data distribution control device 10 includes a transmission / reception processing unit 17 having a function of enabling IP communication with the communication terminals T1 to Tn. The transmission / reception processing unit 17 is TC
P (Transmission Control Protocol), UDP (User
Datagram Protocol), SNMP (Simple Network Mana)
gement Protocol), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), and other IP-based communication functions. The transmission / reception processing unit 17 has a WWW server function using HTTP, and the users of the communication terminals T1 to Tn activate and operate a WWW browser to display a URL (Universal) indicating the location of information resources on the IP network. Resource Locator) allows you to access the WWW server,
A web page described in a language such as ML (eXtensible Markup Language) can be downloaded, and image data and text data embedded in the web page can be viewed.

When the content selection control means 16 of the data distribution control device 10 receives the transmission data transmission request SEL # 1 from the communication terminals T1 to Tn via the transmission / reception processing unit 17, it identifies the transmission request SEL # 1. Then, based on the identification result, it instructs the data acquisition means 14 about the type of the streaming content and the distribution source. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the transmission format 30 of the transmission request SEL # 1. The transmission format 30 includes a field for storing a “header portion” having a source port number, a destination port number, and checksum information, and a field for storing “terminal type information”, “content selection information”, and the like. I have. The terminal type information is information for specifying the model of the communication terminals T1,... Such as a personal computer, a mobile phone, a PDA,. The content selection control means 16 identifies the terminal type information, and instructs the data acquisition means 14 on an image size, a bit rate, and the like that are compatible with the identified model. The content selection information is
This is information for selecting the type of streaming content such as a specific video image, audio, and music. The content selection control unit 16 identifies the content selection information, and refers to the table storage unit 12 to obtain, from among various types of streaming content such as movies and music broadcasts, content suitable for the identification result. Instruct data acquisition means 14. The data acquisition unit 14 transmits the transfer request RQ to the distribution server SVR0 or SVR1.
T, and outputs the streaming content obtained from the distribution server SVR0 or SVR1 to the data adding means 13
Output to

Further, the additional information database 11 of the data distribution control device 10 stores additional information such as images, sounds, and music for advertisements and advertisements, and control information is associated with each additional information. I have. A specific example of the control information is a relatively small-capacity program (applet).
A control code for downloading and executing a file or a script file in which a predetermined processing procedure is described in text data, and a WWW for an advertiser or the like by specifying a URL address indicating the location of an information resource on the network NW1
A control code for accessing the server, a control code for starting and executing a program incorporated in the communication terminal of the content distribution destination, and the like are given. In addition to the above-described additional information, the additional information database 11 stores an icon (an image or a graphic that symbolizes the function of the software) image, and each icon image includes a control code other than the above-described control code. Also, control information (control code) for selecting distribution conditions of the streaming content is associated therewith. As a specific example of such control information, a control code for suspending or retransmitting the distribution of the content or selecting the distribution of the video whose resolution has been changed is cited.

The data adding means 13 acquires additional information from the additional information database 11 and transmits the additional information to the streaming information input from the data acquiring means 14.
It is added to the content and output to the transmission / reception processing unit 17. The transmission / reception processing unit 17 compresses and encodes the content to which the additional information is added, converts the content into a packet (datagram), and sends the packet to the IP address of the communication terminal T1. It should be noted that UDP / IP may be used as the transfer protocol of the packet, and IETF (Internet Engineering Task
Force) standard specifications (RFC 1889) and ITU
(International Telecommunications Union) RTP (Real-time Tran), which is also the standard specification (H.225.0)
sport Protocol; RT
CP (RTP Control Protocol)
May be used.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the transmission format 40 of the streaming content transmitted from the transmission / reception processing unit 17. The transmission format 40 is
A field for storing a “header part” including a source port number, a destination port number, and checksum information,
Fields for storing “image data”, “audio data”, “advertising information”, “display control information”, “control information”, “URL address”, “optional information” of additional programs and additional parameters, and the like are provided. . In the transmission format 40, the image data and the audio data are streaming contents compressed and encoded so as to be transmitted in synchronization with each other.

The advertisement information in the transmission format 40 includes advertisement image data, music data, text data, and the like. Further, the display control information is a control for controlling a method of reproducing moving image data as streaming content and image data, text data, music data, and the like included in the advertisement information in a communication terminal T1 or the like as a content distribution destination. Consists of code. The communication terminal T1 is connected to the data distribution control device 10
The additional information and the streaming content received from the PC can be reproduced on a display device (not shown) or a speaker (not shown). Further, the communication terminal T1 is provided with an image display control means 24 for controlling to display a superimposed (overlapping) additional information on moving image data as streaming content. The image display control means 24 receiving the display control information specifies, for example, a display position and a display size of the advertisement information on the display screen of the communication terminal, and sequentially displays a plurality of advertisement images at predetermined time intervals. Or control the playback timing of music data or audio data.

Further, a control code for controlling a method of superimposing moving image data and advertisement information (overlapping method) may be used as the display control information. That is, the image display control means 24 receiving the control code once expands the distributed moving image data in the frame memory, and then places the text of the advertisement information on the moving image data read from the frame memory. Data (character code) is superimposed (overlapped) in the form of a telop and displayed as an overlay. Alternatively, the image display control means 24 may superimpose an advertisement image on the moving image data read from the frame memory in the form of a logo, an animation, or the like, or may display the advertisement image. May be reproduced by superimposing voice or music at the timing. Also, instead of superimposing the advertisement image, music, and sound in accordance with the display of the moving image data, the advertisement image, music, and the like are superimposed by mixing or the like in accordance with the reproduction of the audio data synchronized with the display of the moving image data. It does not matter.

The additional program in the transmission format 40 is an auxiliary program for performing processing when the communication terminal does not incorporate software or hardware capable of receiving and processing the control code. The additional parameters in the transmission format 40 are arguments for specifying the operating conditions of the additional program.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a display example in which additional information is superimposed on the moving image data. As shown in the figure, a moving image is displayed in a display window 61 of a window 60 displayed on the display screen of the communication terminal T1, and an advertisement image and a control are displayed in a banner area 62 superimposed on a part of the moving image. Buttons 63A, 63B, 63C, 63D are displayed. A control code for accessing a URL address such as “http://hoge.com/index.html” is associated with the advertisement image, and each of the control buttons 62A to 63D is Control information (control code) for selecting a pause of moving image distribution, a change in image size, and the like is associated therewith. The user of the communication terminal T1 can operate a pointing device such as a mouse or a stylus provided on the communication terminal T1 to select an advertisement image or a control button.

The content control means 2 of the communication terminal T1
5 receives the control information associated with the control button selected by the user, generates content control information for changing the distribution condition of the streaming content, and sends a control request IRQT including the information to the data distribution control device via the network NW1. 10 has a function of transmitting. FIG.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a transmission format 50 of the control request IRQT. The transmission format 50 includes a field for storing a “header part” including a source port number, a destination port number, and checksum information, a “distribution server control information”, an “additional information database control information”, and a “additional information response”. , Etc., for storing content control information. Here, the distribution server control information is information for controlling the distribution servers SVR0 and SVR1 so as to realize the distribution conditions selected by the user.
Further, the additional information database control information is control information for selectively loading various types of additional information stored in the additional information database 11. The additional information response is information indicating whether or not the user of the communication terminal T1 has responded to the additional information. For example, when a multiple-choice questionnaire is sent from the data distribution control device 10 and displayed on the communication terminal T1, the control buttons 63A to 63D are displayed in the display example shown in FIG.
Is selected, the selected button number (additional information response) is used as a response to the questionnaire to the data distribution control device 1.
The field is used when replying to zero.

The above-described additional information database 11, data adding means 13, data obtaining means 14, content control information processing means 15, content selection control means 16, and transmission / reception processing section 17 may have any configuration of software and hardware. Each of them may be incorporated in a single communication device, or may operate in a distributed manner over a plurality of communication devices.

An example of the processing procedure of the information distribution system 1 having the above configuration will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The following example assumes a video image with audio as streaming content.
First, in step S1, the user of the communication terminal T1 activates and operates the client software, and issues a streaming content transmission request SEL # 1 to the data distribution control device 10. The transmission request SEL # 1 includes terminal type information as shown in FIG. 2, content selection information indicating streaming content desired by the user, and the like.

In the next step S2, the transmission / reception processing unit 17 of the data distribution control device 10 receives the transmission request SEL # 1, and outputs the received transmission request SEL # 1 to the content selection control means 16. Content selection control means 1
Numeral 6 identifies the terminal type information and the content selection information included in the transmission request SEL # 1, refers to the content selection table of the table storage unit 12, and matches the streaming content matching the terminal type information and the content selection information. Is instructed to acquire data. In the content selection table, streaming content information that conforms to various distribution conditions such as terminal type information, a bit rate at the time of content transmission, and a file format is recorded.

In the next step S3, the data acquisition means 14
Is a transfer request R for requesting the transfer of streaming content specified by the content selection control means 16.
The QT is issued to, for example, the distribution server SVR0. In the next step S4, the data acquisition means 14 determines whether or not streaming content can be acquired by confirming whether or not there is a response from the distribution server SVR0 to the transfer request RQT. If it is determined that the data cannot be obtained, the process proceeds to the error processing in step S5, and the fact that the data cannot be obtained is returned to the content selection control unit 16, and the communication terminal T1 is notified via the transmission / reception processing unit 17.
On the other hand, if the acquisition is possible, the distribution server SVR0 reads the content from the database 20 _k (k = 1 to n) storing the content conforming to the transfer request RQT in step S6, and the data acquisition unit 14
Transfer to

In the next step S7, the data acquisition means 14
Outputs the transferred streaming content to the data adding unit 13, and the data adding unit 13 adds the additional information obtained from the additional information database 11 to the streaming content and outputs the streaming information to the transmission / reception processing unit 17. Then, the transmission / reception processing unit 17 performs the streaming
After compressing and encoding the content, the content is packetized and the communication terminal T
Send to 1.

In the next step S8, a video image is displayed on the display screen 61 of the communication terminal T1 as shown in FIG. 4 by the image display control means 24 and a banner area 62 superimposed on the video image is displayed. The advertisement image and the control buttons 63A to 63D are displayed. Sound and music synchronized with the video image are also reproduced.

In the next step S9, when the user of the communication terminal T1 selects the advertisement image displayed in the banner area 62 using a pointing device such as a mouse, the WW is controlled by the control code associated with the advertisement image.
The W browser is activated and the specified URL address is accessed to obtain detailed information, or the applet is downloaded and executed by the control code. On the other hand, when the control button 63A is selected, for example, the content control means 25
For example, content control information (distribution server control information, additional information database control information) for transmitting an enlarged or reduced video image is generated based on the control code associated with ,
A control request IRQT including the content control information is transmitted to the data distribution control device 10, and the processing after step S10 is executed.

In step S10, the transmission / reception processing unit 17 of the data distribution control device 10 receives the control request IRQT and outputs it to the content control information processing means 15. The content control information processing means 15 transmits the control request IRQT
Of the distribution server control information and the additional information database control information included in the information, and instructs the data acquisition unit 14 to acquire the streaming content conforming to the distribution server control information. It instructs that additional information matching the information be acquired from the additional information database 11 and added to the streaming content.

In the following step S11, the data acquisition means 1
4 is a distribution server SVR1 based on the distribution server control information.
Request to change the delivery conditions. Accordingly, in the next step S12, the distribution server SVR0
Data acquisition means 1 for new streaming content
4 and the data acquisition means 14 outputs the streaming content to the data addition means 13. In step S13, as in step S7, the data adding unit 13 adds additional information that matches the additional information database control information to the streaming content, and transmits the streaming content to the communication terminal T1 via the transmission / reception processing unit 17. In the following step S14, as in step S8, the communication terminal T1 displays a new moving image having a changed resolution and new additional information on its display screen, and simultaneously outputs audio and music synchronized with the moving image. Reproduce.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, data distribution control device 10 adds the additional information in which the control information is associated with the streaming content, and transmits the streaming content to communication terminal T1. On the display screen of the communication terminal T1, moving image data as streaming content and an advertisement image or the like superimposed on the moving image data are displayed. And watch at the same time. Therefore, the advertisement and the advertisement notification effect of the advertisement are greatly improved. Further, based on the control information, the communication terminal T1 can access the advertiser's WWW server or the like or download and execute the applet.
The advertising notification effect is further improved. Further, the content control means 25 of the communication terminal T1 can generate content control information for controlling the distribution condition of the streaming content based on the control information and transmit the generated content control information to the data distribution control device 10. Therefore, the user of the communication terminal T1 can easily and easily control the distribution condition of the streaming content to a desired one.

[0034]

As described above, according to the information distribution system according to the first aspect of the present invention and the information distribution method according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the control code for allowing the data adding means to access the designated URL address is provided. It is possible to add additional information (advertisement or advertisement image or character, character or image used for telop, etc.) associated with control information such as an applet transfer instruction code to the streaming content and deliver it to the communication terminal. . In addition, the communication terminal can display, by the image display control means, the information obtained by superimposing the additional information on the received moving image data of the streaming content. Therefore, the user of the communication terminal accesses the URL address to obtain detailed information by selecting the displayed additional information with a pointing device such as a mouse, or downloads and executes an applet to display an animation. Therefore, the advertisement notification effect by the additional information is improved.

According to the second and fifth aspects, the data distribution control device can control the distribution condition of the streaming content based on the identification result of the received content control information. In addition, the distribution condition can be easily controlled to a desired one.

According to Claims 3 and 6,
The data distribution control device can provide streaming content to a communication terminal having an IP communication function, thereby improving the convenience of the user of the communication terminal.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a transmission format of a streaming content transmission request.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a transmission format of streaming content.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a display example of a moving image as streaming content and additional information.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a transmission format of a control request for requesting a change in distribution conditions of streaming content.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an information distribution method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional information distribution system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 information distribution system 10 distribution control device 11 additional information database 12 table storage unit 13 data addition unit 14 data acquisition unit 15 content control information processing unit 16 content selection control unit 17 transmission / reception processing unit 20 content storage database

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An information distribution system comprising: a communication terminal; and a data distribution control device that distributes streaming content including moving image data via a network in response to a transmission request from the communication terminal, The data distribution control device includes a data addition unit that adds predetermined additional information associated with predetermined control information to the streaming content, and sends the streaming content added with the additional information to the communication terminal. And a transmission / reception processing unit, wherein the communication terminal has image display control means for displaying the moving image data transmitted from the data distribution control device and the additional information superimposed on the moving image data, An information distribution system characterized by the following. 2. The information distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the communication terminal generates content control information for controlling distribution conditions of the streaming content based on the control information associated with the additional information. Content control information processing means having content control means, identifying the content control information transmitted from the communication terminal, and controlling distribution conditions of the streaming content based on the identification result An information distribution system having: 3. The information distribution system according to claim 1, wherein said transmission / reception processing unit has an IP (Internet Protocol) communication function. 4. An information distribution method for distributing streaming content including moving image data in response to a transmission request from a communication terminal in a network, the method comprising: (a) transmitting predetermined additional information associated with predetermined control information; (B) sending the streaming content, to which the additional information has been added in the step (a), to the communication terminal;
(C) displaying the moving image data of the streaming content transmitted in the step (b) and the additional information superimposed on the moving image data. 5. The information distribution method according to claim 4, wherein:
(D) generating, in the communication terminal, content control information for controlling distribution conditions of the streaming content based on the control information associated with the additional information; and (e) generating content control information in the step (d). Identifying the transmitted content control information and controlling distribution conditions of the streaming content based on the identification result. 6. The information distribution method according to claim 4, wherein in the step (b), the streaming content is transmitted based on IP (Internet Protocol).