JP2003196919A - Reproducing system, content data providing system, personal digital assistant, method of transmitting content data and method of reproducing content data - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multi-reproducing system for content data capable of simultaneously reading a plurality of the content data from source apparatus, and discretely and simultaneously supplying a plurality of users with such content data. <P>SOLUTION: The system has an on-vehicle audio system 100 which can reproduce a plurality of the different content data and a plurality of portable reproducing devices 200 which exist within the prescribed ranges, such as the inside of the cabin of an automobile with respect to the audio system 100. The audio system 100 acquires the different content data from a plurality of the source apparatus disposed at this audio system 100 and sends the content data to a plurality of the reproducing devices 200 by using radio communication in parallel. A plurality of the reproducing devices 200 receive the content data sent from the audio system 100 and reproduce the data by respective reproducing means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a playback device, a portable device and content data capable of transmitting content data read by a playback device to a portable device by wireless communication and outputting the transmitted content data. Reproduction method etc.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A vehicle-mounted audio system capable of reproducing music content data in a vehicle compartment is generally known. In the vehicle-mounted audio system, the music content data recorded on the recording medium is read song by song, and the music content data is output as sound from an output device such as a speaker provided in the vehicle compartment. In general, as a source device provided in an in-vehicle audio system, a player such as a CD, an MD, a cassette tape or the like can be cited. Recording media such as CDs, MDs, and cassette tapes are reproduced by individual source devices. Some vehicle-mounted audio systems have a function of receiving a radio wave by a tuner and outputting it as voice. Furthermore, as a source device in an in-vehicle audio system, there is also a device equipped with a hard disk drive capable of recording a large amount of content data.

Further, a navigation device and a video reproducing device which can be mounted on an automobile are provided with a display screen. By reproducing the recording medium on which the image content data is recorded by the source device having such a display screen, the image content data is output from the display screen, so that the video content can be enjoyed in the vehicle interior. Furthermore, if a portable MD player, a portable CD player, a portable DVD player, or the like is brought into the vehicle compartment of the vehicle, the content data can be played back in the vehicle compartment of the vehicle. Since these portable playback devices independently play back content data from their respective sources, passengers can individually enjoy different content.

[0004]

By the way, there is a demand for a plurality of passengers to individually view or listen to a plurality of contents that can be reproduced by an in-vehicle audio system. Therefore, it would be convenient if the in-vehicle audio system could provide different passengers with different content data reproduction, but the conventional in-vehicle audio system does not have such a function.

Further, although the reproduction of the content data can be individually enjoyed by using the portable reproducing apparatus, the portable reproducing apparatus can reproduce only the source content data provided in the portable reproducing apparatus. In addition, there are demands for multiple passengers to individually reproduce their favorite from the large amount of content data recorded on the hard disk drive installed in the in-vehicle audio system. Had no such feature.

That is, in the conventional in-vehicle system, a plurality of content data can be read from a source device or a plurality of content data can be read from a plurality of source devices and reproduced, that is, multi-reproduction of content data can be performed. There wasn't.

Therefore, the present invention is a content data reproducing system and content data reproducing system capable of simultaneously reading a plurality of content data from a source device and providing these content data individually and simultaneously to a plurality of users. The purpose is to provide a method. Another object is to provide a transmitting device and a content data reproducing device capable of reproducing the content data individually and simultaneously.

[0008]

The present invention which achieves the above object provides a reproducing system characterized by the following configuration. This reproduction system includes a content data providing device that transmits different content data in parallel, and a plurality of content data that are present within a predetermined range with respect to the content data providing device and that are transmitted from the content data providing device. And a plurality of reproducing devices for individually and simultaneously reproducing. Here, this content data providing device may be an in-vehicle device used in a vehicle interior. Further, here, wireless communication can be used for transmission and reception performed between the content data providing device and the plurality of reproducing devices. Then, in this wireless communication, content data is transmitted to a plurality of playback devices by using a frequency hopping method. Further, the content data providing device transmits the content data to the plurality of reproducing devices based on transmission requests from the plurality of reproducing devices. In this content data reproducing system, it is assumed that the content data providing apparatus can recognize the device ID of the reproducing apparatus that has requested the transmission of the content data. Then, the content data providing apparatus transmits the content data by adding the device ID of the reproducing apparatus that has made the transmission request. By doing so, with respect to each playback device that has requested the transmission of the content data,
It is possible to definitely send the content data according to the request. Also, the transmission of the content data from the content data providing device to the reproducing device can be performed in parallel or simultaneously according to the transmission requests from the plurality of reproducing devices.

Further, the present invention provides a content data providing device characterized by the following configuration.
That is, this content data providing device includes a content data acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of different content data and a plurality of different content data acquired by the content data acquisition unit that are different from each other within a predetermined range. Content data transmission means for time-divisionally transmitting to the playback device while switching. Here, this content data providing device can be configured not only to transmit the content data to a separately prepared reproducing device, but also to have an output means for the content data providing device itself to output the content data. . In this case, it is possible to transmit the content data to the reproducing device and output the content data different from the content data with this output means. With such a configuration of the content data providing device, a plurality of content data read from a plurality of source devices included in the content data providing device or a plurality of types of content data within a predetermined range such as a vehicle interior Can be transmitted to each of a plurality of playback devices existing in the.

Further, the present invention provides a portable information terminal characterized by having the following configuration. That is,
This portable information terminal is provided from the in-vehicle device according to the information transmitted by the transmitting means for transmitting the information for specifying the predetermined content data from the plurality of content data that the in-vehicle device can reproduce. And a reproducing means for reproducing the content based on the content data received by the receiving means regardless of the operating state of the vehicle-mounted device. With this configuration of the mobile information terminal, as long as the vehicle-mounted device is operating, content data that can be obtained from the source device of the vehicle-mounted device is received and held by the mobile information terminal itself. The content data can be reproduced by the same reproducing means (outputting means) as reproducing (outputting).

Further, the present invention provides a step of generating information regarding an instruction for transmitting content data, a step of transmitting information regarding an instruction to a plurality of external devices existing within a predetermined range, and information regarding the instruction. There is provided a content data transmission method including a step of receiving a transmission instruction issued to the external device and a step of transmitting different content data in parallel to a plurality of external devices based on the transmission instruction.

Still further, according to the present invention, a step of receiving information regarding an instruction for reproducing the content data transmitted from the transmitting device within a predetermined range, and generating a reproduction instruction based on the information regarding the instruction. A method for reproducing content data is provided, which includes a step of transmitting a reproduction instruction to a transmission device, and a step of receiving content data transmitted from the transmission device in response to the reproduction instruction and outputting the content data. A content data reproducing system can be provided by using the content data providing apparatus and the reproducing apparatus that perform processing based on the content data transmitting method and the content data reproducing method.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described in detail below based on the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. In the present embodiment, a system that reproduces content data individually and simultaneously using a transmission device and a content data reproduction device will be described as an example. In the content data reproduction system illustrated in the present embodiment, a plurality of content data read by the in-vehicle audio system is transmitted to the portable portable reproduction apparatus, and the content received by the portable portable reproduction apparatus is transmitted. Play data.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a content data reproducing system according to the present embodiment. As an example of the present embodiment, the content data reproducing system shown in FIG. 1 includes an in-vehicle audio system 100 used as a content data transmitting device described later with reference to FIG. 3 and content data described later with reference to FIG. Portable playback device 200 used as playback device
And are provided. The in-vehicle audio system 100 and the portable playback device 200 are network-connected by a wireless connection capable of transmitting and receiving content data and the like.

As will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 3, the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 used as the transmitting apparatus exemplified in the present embodiment has a device configuration and functions provided as a conventional vehicle-mounted audio system, and Portable playback device 2 used as content playback device
The communication module 151 and the antenna 152 capable of performing wireless communication with the communication terminal 00 and the memory 112 in which a control program for controlling these are recorded. Further, as will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. 5, the portable playback device 200 used as the content playback device in the present embodiment includes a communication module 251 capable of performing wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted audio system 100. The antenna 252 and the memory 212 in which a control program for controlling these are recorded are provided.

As a device used as a transmitter,
In addition to the vehicle audio system 100 shown in FIG.
A navigation device or the like can be used as long as it has a function of enabling wireless communication with the content data reproducing device. The content data reproducing device (hereinafter referred to as portable reproducing device 200) is a portable information terminal, and specifically, the in-vehicle audio system 1
00, a mobile phone 201, a portable music player 202, a PDA (Person
al Digital Assistant) 203 and the like. Examples of the portable music reproducing device 202 include a reproducing device for reading and reproducing content data from a recording medium such as a cassette tape, a CD, or an MD, and a portable MP.
3 players or the like can be used.

In the present embodiment, in the content data reproducing system configured as described above, the content data read from the source device built into the vehicle audio system 100 and the vehicle audio system 1 are used.
The portable reproduction device 200 reproduces the content data based on the radio wave received by the source device built into the device 00. By the way, wireless communication is used for transmission and reception of content data and various commands between the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 and the portable reproduction device 200 according to the present embodiment. As a communication means in this wireless communication, a wireless LAN (Local Ar) of Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11 standard is used.
ea Network) can be used.

In the present embodiment, a case where Bluetooth using a frequency hopping method is used as a communication means for wireless communication will be described as an example. Bluetooth
Then, using the frequency band of 2.45 GHz, 1000K
A data transmission rate of bps can be realized. Then, the frequency band can be band-divided in this frequency band, and the frequency of the carrier wave can be hopped (switched) for each band-divided frequency in a certain fixed period for communication. Then, point-to-multipoint, that is, communication between one device and a plurality of devices becomes possible. Further, by dividing the frequency band and performing communication using the frequency hopping method, it is possible to prevent the influence on the carrier wave due to noise from the outside world, interference between a plurality of devices, and the like. This band division does not necessarily have to be performed, and wireless communication may be performed by making maximum use of the available frequency band.

Here, an example of dividing the data transfer rate in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, 10 is used in communication using Bluetooth.
A transmission rate of 00 Kbps is provided. Here, for example, assuming that the transfer rate required when transmitting music content data is 50 kbps, if the transmission rate of 1000 kbps can be secured as the performance of the transmitting device side, 20 types of music can be transmitted at a time. Content data can be sent. That is, it is possible to simultaneously transmit music content data to 20 portable playback devices. For example, the content data I read from the source device can be transmitted to the mobile phone 201, the content data II to the portable music reproducing device 202, and the content data III to the PDA 203 at the same time, that is, in parallel. The transfer rate required to transmit the content data changes depending on the type of content data to be transmitted and the like.

As described above, the vehicle audio system 1
If a frequency hopping method is used as a means for transmitting content data from 00 to the portable playback device 200,
At the same time (in parallel), a plurality of content data can be transmitted to a plurality of portable playback devices 200. Also, if wireless communication is used, it is not necessary to interpose a communication cable or the like with the portable playback device 200. That is, it is not necessary to arrange the cables. By doing so, the degree of freedom in arranging the portable playback device 200 particularly in a limited space such as the interior of a vehicle is increased. Further, since it is not necessary to prepare a dedicated communication cable corresponding to each portable reproducing apparatus 200, it is possible to reduce the cost when introducing the content data reproducing system shown in the present embodiment. Further, when the cable connection is performed, the number of ports that the in-vehicle audio system 100 can have may be limited. However, if wireless communication is used, communication with a sufficient number of portable playback devices 200 is possible. Will be able to do.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the structure of the vehicle audio system 100 according to the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, an in-vehicle audio system 1 is used as an example of a transmitting device in a content data reproducing system.
The case of using 00 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the vehicle-mounted audio system 10 according to the present embodiment.
0 is the CPU 111, the memory 112, and the code IC 11
3, a CD-ROM drive 121, and a tuner 122
, Receiving antenna 123, and A / D (Analog to Digita
l) Converter 124 and hard disk drive 12
5, operation unit 131, display 132, D / A
The converter 141 and the volume controller 142
A speaker 143, a communication module 151, and an antenna 152.

The CD-ROM drive 121 is loaded with a CD recording medium (not shown) in which the content data is digitally recorded, and reads the content data from the CD recording medium. In the present embodiment, the CD-ROM drive 121 is exemplified as a device for reading the content data from the recording medium, but any device that can be built into the vehicle audio system 100 can be used in addition to the CD-ROM drive 121. Can also be reproduced from various sources of content data. For example, a cassette tape player, MD drive, memory stick slot or the like may be used. In this case, a cassette tape, MD, memory stick or the like is used as the recording medium for the content data. Known devices can be used as the drive and the player. Further, not only a device built in the in-vehicle audio system 100, but also a content data reading device connected to the outside of the in-vehicle audio system 100 by a cable or other communication means can be used. 1 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG.

The tuner 122 is a receiving device that band-limits broadcast radio waves transmitted from a broadcasting station or the like and receives them via the receiving antenna 123. The analog content data received by the tuner 122 is converted to digital content data (hereinafter,
(Referred to as content data). In this way, the content data read from the recording medium and the content data received by the tuner 122 and A / D converted can be recorded in the hard disk drive 125 described later.

The hard disk drive 125 is a large capacity recording device capable of recording a large amount of content data. This hard disk drive 125 is a CD
-Content data such as audio and images read by the ROM drive 121 and other devices, and a tuner 122
It is possible to receive and record content data such as audio and images received by. If the vehicle audio system 100 has a function for connecting to the Internet, the hard disk drive 125
It is also possible to record the content data acquired when connecting to the Internet or the like. Such content data can be read by the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 as well as the content data read from the recording medium and the content data received by the tuner 122.

These CD-ROM drive 121, tuner 122 (including receiving antenna 123 and A / D converter 124), hard disk drive 125, etc.
The in-vehicle audio system 100 is used as a source device for reading the content data, that is, as a content data acquisition unit. The content data read by these source devices is transmitted to the code IC 113. The code IC 113 decodes the content data read by the source device if the content data is encoded. Code IC
The content data that has passed through 113 is sent to the CPU 111 or the D / A converter 141 depending on its type.

The CPU 111 that controls the entire apparatus of the vehicle audio system 100 according to the present embodiment is
In addition to the code IC 113 described above, a control program executed by the CPU 111 is read and the CPU 111
11 used as a storage area for operating
2, an operation unit 131 that receives an operation from the outside to operate each function provided in the vehicle-mounted audio system 100, a liquid crystal display unit that can display the operation status of the vehicle-mounted audio system 100, and the like. A display 132 is connected. Further, the CPU 111 of the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 according to the present embodiment includes a communication module 1 including an antenna 152 described later.
51 is connected.

When the operation unit 131 is operated to reproduce the content data of the source device, the CPU
Reference numeral 111 denotes an in-vehicle audio system 10 based on this operation according to the control program read in the memory 112.
0 is controlled and operated. Then, the content data read from the source device is decoded by the code IC 113 as necessary, and then the D / A converter 1
The volume is converted into analog data at 41, and the volume is adjusted by a volume controller 142 connected to a knob or the like (not shown) provided on the operation unit 131.
It is output from 3.

In the present embodiment, a plurality of content data read from a source device such as a CD-ROM drive 121, a tuner 122, a hard disk drive 125 or a plurality of types of source devices are reproduced individually and simultaneously. That is, the multi-playback of content data has a great feature. For that purpose, a reproducing apparatus for individually and simultaneously (in parallel) reproducing these plural contents data is required.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the content data can be reproduced not only from the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 but also from a plurality of portable reproduction devices 200 capable of wirelessly communicating with the vehicle-mounted audio system 100. To do so. Therefore, in addition to the conventional configuration described above, the in-vehicle audio system 100 has
The portable reproduction apparatus 200 further includes a transmission unit including a communication module 151 having an antenna 152 for transmitting a plurality of content data. If the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 has such a configuration, it is possible to simultaneously transmit a plurality of content data read by the source device to the portable playback device 200 via the communication module 151 and the antenna 152. Here, the transmission of the content data by the transmitting means may be performed in a time-division manner or may be performed in parallel. Further, as described with reference to FIG. 2, wireless communication using the frequency hopping method is performed between the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 and the portable playback device 200 according to the present embodiment. In such a case, the communication module 151 and the antenna 152 are
A plurality of communication modules 151 ′ and a plurality of antennas 152 ′ may be provided when content data is simultaneously transmitted to a plurality of portable playback devices 200 by using another method, as long as they are provided as a set.

A control program read and executed by the CPU 111 is recorded in the memory 112 of the vehicle audio system 100 according to the present embodiment. The control program accepts a content data transmission request from the portable reproduction apparatus 200 via the antenna 152 and the communication module 151, reads a plurality of content data from the source device based on the transmission request, and then reads the content data from the portable reproduction apparatus 200. To send to (simultaneously) in parallel. Further, this control program provides an interface that allows the portable reproduction apparatus 200 to intuitively and smoothly make a request for transmission of content data from the in-vehicle audio system 100.
The control program for performing multi-playback of content data in the present embodiment has a content list creation function, a portable playback device recognition function, and a content data transmission function.

The function of the control program executed by the CPU 111 will be described below. First, the content list creation function will be described. The content list creation function provided in the CPU 111 creates content list information based on the content data that can be read from the source device, and creates the list of content lists shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a screen example of a content list created by the content list creation function according to the present embodiment. The screen illustrated here can be displayed on the display 132 of the in-vehicle audio system 100 after being created by the content list creating function. As illustrated, the content list screen 300 includes a CD content display unit 310, a tuner content display unit 320, a hard disk drive content display unit 330, and an external connection device content display unit 340. Here, it is assumed that each content display unit is buttonized and displayed in a selectable state.

For example, the CD-ROM drive 121
When a changer is provided and a plurality of CD recording media are inserted, the CD content display unit 310
As shown in the figure, the number of the disc tray into which each CD recording medium is inserted can be displayed. Then, by selecting the button of each number, the content data can be read from the CD recording medium inserted in the disc tray of that number. In addition, the tuner content display section 320 is provided with a button corresponding to a key preset in the tuner 122 and an area in which an arbitrary frequency band can be manually set. By selecting this button or area, the tuner 12
2 can read the content data received.

Further, the hard disk drive content display section 330 can display the directory structure recorded in the hard disk drive 125 and the content data recorded in this directory. This content data can be read by searching the content data by tracing the directory structure and selecting the desired content data. Furthermore, the external connection device content display unit 340
The information of the external connection device recognized by the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 can be displayed on the screen. The content list created in this way is transmitted to the portable playback device 200, as described later. Also, by performing an operation such as button selection on the content list screen 300 displayed on the display 132, it is possible to reproduce the selected content data.

Next, the portable playback device recognition function will be described. The portable playback device recognition function provided in the CPU 111 is capable of wirelessly communicating with the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 via the communication module 151 and the antenna 152 every time a predetermined time has passed, and the portable playback device 200 having the device ID is displayed. Search for.
By doing so, it is possible to detect that a new portable playback device 200 has been brought into the passenger compartment of the automobile and that the portable playback device 200 in the passenger compartment has been powered on. Then, the device ID of the portable reproduction device 200 detected by performing the search by the portable reproduction device recognition function can be stored in a predetermined area of the memory 112. Further, the portable reproducing apparatus 200 detected in this way can be displayed on the display 132. Then, it is possible to wait until there is a connection request from the portable playback device 200 or to automatically connect to the portable playback device 200.

It is also conceivable that a portable playback device 200 capable of wirelessly communicating with the vehicle audio system 100 and having no device ID will be detected. In such a case, a new device ID associated with a unique value such as a MAC address given to the communication module 251 or the like of the portable playback device 200 is generated and stored in a predetermined area of the memory 112. You can By doing so, the in-vehicle audio system 100 can recognize the portable playback device 200 capable of wirelessly communicating with the in-vehicle audio system 100. Then, the new device ID generated by the portable playback device recognition function is transmitted to the portable playback device 200 to be stored in the memory 112 or the like of the portable playback device 200.

In this way, it is possible to individually recognize the portable playback device 200 capable of wirelessly communicating with the vehicle audio system 100. By doing so, when a plurality of portable playback devices 200 request transmission of different content data, which transmission request is which portable playback device 200.
It is possible to determine whether the request is a transmission request from the. Here, the timing for searching the portable playback device 200 by the portable playback device recognition function may be when a certain time has elapsed as described above, or due to the characteristics of the usage condition of the automobile, the portable playback is performed in the vehicle interior of the automobile. Considering that the act of bringing in the device 200 may occur, it may be when the door of the automobile is opened or closed. In addition, a user having the portable playback device 200 moves in the passenger compartment of an automobile, or the portable playback device 2
Since it is possible that the portable playback device 200 moves by passing 00 to another user, it is desirable to perform the re-search every time a certain period of time elapses.

When the portable playback device recognition function recognizes the portable playback device 200, the content list screen 300 or content list information created by the content list creation function is transmitted to the portable playback device 200. The content list screen 300 or the content list information may be transmitted to the portable playback device 200 at any time, but when the content data is played back immediately after the portable playback device 200 is powered on. Considering the above, it is desirable to transmit at the earliest possible timing. Further, the vehicle audio system 100 is used in the passenger compartment of an automobile. Then, it is possible that the content data that can be provided to the portable playback device 200 changes sequentially according to the driving situation of the automobile. Therefore, it is desirable to periodically update the content list screen 300 and the content list information by the content list creation function, and to transmit them to the portable playback device 200 each time the update is performed.

Next, the content data transmission function will be described. The content data transmission function is for transmitting a plurality of content data read from the source device of the in-vehicle audio system 100 to the portable reproduction device 200 in response to a request from the portable reproduction device 200. Here, the transmission of the content data by the content data transmission function is performed via the communication module 151 and the antenna 152. Then, in the present embodiment, a plurality of content data can be simultaneously transmitted to a plurality of portable playback devices 200 by using frequency hopping wireless communication. The content data transmission function will be described later with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 in association with the operation in the content data reproducing system according to the present embodiment.

The in-vehicle audio system 100 is used in a limited space inside a vehicle compartment. Therefore, by providing the antenna 152 provided in the communication module 151 with directivity, it is possible to generally understand where in the vehicle compartment the portable playback device 200 having the device ID is located. By doing so, when transmitting the content data by wireless communication, the direction in which the content data is transmitted can be determined. Also, which device I
It is also possible to display on the display 132 of the in-vehicle audio system 100 where the portable reproduction apparatus 200 of D is in the vehicle compartment. In this way, the portable playback device 200 is not able to display the content list screen 300 on the portable playback device 200, and the in-vehicle audio system 1 is not displayed.
00, even if it is not possible to request the transmission of the content data to 00, the in-vehicle audio system 10
By operating the operation unit 131 of 0, the content data can be transmitted to the specific portable reproduction device 200.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of portable reproducing apparatus 200 in the present embodiment. In this embodiment, a case where the portable playback device 200 is used as an example of a content data playback device in a content data playback system will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the portable playback device 2 according to the present embodiment
00 is the CPU 211, the memory 212, and the operation unit 23.
1, a display 232, and a D / A converter 241
, Volume controller 242, and speaker 243
And a decoder 244, a communication module 251, and an antenna 252.

By the way, in the case of an ordinary portable music reproducing device, for example, a portable MD reproducing device, the content data is sent to the operating section based on the information of the content data recorded on the MD recording medium displayed on the display. An operation for reproducing is performed. Then, in response to this operation, the content data is read from the MD recording medium and the decoder, D /
The sound is output from the speaker or earphone as sound through the A converter and the volume controller.

Here, in the present embodiment, wireless communication is performed between the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 and the portable reproduction device 200, and a plurality of content data read from the source device provided in the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 are simultaneously read. There is a great feature in reproducing with a plurality of portable reproducing devices 200. Therefore, the portable playback device 200 according to the present embodiment is provided with a receiving unit including a communication module 251 having an antenna 252 for performing wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted audio system 100. A request for transmission of content data from the portable reproduction device 200 is issued by the communication module 25.
1 and the antenna 252 to be transmitted to the in-vehicle audio system 100 by wireless communication. Further, the content data transmitted from the in-vehicle audio system 100 in response to the transmission request from the portable reproduction device 200 is received by the antenna 252, and the communication module 251.
To the decoder 244 via

In the decoder 244, the communication module 25
C decodes the content data received in 1
Send to PU211. The content data sent to the CPU 211 is once sent to the memory 212, and then the memory 2
It can be stored in 12 buffer areas. By doing so, even if the wireless communication between the portable playback device 200 and the in-vehicle audio system 100 is temporarily interrupted for some reason, the content data can be reproduced without causing a sound jump or image interruption. It can be carried out. Then, the content data once stored in the memory 212 is sent to the CPU 211 again.

Here, the content data sent to the CPU 211 is converted into analog data by the D / A converter 241, and the volume controller 242 connected to a knob or the like (not shown) provided in the operation unit 231.
The volume is adjusted at and is output from the speaker 243.
As described above, the portable reproduction apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment can output, that is, reproduce the content data from the speaker 243 used when the portable reproduction apparatus 200 operates individually.

A control program read and executed by the CPU 211 is recorded in the memory 212 of the portable reproducing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment. This control program executes a function of requesting the in-vehicle audio system 100 to transmit content data via the antenna 252 and the communication module 251, and receiving and outputting the content data transmitted from the in-vehicle audio system 100. In the present embodiment, the control program for performing the multi-playback of the content data on the portable playback device 200 has an in-vehicle device recognition function, a content list display function, and a content data reception function.

The functions of the control program executed by the CPU 211 will be described below. First, the in-vehicle audio system recognition function will be described. The in-vehicle audio system recognition function provided in the CPU 211 is a function of making a response when the device ID of the portable reproduction device 200 is searched by the portable reproduction device recognition function of the in-vehicle audio system 100. This device ID search is performed by the antenna 2 provided in the communication module 251.
Received by 52. Then, the search for the device ID is sent to the CPU 211 via the decoder 244. Then, the CPU 211 causes the portable playback device 2
The device ID of 00 is transmitted to the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 via the communication module 251 and the antenna 252.

If the portable playback device 200 does not have a predetermined device ID, the in-vehicle audio system recognition function is performed by the in-vehicle audio system 10.
Notify 0 to that effect. Then, the device ID generated by the portable playback device recognition function of the vehicle audio system 100 is transmitted. The portable playback device 200 receives this device ID and stores it in the memory 2
It can be stored in 12 predetermined areas.

Next, the content list display function will be described. The content list screen 300 and the content list information created by the content list creation function of the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 are received by the antenna 252 provided in the communication module 251, passed through the decoder 244, and sent to the CPU 211. . Here, the content list display function provided in the CPU 211 determines whether the content list screen 300 can be displayed on the display 232. If the portable playback device 200 has a display 232 that is large enough to display the content list screen 300, the content list screen 300 is displayed on the display 2.
32 is displayed as it is. If the size of the display 232 is small, all or part of the content list information is displayed on the display 232 within a displayable range based on the content list information.

Then, with respect to the content list screen 300 or the content list information displayed on the display 232 by the content list display function, the operation unit 2
By performing an operation such as selection from 31, it is possible to reproduce the content data desired by the user who uses each portable reproduction device 200. Further, the content list display function may determine the type of content data that can be reproduced by the portable reproduction apparatus 200, and limit the content list screen 300 or the content list information displayed on the display 232 in advance.

Next, the content data receiving function will be described. The content list screen 300 displayed on the display 232 by the content list display function
Alternatively, when an operation such as selection is performed on the content list information from the operation unit 231, the content data receiving function included in the CPU 211 generates a transmission request for the selected content data. Then, the transmission request for the content data passes through the decoder 244 and is transmitted from the antenna 252 provided in the communication module 251 to the in-vehicle audio system 100. Then, the content data transmission function of the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 causes the content data corresponding to the transmission request from the portable reproduction apparatus 200 to be transmitted to the portable reproduction apparatus 200 that has transmitted the transmission request, that is, the portable reproduction apparatus 200 that has issued the reproduction instruction. Sent. The content data is received by the antenna 252 provided in the communication module 251, decoded by the decoder 244, and temporarily stored in the memory 21 via the CPU 211.
After being spooled to 2, it is output again through the CPU 211.

If the portable playback device 200 has the above-described functions, the content data read from the source device of the vehicle audio system 100 can be received and the content data can be played back by the portable playback device 200. Like Here, in the present embodiment, Bluetooth is used for wireless communication between the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 and the portable playback device 200. By doing so, a plurality of content data read from a source device or a plurality of content data read from a plurality of source devices from the in-vehicle audio system 100, which is the transmission source of the content data, is simultaneously transferred to a plurality of portable playback devices 200. Can be sent to. Then, by reproducing this content data in each portable reproducing apparatus 200, it is possible to perform multi-reproduction of the content data.

Next, based on the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, in the vehicle audio system 100 and the portable reproducing apparatus 200 shown in the present embodiment, the flow of the processing of the control program for multi-reproducing the content data. Will be explained. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow of the vehicle audio system 100 according to the present embodiment. Further, FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow of the portable playback device 200 according to the present embodiment.

First, the power supply of the vehicle audio system 100 is turned on (step 601). The power of the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 mounted on the automobile is automatically turned on when an operation such as starting the engine of the automobile is performed. Then, the car audio system 10
0 is a CD built in the car audio system 100
-Recognize source devices such as the ROM drive 121, the tuner 122, and the hard disk drive 125 (step 602). Further, the source device connected from the outside of the vehicle audio system 100 with a cable or the like is also recognized. Then, a content list is created based on the content data that can be read from these source devices (step 603). Here, this content list is created as the content list screen 300 and content list information shown in FIG.
2 is temporarily stored in a predetermined area.

Further, a portable reproducing apparatus 200 which can be independently operated by a passenger who gets in the passenger compartment of the automobile and can reproduce the content data transmitted from the vehicle audio system 100.
Is brought in, and the power of the portable reproducing apparatus 200 is turned on (step 701). After the power is turned on,
The portable playback device 200 waits until some operation is performed on the operation unit 231 or until a command is transmitted from the vehicle audio system 100.

In the in-vehicle audio system 100, it is judged whether or not the portable reproducing device 200 capable of performing wireless communication with the in-vehicle audio system 100 is in the vehicle interior, that is, the portable reproducing device 200 in the vehicle interior is searched. Is performed (step 604). Here, the communication with the portable playback device 200 is
It is performed via the communication module 151 and the antenna 152. If it is determined in step 604 that the portable playback device 200 capable of wireless communication with the vehicle audio system 100 is not present in the vehicle compartment, a message indicating that there is no device capable of wireless communication is displayed on the display 132. After displaying (step 605) and waiting for a certain period of time, the processing from step 603 onward is repeated. If it is determined in step 604 that the portable playback device 200 capable of wirelessly communicating with the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 is in the vehicle compartment, the portable playback device 200 is given a device ID of each portable playback device 200. Is transmitted to the in-vehicle audio system 100 (step 606).

The portable reproducing apparatus 200, step 6
The device ID transmission instruction command transmitted in 06 is received (step 702), and based on the transmission instruction command,
The individual device IDs provided in each portable playback device 200 are transmitted to the in-vehicle audio system 100 (step 703). Here, communication with the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 is performed by the communication module 151.
And via the antenna 152. The device ID transmitted from each portable playback device 200
Is stored in a predetermined area of the memory 112 included in the vehicle audio system 100 (step 607).
In the vehicle-mounted audio system 100, the wireless communication with the portable playback device 200 is established through the processes of step 607 and step 608 (step 608). Similarly, in the portable playback device 200,
Through the processes of steps 702 and 703, wireless communication with the vehicle audio system 100 is established (step 704). Here, in the vehicle-mounted audio system 100, the portable playback device 200 for which wireless communication has been established can be displayed on the display 132 (step 609).

When wireless communication is established between the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 and the portable playback device 200, the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 reads the content list created in step 603 and stored in the memory 112. This content list is transmitted from the in-vehicle audio system 100 to the portable playback devices 200 and received by each portable playback device 200 (step 705). Then, this content list is displayed as the content list screen 300 or as content information according to the display capability of the display 232 included in each portable playback device 200 (step 706).

In step 706, the display 23
In the content list displayed in 2, the selection operation can be performed by operating the operation unit 231. That is, in the portable reproduction apparatus 200, by performing an operation such as selection on the content list from the operation unit 231, the content desired to be reproduced by the portable reproduction apparatus 200 can be selected. Also, by selecting an arbitrary content and performing a predetermined operation on the operation unit 231, the in-vehicle audio system 1
It is possible to request the transmission of the content data to 00. Here, in the portable playback device 200, it is determined whether or not any content is selected from the content list displayed on the display 232 and a content data transmission request is made to the in-vehicle audio system 100. It is performed (step 708). If it is determined in step 708 that the content data transmission request has not been issued, the process after step 705 is repeated after waiting for a certain period of time. If it is determined in step 708 that the content data transmission request has been made, the content data transmission request selected by the portable playback device 200 is transmitted to the in-vehicle audio system 100 (step 709). ).

The content data transmission request from the portable reproducing apparatus 200 in step 709 is received by the vehicle audio system 100 (step 61).
0). The request for transmitting the content data in step 709 is carried out even when the portable data reproducing apparatuses 200 simultaneously transmit the content data.
You can receive it at. Then, the in-vehicle audio system 100 reads the content data from the source device based on the transmission request of the content data (step 611), and transmits the read content data to the portable playback device 200 (step 61).
2).

Here, if the content data read from the source device in step 611 is in an unencoded state, it is encoded by the code IC 113 and then sent to the CPU 111. Further, prior to the transmission of the content data in step 612, the CPU 111 requests the content data to be transmitted to transmit the content data that is the destination of the content data, and the portable reproduction device 2
A device ID of 00 is assigned. Since transmission of content data in the present embodiment is performed using the frequency hopping method, this device ID is assigned to all the divided content data. By doing so, even when the request for transmitting the content data is simultaneously issued from the plurality of portable playback devices 200, the plurality of content data read from the source device of the in-vehicle audio system 100 is transmitted as the content data. It is possible to simultaneously and surely transmit to the portable reproducing apparatus 200 that has made the request.

Here, in the vehicle audio system 100, it is judged whether or not the transmission of all the content data is completed (step 613). If it is determined in step 613 that the transmission of all content data has not ended, steps 611 to 6
The process of 13 is repeated. And step 61
When it is determined that the transmission of all the content data is completed in 3, the process waits until there is a transmission request for the content data from the portable playback device 200, and
The processing from step 603 onward is repeated. Also,
The content data requested to be transmitted from the portable playback device 200 is the tuner 12 such as a TV program or a radio program.
If the source is an uninterrupted radio wave received by 2, the content data is continuously transmitted until the portable reproduction apparatus 200 receives a request to stop transmission.

The content data transmitted in step 612 is received by the portable reproducing apparatus 200 which has transmitted the content data transmission request (step 71).
0). Then, the received content data is temporarily
It is stored in the buffer area of the memory 212. Then, the portable playback device 200 reads the content data stored in the buffer area of the memory 212 and outputs the content data from the speaker 243 and the display 232 according to the type of each content data, thereby playing back the content data ( Step 711).

Here, in the portable reproducing apparatus 200,
It is determined whether or not the reproduction of all the content data requested to be transmitted in step 709 has been completed (step 712). When it is determined in step 712 that the reproduction of all content data has not been completed, the processes of steps 710 to 712 are repeated. When it is determined in step 712 that the reproduction of all the content data has ended, the process stands by until some operation is performed on the portable reproduction device 200, and the processes of step 705 and subsequent steps are repeated. In addition, the content data for which a transmission request is made to the in-vehicle audio system 100
When the content data is an uninterrupted content data sourced from radio waves received by the tuner 122, a request to stop the transmission of the content data is separately transmitted to the vehicle audio system 100.

As described above, the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 and the portable playback device 2 according to the present embodiment.
The control program included in 00 mounts wireless communication between the in-vehicle audio system 100 and the portable playback device 200 to read and transmit a plurality of content data from the source device included in the in-vehicle audio system 100. The content data can be received and output by the portable playback device 200. That is, the plurality of content data read from the source device of the vehicle audio system 100 can be reproduced by the plurality of portable reproduction devices 200. In addition, the frequency hopping method is adopted in the wireless communication according to the present embodiment. With this configuration, the plurality of portable playback devices 200 can be simultaneously played from the in-vehicle audio system 100.
It is possible to individually and simultaneously transmit the content data to the. That is, by reading a plurality of content data from the source device of the vehicle audio system 100,
This content data can be played back by a plurality of portable playback devices 200 capable of wirelessly communicating with the vehicle audio system 100.

In the present embodiment, the content data reproducing system has been described by taking the in-vehicle audio system 100 and the portable reproducing apparatus 200 carried in the passenger compartment of the automobile as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. It is possible to read a plurality of content data from a source device and simultaneously transmit these content data to a portable or fixed terminal device, that is, a content data reproducing device. Other configurations may be used as long as the system is capable of reproducing.

Up to this point, the case where the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 is used as an example of the transmitting apparatus for transmitting the content data has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. As a transmitting device, a portable reproducing device 2
If the communication module 151 and the antenna 152 capable of communicating with 00 are provided, the navigation device may be used, for example. Further, it may be a device such as a portable video reproducing device which outputs image contents from a liquid crystal monitor or the like provided in the passenger compartment of the automobile. When the image content is played back by the content data playback system, it is desirable that the portable playback device 200 be a PDA 203 or a personal computer having a display 232 of a size sufficient to output the image content. In such a case, for example, a DVD player provided in the navigation device can be used as a source device and a DVD can be used as a recording medium. And this DV
The content data read by the D player can be transmitted to the portable playback device 200. Further, the audio content data of the content data received by the portable reproduction apparatus 200, temporarily stored in the memory 212 and then sent to the CPU 212 is output from the speaker 243. Further, the image content data is output to the display 232 and displayed on the liquid crystal display unit or the like.

Further, in the present embodiment, a plurality of content data are read from the source device provided in the car audio system 100, and these content data are reproduced individually and simultaneously by the plurality of portable reproduction devices 200. As described above, for example, the content data can be read from the source device provided in the portable playback device 200 brought into the vehicle cabin or the like and output from the vehicle-mounted audio system 100. Furthermore, the content data read from the source device provided in the portable playback device 200 is transmitted to the vehicle-mounted audio system 100, and this content data is temporarily stored in the buffer area of the memory 112 of the vehicle-mounted audio system 100. It is also possible to transmit the content data from the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 to the plurality of portable playback devices 200.

Further, as described in the present embodiment,
If the in-vehicle audio system 100 is equipped with a large-capacity recording device such as a hard disk drive 125, the content such as a program for which a recording reservation has been forgotten is played back, and while the content is played back, the content is kept in the cabin of the automobile on the go. It can be recorded in the hard disk drive 125.
Further, by recording the content data received by the tuner 122 in the hard disk drive 125 and transferring this content data to a notebook personal computer or the like, it is possible to take it out of the automobile and reproduce it.

In the content data reproducing system according to the present embodiment, if the content data transmitted from the transmitting device is of a type that cannot be reproduced by the content data reproducing device that received this content data, the transmission is performed. The device side may control not to transmit, or the content data reproducing device side may notify by displaying a message indicating that the content data cannot be reproduced.

[0070]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Load multiple content data from the source device,
It is possible to provide a content data reproducing system and a content data reproducing method capable of individually and simultaneously providing these content data to a plurality of users.

In addition, a plurality of source devices are provided, a plurality of content data are simultaneously read from the source device, or a plurality of content data are simultaneously read from the plurality of source devices, and these content data are read to a plurality of content data reproducing devices. Therefore, it is possible to provide a transmitting device capable of individually and simultaneously transmitting.

Further, there is provided a content data reproducing apparatus capable of transmitting a content data transmission request, receiving the content data transmitted in accordance with the transmission request, and reproducing the content data by the reproduction means of the content data reproducing apparatus. can do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a content data reproducing system in the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of division of a data transfer rate in the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an in-vehicle audio system 100 according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a screen example of a content list created by a content list creation function according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a portable playback device 2 according to the present embodiment.
It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 00.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the vehicle-mounted audio system 100 according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a portable playback device 2 according to the present embodiment.
It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process of 00.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Car audio system, 111 ... CPU, 1
12 ... Memory, 113 ... Code IC, 121 ... CD-R
OM drive, 122 ... Tuner, 123 ... Receiving antenna, 124 ... A / D converter, 125 ... Hard disk drive, 131 ... Operation unit, 132 ... Display,
141 ... D / A converter, 142 ... Volume controller, 143 ... Speaker, 151 (151 ') ... Communication module, 152 (152') ... Antenna, 200 ...
Portable playback device 201 ... Mobile phone 202 ... Portable music playback device 203 ... PDA (Personal Digital A)
ssistant), 211 ... CPU, 212 ... Memory, 231
... operation part, 232 ... display, 241 ... D / A converter, 242 ... volume controller, 243 ... speaker, 244 ... decoder, 251 ... communication module,
252 ... antenna, 300 ... content list screen, 3
10 ... CD content display unit, 320 ... Tuner content display unit, 330 ... Hard disk drive content display unit, 340 ... External connection device content display unit

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A content data providing device for transmitting a plurality of different content data in parallel, and the plurality of contents existing within a predetermined range with respect to the content data providing device and transmitted from the content data providing device. A reproducing system comprising: a plurality of reproducing devices for individually and simultaneously reproducing data. 2. The reproduction system according to claim 1, wherein the content data providing device is an in-vehicle device. 3. The transmission / reception performed between the content data providing device and the plurality of reproducing devices is wireless communication, and the wireless communication uses the frequency hopping method to transmit the content data to the plurality of reproducing devices. The reproduction system according to claim 1, wherein the reproduction system transmits the information to the reproduction system. 4. The reproduction system according to claim 1, wherein the content data providing device transmits the content data to the plurality of reproduction devices based on transmission requests from the plurality of reproduction devices. . 5. A content data acquisition unit for acquiring a plurality of different content data, and a plurality of different content data existing within a predetermined range for reproducing the plurality of different content data acquired by the content data acquisition unit. A content data providing device, comprising: a content data transmitting unit that transmits to the device in a time-division manner while switching. 6. The apparatus further comprises an output means capable of outputting content data different from the content data being transmitted while the content data transmitting means is transmitting predetermined content data. Item 5. The content data providing device according to item 5. 7. An in-vehicle device that transmits information for identifying predetermined content data from a plurality of content data that can be reproduced by the in-vehicle device, and the in-vehicle device according to the information transmitted by the transmitting unit. A receiving unit for receiving content data provided by the device, and a reproducing unit for reproducing the content based on the content data received by the receiving unit, regardless of the operating state of the vehicle-mounted device. Mobile information terminal. 8. A step of generating information related to an instruction for transmitting content data, a step of transmitting the information related to the instruction to a plurality of external devices existing within a predetermined range; A method of transmitting content data, comprising: receiving a transmission instruction made; and transmitting different content data in parallel to the plurality of external devices based on the transmission instruction. 9. A step of receiving, within a predetermined range, information regarding an instruction for reproducing the content data transmitted from the transmitting device, and generating a reproduction instruction based on the information regarding the instruction,
Content data including: a step of transmitting the reproduction instruction to the transmission device; and a step of receiving content data transmitted from the transmission device in response to the reproduction instruction and outputting the content data. How to play.