JP2004096479A - Device, method, and program for providing content - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a content displaying device for classifying and displaying the contents easy to understand for user. <P>SOLUTION: The content providing device for displaying a plurality of contents in a virtual space includes a content storing means 11 for storing the content in a relation with a category to which the content belongs, and an providing means 31 for classifying the content stored by the content storing means 11 into the category and providing the content identifiers in a row in the virtual space. The content providing device may have a data obtaining means 24 in addition for obtaining the data amount of the content. The providing means 31 indicates the content amount obtained by the data amount obtaining means 24 in one or more out of character, digit, symbol, and figure, and provides the content with a relation of the content identifier. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a content presentation device that classifies and displays a plurality of contents, a content presentation method, and a content presentation program.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of communication networks, contents such as moving images and audio have been distributed via communication networks. In the past, the communication speed was 300 bps / sec, but nowadays, large-capacity communication line infrastructure called broadband such as 64 Kbps / sec digital line, 8 Mbps / sec analog line, and 100 Mbps / sec optical fiber cable line has been developed. Is widespread. As a result, the user can receive various contents via the communication line.
[0003]
These contents are received by an information device such as a computer, a PDA, and a mobile phone. In recent years, televisions, game machines, and the like capable of receiving digital contents have also become widespread, and these information devices can also receive digital contents. The content received by these information devices is stored in a storage device provided in the information devices, and operations such as reproduction can be performed in response to a user request.
[0004]
For these contents, a method of creating a folder having a hierarchical structure and classifying the contents has been widely adopted.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, when there are many types of contents stored in the storage device, the user may need an enormous amount of time to organize the contents. Furthermore, there are many contents to be managed, such as the content currently being broadcast and the content to be broadcasted.
[0006]
In order to organize these contents, the contents are classified by creating a hierarchical structure such as displaying a list of contents attributes, providing folders for each type, and storing the contents in the folders.
[0007]
In such a conventional method, it is difficult to determine the content, and there is no method for classifying and displaying the content in a manner that is easy for the user to understand.
[0008]
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a content presenting apparatus, a content presenting method, and a content presenting program for classifying and presenting content in a manner that is easy for a user to understand.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a content presentation device according to claim 1 is a content presentation device that presents a plurality of contents in a virtual space, wherein the content storage unit stores the contents in association with a category to which the contents belong. Presentation means for classifying the content stored in the content storage means for each category, and presenting an identifier of the content for identifying the content in the virtual space.
[0010]
According to the invention of claim 1, since the identifiers of the contents are classified and displayed for each category, a user interface that is easy for the user to understand can be provided.
[0011]
In the content presentation device according to the second aspect of the present invention, in the content presentation device according to the first aspect, it is preferable that an attribute of the content indicates an attribute of the content.
[0012]
According to the invention according to claim 2, the attributes of the content are indicated by the identifier of the content by associating the attributes such as the broadcast time, genre, and cast of the content with the identifier of the content. Therefore, the user can grasp the attribute of the content by referring to the identifier of the content.
[0013]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the content presentation apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the content presentation apparatus further includes a size acquisition unit that acquires a size of the content through recognition of the content. It is preferable that the size of the acquired content is indicated by one or more of characters, numbers, symbols, and graphics, and presented in association with the content identifier.
[0014]
Here, the “size” refers to a data amount of the content, a reproduction time of the content, and the like.
[0015]
According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the data amount is also displayed, the user can easily select the content to be saved or reproduced.
[0016]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the content presentation apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, further comprising a thumbnail acquisition unit for acquiring a thumbnail corresponding to the content, wherein the thumbnail presentation unit acquires the thumbnail corresponding to the content. Preferably, the content identifier is a thumbnail representing the content among the thumbnails obtained by the thumbnail obtaining means.
[0017]
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the thumbnail is used as the identifier of the content, the content can be represented by an image, and the user can easily visually recognize the content.
[0018]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the content presentation apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the user of the content presentation apparatus is caused to select the content by presenting an identifier of the content by a presentation unit. It is preferable to further comprise an operation means for operating the content.
[0019]
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to operate the content via an easy-to-understand user interface.
[0020]
In the content presentation device according to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the content presentation device according to the fifth aspect, when a content identifier is selected by the operation unit, the thumbnail of the content acquired by the thumbnail acquisition unit is changed to a thumbnail of the thumbnail. It is preferable that a thumbnail group presenting means for presenting, in the virtual space, a thumbnail group which is partially overlapped and arranged in the reproduction order is further provided, and the attribute of the content is indicated by the arrangement of the thumbnails constituting the thumbnail group.
[0021]
According to the invention according to claim 6, the selected contents are successively displayed as a plurality of thumbnails. Therefore, scene selection and discrimination can be easily performed.
[0022]
In the content presentation device according to the seventh aspect of the present invention, in the content presentation device according to the sixth aspect, when one of the thumbnail groups presented by the thumbnail group presentation unit is selected by the user, the selection is performed. It is preferable that the displayed thumbnail is displayed on the front surface of the virtual space to the viewer of the virtual space.
[0023]
According to the invention according to claim 7, by displaying the selected thumbnail on the top surface, it is possible to perform focus display.
[0024]
The content presentation apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the content presentation apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising: content acquisition means for acquiring the content in association with a category to which the content belongs. Preferably, the means further presents the currently acquired content as a moving image.
[0025]
According to the invention according to claim 8, the content currently being received can be checked at any time, and the content and the channel to be displayed can be easily selected.
[0026]
In the content presentation device according to the ninth aspect of the present invention, in the content presentation device according to the eighth aspect, the presentation means includes an identifier of the content already stored in the content storage means and a content identifier of the content acquired by the content acquisition means. It is preferable that the identifier and the identifier be presented in a time series on a virtual axis provided in the virtual space for each category.
[0027]
According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, by arranging the contents in chronological order, the broadcast time and the storage time of the content can be easily understood.
[0028]
In the content presentation device according to the tenth aspect, in the content presentation device according to any one of the first to ninth aspects, schedule acquisition means for acquiring a schedule for acquiring the content in association with a category to which the content belongs. It is preferable to further comprise
[0029]
According to the tenth aspect, a future schedule is also displayed, so that it is possible to make a schedule for appreciating the content.
[0030]
In the content presentation device according to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the content presentation device according to the tenth aspect, the presentation unit records the identifier of the content acquired by the content acquisition unit and the schedule input by the schedule acquisition unit. It is preferable to present the specified content identifiers in chronological order for each category on a virtual axis provided in the virtual space.
[0031]
According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the content presentation apparatus according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, wherein the content acquisition unit acquires the content in association with a category to which the content belongs, and the content acquisition unit acquires the content. Schedule acquisition means for acquiring the schedule to be performed in association with the category to which the content belongs, wherein the presentation means associates the identifier of the content stored in the content storage means with the identifier of the content acquired by the content acquisition means. On the virtual axis provided in the virtual space, the content is presented in time series for each category, and is further recorded in the content identifier stored in the content storage means and the schedule acquired by the schedule acquisition means. And the content identifier in the virtual space. And preferably presented chosen chronologically in each category on a different virtual axes and the virtual axis.
[0032]
Here, the “virtual axis” is an axis that does not actually exist, and a certain direction in which the content is arranged is displayed as an “axis”. This “axis” may or may not be explicitly indicated on the display device.
[0033]
In the invention according to claims 11 and 12, since the content currently received and the content to be broadcasted in the future can be displayed according to a plurality of rules, the user can select which rule to display according to a plurality of rules. Is also good.
[0034]
A content presentation method according to claim 13 is a content presentation method for presenting a plurality of contents in a virtual space using a content presentation device provided with a content storage means and a presentation means. A content storage step of storing the content in association with the category to which the content belongs; and a presentation means for classifying the content stored in the content storage step for each category and presenting an identifier of the content for identifying the content in the virtual space continuously. And a presentation step.
[0035]
In the content presentation method according to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the content presentation method according to the thirteenth aspect, a content presentation device further comprising a size acquisition unit is used. The present invention further comprises a size obtaining step of obtaining, wherein the presenting step shows, by the presenting means, the size of the content obtained in the size obtaining step as one or more of letters, numbers, symbols, and figures, and associates the size with the content identifier. It is preferred to present.
[0036]
In the content presentation method according to the fifteenth aspect, the content presentation method according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the content presentation device further includes a thumbnail acquisition unit. It is preferable that the method further includes a thumbnail acquisition step of acquiring, and the identifier of the content presented in the presentation step is a thumbnail representative of the content among the thumbnails acquired by the thumbnail acquisition unit in the thumbnail acquisition step.
[0037]
16. The content presentation method according to claim 13, wherein the content presentation method further comprises an operation unit and a thumbnail group presentation unit. In the operation step of allowing the user of the content presentation device to perform the operation of the content by the operation means by causing the user to select the identifier of the content presented by the presentation means, the content identifier is selected by the user in the operation step. Then, for the thumbnails of the content acquired in the thumbnail acquiring step, the thumbnail group presenting means further includes a thumbnail group presenting step of presenting, in the virtual space, a thumbnail group in which a part of the thumbnails are superimposed and connected in the reproduction order. Is preferred.
[0038]
17. The content presentation method according to claim 17, wherein the content presentation device further includes a content acquisition unit, wherein the content acquisition unit uses Further comprising a content acquisition step of acquiring the content in association with the category to which the content belongs, wherein the presentation step presents the already acquired content as a moving image by the presentation unit, and further, in the content storage step, by the content storage unit, It is preferable that the identifier of the content already stored and the identifier of the content acquired in the content acquiring step be presented in a time-series manner for each category on a virtual axis provided in the virtual space.
[0039]
18. The content presentation method according to claim 18, wherein the content presentation apparatus further includes a schedule acquisition unit, wherein the content acquisition method further comprises: Further comprising a schedule acquisition step of acquiring the schedule in which the content is acquired in association with the category to which the content belongs, wherein the identifier of the content acquired in the content acquisition step and the content of the content recorded in the schedule acquired in the schedule acquisition step are included. It is preferable that the identifiers be presented by the presentation means in a time series on a virtual axis provided in the virtual space for each category.
[0040]
The content presentation method according to any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the content presentation method according to the nineteenth aspect uses a content presentation device further provided with a content acquisition unit and a schedule acquisition unit. The method further includes: a content obtaining step of obtaining the content in association with the category to which the content belongs by the obtaining means; and a schedule obtaining step of obtaining, by the schedule obtaining means, the schedule in which the content is obtained in association with the category to which the content belongs. The presenting step presents the already acquired content as a moving image, and further, associates the identifier of the content stored in the content storing step and the identifier of the content acquired in the content acquiring step with a virtual On a virtual axis provided in the interval, the content is presented in time series for each category, and further, the identifier of the content already stored in the content storage step and the schedule acquired by the schedule acquisition unit are displayed. It is preferable that the identifier of the recorded content is presented by the presentation unit in a time series on a virtual axis different from the virtual axis provided in the virtual space for each category.
[0041]
21. A content presentation program according to claim 20, wherein the content presentation program causes a computer to display a plurality of contents in a virtual space, wherein the contents are stored in association with a category to which the contents belong. And causing the computer to execute a presentation step of classifying the content stored in the storage step into categories and presenting the identifiers of the content in the virtual space.
[0042]
In the content presentation program according to the twenty-first aspect, in the content presentation program according to the twentieth aspect, a size obtaining step of obtaining the size of the content through recognition of the content, and a step of obtaining the size of the content obtained in the size obtaining step as a character , A number, a symbol, or a graphic, and presenting the content in association with the content identifier.
[0043]
In the content presentation program of the invention according to claim 22, in the content presentation program according to claim 20 or 21, the identifier of the content presented in the presentation step indicates the content among the thumbnails acquired in the thumbnail acquisition step. It is preferable that the computer further execute a thumbnail acquisition step of acquiring a representative thumbnail corresponding to the content.
[0044]
According to a twenty-third aspect of the present invention, in the content presentation program according to any one of the twentieth to twenty-second aspects, the content identifier is presented in the presenting step to allow the user to select the content identifier. Thus, in the operation step of allowing the user to operate the content by the user, and in the operation step, when the content identifier is selected by the user, the thumbnail of the content obtained in the thumbnail obtaining step is overlapped with a part of the thumbnail. It is preferable that the computer further execute a thumbnail group presenting step of presenting in the virtual space the thumbnail groups connected in the reproduction order.
[0045]
24. The content presentation program according to claim 24, wherein in the content presentation program according to any one of claims 20 to 23, a content input acquisition step of inputting and acquiring content in association with a category to which the content belongs; The input content is presented as a moving image at any time, and the identifier of the content already stored in the content storage step and the identifier of the content acquired and input by the user in the content input acquisition step are provided in the virtual space. It is preferable to cause the computer to execute a presentation step of presenting the categories in a time series on the virtual axis.
[0046]
A content presentation program according to claim 25, wherein in the content presentation program according to any one of claims 20 to 24, a schedule for inputting and acquiring a content is obtained and associated with a category to which the content belongs. The input acquisition and the step, and the presentation step, the content identifier input in the content input step, the content identifier recorded in the schedule input by the schedule input means, a virtual provided in the virtual space provided It is preferable to further cause the computer to further execute a presentation step of presenting the categories in a time series on the axis.
[0047]
A content presentation program according to claim 26, wherein in the content presentation program according to any one of claims 20 to 23, a content input acquisition step of inputting and acquiring content in association with a category to which the content belongs, A schedule to be input and acquired, a schedule input step of inputting and acquiring the content in association with the category to which the content belongs, and presenting the currently input content as a moving image at any time, and further, an identifier of the content already stored in the content storage step. Presenting the identifier of the content input in the content input step on a virtual axis provided in the virtual space in a time-series manner for each category, and further displaying the content already stored in the content storage step. And the identifier And presenting an identifier of the content recorded in the schedule input by the schedule input means on a virtual axis different from the virtual axis provided in the virtual space in a time series for each category in a chronological order. Preferably, it is executed by a computer.
[0048]
The content presentation device according to claim 27, wherein the content acquisition unit for acquiring the predetermined content and the content acquired by the content acquisition unit are associated with a reproduction time that is a relative time based on the start of reproduction of the content. A thumbnail acquiring unit for acquiring a plurality of thumbnails, and a thumbnail group presenting unit for presenting, in a virtual space, a group of thumbnails in which part of the thumbnails are overlapped and arranged in the order of the reproduction time of the thumbnails.
[0049]
According to the content presentation device of the twenty-seventh aspect, since the thumbnails are displayed in the order of the playback time of the content, the user can easily grasp the positional relationship of the thumbnails in the content.
[0050]
In the content presentation device according to claim 28, in the content presentation device according to claim 27, when any one of the thumbnail groups presented by the thumbnail group presentation means is selected, the selected thumbnail is displayed. It is preferable to further include a thumbnail operation unit that performs focus display and allows a user of the content presentation device to perform an operation on the thumbnail.
[0051]
Here, the focus display is a display of the selected thumbnail clearly and clearly, such as an enlarged display or a frame highlight display.
[0052]
According to the content presenting apparatus of the twenty-eighth aspect, the selected thumbnail is easy to understand, so that content editing and the like can be performed smoothly.
[0053]
29. The content presentation device according to claim 29, wherein the content presentation device according to claim 27 or 28, further comprising a scene change amount calculation unit that calculates a change amount of a scene of the content, wherein the thumbnail acquisition unit includes: It is preferable that a larger number of thumbnails be acquired for a scene with a larger scene change amount than a scene with a smaller scene change amount by referring to the scene change amount calculated by the amount calculation unit.
[0054]
According to such a content presentation device according to claim 29, since the frequency of acquiring thumbnails can be changed according to the amount of change in the scene, the user can efficiently display content by referring to the thumbnails. I can figure it out.
[0055]
30. The content presentation device according to claim 30, wherein in the content presentation device according to any one of claims 27 to 29, the thumbnail group presentation means includes a thumbnail group presentation unit in a virtual space within a predetermined reproduction time of the content. It is preferable that a certain length is obtained and presented at a position corresponding to the reproduction time in a certain length of the thumbnails constituting the thumbnail group.
[0056]
According to the content presentation device of the thirtieth aspect, the user can easily grasp the reproduction time of the content by referring to the depth at which the thumbnails are arranged.
[0057]
A content presentation method according to claim 31 is a content presentation method using a content presentation device including a content acquisition unit, a thumbnail acquisition unit, and a thumbnail group presentation unit, wherein a predetermined content is acquired by the content acquisition unit. A content obtaining step, and a thumbnail obtaining step of obtaining a plurality of thumbnails from the content obtained in the content obtaining step by a thumbnail obtaining unit in association with a playback time that is a relative time based on the start of content playback; A thumbnail group presenting step of presenting, in a virtual space, a thumbnail group in which a part of the thumbnails are overlapped and arranged in the order of the thumbnail reproduction time, by a thumbnail group presenting means.
[0058]
32. The content presentation method according to claim 32, wherein in the content presentation method according to claim 31, the content is presented by the thumbnail group presentation means in the thumbnail group presentation step. When any one of the thumbnails is selected by the user of the content presentation device, the thumbnail operating means displays the selected thumbnail in focus and allows the user to operate the thumbnail. Preferably, the method further comprises an operation step.
[0059]
33. The content presentation method according to claim 33, wherein the content presentation apparatus further includes a scene change amount calculation unit, wherein the content change unit calculates a content change amount by the scene change amount calculation unit. The method further includes a scene change amount calculation step of calculating a scene change amount, and the thumbnail obtaining step refers to the scene change amount calculated in the scene change amount calculation step by the thumbnail obtaining unit, and the scene change amount is small. It is preferable to acquire a larger number of thumbnails for a scene having a large amount of scene change than a scene.
[0060]
In the content presentation method according to the thirty-fourth aspect, in the content presentation method according to any one of the thirty-one to thirty-third aspects, the thumbnail group display step includes the step of: Of the thumbnails that make up the group of thumbnails
It is preferable to present the information at a position corresponding to the reproduction time within a certain length.
[0061]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description of the drawings, the same or similar parts are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals.
[0062]
(First Embodiment)
FIG. 1 shows a system configuration diagram of a content providing system using a content presentation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
[0063]
The content providing system includes a content distribution system 5 that distributes content such as images, sounds, moving images, and texts, and a content presentation device 1 that presents content received from the content distribution system 5. The content distribution system 5 and the content providing device 1 may be connected one-to-one by a unicast method, or one-to-many or many-to-many by a broadcast method.
[0064]
The content distribution system 5 and the content presentation device 5 are connected via a satellite line, the communication network 3, or the like. When a satellite line is used for connection, the content is transmitted via a satellite antenna 3b provided in the content distribution system 5, a satellite antenna 3a provided in the content presentation device 1, and an artificial satellite 4 that relays the satellite antennas 3a and 3b. Is delivered. When the communication network 3 is used for the connection, the terminal 2 b provided in the content distribution system 5 and the terminal 2 b provided in the content presentation device 1 are used to connect to the communication network 3. Here, the communication network 3 is a communication network such as the Internet, personal computer communication, and cable television. The terminals 2a and 2b are a modem, a terminal adapter, a home terminal, and the like.
[0065]
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the content distribution system 5 shown in FIG. The content distribution system 5 includes an all-station information creation device 54, a communication device 55, and broadcast stations 51a to 51l. The broadcast stations 51a to 51l are assigned unique channel numbers, respectively, and here, the broadcast stations 51a to 51l are assigned channel numbers 1 to 12 in order.
[0066]
The transmitting station 52 creates a content broadcasting schedule, which is all-station information in which the content broadcasting schedule for each broadcasting station is put together, and transmits the content broadcasting schedule to the content presentation device 1.
[0067]
The communication device 55 receives the content broadcast schedule for each broadcast station in accordance with a predetermined rule, received from the communication devices 57a to 57l provided in each of the broadcast stations 51a to 51l, and collects these content broadcast schedules. This is a device for transmitting to the content presentation device 1 and the broadcast stations 51a to 51l. The all-station information creation device 52 is a device that creates a content broadcast schedule that combines the content broadcast schedules for each broadcast station received by the communication device 55 according to a predetermined rule.
[0068]
The broadcasting station 51a further includes a database 56a, a distribution device 58a, and a communication device 57a. The database 56a stores detailed information on the content of the own station, a content broadcast schedule of the own station to be transmitted to the transmitting station 52, a collective content broadcast schedule received from the transmitting station 52, and the like. The distribution device 58a transmits to the content presentation device 1 the content to be broadcast by its own station and the content broadcasting schedule that has been put together. Here, the bundled content broadcast schedule is distributed for several days. Further, when there is a change or the like, it may be updated.
[0069]
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the content presentation device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The content presentation device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a content storage device 11, an input / output control unit 21, a content input unit 22, a schedule input unit 23, a data amount (size) acquisition unit 24, and a presentation unit 31. , A display device 41, an input device 42, and a receiving device 43.
[0070]
The display device 41 is a display device such as a CRT display and a liquid crystal display. Further, the content presentation device 1 according to the present invention may be provided on a general television or the like, or may be provided on a general television as a set-top box. In this case, the display device 24 is a television or the like. The input device 42 is an input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a remote controller.
[0071]
The receiving device 43 is a device that receives the content distributed by the content distribution system 5, the content broadcast schedule, and the like. Specifically, it is a device that connects the content presentation device 1 with the satellite antenna 3a or the terminal 2a shown in FIG. 1, and corresponds to a LAN card, a USB port, or the like.
[0072]
The content storage device 11 is a storage device that stores content provided in the content presentation device 1. For example, it stores previously broadcasted and recorded content, content copied from another medium, and the like. FIG. 4 shows an example of data in the content storage device 11. The content storage device 11 stores a unique program ID, a channel number for receiving the content, a broadcast date, a broadcast time, a content title, a genre, a data size, and the like for each content. As described above, in the content storage device 11, the content is associated with a category, such as a channel number or a genre, which characterizes the content.
[0073]
The input / output control unit 21 is a unit that mediates data exchange between the display unit 41 and the input unit 42 and the presentation unit 31.
[0074]
The content input unit 22 is a unit that inputs the content received by the receiving device 43 to the presentation unit 31.
[0075]
The schedule input unit 23 is a unit that inputs the content broadcast schedule received by the receiving device 43 to the presentation device 31. Here, an example of the content broadcast schedule acquired by the schedule input 23 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, information such as a unique program ID for each content, a channel number for receiving the content, a broadcast date, a broadcast time, a title of the content, a genre, and introduction image data is included.
[0076]
The data amount (size) acquisition unit 24 is a unit that acquires the data amount with reference to the content storage device 11 and inputs the acquired data amount to the presentation unit 31 when the data amount is not recorded in the content storage device 11. The data amount acquired here may be a data amount such as “3 Mbytes” or a reproduction time such as “2 hours”.
[0077]
The presentation unit 31 forms information acquired from the content storage device 11, the content input unit 22, the schedule input unit 23, and the data amount acquisition unit 24 so that the information can be presented to the user. 41.
[0078]
The presentation unit 31 includes an identifier acquisition unit 32, a channel classification unit 33, a time-series arrangement / data amount addition unit, an axis setting unit 35, and a moving image control unit 36.
[0079]
The identifier acquiring unit 32 acquires a unique identifier for each content with reference to the content storage device 11. For example, it is a title of a content, an image of a representative scene, or the like. Also, when there are several identical programs such as serial drama and animation, the identifiers do not need to be particularly unique.
[0080]
The identifier obtained here has any form such as letters, numbers, symbols, figures, etc., and has a shape such that information on content attributes such as the data amount of the content, reproduction time, genre, and broadcast time can be grasped. Is preferred.
[0081]
The channel classifying means 33 is a means for classifying the content presented by the presenting means 31 for each category. Here, the content is classified for each channel. The content may be classified according to the genre, or may be classified according to the owner (father, mother, brother, etc.) of the content.
[0082]
The time-series arrangement / data amount adding means 34 is means for arranging the contents classified for each channel by the channel classifying means 33 in chronological order in a broadcast order or the like, and arranging the content identifiers. Further, the data amount may be displayed using characters, numbers, symbols, figures, and the like with reference to the data amount obtaining means 24. For example, the data size may be recorded as “15 MByte” at the lower right of the content identifier, or the size of the identifier may be changed according to the data amount of the content. The axis setting means 35 is a means for setting an axis on which the identifiers arranged in time series by the time series arrangement / data amount adding means 34 are presented. For example, a first axis for arranging the identifier of the content recorded in the content storage device 11 and the identifier of the content currently being received in chronological order, the identifier of the content in the content broadcast schedule, and the identifier of the content currently being received. A second axis for locating the identifier is set. The first axis and the second axis may be coaxially provided in a straight line. Further, the first axis and the second axis may be set so as to extend in different directions with the identifier of the content currently being received as a vertex. Here, the first axis and the second axis are virtual, and need not be actually displayed on the display device 41 by the presenting means 31. That is, the first axis and the second axis express the direction in which the identifier of the content displayed on the display device 41 is arranged.
[0083]
The moving image control means 36 is a means for controlling the currently received content to be displayed as a moving image at any time, instead of using a still image.
[0084]
FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the content presentation method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
[0085]
First, in step S100, processing is sorted according to the content to be displayed.
[0086]
For the content scheduled to be broadcast from now on, the content broadcast schedule is received by the schedule input means 23 in step S101.
[0087]
On the other hand, for the content that has already been broadcast, the identifier of the content recorded in the content storage device 11 is acquired with reference to the content storage device 11 in step S102. Next, in step S103, the data amount acquisition unit 24 acquires the data amount of the content recorded in the content storage device 11.
[0088]
Further, for the content currently being broadcast, the content being broadcast is received by the content input means 22 in step S104.
[0089]
Finally, in step S105, the content acquired in steps S101 to S104 is displayed on the display device 41 by the presentation unit 31.
[0090]
FIG. 7 shows a detailed flowchart of the presentation means 31 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
[0091]
First, in step S151, the identifier acquisition unit 32 acquires identifiers of the content stored in the content storage device 11, the content currently being received, and the content to be received from now on. The content identifier acquired here may be an image of a representative scene of the content or the name of the content.
[0092]
Next, in step S152, the content input to the presentation means 31 is classified by the channel classification means 33 for each channel. Further, in step S153, the identifiers are arranged in chronological order, and the data amount of the content is further added. Here, only the data amount of the content already broadcasted and recorded, that is, the content recorded in the content storage device 11 may be displayed. The content currently being received or the content to be received from now may be displayed if the data amount is known in advance.
[0093]
Further, in step S155, the axis setting means 35 sets an axis for determining the direction in which the identifiers of the content are arranged in time series. This axis is virtual, and when actually displayed on the display device 41, the axis may not be displayed.
[0094]
On the other hand, in step S156, when displaying the content currently being received as a moving image as needed, the moving image is controlled by the moving image control unit 36.
[0095]
Finally, the information created in steps S151 to S156 is displayed on the display device 41.
[0096]
Next, an example of a screen presented by the content presentation device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0097]
FIG. 8 is an example of a screen displaying stored content and content to be received on different virtual axes.
[0098]
FIG. 8 includes a receiving content display area 101 for displaying a moving image of the content being received, a storage content display area 102 already stored in the content storage device 11, and a reception-scheduled content display area 103 described in a content schedule. . Each display unit is further classified for each channel such as CH1 and CH2.
[0099]
For example, the content of CH1 will be described in detail. FIG. 8 includes a point P1 provided in the receiving content display area 101, a point P2 provided in the saved content display area 102, and a point P3 provided in the scheduled content display area 103. Here, the points P1 to P3 are not all arranged on the same axis.
[0100]
The content currently being received on CH1 is displayed on point P1.
[0101]
In addition, the already stored content displayed in the stored content display area 102 is displayed on a virtual axis connecting the points P1 and P2. At this time, it is preferable to arrange them in chronological order. Specifically, the content arranged at a position closer to the point P1 is the most recently stored content, and the content arranged closer to the point P2 is arranged so as to be more previously stored.
[0102]
The content to be received displayed in the content to be received display area 103 is displayed on a virtual axis connecting the point P1 and the point P3. At this time, it is preferable to arrange the content in time series. Specifically, the content arranged near the point P1 is the content scheduled to be received most recently, and the content arranged closer to the point P3 is arranged so as to be received in the future. I do.
[0103]
That is, in FIG. 8, from the point P2 to the point P3 via the point P1, the past, present, and future are arranged in chronological order.
[0104]
Furthermore, the receiving content display area 101, the stored content displaying area 102, and the scheduled receiving content displaying area 103 may change colors such as saturation, hue, and brightness.
[0105]
In the display shown in FIG. 8, the stored content and the content to be received are displayed on different virtual axes, so that it is easy to identify the content already stored and the content to be received.
[0106]
Further, in FIG. 8, those whose data amount can be determined, such as stored contents, may be displayed by letters, numbers, symbols, drawings, or the like.
[0107]
FIG. 9 shows an example in which stored content and content to be received are displayed on the same virtual axis. 9, as in FIG. 8, a receiving content display area 101 for displaying a moving image of the content being received, a storage content display area 102 already stored in the content storage device 11, and a content to be received described in the content schedule. A display area 103 is provided. It is preferable to display them in a time-series manner.
[0108]
However, in FIG. 9, the points P1 to P3 are all arranged on the same axis.
[0109]
The display shown in FIG. 9 displays the stored content and the content to be received on the same virtual axis, so that it is easy to determine the time-series relationship of the content.
[0110]
Further, in FIG. 9 as well, those whose data amount can be determined, such as stored contents, may be displayed by letters, numbers, symbols, drawings, or the like.
[0111]
According to the first embodiment of the present invention, it is easy for the user to select which content to watch by displaying a list of the content already stored, the content currently being received, and the content scheduled to be received. It is.
[0112]
Further, since the contents are arranged in time series for each category such as channel, the user can easily recognize the category.
[0113]
(Modification of First Embodiment)
FIG. 10 shows a functional block diagram of a content presentation device 1 according to a modification of the first embodiment of the present invention. The content presentation device 1 according to the modification of the first embodiment of the present invention is different from the content presentation device 1 according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. Are different.
[0114]
The schedule storage device 12 is a storage device that stores the reception schedule input by the schedule input unit 23.
[0115]
Also, the update destinations of the content input unit 22, the data amount obtaining unit 24, and the like are different. The content input means 22 is recorded in the content storage device 11. That is, the content currently being received is stored in the content storage device 11 as needed. Further, the data amount obtaining means 24 updates the data amount obtained by referring to the content storage device 11 to the content storage device 11.
[0116]
The presentation unit 31 presents the content with reference to the content storage device 11 and the schedule storage device 12.
[0117]
Here, there may be an example in which the first embodiment of the present invention and an example of the modified example are confused. For example, the content currently being received may be input to the presentation unit 31 by the content input unit 22, and only the content to be saved among the currently received content may be stored in the content storage device 11.
[0118]
As described above, various embodiments can be given depending on the function requested by the user.
[0119]
(Second embodiment)
FIG. 11 shows a functional block diagram of a content presentation device 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The content presentation device 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention is different from the content presentation device 1 according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. It is different in that it has.
[0120]
The thumbnail storage device 13 is a storage device that stores a thumbnail corresponding to the content recorded in the content storage device 11. The thumbnail acquiring unit 25 is a unit that refers to the content storage device 11 and acquires a thumbnail from the content recorded in the content storage device 11. Specifically, it is means for acquiring an image representing a predetermined content or an image of a symbolic scene of the content.
[0121]
The identifier acquiring unit 32 is a unit that acquires a thumbnail of a content by referring to the thumbnail storage device 13 as an identifier of the content.
[0122]
FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of the content presentation method according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
[0123]
First, in step S200, processing is sorted according to the content to be displayed.
[0124]
For the content scheduled to be broadcast from now on, the schedule input means 23 receives the content broadcast schedule in step S201.
[0125]
On the other hand, for the content that has already been broadcast, the thumbnail of the content recorded in the content storage device 11 is acquired with reference to the thumbnail storage device 13 in step S202. Next, in step S203, the data amount acquisition unit 24 acquires the data amount of the content recorded in the content storage device 11.
[0126]
Further, for the content currently being broadcast, the content being broadcast is received by the content input means 22 in step S204.
[0127]
Finally, in step S205, the content acquired in steps S201 to S204 is displayed on the display device 41 by the presentation unit 31.
[0128]
Here, the flowchart of the presentation method by the presentation unit 31 according to the second embodiment of the present invention is the same as that in FIG.
[0129]
Next, an example of a screen presented by the content presentation device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0130]
FIG. 13 is an example of a screen displaying a list of stored contents, contents being received, and contents scheduled to be received. That is, in FIG. 13, a receiving content display area 101, a stored content display area 102, a scheduled content display area 103, and an operation input area 104 are provided.
[0131]
The thumbnails are used for the currently-received content display area 101, the stored content display area 102, and the scheduled content display area 103, and the same roles as those in FIGS. 8 and 9 described in the first embodiment are used. have. Here, contents are arranged in time series for each of the 10ch, 12ch, 20ch, 40ch, 41ch, 122ch, and 123ch channels.
[0132]
FIG. 13 further includes an operation input area 104 for performing the operation on the list-displayed contents. The operation input area 104 includes “Overview” indicating the whole image of the content, “Search” for searching for a scene in the content, “Sorting” for changing the display order of the content, “Filtering” for changing the content to be displayed, For example, an operation item such as “Setting” for setting a display format such as changing a channel to be displayed is provided.
[0133]
Further, in the second embodiment, the data amount obtained by the data amount obtaining means 24 is displayed in the drawing. In FIG. 13, thumbnails acquired from the content, for example, at regular time intervals are displayed so as to overlap. This makes it easy to visually determine that the data size of the content in which many thumbnails overlap is large and the data size of the content in which few thumbnails overlap is small. For example, comparing the number of thumbnails in which the content C1 overlaps with the number of thumbnails in which the content C2 overlaps, it can be determined that the data amount of the content C2 is larger.
[0134]
14 and 15 are screen examples when the content currently being received is stored in the content storage device 11, and FIG. 14 shows a screen before storage and FIG. 15 shows a screen during storage. 14 and 15, for simplicity, only the receiving content display area 101 and the stored content display area 102 are described. In FIG. 14, the content C2 stored more recently is arranged at a position closer to the receiving content display area 101 than the content C1 stored earlier. In the receiving content display area 101, the content currently being received is displayed as a moving image at any time.
[0135]
Here, the content of 40 ch is stored in the content storage device 11. As shown in FIG. 15, the content C1 and the content C2 are arranged at positions lower by one step in the storage content display area 102, and are located in the storage content display area 102 near the reception content display unit 101 (upper side in the figure). , The content C3 currently being received is arranged. The data size of the content C3 increases as the storage time increases. Therefore, it is preferable that the number of thumbnails in which the content C3 overlaps is updated as needed, and gradually increases.
[0136]
According to the second embodiment of the present invention, since a content is displayed as a set of scenes by using a thumbnail as an identifier of the content, a content presentation device that is more visually perceivable for a user is provided. Can be provided.
[0137]
In addition, by indicating the data amount of the content using a drawing, the user can easily recognize the content.
[0138]
Further, by updating the data amount of the content being received at any time, it is possible to recognize that the content is stored without any problem.
[0139]
(Third embodiment)
FIG. 16 shows a functional block diagram of a content presentation device 1 according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The content presentation device 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes a thumbnail presentation unit 25 and an operation unit 27 as compared with the content presentation device 1 according to the second embodiment shown in FIG. Is different.
[0140]
The thumbnail group acquisition unit 26 refers to the thumbnail storage device 13 and acquires a thumbnail group in which a plurality of thumbnails acquired for one content are arranged in chronological order among the contents recorded in the content storage device 11. The input / output control means presents the information to the display device 41.
[0141]
At this time, the content storage device 11 may be further referred to. Here, the acquired thumbnail group is obtained by arranging images at predetermined time intervals, images at scenes, and the like with respect to the content in chronological order. Any method may be used for creating the thumbnail group.
[0142]
The operation unit 27 is a unit that operates the presented content via the input device 42 and the input / output control unit 21. The screen presented by the presentation unit 31 can be changed by the operation performed by the operation unit 27. Further, the screen presented by the thumbnail group presentation means 26 may be changed by the operation means 27.
[0143]
FIG. 17 is a flowchart of the thumbnail group presenting means 26 when one of the contents presented by the presenting means 31 is operated by the operating means 27.
[0144]
First, in step S251, a thumbnail group is acquired by referring to the thumbnail storage device 13. Next, in step S252, the thumbnail groups are arranged in time series.
[0145]
Further, in step S253, the group of thumbnails arranged in chronological order in step S252 is displayed on the display device 41.
[0146]
FIG. 18 is a flowchart of the thumbnail group presenting means 26 when any one of the displayed thumbnail groups is selected.
[0147]
First, in step S261, the selected thumbnail is acquired, and then the thumbnail selected in step S262 is displayed in focus. Here, the focus display means that the selected thumbnail is displayed in an easy-to-understand manner, such as bringing the selected thumbnail to the top of the screen or displaying the selected thumbnail in a conspicuous color. Here, the unselected thumbnails may be displayed in a conspicuous manner, such as by displaying them in dark colors.
[0148]
FIGS. 19 to 25 are examples of screens presented by the thumbnail group presenting means 26. FIG.
[0149]
FIG. 19 is an example of a screen displaying a thumbnail group in which thumbnails of stored contents are arranged in chronological order, and includes an operation input area 111, a thumbnail group display area 112, and a content description area 113. The operation input area 111 includes “Auto Browsing” for playing back content, “Search” for searching for a scene of the content, and “Time Control” for setting a time interval for acquiring thumbnails, for example, for saving edited content. Operation menus such as “Save”, “Delete” for deleting content and content scenes, “Setting” for setting a display method, and “Back” for returning to the previous screen are provided.
[0150]
The thumbnail group display area 112 displays thumbnails acquired at regular time intervals in chronological order. Here, the start thumbnail of the content is displayed on the top surface, and the thumbnails are displayed in the order of reproduction on the back of the start thumbnail. In FIG. 19, thumbnails are displayed in a virtual three-dimensional space. For thumbnails other than the top thumbnail, only the outline may be displayed and only the existence of the thumbnail may be displayed, or a part of the thumbnail screen may be displayed. Also, thumbnail screens may be overlapped. Thus, more thumbnails can be displayed on a limited screen.
[0151]
The content description area 113 describes the description of the displayed content. For example, it describes the content name, storage date, recording time, director, cast, synopsis, and the like.
[0152]
FIG. 20 is a diagram in which some of the thumbnails displayed in FIG. 19 are selected. In FIG. 20, the selected thumbnails 114a to 114e are displayed by sliding horizontally from the thumbnail group display area 112. Here, for the selected content, it is preferable to display a description for identifying the scene of the content. For example, among the content having a total length of 120 minutes, for the thumbnail thumbnail 114a that has passed 10 minutes from the start, “Scene: 10 / 120 min "or the like.
[0153]
Further, the thumbnail 114a displayed on the top surface includes “Close” for canceling the selection of the selected content, “Block” for defining the starting point of the range selection, and “Block” for the selected content on the four sides of the thumbnail rectangle. Operations such as "Marking" for adding a mark (bookmark function) and "Clipping" for saving the selected image in another format are assigned, and clicking each of them performs the operation.
[0154]
When the operation on the thumbnail 114a displayed on the top surface is completed, the thumbnail 114a returns to the original position, and the next thumbnail 114b is displayed on the top surface. At this time, operations are assigned to the four sides of the rectangle of the thumbnail 114b. In this way, the operation is performed on all the thumbnails 114a to 114e.
[0155]
FIG. 21 is an example of a screen in which the operation has been completed for the thumbnails 114a to 114e shown in FIG. In FIG. 21, thumbnails on which operations such as “Block”, “Marking”, and “Clipping” have been performed in FIG. 20 have different shapes, such as changing colors, like thumbnails 114 a, 114 c, and 114 d. Is displayed. As for the thumbnails for which no operation has been performed, the shape is not particularly changed like the thumbnails 114b and 114e. This makes it easy to identify the operated thumbnail.
[0156]
In FIG. 21, a detailed menu of “Search” is displayed for the operation input area 111. The “Search” menu includes detailed menus such as “Highlight Scene” for searching for highlight scenes, “Cast Topics” for searching for cast topics, and “Marking” for searching for marked thumbnails. When “Marking” is clicked, the thumbnail on which the operation of “Marking” has been performed is displayed in FIG.
[0157]
FIG. 22 is a screen example when an operation is performed on a series of scenes.
[0158]
First, as shown in FIG. 22, a scene to be operated is selected. At this time, the scene to be operated is determined by selecting the start part of the scene and the end part of the scene. The selected scene 115 is slid horizontally from the display of the thumbnail group display area 112 to be displayed on the uppermost surface. Here, the operation menu as shown in FIG. 20 may be assigned to four sides of the thumbnail rectangle.
[0159]
FIG. 23 is an example of a screen when a series of scenes 116 are recorded on a storage medium such as a DVD. The scene 116 is slid sideways from the thumbnail group display area 112 to be displayed on the uppermost surface. Further, by selecting “Save” in the operation input area 111, recording on the storage medium is started.
[0160]
FIG. 24 and FIG. 25 are screen examples when the time interval for acquiring thumbnails is changed.
[0161]
FIG. 24 is a screen example in which thumbnails are acquired every 5 minutes, and FIG. 25 is a screen example in which thumbnails are acquired every 10 minutes.
[0162]
In the thumbnail group display area 112 shown in FIG. 24, many thumbnails are displayed as shown in FIG. 25, and the intervals between the thumbnails are further reduced.
[0163]
This makes it possible to visually indicate the method of acquiring the thumbnail displayed in the thumbnail group display area 112.
[0164]
According to the third embodiment, a plurality of thumbnails obtained from one content are arranged in chronological order, and the content is displayed as an aggregate of scenes. Therefore, a content display device that can be easily operated by a user is provided. can do.
[0165]
(Fourth embodiment)
FIG. 26 is a functional block diagram of the content presentation device 1 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, and is a functional block diagram of the content presentation device 1 according to the third embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. The difference is that a scene analysis unit 28 and a focus display unit 37 are provided.
[0166]
The focus display unit 37 is a unit that, when any one of the thumbnail groups presented by the thumbnail group presentation unit 26 is selected, displays the focus so that the selected thumbnail can be easily understood.
[0167]
The scene analyzing means 28 is means for analyzing a scene by a predetermined method. Any method may be used as long as it can analyze the scene of the content. With reference to the result analyzed by the scene analysis means 28, the thumbnail acquisition means 25 effectively acquires a thumbnail.
[0168]
As a general scene analysis method, there is a method of obtaining a change amount. This method is, for example, a method of dividing a scene into a scene with a large motion and a large amount of change in data, a scene with a small movement and a small amount of change in data, and the like. In this case, for example, a soccer game or an action movie is classified as a scene having a large change amount, and a marathon broadcast or a space scene is classified as a scene having a large change amount.
[0169]
As shown in FIG. 27, it is assumed that one content can be divided into four scenes according to the amount of change. Here, scenes 1 and 3 are scenes with a large amount of change, scene 2 is a scene with a relatively large amount of change, and scene 3 is a scene with a small amount of change.
[0170]
In the case of such a method, the thumbnail acquisition unit 25 refers to the scene change amount calculated by the scene change amount calculation unit 28 to determine whether the scene change amount of the scene is larger than that of the scene change amount. It is preferable to get many thumbnails. For the content of FIG. 27, many thumbnails are acquired for scenes 1 and 3 with a large amount of change, a small number of thumbnails are acquired for scene 2 with a small amount of change, and a small number of thumbnails are acquired for scene 4 with a small amount of change. Get a thumbnail. As a result, the thumbnail can be effectively acquired, and the user can accurately grasp the content by referring to the thumbnail.
[0171]
FIG. 28 is a flowchart illustrating a process of changing the thumbnail to be obtained according to the amount of change in the scene.
[0172]
First, in step S301, a change amount of an adjacent image is calculated for an image forming a moving image. In step S302, a scene is divided by classifying the scene into a scene having a large change amount, a scene having a small change amount, and the like.
[0173]
Further, in step S303, a thumbnail acquisition method is determined according to the amount of change in the scene.
[0174]
First, for a scene with a small scene change amount, one thumbnail is acquired from 300 images in step S304. On the other hand, for a scene with a relatively large amount of scene change, one thumbnail is acquired from 200 pictures. For a scene with a large amount of scene change, one thumbnail is acquired from 100 pictures.
[0175]
Further, in step S307, the thumbnail is displayed in association with the reproduction time.
[0176]
According to this, the user obtains a large number of thumbnails from a scene with a large amount of scene change, and obtains a small number of thumbnails from a scene with a small amount of scene change. Can be grasped.
[0177]
Also, in steps S304 to S306, 300 images, 200 images, and 100 images are described as an example, and an optimal numerical value is set according to a scene change amount, a content type, a system specification, and the like. It is preferable to set.
[0178]
FIG. 29 is a diagram in which thumbnails are acquired from the content shown in FIG. 27 and displayed in correspondence with the playback time.
[0179]
The thumbnails displayed in the thumbnail group display area 112 are divided into scenes 1 to 4, and are arranged in the order of reproduction from the front to the back.
[0180]
Referring to FIG. 29, for scenes 1 and 3, which are scenes with a large amount of scene change, thumbnails are arranged at a high density, and for scene 2, which is a scene with a relatively large amount of scene change, thumbnails are arranged. For scene 4, which is a scene with a slightly higher density and a smaller amount of scene change, the density at which thumbnails are arranged is low.
[0181]
Therefore, by referring to FIG. 29, the user can immediately determine a scene in which the scene change amount of the content is large or small. As a result, a scene with a large scene change amount can be carefully watched, and a scene with a small scene change amount can be watched at double speed, so that the content can be efficiently viewed.
[0182]
FIG. 30 is a diagram showing a content smaller in size than the content shown in FIG. The time length, which is one parameter of the size of the content shown in FIG. 29, is “120 min” as shown in the content description area 113. On the other hand, the time length of the content shown in FIG. 30 is "45 min" shown in the content description area 113a.
[0183]
In FIG. 30, no matter what content is displayed, a fixed length corresponding to a predetermined playback time of the content is determined, and the thumbnails linked to the thumbnail group correspond to the playback times of the plurality of thumbnails, respectively. It is arranged in the position where it was done. Therefore, the content having a short time length is displayed with a small depth. Also, as in FIG. 29, it is preferable to increase the density of thumbnails for scenes with a large amount of scene change, and to reduce the density of thumbnails for scenes with a small amount of scene change.
[0184]
Here, the size of the content determined from the depth of the thumbnail group display area may be a time length for reproducing the content or a data amount.
[0185]
Thereby, the user can determine the time length of the content from the depth of the thumbnail group display areas 112 and 112a.
[0186]
FIGS. 31 to 35 show examples of thumbnails focused on by the focus display means 37 according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.
[0187]
In FIG. 31, the selected thumbnail 117a is displayed at the top of the screen and is enlarged. According to the display method shown in FIG. 31, since the thumbnail is not overlapped with any thumbnail and is enlarged and displayed, the user can immediately grasp which thumbnail is selected. In addition, by leaving the position of the selected thumbnail 117a in the thumbnail group display area 112 blank, it is possible to know the position of the selected thumbnail.
[0188]
In FIG. 32, the selected thumbnail 117b is displayed at the top of the screen in the thumbnail group display area 112. Therefore, according to the display method shown in FIG. 31, since the thumbnail is displayed on the uppermost surface in the thumbnail group display area 112, it is easy to grasp the position of the selected thumbnail 117b in the presented content.
[0189]
In FIG. 33, the selected thumbnail 117c is arranged at the forefront of the thumbnail group display area 112 in which a plurality of thumbnails are arranged. Therefore, according to the display method shown in FIG. 33, the thumbnail images other than the selected thumbnail 117c are not displayed, so that the selected thumbnail 117c can be clearly grasped.
[0190]
FIG. 34 shows the thumbnail displayed before the selected thumbnail 117d in the display manner of FIG. 32, and FIG. 35 shows all the thumbnails other than the selected thumbnail 117e. It is displayed. According to the display method of FIGS. 34 and 35, since the thumbnails are displayed on the uppermost surface in the thumbnail group display area 112, the positions of the selected thumbnails 117d and 117e in the presented content can be easily grasped.
[0191]
Although an example of the focus display means 37 according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to FIGS. 31 to 35, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and any other focus display method can be applied. be able to.
[0192]
Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the first screen presented by the presentation means 31 and the second screen presented by the thumbnail group presentation means 26 may be displayed in an overlapping manner. At this time, the first screen presented by the presentation means 31 is thinly provided on the lowermost surface, and the second screen presented by the thumbnail group presentation means 26 is provided on the upper surface.
[0193]
This makes it easier to grasp the relationship between the first screen in which a plurality of contents are arranged in series and the second screen in which one content is displayed in detail.
[0194]
In addition, the two screens of the first screen and the second screen can be displayed at a glance without displaying the two screens side by side.
[0195]
According to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide a content presentation device having a design that is visually easy to understand depending on how to display contents and thumbnails.
[0196]
Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the user may be allowed to select which display method is better according to the user's preference.
[0197]
(Other embodiments)
As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to the first and fourth embodiments. However, it should not be understood that the description and drawings constituting a part of this disclosure limit the present invention. From this disclosure, various alternative embodiments, examples, and operation techniques will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
[0198]
In the embodiment of the present invention, contents are classified and displayed for each channel, but the category to be classified is not limited to channels. For example, it is possible to classify in any category such as the genre of the content, the reception day, the reception time, and the like. Further, the user may be able to set what category to classify.
[0199]
According to the embodiment of the present invention, it is easy to visually grasp the types and characteristics of contents. Thereby, the user can grasp the feature of the content by the image.
[0200]
Further, the thumbnail groups of the contents described in the third and fourth embodiments of the present invention may be presented as the identifiers of the contents in the first and second embodiments. That is, a thumbnail group in consideration of the thumbnail acquisition rate and the result of the scene analysis may be used as the content identifier. Thereby, the user can list the attributes of the displayed plurality of contents.
[0201]
The content display device described in the embodiment of the present invention may be built in a display device such as a television, or may be installed in a display device or the like in the form of a set-top box. Further, a program for implementing the content display method of the present invention may be installed in a display device having a hard disk.
[0202]
Of course, the present invention includes various embodiments and the like not described herein. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention is determined only by the invention specifying matters according to the claims that are appropriate from the above description.
[0203]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a content display device, a content presentation device, a content presentation method, and a content presentation program for classifying and presenting content in a manner that is easy for a user to understand.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a content providing system using a content presentation device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a content distribution system of the content providing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the content display device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is an example of data of the content storage device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is an example of a content broadcast schedule acquired by the content presentation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a content presentation method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a detailed flowchart of a presentation unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is an example of a screen presented by the content presentation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. (Part 1)
FIG. 9 is an example of a screen presented by the content presentation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. (Part 2)
FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of a content presentation device according to a modification of the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of a content presentation device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a content presentation method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 13 is an example of a screen presented by the content presentation device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. (Part 1)
FIG. 14 is an example of a screen presented by the content presentation device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. (Part 2)
FIG. 15 is an example of a screen presented by the content presentation device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. (Part 3)
FIG. 16 is a functional block diagram of a content presentation device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a thumbnail group presentation unit when operated by the operation unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a thumbnail group presentation unit when any one of the displayed thumbnail groups is selected according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 19 is an example of a screen presented by a thumbnail group presentation unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention. (Part 1)
FIG. 20 is an example of a screen presented by a thumbnail group presentation unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention. (Part 2)
FIG. 21 is an example of a screen presented by a thumbnail group presentation unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention. (Part 3)
FIG. 22 is an example of a screen presented by a thumbnail group presentation unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention. (Part 4)
FIG. 23 is an example of a screen presented by a thumbnail group presentation unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention. (Part 5)
FIG. 24 is an example of a screen presented by a thumbnail group presentation unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention. (Part 6)
FIG. 25 is an example of a screen presented by a thumbnail group presentation unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention. (Part 7)
FIG. 26 is a functional block diagram of a content presentation device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 27 is an example of content subjected to scene analysis by a scene analysis unit according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 28 is a flowchart of a process when a scene analysis is performed by a scene analysis unit according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 29 is an example of a screen presented by a thumbnail group presentation unit according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. (Part 1)
FIG. 30 is an example of a screen presented by a thumbnail group presentation unit according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. (Part 2)
FIG. 31 is an example of a screen focused on by a focus display unit according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. (Part 1)
FIG. 32 is an example of a screen focused on by a focus display unit according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. (Part 2)
FIG. 33 is an example of a screen focused on by a focus display unit according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. (Part 3)
FIG. 34 is an example of a screen focused and displayed by a focus display unit according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. (Part 4)
FIG. 35 is an example of a screen focused on by a focus display unit according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. (Part 5)
FIG. 36 is an example of a screen presented by the thumbnail group presenting means according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention so as to overlap a screen presented by the content presenting means.
[Explanation of symbols]
1. Content presentation device
2a, 2b ... Terminal
3a, 3b… Satellite antenna
4: Artificial satellite
5. Content distribution system
6. Communication network
11. Content storage device
12 Schedule storage device
13. Thumbnail storage device
21 ... I / O control means
22 Content input means
23 ... Schedule input means
24 ... Data amount acquisition means
25 ... Thumbnail acquisition means
26 ... Thumbnail group presentation means
27 Operating means
28. Scene analysis means
31 ... Presentation means
32 ... identifier acquisition means
33 ... Channel classification means
34 data amount adding means
35 ... Axis setting means
36 ... Video control means
37 Focus display means
41 ... Display device
42 input device
43 ... Reception device
51a-51l ... Broadcasting stations
52 ... Transmission station
54 all station information creation device
55 ... communication device
56a-56l ... Database
57a to 57l: Communication device
58a to 58l ... distribution device
101: Content display area during reception
102: Saved content display area
103 ... Received content display area
104 ... operation input area
111 ... operation input area
112, 112a ... Thumbnail group display area
113, 113a ... content explanation area
114a-114e, 117a-117e ... Thumbnail
115, 116 ... scene

Claims (34)

In a content presentation device that presents a plurality of contents in a virtual space,
Content storage means for storing the content in association with a category to which the content belongs;
A content providing means for classifying the content stored in the content storage means for each of the categories and presenting the content identifier for identifying the content in the virtual space in a continuous manner; Presentation device. 2. The content presentation device according to claim 1, wherein the content identifier is indicated by the content identifier. The content presentation device according to claim 1 or 2,
The apparatus further includes a size obtaining unit configured to obtain the size of the content through recognition of the content.
The presenting means, wherein the presenting means indicates the size of the content acquired by the size acquiring means by any one or more of a character, a number, a symbol, and a graphic, and presents the size in association with the identifier of the content. apparatus. The content presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A thumbnail acquisition unit that acquires a thumbnail corresponding to the content;
A content presentation device, wherein the identifier of the content presented by the presentation means is a thumbnail representative of the content among the thumbnails acquired by the thumbnail acquisition means. The content presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The content presentation device further comprising an operation unit for causing the user of the content presentation device to select the content by presenting the identifier of the content by presenting the content by the presentation unit, thereby operating the content. The content presentation device according to claim 5,
In the operation unit, when the identifier of the content is selected, the thumbnail of the content obtained by the thumbnail obtaining unit displays a thumbnail group in which a part of the thumbnail is superimposed and connected in the reproduction order in the virtual space. Further comprising a thumbnail group presenting means for presenting to
A content presentation device, wherein the attributes of the content are indicated by the arrangement of the thumbnails constituting the thumbnail group. The content presentation device according to claim 6,
In the operation unit, when one of the thumbnail groups presented by the thumbnail group presentation unit is selected by the user, the selected thumbnail is sent to a viewer of the virtual space in the virtual space. A content presentation device characterized in that the content is displayed on the front surface. The content presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The apparatus further includes a content acquisition unit configured to acquire the content in association with a category to which the content belongs.
The content presenting device, wherein the presenting means presents the currently acquired content as a moving image. The content presentation device according to claim 8,
The presenting means, the identifier of the content already stored in the content storage means, the identifier of the content has been acquired by the content acquisition means, on a virtual axis provided in the virtual space, A content presentation device characterized in that the content is presented in a time series for each category. The content presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
A content presentation apparatus further comprising a schedule acquisition unit configured to acquire a schedule for acquiring the content in association with a category to which the content belongs. The content presentation device according to claim 10,
The presenting means associates the identifier of the content acquired by the content acquiring means and the identifier of the content recorded in the schedule input by the schedule acquiring means with a virtual axis provided in the virtual space. A content presenting apparatus characterized in that the content is presented in chronological order for each category. The content presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
Content acquisition means for acquiring the content in association with a category to which the content belongs;
Schedule acquisition means for acquiring a schedule in which the content is acquired, in association with a category to which the content belongs,
The presenting means stores the identifier of the content stored in the content storing means and the identifier of the content acquired by the content acquiring means on a virtual axis provided in the virtual space, in the category. And present them in chronological order,
Further, the identifier of the content stored in the content storage unit and the identifier of the content recorded in the schedule acquired by the schedule acquisition unit are different from the virtual axis provided in the virtual space. A content presenting apparatus for presenting a virtual axis on a virtual axis in a time-series manner for each category. In a content presentation method for presenting a plurality of contents in a virtual space using a content presentation device having content storage means and presentation means,
A content storage step of storing the content by associating the content with a category to which the content belongs;
A presentation step of classifying the content stored in the content storage step by the category by the presentation unit and presenting an identifier of the content for identifying the content in the virtual space in succession. A content presentation method characterized by the following. The content presentation method according to claim 13, wherein the content presentation device further includes a size acquisition unit.
The size obtaining unit further includes a size obtaining step of obtaining the size of the content through recognition of the content,
The presenting step includes presenting, by the presenting unit, the size of the content acquired in the size acquiring step as one or more of a character, a number, a symbol, and a graphic, and presenting the content in association with the identifier of the content. Characteristic content presentation method. The content presentation method according to claim 13, wherein the content presentation device further includes a thumbnail acquisition unit.
The thumbnail acquisition unit further includes a thumbnail acquisition step of acquiring a thumbnail corresponding to the content,
The content presentation method, wherein the identifier of the content presented in the presentation step is a thumbnail representative of the content among the thumbnails acquired by the thumbnail acquisition unit in the thumbnail acquisition step. The content presentation method according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the content presentation device further includes an operation unit and a thumbnail group presentation unit.
An operation step of causing the user of the content presentation device to perform an operation on the content by causing the user to select an identifier of the content presented by the presentation means in the presentation step;
In the operation step, when the identifier of the content is selected by the user, the thumbnail group presenting means superimposes a part of the thumbnail on the thumbnail of the content obtained in the thumbnail obtaining step and connects the thumbnail in a reproduction order. A thumbnail group presenting step of presenting the group of thumbnails in the virtual space. The content presentation method according to any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the content presentation device further includes a content acquisition unit.
The content acquisition unit further includes a content acquisition step of acquiring the content in association with a category to which the content belongs,
In the presenting step, the presenting means presents the already acquired content as a moving image,
Further, in the content storage step, the content storage means stores the content identifier already stored and the content identifier acquired in the content acquisition step in a virtual space provided in the virtual space. A content presentation method, characterized in that the content is presented in a time-series manner for each category on an axis. The content presentation method according to any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein the content presentation device further includes a schedule acquisition unit.
The schedule acquisition unit further includes a schedule acquisition step of acquiring a schedule for acquiring the content in association with a category to which the content belongs,
A virtual axis provided in the virtual space by the presenting unit by using the content identifier acquired in the content acquiring step and the identifier of the content recorded in the schedule acquired in the schedule acquiring step. A content presentation method, wherein the content is presented in chronological order for each category. The content presentation method according to any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the content presentation device further includes a content acquisition unit and a schedule acquisition unit.
A content acquisition step of acquiring the content by associating the content with a category to which the content belongs;
A schedule acquisition step of acquiring a schedule by which the content is acquired by the schedule acquisition unit in association with a category to which the content belongs;
The presenting step presents the acquired content as a moving image, and further includes an identifier of the content stored in the content storing step and an identifier of the content acquired in the content acquiring step. Presenting the content in a time-series manner for each category on a virtual axis provided in the virtual space, further identifying the content already stored in the content storage step, and obtaining the schedule. Means for identifying the content recorded in the schedule acquired by the means in the time series for each category on a virtual axis different from the virtual axis provided in the virtual space by the presenting means. A content presentation method characterized by presenting continuously. In a content presentation program for causing a computer to display a plurality of contents in a virtual space,
A content storing step of storing the content in association with a category to which the content belongs;
Causing the computer to execute a presentation step of classifying the content stored in the content storage step for each of the categories and successively presenting the content identifiers in the virtual space. . 21. The content presentation program according to claim 20, wherein a size obtaining step of obtaining the size of the content through recognition of the content;
The size of the content obtained in the size obtaining step is indicated by any one or more of a character, a number, a symbol, and a graphic, and the presenting step of presenting the content in association with the content identifier is performed by the computer. A featured content presentation program. 22. The content presentation program according to claim 20, wherein
The identifier of the content presented in the presenting step is a thumbnail representing the content among the thumbnails acquired in the thumbnail acquiring step,
A content presentation program for causing the computer to further execute a thumbnail acquisition step of acquiring a thumbnail corresponding to the content. The content presentation program according to any one of claims 20 to 22,
An operation step of causing the user to perform the operation of the content by causing the user to select the identifier of the content by presenting the identifier of the content in the presenting step;
In the operation step, when the identifier of the content is selected by the user, the thumbnail of the content acquired in the thumbnail acquisition step is displayed on the virtual And a step of presenting a thumbnail group to be presented in a space. The content presentation program according to any one of claims 20 to 23,
A content input obtaining step of inputting and obtaining the content in association with a category to which the content belongs;
Presenting the currently input content as a moving image at any time, further, an identifier of the content already stored in the content storage step, and an identifier of the content obtained and input by the user in the content input obtaining step And the presenting step of presenting in a virtual axis provided in the virtual space in a time-series manner for each of the categories. A content presentation program according to any one of claims 20 to 24,
A schedule in which the content is input and acquired, and a schedule input acquisition in which the input is acquired in association with a category to which the content belongs; and
The presenting step includes, by using a virtual axis provided in the virtual space, the identifier of the content input in the content input step and the identifier of the content recorded in the schedule input by the schedule input unit. A content presentation program, further comprising the step of: causing the computer to further execute the above-mentioned presentation step of presenting the category in a time-series manner for each of the categories. The content presentation program according to any one of claims 20 to 23,
A content input obtaining step of inputting and obtaining the content in association with a category to which the content belongs;
A schedule input step of inputting and acquiring a schedule in which the content is input and acquired, in association with a category to which the content belongs;
Presenting the currently input content as a moving image at any time, further, the content identifier already stored in the content storage step and the content identifier input in the content input step, the virtual space On the virtual axis provided in the, present in time series for each category, furthermore, the content identifier already stored in the content storage step and the schedule input by the schedule input means And causing the computer to execute the presenting step of presenting the identifier of the recorded content on a virtual axis different from the virtual axis provided in the virtual space in a time-series manner for each category. A content presentation program characterized by the following. Content acquisition means for acquiring predetermined content;
A thumbnail acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of thumbnails from the content acquired by the content acquisition unit in association with a reproduction time that is a relative time based on the reproduction start of the content;
A content presentation device, comprising: a thumbnail group presentation unit that presents, in a virtual space, a group of thumbnails in which a part of the thumbnails are overlapped and the thumbnails are arranged in the order of the reproduction time of the thumbnails. The content presentation device according to claim 27,
When any one of the thumbnail groups presented by the thumbnail group presentation means is selected, the selected thumbnail is displayed in focus, and the user of the content presentation device performs an operation on the thumbnail. A content presentation device further comprising thumbnail operation means for allowing the user to perform the operation. The content presentation device according to claim 27 or 28,
The image processing apparatus further includes a scene change amount calculation unit that calculates a change amount of a scene of the content,
The thumbnail acquisition unit refers to the scene change amount calculated by the scene change amount calculation unit, and increases the number of thumbnails for a scene with a large scene change amount as compared with a scene with a small scene change amount. A content presentation device characterized by acquiring The content presentation device according to any one of claims 27 to 29,
In the virtual space, the thumbnail group presenting means obtains a certain length within a predetermined reproduction time of the content, and determines a thumbnail of the thumbnail constituting the thumbnail group at a reproduction time of the predetermined length. A content presentation device for presenting at a corresponding position. A content presentation method using a content presentation device including a content acquisition unit, a thumbnail acquisition unit, and a thumbnail group presentation unit, wherein the content acquisition unit acquires a predetermined content,
A thumbnail obtaining step of obtaining, from the content obtained in the content obtaining step, a plurality of thumbnails in association with a playback time that is a relative time with respect to a start of playback of the content, by the thumbnail obtaining unit;
A thumbnail group presenting step of presenting, in the virtual space, a group of thumbnails in which a part of the thumbnails are overlapped and arranged in the order of the reproduction time of the thumbnails by the thumbnail group presenting means. . The content presentation method according to claim 31, wherein the content presentation device further includes a thumbnail operation unit.
When a user of the content presentation device selects any one of the thumbnail groups presented by the thumbnail group presentation unit in the thumbnail group presentation step, the thumbnail operation unit selects the thumbnail selected by the thumbnail operation unit. Further comprising a thumbnail operation step of allowing the user to perform an operation on the thumbnail by performing a focus display on the thumbnail. The content presentation method according to claim 31, wherein the content presentation device further includes a scene change amount calculation unit.
The scene change amount calculation means further includes a scene change amount calculation step of calculating a change amount of a scene of the content,
In the thumbnail obtaining step, the thumbnail obtaining unit refers to the scene change amount calculated in the scene change amount calculating step, and the scene change amount is larger than a scene having a smaller scene change amount. A content presentation method characterized by acquiring many thumbnails for a scene. The content presentation method according to any one of claims 31 to 33,
In the thumbnail group displaying step, the thumbnail group presenting means obtains a predetermined length of the content within a predetermined reproduction time in the virtual space, and obtains the predetermined length of the thumbnails constituting the thumbnail group. A content presentation method characterized in that the content is presented at a position corresponding to each of the reproduction times.

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