JP2006237879A - Cm searching method and apparatus, cm searching result receiving method and apparatus, and cm video recording reservation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to view a desired CM by inquiring of a server about the CM in matching with a condition such as a keyword. <P>SOLUTION: A CM information server 103 calculates a feature quantity of a commercial message detected from a television broadcast, receives entry of attached information of the commercial message, generates a database where the calculated feature quantity of the commercial message and attached information of the commercial message are made to correspond to each other, searches in the database in response to a searching request of the commercial message by using a keyword transmitted from the user 102 via a network 101 for a key, and transmits the feature quantity of the commercial message to the user 102 via the network. The user 102 calculates the feature quantity of the commercial message detected from the television broadcast and selects the commercial message whose feature quantity is coincident with the feature quantity transmitted from the CM information server 103. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a CM search method for searching a commercial message via a network, a CM search result receiving method, a CM search device, a CM search result receiving device, and a CM recording reservation system.

  Conventionally, in television broadcasting, as an effective advertising means for consumers, a commercial message (hereinafter referred to as CM) is broadcast together with the main program. However, CMs generally have time constraints, and it is difficult to say that they can sufficiently provide information on goods and services to consumers. To make up for this, products are displayed at stores and catalogs are distributed. In addition, since the Internet is generally popular nowadays, many companies have their own websites and provide information there. On the other hand, as a consumer, there is a desire to get information about commercials that have been broadcast, such as commercial products, appearing actors, and used music. Internet is used.

  However, in order to obtain information related to the CM, a consumer who has watched a CM broadcast on a television broadcast currently writes down the company name and product name of the CM, and again at the store, the Internet, etc. It is necessary to investigate. Now that the Internet is widespread, there is an environment in which various information can be easily searched. However, the task of searching again is a complicated task. In the first place, information such as keywords necessary for searching in a short CM is obtained. There is also the question of whether or not it can be obtained.

  In order to eliminate such complications, for example, a history of broadcasted CMs is sequentially created on a server, and the user acquires information about the CM by transmitting the CM broadcast time and broadcast channel to the server. A possible method has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In addition, a candidate section of the first signal is detected based on a characteristic pattern of the signal generated at a predetermined time interval from the input signal, and the first signal likelihood is expressed from the input signal in or around the candidate section. A method has been proposed in which, for example, a commercial message portion included in a TV broadcast signal can be detected or searched with high accuracy by extracting a feature amount and detecting a first signal section based on the feature amount. (For example, refer to Patent Document 2).

  Further, as a method for searching and reproducing a user's desired reproduction position from the recorded video signal and / or audio signal, the feature vector is also recorded when the video signal and / or audio signal is recorded. In addition, when reproducing the recorded video signal and / or audio signal, for example, a feature vector corresponding to the signal position designated by the user is registered, and registered from the feature vector recorded in the recording means. Detecting a feature vector having a correlation value with at least one of the detected feature vectors exceeding a predetermined threshold, setting a playback point based on the detected feature vector, and outputting a video signal and / or an audio signal from the playback point A method of reproducing has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

JP 2002-10237 A JP 2002-16873 A JP 2003-339010 A

  However, on the other hand, there is a problem of how a user can easily obtain a CM that matches a certain condition as a starting point. For example, in response to the desire to collect commercials in which a certain actor appears, the user has to confirm the recorded commercials one by one. Further, for example, for a CM that does not know when it is broadcast in response to a desire to view a specific CM that the user has not yet viewed, such as a series of CMs, the user himself / herself broadcasts a television. You must watch endlessly. In the main program, the broadcast time and broadcast channel can be easily checked by the program guide, but the CM broadcast time and broadcast channel are not disclosed to the public. There are some points to be aware of when trying to solve these problems. That means that CM is also a copyrighted work. In other words, it is undeniable that rights to exchange the CM video itself without permission of the rights holder through the Internet or the like.

  Therefore, in view of the conventional problems as described above, an object of the present invention is to inquire the server about a CM that matches a certain condition such as a keyword, the server answers the feature amount of the CM to the user, and the user answers the feature amount. It is to be able to watch the desired CM using.

  Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to make a recording reservation for a CM meeting a certain condition by using the feature amount of the CM.

  Other objects of the present invention and specific advantages obtained by the present invention will become more apparent from the description of embodiments described below.

  In the CM search method according to the present invention, the CM search device detects a commercial message from a television broadcast, calculates a feature amount of the detected commercial message, receives input of additional information of the commercial message, and calculates the commercial message. In response to a request for searching for a commercial message using a keyword sent from a CM search result receiving apparatus via a network as a key, a database in which the feature amount of the commercial message is associated with additional information of the commercial message is created. The database is searched using the keyword as a key, the feature amount of the commercial message searched from the database is transmitted to the CM search result receiving device via the network, and the CM search result receiving device searches for the commercial message to be searched. Key word A search request with the key as a key is transmitted to the CM search device via the network, and the feature amount of the commercial message searched from the database by the CM search device is received via the network, and the CM is detected from the television broadcast. Then, the feature amount of the detected commercial message is calculated, and the commercial message received from the CM search device via the network is selected so that the calculated feature amount matches the feature amount of the commercial message.

  Also, in the CM recording reservation method according to the present invention, the CM search device detects a commercial message from a television broadcast, calculates a feature amount of the detected commercial message, receives input of additional information of the commercial message, and calculates A database in which the feature amount of the commercial message is associated with the additional information of the commercial message is created, and a search request for the commercial message using the keyword sent from the CM search result receiving apparatus via the network as a key is made. In response, the database is searched using the keyword as a key, and the feature amount of the commercial message searched from the database is transmitted to the CM search result receiving device via the network, and the CM search result receiving device searches. Commercial message A search request using a keyword as a key is transmitted to the CM search apparatus via the network, and the feature amount of the commercial message searched from the database by the CM search apparatus is received via the network, and the network is received from the CM search apparatus. A commercial message whose feature quantity matches the feature quantity of the commercial message received via the network is reserved for recording, the CM is detected from the television broadcast, the feature quantity of the detected commercial message is calculated, and the network is detected from the CM search device. A commercial message in which the calculated feature value matches the feature value of the received commercial message is recorded.

  In addition, the CM search device according to the present invention detects a commercial message from a television broadcast receiving unit that receives a television broadcast, and the television broadcast received by the television broadcast receiving unit, and features of the detected commercial message The amount of the commercial message is received, input of the additional information of the commercial message is received, and the calculated feature amount of the commercial message and the additional information of the commercial message are stored in the associated database. In response to a search request for a commercial message using the keyword sent as a key as a key, the database is searched using the keyword as a key, and the feature amount of the commercial message retrieved from the database is obtained as a CM search result via the network. Receiving Characterized in that it comprises a control means for performing control of transmitting devices.

  The CM search result receiving apparatus according to the present invention transmits a television broadcast receiving means for receiving a television broadcast and a search request using a keyword of a commercial message to be searched as a key to the CM search apparatus via a network. The feature amount of the commercial message searched from the database by the CM search device is received via the network, the CM is detected from the television broadcast received by the television broadcast receiving means, and the feature amount of the detected commercial message And control means for performing control to select a commercial message whose feature quantity matches the feature quantity of the commercial message received from the CM search apparatus via the network.

  Further, the CM recording reservation system according to the present invention detects a television message from the television broadcast receiving means for receiving the television broadcast and the television broadcast received by the television broadcast receiving means, and the detected commercial message The feature amount is calculated, the input of the additional information of the commercial message is accepted, the calculated feature amount of the commercial message and the additional information of the commercial message are stored in a database associated with each other, and the CM search result receiving device receives the network In response to a search request for a commercial message using a keyword sent as a key as a key, the database is searched using the keyword as a key, and the feature value of the commercial message retrieved from the database is sent to the CM via the network. A CM search device comprising control means for controlling transmission to the search result receiving device, a television broadcast receiving means for receiving a television broadcast, and a search request using the keyword of the commercial message to be searched as a key via the network The commercial message feature quantity transmitted to the CM search apparatus and retrieved from the database by the CM search apparatus is received via the network, and the commercial message feature quantity and feature received from the CM search apparatus via the network is received. Reserving a recording of a commercial message with the same amount, detecting a CM from a television broadcast, calculating the feature amount of the detected commercial message, and calculating the feature amount of the commercial message received from the CM search device via the network Frames with matching features Characterized in that comprising the CM search result receiving device and a control means for controlling to record Shall message.

  In the present invention, when a CM matching the keyword is searched by a server on the network, the search result is returned to the user with the feature amount of the searched CM, and the user who has received the search result within the recording / playback apparatus used by the user. By searching for the CM using the feature amount as a key, the server can obtain the same effect without returning the CM itself to the user.

  Further, according to the present invention, the recording reservation method for recording the CM that matches the feature amount received from the server makes it possible to make a recording reservation for the CM whose broadcast time and channel are unknown.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the following examples, and can be arbitrarily changed without departing from the gist of the present invention.

  The present invention is applied to, for example, a CM recording reservation system 100 configured as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a connection state of the CM recording reservation system 100 as a whole.

The CM recording reservation system 100 includes a plurality of users 102 ₁ ,... 102 _n connected to the Internet 101, a CM information server 103, and a broadcasting station 106 that transmits a television broadcast.

The CM information server 103 includes a server 104 and a database 105, receives a television broadcast broadcast from the broadcast station 106 by the server 104, detects a CM from the received television broadcast, and receives a new CM. The CM is registered in the database 105. The administrator of the server 104 collects additional information (hereinafter referred to as “CM additional information”) such as a newly registered CM company name, product name, song, and actor, and registers them in the database 105. The users 102 ₁ ,... 102 _n receive a television broadcast broadcast from the broadcast station 106, detect a CM from the received television broadcast simultaneously with recording, and when a new CM is broadcast, The CM information server 103 is inquired about additional information. The server 104 searches the inquired CM in the database 105 and notifies the user of the search result.

When the user 102 ₁ ,... 102 _n (hereinafter collectively referred to as the user 102) inquires CM additional information to the CM information server 103 via the Internet 101, data transmitted from the user 102 side to the server 104 side is: It is not the CM video (image and sound) itself, but the CM video feature amount. In recent years, video compression technology has advanced, and it is possible to express video with a smaller amount of data than in the case of non-compression. However, video data still has a large amount of data, and it is unrealistic to transmit the video data itself for search. Also, the CM video has a right such as a copyright, and sending a CM may cause a problem on the right. Therefore, a feature amount expressing the feature of the CM is extracted from the CM image, and the feature amount is used instead of the image. That is, it is assumed that the feature amount has an extremely small data size than the original video and is independent enough to distinguish the original video. Examples of such feature amounts include a time series of vectorized pixel values of an average image of at least one frame within a predetermined time interval of the video signal disclosed in Patent Document 3, or the average There is a time series of dividing an image into small images of a predetermined block unit and vectorizing pixel values of the small image.

  Here, the conceptual configuration of the CM server 103 that provides CM additional information is shown in the block diagram of FIG.

  That is, the CM server 103 corresponds to a combination of the server 104 and the database 105 in FIG. 1, and includes a broadcast receiving unit 201 that receives television broadcasts, video signals such as television broadcasts, channel information, and broadcast mode information. Is composed of a control unit 202 to which information attached to the broadcast receiving unit 201 is supplied, a storage unit 203 connected to the control unit 202, a database 204, a network control unit 205, an output control unit 206, an input control unit 207, and the like. .

  The broadcast receiving unit 201 receives a television broadcast and sends information accompanying the video signal such as a video signal, channel information, and broadcast mode information to the control unit 202.

  The control unit 202 reads a program for detecting CM from the video signal obtained from the broadcast receiving unit 201 from the storage unit 203 and starts CM detection. As a method for performing the CM detection, for example, a method described in detail in Patent Document 2 can be applied. For example, from the audio and / or video signal of the TV broadcast signal consisting of the main signal and the commercial message signal (first signal), such as the main and commercial message parts of the TV broadcast signal, the signal is characterized based on a predetermined essential condition. CM candidate sections showing a target pattern are extracted, and additional conditions, which are indices representing the likelihood of CM, are detected from some features in the CM candidate sections, and CMs are determined by combining the extracted additional conditions. As a result, individual CMs are detected with high accuracy. Further, a part or all of the additional condition to be detected is recorded and compared with a TV broadcast signal or other recorded CM candidates, thereby searching for a desired CM from the TV broadcast signal or a database in which it is recorded. You can also. However, this method is not necessarily limited as long as it can detect each CM accurately.

  When the control unit 202 detects a CM, a program for searching whether the detected CM has already been registered in the database 204 is read from the storage unit 203 and the database 204 is searched. When the same CM as the detected CM is not found in the database, the control unit 202 registers the detected CM video and its feature amount in the database 204. The CM registered in the database 204 may be, for example, an additional information registration waiting CM list and an additional information registered CM list as shown in FIG. The control unit 202 first registers the CM to be newly registered in the additional information registration waiting CM list, and notifies the server administrator to that effect. For example, the output control unit 206 displays the message to that effect on an external output unit such as a monitor (not shown). For example, as shown in FIG. 13, the display screen has a format in which a list of CMs registered in the additional information registration waiting CM list is displayed on the screen. The server administrator can check the CMs in the additional information registration waiting CM list one after another by operating the “previous candidate” button and the “next candidate” button at the bottom of the screen. An administrator who knows that a new CM has been registered in the additional information registration waiting CM list confirms the video of the CM stored in the database 204, and adds the CM, such as the company name, product name, and actor. Information to be information is collected by means (not shown) and input to the CM server 103 using an external input unit such as a keyboard (not shown). For example, as shown in FIG. 14, the display screen when the administrator inputs additional information has a format in which items of additional information and input fields 1402 to 1405 are displayed side by side on the screen. The server administrator inputs information in the input fields 1402 to 1405 for each item. The control unit 202 acquires the input additional information via the input control unit 207 and registers it in the database 204. For example, a CM for which additional information is input as a CM in the additional information registration waiting CM list as shown in FIG. 3 is moved from the additional information registration waiting CM list to the additional information registered CM list. In order for the server administrator to check the CM registered in the additional information registered CM list, for example, a list of CMs in the additional information registered CM list is displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. When a specific CM is selected from, a screen as shown in FIG. 15 is displayed, for example. In FIG. 15, the screen 1501 has an area 1503 for displaying additional information of CM and an area 1502 for displaying video of the CM. Additional information input by the server administrator is displayed in an area 1503 for displaying additional information of the CM.

  CM inquiries from the user 102 are received by the control unit 202 via the network control unit 205. Information for specifying the CM transmitted from the user 102 is a keyword. The control unit 202 reads a program for searching whether or not a CM matching the query keyword is registered in the database from the storage unit 203 and searches the database 204. When a CM that matches the query keyword is found in the additional information registered CM list, the fact that the feature quantity of the CM is not found is found via the network control unit 205 by the user 102. Send to. When a CM matching the keyword is found, the information transmitted from the CM server 103 to the user 102 includes additional information such as the company name, product name, appearing actors and music, in addition to the feature quantity of the found CM. May be added.

  Here, a new CM registration process by the control unit 202 in the CM server 103 will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

  That is, in the new CM registration process, first, in step S401, a television broadcast is received. If the broadcast is analog, digitize it.

  In step S402, CM is detected from the received video signal of the television broadcast.

  In step S403, it is determined whether or not a CM is detected in step S402. If the determination result in step S403 is Yes, that is, if a CM is detected, the process proceeds to step S404. If the determination result is No, that is, no CM is detected, the process returns to step S401.

  In step S404, a feature amount is obtained from the detected CM, the database 204 is searched based on the feature amount, and it is determined whether or not the detected CM is already registered in the database 204. If the determination result in step S404 is No, that is, if the same CM as the detected CM is not registered in the database 204, the process proceeds to step S405, and the determination result is Yes, that is, if it has already been registered. Returns to step S401.

  In step S405, the detected CM video and its feature amount are registered in the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database. After registration, the process returns to step S401 and continues processing.

  Next, processing for the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database 204 in the CM server 103 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  That is, in the process for the additional information registration waiting CM list, first, in step S501, it is determined whether or not a new CM is registered in the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database. If the determination result in step S501 is Yes, that is, if a new CM is registered, the process proceeds to step S502. If the determination result is No, that is, if not registered, the process ends.

  In step S502, the CM registered in the additional information registration waiting CM list is presented to the server administrator. The presentation process is performed by the control unit 202 displaying the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database 204 on an external output unit such as a monitor (not shown) via the output control unit 206. The screen displayed on the external output unit is configured to display a list of CMs in the additional information registration waiting CM list as shown in FIG. 13, for example.

  In the next step S503, additional information collected by a manager who has confirmed the additional information registration waiting CM list by a method not shown is input by an external input unit such as a keyboard. In the input process, for example, the control unit 202 receives additional information input from an external input unit such as a keyboard (not shown) via the input control unit 207, and the control unit 202 corresponds to the corresponding CM in the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database 204. By associating with. In the input process, the screen displayed on the external output unit such as a monitor to support the input is configured to display the additional information items and their input fields 1402 to 1405 side by side as shown in FIG. 14, for example.

  In step S504, the CM to which additional information is input is moved from the additional information registration waiting CM list to the additional information registered CM list, and the process ends.

  Note that the series of processes shown in FIG. 5 may be set to start each time a new CM is registered in the database, or may be set to start at a predetermined time, for example, every hour, or It may be set so that the administrator instructs the start.

  Next, processing for a CM additional information inquiry from the user 102 in the CM server 104 will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

  That is, in the process for the CM additional information inquiry from the user 102, first, in step S601, it is determined whether or not there is a CM inquiry from the user 102. If the determination result in step S601 is Yes, that is, if there is an inquiry, the process proceeds to step S602. If the determination result is No, that is, if there is no inquiry, the process returns to step S601.

  In step S602, the additional information registered CM list in the database is searched with the keyword transmitted from the user. The search process is performed, for example, when the control unit 202 receives an inquiry keyword via the network control unit 205 and searches the additional information registered CM list in the database 204 using the keyword.

  In the next step S603, it is determined whether or not a CM having additional information matching the query keyword has been found in the database. If the determination result in step S603 is Yes, that is, if it is found, the process proceeds to step S604. If the determination result is No, that is, if it is not found, the process proceeds to step S605.

  In step S604, the feature quantity of the found CM is transmitted to the CM inquiry source user, and the process returns to step S601.

  In step S605, information notifying that the CM is not found is transmitted to the CM inquiry source user, and the process returns to step S601. For example, the control unit 202 transmits the information to the CM inquiry source user by transmitting the information to the user via the network control unit 205.

  Next, a conceptual configuration of a recording / playback apparatus 700 that uses CM additional information is shown in a block diagram of FIG.

  The recording / playback apparatus 700 includes a broadcast receiving unit 701 that receives a television broadcast, a control unit 702 to which a video signal is supplied from the broadcast receiving unit 701, a storage unit 703 connected to the control unit 702, a database 704, a network A control unit 705, an output control unit 706, an input control unit 707, a video storage unit 708, and the like are included.

  The broadcast receiving unit 701 receives a television broadcast and outputs the video received via the output control unit 706 to an external output unit such as a monitor (not shown). The user views the broadcast program received by the external output unit.

  When recording a television broadcast, a user inputs an instruction using an external input unit (not shown) such as a keyboard, a mouse, or a remote controller, and the control unit 702 receives the input via the input control unit 707.

  The control unit 702 obtains a broadcast program of a broadcast channel designated by the user from the broadcast receiving unit 701 and stores it in the video storage unit 708. At the same time, the control unit 702 reads a program for detecting CM from the video signal obtained from the broadcast receiving unit 701 from the storage unit 703 and starts CM detection.

  As a method for performing the CM detection, for example, a method described in detail in Patent Document 2 can be applied. For example, from the audio and / or video signal of the TV broadcast signal consisting of the main signal and the commercial message signal (first signal), such as the main and commercial message parts of the TV broadcast signal, the signal is characterized based on a predetermined essential condition. CM candidate sections showing a target pattern are extracted, and additional conditions, which are indices representing the likelihood of CM, are detected from some features in the CM candidate sections, and CMs are determined by combining the extracted additional conditions. As a result, individual CMs are detected with high accuracy. Further, a part or all of the additional condition to be detected is recorded and compared with a TV broadcast signal or other recorded CM candidates, thereby searching for a desired CM from the TV broadcast signal or a database in which it is recorded. You can also. However, this method is not necessarily limited as long as it can detect each CM accurately.

  When the control unit 702 detects a CM, a program for searching whether the detected CM has already been registered in the database 704 is read from the storage unit 703 and the database 704 is searched. When the same CM as the detected CM is not found in the database 704, the control unit 702 displays the detected CM video (and / or CM video recording position in the recorded program) and its feature amount in the database 704. Register with. The CM registered in the database 704 may be, for example, an additional information registration waiting CM list and an additional information registered CM list as shown in FIG. The control unit 702 first registers a newly registered CM in the additional information registration waiting CM list.

  When a user views a recorded program, the user inputs an instruction through an external input unit (not shown) such as a keyboard, mouse, or remote controller, and the control unit 702 receives the input via the input control unit 707. The control unit 702 reads a recorded program instructed by the user from the video storage unit 708 and outputs the recorded program to an external output unit such as a monitor (not shown) via the output control unit 706. This allows the user to view the recorded program.

  When a user searches for a CM, the user inputs an instruction such as a keyword for searching by an external input unit (not shown) such as a keyboard, a mouse, or a remote controller, and the control unit 702 inputs the input via the input control unit 707. Receive. The control unit 702 transmits the keyword designated by the user to the CM server 103 via the network control unit 705. The answer from the CM server 103 reaches the control unit 702 via the network control unit 705. When a CM feature amount is transmitted from the CM server 103 as an answer, the control unit 702 searches the additional information registration waiting CM list and the additional information registered CM list in the database 704 with the feature amount. Is read from the storage unit 703, the database 704 is searched, and the CM with the matched feature quantity is output to an external output unit such as a monitor (not shown) via the output control unit 706, thereby being notified to the user. If there is a corresponding CM in the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database 704, the corresponding CM is moved to the additional information registered CM list. For example, as shown in FIG. 20, a screen displayed on an external output unit such as a monitor for transmitting a search result to a user is displayed on a screen 2001 in an area 2003 displaying a list of CMs corresponding to a search result keyword and a CM video. Is composed of an area 2002 for displaying. Furthermore, the configuration may be such that an area 2004 for displaying the additional information of the CM and an operation area 2005 for the user to select a CM to be reproduced from the CM list 2003 are added.

  Here, the registration process of a new CM in the recording / playback apparatus 700 used by the user will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  That is, in the new CM registration process, first, in step S801, a television broadcast is received. If the broadcast is analog, it is digitized, and if necessary, the received video is recorded.

  In the next step S802, a CM is detected from the received video signal of the television broadcast.

  In the next step S803, it is determined whether or not a CM is detected in step S802. If the determination result in step S803 is Yes, that is, if a CM is detected, the process proceeds to step S804. If the determination result is No, that is, no CM is detected, the process returns to step S801.

  In step S804, a feature amount is obtained from the detected CM, the database is searched based on the feature amount, and it is determined whether or not the detected CM is already registered in the database. If the determination result in step S804 is No, that is, if the same CM as the detected CM is not registered in the database, the process proceeds to step S805, and the determination result is Yes, that is, if it has already been registered. Returns to step S801.

  In step S805, the detected CM video and its feature amount are registered in the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database. After registration, the process returns to step S801 to continue processing.

  In the flow of the new CM registration process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8, a CM is first detected, and then the feature quantity of the detected CM is obtained. This is shown in FIG. 18A. The CM 1802 is detected from the video signal 1801 of the television broadcast, and the feature quantity 1803 of the detected CM is calculated later.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 18B, the feature position 1805 is calculated from the video signal 1804 of the television broadcast regardless of the CM or the main program, and the CM position is detected. A method of cutting out the portion 1806 corresponding to the CM from the above is also conceivable. In this case, the flow of new CM registration processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8 is as follows.

  That is, in step S801, a television broadcast is received. If the broadcast is analog, it is digitized, and the received video is recorded if necessary. Further, the feature amount of the received video is calculated and stored together with the recorded video if necessary. In step S802, a CM is detected from the received video signal of the television broadcast. In step S803, it is determined whether a CM is detected in step S802. If the determination result in step S803 is Yes, that is, if a CM is detected, the process proceeds to step S804. If the determination result is No, that is, no CM is detected, the process returns to step S801. In step S804, the feature quantity of the detected CM is extracted from the feature quantity calculated in step S801, and the database is searched using the feature quantity to determine whether the detected CM is already registered in the database. To do. If the determination result in Step S804 is No, that is, if the same CM as the detected CM is not registered in the database, the process proceeds to Step S805, and if the determination result is Yes, that is, if it has already been registered. Return to step S801. In step S805, the detected CM video and its feature amount are registered in the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database. After registration, the process returns to step S801 to continue processing.

  Next, processing in which the recording / playback apparatus 700 used by the user inquires the CM server 103 about CM information will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. This process is executed when the user instructs acquisition of CM information from the CM server 103.

  In the CM information inquiry process, first, in step S901, the user inputs a keyword. In the input processing, for example, the control unit 702 acquires search information such as a keyword input by a user from an external input device (not shown) such as a keyboard, a mouse, or a remote controller via the input control unit 707.

  In step S <b> 902, the input keyword is transmitted to the CM server 103. In the transmission process, for example, the control unit 702 transmits the keyword to the CM server via the network control unit 705.

  In step S903, the feature amount of the CM transmitted from the CM server is received. In the reception process, for example, the control unit 702 receives CM feature quantities from the CM server via the network control unit 705.

  In step S904, it is determined whether or not the information transmitted from the CM server 103 includes a CM feature amount that matches the inquired keyword. If the determination result in step S904 is Yes, that is, if the feature amount is included, the process proceeds to step S905. If the determination result is No, that is, if the feature amount is not included, the user is notified of the CM feature. Informs that the amount was not obtained and ends the process. For example, the control unit 702 outputs the information to the user via an output control unit 706 to an external output unit such as a monitor (not shown).

  In step S905, the CM list is searched for a CM having a feature amount that matches the feature amount transmitted from the server. The search process is performed, for example, by the control unit 702 reading a search program from the storage unit 703 and searching the database 704 for a CM having a feature amount that matches the feature amount acquired from the CM server 103.

  Here, an outline of the search will be described with reference to FIG. A CM feature amount that matches the keyword transmitted by the user 102 to the CM server 103 is transmitted from the CM server 103 to the user 102 via the Internet 101. In the example shown in FIG. 21, there are five CMs that match the keyword, and the feature amounts of the five CMs are feature amount A, feature amount B, feature amount C, feature amount D, and feature amount E. Then, these five feature quantities are compared with the feature quantities of the CMs in the CM list, and if there is a match, this is a CM that matches the keyword. In spite of the feature amount transmitted from the CM server 103, there may be a feature amount that does not match the feature amount of any CM in the CM list. In the example shown in FIG. 21, the feature amount D corresponds to this. This can occur when the corresponding CM has not yet been recorded in the recording / playback apparatus 700 used by the user 102.

  In step S906, a search result based on the feature amount acquired from the CM server 103 is transmitted to the user, and additional information including a keyword is associated with the corresponding CM in the additional information registration waiting CM list, and the corresponding CM is registered as an additional information registered CM list. Move to. For example, the control unit 702 displays the screen as shown in FIG. 22 on an external output unit (not shown) such as a monitor via the output control unit 706, for example. FIG. 22 is a display example of the result of the example of FIG. The search result display area 2203 lists five CMs that are search results from the CM server 103. However, the CM A having the feature amount A, the CM B having the feature amount B, the CM C having the feature amount C, and the CM E having the feature amount E are present in the recording / playback apparatus 700 used by the user 102. Thus, although the black mark is attached, the CM D having the feature amount D does not exist in the recording / playback apparatus 700 used by the user 102, and thus is distinguished from other CMs and is marked with a white mark. The user can play back the searched CM using the operation area 2005 in the video display area 2002. Of course, a CM D that has no recorded video cannot be played back.

  Here, as described above, even if the feature amount of the CM matching the keyword is acquired from the server, if the CM having the feature amount is not recorded in the recording / playback apparatus 700 used by the user 102, The user cannot view the CM.

  However, it may be possible to acquire a CM having the feature amount by using the feature amount acquired from the CM server 103. For example, in FIG. 22, when the user selects CMD in the search result display area 2203, a screen as shown in FIG. 23 is displayed. A message display area 2302 is displayed on the screen 2301 and asks the user to determine whether or not to reserve recording of the CMD. When the user selects “Yes”, a recording reservation is made. Although the CM broadcast time and broadcast channel are generally unknown, for example, CM recording reservation can be made by the flow shown in FIG.

  First, in step S2401, a broadcast channel appropriate for the CM to be recorded is selected and received. A general commercial may be anywhere as long as it is a commercial broadcast. However, a commercial of a broadcast station or a commercial of a specific program is not broadcasted by other than the broadcast station, so it may be necessary to specify a broadcast channel. The information for this is improved by having the CM server transmit it together with the feature amount. Further, when the broadcast time zone can be specified, the efficiency is improved by having the information transmitted from the CM server.

  In the next step S2402, CM is detected from the video of the reception channel.

  In step S2403, the feature amount of the detected CM is calculated. In step S2404, the calculated feature amount is compared with the feature amount of the CM reserved for recording, and it is determined whether or not they match. If the determination result in step S2404 is Yes, that is, if the feature values match, the process proceeds to step S2405. If the determination result is No, that is, the feature values do not match, the process returns to step S2402.

  Even if the process returns to step S2402 and repeats the process, if a CM that matches the feature amount of the CM reserved for recording is not obtained, the process returns to step S2401, and the received broadcast channel is changed or the time zone is changed. It is also possible to do.

  In step S2405, a CM having a feature amount that matches the feature amount of the CM reserved for recording is recorded. As a result, it becomes possible to perform reservation recording of CMs that do not know when and on which broadcast channel the broadcast is performed. When a recording-reserved CM is recorded, for example, as shown in FIG. 25, the CM D in the search result display area 2503 is also black and can be viewed by the user.

  Here, in the flowchart showing the CM inquiry operation shown in FIG. 9 described above, when the user inputs a keyword, the server immediately inquires the server using the keyword. However, as shown in FIG. A method of searching in a database in the recording / playback apparatus 700 to be used is also conceivable.

  If the CM inquiry is made to the CM server 103 several times, additional information of the inquired CM is obtained, and the additional information is registered in the additional information registered CM list. Therefore, in a case where not all CMs that match the conditions are required or in an environment where connection to the network is not possible, it is possible to search for CMs using only the database in the recording / playback apparatus 700 used by the user 102. The processing flow for this is as shown in FIG. In this case, first, in step S1901, the user inputs a keyword.

  In the next step S1902, a CM having additional information that matches the keyword is searched in the additional information registered CM list.

  In the next step S1903, a CM matching the keyword is output and the process ends. Thereafter, a CM inquiry may be made to the CM server 103 as necessary.

  Next, the exchange between the recording / playback apparatus 700 used by the user 102 and the CM server 103 will be described with reference to FIG.

  Procedure 1) In order to acquire the feature quantity of CM, a keyword for CM search is transmitted from the recording / playback apparatus 700 of the user 102 to the CM server 103.

  Procedure 2) The CM server 103 searches the database in the CM server using the received keyword as a key.

  Procedure 3) When the CM server 103 finds a CM that matches the keyword as a result of the search, the CM server 103 transmits the feature amount of the CM to the recording / playback apparatus 102 of the user. If no CM matching the keyword is found, information indicating that no CM was found is transmitted to the user's recording / playback apparatus 700. When a CM matching the keyword is found, the information transmitted from the CM server 103 to the user 102 always includes the feature quantity of the CM. The information may further include additional information such as the company name and product name of the CM, actors and music that appear.

  Step 4) When the information received from the CM server 103 includes a CM feature quantity, the recording / playback apparatus 700 of the user 102 searches the database for a CM having a feature quantity that matches the feature quantity, and The search result is presented to the user, and at the same time, additional information including the keyword is registered in the database in the recording / playback apparatus 700 of the user 102. If the received information does not include the feature amount of the CM, the user is notified that a CM matching the keyword has not been obtained.

In the example described above, the configuration for constructing the database for storing the additional information of the CM in the recording / playback apparatus 700 used by the user 102 is shown. However, this configuration is not necessarily required, and each time search is necessary. It is also possible to make a configuration in which the CM server 103 is inquired. Further, in the CM server 103, the additional information is shown as a configuration in which the additional information collected by the CM server administrator by a method (not shown) is input to the CM server 103. However, this configuration is not necessarily required. For example, FIG. In such a screen, a list of CMs is published on the Web, and the additional information is transmitted via the network by a specific or unspecified person connected to the Web, for example, using the screen as shown in FIG. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which it is input. In this case, the conceptual diagram of the connection state of the entire system is as shown in FIG. 11, and the information input person 1107 ₁ ,..., 1107 _m (hereinafter collectively referred to as information input person) is added to the conceptual diagram of the connection state shown in FIG. 1107) is added.

  Here, processing for the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database of the CM server 103 in the CM recording reservation system 1000 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  In step S1201, it is determined whether or not a new CM is registered in the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database. If the determination result in step S1201 is Yes, that is, if a new CM is registered, the process proceeds to step S1202. If the determination result is No, that is, if not registered, the process ends.

  In step S1202, the CM registered in the additional information registration waiting CM list is presented to the information input person on the network. The presentation process is performed, for example, by the control unit 202 displaying the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database 204 on an output unit such as a monitor of an information input person on the network (not shown) via the network control unit 205. The screen displayed on the output unit of the information input person is configured to display a list of CMs in the additional information registration waiting CM list as shown in FIG. 13, for example.

  In step S1203, additional information collected by an information input person who has confirmed the additional information registration waiting CM list is input by a method (not shown) using an input unit such as a keyboard. In the input process, for example, the control unit 202 registers additional information input from an input unit such as a keyboard of an information input person on the network (not shown) via the network control unit 205, and the control unit 202 registers additional information in the database 204. This is performed by associating with the corresponding CM in the waiting CM list. In the input process, the screen displayed on the output unit such as the monitor of the information input person on the network to support the input includes, for example, an additional information item and its input fields 1402-1405 as shown in FIG. It is a configuration to display.

  In step S1204, the CM for which additional information is input is moved from the additional information registration waiting CM list to the additional information registered CM list, and the process ends.

  Note that the series of processing shown in FIG. 12 may be set to start each time a new CM is registered in the database, or may be set to start at a predetermined time, for example, or The information input person may be set to instruct the start.

  In the above-described embodiment, the description has been made assuming the feature amount of Patent Document 3 described above, but the present invention is not necessarily limited to this. For example, for an image, an amount obtained by a method as shown in FIG. 16 may be used as a feature amount.

  FIG. 16 shows an example of the feature amount of the image. In the case of the NTSC system, a video for one second consists of about 30 images. As shown in FIG. 16A, one image has 720 pixels in the horizontal direction and 480 pixels in the vertical direction, and one pixel includes three values of RGB. When each RGB is expressed by 1 byte, one image has a data amount of about 1 megabyte (720 × 480 × 3 = 1036800). For example, in the case of a 15-second CM, since it consists of about 450 images, the data amount is about 450 megabytes. Even when the video compression technology MPEG2 compresses at a low rate, for example, 2 Mbps, the data amount is about 4 megabytes in 15 seconds. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 16B, if an image luminance histogram is used, one image can be expressed by 11 bytes. In this example, it is assumed that the luminance of each pixel is a value from 0 to 255, the luminance value is equally divided into 16 and the histogram is taken, and each value is normalized so that it can be expressed by 1 byte. Furthermore, since the appearance frequency of black (near 0) and white (near 255) is not high, it was decided to discard the 5 bands in the vicinity. In this case, it takes about 5 kilobytes in 15 seconds. In the feature quantity as shown in FIG. 16B, the original CM cannot be imagined from this feature quantity, but the same feature quantity can be obtained from the same CM, and different feature quantities can be obtained from different CMs with high probability. .

  Whether or not a CM broadcast by television broadcasting is a new CM can be determined by whether or not the CM is already registered in the database 105. In other words, the database 105 is searched using the broadcasted CM as a key, and if the same CM is found, the keyed CM is not a new CM. If the same CM is not found, it can be determined that the keyed CM is a new CM. . This CM search uses a CM feature value that is transmitted to the user 102 instead of the CM video itself. For example, in FIG. 17, when searching whether the CM 1701 is a CM registered in the database, instead of comparing the video data of the CM 1701 with the video data of the CM 1703, CM 1705, CM 1707, and CM 1709 in the database, Make a comparison. That is, the feature quantity 1702 is obtained from the video data of the CM 1701. Similarly, the feature quantities 1704, 1706, 1708, and 1710 are obtained for CMs in the database. The comparison is performed using the feature quantity 1702 of the CM 1701 and the feature quantities 1704, 1706, 1708, and 1710 in the database. In the example of FIG. 17, since the feature quantity 1702 and the feature quantity 1708 match, it can be determined that the CM 1701 and the CM 1707 are the same, and the CM 1701 is already registered in the database. The method of searching with the feature amount of the CM instead of the CM video realizes a high-speed search process because the amount of data used for the search is extremely small. A technique for searching for a feature quantity matching the feature quantity at high speed from the database 105 using the feature quantity as a key is described in detail in Patent Document 3.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of CM recording reservation system to which this invention is applied. It is a block diagram which shows the conceptual structure of CM server which provides CM additional information. It is a figure which shows typically the additional information registration waiting CM list of CM registered into a database, and the additional information registered CM list. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the registration process of new CM by the control part in the said CM server. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process with respect to the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database in the said CM server. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process with respect to CM additional information inquiry from the user in the said CM server. It is a block diagram which shows the conceptual structure of the recording / reproducing apparatus using CM additional information. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the registration process of new CM in the said video recording / reproducing apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process in which the said recording / reproducing apparatus inquires CM information to CM server. It is a figure which shows typically the exchange between the said video recording / reproducing apparatus and CM server. It is a conceptual diagram of the other connection state to which this invention is applied. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process with respect to the additional information registration waiting CM list in the database of CM server in the said CM video recording reservation system. It is a figure which shows the display screen of the list of CM registered into the additional information registration waiting CM list. It is a figure which shows the display screen at the time of an administrator inputting additional information. It is a figure which shows the screen displayed on external output parts, such as a monitor, in order to tell CM additional information to a user. It is a figure which shows the feature-value regarding an image. It is a figure which shows the example of the search by a feature-value. It is a figure which shows the example which cuts out the feature-value from the video signal of television broadcasting. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of CM search operation | movement of the recording / reproducing apparatus which a user uses. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen of the said video recording / reproducing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the search by the feature-value in the said video recording / reproducing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen of the said video recording / reproducing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen of the said video recording / reproducing apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows CM reservation recording operation of the said recording / reproducing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen of the said video recording / reproducing apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

100, 1000 CM recording reservation system, 101 Internet, 102, 102 ₁ ,... 102 _n users, 103 CM information server, 104 server, 105 database, 106 broadcast station, 201 broadcast receiving unit, 202 control unit, 203 storage unit 204 database, 205 network control unit, 206 output control unit, 207 input control unit, 700 recording / playback device, 701 broadcast receiving unit, 702 control unit, 703 storage unit, 704 database, 705 network control unit, 706 output control unit, 707 Input control unit, 708 Video storage unit, 1107, 1107 ₁ ,... 1107 _m Information input person

Claims (8)

The CM search device detects a commercial message from a television broadcast, calculates a feature amount of the detected commercial message, accepts input of additional information of the commercial message, and adds the calculated commercial message feature amount and the commercial message A database in which information is associated is prepared, and in the database using the keyword as a key in response to a search request for a commercial message using the keyword sent from the CM search result receiving apparatus via the network as a key. Search, send the feature quantity of the commercial message searched from the database to the CM search result receiving device via the network,
The CM search result receiving device transmits a search request using the keyword of the commercial message to be searched as a key to the CM search device via the network, and the feature amount of the commercial message searched from the database by the CM search device is obtained. Received via the network, detected CM from the television broadcast, calculated feature quantity of the detected commercial message, received via the network from the above CM search device, the feature quantity of the commercial message matches the calculated feature quantity A CM search method characterized in that a commercial message to be selected is selected.   The CM search method according to claim 1, wherein the CM search apparatus requests the manager of the CM search apparatus to input CM additional information.   2. The CM search method according to claim 1, wherein the CM search device requests input of CM additional information from a specific or unspecified person connected to the network.   The CM search method according to claim 1, wherein the CM search result receiving apparatus stores the CM feature amount and additional information received via the network. The CM search device detects a commercial message from a television broadcast, calculates a feature amount of the detected commercial message, accepts input of additional information of the commercial message, and adds the calculated commercial message feature amount and the commercial message A database in which information is associated is prepared, and in the database using the keyword as a key in response to a search request for a commercial message using the keyword sent from the CM search result receiving apparatus via the network as a key. Search, send the feature quantity of the commercial message searched from the database to the CM search result receiving device via the network,
The CM search result receiving device transmits a search request using the keyword of the commercial message to be searched as a key to the CM search device via the network, and the feature amount of the commercial message searched from the database by the CM search device is obtained. The commercial message received through the network and received from the CM search device through the network is reserved for recording, the CM is detected from the television broadcast, and the detected commercial message A CM recording reservation method characterized by calculating a feature amount and recording a commercial message in which the calculated feature amount matches the feature amount of the commercial message received from the CM search apparatus via the network. A television broadcast receiving means for receiving a television broadcast;
The commercial message is detected from the television broadcast received by the television broadcast receiving means, the feature amount of the detected commercial message is calculated, the input of additional information of the commercial message is accepted, and the calculated feature amount of the commercial message and The additional information of the commercial message is stored in an associated database, and the keyword is keyed in response to a commercial message search request using the keyword sent from the CM search result receiving apparatus via the network as a key. And a control means for performing a control for searching the database and transmitting the feature amount of the commercial message searched from the database to the CM search result receiving device via the network. A television broadcast receiving means for receiving a television broadcast;
A search request using the keyword of the commercial message to be searched as a key is transmitted to the CM search device via the network, the feature amount of the commercial message searched from the database by the CM search device is received via the network, and the television set is received. CM is detected from the television broadcast received by the John broadcast receiving means, the feature amount of the detected commercial message is calculated, and the feature amount of the commercial message received from the CM search device via the network is calculated. A CM search result receiving apparatus, comprising: a control unit that performs control for selecting a matching commercial message. A television broadcast receiving means for receiving a television broadcast, a commercial message is detected from the television broadcast received by the television broadcast receiving means, a feature amount of the detected commercial message is calculated, and additional information of the commercial message The input is received, the calculated feature value of the commercial message and the additional information of the commercial message are stored in a corresponding database, and the keyword sent from the CM search result receiving device via the network is used as a key. Control means for performing a control to search the database using the keyword as a key in response to a search request for a commercial message, and to transmit the feature quantity of the commercial message searched from the database to the CM search result receiving apparatus via the network And CM retrieval device comprising a,
A television broadcast receiving means for receiving a television broadcast and a search request using the keyword of the commercial message to be searched as a key to the CM search device via the network, and the commercial searched from the database by the CM search device Receiving the feature quantity of the message via the network, making a recording reservation for the commercial message whose feature quantity matches the feature quantity of the commercial message received via the network from the CM search device, detecting the CM from the television broadcast, CM search comprising a control means for calculating a feature amount of the detected commercial message and recording a commercial message whose feature amount matches the feature amount of the commercial message received from the CM search device via the network. Receive results CM recording reservation system which is characterized in that it consists of a device.

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