JP2007115014A - Contents acquisition method, dictionary list generation method, retrieval method, contents acquisition system, terminal equipment and input information prediction method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a useful user interface for which the waiting time of a user is shortened in a system for retrieving contents corresponding to an input keyword from the contents of a plurality of titles for instance. <P>SOLUTION: As a dictionary list for each retrieval object range to be used for performing retrieval with a narrowed retrieval object range of foreign film titles/Japanese film titles or the like for instance, the information of a content ID for specifying the contents is made to correspond to the title information of the contents. Thus, when displaying the title information based on the input keyword in a list from the dictionary list, since even the content ID is discriminated on the basis of the dictionary list, the need of performing separate content ID acquisition processing as before is eliminated when a title is specified from the list. Thus, the time required until the detailed image of the title corresponding to the specification of the title is displayed or the time required until the contents corresponding to the specification of the title are downloaded is shortened. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a content acquisition method for searching for and acquiring a desired title content from a plurality of title contents. Further, the present invention relates to a dictionary list generation method for generating a dictionary list used for searching a content of a desired title from a plurality of title contents, and a search method for searching for a desired content based on such a dictionary list. . The present invention also relates to a content acquisition system including a server device that stores a plurality of title contents, a terminal device configured to be able to perform data communication via the server device, and a network, and a terminal device.
Furthermore, the present invention relates to an input information prediction method for predicting information based on an input keyword for each predetermined prediction target range.

  Conventionally, so-called rental video services for renting (renting) video content such as movies have been developed. In recent years, as such a rental video service, video data / audio data as content is stored in a required server device on the network, and the content is downloaded by downloading it to a terminal device that can be connected to the network. Rental service is being developed. In other words, it is an online rental video service.

  In such an online rental video service, it is conceivable that the content that can be rented is, for example, several thousand to several hundred thousand depending on the scale of the service. When the amount of content that can be rented is enormous, a search system is required for the user to efficiently search for desired content.

Here, with reference to FIG. 31, a search system capable of performing a genre search of a Western title and a Japanese title will be described as an example of such a search system.
First, in FIG. 31A, each content in this case is managed by a unique content ID so that each content can be uniquely defined. Each content ID is associated with related information of each content. Here, the content ID information is associated with the content ID as content related information, title reading pseudonym information for determining a match between the input keyword and the genre to which each content belongs. It is shown.
Thus, by managing the related information of each content in association with the content ID information, for example, when a certain content is designated, the related information of the content can be presented to the user. ing.

  In order to enable the above-described search by genre, in this case, as shown in FIG. 31 (b), based on the related information database shown in FIG. Is generated in advance. The Western title dictionary is a list of title information and title reading pseudonym information of all contents whose genre is “Western”. Similarly, the Japanese movie title dictionary is information that lists title information and title reading pseudonym information of all contents whose genre is “Japanese movie”.

  With these dictionary information prepared, first, when a user searches for desired content, a search target range is designated. In other words, one of the genres of Western / Japanese movies is designated. Thereafter, the user inputs information on the reading of the desired title as shown in FIG. 31C, for example, as a keyword for search.

  In response to such a keyword input by the user, the terminal device side refers to a dictionary based on the specified search target range, searches for a character string that matches the input keyword from the title reading kana information in the dictionary, and matches. Title information associated with title reading kana information is displayed as a search result. FIG. 31 shows an example in which “Western title” is designated as the search target range, and the Western title dictionary is referred to based on the input keyword accordingly.

When the desired title is displayed as the search result, the user can designate the content to be downloaded by designating the title.
That is, when a title is designated by the user on the terminal device side, the corresponding content ID is acquired with reference to management information for managing the association between the title and each content ID. Then, the acquired content ID is transmitted to the server device, and a content download request is made. Thus, the target content is transmitted from the server device side, and the content is downloaded to the terminal device side.
Alternatively, in addition to immediately starting the download of the content according to the designation of the title as described above, other related items of the designated title from the related information database based on the content ID information obtained according to the designated title as described above Information is acquired, and more detailed information about the title (eg, a thumbnail image of a jacket photo or a performer name) is presented to the user based on the related information, and then the user is asked whether to rent this title or not. It can also be determined.

  For example, as described with reference to FIG. 31, by preparing a plurality of dictionaries and performing a search narrowed down the search target range, it is possible to reduce the content as a search target, and a search system that is easy for the user to search can do. Further, the time required for the search process can be shortened by reducing the number of search targets for the apparatus side.

In addition, about the related prior art, the following patent documents can be mentioned.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-5808

Conventionally, the dictionary information as described above is used only for the purpose of displaying a search result corresponding to the input keyword, so that the title reading kana for detecting a match with the input keyword Only the information of titles (including kanji and alphabet) for use in the search result display is associated with the information.
For this reason, when a certain title is specified from the search result, a process for acquiring the corresponding content ID based on the management information from the information of the specified title as described above is separately required. It was.

That is, in the case where title designation → designated title download is performed as described above, a process for acquiring the corresponding content ID based on the management information from the title information designated as described above is separately required. As a result, the time required from the title designation to the content download tends to increase.
Alternatively, when title designation → detailed information display of a designated title is performed, the process of acquiring the content ID as described above is separately required when displaying the detailed information, so that the title specification and the detailed information display are performed. During this period, the time for waiting for the user tends to increase.

  Here, as the user interface, the faster the response according to the operation, the shorter the waiting time of the user and the more preferable. Considering this, even from the title designation operation to the designated content download as described above, or from the title designation operation to the detailed information display of the designated title, unnecessary processing is omitted as much as possible and a quicker response is realized. It is important to realize a highly usable user interface.

Therefore, in the present invention, in view of the above problems, the content acquisition method is as follows.
That is, when generating a dictionary list used to search for a desired title content for each predetermined search target range from a plurality of title contents, content identification information for uniquely defining each content, The related information including at least the information of the title according to the predetermined search target range from the related information database in which the related information of the predetermined plurality of items that are information and related to each content is associated with each other. A dictionary list generation procedure for generating a plurality of dictionary lists corresponding to each search target range by extracting and generating a list in which the content identification information is associated with the extracted title information is provided.
Prediction information for extracting the related information predicted from the input keyword based on a dictionary list corresponding to the specified search target range among the plurality of dictionary lists generated by the dictionary list generation procedure. An extraction procedure is provided.
Further, a list display procedure for displaying a list of the related information extracted by the prediction information extraction procedure on a required display means is provided.
In addition, in response to designation of required title information based on the list of related information displayed by the list display procedure, the content identification associated with the designated title information in the dictionary list A content identification information acquisition procedure for acquiring information is provided.
Further, a content acquisition procedure for acquiring content specified by the content identification information acquired by the content identification information acquisition procedure is provided.

In the present invention, the dictionary list generation method is as follows.
That is, the dictionary list generation method of the present invention is a dictionary list generation method for generating a dictionary list used for searching a desired title content for each predetermined search target range from a plurality of title contents,
From the related information database in which the content identification information for uniquely defining each content and the related information of the predetermined plural items including the information on the title and related to each content are respectively associated with each other, According to each search target range, the related information including at least the title information is extracted according to the search target range, and a list in which the content identification information is associated with the extracted title information is generated. A plurality of dictionary lists are generated.

In the present invention, the search method is as follows.
That is, a plurality of dictionary lists used for searching for a desired title content from a plurality of title contents for each predetermined search target range, and content identification information for uniquely defining each content and the title The related information including at least the information of the title according to the predetermined search target range is obtained from a related information database in which information related to each content including information is associated with a plurality of pieces of related information. Extracted and input based on the dictionary list corresponding to the specified search target range among a plurality of dictionary lists generated by associating the content identification information with the extracted title information A prediction information extraction procedure for extracting the related information predicted from the keyword is provided.
Further, a list display procedure for displaying a list of the related information extracted by the prediction information extraction procedure on a required display means is provided.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the content acquisition system is configured as follows.
That is, a content acquisition system including a server device that stores content of a plurality of titles and a terminal device configured to be able to perform data communication with the server device via a network. When generating a dictionary list used for searching for a desired title content from a title content for each predetermined search target range, content identification information for uniquely defining each content and the title information are included. Extracting the related information including at least the information of the title according to the predetermined search target range from a related information database in which related information of a predetermined plurality of items that are information related to each content is associated with each other The content identification information is added to the extracted title information. By generating a list of correlated response, comprising a plurality of dictionaries list generating means for generating the dictionary list corresponding to each search scope.
Further, the prediction for extracting the related information predicted from the input keyword based on the dictionary list corresponding to the specified search target range from among the plurality of dictionary lists generated by the dictionary list generating means. Information extraction means is provided.
Moreover, it is provided with the list display control means which is provided in the said terminal device side and performs display control so that the said relevant information extracted by the said prediction information extraction means is displayed as a list on a required display means.
Corresponding to the information of the designated title in the dictionary list in response to the designation of the required title information based on the list of the related information displayed on the display means by the list display control means Content identification information acquisition means for acquiring attached content identification information is provided.
Also, the content specified by the content identification information acquired by the content identification information acquisition means, among the content of the plurality of titles stored on the server device side, is stored on the terminal via the network. Content transmission means for transmitting to the apparatus is provided.
Furthermore, the terminal device is provided with content receiving means for receiving the content transmitted by the content transmitting means in the server device.

Further, in the present invention, the terminal device is configured as follows.
That is, a plurality of dictionary lists used for searching for a desired title content from a plurality of title contents for each predetermined search target range, content identification information for uniquely defining each content and the title The related information including at least the information of the title according to the predetermined search target range from the related information database in which the related information of the predetermined plurality of items that are information and related to each content is associated with each other. Extracted and input based on the dictionary list corresponding to the specified search target range from among a plurality of dictionary lists generated by associating the content identification information with the extracted title information Predictive information extracting means for extracting the related information predicted from the keyword is provided.
In addition, a list display control unit is provided that performs display control so that the related information extracted by the prediction information extraction unit is displayed as a list on a required display unit.
Further, when the information of the required title is designated based on the list of the related information displayed on the display means by the list display control means, the information corresponding to the designated title information in the dictionary list Content identification information acquisition means for acquiring attached content identification information is provided.

In the present invention, the input information prediction method is as follows.
That is, it is predicted from the input keyword from the dictionary list selected according to the designated prediction target range among a plurality of dictionary lists used for predicting information based on the input keyword for each predetermined prediction target range. A prediction information extraction procedure for extracting information to be extracted.
Further, a list display procedure for displaying a list of information extracted by the prediction information extraction procedure on a required display means is provided.
In addition, when there is an instruction to respecify the prediction target range in a state where the list of information is displayed on the display means by the list information display procedure, a selection is made according to the redesignated prediction target range. A predicted information re-extraction procedure for re-extracting information predicted from the input keyword from the dictionary list.
Further, a list display update procedure for updating the list information displayed on the display means by the list display procedure to a list display based on the information extracted by the prediction information re-extraction procedure is provided.

According to the content acquisition method and content acquisition system of the present invention, each dictionary list is associated with content identification information (content ID) to content title information. In response to designation of a certain title from the list, it is possible to immediately specify the content ID corresponding to the designated title.
Thus, when the acquisition (downloading) of the content of the designated title is performed directly in response to the designation of a certain title from the title list, the content ID for specifying the content to be downloaded is more Since it can be obtained quickly, the time required for downloading the content can be reduced accordingly, and the waiting time for the user can also be reduced.
Alternatively, when displaying detailed information about the specified title from the title list information extracted from the dictionary list, it is possible to immediately specify the content ID according to the designation of the title as described above, thereby displaying detailed information. The time required until the time until the detailed information is displayed can be shortened.

  As described above, according to the content acquisition method and the content acquisition system of the present invention, the content information is associated with the title information in the dictionary list for searching the content according to the input keyword. In response to designation of a certain title from a list of titles displayed based on the dictionary list, a content ID corresponding to the designated title can be obtained immediately, and this requires from title designation to content download. The time required from the designation of the title or the title to the detailed information display of the designated title can be shortened, and the waiting time of the user can be shortened accordingly. By reducing the waiting time of the user in this way, a useful user interface with higher usability can be realized.

Further, according to the dictionary list generation method of the present invention, it is possible to generate a dictionary list that can realize an excellent user interface that shortens the waiting time of the user as described above.
Further, according to the search method of the present invention, it is possible to extract related information predicted from the input keyword based on the dictionary list of the present invention and display the result as a list on the display means. That is, it is possible to perform a keyword search using the dictionary list of the present invention.
Further, according to the terminal device of the present invention, a terminal device capable of searching for a title (content) according to an input keyword using the dictionary list as the present invention and acquiring content identification information from the dictionary list. Can be provided.

  Further, according to the input information prediction method of the present invention, it is possible to switch and display the prediction result according to the changed prediction target range (search target range) while holding the input keyword. As a result, for example, even when the user makes a mistake in specifying the prediction target range, it is possible to immediately present the prediction result in the correct prediction target range simply by respecifying the prediction target range. (Or information input) can be performed.

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the invention (hereinafter referred to as an embodiment) will be described. The description will be given in the following order.

1. System overview 2. Configuration of terminal device 3. Configuration of server device 4. System operation overview Content search Processing operation Modified example

1. System overview

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a content viewing system 1 as the present embodiment.
As shown in the figure, the content viewing system 1 according to the present embodiment includes a server device 3 and a terminal device 2 that is communicably connected to the server device 3 via a network 4 illustrated. In this case, the network 4 is, for example, the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network).
As will be described later, the terminal device 2 includes a large-capacity recording medium such as an HDD (hard disk drive), and is configured as a recording / reproducing device capable of recording / reproducing video content (including audio in this case). The The server device 3 stores therein video content and related information, and the terminal device 2 downloads the video content stored in the server device 3 in this way via the network 4 and stores it. It is configured to be able to record in the HDD. The user reproduces the video content downloaded to the terminal device 2 in this way and views it.

2. Terminal device configuration

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the terminal device 2 shown in FIG.
In FIG. 2, the terminal device 2 of the embodiment adopts a configuration as a hard disk recorder (/ player) including a terrestrial digital broadcast receiver. In addition, the optical disk drive 23 shown in the figure is provided, and data is recorded and reproduced with respect to the disk 100 as an optical disk recording medium such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) or a Blu-ray Disc (Bru-ray Disc). .
With such a configuration, for example, various data (contents and the like) stored in the HDD 25 can be copied to the disc 100 by the optical disc drive 23. Alternatively, the received video content (and audio data) as broadcast content can be directly recorded on the disc 100.

In FIG. 2, a broadcast signal by terrestrial digital broadcasting is received by an antenna 10 shown in the figure and supplied to a tuner 11 in the terminal device 2.
Based on the control of the CPU 19 shown in the figure, the tuner 11 tunes a carrier in which a predetermined channel exists, that is, selects a channel (carrier selection), and outputs received data to the demodulator 12.
The demodulator 12 demodulates the digitally modulated received data and outputs it to the decoder 13.
For example, in the case of terrestrial digital broadcasting, digital data received from the broadcast signal by the tuner 11 and demodulated by the demodulator 12 is AV (Audio Visual) data compressed by MPEG2 (Moving Picture Coding Experts Group 2) system, and data broadcasting This is a transport stream in which data for use is multiplexed. The data broadcasting data is data accompanying the broadcast content body, that is, EPG (Electric Program Guide) data, for example.

The decoder 13 separates the transport stream supplied from the demodulator 12 into AV data and data broadcasting data compressed by the MPEG2 system. The decoder 13 also separates the real-time AV data compressed by the MPEG2 system into compressed video data and compressed audio data.
The separated audio data is amplified after being decoded by PCM (Pulse Code Modulation), and is output as audio from an externally connected speaker 26 via an audio output terminal (not shown).
The separated video data is decompressed and then output to the externally connected display 27 via the composer 17 and a video output terminal (not shown).
The display 27 performs a display operation based on the supplied video signal.
Note that the RAM 14 shown in the figure temporarily stores these work data by the decoder 13.
Moreover, although the case where the speaker 26 and the display 27 are separated is shown here, they can also be integrated.

  The decoder 13 also supplies the data broadcasting data separated from the transport stream to the CPU 19 via the bus 16. As a result, the CPU 19 can create an EPG list and the like by executing predetermined processing on the data for data broadcasting in accordance with a predetermined application.

Further, the decoder 13 decodes the video content supplied via the HDD interface (I / F) 24 → the bus 16 when reproducing the video content downloaded from the server apparatus 3 side via the network 4 and stored in the HDD 25 ( (Decompression) processing is also performed.
As will be described later, in this case, it is assumed that AV data as video content downloaded from the server apparatus 3 side and stored in the HDD 25 is compressed and encoded by the MPEG2 system.

  The composer 17 can synthesize and output various display screen data such as a setting menu screen generated by the CPU 19 with the video data supplied from the decoder 13 or can output only the display screen data. Composed.

The user interface (U / I) control unit 15 is a module that processes an input operation from the user. For example, when the user operates the remote commander 28 including various operation keys or operation switches, the infrared light emitting unit (see FIG. An operation signal (IR signal) emitted from an unillustrated light is received by the light receiving unit 15a, converted into an input operation signal as an electric signal, and supplied to the CPU 19.
Of course, operation keys or the like may be formed on the apparatus housing panel so that the user can operate the operation keys on the panel. In that case, the user interface control unit 15 may detect an operation by an operation key on the panel and supply it to the CPU 19 as operation information.
Various operation keys provided in the remote commander 28 will be described later.

The communication control unit 18 is provided to perform data communication with an external device (in this case, in particular, the server device 3) connected via the network 4 shown in FIG.
That is, the communication control unit 18 performs transmission data encoding processing and reception data decoding processing based on the control of the CPU 19 connected via the bus 16. In addition, the encoded transmission data is transmitted to a predetermined external device via the network 4, and data transmitted from the external device via the network 4 is transferred to the CPU 19.

The HDD 25 is a random access storage device that can store programs, data, and the like in a predetermined file format, and has a storage capacity of about several hundred GB (gigabytes), for example.
The HDD 25 is connected to the bus 16 via the HDD interface 24 and records and reproduces data and control information supplied from the decoder 13 or the communication control unit 18 based on the control of the CPU 19. For example, recording / reproduction of broadcast content, AV data as video content downloaded from the server device 3 is performed.
The HDD 25 stores a related information database 38b as shown. The related information database 38b is accessed so that the terminal device 2 accesses the server device 3 and periodically updates the related information database 38b so that the same data content as the related information database 38b stored in the server device 3 is maintained. As described later, related information for each video content is associated with each video content.
The HDD 25 also stores various dictionary lists 25a, which will be described later.

  The optical disk drive 23 includes an optical head, a spindle motor, a reproduction signal processing unit, a servo circuit, and the like, and records and reproduces signals on the loaded disk 100 by irradiating laser light. In this case, the recording data to the disc 100 and the reproduction data from the disc 100 are transferred via the bus 16 connected via the optical disc interface (I / F) 22.

The CPU 19 is a main controller that controls the overall operation of the terminal device 2 and executes various applications (programs) on a platform provided by an operating system (OS).
For example, the CPU 19 receives and outputs broadcasts, records / plays back content, and records the content recorded in the HDD 25 based on an operation signal input via the user interface control unit 15 in response to the operation on the remote commander 28 described above. Processing for management and generation of various screen display data such as a menu screen to be displayed on the screen of the display 27 is executed.

In particular, in the embodiment, as described later, processing for downloading video content from the server device 3 side, processing for searching for video content to be downloaded based on user keyword input, and the like are also performed. To be.
The search for video content is performed based on the various dictionary lists 25a described above, which will be described later.

  The RAM 20 is a writable volatile memory used for loading an execution program of the CPU 19 and writing work data of the execution program.

The ROM 21 is a read-only memory for storing a self-diagnosis / initialization program executed when the terminal device 2 is powered on, a control code for hardware operation, and the like.
In this case, the ROM 21 has a rewritable nonvolatile area. In the nonvolatile area of the ROM 21, a terminal ID 21a used for billing processing to be described later is stored. This terminal ID 21a is ID information assigned so as to be unique to each terminal device 2 by the server device 3, for example, and is information for uniquely defining the terminal device 2.

  In this figure, the case where the terminal device 2 of the embodiment includes the optical disk drive 23 together with the HDD 25 and is configured so as to be able to record and reproduce data with respect to the disk 100 is described. The interface 22) may be omitted and the recording / reproducing function for the disc 100 may not be provided.

  Here, the terminal device 2 is configured to be able to receive terrestrial digital broadcasts, but may be configured to be able to receive other digital (or analog) BS broadcasts and digital (or analog) CS broadcasts. Alternatively, the tuner 11 and the demodulator 12 may be omitted so that a broadcast signal receiving function is not given.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining various operation keys provided in the remote commander 28 shown in FIG. In this figure, as the operation keys provided in the remote commander 28, only the operation keys for giving instructions relating to the operation as the embodiment are shown, and the other operation keys are omitted.
In FIG. 3, the remote commander 28 includes a ten-key 28a for specifying a channel selection channel and inputting various numbers, an up-direction key 28b, a down-direction key 28c, and a right-direction key for instructing up, down, left and right directions. 28d, left direction key 28e direction instruction keys, and a determination key 28f for instructing determination of various items.
In this case, the 10 key 28a is also used as an operation key for character input. Here, it is assumed that one line of 50 sounds is sequentially assigned to 10 operation keys “1” to “0” as the 10 key 28a. That is, of the 10 keys 28a, “A” is assigned to “1”, and “K” is assigned to “2”. “3” is “sa line”, “4” is “ta line”, “5” is “na line”, “6” is “ha line”, “7” is “ma line”. , “8” is assigned “Ya”, “9” is assigned “R”, and “0” is assigned “Wa”.
In this case, the character is fed in that line every time the operation key is pressed. In other words, for example, in the case of “A line”, each time the operation key “1” is pressed, characters are sent in the order “A → I → U → E → O → A → I ...”. It is. As a result, the user can input a desired character from the 50 sounds.

3. Server device configuration

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the server apparatus 3 shown in FIG.
In this figure, first, the CPU 31 performs overall control and arithmetic processing of the server device 3 based on the activated program. For example, an operation corresponding to an input to the illustrated input unit 35, storage of a data file in the HDD 38, creation / update of management information, and the like are performed.
The CPU 31 exchanges control signals and data with each unit via a bus 32 shown in the figure.

  The memory unit 33 comprehensively shows RAM, ROM, flash memory, and the like used by the CPU 31 for processing. The ROM of the memory unit 33 stores an operation program for the CPU 31, a program loader, and the like. The flash memory stores various calculation coefficients, parameters used in the program, and the like, and the RAM temporarily reserves a data area and a task area for executing the program.

In the HDD 38, data files are stored and management information is created / updated under the control of the CPU 31.
As described with reference to FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, video content to be recorded / reproduced by the terminal device 2 is stored on the server device 3 side. Thus, the video content to be recorded / reproduced by the terminal device 2 is stored in the HDD 38.
As the video content in this case, a plurality of titles are prepared, and here, the plurality of contents are shown as a content group 38a illustrated.

In this case, each video content is associated with a plurality of pieces of information (related information) related to the content, such as information on the title name of the content.
The related information of these contents is stored as a related information database 38b shown in the HDD 38.

Here, FIG. 5 shows the structure of the related information database 38b.
In FIG. 5, the content ID is identification information for uniquely defining each video content stored as the content group 38a, and the CPU 31 can identify each video content by this content ID. Has been.
In this case, as the related information of the content, as shown in the figure, “title name”, “title title”, “original title”, “country of origin”, “production year”, “genre”, “recording time”, “voice”, “caption”, “appearance”, “ It is assumed that 20 items are set such as “Yomigana” “Director” “Yomigana” “Music” “Original / Screenplay” “Commentary” “Thumbnail Image” “Price” “Evaluation” “Number of Downloads”. Although the contents of each item are also illustrated, they are as follows.
“Title name”: Information on the title name of the content,
"Title Yomigana" ... Information about the title name,
"Original title" ... Information on the title of the content,
"Country of production" ... Information on the country where the content was produced,
"Production year": Information on the year the content was produced,
“Genre” ········ Information about the genre name to which the content belongs “Recording time” ············ Length information (minutes) indicating the length of content
"Voice" ..... Content audio type (LR2ch (channel) /5.1ch surround) information,
"Subtitles" ... Information about subtitles such as Japanese / English,
“Appearance” ... Information on the name of the performers of the movie, etc. as the content (s),
“Performer Yomigana” ... Yomigana information (several) of performer names,
"Director" ... Information about the director name of the movie as content,
"Director's name" ... Information about the director's name,
"Music" ... Name information (s) of the person who created the music for the content, "Original / Screenplay" ... Name information of the author / screenwriter of the content,
"Commentary" ... Information on the content introduction text,
“Thumbnail image”: Information for acquiring an image instead of data (for example, URI (Uniform Re) for specifying the storage location of the thumbnail image
source Identifier) information)
“Price” ... Information on rental fee of content,
"Evaluation" ..... Evaluation information (numbers) of the user for the content,
“Number of downloads”: Information on the number of times content has been downloaded,

  In this case, the item “genre” has a hierarchical structure in which, for example, “foreign film” in the first layer and “action” in the second layer, etc., can be divided into various genres. The In other words, in this example, it is possible to categorize according to “foreign film” and genre according to “action”, and genre such as “foreign-action” can be combined with these two genres. Is done.

  The item “number of downloads” is automatically updated by the server device 3 every time content is downloaded to the terminal device 2. That is, each time content is downloaded to the terminal device 2 side, the server device 3 increments the value of “download count” associated with the content ID of the content in the related information database 38b by one.

  In addition, the update of the information of the item “evaluation” can be realized as follows, for example. That is, for example, an “evaluate” icon is provided on an initial screen (FIG. 7) to be described later, and a link is made to a WEB page where the user can perform evaluation for each content according to the determination operation of this icon. Make up. Then, the server apparatus 3 updates the item of the evaluation information of the corresponding content in the related information database 38b based on the evaluation information input on the WEB page. In this case, the evaluation information is, for example, numerical information of five levels, and represents the average value of the evaluation values input by each user.

  In the related information database 38b, the related information of the plurality of items is associated with each content ID as described above. Thereby, the correspondence between each video content and the related information is maintained.

  The related information database 38b includes information to be updated every time new video content is added so that related information is associated with all the contents stored as the content group 38a. Become. In this case, as the update of the related information database 38b according to the addition of new video content, for example, an operator on the side of operating a service (rental service to be described later) realized by the content viewing system 1 as an embodiment, etc. Then, it can be performed by inputting related information about new content by an operation input or the like via the input unit 35 described below.

The input unit 35 is a keyboard, mouse, remote commander, or other input device (not shown). It is assumed that the above-described operator or the like performs various operation inputs and data inputs for the input unit 35.
Information input by the input unit 35 is subjected to predetermined processing by the input processing unit 34 and transmitted to the CPU 31 as an operation or data input. The CPU 31 performs necessary calculations and controls corresponding to the input information.

  The display 37 is a liquid crystal display, for example, and in this case, displays various information to an operator or the like. For example, when the CPU 31 supplies display information to the display processing unit 36 according to various operation states, input states, and communication states, the display processing unit 36 drives the display 37 based on the supplied display data, thereby Display output about information is performed.

The communication processing unit 39 performs transmission data encoding processing and reception data decoding processing based on the control of the CPU 31.
The network interface 40 transmits the transmission data encoded by the communication processing unit 39 to a predetermined external device, in particular, the terminal device 2 via the network 4. In addition, a signal transmitted from an external device such as the terminal device 2 via the network 4 is transferred to the communication processing unit 39.
The communication processing unit 39 transfers the received information to the CPU 31.

4). System operation overview

Next, an overview of operations realized by the content viewing system 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
First, in the content viewing system 1 according to the embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 1, the terminal device 2 downloads the content stored on the server device 3 side, and the user downloads the content to the terminal device 2. It is assumed that the user will be viewing the content. In the present embodiment, an online rental video service is provided as one usage pattern of such a content viewing system 1.
That is, for the content downloaded to the terminal device 2 side, a reproducible period is determined, and a charging process is performed each time content is downloaded to the terminal device 2 side.

First, when downloading video content to be rented, the user selects desired content from among a plurality of video content stored in the server device 3.
Here, when there are a large number of contents, it is difficult for the user to efficiently search for the desired contents by displaying a list of contents and selecting the desired contents from the list.
Therefore, in the embodiment, keyword search is made possible. That is, the content specified by the keyword input by the user is searched, and the user is allowed to select a desired video content from the content.
At the same time, in the present embodiment, it is also possible to perform a search that narrows the search target range for each genre such as a Western / Japanese movie. In order to perform such a narrowed search target range, the various dictionary lists 25a described above are used.
In other words, when performing a search narrowing down the search target range to a Western title, a Western title dictionary that extracts and lists only titles whose genre is “Western” based on the related information database 38b is used. Further, when performing a search narrowing down the search target range to Japanese movie titles, a Japanese movie title dictionary in which only titles whose genre is “Japanese movie” is extracted and listed based on the related information database 38b is used.
The structure of each dictionary list generated in this embodiment will be described later.

In FIG. 6, in order to select a desired content, the user first inputs a keyword to the terminal device 2 as indicated by <P1> in the figure. In addition, when performing keyword input in <P1>, an operation of selecting a search target range is actually performed, which will be described later.
In response to such keyword input, the terminal device 2 performs keyword search using a dictionary list corresponding to the selected search target range (<P2> in the figure).
Here, although it has been described that selection of desired content is performed only by keyword search, selection from a ranking list is also possible as will be described later.

  Further, in the terminal device 2, a desired title is selected and determined (designated) by the user based on the keyword search result (<P3> in the figure). When a desired title is selected and determined in this way, a content ID corresponding to the determined title is transmitted to the server device 3 side. At this time, the terminal ID 21a for performing the accounting process is also transmitted (<P4> in the figure).

In the server device 3, when the content ID transmitted from the terminal device 2 side and the terminal ID 21a are received as described above, the server device 3 is specified by the content ID from among a plurality of contents stored as the content group 38a. Content is acquired and transmitted to the terminal device 2 side. As a result, the content designated by the user is downloaded.
Further, the server device 3 performs the charging process based on the terminal ID 21a in response to the transmission of the content to the terminal device 2 side in this way. That is, the rental fee for the content is collected by this billing process. This billing process will be described later.

Here, as described above, the terminal device 2 generates various dictionary lists 25a used for keyword search using the related information database 38b. Therefore, as the related information database 38b stored on the terminal device 2 side in this way, the same as the latest related information database 38b stored on the server device 3 side and the data contents thereof are not maintained. There is a possibility that the search cannot be performed on all the video contents stored on the third side.
Therefore, between the terminal device 2 and the server device 3, as shown by <P0> in the figure, an update process for the related information database 38b is performed. As this update processing, for example, the terminal device 2 periodically accesses the server device 3 to determine whether or not the data contents of the related information database 38b match, and if they do not match, they are stored on the server device 3 side. The related information database 38b can be overwritten and copied.
Alternatively, when the related information database 38b is updated by the operator or the like described above on the server device 3 side, an update request is sent to the terminal device 2 side. The related information database 38b stored in 3 can be overwritten and copied.

5. Search for content

Subsequently, a content search operation realized by the content viewing system 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 17, the content search operation as an embodiment will be described based on the transition of the display screen G27 on the display 27 shown in FIG. 2 obtained according to the user operation.
First, FIG. 7 shows the contents of the initial screen displayed on the display screen G27 in response to the activation of the application for realizing the content search operation as the embodiment. As shown in the figure, a cursor CR for selecting these icons is displayed on the initial screen together with icons such as “view video” and “rent video”. The “view video” icon is an icon for instructing playback (viewing) of video content stored in the HDD 25 shown in FIG. 2, and this icon is selected by the cursor CR and a determination operation is performed. In this case, for example, content list information (title list information) stored in the HDD 25 is displayed on the display screen G27, and the user can select desired content from the list and determine the viewing content. it can.
The “rent video” icon is an icon that should be selected and determined when content is downloaded using the rental video service according to the present embodiment. That is, when the user downloads content using the rental video service according to the present embodiment, the user first selects and determines this icon.
For confirmation, the selection of various selection items such as icons by the cursor CR is performed by using the direction instruction keys (upward key 28b, down direction key 28c, right side) provided in the remote commander 28 shown in FIG. This can be done by pressing the direction key 28d and the left direction key 28e). The item selected by the cursor CR can be determined by pressing the determination key 28f.

  When the operation of determining the “rent a video” icon shown in FIG. 7 is performed, the search method designation screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the display screen G27. On this search method designation screen, a “search by ranking” icon, a “search by keyword” icon, and the like are displayed as shown, and a cursor CR for selecting these icons is displayed.

When an operation for selecting / determining the “search by ranking” icon is performed on the search method designation screen shown in FIG. 8, the following ranking screen shown in FIG. 9 is displayed.
On the ranking screen, information on the title name of the content (and related information on other predetermined items) is displayed by ranking from the first place to the 100th place, for example. A cursor CR for selecting desired content from this ranking is also displayed.
In this case, the ranking of each content is based on information on the number of downloads in the related information database 38b. That is, a list of title information (and other predetermined related information) of the upper predetermined number of contents with the highest number of downloads is displayed.
In addition, as the ranking screen, for example, a ranking screen for each genre of a foreign film ranking, a Japanese film ranking, and an animation ranking can be displayed. For this reason, an icon for moving to another ranking screen is also displayed on each ranking screen. FIG. 9 shows an example of a Western-style ranking screen, and accordingly, it is shown that a “go to Japanese ranking” icon I1 and an “to-anime ranking” icon I2 are displayed as the icons.
In addition, a “return” icon I3 shown in the figure is also displayed on the ranking screen, and the user selects the “return” icon I3 with the cursor CR and performs a determination operation, whereby the display content of the display screen G27 is displayed in the previous diagram. The search method designation screen shown in FIG.
In the ranking screen, the evaluation information of the title can be displayed together with the information of each title name. That is, the evaluation information associated with each title in the related information database 38b is displayed together with the information of each title name.
The related information database 38b also stores information on the production year of the content. When the ranking screen is generated, for example, if the title of the production year excludes titles older than a predetermined year and month, the new ranking Can also be provided.

Then, the user can specify the content by selecting a certain title with the cursor CR on the ranking screen and performing a determination operation there. When a certain content is designated in this way, the details screen shown in FIG. 10 is displayed on the display screen G27.
This detailed screen is a screen for presenting more detailed information about the content of the designated title. As shown in the figure, the related information of a predetermined number of predetermined items among the related information in the related information database 38b is shown. Each information is displayed at a predetermined display position. As shown in the figure, for example, the detailed screen in this case includes the title, production year, production country, screening time (recording time), subtitles, director, appearance, rental fee (price), thumbnail image, evaluation (number of ★) Each item is displayed at a predetermined display position.
In addition, on the detailed screen in this case, a “view digest” icon I4, a “rental” icon I5, a “return” icon I6 and a cursor CR for selecting these icons are also displayed for a predetermined display position. Is done.

  In displaying the detailed screen, the terminal device 2 (CPU 19), in response to the designation of the content on the ranking screen of FIG. 9, the related information of the predetermined plurality of items for the designated content in the related information database 38b. To get. At this time, since the URI information is stored in the related information database 38b for the thumbnail image, the corresponding thumbnail image is obtained by accessing the storage location on the WEB specified by this URI. Then, display screen data is generated so that each of the acquired related information and each of the icons (I4 to I6) described above are displayed at a predetermined display position, and this is supplied to the composer 17 to be displayed on the display 27. An instruction is given to display on the display screen G27.

On this detailed screen, the user can return to the ranking screen in FIG. 9 by selecting the “return” icon I6 with the cursor CR and performing an operation for determining it.
In addition, the user can reproduce the digest version of the moving image as shown in FIG. 11 by selecting the “view digest” icon I4 and performing an operation for determining the icon I4. In this case, an example is shown in which the digest movie is played back (displayed) so that the region where the thumbnail image is displayed on the detailed screen of FIG. 10 becomes the movie display region. It should be noted that the digest video referred to here may be a video that introduces the content of the movie as the content in this case, and may include content other than the scene in the movie.
Further, at the time of playing the digest video, a “stop” icon I7 is displayed instead of the “view digest” icon I4 displayed on the detail screen of FIG.

  In this case, the digest video data is reproduced from the digest video data for each content stored in the server device 3 based on the content ID of the content designated by the terminal device 2, for example. This can be achieved by acquiring data.

  In FIG. 11, the user can stop the reproduction of the digest video by selecting the “stop” icon I7 with the cursor CR and performing an operation of determining the icon I7. Further, by selecting the “return” icon I6 shown in the figure and performing a determination operation, it is possible to return to the detail screen of FIG.

  Here, the “rental” icon I5 is displayed on the detailed screen shown in FIG. 10 (including the digest video playback screen shown in FIG. 11), but the user uses the cursor CR to make this “rental” icon I5. By selecting and performing the determination operation, it is possible to issue a download instruction (rental instruction) for the title displayed on the detail screen (in this case, the title specified on the ranking screen in FIG. 9).

  That is, the terminal device 2 transmits the content ID of the designated content to the server device 3 in response to the operation of selecting / determining the “rental” icon I5 in this way. Based on the content ID transmitted in this way, the server device 3 reads the content specified by this content ID from the content group 38a stored in the HDD 38 and transmits it to the terminal device 2 side. Thus, the designated content is downloaded to the terminal device 2 side.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, in this case, in addition to searching for a desired content from the ranking as described above, the content can be searched for by a keyword.
When an operation for selecting and determining the “search by keyword” icon is performed on the search method designation screen of FIG. 8, the keyword search screen shown in FIG. 12 is displayed.
In FIG. 12, the keyword search screen can be divided into three display areas, a search target range selection area A1, a keyword input box A2, and a prediction result display area A3, as shown.
The search target range selection area A1 displays an icon for designating a content search target range and a cursor CR1 for selecting them, and the user selects an icon indicating a desired search target range by using the cursor CR1. By performing the operation of determining the desired search target range can be specified.
In addition, a cursor CR2 is displayed in the keyword input box A2, and characters can be input at the position indicated by the cursor CR2. This character input can be performed using the 10 key 28a in the remote commander 28 shown in FIG.
The prediction result display area A3 is predicted from the keyword input in the keyword input box A2 for the search target range (for example, a Western title or a Japanese title) specified in the search target range selection area A1. This is an area for displaying information as search results.

Here, in the present embodiment, the content search target range depends on titles such as “Western title”, “Japanese title”, “Anime title”, “All titles”, etc. shown in FIG. In addition to those, a search using a person name as a search target range is also performed. In other words, it is possible to search from the names of actors and directors who appear in movies as content.
Specifically, as such name search, “Western director” search, “Japanese director” search, “All director” search, “Western actor” search, “Japanese actor” search, “All actors” search, In addition, the search for “all names” (director + actor) is made possible.
When such a search based on a person name is performed, as will be described later, a list of person names as a prediction result from an input keyword → a person name designation → a title list display of content corresponding to a person name → a title designation flow Thus, the user designates a desired title.

The search target range can be specified as follows.
First, in the keyword search screen of FIG. 12, in the search target range selection area A1, icons for specifying the search target range are displayed in a hierarchical structure. That is, as the first hierarchy in the uppermost part of the figure, a “title” icon for designating a search by title, a “person name” icon for designating a search by person name, and a search that covers all of the title / person name are included. An “all” icon for designating is displayed.
An icon for designating a more detailed range is displayed in the lower second hierarchy in accordance with the icon (search target range) designated in the first hierarchy. In the example of FIG. 12, each icon displayed in the second hierarchy when the “title” icon is designated in the first hierarchy is shown. In other words, in response to the designation of the “title” icon in the first level and the search for the title as a range, the “Western title”, “Japanese title”, “anime title” in the second level are designated. "Is displayed. In this case, an “all titles” icon for displaying all titles as a search target range is also displayed.
In the state shown in FIG. 12, the user can move the illustrated cursor CR1 from the first layer to the second layer by using, for example, the downward key 28c. Each icon displayed in the second hierarchy can be selected by the cursor CR1 thus moved to the second hierarchy.

In addition, when designating a search with a person name as a range, an operation of selecting / determining the “person name” icon in the first hierarchy with the cursor CR1 is performed. When an operation for selecting / determining (specifying) the “person name” icon in the first hierarchy is performed as described above, the following display as shown in FIG. 13 is performed in the search target range selection area A1. .
In FIG. 13, according to the designation of the “person name” icon, a more detailed search target range than the personal name is set for the second layer of the search target range selection area A1, as shown in FIG. An icon is displayed. That is, in this case, icons of “director” and “actor” are displayed. In this case as well, an “all person names” icon for displaying all person names as a search target range is also displayed.

  In FIG. 13A, in this case as well, the user can move the illustrated cursor CR1 from the first hierarchy to the second hierarchy using, for example, the down key 28c, and the cursor CR1 thus moved to the second hierarchy. Each icon displayed in the second hierarchy can be selected.

At this time, it is assumed that an operation for selecting / determining the “director” icon in the second hierarchy is performed as shown in FIG. 13B from the state shown in FIG. In response to this, as shown in FIG. 13B, an icon for designating a more detailed range is displayed in the third hierarchy further below the second hierarchy. That is, as shown in the figure, icons of “foreign director” and “Japanese director” are displayed. Further, an “all directors” icon for making all directors a search target range is also displayed.
For example, the user can move the cursor CR1 shown in the figure from the second hierarchy to the third hierarchy by using the down key 28c, and the cursor CR1 thus moved to the third hierarchy can display each of the cursors displayed on the third hierarchy. An icon can be selected.

Further, from the state shown in FIG. 13A, it is assumed that an “actor” icon is selected by the cursor CR1 in the second hierarchy and an operation for determining it is performed as shown in FIG. 13C. In response to this, as shown in FIG. 13C, an icon for designating a more detailed range in the third hierarchy is displayed. That is, as shown in the figure, icons of “Western actor” and “Japanese actor” are displayed. Further, an “all actors” icon for making all actors the search target range is also displayed.
Also in this case, for example, the user can move the cursor CR1 shown in the figure from the second hierarchy to the third hierarchy using the down key 28c, and is displayed on the third hierarchy by the cursor CR1 thus moved to the third hierarchy. Each icon can be selected.

Here, as can be understood from the description of FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, in the embodiment, the search based on the titles of “Western title”, “Japanese title”, “Anime title”, “All titles”, “Japanese movie director” “All actors” “Western actors” “Japanese actors” “All actors”, and “All names” search by name.
In order to enable a search in each of these search target ranges, as an embodiment, a dictionary list corresponding to each search target range is used as conventionally performed.
That is, for the search by “foreign title”, a dictionary list is prepared in advance by extracting information on “title” and “title reading” whose “genre” item is “foreign” from the related information database 38b. The reason why “Yomigana” information is also extracted is to correspond to the fact that only “Yomi” information can be input in the keyword search in this case. In other words, it is information that can be made unnecessary if an input keyword other than a reading kana such as katakana, kanji, and numbers can be input.
Also, in this case, search by person name is also possible, but in the case of search by person name, as described above, display of a list of person names as prediction results based on input keywords → designation of person names → corresponding to person names The user designates a desired title by the flow of title list display of content → designation of title. In order to realize this, for example, for a search by “director of movie”, information on “director” and “director yomiga” whose “genre” item is “foreign film” is extracted from the related information database 38b, and these “director” “ A dictionary list in which the information of “title” supervised by the director is associated with the information of “director yomigana” is generated in advance.
For convenience of explanation, the structure of each dictionary list as the present embodiment will be described later.

Next, a prediction result display (search result display) according to a keyword input will be described with reference to FIG.
First, when performing a keyword search, the user uses the cursor CR1 in the search target range selection area A1 to specify the search target range. Here, as shown in FIG. 14A, it is assumed that the “foreign title” icon is designated and the keyword search using the western title as the search target range is designated.
Then, the user uses the 10 key 28a in the remote commander 28 shown in FIG. 3 to input characters at the position indicated by the cursor CR2 in the keyword input box A2. In this case, the input character can be confirmed by pressing the enter key 28f. That is, FIG. 14A shows that the input of “A” is confirmed in the keyword input box A2, but for this purpose, the user first presses the “1” key of the 10 key 28a. After pressing once to display “A”, the enter key 28f is pressed.

Then, in response to the input of one character in the keyword input box A2, information predicted from the input keyword “A” is displayed in a list in the prediction result display area A3 of FIG. Is done. In other words, in this case, “Western title” is designated as the search target range, and therefore, the input keyword “ The information predicted from "is searched, and the results are displayed in a list.
Specifically, the prediction result display in this case is performed by extracting from the dictionary list information that includes characters as input keywords (in this case, hiragana and thus “reading” information). Is done. That is, when the input keyword is “A” as in the above example, only the information whose first character “YOMIGANA” is “A” in the dictionary list is extracted and displayed in a list.
In addition, when all of the list information as the prediction result cannot be displayed as the space of the prediction result display area A3, as many information as the displayable number is displayed. However, all the information extracted as the prediction result is retained, and the list is scrolled when information is selected from the prediction result with the cursor CR3 in the prediction result display area A3 as described later. In this way, all information as a prediction result can be displayed.

Assume that the next character input is performed in the keyword input box A2 from the state shown in FIG. 14A as shown in FIG. 14B. For example, here, it is assumed that “ru” is input as the next character.
As described above, since the prediction result corresponding to the input keyword is displayed in the prediction result display area A3 for each one character input of the keyword, the prediction displayed according to the next character input is displayed. The content of the result is updated. That is, in this case, “ru” is input next to “a”, and the input character in the input box A2 is “present”. As a result, only information including “A” is extracted and displayed as a list.

In this embodiment, information predicted from the input keyword is extracted from the dictionary list prepared in advance as described above, and the list is presented to the user. Such a function can be regarded as a function that presents information (character string) that the user intends to input ahead of prediction based on the input keyword. That is, this is a so-called input prediction function.
In the present embodiment, such an input prediction function is used for searching for content (title) by associating the title of the content in each dictionary list. Therefore, the target range corresponding to each dictionary list is used. This is called a search target range. From the viewpoint of such an input prediction function, this search target range can also be regarded as a prediction target range.

  By making a search using the prediction input function in this way, it is possible to display a list of information predicted from the input keyword without inputting all the words of the title or person name desired by the user, The time required can be shortened. Also, if the first character matches, the correct title name and personal name information is presented as list information, so the user can select the correct information from the list information even if he / she remembers the information he / she wants to input. Can be specified.

In the embodiment, it is also possible to change the search target range in the search target range selection area A1 while holding the input keyword in the keyword input box A2.
FIG. 15 shows the display contents on the display screen G27 when the “foreign film title” search specified in the search target range selection area A1 in FIG. 14B is changed to the “foreign film director” search. Show. For confirmation, when changing from “foreign film title” to “foreign film director” in this way, the cursor CR1 is moved to specify the “person name” in the first hierarchy (accordingly, (The icon at the second level is updated to an icon corresponding to the “person name”) → “Director” is specified at the second level (according to this, the icon corresponding to “director” is displayed at the third level) ->"Director of movie" in the third level is designated.

  In FIG. 15, in response to the designation of “foreign director” from the state shown in FIG. 14B, the display content in the prediction result display area A3 is searched for “foreign director”. It is updated to the contents of the prediction result when it is set as the range. That is, in this case, according to “al” input in the keyword input box A2, only information including “al” in the first character of “yomiga” is extracted from the information in the movie director dictionary list. The list information of the extracted information is displayed as the prediction result in the prediction result display area A3.

Here, if it is assumed that the search target range cannot be changed while the input character is held as described above, for example, when the user inputs “Yes”, the search target range is mistakenly specified. For example, if you notice that the search is completed, for example, you can select / determine a search termination icon provided separately to end the search in the current search target range, re-specify the search target range, and then It is conceivable that a keyword must be input. Depending on this, the time required for the above-described search end operation and re-keyword input increases, and an efficient search cannot be performed accordingly.
On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, even if a search target range is specified incorrectly as described above, the correct search target can be immediately obtained simply by re-designating the icon in the search target range selection area A1 as described above. A prediction result in a range can be obtained. That is, an efficient search can be performed in this respect.

  Subsequently, in the state shown in FIG. 15, when a desired “director” is designated from the list information of “director” displayed in the prediction result display area A3, for example, the down key 28c is pressed. . Thereby, as shown in FIG. 16, the cursor CR3 is displayed in the prediction result display area A3. The user can select one “director” from the “director” list in the prediction result display area A3 by using the cursor CR3. Then, by performing the determination operation in a state where a certain “supervisor” is selected by the cursor CR3 in this way, the “supervisor” can be designated.

When a certain “director” is designated from the “director” list, a list of “titles” corresponding to the designated “director” is displayed in the prediction result display area A3. That is, in this case, “titles” associated with the designated “director” are extracted from the foreign film director dictionary list, and a list thereof is displayed.
In this case, a desired “title” can be designated from the displayed “title” list by the cursor CR3 in the prediction result display area A3.
Further, here, the name information of the selected “director” is displayed in the keyword input box A2 so that the designated “director” name can be confirmed.

In the screen shown in FIG. 17, when a certain “title” is designated from the “title” list, the detailed screen shown in FIG. 10 for the designated title is displayed.
Since the screen transition and the operation of the system in accordance with the user operation after this detailed screen is displayed are the same as those described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 11, the description thereof is omitted here. .
However, when the title is specified from the keyword search screen and the detail screen is displayed, the screen content before the display of the detail screen is returned according to the designation operation of the “return” icon I6 provided on the detail screen. To be done.

  15 to 17, the screen transition and operation in the case where “foreign film director” is designated as the search target range have been described. However, a search using another person name as the search target range (Japanese film director, all directors, (Each actor search by Western actors, Japanese actors, all actors, and all names) is also displayed in the prediction result display area A3 of the list of names predicted from the input keyword → names from the names list The detailed screen of the designated title is displayed in the flow of designation of the title associated with the designated person name in the dictionary list → designation of the title.

Although illustration is omitted, in the case where “title” is set as a search target range (when a Western title, Japanese title, animation title, or all titles are specified), for example, FIG. As shown, the cursor CR3 can be displayed in the prediction result display area A3 by pressing the down key 28c in the same manner while the list of titles is displayed in the prediction result display area A3. That is, a desired title can be designated from the list of titles in the prediction result display area A3, and a detailed screen for the designated title can be displayed.
Also in this case, screen transitions and system operations corresponding to user operations after the detailed screen is displayed are the same as those described with reference to FIGS.

When “all” in the first hierarchy is designated as the search target range, a search for all titles and all personal names is performed. That is, along with this, a title and a person's name are mixedly displayed in the prediction result display area A3.
In such a state, when a title is designated by the cursor CR3 in the prediction result display area A3, the process proceeds to display a detailed screen for the designated title as it is. On the other hand, when a person name is designated, the process proceeds to display of a detailed screen for the designated title in the flow of displaying a list of titles associated with the designated person name in the dictionary list → designating a title.

By the way, as shown in the screen transition from FIG. 14B to FIG. 15, in the embodiment, in the state where the keyword is input, the prediction result is displayed in accordance with the change of the search target range. It is possible to switch to search results at.
The switching of the prediction result display according to the change of the search target range is realized by the operation as shown in FIG. In FIG. 18, as an example, an operation to be performed according to switching of the prediction result display according to the change between the search target ranges of “foreign title”, “Japanese title”, and “all titles” is shown.

  First, FIG. 18A shows a prediction result display operation when “foreign title” is designated as the search target range. In this case, a Western title dictionary list is used among the Western title dictionary list, Japanese title dictionary list, and animation title dictionary list prepared for performing each title search as shown in the figure. That is, for example, when the input keyword is “A” shown in the figure, information on the “Title” predicted from this “A” by referring to the Western title dictionary list (including “A” at the beginning of the reading) Title "information) is extracted and displayed as a list of prediction results.

  When the search target range is changed to “Japanese title” from the state of FIG. 18A, the input keyword is searched with reference to the Japanese title dictionary list as shown in FIG. 18B. Information of “title” predicted from “A” is extracted and displayed as a list as a prediction result.

  Furthermore, it is assumed that the search target range is changed to “all titles” from the state of FIG. 18B as shown in FIG. 18C. Depending on the designation of “all titles”, the “title” predicted from the input keyword “already” from all dictionary lists of the Western title dictionary list, Japanese title dictionary list, and animation title dictionary list as shown in the figure. Each information is extracted, and a combination of these results is displayed as a list of prediction results.

Although illustration is omitted, for a search based on a person name, an operation of displaying a prediction result using a dictionary list corresponding to a designated search target range is performed in the same manner as in FIG.
That is, a dictionary list corresponding only to the narrowest search target range as a search target range is generated, and when a search target range of “all” is specified, the input keyword is used using all corresponding dictionary lists. Predicted information is extracted from the list, and the combined information is displayed as a list of prediction results.

Here, as will be understood from the above description, in the embodiment, each dictionary list corresponding to each search target range is prepared, and the input keyword is extracted from the dictionary list corresponding to the specified search target range. By extracting and displaying the information predicted from the list, it is possible to display a search result based on the search target range specified by the user.
Based on the search result, the user can specify desired content.

At this time, when a certain content is specified from the list of contents extracted based on the dictionary list as described above, the detailed screen of the title shown in FIG. 10 (and FIG. 11) is displayed. However, various related information stored in the related information database 38b in association with the title is displayed here.
In this case, if the dictionary list is associated only with “title” information for title list display as described above, the related information necessary for the detailed screen display is displayed when the title list is displayed. Thus, the content ID necessary for obtaining the information from the related information database 38b is not known. That is, according to this, in this case, a separate process for acquiring the corresponding content ID from the information of the designated “title” is required for displaying the detailed screen.

  Further, even if such a detailed screen is not displayed and a download request for the content of the designated title is directly made to the server device 3 in response to designation of a certain title from the title list, If the content ID is not associated with the dictionary list, a process for acquiring the corresponding content ID from the information of the designated title is required separately.

Therefore, in the embodiment, the content ID information is also associated with the title information in each dictionary list.
The structure is shown in FIGS.
FIG. 19 shows the structure of each title dictionary list (foreign title dictionary list, Japanese title dictionary list, animation title dictionary list).
In this way, each title dictionary list is associated with “title reading” and “title” of the corresponding genre, and “content ID”.
FIG. 20 shows the structure of each director dictionary list (foreign director director dictionary list, Japanese director director dictionary list) and each actor dictionary list (western actor dictionary list, Japanese actor dictionary list).
In this way, in each director dictionary list and each actor dictionary list, the corresponding “person name reading” and “person name” are further associated with “title” and “content ID”.

By associating “title” with “content ID” in each dictionary list in this way, in response to designation of a certain title from the list of titles displayed based on the dictionary list, the designated title is immediately The content ID corresponding to the can be obtained. That is, a separate content ID acquisition process based on management information as conventionally performed is omitted.
Thus, for example, when a detailed screen for a specified title from title list information extracted from the dictionary list is displayed as in the embodiment, the time required to display the detailed screen can be shortened. That is, as a result, the waiting time of the user until the detailed screen is displayed can be shortened.

Further, for example, even if a detailed screen is not displayed and a download request for the content of the specified title is made directly to the server device 3 in response to the designation of a certain title from the title list, the content to be downloaded The content ID for instructing the user ID can be transmitted earlier, whereby the time required for downloading can be shortened and the waiting time of the user can be shortened.
By reducing the waiting time of the user in this way, a user interface with higher usability can be realized.

6). Processing action

Subsequently, processing operations to be performed in the content viewing system 1 for realizing the operation as the embodiment described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 21 to 29 below.
First, with reference to FIGS. 21 to 24, processing operations to be performed in response to the generation of various dictionary lists will be described. In the case of the embodiment, the dictionary list is generated on the terminal device 2 side. Accordingly, the processing operations shown in FIGS. 21 to 24 are processing operations to be executed by the CPU 19 on the terminal device 2 side shown in FIG. The CPU 19 is configured to execute the processing operations shown in these drawings according to a program stored in the ROM 21 shown in FIG. 2, for example.

First, FIG. 21 shows processing operations to be executed in response to the generation of the Western title dictionary list.
In generating the Western title dictionary list, as shown in step S101 in the figure, for each “title” that is associated with “Western” as a genre, a list that associates the “Yomigana” and the content ID is created. To be generated.
That is, in the related information database 38b shown in FIG. 5, the information of “title” whose “genre” item is “foreign” is extracted, and for each piece of “title” information, the “title” is extracted in the related information database 38b. Is associated with the information of the content ID and the information of the content ID. Thereby, a dictionary list having a structure as shown in FIG. 19 is generated.

FIG. 22 shows processing operations to be executed in response to the generation of the Japanese movie title dictionary list.
As the processing operation for generating the Japanese title dictionary list, the processing operation for generating the Western title dictionary list shown in FIG. 21 is the same as the processing operation except that “Japanese” is set to “Japanese”.
That is, as shown in step S201, for each “title” that is associated with “Japanese film” as a genre, a list in which “Yomigana” and content ID are associated is generated. .

  It should be noted that the processing operation to be performed in response to the generation of the animation title dictionary list is the same as the processing operation for generating the Western title dictionary list shown in FIG. Processing operation. Therefore, the illustration description here is omitted.

FIG. 23 shows processing operations to be executed in response to the generation of the foreign film director dictionary list.
In the case of generating a foreign film director dictionary list, as shown in the drawing, first, in step S301, a list without duplication is generated for “director” associated with “Western film” as a genre. That is, the information of “director” associated with the information of “foreign film” is extracted as the item of “genre” in the related information database 38b, and a list in which the same name does not overlap is generated.
Then, in the subsequent step S302, the corresponding title and content ID are associated with each “director” on the list. That is, for each “supervisor” information on the list generated in step S301, “title” information associated with the “supervisor” information as an item of “supervisor” in the related information database 38b, and “ The information of “content ID” is extracted, and a list in which these are associated with each piece of “director” information on the list is generated.
As a result, a foreign film director dictionary list having a structure as shown in FIG. 20 can be generated.

  Here, only the processing operation at the time of generation of the director movie dictionary list as the director dictionary list is shown, but the generation of the director movie dictionary list is not limited to “Japanese movie” in the processing operation shown in FIG. Since these are the same, description by illustration is omitted.

FIG. 24 shows processing operations to be executed in response to the generation of the Western actor dictionary list.
The generation of the Western actor dictionary list is the same as the processing operation when generating the Western director dictionary list shown in FIG. 23 except that “Director” is set to “Actor”. That is, in step S401, a list without duplication is generated for “actors” associated with “foreign movies” as a genre in the related information database 38b. Then, in step S402, for each “actor” on the list generated in this way, a corresponding title and content ID are associated with each other.
As a result, a Western actor dictionary list having a structure as shown in FIG. 20 can be generated.

  The processing operation to be performed in response to the generation of the Japanese actor dictionary list is the same as the processing operation for generating the Western actor dictionary list shown in FIG. 24 except that “Western” is set to “Japanese”. Therefore, the illustration description here is omitted.

Here, in FIG. 21 to FIG. 24, the generation timing of each dictionary list is not mentioned, but the generation of each dictionary list is performed by, for example, “keywords” on the search method selection screen shown in FIG. The “search” icon is designated, and the keyword search screen shown in FIG. 12 is displayed, for example, at least when the keyword is input on the keyword search screen and the prediction result should be displayed. It may be executed at the previous timing.
In this way, various dictionary lists have already been generated before keyword input by executing it at a timing prior to when keyword input is performed and prediction results should be displayed. As a result, it is possible to shorten the time for which the user waits until the prediction result is displayed after the keyword is input.

Next, a processing operation to be performed corresponding to the subsequent keyword search operation after the keyword search screen shown in FIG. 12 is displayed will be described with reference to FIGS.
In these figures, it is assumed that some search target range has already been specified in the search target range selection area A1 on the keyword search screen.
In FIG. 25, after a certain search target range is designated in the search target range selection area A1 on the keyword search screen as described above, the CPU 19 inputs a one-character keyword in the keyword input box A2 in step S501. Waiting to be done. That is, in this case, it waits for the determination operation by the determination key 28f to be performed for one character input to the keyword input box A2.

When there is an operation for confirming the input of a one-character keyword as described above, in step 502, the current search target range is first determined. That is, the search target range designated in the search target range selection area A1 is determined before inputting the keyword.
In the case of the embodiment, the search target range is “all”, “all titles”, “foreign film titles”, “Japanese film titles”, “anime titles”, “all names”, “all directors”, “foreign film directors”, “Japanese film directors”, “ Since there are a total of 12 "all actors", "foreign actors", and "Japanese actors", it is determined which of the 12 search target ranges is designated.

Of these search target ranges, for each search target range related to the titles of “all titles”, “foreign titles”, “Japanese titles”, and “animation titles”, the title predicted from the input keyword is extracted. Basically, the same processing operation is performed except that which dictionary list is referred to is different. Therefore, here, the processing operation to be executed when the search target range related to the title is specified, only the processing operation when “all titles” is specified is shown as a representative (FIG. 27). .
Similarly, the search target ranges for the names of “all names”, “all directors”, “foreign directors”, “Japanese directors”, “all actors”, “foreign actors” and “Japanese actors” are also predicted from the input keywords. Basically, the same processing operation is performed except that which dictionary list is referred to when extracting a person name. Therefore, regarding the processing operation to be executed when the search target range related to these personal names is designated, only the processing operation when “all personal names” is designated is shown as a representative (FIG. 28).

If it is determined in step S502 that the currently designated search target range is “all”, the processing operation shown in FIG. 26 is performed.
In FIG. 26, in step S601, the title / person name predicted from the input keyword is extracted from all dictionary lists. In other words, depending on the designation of “all” as the search target range, the movie title dictionary list, Japanese movie title dictionary list, anime title dictionary list, movie director dictionary list, movie director dictionary list, movie actor dictionary list, movie actor dictionary list All the information of the title / person name (director, actor) predicted from the input keyword is extracted from the dictionary list.

In the subsequent step S602, the extracted title / person name information is displayed as a list. That is, the display data is supplied and instructed to the composer 17 shown in FIG. 2 so that the extracted title / person name information is displayed as list information in the prediction result display area A3 on the keyword search screen.
As described above, when not all of the spatially extracted information list in the prediction result display area A3 can be displayed, as many information as possible can be displayed. However, all the information extracted as the prediction result is retained, and when the information is selected from the prediction result by the cursor CR3 in the prediction result display area A3, the prediction result is displayed by scrolling the list. As a result, all information can be displayed.
The same applies to all other information displayed in the prediction result display area A3.

In step S603, determination processing is performed as to whether or not the search target range has been changed. That is, it is determined whether or not an operation for designating an icon of another search target range has been performed in the search target range selection area A1.
If a negative result is obtained in step S603 that the search target range has not been changed, in step S604, it is determined whether or not the next keyword has been input. If a negative result is obtained that the next keyword input has not been performed, the process proceeds to step S605 to determine whether or not there is a designation from the list. That is, it is determined whether or not an operation for selecting / determining required information has been performed from the list information displayed in step S602. If a negative result is obtained in step S605 that information is not specified from the list, the process returns to step S603.
By the loop processing in these steps S603 → S604 → S605 → S603, any one of the change of the search target range, the input of the next keyword, and the information designation from the list is waited.

  If a positive result is obtained in step S603 that the search target range has been changed, the process returns to step S502 shown in FIG. That is, the current search target range is determined again by this, and processing according to the determined search target range is performed.

If a positive result is obtained in step S604 that the next keyword has been input, the process returns to step S601, and again extracts information predicted from the input keyword from all dictionary lists. To be executed.
That is, by such processing, the list information as the prediction result can be updated according to the addition of the input keyword.

If an affirmative result is obtained in step S605 because information is specified from the list, a determination process is performed in step S606 as to whether the specified item is a title or a person's name. This discrimination processing can be realized by tracing a dictionary list obtained by extracting specified information from the list.
If the information specified from the list is related to the title (foreign title dictionary list, Japanese title dictionary list, animation title dictionary list), the process proceeds to step S610 to execute the process for displaying the title detail screen. To be done.
That is, in the dictionary list traced from the information of the designated title, necessary related information associated with the content ID is extracted in the related information database 38b based on the content ID associated with the designated title. (Thumbnail images are acquired via the network 4 based on URI information obtained based on the related information database 38b). Then, the display data is supplied and instructed to the composer 17 so that the related information is displayed at a predetermined display position as a detailed screen as shown in FIG. As a result, a detailed screen for the designated title can be displayed.

  In the present embodiment, content ID information is also associated with the dictionary list. Therefore, when a certain title is specified from the list of titles displayed based on the dictionary list as described above, this specification is performed. The content ID corresponding to the title can be acquired immediately, thereby speeding up the acquisition of related information for displaying the detailed screen for the specified title, and shortening the time for the user to wait until the detailed screen is displayed.

If it is determined in step S606 that the dictionary list is related to a person's name (that is, any one of the director director list, the director dictionary list, the actor dictionary list, the actor dictionary list), the process proceeds to step S607. Displays the designated person name in the keyword input box A2.
Then, in the next step S608, a list of titles associated with the names specified in the dictionary list is displayed. That is, as can be understood from the structure of FIG. 20, when the dictionary list relates to a person name, the information on the title is associated with the information on the person name. It is displayed as list information in A3. For confirmation, depending on the designated person name, there may be a case where only one title is associated. In this case, only the information of this one title may be displayed as the list information.

In the subsequent step S609, the designation of the title is awaited. That is, it waits for an operation to specify a required title from the title list information displayed in step S608.
If a title is designated, the process proceeds to step S610 described above, and a process for displaying a detailed screen for the designated title is executed.

Although not shown in the figure, for the series of processing operations shown in FIGS. 25 to 26, the search contents are returned to the initial screen (see FIG. 12) of the keyword search screen after waiting for a separate search re-execution operation. These processes can also be performed in parallel. In this case, as a search re-execution operation, for example, an operation key provided separately for the remote commander 28 or an icon specifying operation provided separately on the keyword search screen may be assigned.
This is the same for the processing operation that is performed after it is assumed that the keyword input is performed in FIG. 25 and another search target range described below is designated.

Subsequently, when it is determined in step S502 in FIG. 25 that the current search target range is “all titles”, the process proceeds to step S701 shown in FIG.
In FIG. 27, in step S701, the title predicted from the input keyword is extracted from all title dictionary lists. In other words, according to “all titles” specified as the search target range as described above, it is predicted from the input keyword from all title dictionary lists of the Western title dictionary list, Japanese title dictionary list, and animation title dictionary list. The title information is extracted.

  In subsequent step S702, the extracted title information is displayed as a list. That is, the extracted title information is displayed as list information in the prediction result display area A3 on the keyword search screen.

Depending on steps S703 to S705, similar to steps S603 to S605 in FIG. 26, any one of change of the search target range, input of the next keyword, and designation of information from the list is waited.
That is, in step S703, determination processing is performed as to whether or not the search target range has been changed. That is, it is determined whether or not an operation for designating an icon of another search target range has been performed in the search target range selection area A1. If a negative result is obtained that the search target range has not been changed, a determination process is performed as to whether or not the next keyword input has been performed in step S704. If a negative result is obtained that the next keyword input has not been performed, the process proceeds to step S705 to determine whether or not an operation for specifying a required title has been performed from the title list information displayed in step S702. To do. If a negative result is obtained in step S705 that no title is specified from the list, the process returns to step S703.

  If an affirmative result is obtained in step S703 that the search target range has been changed, the process returns to step S502 shown in FIG. That is, the current search target range is determined again by this, and processing according to the determined search target range is performed.

  If a positive result is obtained in step S704 that the next keyword has been input, the process returns to step S701, and again extracts titles predicted from the input keyword from all title dictionary lists. To be executed. By such processing, it is possible to update the list information as a prediction result according to the addition of the input keyword.

If a positive result is obtained in step S705 because a title is specified from the list, a process for displaying the title detail screen is executed in step S706. That is, necessary related information associated with the acquired content ID in the related information database 38b based on the content ID associated with the designated title in the dictionary list traced from the information of the designated title. (Thumbnail images are acquired via the network 4 based on URI information obtained based on the related information database 38b). The related information is displayed at a predetermined display position as a detailed screen as shown in FIG.
Thereby, the detailed screen about the designated title can be displayed.

As mentioned earlier, for each search target range related to the titles of “all titles”, “foreign titles”, “Japanese titles”, and “animation titles” Since the same processing is performed except that the dictionary list is referred to, the processing operation to be executed when the search target range related to the title is designated here is “all titles” according to FIG. Only the processing operation when “” is designated is shown as a representative.
For confirmation, when “Western title” is determined in step S502, the title predicted from the input keyword is extracted only from the Western title dictionary list as a process corresponding to step S701 in FIG. Is configured to execute a processing operation similar to the processing operation shown in FIG.
Even when “Japanese title” and “anime title” are discriminated, as a process corresponding to step S701, the title predicted from the input keyword is extracted from only the Japanese title dictionary list and only from the animation title dictionary list. Is configured to execute a processing operation similar to the processing operation shown in FIG.

Also, in step S502 shown in FIG. 25, if the current search target range is “all person names”, the process proceeds to step S801 shown in FIG.
In FIG. 28, in step S801, the names predicted from the input keywords are extracted from all director / actor dictionary lists. In other words, the information on the names (directors / actors) predicted from the input keywords is extracted from all director / actor dictionary lists in the movie director dictionary list, Japanese movie director dictionary list, movie actor dictionary list, and movie actor dictionary list. Is done.

  In a succeeding step S802, the extracted personal name information is displayed as a list. That is, the extracted director / actor name information is displayed as list information in the prediction result display area A3 on the keyword search screen.

Depending on steps S 803 to S 805, as in steps S 603 to S 605 in FIG. 26, either the change of the search target range, the input of the next keyword, or the designation of information from the list is waited.
That is, in step S803, determination processing is performed as to whether or not the search target range has been changed. If a negative result is obtained that the search target range has not been changed, a determination process is performed in step S804 as to whether or not the next keyword input has been performed. If a negative result is obtained that the next keyword input has not been performed, the process proceeds to step S805 to determine whether or not an operation for designating a required person name has been performed from the person name list information displayed in step S802. To do. If a negative result is obtained in step S805 that no personal name is specified from the list, the process returns to step S803.

  If an affirmative result is obtained in step S803 that the search target range has been changed, the process returns to step S502 shown in FIG. In other words, the current search target range is determined again by this, and processing according to the determined search target range is performed.

  In step S804, if a positive result is obtained as the next keyword is input, the process returns to step S801, and the names predicted from the input keyword are extracted again from all director / actor dictionary lists. Thus, the list information as the prediction result can be updated according to the addition of the input keyword.

If a positive result is obtained in step S805 that a person name is specified from the list, the process proceeds to step S806, and first, a process of displaying the specified person name in the keyword input box A2 is executed. .
Then, in the next step S807, as in the previous step S608, a list of titles associated with the names specified in the dictionary list is displayed. In this case as well, when only one title is associated with the designated person name, only the information of this one title may be displayed as the list information.

  In the subsequent step S808, the designation of the title is awaited. That is, it waits for an operation to designate a required title from the title list information displayed in step S807. If a title has been designated, the process advances to step S809 to execute a process for displaying a detailed screen for the designated title.

In addition, the search scopes related to the names of “All Directors”, “Directors of Western Films”, “Directors of Japanese Films”, “All Actors”, “Actors of Western Films”, and “Japanese Film Actors” including “All Persons” are also described above. As described above, the same processing is performed except that the dictionary list to be referred to is different when extracting a predicted person name from the input keyword. Only the processing operation at that time is shown as a representative.
For confirmation, if “all directors” is determined in step S502, the director information predicted from the input keyword is displayed as a process corresponding to step S801 in FIG. A processing operation similar to the processing operation shown in FIG. 28 is executed except for extracting from the supervisor dictionary list. Further, even when “director of movie” and “director of movie” are determined, information corresponding to the director predicted from the input keyword is extracted from only the movie director dictionary list and only from the movie director dictionary list as processing corresponding to step S801. Except for this, processing operations similar to the processing operations shown in FIG. 28 are executed.
Further, even when “all actors”, “foreign actors”, and “Japanese actors” are determined, as the processing corresponding to step S801, the information of actors predicted from the input keyword is respectively obtained from the Western title dictionary list and the Japanese actors. A processing operation similar to the processing operation shown in FIG. 28 is executed except that the dictionary list is extracted only from the Western actor dictionary list and only from the Japanese actor dictionary list.

Here, as described in step S603 in FIG. 26, step S703 in FIG. 27, and step S803 in FIG. 28, in the embodiment, information predicted from an input keyword under a certain search target range is designated. If the search target range is changed after the list display is performed, the process returns to step S502 in FIG. 25 to determine the search target range again, and the processing of each figure after step S502 is executed. That is, the list of information predicted from the input keyword is again displayed using the dictionary list corresponding to the changed search target range.
By such processing, it is possible to accept a change in the search target range while holding the input keyword, and to switch to a prediction result corresponding to the changed search target range while holding the input keyword. be able to.
As described above, when the user makes a mistake in specifying the search target range, for example, the prediction result according to the search target range changed with the input keyword held can be displayed. In addition, it is possible to immediately present a prediction result in the correct search target range simply by respecifying the search target range. That is, an efficient search can be performed in this respect.

Next, FIG. 29 shows processing operations to be executed in the content viewing system 1 in response to downloading of designated content (title).
In this figure, the processing operation shown as the terminal device 2 is executed by the CPU 19 shown in FIG. 2 based on a program stored in the ROM 21 or the like. The processing operation shown as the server device 3 is executed by the CPU 31 shown in FIG. 4 based on a program stored in the memory unit 33, for example.
In FIG. 29, the terminal device 2 side first waits for a “rental” operation in step S901. That is, the title is specified on the detailed screen displayed by the processing operation corresponding to the keyword search described in FIGS. 25 to 28 or the ranking screen described in FIG. In the detailed screen, it waits for an operation to designate the “rental” icon I5.
If there is such a “rental” operation on the detailed screen, a download request is made to the server device 3 in the subsequent step S902.

  On the server device 3 side, such a download request from the terminal device 2 is on standby in step S1001. If there is a download request, an ID transmission request is made in step S1002. That is, it requests transmission of a content ID for specifying the content to be downloaded and the terminal ID 21a required for the billing process.

With respect to the ID transmission request from the server device 3 side, the terminal device 2 side waits for reception in step S903 shown in the figure.
If this ID transmission request is received, the content ID and the terminal ID 21a are transmitted to the server device 3 in step S904.
Here, for confirmation, the CPU 19 has already acquired the content ID for the designated title when the detailed screen is displayed as can be understood with reference to the processing operations of FIGS. Is in a state. Accordingly, in step S904, the content ID acquired in this way is transmitted.
Since the terminal ID 21a is stored in the ROM 21 shown in FIG. 2, it is read out and transmitted to the server apparatus 3.

  The server device 3 waits for reception of these content ID and terminal ID in step S1003. When these IDs are received, the content specified by the received content ID is transmitted to the terminal device 2 in step S1004. That is, the content specified by the received content ID is acquired from the content stored as the content group 38 a illustrated in FIG. 4 and transmitted to the terminal device 2.

Then, when the requested content is transmitted to the terminal device 2 side in this way, in a subsequent step S1005, the charging process is executed based on the received terminal ID 21a.
This billing process is a process of adding a rental fee for content for each terminal ID 21a of each terminal device 2. That is, every time content is transmitted to the terminal device 2, the numerical information as the rental fee set for the transmitted content is added in association with the received terminal ID 21a.
By using the fee information obtained by such billing processing, the service management side can calculate the total amount of the rental fee (service usage fee) for each user. In addition, as a settlement based on such a billing process, for example, a credit card settlement or a settlement method by debiting from a financial institution designated account can be adopted. In any case, as a settlement method based on this billing process, a method assumed as an online settlement may be adopted, and there is no particular limitation here.
Further, according to the above description, such a billing process requires a billing list in which each terminal ID 2a is associated with its charge information. Such billing list information is stored in the HDD 38 or the like. be able to.

The terminal device 2 side waits for reception of content transmitted from the server device 3 side in step S905. If the content is received, a process for storing the received content is executed in step S906. In this case, the content received from the server device 3 is stored in the HDD 25 as described above with reference to FIG.
Thereby, the download of the designated content is completed.

7). Modified example

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention should not be limited to the embodiments described so far.
For example, in the embodiment, when displaying a list of prediction results from a dictionary list corresponding to an input keyword, the display order of each information in the list is not particularly mentioned. When displaying the information extracted according to the list, it is possible to set the display priority of each information.
For example, if the information displayed in a list is title information, the information is preferentially displayed in descending order of download count or in descending order of evaluation value.

Here, as an example, an example is given in which display is preferentially performed according to information on the number of downloads.
FIG. 30 is a diagram for explaining the structure of each dictionary list when the display is preferentially performed according to the information on the number of downloads in this way.
30A shows the structure for each title dictionary list, and FIG. 30B shows the structure for each personal name dictionary list.
As shown in these figures, in this case, information on the number of downloads is further associated with each dictionary list.

  In each title dictionary list shown in FIG. 30A, information on the number of downloads associated with the title in the related information database 38a is associated with the information on each title. Thus, when displaying a list of prediction results according to the input keyword based on each title dictionary list in this case, the information of each extracted title is downloaded based on the information on the number of downloads associated with each title in this way. Can be displayed in the order of most.

Also, each personal name dictionary list in FIG. 30B is associated with each personal name (director, actor) as information on the number of downloads, unlike the above-mentioned title dictionary list.
Here, the information on the number of downloads is attached to each title. According to this, when a plurality of titles are associated with a certain person name in the person name list, how to set the number of downloads and the evaluation value of the person name becomes a problem.
In this case, information obtained by averaging or adding the values of the number of downloads of each title associated with each person's name is used as information on the number of downloads for that person's name.
Since the structure of each person name dictionary list is as described above, information on the number of downloads associated with each person name in this way is displayed when displaying a list of prediction results according to the input keyword based on each person name dictionary list in this case. Based on the above, it is possible to display the extracted information of each person's name in descending order of the number of downloads.

When the display order of the list display is preferentially performed in the order corresponding to the number of downloads in this way, the terminal device 2 performs the following processing operations shown in FIG. 26, FIG. 27, and FIG. A processing operation such as
That is, as the processing operation when the “all” search target range shown in FIG. 26 is designated, first, as the extraction processing in step S601, title / person name information is extracted from all dictionary lists according to the input keyword. In doing so, information on the number of downloads associated with them is also extracted. Then, as the list display processing in step S602, the title / person name information extracted in descending order of the number of downloads based on the information on the number of download times extracted together with the title / person name information as described above, for example, in order from the top. Display control is performed so that the list is displayed in a line.
Also, as the processing operation when “all titles” shown in FIG. 27 is designated, similarly, as extraction processing in step S701, title information is extracted from all title dictionary lists according to input keywords. , Information on the number of downloads associated with them is also extracted. In addition, as the list display processing in step S702, based on the information on the number of downloads extracted together with the title information in this way, the title information extracted in descending order of the number of downloads is arranged in order from the top. Display control is performed so that display is performed.
In addition, as the processing operation when “all names” shown in FIG. 28 is designated, the name information is extracted from all director / actor dictionary lists according to the input keyword as the extraction process in step S801. In doing so, information on the number of downloads associated with them is also extracted. Then, as the list display process in step S802, based on the information on the number of downloads extracted together with the information on the name of the person in this way, the list of the names of the names extracted in descending order of the number of downloads is arranged in order from the top. Display control is performed so that display is performed.

  In addition, the search range of other “Western movie titles”, “Japanese movie titles”, “Anime titles”, “All directors”, “Western movie directors”, “Japanese movie directors”, “All actors”, “Western actors” and “Japanese actors” were specified. In the case, the extraction information and the list display process described above are executed, so that the extracted information can be preferentially displayed in the order of the number of downloads.

  Here, generally speaking, it is considered that the information about the content with high popularity is higher in the rate that the user is looking for than the information about the content with low popularity. Accordingly, the list of information extracted according to the input keyword as described above is preferentially performed in the order of the number of downloads that can be regarded as such an index of popularity. It is possible to preferentially display existing information, and as a result, the search efficiency can be further increased.

  Here, the case where the information on the number of downloads is used as the popularity information is illustrated, but the evaluation information in the related information database 38b can be used as the popularity information instead. Alternatively, by using information that can be another index of popularity, it is possible to preferentially display information that the user is looking for, thereby improving search efficiency.

In the embodiment, the terminal device 2 also holds the related information database 38b, and the terminal device 2 generates various dictionary lists 25a based on the held related information database 38a. However, it is assumed that the related information database 38b is held only by the server device 3, and the various dictionary lists 25a are generated on the server device 3 side. The list 25a may be maintained so that it is periodically updated.
In this case, since it is not necessary to generate various dictionary lists 25a on the terminal device 2 side, the processing load on the terminal device 2 side can be reduced accordingly.

Alternatively, only the server device 3 side holds the related information database 38b and various dictionary lists 25a, and the server device 3 side performs extraction processing of information predicted from input keywords using the dictionary list. You can also
That is, in this case, the terminal device 2 displays at least various screens such as a keyword search screen, accepts keyword input, transmits input keywords to the server device 3 side, and transmits from the server device 3 side as processing until content acquisition. Only the display of the predicted result and the designation of the title (and person name) designated from the predicted result are performed.
With such a configuration, the processing burden on the terminal device 2 side can be further reduced.
When such a configuration is adopted, it is the server device 3 side that acquires the content ID corresponding to the title specified from the list information and acquires the related information for displaying the detailed screen based on the content ID. It becomes. Therefore, in this case, it is the server apparatus 3 side that achieves high processing efficiency by associating the content ID with each dictionary list as the dictionary list of the present embodiment. However, in any case, since the content viewing system 1 is still highly efficient in processing, it is the same that the user interface with high usability can be realized by reducing the waiting time of the user.

Here, in the present embodiment, since the terminal device 2 is not assumed to be a computer device such as a personal computer, the processing capability is not as high as that of the server device 3. Therefore, by configuring so as to perform only simple processing as described above, the burden on the terminal device 2 can be effectively reduced, and the time until content download can be shortened. This is particularly effective when the number of contents stored as the content group 38a is large and a search needs to be performed on a huge amount of information.
However, by increasing the processing performed by the server device 3 as described above, particularly when access from the terminal device 2 side is concentrated, the time required to download the content cannot be effectively shortened as a result. There is a fear. In such a case, it is conceivable that the speed can be improved as a result if the search function is distributed to each terminal device 2 by adopting a configuration in which a search function is provided on the terminal device 2 side.
Considering these things, which function is given to the server device 3 side or the terminal device 2 side depends on the number of contents to be handled and the scale of service deployment (number of terminal devices 2). Therefore, it should be set so as to effectively shorten the time required for downloading, and is not particularly limited here.

  In the embodiment, the content viewing system 1 is assumed to be an online rental video service, and thus the case where content is not stored on the terminal device 2 side that receives the service is illustrated. As the (other than the content acquisition system), the terminal device 2 side stores a plurality of contents as the content group 38a, and the terminal device 2 alone is configured to complete the process from content acquisition to content viewing. Can also be suitably applied.

In the embodiment, the terminal device 2 side exemplifies the case where the content is reproduced after receiving and storing all the content transmitted from the server device 3 side. However, the terminal device 2 transmits the content from the server device 3 side. It can also be configured to stream the content to be played.
In addition, when the terminal device 2 performs streaming playback of content in this way, the storage device (HDD 25) for storing content may not be provided in the terminal device 2 in particular.

  In the embodiment, the terminal device 2 is exemplified as a hard disk recorder (/ player). However, the terminal device 2 may be configured by an information processing device such as a personal computer.

In the embodiment, the various dictionary lists 25a are used to generate dictionary lists of “foreign film title”, “Japanese film title”, “anime title”, “foreign film director”, “Japanese film director”, “foreign film actor”, and “Japanese film actor”. However, the dictionary list should not be limited to these, and other dictionary lists can be generated.
For example, in the embodiment, the item “production country” is provided as the related information of the content. However, various dictionaries in which titles, directors, and actors are divided for each production country can be generated. In other words, for example, a Hollywood actor dictionary list (genre is a foreign film & production country is an American actor), a Korean movie director dictionary list (production country is a Korean director), and the like can be generated.
Alternatively, it is possible to generate various dictionary lists in which titles, directors, and actors are divided by production year by using the item “production year”.
That is, the dictionary list referred to in the present invention (other than the input information prediction method) may be a dictionary list for performing a title search of content narrowed down to a certain search target range, and at least a title corresponding to the search target range. As long as the predetermined related information including the above information is listed, the information may be generated so that the title information of the content can be finally specified.
In addition, for confirmation, the search target range of content was narrowed down in the sense that content was narrowed down by actors and directors appearing in the content, such as actor search and director search. This is a search method for performing a search.

Further, in the embodiment, the case where the input information prediction method of the present invention is applied to content search is exemplified, so that the dictionary list is a list of information on movies as content. As an input information prediction method, information based on an input keyword is extracted from information in a dictionary list and can be widely applied to the use of presenting the information to a user. It should not be limited to the list.
Further, as can be understood from the fact that it can be applied to uses other than content search, it is necessary to associate content IDs (content identification information) with each dictionary list in the input information prediction method of the present invention. Absent.

In addition, since the rental video service is assumed in the embodiment, the content includes video such as a movie, but the content may be music.
In this case, the item corresponding to “title” may be information on the name of a track to be the title of the music, or name information on an album as a set of music in units of tracks. In addition, as information to replace “director”, “actor”, etc., for example, information on the name of an artist who plays (or sings) the music, or information on the songwriter, composer, composer, etc. Conceivable.

It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary of the content acquisition system as embodiment in this invention. It is the block diagram shown about the internal structure of the terminal device as embodiment. It is a figure for mainly explaining the operation element as an external view of a remote commander for performing operation input to a terminal unit. It is the block diagram shown about the internal structure of the server apparatus as embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the structure of a related information database. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation | movement outline | summary of the content acquisition system of embodiment. It is the figure which illustrated about the display contents of the initial screen. It is the figure which illustrated about the display content of the search method selection screen. It is the figure which illustrated about the display contents of the ranking screen. It is the figure which illustrated about the display contents of the detailed screen. It is the figure which illustrated about the screen display content at the time of digest animation reproduction | regeneration. It is the figure illustrated about the display content of the keyword search screen. It is the figure which showed the transition of the display content according to operation in the search object range selection area | region in a keyword search screen. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of a display of the prediction result according to a keyword input. It is the figure which illustrated about the screen display content when the search (prediction) object range is changed in the state holding the input keyword. It is the figure which illustrated about the screen display content when designating required personal name information from the list of the prediction results about a personal name. It is the figure which illustrated about the screen display content obtained when a required person name was designated on the screen of FIG. It is the figure which showed typically about the operation | movement performed according to the change of a search (prediction) object range. It is the figure shown about the structure of various title dictionaries as a structure of the dictionary list | wrist as embodiment. It is the figure shown about the structure of various personal name dictionaries as a structure of the dictionary list | wrist as embodiment. It is the flowchart shown about the processing operation which should be performed corresponding to the time of the production | generation of a western-style title dictionary list | wrist. It is the flowchart shown about the processing operation which should be performed corresponding to the time of the production | generation of a Japanese title dictionary. It is the flowchart shown about the processing operation which should be performed corresponding to the time of the production | generation of a movie director dictionary list. It is the flowchart shown about the processing operation which should be performed corresponding to the time of the production | generation of a western-style actor dictionary list. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a keyword input standby process and a determination process for a current search (prediction) target range as a flowchart illustrating a process operation to be performed in response to a keyword search operation as an embodiment; As a flowchart showing the processing operation to be performed in response to the keyword search operation as an embodiment, the processing operation to be performed in response to the case where “all” is designated as the search (prediction) target range is shown It is a flowchart. As a flowchart showing the processing operation to be performed in response to the keyword search operation as the embodiment, the processing operation to be performed in response to the case where “all titles” is designated as the search (prediction) target range It is the shown flowchart. As a flowchart showing the processing operation to be performed in response to the keyword search operation as the embodiment, the processing operation to be performed in response to the case where “all names” is designated as the search (prediction) target range It is the shown flowchart. It is the flowchart shown about the processing operation which should be performed corresponding to the time of downloading about designated content. It is the figure shown about the structure of the dictionary list | wrist in case the display order of a prediction result is made into order of the frequency | count of download. It is a figure for demonstrating the prior art example of the search operation of the content based on an input keyword.

Explanation of symbols

  1 content viewing system, 2 terminal device, 3 server device, 4 network, 10 antenna, 11 tuner, 12 demodulator, 13 decoder, 14 RAM, 15 user interface (U / I) control unit, 15a light receiving unit, 16 bus, 17 composer, 18 communication control unit, 19 CPU, 20 RAM, 21 ROM, 21a terminal ID, 22 optical disc interface (I / F), 23 optical disc drive, 24 HDD interface (I / F), 25 HDD, 25a various dictionary lists , 26 Speaker, 27 Display, 28 Remote Commander, 28a 10 Key, 28b Up Key, 28c Down Key, 28d Right Key, 28e Left Key, 31 CPU, 32 Bus, 33 Memory Unit, 34 Input Processing Unit, 35 input section, 36 Display processing unit, 37 display, 38 HDD, 38a content group, 38b related information database, 39 a communication processing unit, 40 network interface

Claims (13)

In generating a dictionary list used for searching for a desired title content from a plurality of title contents for each predetermined search target range, content identification information for uniquely defining each content and the title information are The related information including at least the title information is extracted according to the predetermined search target range from a related information database in which predetermined multiple items of related information that are information related to each content are associated with each other. A dictionary list generation procedure for generating a plurality of dictionary lists corresponding to each search target range by generating a list in which the content identification information is associated with the extracted information of the title,
Prediction information extraction procedure for extracting the related information predicted from the input keyword based on the dictionary list corresponding to the specified search target range among the plurality of dictionary lists generated by the dictionary list generation procedure When,
A list display procedure for displaying a list of the related information extracted by the prediction information extraction procedure on a required display means;
In response to the designation of the required title information based on the list of related information displayed by the list display procedure, the content identification information associated with the designated title information in the dictionary list is displayed. Content identification information acquisition procedure to be acquired;
A content acquisition procedure for acquiring content specified by the content identification information acquired by the content identification information acquisition procedure from among a plurality of contents stored in a required storage means;
A content acquisition method comprising: The search target range is defined as a range for searching the content by narrowing down to the information of the title associated with the related information of a predetermined item in the related information database,
The dictionary list generation procedure is as follows:
A list in which the title information and the content identification information associated with the predetermined related information in the related information database are extracted, and the extracted title information and the content identification information are associated with each other. To be generated,
The content acquisition method according to claim 1. The above related information includes personal information related to the content,
As the search target range, a range for searching the content is defined by narrowing down to the title associated with the personal name information associated with the related information of the predetermined item in the related information database,
The dictionary list generation procedure is as follows:
In the related information database, the personal name information associated with the relevant information of the predetermined item, the title information associated with the extracted personal name information, and the content identification information thereof are extracted. In addition, the extracted title information is associated with each extracted person name information, and a list in which the extracted content identification information is associated with the title information is generated.
The content acquisition method according to claim 1. The prediction information extraction procedure is as follows:
When the specified search target range is defined as a range for searching for the content limited to the title information associated with the related information of the predetermined item, the specified search target Based on the dictionary list according to the range, the information of the title predicted from the input keyword is extracted,
The above list display procedure is as follows:
A list of information on the title extracted in the prediction information extraction procedure is displayed on the display means,
The content identification information acquisition procedure is as follows:
Content identification information associated with the specified title information in the dictionary list in response to the designation of the required title information based on the title information list displayed by the list display procedure To get to the
The content acquisition method according to claim 1. The prediction information extraction procedure is as follows:
The designated search target range is defined as a range for searching for the above-mentioned content narrowed down to the title information associated with the name information associated with the related information of the predetermined item. When, based on the dictionary list corresponding to the specified search target range, information of the person name predicted from the input keyword is extracted,
The above list display procedure is as follows:
A list of the personal name information extracted in the prediction information extraction procedure is displayed on the display means, and in response to designation of required personal name information from the personal name information list, the dictionary list A list of information on the title associated with the information on the designated person name is displayed on the display means.
The content identification information acquisition procedure is as follows:
Acquires content identification information associated with the specified title information in the dictionary list in response to the specified title information being specified from the list of title information displayed by the list display procedure. To be,
The content acquisition method according to claim 1. Furthermore, the operation information icon for acquiring predetermined related information associated with the content identification information acquired by the content identification information acquisition procedure from the related information database and instructing acquisition of the related information and the content, A detailed screen display procedure for displaying a detailed screen for the specified title by displaying on the display means according to a predetermined display mode,
The content acquisition procedure acquires the content specified by the content identification information acquired by the content identification information acquisition procedure in response to an instruction to acquire the content by operating the operation icon on the detailed screen. To be
The content acquisition method according to claim 1. In the related information database, popularity information as an index indicating the popularity of each content is included as the related information.
The dictionary list generation procedure is as follows:
In addition to associating the popularity information with the related information extracted according to the search target range, each dictionary list is generated,
The above list display procedure is as follows:
The related information extracted by the prediction information extraction procedure is displayed in a list based on the popularity information,
The content acquisition method according to claim 1.   The content acquisition method according to claim 1, wherein the popularity degree information is content evaluation information or content download count information. A dictionary list generation method for generating a dictionary list used for searching a content of a desired title from a plurality of title contents for each predetermined search target range,
From the related information database in which the content identification information for uniquely defining each content and the related information of the predetermined plural items including the information on the title and related to each content are respectively associated with each other, According to each search target range, the related information including at least the title information is extracted according to the search target range, and a list in which the content identification information is associated with the extracted title information is generated. Generate multiple dictionary lists,
A dictionary list generation method characterized by the above. A plurality of dictionary lists used for searching for a desired title content from a plurality of title contents for each predetermined search target range, wherein content identification information for uniquely defining each content and the title information The related information including at least the information of the title is extracted from the related information database in which the related information of the predetermined plurality of items that are information related to each content is associated with each other according to the predetermined search target range. From the input keyword based on the dictionary list corresponding to the specified search target range among the plurality of dictionary lists generated by associating the content identification information with the extracted information of the title A prediction information extraction procedure for extracting the related information to be predicted;
A list display procedure for displaying a list of the related information extracted by the prediction information extraction procedure on a required display means;
A search method comprising: A content acquisition system including a server device storing a plurality of title contents and a terminal device configured to be capable of data communication with the server device via a network,
Content identification information for uniquely defining each content and information on the title when generating a dictionary list used for searching the content of a desired title for each predetermined search target range from the content of the plurality of titles The related information including at least the information on the title is extracted from the related information database in which the related information of the predetermined plurality of items that are related to each content is associated with each other according to the predetermined search target range And a dictionary list generation means for generating a plurality of dictionary lists corresponding to each search target range by generating a list in which the content identification information is associated with the extracted information of the title,
Prediction information extraction for extracting the related information predicted from the input keyword based on the dictionary list corresponding to the specified search target range among the plurality of dictionary lists generated by the dictionary list generation means Means,
List display control means that is provided on the terminal device side and performs display control so that the related information extracted by the prediction information extraction means is displayed as a list on a required display means;
When the required title information is designated based on the list of related information displayed on the display means by the list display control means, the information is associated with the designated title information in the dictionary list. Content identification information acquisition means for acquiring the content identification information,
The content specified by the content identification information acquired by the content identification information acquisition means among the stored contents of the plurality of titles provided on the server device side is transmitted to the terminal device via the network. Content transmitting means for transmitting to,
A content receiving means provided on the terminal device side for receiving the content transmitted by the content transmitting means in the server device;
A content acquisition system comprising: It is a plurality of dictionary lists used for searching for a desired title content from a plurality of title contents for each predetermined search target range, and includes content identification information for uniquely defining each content and the title information. The related information including at least the information of the title is extracted from the related information database in which the related information of the predetermined plurality of items that are related to each content is associated with each other according to the predetermined search target range. From the input keyword based on the dictionary list corresponding to the specified search target range among the plurality of dictionary lists generated by associating the content identification information with the extracted information of the title Prediction information extraction means for extracting the related information to be predicted;
List display control means for performing display control so that the related information extracted by the prediction information extraction means is displayed in a list on a required display means;
When the required title information is designated based on the list of related information displayed on the display means by the list display control means, the information is associated with the designated title information in the dictionary list. Content identification information acquisition means for acquiring the content identification information,
A terminal device comprising: Information predicted from an input keyword from a dictionary list selected according to the designated prediction target range from among a plurality of dictionary lists used to predict information based on the input keyword for each predetermined prediction target range Predictive information extraction procedure to extract
A list display procedure for displaying a list of information extracted by the prediction information extraction procedure on a required display means;
The dictionary selected according to the redesignated prediction target range when there is an instruction to redesign the prediction target range in the state where the list of information is displayed on the display means by the list information display procedure. A prediction information re-extraction procedure for re-extracting information predicted from the input keyword from the list;
A list display update procedure for updating the list information displayed on the display means by the list display procedure to a list display based on the information extracted by the prediction information re-extraction procedure;
An input information prediction method comprising:

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