JP2007194765A - Content distribution system and content receiving, recording, and reproducing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a content distribution system wherein a content distribution side can discriminate a viewing state of CM in a content receiving, recording and reproducing apparatus and to provide the content receiving, recording and reproducing apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: In the content distribution system, when contents recorded in the recording and reproducing apparatus include CM parts, the recording and reproducing apparatus allocates a view history flag to the CM parts, sets "1" to the view history flag corresponding to a CM (S405) when the recording and reproducing apparatus discriminates the reproduction of the CM (S403) to manage the view history of each CM part, and transmits CM view history information to the contents distribution side (S406, S903) so that the contents distribution side can discriminate the CM viewing state. Further, when the recording and reproducing apparatus receives a reproduction request (S401) and a prescribed amount of unviewed CMs exists (S901), the recording and reproducing apparatus executes placing of operation limits (unviewed CM forced reproduction (S90)) to urge a viewer to view the CMs. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a content distribution system or a content reception recording / reproduction device, and more particularly to a content distribution system or a content reception recording / reproduction device that transmits information related to CM viewing from the content reception recording / reproduction device to the content distribution side.

  Conventionally, a content provider (program production / broadcasting company) inserts a commercial of a sponsoring company (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as “CM”, but is synonymous) into the content to be distributed (broadcasted). In order to obtain advertising revenues from companies, the distribution of recording and playback devices (especially devices using a randomly accessible recording medium such as an HDD recorder) has become popular. It has become possible for the user to easily record the content (program) to be recorded once on a recording medium and skip the CM portion for playback. Such a CM skip function is a convenient function for the user side, but if it is for the company side, the advertisement effect is not always obtained just because the CM is played (the CM is not properly received by the user). It ’s unclear if you ’re watching and frightening).

  With respect to such a problem, Patent Documents 1 to 4 disclose a technique related to an apparatus that prompts a user to view a commercial part.

JP 2001-111921 A JP 2002-251157 A JP 2002-325226 A JP 2005-176220 A

  As mentioned above, as devices with the CM skip function become more widespread, companies become skeptical about the level of advertising effect that can be obtained by streaming CMs, resulting in a decrease in sponsor companies. As a result, the content provider may not be able to obtain sufficient advertising revenue. On the other hand, the prior art disclosed in the above-mentioned patent document allows the user to view the CM by a slightly special presentation method (such as displaying the CM on a small screen or printing it on a paper medium) (Patent Document 1 and Patent Document). 4) and those that prevent skipping CMs (Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3). However, in the case of the former method, there is a concern that the advertising effect of the CM will be slightly reduced, so the advertiser side In the case of the latter method, the CM skip function cannot be used, and the disadvantage for the user is increased.

  In view of the above-described points, the present invention enables the content distribution side to determine the viewing state of the CM in the recording / playback apparatus, and to promote the viewing of the CM while preventing the user's convenience from being impaired. It is a main object of the present invention to provide a content distribution system and a content reception recording / playback apparatus.

  A content distribution system according to claim 1, a content distribution device that distributes a content associated with a commercial, a content reception recording / reproducing device that can receive the distributed content and record the received content on an information recording medium, A content distribution system comprising a commercial viewing information collection device, wherein device identification information is given in advance to the content reception recording / playback device, and when a content associated with a commercial is distributed from the content distribution device, In the content reception recording / reproducing apparatus that transmits and receives commercial information indicating the content of the commercial, when recording the content on the information recording medium, each commercial part associated with the content is recorded. , The recording location and the commercial Information is stored in association with each other, and when it is determined that reproduction of each commercial part recorded on the information recording medium has been executed, viewing history information indicating that the commercial part has been viewed is stored in the commercial part. By storing in association with the associated commercial information, when the reproduction of the commercial part is executed or at a predetermined time or when there is a transmission instruction from the user, the viewing history information is The device identification information and the commercial information are associated with each other and transmitted to the commercial viewing information collecting device.

  According to the above configuration, when “contents associated with commercials” are recorded in the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus, the recording location of each commercial portion is associated with the commercial information so that the commercial portion can be identified. Attached) and recorded, and whether or not each commercial part has been viewed (viewing history information) is stored in association with each other, so that each commercial part recorded on the information recording medium of the content reception recording / reproducing apparatus It is possible to determine whether or not the content has been viewed, and the viewing history information is transmitted to the commercial viewing information collection device in association with the commercial information. The viewing situation of each recorded commercial portion can be determined. In addition, since the “device identification information” assigned to each content receiving / recording / reproducing device is also associated and transmitted to the commercial viewing information collecting device, any received viewing history information is received by the commercial viewing information collecting device. It is possible to determine whether the recording / reproducing apparatus is used. The “commercial viewing information collection device” does not necessarily need to be a separate hardware from the “content reception recording / playback device”, and may be configured by the same hardware. “Commercial-associated content” means not only content distributed with commercials inserted in the main part, but also when CM and main part are transmitted separately (something is made between CM and main part) Is included). “Commercial information” is, for example, information related to the title, genre, product, performer, etc. of the commercial, but is not limited to information that is added to the content as it is and transmitted, for example, each commercial The identification information may be added to and the information to be transmitted may be only the identification information (various information is determined from the identification information in the receiving apparatus).

  The content distribution system according to claim 2 is a content distribution device that distributes content associated with a commercial, a content reception recording / reproduction device that can receive the distributed content and record the received content on an information recording medium, A content distribution system including a commercial viewing information collection device, and when the content associated with the commercial is distributed from the content distribution device, the commercial information indicating the content of the commercial is added and transmitted and received In the content reception recording / playback apparatus, when recording the content on the information recording medium, the recording location and the commercial information of each commercial part included in the content are stored in association with each other, and the information recording is performed. Of content recorded on media When it is determined that there is a commercial part associated with the content to be reproduced when raw processing is performed, CM reproduction status information indicating the reproduction status of the commercial part corresponds to the commercial part. By storing in association with the commercial information, the CM playback status information is combined with the commercial information when the playback of the content is executed, at a predetermined time, or when there is a transmission instruction from the user. The information is transmitted to the commercial viewing information collecting apparatus in association with each other.

  According to the above configuration, when “contents associated with commercials” are recorded in the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus, the recording location of each commercial portion is associated with the commercial information so that the commercial portion can be identified. CM playback status information that is recorded) and indicates the playback status of each commercial part (for example, operation (such as fast-forward operation) information on the user's device, special playback information that indicates processing contents such as fast-forward playback, etc.)) Are stored in association with each other, and the CM playback status information is transmitted to the commercial viewing information collection device in association with the commercial information. Therefore, each commercial recorded in the content reception recording / playback device in the commercial viewing information collection device. It is possible to determine the situation such as how the part was played To become.

  The content distribution system according to claim 3 is the content distribution system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein content information indicating the content is provided when content associated with a commercial is distributed from the content distribution device. When the content is recorded on the information recording medium in the content reception recording / playback apparatus, the content history information is recorded in association with the viewing history information or the CM playback status. When transmitting information to the commercial viewing information collecting apparatus in association with the commercial information, the content information is also transmitted in association with the information.

  According to the above configuration, when “content associated with a commercial” is recorded in the content reception recording / playback apparatus, the content information indicating the content of the content including (associated with) the commercial in each commercial portion Are stored in association with each other, and the content information is transmitted to the commercial viewing information collection device in association with the viewing history information or the CM playback status information and the commercial information. The viewing status of each commercial portion recorded in the reception recording / reproducing apparatus can be determined in association with the content information. Note that “content information” is, for example, information on the title, genre, performer, delivery time, etc. of the content (program), but is not limited to the information that is directly added to the content and transmitted. Instead, for example, identification information may be given to each content, and information to be transmitted may be only the identification information (various information is determined from the identification information in the receiving device).

  A content reception recording / reproduction device according to claim 4 is the content reception recording / reproduction device provided in the content distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the content reception unit and a recording unit for recording the received content in an information recording medium. And a CM information acquisition unit that acquires the commercial information, a control unit, an operation unit, a storage unit, and a data transmission unit, and storing device identification information in the storage unit, When the content is recorded on the information recording medium, the commercial information is acquired by the CM information acquisition unit, and the recording location of each commercial part associated with the content and the commercial information are associated with each other. And when it is determined that the reproduction of each commercial part recorded on the information recording medium has been executed, When viewing history information indicating that the commercial part has been played is stored in the storage unit in association with the identification information associated with the commercial part, or when the commercial part is reproduced or at a predetermined time Or when a transmission instruction is received from the user, the viewing history information is transmitted from the data transmission unit to the commercial viewing information collection device in association with the device identification information and the commercial information. To do.

  A content reception recording / playback apparatus according to claim 5 is the content reception recording / playback apparatus provided in the content distribution system according to claim 2, wherein the content reception section and a recording section for recording the received content on an information recording medium And a CM information acquisition unit that acquires the commercial information, a control unit, an operation unit, and a storage unit, so that when the content is recorded on the information recording medium, the CM information acquisition unit To obtain the commercial information, store a recording location of each commercial part associated with the content and the commercial information in association with each other in the storage unit, and perform playback processing of the content recorded on the information recording medium. When it is determined that there is a commercial part associated with the content to be played The CM playback status information indicating the playback status of the commercial part is stored in the storage unit in association with the commercial information corresponding to the commercial part, so that when the playback of the content is executed or a predetermined The CM playback status information is associated with the commercial information and transmitted from the data transmission unit to the commercial viewing information collecting apparatus at a time or when a transmission instruction is received from a user.

  A content reception recording / reproduction device according to claim 6 is the content reception recording / reproduction device provided in the content distribution system according to claim 3, and the content reception recording / reproduction device according to claim 4 or 5. When recording the content to which the content information is added to the information recording medium, the viewing history information or the CM playback status information is associated with the commercial information by recording the content information in association with the content information. When transmitting to the commercial viewing information collecting apparatus, the content information is also transmitted in association with each other.

  A content reception recording / playback apparatus according to a seventh aspect is the content reception recording / playback apparatus according to any one of the fourth to sixth aspects, wherein a playback process of the content recorded on the information recording medium is performed. When it is determined that there is a commercial part associated with the content to be played back, the main part viewing history information indicating that the main part has already been viewed corresponds to the commercial information corresponding to the commercial part. In addition, when the content recorded on the information recording medium is requested to be reproduced or the content receiving request is received by the content receiving unit, the commercial information is stored in the storage unit. By referring to the main part viewing history information and the viewing history information, the main part has been viewed but not yet viewed. If no commercial portion is determined to exceed a predetermined amount, and limits a reproduction or viewing of the content.

  According to the above configuration, whether or not content associated with each commercial part has been viewed (main part viewing history information) and whether each commercial part itself has been viewed (viewing history information) in the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus. Are stored in association with each other. Therefore, it is possible to determine “a commercial part that has been viewed but has not been viewed yet”, and if it is determined that this exceeds a “predetermined amount”, content Playback or viewing is restricted. That is, for example, when CM1-1 and CM1-2 are inserted in the program 1, the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus that records them has the user skip the CM and watch the program 1 In this case, information indicating that “the main part has been viewed and not viewed” is stored in association with CM 1-1 and CM 1-2, and it has been determined that such a commercial has exceeded a “predetermined amount”. In this case, the reproduction or viewing of the content is restricted. Note that “store the main content viewing history information in association with each other” means that the main content is stored in the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus so that it can be understood that the main content is a watched CM. It is not limited to newly adding (for example, by deleting the viewed main part from the recording medium sequentially, the CM part remaining on the recording medium is “CM that the main part has been viewed”. Etc.) Further, the “predetermined amount” means, for example, “the number of commercial parts” determined from the number of places where the commercial parts are recorded, “the number of commercials” obtained from the commercial information, or “the length of the commercial ( Time information) ”and the like, the amount of which is determined as appropriate, and may be“ 0 ”. “Restricting playback or viewing of content” is not limited to not playing (viewing) content, for example, displaying a warning superimposed on a content playback screen (or outside the content display area), etc. (It is intended that the content is reproduced (viewed) without any restrictions).

  Claim 1 of the present invention is a content distribution device for distributing content associated with a commercial, a content reception recording / reproducing device capable of receiving the distributed content and recording the received content on an information recording medium, and a commercial A content distribution system comprising a viewing information collection device, wherein device identification information is assigned in advance to the content reception recording / playback device, and when a content associated with a commercial is distributed from the content distribution device, In the content reception recording / playback apparatus for adding and transmitting commercial information indicating the content of the content and receiving it, when recording the content on the information recording medium, each commercial part associated with the content, Corresponding recording location and commercial information If it is determined that reproduction of each commercial part recorded on the information recording medium has been executed, the viewing history information indicating that the commercial part has been viewed is associated with the commercial part. By storing the information in association with the commercial information, when the commercial part is reproduced, or at a predetermined time, or when there is a transmission instruction from the user, the viewing history information is stored as the device identification information. According to the content distribution system, which is transmitted in association with the commercial information to the commercial viewing information collecting apparatus, “viewing history information” is associated with the commercial information and transmitted to the commercial viewing information collecting apparatus. Each recorded in the content reception recording / reproducing device in the commercial viewing information collecting device. It is possible to determine the viewing situation of Marshall part. Therefore, the information can be used as one index for determining how much the CM advertising effect is obtained on the content distribution side (who has the content reception recording / playback apparatus). In addition, since the device identification information is also transmitted to the commercial viewing information collecting device, the commercial viewing information collecting device can determine which content reception recording / reproducing device the received viewing history information is from. Become. Therefore, on the content distribution side, it is possible to determine the CM viewing status (such as preference information of each user) for each user (who has a content reception recording / playback apparatus).

  Claim 2 of the present invention is a content distribution device for distributing content associated with a commercial, a content reception recording / reproducing device capable of receiving the distributed content and recording the received content on an information recording medium, and a commercial A content distribution system comprising a viewing information collection device, and when distributing content associated with a commercial from the content distribution device, adds and transmits commercial information indicating the content of the commercial and receives it In the content reception recording / reproducing apparatus, when recording the content on the information recording medium, the recording location and the commercial information of each commercial part included in the content are stored in association with each other, and the information recording medium Playback processing of the content recorded on In this case, if it is determined that there is a commercial part associated with the content to be reproduced, the CM reproduction status information indicating the reproduction status of the commercial part corresponds to the commercial information corresponding to the commercial part. In addition, when the content is played back or at a predetermined time or when a transmission instruction is received from the user, the CM playback status information is associated with the commercial information and the commercial viewing is performed. According to the content distribution system, which is transmitted to the information collecting device, “CM playback status information (for example, operation (fast-forward operation etc.) information on the user's device), special playback indicating processing contents such as fast-forward playback, etc. Information etc.) "is sent to the commercial viewing information collection device in association with the commercial information. Is therefore possible to determine the status of such or reproduced how each commercial portion recorded on the content receiving, recording and reproducing apparatus in commercial audience information collection device. Therefore, for example, in the case where it is determined that “the CM is rewinded and viewed”, it is possible to determine that “the CM is a CM with a particularly high degree of attention”. This information can be used as one index for verifying whether or not the user is preferred.

  When distributing content associated with a commercial from the content distribution device according to claim 3 of the present invention, content information indicating the content content is added and transmitted, and the content receiving / recording / reproducing device transmits the content. When recording on the information recording medium, by recording the content information in association with each other, the viewing history information or the CM playback status information is associated with the commercial information and transmitted to the commercial viewing information collection device. In the content distribution system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the content information is also transmitted in association with the content information, the viewing history information or the CM playback status information, To be transmitted to the commercial viewing information collecting device in association with the commercial information In commercial audience information collection device, the viewing state of each commercial portion recorded on the content receiving, recording and reproducing apparatus, it is possible to determine in association with content information. Therefore, for example, an analysis that “the CM of X is viewed by the user is higher when inserted and flowed into the content of genre B than when inserted and flowed into the content of genre A”. It can be done and is very useful.

  When it is determined that there is a commercial portion associated with the content to be reproduced when the content recorded on the information recording medium is reproduced according to claim 7 of the present invention, the commercial When there is a request to reproduce the content recorded in the information recording medium by associating main commercial viewing history information indicating that the main program has been viewed with the commercial information corresponding to the portion, and storing the related information in the storage unit Alternatively, when there is a request for viewing the content received by the content receiving unit, the main part is viewed but is still viewed by referring to the commercial information, the main viewing history information, and the viewing history information. If it is determined that the non-commercial portion exceeds a predetermined amount, the content is played or viewed 7. The content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein CM1-1 and CM1-2 are inserted in program 1, for example. In addition, in the content reception recording / reproducing apparatus that records this, when viewing the program 1, when the user skips the CM and views it, the CM 1-1 and CM 1-2 have “the main part has already been viewed. Information indicating “unviewed” is stored in association with each other, and when it is determined that such a commercial has exceeded the “predetermined amount”, playback or viewing of the content is restricted, so the user views the CM. Since the CM skip function can be used freely until the unviewed CM reaches the “predetermined amount” on the user side, the reduction of the advertising effect of the CM is suppressed. While also, it is possible to suppress the damaging the convenience of the user. Further, simply leaving a viewing history of a recorded CM may cause some viewing restrictions because a CM inserted in a program that is not viewed in the main part has not been viewed (main part). It is unreasonable to be forced to view the CM even if you have not watched it), and according to the above configuration, it is possible to determine a CM that is “the main part has been viewed and has not been viewed”. Occurrence of a situation that is unreasonable for the user can be prevented.

  Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The following embodiment is one form when the present invention is embodied, and is not intended to limit the present invention within the scope thereof.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of a content distribution system according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of a content reception recording / playback apparatus constituting the system. 3 to 5 are flowcharts showing an outline of the operation of the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the content distribution system of the present embodiment, a content distribution server 3 that distributes content and a content reception recording / reproduction device 23 connected to a home LAN 21 are connected to the Internet 1 (and firewall 24). It is configured by being connected via In the figure, each component is shown one by one for simplification, but there may be a plurality of each (there are usually a plurality).

  The content distribution server 3 includes a control unit 301 that controls the entire apparatus and various arithmetic processes, a storage unit 302, an encoder unit 303 that generates streaming data to be transmitted (encodes and the like), and data transmission / transmission. By providing the communication unit 304 that performs reception, the content (content including commercials) is distributed via the Internet 1 in response to a request from the content reception recording / playback apparatus 23, and content reception recording It collects information related to the viewing status of commercials transmitted from the playback device 23 (also operates as a commercial viewing information collection device). Content distribution is performed by so-called streaming distribution. Video / audio data (video data of the main program and video data of CM) and various types of information are packetized by the encoder unit 303 (in accordance with a predetermined streaming method). Is transmitted to the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus 23 via the Internet 1. “Various information” added to (associated with) video / audio data includes, for example, information indicating the contents of the main part (for example, title and genre) and time information (the length of the main part, live distribution) In the present invention, CM information that is information indicating the content of a commercial (hereinafter simply referred to as CM) is also added and distributed.

  CM information is information related to each CM included in the distributed content. For example, title information, genre information, product information, company information, performer information, BGM information, and length (time) information of each CM. , Information on the insertion location (which position in the main part is entered), and the like.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of a part related to the present invention of the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus 23. As shown in the figure, the content reception recording / playback apparatus 23 includes a control unit 231 that performs overall control of the apparatus and various arithmetic processes, a storage unit 232, and a decoder unit 233 that performs decoding processing of received streaming data. , A content information acquisition unit 234 that acquires CM information from received data, an HDD unit 2351 that records and reproduces data on an HDD that is an information recording medium, and recording and reproduction of data on a DVD that is an information recording medium. A medium recording / playback unit 235 including a DVD unit 2352, an operation unit 236 that is an input interface for a user (a main body operation unit 2361, a remote control device 2362, a light receiving unit 2363 that receives a signal from the remote control device 2362, and a main unit operation) Key discriminating unit 2 for discriminating signal contents from the unit 2361 or the light receiving unit 2363 64), a communication unit 237 that transmits / receives data to / from the home LAN 21, and a display processing unit 238 that performs processing for displaying the video data output from the decoder unit 233 on the display unit 239, , A display unit 239, and the like. The content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus 23 is pre-assigned with “apparatus identification information” for uniquely identifying the apparatus and stored in the storage unit 232.

  An outline of the operation related to the present invention in the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus 23 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 shows an outline of the processing when the content distributed from the content distribution server 3 is recorded on an information recording medium (HDD or DVD).

  When there is a content recording request from the user by operating the operation unit 236 (step 301), a recording process of the content for which the recording request is made (a content distribution request is sent to the content distribution server 3) Then, the above-described packetized data is received, decoded and recorded on the information recording medium). In the recording process, the reception data received by the communication unit 237 is decoded by the decoder unit 233, and the content (video / audio data subjected to data format conversion or the like if necessary) is stored in an information recording medium (HDD or The content information income unit 234 extracts CM information from the received data and assigns an identifier to each CM part, and each CM part (CM video / audio data) is an information recording medium. Is recorded in the CM information table in association with the recording location, the CM information corresponding to the CM portion, the identifier, and the recording date / time information, and stored in the storage unit 232 (step 302). . FIG. 6 shows an example of a schematic configuration of the CM information table. The CM information table 60 stores a viewing history flag of each CM (“0” indicates unviewed, “1” indicates viewed), and the newly recorded CM portion includes Is assigned “0” (when it is determined that a CM is being watched simultaneously with the recording process (the CM being recorded is displayed on the display unit 239), “1” is assigned. May be assigned).

  When the recording of the content ends (when a recording end instruction is given from the user to the operation unit 236 or when the recording of the content with the recording instruction ends) (step 303), the recording process ends. Returning to step 301, the processing is repeated (waiting for the next recording request).

  When content including CM is received / recorded by the above recording process, an identifier is added to each CM portion (the CM information distributed from the content distribution server 3 includes information that can be used as identification information). In some cases, this may be used), and the recording location information (address information on the information recording medium, relative position information (time information) relative to a reference point such as the content start time), and the like. CM information, viewing history flag, and the like are associated and stored in the CM information table 60.

  Next, an outline of processing in the content reception recording / playback apparatus 23 when playing back content recorded on an information recording medium (HDD or DVD) will be described with reference to FIG.

  When there is a content reproduction request from the user by operating the operation unit 236 (step 401), reproduction processing of the content requested to be reproduced is performed (step 402). It is determined that each CM portion included in the content has been reproduced along with the content reproduction process (the determination is that the control unit 231 acquires the recording location of each CM from the CM information table 60 stored in the storage unit 232 If the data at the recording location is reproduced or not (step 403), the viewing history flag corresponding to each CM portion of the CM information table 60 is set to “1”. In step 405, the CM information of the reproduced CM and the viewing history flag are transmitted to the content distribution server 3 together with the device identification information of the content reception recording / playback device 23 (step 406). When the reproduction of the content is completed (when a reproduction termination instruction is given from the user to the operation unit 236 or when reproduction of the content with the reproduction instruction is completed) (step 404), the content reproduction processing is terminated. (Step 407), the process returns to Step 401 and the process is repeated (waiting for the next reproduction request). Note that the method of determining whether or not “the CM part has been reproduced” is “determined that“ the CM part has been reproduced ”only when all of the CM part has been reproduced” or “ When a part of the CM part (for example, 80% or more) is played twice, “determined that the CM part has been played”, and “when playback other than skip (such as fast forward playback) is performed Can be determined as appropriate, such as “determine that the CM portion has been reproduced”.

  Through the above reproduction process, the viewing history of the “CM portion” recorded on the information recording medium is stored in the CM information table 60 (it is possible to determine a CM that has not been viewed by being skipped or the like). ), The CM information and the viewing history flag of the reproduced (viewed) “CM part” are transmitted to the content distribution server 3 together with the device identification information. The content distribution server 3 that has received the information manages each device identification information, CM information, and a viewing history flag in association with each other. The management is performed by, for example, storing the CM information and the viewing history flag in the CM viewing information table in association with each content reception recording / playback apparatus. FIG. 7 shows an example of the structure of the CM viewing information table. The content distribution server 3 generates and holds the table for each device (device identification information).

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an outline of live time shift playback processing in the content reception recording / playback apparatus 23. “Live time-shifted playback” is a form of time-shifted playback. By using the time-shifted playback function for content that is so-called live distribution (real-time distribution), the CM part of the content is removed. Thus, only the main part is continuously viewed, and the time-shift playback of only the main part is ended almost simultaneously with the distribution end time (broadcast end time) of the content to be distributed live. FIG. 8 shows a diagram for explaining the concept of the “live time shift reproduction”. FIG. 8A shows content that is sequentially distributed live from the content distribution server 3, and FIG. 8B shows a “time shift reproduction of only the main part” by “live time shift reproduction”. As is apparent from the figure, “live time shift playback” is “to end time shift playback of only the main part almost at the same time as the broadcast end time”, and is equivalent to the total time of CM included in the content (in FIG. 8). Although playback of the main part is started after the live distribution by T), the end time (t2 in FIG. 8) is almost the same, and “continuous playback of the main part excluding the CM part” is as early as possible. To be executed.

  When there is a request to execute “live time shift playback” (step 501), the content information income unit 234 extracts CM information from the received data, and the total time of the CM included in the content to be viewed from the CM information. Is substituted into the variable T and stored in the storage unit 232 (step 502). In the following step 503, the timer 1 is started by the control unit 231 having a time measuring function. Step 504 is the same processing concept as step 302 in FIG. 3, and content recording processing and CM information table 60 update processing are performed. While the content recording process and the update process of the CM information table 60 are executed, it is determined whether the timer 1 has reached T (whether it has reached t1 in FIG. 8) or not (step 505). Is determined by referring to the CM information table 60 to determine whether or not there is a CM whose viewing history flag is 0 on the information recording medium (step 506). And the viewing history flag of the reproduced CM is set to 1 (step 507). Step 508 following Step 507 is the same processing concept as Step 406 in FIG. 4, and is processing for transmitting the viewing history information of the reproduced CM to the content distribution server 3. If it is determined in step 506 that there is no unviewed CM (there is no CM whose viewing history flag is 0), an arbitrary operation from the user is accepted and a process according to this is performed (for example, recorded on an information recording medium) For example, reproduction processing of other content that has been performed) (step 509).

  If it is determined that the timer 1 has reached T (step 505) during the playback process of the unviewed CM executed in step 507 or other processes (step 509), the time-shift playback of the content is performed. (Continuous playback of the main part excluding the CM part) is executed (step 510), and when the end of the content (t2 in FIG. 8) is reached (step 511), the time shift playback process is ended (step 512). ), The process returns to step 501 and the above processing is repeated. The main part (the video data or the like recorded on the information recording medium) for which the time shift reproduction processing in step 510 has been completed may be deleted from the information recording medium as needed or not. Although there is no CM portion skipped by “live time shift reproduction”, it is recorded in the information recording medium as an unviewed CM, and the surplus time in the next “live time shift reproduction” (from t0 to t1 in FIG. 8). (Period) etc. (When the reproduction ends, it may be automatically deleted).

  In the determination of the presence / absence of unviewed CMs in step 506, when there are a plurality of unviewed CMs, which of these is to be played back is determined by, for example, randomly selecting and playing back, It is possible to play from old (or new), or from CMs of related genres depending on the genre of content to be time-shifted, and to acquire and store user preference information in advance. By doing so, it is made to reproduce from those that are relevant or relevant to the preference information (or only relevant ones) (in this way, CMs that suit the user's preferences are reproduced) Therefore, it is excellent in user convenience, and the preference information is held in the content reception recording / playback device 23, and the content reception recording / playback device 23 Therefore, the burden on the server is reduced and the user's burden is reduced as compared with the case where, for example, the preference information is transmitted to the server and the CM to be transmitted is selected on the server side. It may be excellent from the viewpoint of personal information protection.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, since “viewing history information” is transmitted to the content distributor side in association with the commercial information, each content recorded on the content reception recording / reproducing apparatus on the content distributor side is recorded. The viewing status of the commercial part can be determined. Therefore, the content distributor can use the information as one index for determining how much CM advertising effect is obtained. In addition, since “device identification information” is also transmitted to the content distributor, it is possible to determine which content reception recording / playback device the received CM viewing information is from. Therefore, on the content distribution side, it is possible to determine the CM viewing status (such as preference information of each user) of each user (who has a content reception recording / playback apparatus). The “device identification information” may be information that can uniquely determine each device. For example, a product ID assigned to each device, a user ID registered in advance with the content distribution server 3, In addition, an IP address assigned to each device, a MAC (Media Access Control) address assigned to a NIC (Network Interface Card) of the communication unit 237, or the like can be used.

  Further, according to the “live time shift playback” of the present embodiment, “continuous playback of the main part excluding the CM part” of the content distributed live is executed as early as possible. It is possible to satisfy the user's desire to “continue to watch only the main part by skipping“ and “want to watch the program as soon as possible” as much as possible. Also, viewing history information (viewing history flag) is managed in association with each CM portion recorded on the information recording medium, and for the unviewed CM, the surplus time in “live time shift reproduction” (FIG. 8). In the period from t0 to t1), viewing of unviewed CMs is also encouraged.

  FIG. 9 shows an outline of another process when reproducing the content recorded on the information recording medium. Note that the same reference numerals are used for the same processing concept as in FIG. Thus, when there is a content reproduction request, the number of unviewed CMs exceeds a predetermined amount (for example, “the number of commercials” or “commercial length (time information determined from the CM information table 60)”. ) ”Or the like exceeds a predetermined value (may be 0)) (step 901), the unviewed CM is forcibly played back (step 902), and the unviewed CM is displayed. It is possible to further encourage viewing of unviewed CMs by performing the reproduction processing of the instructed content when the value of the content is below a predetermined amount. Step 903 has the same processing concept as step 406 in FIG. The determination in step 901 may be such that “there is an unviewed CM whose recording date and time is older than a predetermined time”, thereby preventing the CM from being unviewed for a long time. In FIG. 9, the unviewed CM playback process is performed before the instructed content playback process is performed. However, the unviewed CM playback process is performed after the content playback process is performed. May be.

  Also in “live time shift playback” (the process of FIG. 5), it is determined whether or not the unviewed CM exceeds a predetermined amount, and if this exceeds, “live time shift playback” is performed. You may make it restrict | limit execution. In the process of FIG. 9, “forced playback of unviewed CM” is assumed as a restriction on the execution of “instructed content playback”. For example, a warning as shown in FIG. 10 is displayed ( The warning may be displayed without playing the content, or the warning may be displayed while the content playback screen is displayed), or the user may be encouraged to view an unviewed CM. Good.

  In this embodiment, when it is determined that each CM portion has been reproduced, “content viewing information” is transmitted from the content reception recording / reproducing apparatus 23 to the content distribution server 3 (FIG. 4: Step 406, FIG. 5: Step 508, FIG. 9: Steps 903 and 406), but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when a transmission instruction is given by the user, “content viewing information” is transmitted. The information may be transmitted when accessing the content distribution server 3 (for example, when a content distribution request is made to the content distribution server 3) or transmitted at a predetermined time. The user may be allowed to set transmission permission / inhibition, transmission timing, and the like. In FIG. 1, the personal computer (PC) 22 and the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus 23 are separately described. However, this is merely an example of an apparatus provided in the home LAN 21, and content reception is performed. It does not indicate that the recording / reproducing apparatus is of a different concept from the PC (the PC may be the “content reception recording / reproducing apparatus” of the present invention).

  FIG. 8A shows an example of the configuration of the content distributed from the content distribution server 3. However, the configuration is not limited to the distribution in which a CM is inserted in the main volume as described above. And CM may be distributed separately. Also, when recording on the information recording medium of the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus 23, the main part and the CM may be recorded separately, regardless of whether the main part and the CM are inserted. Since the purpose of this embodiment is to “manage so that the viewing status of received / recorded CM parts can be grasped and to encourage viewing of unviewed CMs”, the main part and the CM are distributed or recorded separately. It does not matter whether or not.

  FIG. 11 to FIG. 12 are flowcharts showing the outline of the operation related to the present invention of the content reception recording / reproducing apparatus constituting the content distribution system of the present embodiment. The configurations of the content distribution system and the content reception / recording / playback apparatus according to the present embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment. Therefore, the description thereof is omitted, and when necessary, refer to FIG. 1 or FIG. I will explain.

  In the present embodiment, when content is distributed from the content distribution server 3, content information indicating the content is also added and transmitted. “Content information” includes, for example, information indicating the content of the main content (eg, title, genre, program content), time information (length of the main content, broadcast time information in the case of live distribution, etc.), performer information It ’s like that.

  FIG. 11 shows an outline of processing when recording the content distributed from the content distribution server 3 on the information recording medium (HDD or DVD). In addition, about the thing which becomes the process concept similar to Example 1 (FIG. 3), the same code | symbol is used and description here is abbreviate | omitted or simplified.

  When there is a content recording request (step 301), in the recording process of the content for which the recording request has been made, the content information income unit 234 extracts CM information and content information from the received data, and assigns an identifier to each CM portion. When each CM part (CM video / audio data) is recorded on the information recording medium, the recording location, the CM information corresponding to the CM part, the identifier, the recording date / time information, and the CM part are The content information of the associated content is associated and stored in the CM information table and stored in the storage unit 232 (step 1101). FIG. 13 shows an example of a schematic configuration of the CM information table of this embodiment. In the CM information table 130, “content information” is stored in association with the contents of the CM information table 60 (FIG. 6) of the first embodiment.

  Next, an outline of processing in the content reception recording / playback apparatus 23 when playing back content recorded on an information recording medium (HDD or DVD) will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, about the thing which becomes the process concept similar to Example 1 (FIG. 4), the same code | symbol is used and description here is abbreviate | omitted or simplified.

  When it is determined that each CM part has been reproduced (step 403), the viewing history flag corresponding to each CM part in the CM information table 130 is set to “1” (step 405), and the reproduced CM is reproduced. The CM information, viewing history flag, and content information are transmitted to the content distribution server 3 together with the device identification information of the content receiving / recording / reproducing device 23 (step 1201).

  When content including CM is received / recorded by the above recording processing and playback processing, an identifier is added to each CM portion, and this is associated with recording location information, CM information, content information, viewing history flag, and the like. Then, the CM information, the viewing history flag, and the content information of the “CM portion” that is stored in the CM information table 130 and reproduced (viewed) are transmitted to the content distribution server 3 together with the device identification information. The content distribution server 3 that has received the information manages each device identification information, CM information, content information, and viewing history flag in association with each other. The management is performed by, for example, storing the CM information and the viewing history flag in the CM viewing information table in association with each content reception recording / playback apparatus. FIG. 14 shows an example of the structure of the CM viewing information table. The content distribution server 3 generates and holds the CM viewing information table 140 for each device (device identification information). When CM information or content information is recorded in the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus 23 or transmitted from the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus 23 to the content distribution server 3, all of the CM information or content information is recorded or recorded. The information may be transmitted, or a part of information may be recorded or transmitted.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the content information is transmitted to the content distributor side in association with the viewing history information and the CM information, and therefore recorded on the content reception recording / reproducing apparatus on the content distributor side. It is possible to determine the viewing status of each commercial part in association with the content information. Therefore, for example, an analysis that “the CM of X is viewed by the user is higher when inserted and flowed into the content of genre B than when inserted and flowed into the content of genre A”. It can be done and is very useful.

  FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of the content distribution system of the present embodiment. In addition, about the content receiving recording / reproducing apparatus 1500 which comprises the same content delivery system, the same code | symbol is used about what becomes the same component as Example 1 (FIG. 2), and description here is abbreviate | omitted or simplified. . 16 to 18 are flowcharts showing an outline of the operation of the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 15, the content distribution system according to the present exemplary embodiment includes a content broadcasting device 1510 that distributes content, a CM viewing information collection server 1520, and a content reception recording / reproducing device 1500. The content broadcasting apparatus 1510 distributes content (content including commercials) by so-called digital broadcasting (such as terrestrial broadcasting and satellite broadcasting), and the distribution is content video (video of the main program or video of CM). Is performed by digitally modulating data encoded according to the MPEG standard and various data and transmitting them on a broadcast wave. “Various data” added to (associated with) the content video is, for example, information indicating the content of the main part (for example, title or genre) or time information (the length of the main part, broadcast time information, etc.) In the present invention, CM information which is information indicating the contents of the CM is also added and distributed. Note that “content including commercials” is not limited to a format in which a CM is inserted and distributed in the content, and the main part and the CM part of the content are distributed separately. Any association may be used as long as there is some association between the portion and the commercial portion (for example, association is performed using “various data” added to each portion).

  The CM information is information regarding each CM included in the distributed content. For example, the title information, genre information, product information, performer information, length (time) information, main information (corresponding CM) of each CM Information on the main part in which the is inserted), information on the place of insertion (which position is in the main part), broadcast time information, and the like. In the present embodiment, the content broadcast side (the side provided with the content broadcast device 1510 and the CM viewing information collection server 1520) assigns identification information (identifier) to each CM, and manages these information in association with each other. It is assumed that the corresponding CM can be discriminated by the identifier, and “CM information” distributed on the broadcast wave from the content broadcasting device 1510 is the data of the identifier. The CM viewing information collection server 1520 collects information related to CM viewing history and playback status in the content reception recording / playback apparatus 1500 (receives information transmitted from the content reception recording / playback apparatus 1500 via the Internet 1). It is.

  Similar to the content reception recording / reproduction device 23 of the first embodiment (FIG. 2), the content reception recording / reproduction device 1500 includes a control unit 231, a storage unit 232, a content information acquisition unit 234, a medium recording / reproduction unit 235, A communication unit 237, an operation unit 236, a display processing unit 238, a display unit 239, and the like, a tuner unit 1502 that receives digital broadcast waves of each frequency, and a digital demodulation of a signal received by the tuner unit 1502 An MPEG unit 1501 that performs processing, decoding processing conforming to the MPEG standard, and the like are provided.

  The outline of the operation related to the present invention in the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus 1500 constituting the above content distribution system will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 16 shows an outline of processing for recording or deleting content distributed from the content broadcasting apparatus 1510 on an information recording medium (HDD or DVD).

  When a content recording request is received from the user (step 1601), the recording processing of the content requested to be recorded is performed. In the recording process, the digital broadcast signal received by the tuner unit 1502 is digitally demodulated by the MPEG unit 1501, and the content (video / audio data subjected to data format conversion or the like if necessary) is stored as an information recording medium ( CM information (CM identifier) is extracted from the received data by the content information income unit 234 while executing the process of recording on the HDD or DVD), and each CM portion (CM video / audio data) is recorded on the information recording medium. When recording, the recording location, the CM identifier, and the recording date / time information are associated with each other and stored in the CM information table and stored in the storage unit 232. These pieces of information are stored in the CM information table in association with information related to the main story with which the CM is associated (an identifier is given to the main story and the main program identifier and recording location information) (step 1603). The CM part when recording on the information recording medium is detected by a method that can be adopted as appropriate (for example, by detecting a change in the audio signal and determining the CM part) (in this embodiment, “CM information” is used). Although the CM identifier is used, information related to the CM insertion location may be added as “CM information” in addition to the CM identifier, and the CM portion may be detected based on the information).

  FIG. 19 shows an example of a schematic configuration of the CM information table. In the CM information table 190, the viewing history flag of each CM and the main viewing history flag of the main program to which each CM is associated (not viewed when “0”, respectively, indicate viewing when “1”). ) Is stored, and “0” is assigned to the newly recorded main part or CM part (viewed at the same time as the recording process (the content recorded on the display unit 239 is displayed)). In such a case, “1” may be assigned). For example, assuming that FIG. 22 shows the content requested to be recorded (content 1 with four CMs inserted), this format (a state in which CMs are inserted in the main part) is recorded on the information recording medium. The main program identifier (for example, “003”) is given to the content 1 by the content reception recording / playback apparatus 1500, and the main program viewing history flag and the recording location information of the entire content 1 as “main program portion recording location information” Are stored in the CM information table 190 in association with each other, and further associated with the main program identifier, CM identifiers (CM information given and transmitted by the broadcast side) of each CM (CM1 to CM4 included in the content 1). ”And“ aaa to ddd ”in FIG. 19), the recording location, the recording date and time, and the viewing history flag are CM information table 1. It will be stored to zero.

  When the content recording ends (when a recording end instruction is given from the user to the operation unit 236, or when the recording of the content with the recording instruction ends) (step 1604), the recording process ends. The process returns to step 1601 to repeat the process.

  When there is a content deletion request from the user (step 1602), processing for deleting the content requested to be deleted from the information recording medium (HDD or DVD) is performed. At the time of the deletion process, the CM information table 190 is referred to determine whether or not the main viewing history flag of the content to be deleted is 1 (step 1605). Referring to the CM information table 190, it is determined whether or not there is a CM associated with the main identifier of the content to be deleted and the viewing flag is 0 (step 1606). When the determination at step 1605 is negative (when it is determined that the main part has not been viewed yet) or when the determination at step 1606 is negative (when it is determined that there are no unviewed CMs to be deleted) ) Performs processing for deleting the instructed content (deleting video data from the information recording medium and deleting the corresponding data from the CM information table 190) (step 1607). On the other hand, if the determinations in steps 1605 and 1606 are affirmative (if the main part has already been viewed and there is an unviewed CM), content deletion processing excluding the unviewed CM is performed (step 1608). ).

  For example, when there is an instruction to delete the content 1 in FIG. 22 (the main program identifier is 003) from the information recording medium, the main program viewing history flag associated with the main program identifier 003 is 0 (or main program viewing). Even if the history flag is 1, when the viewing history flags of CM1 to CM4 are all 1, the data of the entire content 1 (including CM1 to CM4) is deleted, and the corresponding data is also obtained from the CM information table 190. Is deleted (step 1607). On the other hand, for example, when the main viewing history flag associated with the main identifier 003 is 1 and only the viewing history flag of CM4 is 0, the content 1 data is deleted except for the data of CM4 (CM4 data). And the corresponding data excluding CM4 (CM identifier ddd) is also deleted from the CM information table 190. By such processing, even if there is a content deletion request, the “CM that has been viewed but not viewed” is not deleted. In this embodiment, regardless of whether or not there is an unviewed CM, when performing content deletion processing, the main program identifier information and the main program recording location information are deleted from the CM information table 190. If there is a CM that has been viewed but not viewed in the main part, data such as the CM identifier xxx in FIG. 19 will remain). In this way, it can be determined by referring to the CM information table 190 that the corresponding main part is a deleted CM.

  Next, an outline of processing in the content reception recording / playback apparatus 1500 when playing back content recorded on an information recording medium (HDD or DVD) will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, about the thing which becomes the process concept similar to Example 1 (FIG. 4), the same code | symbol is used and description here is abbreviate | omitted or simplified.

  When there is a content reproduction request (step 401), with reference to the CM information table 190, whether “CM that has been viewed but not viewed” exceeds a predetermined amount (may be 0). (Step 1701), and when there is a predetermined amount or more of “CM that has been viewed but has not been viewed”, reproduction processing of “CM that has been viewed but has not been viewed” The viewing history flag corresponding to the reproduced CM in the CM information table 190 is set to 1 (step 1702), and the CM information (CM identifier) corresponding to the reproduced CM portion and the viewing history information (viewing history flag) ) And CM playback status information (contents of a CM playback status table described below) are transmitted to the CM viewing information collection server 1520 (step 1703). In the subsequent step 1704, it is determined whether or not the reproduced CM is “main part deleted CM” (can be determined by referring to the CM information table 190 as described above), and was “main part deleted CM”. In this case, the CM deletion process (deletion of video data from the information recording medium and deletion of the corresponding data from the CM information table 190) is performed (step 1705).

  On the other hand, when “the main volume has been viewed but not yet viewed” has not reached the predetermined amount (step 1701), the content requested to be reproduced is reproduced (step 402), and the subsequent step 1706 is a CM. The main part viewing history flag corresponding to the reproduced content in the information table 190 is set to 1 (if it is already 1, it remains as it is). When it is determined that the playback location has reached the CM portion during the content playback process (step 1707), the timer 1 is started and playback status information (information related to the playback method, such as “normal (current) ) Information such as “playback”, “double speed playback”, “slow playback”, “pause”, etc.) is acquired by the MPEG unit 1501 and the control unit 231 and is associated with the CM identifier of the CM being played. The reproduction status table is stored (step 1708). “Timer 1” is a timer synchronized with the playback position in the CM portion. That is, for example, when there is a 15-second CM, the timer 1 is 0 at the start point of the CM and 15 at the end point, and the CM part playback method (double speed playback, rewind playback, etc.) ) (In the case of rewinding, the value decreases). The timer 1 may be information uniquely generated by the control unit 231 having a timekeeping function (a counter that operates in conjunction with the reproduction method), but is acquired by the control unit 231 and the MPEG 1501 from the MPEG data of the CM portion. -It may be calculated.

  In step 1709, it is determined whether or not there is an operation instruction by the user (an instruction related to a reproduction method such as “fast forward reproduction instruction”), and if there is, the reproduction status information and the timer 1 value according to the operation instruction are acquired, It is stored in the CM playback status table in association with the CM identifier (step 1710). The processing in step 403 and step 405 is the same concept as in the first embodiment (FIG. 4). When it is determined that the CM portion has been reproduced, information regarding the CM viewing history and the reproduction status is obtained from the CM viewing information collection server 1520. The process of transmitting to (the same concept as step 1703) is performed (step 1711). If the reproduction part is a CM part, the processing of Steps 1709 to 1711 is repeated. If the reproduction part is no longer a CM part, the process proceeds to Step 404 (Step 1712).

  FIG. 20 shows an example of the configuration of the CM playback status table. As shown in the figure, the CM playback status table 200 sequentially stores information regarding the content and time of changes in playback status in association with CM identifiers. Thus, by referring to the CM reproduction status table 200, it is possible to determine how each CM portion has been viewed, the number of times it has been reproduced, and the like.

  When the reproduction of the content is finished (step 404), the content reproduction process is finished (step 407) and the process returns to step 401. When the reproduction is not finished yet, the process returns to step 402 and the above processes are repeated. .

  Next, an outline of processing in the content reception recording / playback apparatus 1500 when viewing broadcast content will be described with reference to FIG.

  When there is a viewing request (step 1801), it is determined by referring to the CM information table 190 whether or not “the main part has been viewed but unviewed CM” exceeds a predetermined amount (step 1802). If it is determined that this is exceeded, the processing in steps 1803 to 1809 is performed. This processing is performed by playing back (viewing) “the main part has been viewed but not yet viewed” until “the main part has been viewed but unviewed CM” falls below a predetermined amount. Time-shifted reproduction (content reproduction from the time when a viewing request is made) is executed. Step 1803 performs recording processing of the content being broadcast (content requested to be viewed) in order to perform time-shifted reproduction, and is the same concept as step 1603 in FIG. The subsequent step 1804 is a process of reproducing “CM that has been viewed but not viewed” and transmitting information related to the CM viewing history and playback status of the reproduced CM part to the CM viewing information collection server 1520. This is the same concept as the processing in steps 1702 to 1705 in FIG. By these processes, when “CM that has been viewed but not watched” is less than a predetermined amount (step 1805), time-shifted reproduction of content (reproduction of content from the time when viewing is requested) Is executed (step 1806). For those for which time-shift playback has been completed (video data recorded on an information recording medium, etc.), a process of deleting this is performed, but the CM skipped during time-shift playback (ie, “the main part has already been viewed) If there is a CM corresponding to “Unviewed CM”, processing for leaving this is performed (steps 1807 to 1809).

  On the other hand, if the determination in step 1802 is negative, content viewing processing (normal viewing) is executed (step 1810). When an unviewed CM playback button 23621 provided in the remote control device 2362 is input during content viewing (step 1811), unviewed CM playback processing or the like is performed (step 1813: step 1702 in FIG. 17) When the viewing ends (step 1812), the process returns to step 1801 and the process is repeated. As a result, “unviewed CM” can be viewed at an arbitrary timing (at the time desired by the user).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, “CM playback status information” is transmitted to the content distributor side in association with the CM information (CM identifier). It is possible to determine the situation such as how each CM portion recorded in the above is reproduced. Therefore, for example, when it is determined that the CM is “rewinded and watched”, it is determined that the CM is a CM with a particularly high degree of attention, or “change from double-speed playback to double-speed playback”. If there is a “part”, it is possible to determine that there is information that particularly attracted the user's interest in the vicinity of the part, and to verify what CM and information attract the user The information can be used as one index. In this embodiment, the content distributor side assigns identification information (identifier) to each CM, and manages the information related to each CM and the information related to the main story in association with each other. The “viewing history information” and “CM playback status information” associated with the “CM identifier” received by the user, the viewing status of each commercial part recorded in the content reception recording / playback apparatus is determined in association with the main part. It is also possible to do. That is, for example, an analysis that “the CM of X is viewed by the user is higher when the content is inserted into the genre B content than when the content is inserted into the genre A content”. It can be done and is very useful.

  Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, for example, when CMs 1 to 4 are inserted in the content 1, the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus that records the CMs 1 and 2 can receive the CMs 2 and 3 when the user views the content 1. When viewing with skipping, CM2 and CM3 store information indicating that “the main part has been viewed and not viewed” in association with each other, and the amount of such CM exceeds the “predetermined amount”. If it is determined that the content has been reproduced, viewing or viewing of the content is restricted, so that the user can be prompted to view the CM, and on the user side as well, until the unviewed CM reaches a “predetermined amount”. Since the CM skip function can be freely used, it is possible to prevent the user's convenience from being impaired while suppressing the reduction of the advertisement effect of the CM. Further, simply leaving a viewing history of a recorded CM may cause some viewing restrictions because a CM inserted in a program that is not viewed in the main part has not been viewed (main part). It is unreasonable to be forced to view the CM even if you have not watched it), and according to the above configuration, it is possible to determine a CM that is “the main part has been viewed and has not been viewed”. Occurrence of a situation that is unreasonable for the user can be prevented.

  In addition, even when the user instructs to delete the content recorded on the information recording medium (along with the CM associated with the content), the CM associated with the content is “main part”. When the portion corresponds to a CM that has been viewed but not yet viewed, the CM portion is left on the information recording medium, so that it is possible to more reliably encourage viewing of the unviewed CM. Become.

  FIG. 21 shows an outline of another process in the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus 1500 when viewing broadcast content. Note that the same reference numerals are used for the same processing concept as in FIG. This process is a process when content viewing conditions are added to the data transmitted from the content broadcast device 1510. The “content viewing condition” is information that the broadcaster transmits in association with the content to be transmitted in order to set a certain viewing restriction on the content. In the present invention, CM information is used for this. That is, the broadcaster transmits the CM information (CM identifier) as “content viewing condition” in association with the content to be restricted for viewing, and the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus that has received the content transmits the “content viewing condition” to the content. "(CM identifier) is discriminated (step 2101). If this is found, the CM information table 190 is referred to and the CM corresponding to the CM identifier is identified as" the main part is If there is a CM that has already been viewed and has not been viewed (2102), the CM is subjected to playback processing (step 1804), and the CM corresponds to the “content viewing condition” and “the main part has already been viewed” The content is viewed after the “Unviewed” CM disappears (step 1810).

  According to the above configuration, by appropriately selecting a CM identifier that is a “content viewing condition”, for example, in order to view the content A, a CM of A company is viewed (A (There is no company CM), etc. (The CM identifier is managed by the broadcaster, and various conditions can be set by appropriately combining CM identifiers used as “content viewing conditions”. Therefore, the sponsor side (broadcaster side) can select and set the CM that the user wants to watch more flexibly (for example, “content viewing condition”, in addition to the CM identifier, several pieces of information) By adding, various conditions are set such that any five of the CMs a1 to a10 may be unviewed, or the CM of a7 may be unviewed twice. Ancient city, etc.) is possible.

  In this embodiment, the “CM information” distributed on the broadcast wave transmitted from the content broadcasting device 1510 has been described as only identifier data, but various information (product information, performer information, etc.) is described. May be added for transmission. These pieces of information are not limited to information distributed on broadcast waves transmitted from the content broadcast device 1510, and may be transmitted to the content reception / recording / reproduction device 1500 via the Internet 1. In addition, the content to be distributed is not limited to video content such as television broadcast, but may be audio content such as radio broadcast (if the content is distributed with CM added, video or audio etc. The present invention can be applied regardless of the content type.

  In the embodiment, for the sake of easy understanding, the concept of the present invention is assigned to each function. However, the present invention is not limited to these. For example, the first embodiment is compared with the third embodiment. The “live time shift playback function” described in the above section may be applied (necessary to transmit necessary information from the content distributor side as appropriate). In the third embodiment, the device identification information is also used as in the first embodiment. It is possible to transmit to the content distributor side, or “unviewed CM playback processing by user's input of unviewed CM playback button” in the content viewing processing of FIG. 18 during “content playback processing” or “live time shift” Each concept can be used in appropriate combination in accordance with the above-described gist of the present invention, such as performing the playback function during execution.

  In the embodiments, the HDD and DVD have been described as specific examples of the “information recording medium”, but other disk media (for example, VCD, DVA, CD, etc.) may be used, such as a semiconductor memory. It does not matter. In the case of a medium that can be randomly accessed, such as the above-described disk medium or semiconductor memory, the problem of reduced advertising effect due to “CM skip” becomes prominent. Even if it is a magnetic tape medium, it is possible to provide a function of “detecting and fast-forwarding the CM portion”, and in such a case, it causes a “decrease in advertising effectiveness”. It is meaningful to apply the present invention (the application target of the present invention is not limited to a “randomly accessible medium”). In addition, the “content reception recording / playback device” in the present invention is not limited to a device such as a so-called DVD recorder, but refers to a device capable of “recording and playing distributed content on an information recording medium”. (For example, a TV with a built-in HDD, a portable terminal device such as a mobile phone, a personal computer, etc.).

Block diagram showing outline of configuration of content distribution system Block diagram showing an outline of a configuration of a content reception recording / reproducing apparatus A flowchart showing an outline of processing related to the present invention when recording content on an information recording medium A flowchart showing an outline of processing related to the present invention when reproducing content recorded on an information recording medium Flowchart showing the outline of the “live time shift playback” process The figure which showed the outline of an example of CM information table The figure which showed the outline of an example of CM viewing-and-listening information table Explanatory diagram for explaining the concept of “live time shift playback” A flow chart showing an outline of another process related to the present invention when reproducing content recorded on an information recording medium The figure which shows an example of a display screen (warning screen) The flowchart which showed the outline of the process regarding Example 2 at the time of recording a content on an information recording medium of Example 2. FIG. The flowchart which showed the outline of the process regarding Example 2 at the time of reproducing | regenerating the content recorded on the information recording medium of Example 2. FIG. The figure which showed the outline of an example of CM information table of Example 2. The figure which showed the outline of an example of CM viewing information table of Example 2. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an outline of a configuration of a content distribution system according to a third embodiment. The flowchart which showed the outline | summary of the process regarding this invention at the time of recording or deleting the content of Example 3 on an information recording medium The flowchart which showed the outline of the process regarding this invention at the time of reproducing | regenerating the content recorded on the information recording medium of Example 3 The flowchart which showed the outline | summary of the process regarding this invention at the time of viewing the broadcast content of Example 3. The figure which showed the outline of an example of CM information table of Example 3. The figure which showed the outline of an example of CM reproduction condition table of Example 3 A flowchart showing an outline of another process related to the present invention when viewing broadcast content The figure which shows an example of a structure of the content broadcasted

Explanation of symbols

1 Internet 3 Content Distribution Server (Content Distribution Device and Commercial Viewing Information Collection Device)
23 Content reception recording / reproducing apparatus 60/130 CM information table 200 CM reproduction status table 231 Control unit 232 Storage unit 233 Decoder unit 234 Content information acquisition unit (CM information acquisition unit)
235 Medium recording / reproducing unit (recording unit)
236 operation unit 237 communication unit (content reception unit and data transmission unit)
1502 Tuner (content receiver)
1510 Content broadcasting apparatus (content distribution apparatus)
1520 CM viewing information collection server (commercial viewing information collection device)
23621 Unviewed CM playback button

Claims (7)

  A content distribution device for distributing content associated with a commercial; a content reception recording / reproducing device capable of receiving the distributed content and recording the received content on an information recording medium; and a commercial viewing information collection device. In the content distribution system, device identification information is given in advance to the content reception / recording / reproduction device, and commercial information indicating the content of the commercial is added when content associated with a commercial is distributed from the content distribution device In the content reception recording / reproducing apparatus that transmits and receives the content, when recording the content on the information recording medium, the recording location and the commercial information of each commercial part associated with the content are recorded. Store the information in association with each other. When it is determined that reproduction of each commercial part recorded on the recording medium has been executed, viewing history information indicating that the commercial part has been viewed is stored in association with the commercial information associated with the commercial part. Thus, when playback of the commercial part is executed, at a predetermined time, or when a transmission instruction is given from the user, the viewing history information is associated with the device identification information and the commercial information. A content distribution system for transmitting to the commercial viewing information collecting apparatus.   A content distribution device for distributing content associated with a commercial; a content reception recording / reproducing device capable of receiving the distributed content and recording the received content on an information recording medium; and a commercial viewing information collection device. In the content distribution system, when distributing content associated with a commercial from the content distribution device, the content reception recording / playback device that receives and transmits commercial information indicating the content of the commercial, When the content is recorded on the information recording medium, the recording location of each commercial part included in the content and the commercial information are stored in association with each other, and the content recorded on the information recording medium is reproduced. Will be played back when When it is determined that there is a commercial part associated with the content, CM reproduction status information indicating the reproduction status of the commercial part is stored in association with the commercial information corresponding to the commercial part, When the reproduction of the content is executed, at a predetermined time, or when there is a transmission instruction from the user, the CM reproduction status information is associated with the commercial information and transmitted to the commercial viewing information collecting apparatus. A content distribution system characterized by that.   When distributing a content associated with a commercial from the content distribution device, the content information indicating the content is added and transmitted, and the content reception recording / playback device records the content on the information recording medium When the content information is recorded in association with each other, the content information is transmitted when the viewing history information or the CM playback status information is transmitted to the commercial viewing information collection device in association with the commercial information. The content distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the content is also transmitted in association with each other.   2. The content reception recording / reproducing apparatus provided in the content distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the content reception unit, a recording unit for recording the received content on an information recording medium, and CM information acquisition for acquiring the commercial information are obtained. A storage unit, a control unit, an operation unit, a storage unit, and a data transmission unit, and storing the device identification information in the storage unit, thereby recording the content on the information recording medium. The commercial information is acquired by the CM information acquisition unit, the recording location of each commercial part associated with the content and the commercial information are associated with each other, stored in the storage unit, and recorded on the information recording medium If it is determined that playback of each commercial part has been executed, viewing history information indicating that viewing has been completed is assigned. By storing in the storage unit in association with the identification information associated with the commercial part, when reproduction of the commercial part is executed, or at a predetermined time or when there is a transmission instruction from the user The content reception recording / reproducing apparatus, wherein the viewing history information is transmitted from the data transmission unit to the commercial viewing information collecting apparatus in association with the apparatus identification information and the commercial information.   3. The content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus provided in the content distribution system according to claim 2, wherein a content receiving unit, a recording unit for recording the received content on an information recording medium, and CM information acquisition for acquiring the commercial information are obtained. When the content is recorded on the information recording medium, the commercial information is acquired by the CM information acquisition unit, and the content is included in the content. The recording location of each associated commercial part and the commercial information are associated with each other and stored in the storage unit, and when the content recorded on the information recording medium is reproduced, the content to be reproduced is recorded. If it is determined that there is an associated commercial part, it indicates the playback status of the commercial part. By storing the M playback status information in the storage unit in association with the commercial information corresponding to the commercial portion, a transmission instruction from the user is performed when playback of the content is performed or at a predetermined time. In such a case, the content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus is characterized in that the CM reproduction status information is associated with the commercial information and transmitted from the data transmission unit to the commercial viewing information collection apparatus.   4. The content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus provided in the content distribution system according to claim 3, wherein the content information is recorded in association with the content information when the content information is added to the information recording medium. Thus, when transmitting the viewing history information or the CM playback status information in association with the commercial information to the commercial viewing information collecting apparatus, the content information is also transmitted in association with the commercial viewing information. The content receiving / recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 4 or 5. When it is determined that there is a commercial part associated with the content to be reproduced when the content recorded on the information recording medium is reproduced, the commercial information corresponding to the commercial part is included in the commercial information. The main part viewing history information indicating that the main part has been viewed is associated and stored in the storage unit, so that the content recorded on the information recording medium is requested or received by the content receiving unit. When a request to view content is received, the commercial part, the main part viewing history information, and the viewing history information are referred to, so that the commercial part that has been viewed but has not been viewed has a predetermined amount. When it is determined that the content exceeds the limit, playback or viewing of the content is restricted. Content receiving, recording and reproducing apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 6.

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