JP2007306400A - Content providing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reproduce and output sound with the optimal quality for a terminal without performing special processing regarding sound quality on the terminal side. <P>SOLUTION: This content providing device has: a content data base 23 which stores a plurality of pieces of content data; a terminal data base 26 which stores characteristic data indicating acoustic characteristics for each of a plurality of cellular phone; a request receiving part 20 which receives an acquisition request of the content from the cellular phones: a content search part 22 which searches for the content data from the content data base 23 according to the acquisition requests; an adjustment part 25 which performs sound quality adjustment to the searched content data based on the characteristic data corresponding to a cellular phone 12 at an acquisition request source of the content stored in the terminal data base 26 and a content transmitting part 29 which transmits the content data whose sound quality is adjusted to the terminal at the acquisition request source of the content. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a content distribution apparatus that distributes music content and the like via a network.

  In recent years, services that distribute music content and the like via a network can be used by various devices. In particular, services that can download music content using mobile phones are rapidly spreading. In the mobile phone, the downloaded music content can be output from a speaker provided in the mobile phone or headphones connected to a headphone terminal.

  The shape of the mobile phone varies depending on the model, and the position where the speaker is mounted and the performance of the speaker itself are different. For this reason, when the same music content is downloaded and reproduced and output from the speaker, the sound quality is not always the same.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a music content distribution system for reproducing music content satisfactorily in three-dimensional (three-dimensional) sound in accordance with the characteristics of the music to be played back and the characteristics of the playback device to be played back (speaker position, etc.) It is considered (see Patent Document 1).
JP-A-2005-300578

  The music content distribution system described in Patent Document 1 includes music data, parameter data for reproducing the music data with stereophonic sound, and an identification information header indicating that the parameter data is included in the file. Music content files including pre-ampules can be distributed.

  However, when using the service provided by the music content distribution system described in Patent Document 1, it is determined that there is parameter data based on the identification information header (preample) included in the file, and according to the parameter data This processing must be executed on the mobile phone that downloads the music content.

  In other words, unless the mobile phone can execute a special process on the file distributed by the music content distribution system, the music content cannot be reproduced satisfactorily in three-dimensional (three-dimensional) sound.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and the purpose thereof is content capable of reproducing and outputting sound of optimum quality for the terminal device without performing any special processing relating to sound quality on the terminal device side. It is to provide a providing device.

  The present invention relates to content storage means for storing a plurality of content data, characteristic data storage means for storing characteristic data indicating acoustic characteristics for each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses, and reception for receiving a content acquisition request from the terminal apparatus. Means for searching for content data from the content storage means in response to an acquisition request received by the receiving means, and for the content data searched by the content search means, the characteristic data storage means The sound quality adjusting means for adjusting the sound quality based on the characteristic data corresponding to the terminal device that is the content acquisition request source, and the content data that has been adjusted by the sound quality adjusting means are stored in the content acquisition request source Content transmitting means for transmitting to a terminal device .

  According to the present invention, for each terminal device that is a content request source, characteristic data indicating reproduction acoustic characteristics when content is reproduced and stored is stored, and a content acquisition request is received from the terminal device Then, after adjusting the sound quality of the content data in accordance with the characteristic data corresponding to the terminal device, it is transmitted. Since the content data received by the terminal device is adjusted in accordance with the acoustic characteristics of the terminal device, it is possible to reproduce and output audio of optimum quality simply by reproducing and outputting as usual.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a system in the present embodiment. The system shown in FIG. 1 includes a content server 10 that provides music content and the like via a network, and a mobile phone 12 (terminal device) that receives content data about the music content and the like from the content server 10 and plays it back. Is done.

  The content server 10 provides a service for distributing content such as music data in response to a request from the mobile phone 12 received through a network (including various communication networks such as a telephone line network and the Internet). The content server 10 is equipped with a computer function, and executes a program to control each unit to realize various functions, a ROM that stores a program executed by the CPU, and various types of processing operations. It includes a RAM for temporarily storing data, a mass storage device such as a hard disk device for recording various data and programs, and the like. The content server 10 provides the audio data of the content requested from the mobile phone 12 after adjusting according to the acoustic characteristics of the mobile phone 12 that is the content acquisition request source by executing the content distribution program by the CPU. be able to.

  The mobile phone 12 has a function of transmitting and receiving data through a network in addition to a function for making a normal voice call. The mobile phone 12 can execute a function of transmitting and receiving data, transmit a request for downloading content to the content server 10, and download the content corresponding to the request. The mobile phone 12 stores the content data downloaded from the content server 10 and can output the output device provided in the mobile phone 12, for example, the audio data from the headphones 13 connected to the speaker 12a and the headphone terminal 12b. .

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the content server 10, by executing a content distribution program, the request receiving unit 20, the content searching unit 22, the content database 23, the sound quality adjusting unit 25, the terminal database 26, the converting unit 28, and the content The function of the transmission unit 29 can be realized.

  The request receiving unit 20 receives a content acquisition request from the mobile phone 12 through a network (not shown). The request receiving unit 20 receives request data indicating content to be downloaded and terminal data indicating the type (model) of the mobile phone 12 as a content acquisition request from the mobile phone 12.

  The content search unit 22 searches for content data from the content database 23 in response to the acquisition request received by the request reception unit 20.

  The content database 23 stores a plurality of content data. In the content database 23, audio data such as music or video data or image data to which audio data is added is stored in advance as content data. In the following description, only music data will be described.

  For the content data (sound data) searched by the content search unit 22, the sound quality adjustment unit 25 stores characteristic data (described later) corresponding to the content acquisition requesting mobile phone 12 stored in the terminal database 26. Adjust the sound quality based on this. The detailed configuration of the sound quality adjustment unit 25 is shown in FIG.

  The terminal database 26 stores characteristic data indicating acoustic characteristics for each of the plurality of mobile phones 12 (terminal devices) (see FIG. 4). The terminal database 26 stores terminal characteristic data indicating acoustic characteristics that change depending on the housing shape of the mobile phone 12, the performance of the speaker 12a, and the like in association with terminal data indicating the type (model) of the mobile phone 12. Yes. The terminal database 26 stores file format data indicating the file format of audio data that can be processed by the mobile phone 12 in association with the terminal data.

  Based on the terminal data received by the request reception unit 20, the conversion unit 28 acquires file format data corresponding to the mobile phone 12 that is the content acquisition request source from the terminal database 26, and is adjusted by the sound quality adjustment unit 25. The content data (sound data) is converted into a file format corresponding to the file format data. The conversion unit 28 selectively executes a conversion program 28a corresponding to each of a plurality of file formats, thereby converting the content data into a file format corresponding to the mobile phone 12.

  The content transmission unit 29 transmits the content data (audio data) that has been subjected to sound quality adjustment by the sound quality adjustment unit 25 and converted into a file format corresponding to the mobile phone 12 by the conversion unit 28 to the mobile phone 12 that is the content acquisition request source. Send through a network not shown.

FIG. 2 shows a detailed configuration of the sound quality adjustment unit 25.
As shown in FIG. 2, the sound quality adjustment unit 25 includes a terminal characteristic data acquisition unit 25a, a difference data generation unit 25b, a reference data storage unit 25c, a frequency conversion unit 25d, a frequency characteristic adjustment unit 25e, and an audio conversion unit 25f. include.

  The terminal characteristic data acquisition unit 25a searches the terminal database 26 based on the terminal data received by the request reception unit 20, and obtains the terminal characteristic data corresponding to the mobile phone 12 that is the content acquisition request source from the terminal database 26. get.

  The difference data generation unit 25b generates difference data indicating a difference between reference data (described later) stored in the reference data storage unit 25c and terminal characteristic data corresponding to the mobile phone 12 that is the content acquisition request source.

  The reference data storage unit 25c stores reference data used in common for a plurality of terminal characteristic data. The reference data is used to reduce the amount of audio data adjustment in the frequency characteristic adjustment unit 25e. The reference data indicates an average sound reproduction frequency characteristic in a plurality of commonly used mobile phones. The content data in the content database is adjusted in advance based on the reference data.

  The frequency conversion unit 25d detects a frequency characteristic by performing frequency analysis on the audio data included in the content data, for example, by FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) analysis.

  The frequency characteristic adjustment unit 25e adjusts the frequency characteristic detected by the frequency conversion unit 25d according to the difference data generated by the difference data generation unit 25b.

  The audio conversion unit 25f converts the frequency characteristic adjusted by the frequency characteristic adjustment unit 25e into audio data by inverse FFT, for example.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the data configuration included in the content database 23.
The content database 23 stores, for each of the contents provided from the content server 10, in this case, the audio data of a plurality of music pieces, the music number data unique to the audio data and the music titles are associated with each other. Based on the request data received from the mobile phone 12, the corresponding audio data is searched by searching for the song number data or title in the content database 23.

  It is assumed that the audio data stored in the content database 23 is compressed by a predetermined encoding method. When audio data is compressed using the lossy encoding method, it will not be the same as the original audio data when decoded, but it will be based on the compression supplement data prepared separately in the audio processing described later Adjustment is made so that the audio data is not compressed.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the data configuration included in the terminal database 26.
The terminal database 26 includes terminal data indicating the type (model) of a terminal (mobile phone 12) that can receive the service provided by the content server 10, and terminal characteristic data indicating the acoustic characteristics of the mobile phone 12 indicated by the terminal data. In addition, file format data indicating a file format of audio data that can be processed by the mobile phone 12 is stored in association with each other. The terminal characteristic data indicates that when the mobile phone 12 reproduces and outputs sound, for example, the sound level becomes low in a low sound range (low frequency region) and a high sound region (high frequency region).

Next, the operation of the content server 10 (content providing apparatus) in the present embodiment will be described.
First, when content is downloaded from the content server 10 in the mobile phone 12, it is connected to the content server 10 through the network in accordance with a user operation.

  The content server 10 provides a menu or the like for causing the connected mobile phone 12 to select content to be downloaded. When any content is selected from the menu provided from the content server 10 by a user operation, the mobile phone 12 is set for request data indicating the content (for example, song number and title) and the mobile phone 12. Terminal data to be transmitted to the content server 10.

  When receiving request data and terminal data from the mobile phone 12, the request receiving unit 20 outputs the request data to the content search unit 22 and outputs the terminal data to the sound quality adjustment unit 25 and the conversion unit 28.

  The content search unit 22 executes content search processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5 according to the request data input through the request reception unit 20.

  First, for example, when the request data indicating the song number is input (step A1), the content search unit 22 searches for the song number data in the content database 23 based on the song number (step A2).

  Here, when the corresponding song number data is searched from the content database 23 (step A3), the content search unit 22 reads the audio data associated with the song number data from the content database 23, and the sound quality adjustment unit 25. (Step A4).

  If the corresponding music number data is not searched from the content database 23, the sound quality adjustment unit 25 outputs an error to notify that the requested content cannot be distributed (step A5).

  In the above description, the request data indicating the song number is received. However, when the request data indicating the song title is received, the search is performed for the title in the content database 23. Execute to get the corresponding audio data.

  Next, the sound quality adjustment processing in the sound quality adjustment unit 25 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  When the sound quality adjusting unit 25 inputs the terminal data through the request receiving unit 20 (step B1), the terminal characteristic data acquiring unit 25a searches the terminal database 26 based on the terminal data (step B2).

  Here, when the corresponding terminal data is not searched (step B3, No), the sound quality adjustment unit 25 outputs an error indicating that the sound quality adjustment cannot be performed on the sound data (step B4). In this case, the content (audio data) read from the content database 23 is not subjected to sound quality adjustment and is output to the conversion unit 28 as it is.

  On the other hand, when the corresponding terminal data is retrieved from the terminal database 26 (step B3, Yes), the terminal characteristic data acquisition unit 25a retrieves the terminal characteristic data stored in association with the retrieved terminal data from the terminal database 26. Obtain (step B5).

  The difference data generation unit 25b compares the terminal characteristic data acquired by the terminal characteristic data acquisition unit 25a with the reference data stored in advance in the reference data storage unit 25c to generate difference data, It outputs to the characteristic adjustment part 25e (step B6).

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining generation of difference data by the difference data generation unit 25b. For example, it is assumed that the terminal characteristic data shown in FIG. 7A is acquired from the terminal database 26, and the reference data shown in FIG. 7B is stored in the reference data storage unit 25c. In this case, the difference data as shown in FIG. 7C is generated by obtaining the difference between the terminal characteristic data and the reference data.

  The reference data shows the average audio playback frequency characteristics of a plurality of commonly used mobile phones. Since the content data is adjusted in advance based on the reference data, the difference data is the audio. This represents the amount of adjustment to the data. Since the adjustment is not required for the portion where the terminal characteristic data and the reference data match, adjustment by the frequency characteristic adjustment unit 25e is not required for this portion.

  On the other hand, a portion where there is a difference between the terminal characteristic data and the reference data, for example, in the reference data in FIG. For the mid-range, the frequency characteristic adjustment unit 25e performs adjustment according to the difference amount.

  On the other hand, the sound quality adjustment unit 25 receives the audio data from the content search unit 22 (step B7), and when the terminal characteristic data is acquired by the terminal characteristic data acquisition unit 25a, the frequency conversion unit 25d Then, frequency analysis (frequency conversion) is executed to determine the frequency characteristics of the voice data (step B8).

  The frequency characteristic adjustment unit 25e adjusts the frequency characteristics obtained by the frequency conversion unit 25d so that the audio data is compressed before compression based on the compression supplement data prepared in advance (step B9).

  Furthermore, the frequency characteristic adjustment unit 25e adjusts the frequency characteristic of the audio data adjusted by the compression complement data based on the difference data generated by the difference data generation unit 25b (step B10). For example, in the case of differential data as shown in FIG. 7 (c), the reference data increases the level for the high and low sound ranges, and the terminal characteristic data increases the level for the mid sound range. Lower.

  Next, the voice conversion unit 25f converts the frequency characteristic adjusted by the frequency characteristic adjustment unit 25e into voice data (step B11), and the voice adjusted according to the acoustic characteristic (terminal characteristic data) of the mobile phone 12 Data is output to the converter 28 (step B12).

  Next, the conversion process in the conversion unit 28 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, the conversion unit 28 searches the terminal database 26 based on the terminal data input from the request reception unit 20 (step C1). Here, when the corresponding terminal data is not searched (step C2, No), the conversion unit 28 outputs an error indicating that the file format cannot be converted to the audio data (step C3).

  On the other hand, when the corresponding data is retrieved from the terminal database 26 (step C2), the conversion unit 28 acquires file format data corresponding to the terminal data retrieved from the terminal database 26 (step C4).

  The conversion unit 28 reads the conversion program 28a corresponding to the file format data acquired from the terminal database 26, that is, the conversion program 28a for converting the audio data into the corresponding file format (step C6), and adjusts the sound quality by this conversion program. The file format of the audio data thus converted is converted (step C6).

  For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the terminal database 26 stores “3gp”, “mp4”, “3g2”, and the like as file format data. The conversion program 28a includes programs corresponding to the file format data “3gp”, “mp4”, and “3g2”, and one of them is selected and executed according to the file format data.

  When converting the audio data into the file format indicated by the file format data, the converting unit 28 outputs the audio data file to the content transmitting unit 29 (step C7).

  The content transmission unit 29 transmits the audio data file input from the conversion unit 28 to the mobile phone 12 through the network.

  In this manner, the content server 10 according to the present embodiment optimizes (sound quality adjustment) and distributes the audio data according to the acoustic characteristics of the mobile phone 12 that is the content request source. Can be output. In addition, since the content server 10 adjusts the audio data stored in the content database 23, it is not necessary to produce the audio data itself depending on the mobile phone 12 (for each model of the mobile phone 12). The burden on the content production side can be reduced. Further, since the content server 10 converts the file format into a file format that can be processed by the mobile phone 12 to which the content is to be distributed, the content database 23 does not need to prepare the same content in a plurality of different file formats. Therefore, the burden on the content production side can be reduced, and the storage capacity required for the content database 23 can be reduced.

  In addition, since the adjusted audio data (audio file) is transmitted from the content server 10, extra data for improving the quality of audio to be reproduced and output from the mobile phone 12 is not added. However, the amount of communication hardly increases. Further, since the cellular phone 12 only needs to reproduce and output the audio data received from the content server 10 without performing any special processing, it is not necessary to add a special processing function, and the processing load is not increased.

  Furthermore, the content server 10 can be operated as a single server system. In this case, the content server 10 can be shared by a plurality of content creators.

  In the above description, the sound is adjusted based on the terminal characteristic data corresponding to the terminal data received from the mobile phone 12, but the sound quality adjustment is executed in response to the sound quality request from the mobile phone 12. Also good. For example, when content download is requested from the mobile phone 12, the content server 10 displays the sound quality when music is played back and output, for example, by displaying a plurality of menus prepared in advance on the screen of the mobile phone 12. Select by user operation. The content server 10 performs the sound quality adjustment on the sound data according to the sound quality selected on the mobile phone 12, and then transmits the adjusted sound data to the mobile phone 12, as described above.

  Further, in the above description, only the music data stored in the content database 23 is described. However, a content acquisition request is made in the same manner as described above for audio data added to video data or image data. You may make it provide the content containing an audio | voice, after adjusting sound quality according to the acoustic characteristic which the origin has.

  In the above description, an example in which sound quality is improved when sound is output from the speaker 12 a provided in the mobile phone 12 is described. For example, the sound is output from the headphone terminal 12 b provided in the mobile phone 12. The sound quality may be adjusted according to the characteristics of the audio data. In this case, the terminal database 26 stores the terminal characteristic data of the sound output from the headphone terminal 12b for each terminal, and the sound quality is adjusted based on the terminal characteristic data.

  The sound quality may be adjusted according to the characteristic data of the headphones 13 connected to the headphone terminal 12b. Since the mobile phone 12 can be used with any type of headphones 13 attached to the headphone terminal 12b, data indicating the type of the headphones 13 is transmitted from the mobile phone 12 as part of the request data. To do. The cellular phone 12 inputs the specification of the type of the headphones 13 to be used together with the content to be downloaded by user operation, and transmits it to the content server 10 as request data. Similarly to the terminal characteristic data, the terminal database 26 of the content server 10 stores the headphone characteristic data corresponding to the type of headphones, and adjusts the audio data according to the headphone characteristic data.

  Thereby, since the audio data adjusted according to the characteristic of the headphones 13 can be transmitted from the content server 10 to the mobile phone 12, for example, when the headphones 13 having the characteristic that the output level of low sound is low are used. Therefore, by adjusting the sound so that the bass is emphasized, it is possible to output a good sound from the headphones 13 without performing any special processing on the mobile phone 12 side.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments as they are, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of components disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

  The method described in the embodiment is a program (software means) that can be executed by a computer (computer), for example, a magnetic disk (flexible disk, hard disk, etc.), an optical disk (CD-ROM, DVD, MO, etc.). It can also be stored in a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory (ROM, RAM, flash memory, etc.), or transmitted and distributed by a communication medium. The program stored on the medium side includes a setting program that configures in the computer software means (including not only the execution program but also a table and data structure) to be executed by the computer. A computer that implements this apparatus reads a program recorded on a recording medium, constructs software means by a setting program as the case may be, and executes the above-described processing by controlling the operation by this software means. The recording medium referred to in this specification is not limited to the distribution, but includes a storage medium such as a magnetic disk or a semiconductor memory provided in a computer or a device connected via a network.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the system in this embodiment. The block diagram which shows the detailed structure of the sound quality adjustment part 25 in this embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the data structure contained in the content database. The figure which shows an example of the data structure contained in the terminal database. The flowchart for demonstrating a content search process. The flowchart for demonstrating a sound quality adjustment process. The figure for demonstrating the production | generation of the difference data by the difference data production | generation part 25b. The flowchart for demonstrating a conversion process.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Content server, 12 ... Mobile telephone, 12a ... Speaker, 12b ... Headphone terminal, 13 ... Headphone, 20 ... Request receiving part, 22 ... Content search part, 23 ... Content database, 25 ... Sound quality adjustment part, 25a ... Terminal characteristic Data acquisition unit, 25b ... difference data generation unit, 25c ... reference data storage unit, 25d ... frequency conversion unit, 25e ... frequency characteristic adjustment unit, 25f ... voice conversion unit, 26 ... terminal database, 28 ... conversion unit, 28a ... conversion Program, 29... Content transmission unit.

Claims (5)

Content storage means for storing a plurality of content data;
For each of the plurality of terminal devices, characteristic data storage means for storing characteristic data indicating acoustic characteristics,
Receiving means for receiving a content acquisition request from the terminal device;
Content searching means for searching for content data from the content storage means in response to an acquisition request received by the receiving means;
Sound quality adjusting means for performing sound quality adjustment on the content data searched by the content searching means based on characteristic data stored in the characteristic data storage means and corresponding to the terminal device of the content acquisition request source; ,
A content providing apparatus comprising: content transmitting means for transmitting content data whose sound quality has been adjusted by the sound quality adjusting means to a terminal device that is a content acquisition request source. The sound quality adjusting means is
Frequency conversion means for detecting frequency characteristics of audio data included in the content data;
Frequency characteristic adjusting means for adjusting the frequency characteristic detected by the frequency converting means based on the characteristic data;
The content providing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an audio conversion unit that generates audio data corresponding to the frequency characteristic adjusted by the frequency characteristic adjusting unit. The sound quality adjusting means is
Reference data storage means for storing reference data used in common for a plurality of the characteristic data;
Further comprising difference data generating means for generating difference data indicating a difference between the reference data stored in the reference data storage means and characteristic data corresponding to the terminal device that is the content acquisition request source,
The content providing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the frequency characteristic adjusting unit adjusts the frequency characteristic according to the difference data generated by the difference data generating unit. File format data storage means for storing file format data indicating the file format of the content data for each of the plurality of terminal devices;
File format data acquisition means for acquiring file format data corresponding to the terminal device of the content acquisition request source;
2. The conversion device according to claim 1, further comprising: conversion means for converting the content data adjusted by the sound quality adjustment means into a file format corresponding to the file format data acquired by the file format data acquisition means. Content providing device. Further comprising a sound quality request receiving means for receiving a sound quality request from the content acquisition requesting terminal device;
2. The content providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sound quality adjusting unit performs sound quality adjustment based on the sound quality request received by the sound quality request receiving unit and the characteristic data.

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