JP2008072644A - Program server device and program material managing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program server device capable of easily and efficiently performing processing from editing to broadcasting of a composite material in a short time, greatly lightening the burden on an operator, and reducing the storage capacity for storing composite materials even when kinds of the composite materials to be broadcast increase. <P>SOLUTION: At a request to register a composite material, a video server records only a composite material ID specifying a plurality of program materials to be combined in a memory 142. When a reproduction command including the composite material ID is input from a master APC through a LAN interface 144, the plurality of corresponding program materials in the memory 142 are read out by using the composite material ID and the plurality of program materials are combined to generate the composite material, which is reproduced and output. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a program server apparatus and a program material management method for managing, on a memory, materials (contents) such as video / audio used in a broadcast program in association with material IDs (material identification information).

  As is well known, for example, in a program transmission system for transmitting TV broadcast or radio broadcast program material, a video server that records the program material and reproduces the program material at an arbitrary timing is used.

  By the way, in such a system, the program material to be broadcast by the TV broadcast wave is edited by a video editing device such as a VTR (Video Tape Recorder), and the edited program material is transferred to a video server and recorded. ing. Further, when a program material having the same contents as a program material broadcasted by a TV broadcast wave is broadcast by a radio broadcast wave, the program material is edited by an audio editing device, and the edited program material is transferred to a video server. The program material for TV broadcast waves is recorded in a separate storage area.

  However, in the above system, most of the work up to the editing and broadcasting of the program material and the composite material composed of a combination of a plurality of program materials is performed manually, so it takes a lot of time and effort to edit the program, and human error. Is also likely to occur. In addition, when the types of program materials and composite materials increase, a storage area corresponding to the types is required, resulting in an increase in the size of the apparatus.

Conventionally, there is a technique in which a plurality of program material data composing a broadcast program is stored in a memory in association with management information, and a plurality of corresponding program material data is sequentially read from the memory at the time of broadcasting. It is considered (for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2000-278233 A

  However, in the above technique, a plurality of program material data edited for each VTR and composite material data combined in each VTR are stored in a memory in association with management information. If the number of VTRs that edit composite material data increases, the memory capacity will be pressed correspondingly, leading to an increase in the size of the apparatus.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to enable easy and efficient processing from editing of composite materials to broadcasting in a short time, greatly reducing the burden on the operator, and the types of composite materials to be broadcast. Provided is a program server device and a program material management method capable of reducing the storage capacity for storing these composite materials even if the number of programs increases.

  In order to achieve the above object, a program server device according to the present invention is a program server device that manages a plurality of program material signals recorded on a recording medium in association with each first material ID. Registration means for recording, on a recording medium, a second material ID for specifying a plurality of program material signals to be combined when a request for registration of a composite material signal arbitrarily combining at least two of the plurality of program material signals occurs; When a playback instruction signal including the second material ID is input, a plurality of program material signals specified by the second material ID are read from the recording medium, and a composite material signal is obtained by combining the plurality of program material signals. And a reproduction control means for generating and reproducing and outputting.

  According to this configuration, when a registration request for a composite material signal in which at least two of a plurality of program material signals in a recording medium are arbitrarily combined is generated, the second material that identifies the plurality of program material signals to be combined Since only the ID is recorded on the recording medium, the storage capacity of the recording medium accompanying the addition of the composite material signal type can be reduced. In addition, when a reproduction instruction signal including the second material ID is input from the automatic program transmission device, a plurality of corresponding program material signals in the recording medium are read using the second material ID, Since the composite material signal is generated by combining the program material signals and reproduced and output, the processing from editing of the composite material signal to broadcasting can be performed easily and efficiently in a short time. Can be significantly reduced, and any time the program material signal is recorded on the recording medium, any program material signal in the recording medium can be combined to create a continuous composite material signal. Furthermore, the automatic program transmission apparatus does not need to be aware of the composite material, and does not become complicated.

  As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform processing from editing of composite materials to broadcasting easily and efficiently in a short time, greatly reducing the burden on the operator, and should be broadcast. It is possible to provide a program server device and a program material management method capable of reducing the storage capacity for storing these composite materials even when the types of composite materials increase.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a program material editing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 11 denotes a matrix switcher. Here, for simplicity of explanation, the number of input channels (systems) of the matrix switcher 11 is assumed to be two and the number of output channels is assumed to be one.

  In this embodiment, a VTR 12 is connected to the first input channel of the matrix switcher 11, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) recorder 13 is connected to the second input channel, and a video server 14 is connected to the output channel.

  A monitor / speaker 15 is connected to the output terminal of the video server 14. The matrix switcher 11, VTR 12, DVD recorder 13 and video server 14 are connected to a terminal device 17 via a control LAN (Local Area Network) 16.

  The terminal device 17 causes the VTR 12 and the DVD recorder 13 to send arbitrary video material and arbitrary audio material according to a control command by a user-designated input operation, and to the matrix switcher 11 between arbitrary input / output channels according to the control command. Connect. Then, recording start control is performed on the video server 14. The control command includes timing information indicating when it is executed.

  A master APC (automatic program transmission control device) 18 is connected to the video server 14 via a control LAN 19.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the video server 14.

  In the video server 14, a memory 142, an I / O (input / output) interface 143, a LAN interface 144, and a CPU 145 are connected to the data bus 141. Here, in the memory 142, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of program material signals (material A and material B) input in advance via the I / O interface 143 are associated with the material ID and the composite material ID, respectively. Stored.

  A control command from the terminal device 17 and a reproduction command from the master APC 18 are input to the LAN interface 144. This reproduction command includes a broadcast event time and a material ID to be transmitted.

  Based on the “composite material registration” control command input to the LAN interface 144, the CPU 145 manages a plurality of corresponding program materials on the memory 142 in association with the composite material ID. Also, based on the playback command input to the LAN interface 144, a plurality of program materials corresponding to the corresponding composite material ID are fetched from the memory 142, and the I / O interface 143 is combined by combining these plurality of program materials with the composite material. To send out.

Next, the processing operation in the above configuration will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control processing procedure of the terminal device 17.
When recording the program material on the video server 14, the operator activates the terminal device 17. At this time, it is assumed that the matrix switcher 11, the VTR 12, the DVD recorder 13, and the video server 14 are in a power-on state.

  Then, the terminal device 17 displays a list of video / audio materials recorded on the VTR 12 and the DVD recorder 13 on the display 171. In this state, when the operator selects and designates the video material / audio material desired to be recorded by the keyboard / mouse 172, the terminal device 17 stores the selected and designated material A and material B in the VTR 12 and the DVD recorder 13. A playback start control command is sent out, a control command for connecting the VTR 12 and DVD recorder 13 to the video server 14 is sent to the matrix switcher 11, and a recording start control command is sent to the video server 14.

  As a result, two types of materials A and B are recorded in the memory 142 of the video server 14 and managed by different material IDs.

  Next, the terminal device 17 displays a list of program materials recorded in the memory 142 of the video server 14 on the display 171 (step ST4a). In this state, when the operator selects and designates the program material desired to be registered with the keyboard / mouse 172, that is, when the “registration button” is pressed, the terminal device 17 proceeds from step ST4b to step ST4c, where the video server 14 In response, a “composite material registration” control command is transmitted.

  The video server 14 associates a plurality of original materials with one composite material, and assigns one composite material ID to the composite material.

  The video server 14 manages the composite material as an original collection of a plurality of materials (multiple material ID: C), that is, the materials A and B, and at the time of transmission control from the master APC 18, a single material ID is assigned as one composite material. It is managed as a program it has, that is, material C. ID information is communicated to the master APC 18 in advance by another route.

  During system operation, the master APC 18 sends a playback command including the broadcast event time and composite material ID to the video server 14. In the video server 14, the reproduction command sent from the master APC 18 is notified to the CPU 145 through the LAN interface 144. The CPU 145 reads a plurality of corresponding program materials stored in the memory 142 from the content of the reproduction command, and transfers the program materials read according to the broadcast event time to the I / O interface 143 as a program to be broadcast. This will send out the composite material.

  In actual operation, for example, A: Opening of an anime program, B: Main part of the program, if A is recorded on the video server 14 once, then A is reused every time and only B is recorded / replaced. By registering the material, efficient program recording and transmission can be performed.

  As described above, in the above embodiment, when a composite material registration request is generated in the video server 14, only the composite material ID for specifying a plurality of program materials to be combined is recorded in the memory 142, and the composite material is recorded from the master APC 18. When a reproduction command including an ID is input via the LAN interface 144, a plurality of corresponding program materials are read out from the memory 142 using the composite material ID, and a composite material is generated by combining the plurality of program materials. And play it out.

  Therefore, it is possible to reduce the storage capacity of the memory 142 due to the addition of the type of composite material, and further, the processing from editing of composite material to broadcasting can be performed easily and efficiently in a short time, greatly reducing the burden on the operator. In addition, any program material in the memory 142 can be combined at any time after recording the program material in the memory 142 to create a continuous composite material. Furthermore, the master APC 18 side does not need to be aware of the composite material, and does not become complicated.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which two program materials A and B are combined has been described.

  In addition, the configuration of the program material editing system, the configuration of the video server, the contents stored in the memory, the sending procedure of the composite material, and the like can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a program material editing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the video server shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the memory content of the memory shown in FIG. The flowchart which shows the control procedure of the terminal device shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Matrix switcher, 12 ... VTR, 13 ... DVD recorder, 14 ... Video server, 15 ... Monitor / speaker, 16, 19 ... Control LAN, 17 ... Terminal device, 18 ... Master APC, 141 ... Data bus, 142 ... Memory 143 ... I / O interface, 144 ... LAN interface, 145 ... CPU, 171 ... display, 172 ... keyboard / mouse.

Claims (2)

In a program server device that manages a plurality of program material signals recorded on a recording medium in association with each first material ID,
When a registration request for a composite material signal that arbitrarily combines at least two of the plurality of program material signals in the recording medium is generated, a second material ID that identifies the plurality of program material signals to be combined is assigned to the recording medium Registration means to record in,
When a reproduction instruction signal including the second material ID is input, a plurality of program material signals specified by the second material ID are read from the recording medium and combined with the plurality of program material signals. A program server apparatus comprising reproduction control means for generating and reproducing and outputting a material signal. In a program material management method for managing a plurality of program material signals recorded on a recording medium in association with respective first material IDs,
When a registration request for a composite material signal that arbitrarily combines at least two of the plurality of program material signals in the recording medium is generated, a second material ID that identifies the plurality of program material signals to be combined is assigned to the recording medium Recorded in
When a reproduction instruction signal including the second material ID is input, a plurality of program material signals specified by the second material ID are read from the recording medium and combined with the plurality of program material signals. A program material management method characterized in that a material signal is generated and reproduced and output.

Images