JP2008083297A - Music player and server device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display relevant contents according to the position of reproducing audio data. <P>SOLUTION: When the contents to be reproduced are chosen from music data stored in a storage part 14, information on the name of the music, name of the artist, and playing time is transmitted to a server device 2, and a categorized contents list in which a list of contents prepared related to the music is described is acquired. When the contents to be displayed are chosen on the categorized contents list displayed in a display part 13, the first page of the content chosen is downloaded from the link and displayed in the display part 13. A display time when a page to be displayed next to the content is displayed is described in the page. When the position of reproducing the audio data becomes the display time, a control part 11 transmits a request for acquisition of the page to the server device 2 and displays the acquired page in the display part 13. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a music player that reproduces audio data and a server device that provides content in response to a request from the music player.

It is known to display information or video related to the music being reproduced on the display unit of a music player that reproduces audio data.
For example, Patent Document 1 uses a personal computer to acquire additional information (lyric data, etc.) related to the music content from a server on the network using a singer name or song name as a key, and transfers the information to an audio player for display. Proposed.
JP 2004-117618 A

According to the proposed invention, information related to the music can be displayed while the music is being reproduced. However, in the above invention, a personal computer is required for downloading lyrics data and the like from the server and transferring the downloaded lyrics data and the like to the audio player.
Further, in the above invention, when the information displayed during the reproduction of the music is lyrics data, the lyrics are automatically switched and displayed in accordance with the reproduction of the music by adding time information corresponding to the music data to the lyrics data. It is also possible to do. However, since it is necessary to first receive all the lyrics data and store them in the audio player, a storage capacity for storing all the data in the audio player is required. In addition, since it is necessary to download all information such as lyrics data from the server in advance and transfer all of the information to the audio player, it takes time to start playing the music.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, during reproduction of audio data, contents such as lyrics and videos related to the audio data can be switched and displayed in accordance with the progress of reproduction of the audio data without being stored in advance. It aims to provide a possible music player and server device.

In order to achieve the above object, a music player according to the present invention includes a storage means for storing audio data, a playback means for playing back the audio data, and an elapsed time from the start of playback during playback of the audio data. In response, a content acquisition request is transmitted to the server device, and an acquisition unit for acquiring the content and a display unit for displaying the acquired content are provided.
The storage means stores a plurality of audio data. When audio data to be reproduced is selected from the plurality of audio data, an acquisition request for a content type list corresponding to the audio data is issued. Means for transmitting to the server device together with information related to the selected audio data and receiving the content type list from the server device; and means for displaying the received content type list for selection by a user; When a desired content is selected in the content type list, an acquisition request for a page displayed first of the selected content is transmitted to the server device, and the page displayed first from the server device Means for receiving the content type list. Describes a list of contents corresponding to the audio data and link information to a page displayed first of each content, and the page displayed first of each content follows the page. Information indicating the display time of the page to be displayed and information for designating the page are described, and the acquisition means sets the elapsed time from the start of reproduction of the audio data at the beginning of the content. When the display time described in the displayed page is reached, a page acquisition request corresponding to the display time is transmitted to the server device.
Further, the content is karaoke data, lyric data or musical score data related to the audio data.
Furthermore, the display means has a plurality of display areas, and the contents having contents related to the audio data can be displayed in the plurality of display areas.

Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, the server device of the present invention includes a storage unit that stores a plurality of contents, and a content acquisition request that is transmitted from the music player during playback of audio data. Means for reading the corresponding content from the storage means and transmitting it to the music player.
Furthermore, in response to a content type list acquisition request from the music player, information related to the audio data included in the content type list acquisition request is used as a key from the storage unit to the audio data. Means for acquiring a corresponding content type list and transmitting the content type list to the music player.

According to the music player and server device of the present invention, when audio data such as music is being reproduced, the progress of reproduction is performed without storing in advance information such as information and video related to the audio data. It is possible to switch and display with it.
In addition, the content can be described in standard HTML (HyperText Markup Language) or XML (Extensible Markup Language), so many people can easily create it, and many variations. It becomes a wide thing with This makes it possible to enjoy a variety of ways.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the first embodiment of the music player of the present invention. The music player of the present invention is not limited as long as it can reproduce audio data, and may be various types such as a portable music player, a device mounted on a minicomponent, or a PC application software. . The audio data is not limited to music data (music data), and may be any audio data such as language learning audio data or reading data. Here, a case where music data is reproduced will be described as an example.
As shown in FIG. 1, a music player 1 includes a control unit 11 such as a microcomputer for controlling the music player 1 as a whole, an operation unit 12 operated by a user, a display unit 13 for displaying various information, and song data. A song data storage unit 14 to be stored, an interface unit 15 for connecting to a network such as the Internet or a LAN, a decoder 16 for decoding song data, and a D / A converter for converting song data decoded by the decoder 16 into an analog signal (DAC) 17, an amplifier 18 that amplifies the output signal of the D / A converter 17, and a speaker 19 that emits the output of the amplifier 18. And it is connected to the server device 2 through the interface unit 15 and the network. The interface unit 15 is, for example, a wireless LAN communication unit or a mobile phone communication unit when the music player 1 is a portable type, and a network interface such as a LAN card when the music player 1 is a stationary type. Part.
The music player 1 has a function of a web browser that downloads and displays an HTML file, an image file, and the like from the server device 2. Then, as will be described later, when music data is being reproduced, as the reproduction progresses, pages of content related to the music data are sequentially downloaded from the server device 2 and are displayed on the display unit 13. Switch to display.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the server device 2 connected to the music player 1.
As shown in this figure, the server device 2 includes a control unit 21 that controls the entire server device 2, an interface unit 22 for connecting to a network such as the Internet or a LAN, and various contents related to audio data such as music. From the content database 23, the content data read control unit 24 for reading out desired data from the content database 23, the advertisement database 25 storing advertisement data displayed together with the content, and the advertisement database 25 An advertisement data read control unit 26 for reading advertisement data is provided.
When the server device 2 operates as a web server and receives a content acquisition request from the music player 1 via the interface unit 22, the control unit 21 controls the content data read control unit 24 or the advertisement data read control. The content or advertisement data requested from the content database 23 or the advertisement database 25 is read out and supplied to the music player 1 by controlling the unit 26.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations of the music player 1 and the server device 2 configured as described above.
When the music player 1 is activated, first, a list of songs stored in the song data storage unit 14 is displayed on the display unit 13 (S11).
When the user views the display screen and selects a song to be played (S12), the control unit 11 reads the song data of the selected song from the song data storage unit. The song data includes attached information (song information) such as the song name, artist name, performance time (performance required time), and music genre.
The control unit 11 attaches song information such as the song name, artist name, and performance time of the read song data, and the content type in which a list of contents related to the song is described for the server device 2 A request for obtaining a list (hereinafter referred to as “registration page”) is transmitted (S13).
This registration page acquisition request is made by accessing the CGI (Common Gateway Interface) for searching the content database 23 of the server apparatus 2 using the song title, artist name, and performance time as arguments. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is, for example, ./contents.cgi?songname=xxxxx&artist=yyyyyy&performancetime=mm:ss:rr. Here, songname = xxxxx is a song name, artist = yyyyyy is an artist name, and performancetime = mm: ss: rr is a performance time.

When receiving the registration page acquisition request (S31), the control unit 21 of the server device 2 supplies the music data included in the request to the content data read control unit 24, and the content data read control unit 24 Searches the content database 23 using the song information (song name, artist name, performance time) as a key, and reads the registration page data for the song (S32). Even if there are a plurality of music pieces having the same music title, the music can be specified by searching using the music title, artist name and performance time as keys.
Then, the registration page is transmitted to the music player 1 through the interface unit 22 (S33).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a registration page (content type list) transmitted from the server device 2.
As shown in this figure, the registration page is a page that displays a list of contents that can be displayed on the display unit 13 during playback of the selected music, and is described in HTML. In this example, 14 types of contents of karaoke 1, karaoke 2, guitar chord, sheet music, album 1, album 2, bulletin board, picture-story show, comics, video 1, video 2, short story (novel), essay 1, essay 2 You can choose from among them.
Each content is composed of a plurality of pages that are sequentially switched and displayed as the music plays. In each content name on the registration page, the URL (link) of the first page of each content is embedded.

When the registration page as described above is transmitted from the server device 2 (S14), the control unit 11 of the music player 1 displays the registration page on the display unit 13 by the web browser function (S15).
When the user selects content to be displayed on the displayed registration page (S16), an acquisition request is transmitted to the URL (first page of the content) linked to the content (S17). Also, the reproduction of the song is started (S18). That is, the song data read from the song data storage unit 14 is sequentially supplied to the decoder 16 by the control unit 11, and reproduction of the song data is started via the DAC 17, the amplifier 18, and the speaker 19. At this time, a timer for measuring the elapsed time from the start of the music reproduction is started.

  When receiving the request transmitted in step S17 (S34), the control unit 21 of the server device 2 transmits the requested page data to the music player 1 (S35). The requested page includes data to be displayed at the beginning of the content, and information on the time (display time) at which pages to be sequentially displayed as the music progresses is acquired. include. A method of describing the display time will be described later. Here, it is assumed that information on the display time of the next page is described in the HTML file of the page.

When the control unit 11 of the music player 1 receives the first page data transmitted from the server device 2 in step S35 (S19), the control unit 11 displays the page data received by the web browser function (S20). The information of the time (next display time) at which the next page included in is to be acquired is stored (S21).
Then, it is determined whether or not the user has performed a stop operation or the performance of the song has been completed (S22), and when the stop operation has been performed or when the performance has ended, the process is terminated. If there is no stop operation and the performance has not ended, whether or not the elapsed time (playback position) from the start of the music playback in step S18 has reached the next display time stored in step S21. (S23), when the next display time is reached, information on the current playback position is added, and a content acquisition request corresponding to the next display time is transmitted to the server device 2 (S24). Waiting for reception of the content (S19). The URL of the content acquisition request corresponding to the next display time is, for example, ./contents.cgi?songname=xxxxx&artist=yyyyyy&performancetime=mm:ss:rr&current=aa:bb:cc. Here, current = aa: bb: cc indicates the current playback position, that is, the elapsed time from the start of playback.
Upon receiving this content acquisition request (S36), the server device 2 uses the song name, artist name, performance time, and playback position included in the arguments of the request as keys to retrieve the content from the content database 23. The content corresponding to the reproduction position is searched and transmitted to the music player 1 (S37).
When the music player 1 receives the content corresponding to the reproduction position requested from the server device 2 (S19), the music player 1 displays the content (S20) and stores the next display time included in the data (S21). ).
Hereinafter, the above-described operation is repeated until there is a stop operation by the user or the performance is finished.

As a result, the contents can be downloaded from the server device 2 sequentially as time elapses after the reproduction of the music is started, and switched to the display unit 13 for display.
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a state in which content (page) that changes according to the elapsed time from the start of reproduction is displayed.
In the example shown in this figure, the displayed page is changed every 10 seconds after the performance is started. That is, page 1 (first page) is displayed immediately after the performance starts, page 2 after 10 seconds, page 3 after 20 seconds, page 4 after 30 seconds, and so on. Has been. This allows you to display karaoke, lyrics, sheet music, guitar chords, etc. in sequence as the song progresses, to perform a slideshow of album photos with the song being played as background music, You can display novels and essays.
Thus, in the present invention, each content can be described by an HTML document, so that many people can easily create the content.

Further, not only the contents stored in the content database 23 but also the advertisement data stored in the advertisement database 25 can be supplied from the server device 2 to the music player 1. Upon receiving the song information (song title, artist name, performance time, etc.), the advertisement data read control unit 26 of the server device 2 searches the advertisement database 25 using the song information as a key. Since the advertisement data in the advertisement database 25 is associated with the song information, the advertisement data read control unit 26 acquires the corresponding advertisement data. This advertisement data is sent to the music player 1 and displayed on the display unit 13 together with the content. Thus, the advertisement data suitable for the song selected by the user can be displayed.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state in which content (page) and advertisement data are displayed on the display unit 13 of the music player 1. As shown in this figure, when advertisement data is also sent from the server device 2 together with the content (page), the advertisement is also displayed in the content. The contents of this advertisement can be changed according to the display time as described above, and the display position of the advertisement data within the page can also be changed according to the display time. That is, the next display time data is described in the first page of the advertisement data, and the displayed advertisement can be sequentially changed according to the reproduction position in the same manner as described above.

  In the example described above, the next display time is described on each page. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the display time at which the display content is changed in the display of the content in the data of the first page is displayed. All the descriptions may be described, and all display times may be stored in the control unit 11 of the music player 1 when the first content page is received.

There are the following methods for describing the display time in the page data.
(1) The display time is included in the file name.
The song name and display time are included in the file name itself, and this is written in the page.
Example. song_title / 0_00.html,
song_title / 0_10.html,
song_title / 0_20.html,
song_title / 0_30.html
In this case, when the control unit 11 of the music player 1 receives the HTML file of this page, it stores all these file names, interprets the file names, and the playback position is 0 seconds, 10 seconds, Every 20 seconds and 30 seconds, a file acquisition request for each file name is transmitted.

(2) Describe the display time using an HTML comment symbol or meta tag.
For example, describe the display time using comment symbols, such as <!-Nextframetime = 0: 30->. If meta tags can be used, describe them using meta tags such as <meta name = "nextframe" content = "0:30">.
For example, if this tag is described in an HTML file with a playback position of 20 seconds, the control unit 11 of the music player 1 reads this information, and when the playback position reaches 30 seconds, a request for the next page is made. Do.

(3) The URL to be displayed next is described directly in the HTML file.
For example, the URL of the next page is directly described using a meta tag such as <meta name = "nextframe""content=" 0:30 "URL =" 0_30.html ">.
For example, if this tag is described in an HTML file with a playback position of 20 seconds, the control unit 11 of the music player 1 reads this, and when the playback position reaches 30 seconds, the file “0_30.html” is read. Request.
As described above, when the URL is directly described, it is not necessary to search the content database 23 and the advertisement database 25 in the server device 2, thereby reducing the load on the server device 2.

Next, a music player and server device according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the first embodiment described above, content corresponding to the playback position is displayed on one screen (web browser screen) of the display unit 13 of the music player 1.
For example, when creating karaoke content, it is very troublesome work unless the lyrics portion and the video portion are created separately. For example, if you try to switch only the screen, you must also change the lyrics. Also, when displaying lyrics or a score, it is difficult to switch the display to the next lyrics or score when displaying on one screen.
Therefore, such a difficulty can be prevented by displaying contents related to the screens of the two web browsers.
In the second embodiment of the music player and server device of the present invention, contents related to a song being played are displayed on a plurality of web browser screens.

Also in the second embodiment of the music player and server device of the present invention, the configurations of the music player 1 and server device 2 are the same as those in the first embodiment shown in FIGS. Therefore, the description is omitted. However, in this embodiment, the control unit 11 of the music player 1 can display a plurality of web browser screens on the display unit 13.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the display unit 13 of the music player 1 in the second embodiment of the music player of the present invention.
As shown in this figure, the display screen is provided with two web browser screens, a first screen 41 and a second screen 42, and the two screens 41 and 42 are independent of or related to the contents. The contents of the contents can be displayed.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, the content data is composed of a file (XML file) described in XML (Extensible Markup Language) and a plurality of HTML files.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an XML document used in this embodiment.
As shown in this figure, the display time (reproduction position) and the path to the HTML file to be displayed at the display time are described in the XML file for each screen of each web browser. In the example shown in this figure, a page with a path of http: //aaa/bbb/ccc/1.html is first displayed on the first screen 41, and after 10 seconds from the start of playback, http: // aaa The /bbb/ccc/2.html page is displayed. The second screen 42 first displays a page of http: //aaa/bbb/ddd/1.html, and when 10 seconds after the start of playback, http: // aaa / bbb / ddd / 2. The html page is displayed.
In this way, since the screens of a plurality of web browsers are used to specify the HTML file to be displayed on each screen, independent content can be displayed on each screen, and linked content can be displayed. It can also be made. For example, the background of karaoke and the lyrics can be displayed on separate screens, and switching can be performed smoothly when the lyrics and the score are sequentially displayed.
Moreover, since the contents of each screen can be described independently, the creation of the contents becomes easy. Furthermore, since it is possible to link two contents, it becomes possible to create more diverse contents.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the operations of the music player 1 and the server device 2 in the second embodiment of the present invention. Note that the same processing as in the first embodiment is performed until the processing for selecting the content to be displayed after receiving the registration page in the first embodiment (the processing up to S16 in FIG. 3). Since there is, explanation is omitted. However, in this embodiment, a corresponding XML file as shown in FIG. 8 is linked to each content described in the registration page.

In FIG. 9, when the user selects content to be displayed on the registration page (S50), the control unit 11 of the music player 1 sends an acquisition request for the XML file linked to the selected content to the server. It transmits to the apparatus 2 (S51).
When receiving the request from the music player 1 (S71), the control unit 21 of the server device 2 reads out the requested XML file from the content database 23 and transmits it to the music player 1 (S72).
When receiving the XML file from the server device 2 (S52), the control unit 11 of the music player 1 reads and stores the screen 1 and the first display time of the screen 2 described therein (S53). Also, the reproduction of the song selected by the user is started (S54). At this time, a timer for measuring the elapsed time (reproduction position) from the start of reproduction is started.

Then, it is determined whether or not the playback position has reached the display time (first display time) of the screen 1 stored in step S53 (S55). If it is not the display time of the screen 1, the process proceeds to the determination (S60) of whether or not the display time of the screen 2 has come.
On the other hand, when the display time of the screen 1 is reached, a content acquisition request indicated by a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) corresponding to the display time is transmitted to the server device 2 (S56).
When receiving the acquisition request (S73), the control unit 21 of the server device 2 reads the corresponding content from the content database 23 and transmits it to the music player 1 (S74).
When receiving the content from the server device 2 (S57), the control unit 11 of the music player 1 displays the page on the screen 1 (S58). Then, the next display time described in the XML file is read and stored (S59).

Next, the process proceeds to step S60, and it is determined whether or not the playback position is the display time of the screen 2. When it is not the display time of the screen 2, when the user performs a stop operation or when the performance is finished, the process is terminated, and when not, the processes after step S55 are repeated (S65).
When the display time of the screen 2 is reached, the server device 2 is requested for a file specified by the URI corresponding to the display time (S61).
As described above, when receiving the content request from the music player 1 (S73), the control unit 21 of the server device 2 reads the requested content from the content database 23 and transmits it to the music player 1 (S74). ).
When receiving the requested content from the server device 2 (S62), the control unit 11 of the music player 1 displays the page on the screen 2 (S63). Then, the next display time on the screen 2 is read from the XML file and is compared with the current reproduction position (S64). And it progresses to step S65, and when there is no stop operation and a performance is not complete | finished, the process mentioned above is repeated.
In this way, the content can be displayed independently on the screens (screens) of a plurality of (in this case, two) web browsers.

In this embodiment as well, as in the first embodiment described above, the advertisement data can be acquired from the advertisement database 25 and the advertisement data can be displayed along with the contents on each screen.
Further, the number of screens is not limited to two and may be three or more.
Furthermore, also in the first embodiment described above, the first page of each content may be described in an XML document as in the second embodiment, or in the second embodiment. The first page of content may be described by an HTML document as in the first embodiment.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of one Embodiment of the music player of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of one Embodiment of the server apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the music player and server apparatus in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a registration page. It is a figure for demonstrating a mode that a different page is displayed according to a reproduction | regeneration position. It is a figure for demonstrating a mode that an advertisement is displayed on a page. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen of the music player in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the XML document used in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the music player and server apparatus in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  1: Music player 2: Server device 11: Control unit 12: Operation unit 13: Display unit 14: Music data storage unit 15: Interface unit 16: Decoder 17: D / A converter 18 : Amplifier, 19: Speaker, 21: Control unit, 22: Interface unit, 23: Content database, 24: Content data read control unit, 25: Advertisement database, 26: Advertisement data read control unit, 41, 42: Web browser Screen

Claims (6)

Storage means for storing audio data;
Playback means for playing back the audio data;
An acquisition means for acquiring a content by transmitting a content acquisition request to the server device according to an elapsed time from the start of the reproduction during the reproduction of the audio data;
A music player comprising: display means for displaying the acquired content. The storage means stores a plurality of audio data,
When audio data to be reproduced is selected from the plurality of audio data, a request for acquiring a content type list corresponding to the audio data is transmitted to the server device together with information related to the selected audio data. And means for receiving the content type list from the server device;
Means for displaying the received content type list for selection by a user;
When a desired content is selected in the content type list, an acquisition request for a page displayed first of the selected content is transmitted to the server device, and the first page displayed from the server device is transmitted. Means for receiving,
The content type list describes a list of content corresponding to the audio data and link information to a page displayed at the beginning of each content,
The page displayed at the beginning of each of the contents is information describing the display time of a page to be displayed subsequent to the page and information specifying the page,
When the elapsed time from the start of reproduction of the audio data reaches the display time described in the page displayed first of the content, the acquisition unit issues a request to acquire a page corresponding to the display time. The music player according to claim 1, wherein the music player is transmitted to the server device.   The music player according to claim 1, wherein the content is karaoke data, lyrics data, or score data related to the audio data. The display means has a plurality of display areas,
The music player according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein contents having contents related to the audio data can be displayed in the plurality of display areas. Storage means for storing a plurality of contents;
Means for reading out the corresponding content from the storage means and transmitting it to the music player in response to a content acquisition request transmitted during reproduction of the audio data from the music player according to any one of claims 1 to 4; A server device comprising:   In response to a content type list acquisition request from the music player according to any one of claims 2 to 4, the information related to the audio data included in the content type list acquisition request is used as a key. 6. The server apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising means for acquiring a content type list corresponding to the audio data from the storage means and transmitting the content type list to the music player.

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