JP2009099181A - Content management device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily write a recommended content of a certain user into a device of other user in a content management device used by a plurality of users. <P>SOLUTION: A first recording medium 116 records a predetermined content. A reception part 100 receives whether to recommend the content. A control unit 104 controls the content recorded in the first recording medium 116 so as to write it in a detachable second recording medium. In this case, if the content is recommended, the control unit 104 performs control so as to write the content in the second recording medium when the second recording medium is loaded. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a content management apparatus that records and manages content.

  Digitalization of music and video has progressed, and terrestrial digital broadcasting has started in December 2003 in some areas in Japan. Copy once is adopted in terrestrial digital broadcasting and BS digital broadcasting. Copy-once is one of the copyright protection methods for digital contents, and is a method that permits copying only once.

  With the start of digital terrestrial broadcasting, recording and reproducing devices that can receive digitally broadcasted programs, record them on a recording medium such as a DVD, a Blu-ray disc, and a hard disk and reproduce them have become widespread. At the same time, portable devices such as portable music players, portable game devices, mobile phones, and smartphones are becoming widespread. Under such circumstances, a style has been established in which a program recorded on a recording / playback apparatus at home is moved or copied to a portable device and the program is viewed outside. In addition, a style has been proposed in which a program recorded on a recording / reproducing device at home is viewed on a car navigation device in the car.

  In this way, when there are many opportunities to take recorded programs outside and watch them, copy once is not realistic, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will copy the recorded programs up to nine times for terrestrial digital broadcasting. We are considering in the direction of permission (as of October 2007).

Patent Document 1 discloses a video signal recording method. In this recording method, a plurality of reproduction cells are provided in which the erasure prohibition flag for prohibiting erasure of a predetermined portion in the divided program video signal and the password for canceling the erasure prohibition flag are described in the same cell. Then, a reproduction list in which a plurality of reproduction cells are listed is created, and the created reproduction list and the divided program video signals sent in time series are recorded on a recording medium.
JP 2006-179174 A

  If one recording / reproducing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a content management apparatus) is installed in the home, each family member can copy the contents from the content management apparatus to his / her portable device. The present inventor has found a technique that allows a user's recommended content to be easily written in a device owned by another user in a content management apparatus used by a plurality of users.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object thereof is content management capable of easily writing recommended content of a certain user into a device possessed by another user in a content management apparatus used by a plurality of users. To provide an apparatus.

  A content management apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes a first recording medium that records predetermined content, a reception unit that accepts whether or not the content is recommended, and a content that is recorded on the first recording medium. And a control unit that controls to write to the second recording medium. When the content is recommended, the control unit controls to write the content to the second recording medium when the second recording medium is loaded.

  It should be noted that any combination of the above-described constituent elements and a conversion of the expression of the present invention between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, and the like are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, in the content management apparatus which a some user uses, the recommendation content of a certain user can be easily written in the apparatus which another user possesses.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a content management apparatus 10 according to the embodiment.
The content management apparatus 10 includes a receiving unit 100, a control unit 104, an MPEG-TS decoder 106, a D / A conversion unit 108, a display device 110, a second recording medium mounting unit 112, a first recording medium 116, a tuner 120, a transmission path. A decoding unit 122 and a TS separation / selection unit 124 are provided.

  These configurations can be realized in terms of hardware by a CPU, memory, or other LSI of any computer, and in terms of software, they are realized by programs loaded into the memory. It depicts the functional blocks that are realized. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will understand that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by hardware only, software only, or a combination thereof.

  The antenna 200 receives a digitally modulated broadcast signal. The content management apparatus 10 receives a digital broadcast from the antenna 200 and records the received digital broadcast content on a recording medium. When reproduction is instructed by the user, the content recorded on the recording medium is reproduced.

  The tuner 120 extracts the signal of the channel selected by the user from the broadcast signal received by the antenna 200 in accordance with the instruction from the control unit 104. The transmission path decoding unit 122 decodes the signal extracted by the tuner 120 into a video / audio data format encoded by MPEG2, and outputs the decoded signal to the TS separation / selection unit 124. The TS separation / selection unit 124 stores the video / audio data in the first recording medium 116.

  The accepting unit 100 accepts whether or not content is recommended. The receiving unit 100 includes a remote control light receiving unit 101 and a display panel 102. The remote control light receiving unit 101 receives light emitted from a remote controller (not shown) for the user to input an instruction to the content management apparatus 10 and acquires an instruction from the user. The display panel 102 displays various control information and the like. The user may recommend the content at the time of recording reservation for the content, may be performed prior to the recording reservation, or may be performed after the recording reservation. For example, when a user who has viewed the content is impressed, an instruction for recommending the content can be input from the remote controller in order to recommend it to the family.

  The first recording medium 116 records predetermined content. The first recording medium 116 is a recording medium built in the content management apparatus 10 main body. For example, a hard disk can be employed. In the following, it is assumed that content recorded according to a recording reservation is recorded.

  The control unit 104 controls the content recorded on the first recording medium 116 to be written on the removable second portable recording medium 300. The second recording medium 300 can employ a DVD, a Blu-ray disc, a removable hard disk, or the like. Here, the form of the second recording medium 300 may be the recording medium itself, a removable drive, or a built-in device such as a portable music player.

  When the content is recommended by the receiving unit 100, the control unit 104 sets a recommendation flag for the content. When the content is recommended, that is, when the recommendation flag is set, the control unit 104 writes the recommended content to the second recording medium 300 when the second recording medium 300 is loaded. Control as follows. That is, even if there is no instruction from the user, the control unit 104 controls to automatically write the content to the second recording medium 300 when receiving the mounting detection signal from the second recording medium mounting unit 112.

  Here, writing is a concept including duplication and movement. The duplication is a form in which the content recorded on the first recording medium 116 is maintained as it is after the content recorded on the first recording medium 116 is written on the second recording medium 300. The movement is a form in which the content recorded on the first recording medium 116 is erased or cannot be reproduced after the content recorded on the first recording medium 116 is written on the second recording medium 300.

  Information that restricts the number of copies to a predetermined number may be attached to the content. For example, the number of times of duplication limiting information for limiting the number of times of duplication to nine is scheduled to be added to content transmitted by terrestrial digital broadcasting (as of October 2007).

  When the content to which the copy number limit information is added is recorded on the first recording medium 116, the control unit 104 manages the copy number of the content. Even when the mounting detection signal is received from the second recording medium mounting unit 112, if the limit number specified by the copy number limit information is exceeded, writing of the content to the second recording medium is prohibited.

  The second recording medium 300 may be written with information indicating whether or not recommended content is accepted from the content management apparatus 10. For example, an acceptability flag may be written. The information indicating whether or not to accept can be set from the accepting unit 100 by the owner of the second recording medium 300 in a state where the second recording medium 300 is mounted on the second recording medium mounting unit 112. . It is also possible to set from the user interface of the mobile device with the second recording medium 300 mounted on the mobile device.

  The control unit 104 refers to information that is set in advance on the second recording medium 300 and indicates whether to accept the recommended content. If the acceptance is rejected, the control unit 104 detects the mounting from the second recording medium mounting unit 112. Even if the signal is received, the writing of the content to the second recording medium 300 is stopped.

  On the second recording medium 300, genre information that permits acceptance of recommended content from the content management apparatus 10 may be written. This genre information can also be written in the same manner as the information indicating whether or not to accept the genre information.

  The control unit 104 refers to genre information that is set in advance on the second recording medium and permits acceptance, and controls to write the content to the second recording medium 300 when it matches the genre of the recommended content. When they do not match, the writing of the content to the second recording medium 300 is stopped.

  The second recording medium mounting unit 112 is a slot for mounting the second recording medium 300. When the second recording medium 300 is loaded, a loading detection signal is transmitted to the control unit 104.

  The MPEG-TS decoder 106 decodes the MPEG-transport stream (TS) signal separated by the TS separation / selection unit 124. The D / A conversion unit 108 converts the digital signal decoded by the MPEG-TS decoder 106 into an analog signal. The display device 110 displays the analog video data converted by the D / A conversion unit 108.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a directory / file structure of the first recording medium 116.
A program file management directory 400 is constructed on the first recording medium 116. The program file management directory 400 includes a program management file 410 and N (N is a natural number) video / audio data files 411 to 41N. The video / audio data file basically corresponds to one program.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of the program file management directory 400.
The program management file 410 includes the total number of recorded programs NOP and recorded program information for N programs. Each recorded program information includes a video / audio data file name DFN, a file recommendation flag information RN, a file copy allowable number CPCN, and a file genre information GN. The video / audio data file name DFN and genre information GN can be obtained from EPG (Electric Program Guide). The recommended flag information RN is set by the recommending user. The number of times CPCN can be copied is added to the video / audio data file in advance. The video / audio data file can be obtained separately after reception.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a directory / file structure of the second recording medium 300.
A program file management directory 400 is also constructed on the second recording medium 300. The program file management directory 400 includes a user setting file 500, a program management file 410, and N (N is a natural number) video / audio data files 411 to 41N. The user setting file 500 is added to the program file management directory 400 of the first recording medium 116.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of the user setting file 500.
The user setting file 500 includes a recommended content availability flag RAF and acceptance genre information GI. The recommended content availability flag RAF and the acceptance genre information GI are set by the user who receives the recommendation.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the content management apparatus 10 according to the embodiment. As a premise, it is assumed that the content with the recommended flag set is recorded on the first recording medium 116.
First, when receiving a mounting detection signal from the second recording medium mounting unit 112 (Y of S10), the control unit 104 reads the user setting file 500 from the second recording medium 300 mounted on the second recording medium mounting unit 112. (S11). The control unit 104 refers to the read user setting file 500 and determines whether or not the recommended content availability flag RAF is set to be acceptable (S12). If it is set as non-set (N in S12), the process is terminated. When it is set to be possible (Y in S12), the content writing process is activated (S20).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the content writing process.
The control unit 104 acquires the total number of recorded programs from the program management file 410, and sets the number of programs to a variable N (S21). The control unit 104 sets an initial value of the variable i to 1 (S22).

  The control unit 104 determines whether or not the recommended flag information Ri of the i-th video / audio data file is set (S23). Here, when the recommendation flag Ri is “1”, the file is recommended, and when it is “0”, the file is not recommended. When the recommendation flag information Ri is “0” (N in S23), the process proceeds to step S28 described later. When the recommended flag information Ri is “1” (Y in S23), the control unit 104 determines whether or not the i-th video / audio data file duplication count CPCi is 1 or more (S24).

  When the number of times CPCi that can be copied is less than 1 (N in S24), the process proceeds to step S28 described later. When the number of times CPCi that can be copied is 1 or more (Y in S24), the control unit 104 sets the genre information Gi of the i-th video / audio data file to the accepted genre information GI in the user setting file 500 of the second recording medium 300. It is determined whether it is included (S25).

  If not included (N in S25), the process proceeds to step S28 described later. If included (Y in S25), the control unit 104 controls the video / audio data file i recorded in the first recording medium 116 to be written in the second recording medium 300 (S26). Thereafter, the copyable number CPCi of the i-th video / audio data file is decremented (S27), and the variable i is incremented (S28).

  The control unit 104 compares the variable i with the variable N. When the variable i is equal to or smaller than the variable N (N in S29), the control unit 104 returns to step S23 and repeats the above-described processing. When the variable i exceeds the variable N (Y in S29), the content writing process is terminated. As a result, all of the recommended content recorded on the first recording medium 116 can be automatically written on the second recording medium 300.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, in a content management apparatus used by a plurality of users, a user's recommended content can be easily written in a device owned by another user. A user who should write content on his / her own recording medium can record content recommended by other users on the recording medium simply by mounting the recording medium on the content management apparatus. That is, it is possible to omit an operation for instructing duplication or movement, which is conventionally required. In addition, it is possible to set the recommended content availability flag RAF and the acceptance genre information GI, and it is possible to respect the user's intention to write on the recording medium possessed by the user.

  The present invention has been described based on the embodiments. The embodiments are exemplifications, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to combinations of the respective constituent elements and processing processes, and such modifications are within the scope of the present invention. .

  In the above embodiment, a television program that is digitally broadcast as content is assumed. However, the content may be a still image, a moving image, audio, or any combination thereof, and includes text data. Also good.

  In addition to or instead of the genre information GI, the accepted user information may be included in the user setting file 500. In this case, the program management file 410 also includes user information for which a recommended flag is set. The control unit 104 refers to user information that is set in advance in the second recording medium 300 and permits acceptance, and controls to write the content to the second recording medium 300 when the content matches the recommended user information. When they do not match, the writing of the content to the second recording medium 300 is stopped. Thereby, it is possible to further respect the user's intention to write to the recording medium owned by the user.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the content management apparatus which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure which shows the directory / file structure of a 1st recording medium. It is a figure which shows the structure of a program file management directory. It is a figure which shows the directory / file structure of a 2nd recording medium. It is a figure showing the structure of a user setting file. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the content management apparatus which concerns on embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating a content writing process.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Content management apparatus, 100 reception part, 101 Remote control light-receiving part, 102 Display panel, 104 Control part, 106 MPEG-TS decoder, 108 D / A conversion part, 110 Display apparatus, 112 2nd recording medium mounting part, 116 1st Recording medium, 120 tuner, 122 transmission path decoding unit, 124 TS separation / selection unit, 200 antenna, 300 second recording medium.

Claims (4)

A first recording medium for recording predetermined content;
A reception unit for accepting whether or not to recommend the content;
A control unit for controlling the content recorded on the first recording medium to be written to the removable second recording medium,
When the content is recommended, the control unit controls to write the content to the second recording medium when the second recording medium is loaded. . Information that limits the number of times of copying to a predetermined number of times is attached to the content,
The content management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit manages the number of times the content is copied, and prohibits writing of the content to the second recording medium that exceeds the predetermined number of times.   The control unit refers to information that is set in advance on the second recording medium and indicates whether to accept the recommended content. If the acceptance is rejected, the content is stored in the second recording medium. 3. The content management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein writing is stopped.   The control unit refers to genre information that is set in advance on the second recording medium and permits acceptance, and controls to write the content to the second recording medium when it matches the genre of the content. 3. The content management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein writing of the content to the second recording medium is stopped.

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