JP2009169460A - Automated content copying system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automate a data copy, and to reproduce a resume. <P>SOLUTION: When mobile equipment is connected to a cradle so as to perform charging or the like, content recording equipment and the mobile equipment automatically communicate with each other, and authenticate each other. Here, though the communication is started with the connection to the cradle as an opportunity, the communication can be started on another opportunity such as designation time or a charging start as an opportunity of starting the communication. Next, mobile equipment state information is transmitted from the mobile equipment to the content equipment in time of the mutual authentication and is stored by the content equipment, and processing is ended. Thus, the content recording equipment and the mobile equipment automatically communicate on some opportunity, and a content can be automatically copied to the mobile equipment. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a system including a content recording device and a mobile device (receiving terminal) that can carry the content, and more particularly, to an automatic content copying system that automatically acquires content.

  In recent years, content recording devices such as hard disk recorders (HDD recorders) that can record a large amount of large-capacity content such as television programs have become widespread. On the other hand, mobile devices that can play videos and music on the go, such as mobile phones and mobile media players, are becoming popular. Patent Document 1 describes a system that enables a user who accesses a site using a PC to transfer the content of the site to his portable information terminal with a simple operation.

  There is also a content reproduction technique in which a user manually converts a content recorded on a content recording device into a file format that can be reproduced on a mobile device, and reproduces the content on the mobile device.

JP 2003-339000 A

  According to the content playback technique, content recorded by an HDD recorder or the like can be played back on a mobile device, but the user has to perform a special operation for transferring content to the mobile device, which is troublesome. There is a problem that it takes.

  In addition, when the user wants to play the content on the mobile device on the go, only the content that the user has manually performed in advance on the mobile device can be played back.

  Also, if the user plays the content halfway on the mobile device and then plays the same content on the content recording device, the content is played from the beginning because the resume information is not shared between both devices. There is an inconvenience. Here, the resume information is information necessary for saving the state immediately before stopping the reproduction of the content and performing the content reproduction from the state immediately before stopping the reproduction of the content when the reproduction of the content is resumed next time. And the content ID, presence / absence of reproduction of the content, and information of the reproduced portion of the content if being reproduced.

  In the opposite case, that is, when the user plays the content halfway on the content recording device and then plays the same content on the mobile device, the content is played from the beginning because the resume information is not shared. There is an inconvenience.

  Incidentally, content recording devices such as HDD recorders are often assumed to be used by a plurality of people such as family members, and in many cases, a plurality of users share the same content recording device. On the other hand, mobile devices are often used for personal use. In such a case, unnecessary contents saved by other users are copied to the personally owned mobile device.

  Further, the content storage capacity of the mobile device is smaller than the storage capacity of a content recording device such as an HDD recorder, and the file format that can be reproduced differs depending on the mobile device.

  An object of the present invention is to make it possible to automate and resume reproduction of the above-mentioned problems, in particular, data copying.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, in the present invention, communication with a content recording device is performed and mutual authentication is performed in response to an event of connecting a mobile device to a cradle or the like for charging or the like.

  In the content recording device, the correspondence relationship between the user and the mobile device is stored, and the content recording device performs individual determination of the mobile device. The content to be copied to the mobile device is only the content of a user having a correspondence relationship.

  Also, at the time of mutual authentication, the free space in the content storage area of the mobile device and the reproducible file format are transmitted to the content recording device. Furthermore, content viewing status and resume information are exchanged between the mobile device and the content recording device.

  Note that the timing at which the content recording device and the mobile device automatically start communication may be the timing that the user performs on a daily basis if there is any necessity, such as the timing when the mobile device is connected to the cradle for charging the mobile device. .

  Then, based on the information obtained at the time of mutual authentication, the content is copied from the content recording device to the mobile device. At this time, the file format and size can be converted according to the free space in the content storage area of the mobile device and the reproducible file format.

  Furthermore, it is possible to automatically delete unnecessary contents of the content recording device and the mobile device based on information such as the viewing status of the content.

  The present invention may be configured as a single content recording device or mobile device that constitutes the above system. A program for causing a computer to execute the above steps and a computer-readable recording medium for recording the program also fall within the scope of the present invention. The program may be acquired by a transmission medium.

  According to the present invention, data copying between the content recording device and the mobile device can be automated, and the operation burden on the user side can be reduced.

  In addition, the content to be copied can be changed for each user, and resume playback between the content recording device and the mobile device can also be performed.

  Hereinafter, an automatic content copying system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a simplified overall view showing one configuration example of an automatic content copying system according to the present embodiment. The automatic content acquisition system A according to the present embodiment includes a content recording device 2 and a cradle 3 having a wired or wireless communication function (L1), and a mobile device 1 that can be installed in the cradle 3 and can reproduce content. is doing.

  Note that in this specification, content refers to all data that includes moving images, audio data, text data, and the like, and does not specifically require data attributes. A plurality of contents may be included.

  The content recording device is, for example, a stationary device that can record content. Includes HDD recorders, personal computers, and the like. It may be a notebook PC or the like.

  The mobile device in this specification is a mobile device that can reproduce and browse content. It refers to mobile phones, portable media players, etc.

  A cradle in this specification is a device that can charge a mobile device by being connected to the mobile device and can relay communication between the content recording device and the mobile device.

  In this embodiment, an example is described in which a content device and a mobile device communicate with each other using a cradle. However, when the mobile device has communication means such as wireless communication, the communication device shown in FIGS. In this way, the content device and the mobile device may communicate directly without using the cradle. That is, in the system B shown in FIG. 2, the content recording device 2 and the mobile device 1 are connected by wired or wireless connection (L2), and the cradle 3 is separately provided. In the system C shown in FIG. 3, the content recording device 2 and the mobile device 1 are connected by a wired or wireless connection (L2), and the cradle 3 is not provided. As described above, various system configurations are included in the present invention.

  FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example of the mobile device 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the mobile device 1 includes a communication interface 6 connected to the content recording device 2 via the cradle 3, an external memory interface 7 connected to an external memory 12 having a content storage area 13, A control unit (CPU) 4 for controlling the operation, an operation unit 5, an authentication unit 8, an image display unit 9, and an internal memory 10 having a content storage area 11.

  FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the content recording device 2. As shown in FIG. 5, the content recording device 2 includes a communication interface 19 connected to the mobile device 1 via the cradle 3, a control unit (CPU) 17 that controls the whole, an operation unit 18, and an authentication unit 21. An image display unit 20, a mobile device management unit 22 that manages the mobile device 1, a file format conversion unit 25 that converts a file format, and an internal memory 23 that has a content storage area 24.

  Next, processing in the system will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of registration processing, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing related to content. As shown in FIG. 6, first, in step S1, processing is started (Start), and in step S2, the user information is registered in the content device, thereby registering to which user the mobile device belongs. Next, in step S3, mobile device information is registered in the content device. In step S4, the content is stored in the content device. When the content recording device is an HDD recorder, recording or recording reservation is performed. In step S5, it is set whether or not to transfer the content to the mobile device. An example of the content information held in the content recording device is a set of a terminal ID and a user ID as shown in FIG. Here, the ID of the user who performed the content storage operation is entered in the user ID. In step S6, it waits until the mobile device is connected to the cradle (No). When the mobile device is connected to the cradle for charging or the like (Yes), the process proceeds to step S7, and the content recording device and the mobile device automatically communicate with each other to authenticate each other at step S6. Here, the communication is started when triggered by the connection to the cradle. However, as a trigger for starting communication, the communication may be started at other times such as a specified time and start of charging. Next, in step S8, at the time of mutual authentication, mobile device status information is transmitted from the mobile device to the content device, stored in the content device, and the process ends (step S8).

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of information stored in the content device. As shown in FIG. 9, the content ID 31, the user ID 32, the content size 33, the content genre 34, the transferability information 35 to the mobile device, the content viewing status 36, the resume information 37, and the storage time 38 are stored. And have. At the time of mutual authentication, information including “terminal ID”, “reproducible file”, “free space in content storage area”, and “stored content information” is transmitted from the mobile device to the content recording device. “Data structure of stored content information” is as shown in FIG. The information shown in FIG. 10 includes a content ID 41, a content size 42, a genre 43, a content viewing status 44, resume information 45, and a storage time 46.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when processing is started (step S10: Start), the content recording device creates a list of content to be copied to the mobile device, content to be deleted from the mobile device, and content to be deleted from the content recording device ( Step S11). The creation of these lists is determined by “user ID”, “viewing status”, “transferability information to mobile device”, “save date / time”, “genre”, and the like. For example, processing is performed for each user based on the user ID. Depending on the “viewing status”, for example, content that has already been viewed many times on the content recording device is deleted, or content that has not been viewed at all is not sent, content that can be transferred by “transferability information to mobile device” , Send no additional content, delete the content that is too old according to the “save date”, or transfer only the content of that genre if it is set to occur by “genre” Is performed (step S12). As described above, the content stored in the mobile device and the content recording device can be deleted according to the above list. Further, the content is copied to the mobile device (step S13). At this time, the file format is converted in the optimum format determined from the information of the reproducible file obtained at the time of authentication and the free space in the content storage area of the mobile device (step S14). Next, content resume information is exchanged between the content recording device and the mobile device (step S15). Then, it progresses to step S21 of FIG.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing at the time of replacement. As shown in FIG. 11, first, at step S21 corresponding to step S15 of FIG. 7, exchange of resume information is started. In step S22, the resume information of the content of the mobile device is confirmed. If there is resume information, the process proceeds to step S26, and if not, the process proceeds to step S23. In step S23, the resume information of the content stored in the content storage device is confirmed. If there is no resume information, the process proceeds to step S25, and the exchange of the resume information is terminated. If there is resume information, the process proceeds to step S24, where the resume information of the content storage device content is copied to the resume information of the mobile device content, and the process proceeds to step S25. In step S22, if there is resume information of the content of the mobile device, the process proceeds to step S26, where the resume information of the content of the content storage device is confirmed. If there is resume information, the process proceeds to step S25, and there is no resume information. In this case, the process proceeds to step S27, where the resume information of the mobile information content is copied to the content resume information of the content storage device, and the process proceeds to step S25. As a result, the resume information can be shared between the devices, so that the playback of the content can be performed smoothly as if it were performed by one device.

  The present invention can be used in an automatic content acquisition system.

It is a figure which shows the example of 1 structure of the content copy system by one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows another structural example of the content copy system by this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows another example of a structure of the content copy system by this Embodiment. It is a functional block diagram which shows the example of 1 structure of the mobile apparatus by this Embodiment. It is a functional block diagram which shows the example of 1 structure of the content recording apparatus by this Embodiment. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of a registration process. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the process regarding a content. It is a figure which shows the data structure example of the mobile apparatus registration which a content recording apparatus hold | maintains. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the content information which is a content storage apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of a data structure of the content information sent to a content storage apparatus from a mobile device at the time of mutual authentication. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the resume information exchange process between a content recording device and a mobile device.

Explanation of symbols

1 Mobile device 2, 14 Content recording device 3 Cradle 4 Control unit 5, 18 Operation unit 6, 19 Communication interface 7 External memory interface 8, 21 Authentication unit 9, 20 Image display unit 10, 23 Internal memory 11, 13, 24 Content Storage area 12 External memory 22 Mobile device management unit 25 File format conversion unit

Claims (11)

A content recording device including a first content recording unit, a first communication unit, a second content recording unit, and a mobile device capable of reproducing content including a second communication unit. And
The content recording device and the mobile device automatically start communication, and the content stored in the first content recording unit is triggered by the operation of the mobile device as the first communication unit and the second communication unit. A content automatic copy system in which content transfer processing to be stored in the second content recording unit via the communication unit is automatically performed.   2. The content automatic copy system according to claim 1, wherein when a plurality of users are registered in the content recording device, the content to be copied is switched for each user ID registered in the mobile device.   The content recording device as a copy source automatically acquires the file format of the content that can be played back by the mobile device as the copy destination, and after the file format is converted, the content transfer process is performed. Item 2. The content automatic copy system according to Item 1.   Content transfer processing after the content recording device of the copy source automatically acquires the free capacity of the content storage area in the second content recording unit and converts it to a content size suitable for the free capacity of the content area The content automatic copy system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:   5. The process according to claim 1, wherein at least one of content deletion status and viewing status of the mobile device is checked at the time of content copying, and processing for automatically deleting the content of the content recording device is performed. 2. The content automatic copy system according to claim 1.   The content stored in the mobile device is automatically deleted by checking at least one of the content viewing status of the mobile device and the content storage area of the second recording area when copying content. 5. The content automatic copy system according to any one of items 1 to 4.   The content automatic copy according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein when content is copied, resume information of the content stored in the content recording device and the mobile device is automatically exchanged. system. A system having a content recording device having a first content recording unit, a first communication unit, a second content recording unit, and a mobile device capable of reproducing content having a second communication unit A content recording device in
The content recording device and the mobile device automatically start communication, and the content stored in the first content recording unit is triggered by the operation of the mobile device as the first communication unit and the second communication unit. The content recording apparatus is characterized in that content transfer processing to be stored in the second content recording unit via the communication unit is automatically performed. A system having a content recording device having a first content recording unit, a first communication unit, a second content recording unit, and a mobile device capable of reproducing content having a second communication unit Mobile devices at
The content recording device and the mobile device automatically start communication, and the content stored in the first content recording unit is triggered by the operation of the mobile device as the first communication unit and the second communication unit. The mobile device is characterized in that content transfer processing to be stored in the second content recording unit via the communication unit is automatically performed. A system having a content recording device having a first content recording unit, a first communication unit, a second content recording unit, and a mobile device capable of reproducing content having a second communication unit In the content automatic copy method in
When the content recording device and the mobile device automatically start communication,
Content stored in the first content recording unit triggered by an operation of the mobile device is stored in the second content recording unit via the first communication unit and the second communication unit. A content automatic copy method, wherein content transfer processing is automatically performed.   A program for causing a computer to execute the method according to claim 10.

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