JP2009302751A - Summary reproducing device, summary reproducing method, summary reproducing program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform summary reproduction of content in the form that corresponds to the needs of a user. <P>SOLUTION: This summary reproducing device 10 is a summary reproducing device 10 for performing summary reproduction of content, and includes: a summary reproduction mode determining part 6 for determining a summary reproduction mode when performing summary reproduction of the content from the number of times of performing summary reproduction of the content in the past, and a procedure when the user retrieves the content; and a summary reproducing part 7 for performing summary reproduction of the content according to the summary reproduction mode determined by the summary reproduction mode determining part 6. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a summary playback device, a summary playback method, a summary playback program, and a recording medium that perform summary playback of content.

  In recent years, the distribution of content mainly composed of video information such as programs by television broadcasting has shifted from analog broadcasting to terrestrial digital broadcasting, CS (Communication Satellite) broadcasting, or BS (Broadcasting Satellite) broadcasting. In addition, with the widespread use of broadband lines, content distribution via networks has begun to spread. Therefore, the user can view various contents.

  On the other hand, for example, a storage device using a hard disk drive or the like is increasing in capacity. This allows the user to record more content, so that the recorded content can be viewed at a desired time. Further, in a server type broadcast service using information (metadata) of distributed content, all distributed metadata is automatically recorded in a receiver having a storage device. Thereby, the user's degree of freedom in viewing time is further increased.

  Under such circumstances, the amount of content stored in the storage device is enormous. On the other hand, the time that the user can view is limited, and it is not easy to select a program to be viewed from these contents. Therefore, in order to easily confirm the recorded content of the accumulated content, a summary reproduction technique that can grasp the content of the content in a short time is attracting attention.

  This summary playback uses summary playback data (digest data) composed of information in the content, and is usually created based on a specific index in the content. However, since the summary playback data to be created is one for each content, when the user views the summary playback, the user always views the same summary playback, not limited to the past number of times of viewing the content. It will be. Therefore, when the summary playback is viewed for the first time, the climax may be played back, and when the summary playback is viewed again, the same portion may be played back. Therefore, a problem that the user's willingness to watch may be reduced depending on the summary reproduction.

  Therefore, many techniques for avoiding a decrease in user's willingness to watch due to summary playback have been considered. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for storing, as a playback history, the number of times of normal playback for each scene when content is normally played back in the past, and performing summary playback based on this playback history.

Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for calculating the importance for each scene from audio data in addition to the normal number of times of past content reproduction, and performing summary reproduction based on the degree of importance and the number of normal times of reproduction. With these technologies, it is said that summary playback according to the viewing situation of the user can be performed. In addition to this, various summary reproduction techniques are known in which content scenes are divided and importance is provided for each scene, as disclosed in Patent Documents 3 to 6, for example.
JP 2004-349778 A (December 9, 2004) JP 2006-139829 A (released on June 1, 2006) JP 2007-282268 A (released on October 25, 2007) JP-A-8-298646 (published November 12, 1996) WO00 / 40011 (published July 6, 2000) Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-277535 (released on October 6, 2005)

  However, the above summary reproduction method has the following problems. That is, in the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, when content is summarized and played back, the number of normal playbacks of content viewed in the past is considered, but summary playback that has been viewed in the past is not considered at all. . Therefore, even if the viewer has played a summary in the past, it is not counted in the normal playback count, and the same portion may be played back in summary.

  In addition, in the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, there is no consideration for what purpose a user views a content when the user performs summary playback of the content. Therefore, the summary playback may not be performed according to the user's needs. In the techniques described in Patent Document 3 to Patent Document 6, in order to solve such a problem, there is no disclosure of a summary playback method that takes into account past summary playback and the user's viewing purpose.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a summary playback device, a summary playback method, a summary playback program, and a recording medium that perform summary playback of content in accordance with user needs. There is to do.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the summary playback device according to the present invention is a summary playback device that performs summary playback of content, the number of past summary playbacks of the content, and a procedure for a user to search for the content And a summary playback means for determining the summary playback mode for summary playback of the content, and a summary playback means for performing summary playback of the content according to the summary playback mode determined by the determination means. It is said.

  According to the above configuration, the summary playback device determines the summary playback mode for summarizing the content from the past summary playback count of the content and the procedure when the user searches for the content. The summary playback mode includes, for example, a notice, a synopsis, a synopsis complement, and a highlight.

  The summary playback device performs summary playback of the content by the summary playback means in accordance with the determined summary playback mode. In other words, the summary playback mode here refers to, for example, calculating the weight of each scene in the content and setting the playback speed for each scene according to the weight. By performing summary playback of content in accordance with this summary playback mode, the user can view any summary playback.

  The summary playback mode used when summarizing the content in the summary playback device is determined from the past summary playback count of the content and the procedure when the user searches for the content. Therefore, even if the content to be viewed has been summarized and played back in the past, the summary playback of the same content is not executed. That is, since the user does not view the content he / she wants to view again, the user can summarize and reproduce the content without losing his willingness to view. In addition, since the summary playback mode is determined in consideration of the above procedure, it is possible to perform summary playback of content more in line with the user's viewing situation.

  A summary playback method according to the present invention is a summary playback method executed by a summary playback device that performs summary playback of content in order to solve the above-described problem. A determining step for determining a summary playback mode for summary playback of the content from a procedure for searching for the content; and a summary playback step for performing summary playback of the content according to the summary playback mode determined by the determination step; It is characterized by including.

  According to said structure, there exists an effect | action and effect similar to the summary reproduction | regeneration apparatus mentioned above.

  In the summary playback apparatus according to the present invention, it is preferable that the determination means determines the summary playback mode based on a category to which the content belongs in addition to the summary playback count and the procedure.

  According to the above configuration, the summary playback mode when the content is summarized and reproduced is determined from the number of times of summary reproduction and the procedure when the user searches for the content. At this time, in addition to the elements described above, the summary playback mode is determined based on the category to which the content belongs.

  Specifically, when determining the summary playback mode of the content that has been searched from the list of categories displayed on the display screen or the like and the past summary playback count is 1, for example, when the category to which the content belongs is drama In the summary reproduction mode, the synopsis complement mode is selected. At this time, when the category is, for example, sports, highlight is selected as the summary playback mode.

  As described above, since the summary playback mode is changed depending on the category of the content viewed by the user, it is possible to perform summary playback that the user desires to view more.

  In the summary playback apparatus according to the present invention, the determination means further includes the summary playback mode based on the date and time when the content was summarized and played back in the past in addition to the summary playback count, the procedure, and the category. Is preferably determined.

  According to the above configuration, the summary playback mode when the content is summarized and played back is determined based on the above-described elements (summary playback number, procedure, and category) and the date and time when the content is summarized and played back in the past. The

  For example, when a summary of content that the user has viewed in the past is played back when a considerable number of days have passed, the user may forget the content of the content. Therefore, by adding the date and time when the content was summarized and played back in the past to the element that determines the summary playback mode, the summary playback that allows the user to check the content even if the content has been forgotten. can do.

  In the summary playback device according to the present invention, the summary playback means weights the content for each scene of the content, and sets the playback speed for each scene set according to the weight according to the summary playback mode. It is preferable to change the speed.

  According to the above configuration, the digest playback apparatus sets the playback speed according to the weighting calculated for each scene of the content. At this time, for example, even if the content is determined to have the same summary playback mode, it may not be preferable to perform similar summary playback depending on the content. Therefore, it is possible to perform various types of summary playback by setting the content playback speed according to the weighting given to the scene of the content to be viewed, and further changing the playback speed according to the summary playback mode.

  The summary playback device may be realized by a computer. In this case, a summary playback program for realizing the above summary playback device in a computer by operating the computer as each of the above means and a computer readable recording medium on which the summary playback program is recorded also fall within the scope of the present invention.

  As described above, the summary playback device according to the present invention is a summary playback device that performs summary playback of content, and the content is obtained from the past summary playback count of the content and the procedure when the user searches for the content. In accordance with the user's needs, there is provided a determining means for determining a summary reproduction mode when the contents are reproduced in summary, and a summary reproducing means for reproducing the contents according to the summary reproduction mode determined by the determining means. The content can be summarized and reproduced in the form.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

[Configuration of Summary Playback Device 10]
First, the main configuration of the summary playback device 10 according to this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a summary playback apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in this figure, the summary playback apparatus 10 includes a content data input unit 1, a scene importance level calculation unit 2, a storage unit 3, a summary playback history management unit 4, a viewing status acquisition unit 5, a summary playback mode determination unit (decision) Means) 6, summary reproduction unit (summary reproduction unit) 7, and control unit 8.

  The summary playback device 10 is a device that processes content data stored in the storage unit 3 and performs summary playback of the content. Specifically, the content is summarized and reproduced based on the past summary reproduction count and the summary reproduction information that has been summarized and reproduced in the past.

[Processing of summary playback apparatus 10]
Next, an example of processing when the summary playback apparatus 10 performs summary playback of content will be described in detail below.

(Process before summary playback)
In the summary playback device 10 of the present embodiment, the following preparations should be made before receiving a summary playback instruction from the user.

  In the present embodiment, for example, a content distribution server (not shown) distributes a plurality of contents to the digest playback apparatus 10 via a communication network or the like. The content is not particularly limited. For example, content broadcasted by a broadcast program or the like, or content obtained via a network can be exemplified, but content stored on a recording medium represented by a DVD or the like. Also good. In the summary playback device 10, the content data input unit 1 receives the data of the content to be distributed.

  The content data input unit 1 receives input of content data to be distributed. Information included in the input content is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include video information, audio information, and caption information. In addition, the content may further include additional information of the content, for example.

  As this additional information, for example, information such as content input date and time or content name can be exemplified. In addition, when additional information is attached to content such as a broadcast program, the additional information includes, for example, program information such as a performer or program content obtained from an EPG (Electronic Program Guide).

  Further, these contents are not particularly limited as long as the importance level of each scene included in the contents can be extracted by the scene importance level calculation unit 2 to be described later. For example, the contents may be encoded. . In this specification, “scene” represents a unit in which content is subdivided into certain sections, and “scene importance” is weighted according to a predetermined criterion. Indicates the degree. In this way, the content data input unit 1 to which the content data has been input outputs the data to the scene importance level calculation unit 2 and the storage unit 3.

  The scene importance calculation unit 2 analyzes the content data and the additional information data of the content to detect the feature of the content, and calculates the importance of each scene included in the content.

  In the present embodiment, content features include, for example, categories such as drama and sports, but are not limited thereto. Although this characteristic is not specifically limited, For example, it can obtain from the following information. That is, from the video information, for example, scene switching information, edge information, and motion vector information are obtained, and from the audio information, for example, an audio level, a silent section, and speech information are obtained, and from the subtitle information For example, telop information is obtained. Further, the characteristics of the additional information are not particularly limited, but the program name obtained from the EPG described above, performers, program content information, metadata such as scene breaks by the content producer, and content data to the content data input unit 1 There is a recording date and time that can be acquired at the time of input. A specific method for calculating the scene importance will be described later in detail. The importance of each scene calculated in this way is output to the storage unit 3.

  The storage unit 3 stores the input content data, the importance level of the scene calculated by the scene importance level calculation unit 2, and the like. Specifically, the input content data and content additional information are recorded in association with the feature information of the content detected by the scene importance calculation unit 2 and the calculated importance of the scene.

(Summary playback process)
Next, an example of summary playback processing by the summary playback device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing when the summary playback device 10 according to the present embodiment performs summary playback. In the present embodiment, a mode in which content to be summarized and reproduced is recorded in the storage unit 3 of the summary reproducing apparatus 10 is shown.

  The summary playback method of the present invention is a summary playback method executed by the summary playback device 10 that plays back a content in summary, from the past summary playback count of the content and a procedure when the user searches for the content. A determination step for determining a summary reproduction mode for the summary reproduction of the content and a summary reproduction step for reproducing the content in accordance with the summary reproduction mode determined by the determination step may be included.

  In the present embodiment, for example, the control unit 8 receives a summary playback instruction for content stored in the storage unit 3 issued by a control unit of a system (not shown) (step S1). The control unit 8 controls the flow of each data in the summary generation device 10.

  The control unit 8 receives the summary reproduction instruction from the control unit of the system, and receives the viewing status of the user acquired by the viewing status acquisition unit 5 (step S2). The viewing status acquired by the viewing status acquisition unit 5 will be described in detail later, and there are, for example, four patterns as shown in FIG. FIG. 3 illustrates user viewing status patterns according to the present embodiment. Further, the control unit 8 acquires the summary reproduction history information from the summary reproduction history management unit 4 (step S3).

  The summary playback history management unit 4 manages the history of summary playback information of each content stored in the storage unit 3. The information included in the summary playback information is not particularly limited, but preferably includes the number of normal playback times and summary playback times that the content has been viewed in the past, and the viewing status when the user instructs the summary playback of the content. . The summary playback information is described in, for example, a summary playback information management table managed by the summary playback history management unit 4 shown in FIG. Among the plurality of contents described in this table, the summary playback history information management table shown in FIG. 5B shows the history of summary playback information of each content. FIG. 5A shows a summary playback information management table used in this embodiment, and FIG. 5B shows a summary playback history information management table used in this embodiment.

  Furthermore, the control unit 8 acquires additional information attached to the content to be summarized and reproduced from the storage unit 3 (step S4). The content additional information is not particularly limited, but it is more preferable that the content additional information includes at least category information to which the content belongs. Although it does not specifically limit as a category of content, For example, a drama, a sport, news, etc. are mentioned. In this way, the control unit 8 that has acquired the user's viewing status, summary reproduction information, and content additional information transmits these pieces of information to the summary reproduction mode determination unit 6.

  The summary playback mode determination unit (decision unit) 6 selects which summary playback mode is used for playback of the content selected by the user in summary playback (decision step). In other words, the summary playback mode determination unit 6 determines the summary playback mode for the summary playback of the content from the past summary playback count of the content and the procedure for the user to search for the content. In the present specification, the “procedure when the user searches for content” is synonymous with the viewing status of the user acquired by the viewing status acquisition unit 5. That is, the summary playback mode determination unit 6 uses information indicating a situation (procedure) until the user views the content when determining a mode for summary playback of the content.

  The criteria for selecting the summary playback mode by the summary playback mode determination unit 6 are not particularly limited. For example, from the above-described summary playback count, user viewing status, and category information to which the content belongs. Can be determined. The summary playback mode determination unit 6 determines a summary playback mode corresponding to the content to be played back in summary from, for example, the summary playback mode shown in FIG. 6 based on such a determination criterion (step S5). FIG. 6 shows a summary playback mode used in the summary playback device 10. In this embodiment, the summary playback mode is assumed to be four types of notice, synopsis, synopsis complement, and highlight. The summary playback mode determination unit 6 has a mode determination table as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 in order to determine the summary playback mode from the above-described determination criteria. FIG. 7 shows a mode determination table in which the content category is drama, and FIG. 8 shows a mode determination table in which the content category is sports.

  In this way, the summary playback mode information determined by the summary playback mode determination unit 6 is output from the summary playback mode determination unit 6 to the control unit 8. Further, the control unit 8 transmits the received summary playback mode information to the summary playback unit 7. At this time, the control unit 8 transmits the summary playback mode information and gives an instruction to the summary playback unit 7 to execute the summary playback.

  The summary playback unit (summary playback means) 7 plays back the summary according to the determined summary playback mode (summary playback step). In other words, the content is summarized and reproduced according to the summary reproduction mode determined by the summary reproduction mode determination unit 6.

  The summary playback unit 7 instructed to execute summary playback by the control unit 8 acquires content data to be summarized playback and importance of each scene included in the content from the storage unit 3 (step S6). Further, the summary playback unit 7 acquires the summary playback speed of the content to be played back in summary playback mode corresponding to the summary playback mode from the control unit 8 (step S7).

  At this time, in this embodiment, the playback speed in each scene at the time of summary playback is determined based on the summary playback speed correspondence information. As shown in FIG. 10, the summary playback speed correspondence information only needs to set the playback speed according to the importance of each scene in the content and the summary playback mode. FIG. 10 shows summary playback speed correspondence information set according to the correspondence between the importance of each scene and the summary playback mode.

  The location where the summary playback speed correspondence information is managed is not particularly limited, and may be managed by the summary playback unit 7 or stored in the storage unit 3, for example. When summary playback speed correspondence information is stored in the storage unit 3, the summary playback unit 7 may read the information from the storage unit 3 as necessary. In the present embodiment, the summary playback speed correspondence information is managed as a summary of all summary playback modes, but may be managed as information for each playback mode, for example.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the summary playback speed value in the summary playback speed correspondence information is set to a fixed value, but for example, the time for summary playback may be determined by an apparatus or an application. Alternatively, if the summary playback time can be changed depending on the viewing situation or the like, the playback speed for the importance of each scene may be determined so as to be within the summary playback time. In this way, it is possible to calculate the summary playback time of the entire content by determining the summary playback speed of each scene before starting the summary playback, and changing the playback speed relative to the importance of each scene. It can be set to satisfy the summary playback time.

  Thereafter, the summary playback unit 7 plays back each scene of the content to be played back in accordance with the acquired playback speed information (step S8). That is, the summary playback device 10 weights the content for each scene of the content, and shifts the playback speed for each scene set according to the weighting according to the summary playback mode, thereby realizing summary playback. .

  Thus, the content reproduced by the summary reproduction unit 7 is output to a display screen such as a display device (not shown), for example. Thereby, the user can view the summary reproduction of the selected content. At this time, the content is reproduced based on the summary reproduction speed correspondence information described above, and the reproduced content is reproduced at, for example, the reproduction speed of each scene shown in FIGS. 12 (a) and 12 (b). Is done. FIG. 12A shows the structure of each scene in the content to be summarized and reproduced. FIG. 12B shows the playback start position (seconds) of each scene in FIG.

  Here, the control unit 8 instructs the summary playback unit 7 to execute summary playback, and then instructs the summary playback history management unit 4 to update the summary playback information. As a result, the summary playback information is updated in the summary playback information management table and the summary playback history information management table managed by the summary playback history management unit 4 as shown in FIGS. 13 (a) and 13 (b). Step S9). FIG. 13A shows a state where the summary playback information management table managed by the summary playback history management unit 4 is updated, and FIG. 13B shows summary playback history information managed by the summary playback history management unit 4. Indicates that the management table has been updated.

[Scene importance calculation method]
Here, an example of a scene importance calculation method according to the present embodiment will be described in detail below.

  As described above, the scene importance level is obtained by weighting each scene according to a specific determination criterion, and a specific calculation method thereof is not particularly limited, and can be calculated by a conventionally known method. That's fine.

  As such a method, for example, there is a method of calculating the importance of the scene based on the sound level of each scene. Specifically, the content is subdivided from the scene switching information or motion vector information in the content to extract each scene segment, and the importance of each scene is calculated based on the extracted audio level of each scene.

  As described above, the calculation method is not limited as long as the feature of each scene can be detected and the importance of the scene can be classified into levels. Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, the scene importance is provided with sections 1 to 5, and as this number increases, the importance of the scene in the content is higher. It is not limited to this.

[Example of viewing status]
Next, the viewing status of the user acquired by the viewing status acquisition unit 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 (a) to 4 (c). FIG. 4A to FIG. 4C are views showing the viewing status of the user according to the present embodiment.

  In this specification, the viewing situation refers to a situation in which a user accesses content from a display screen such as a menu screen on a display device (not shown). The situation in which the user accesses the content is not particularly limited. For example, the following situation can be assumed.

  That is, for example, a situation in which a specific content is searched from the contents stored in the storage unit 3, a situation in which a list is simply selected from the list displayed on the display screen, and a situation in which the content is viewed or stored. For example, a situation in which the contents are checked for organizing (for example, deleting) or editing the contents. Although not particularly limited, a DVD recorder, DVD / HDD recorder, or recording / reproducing apparatus may have a plurality of menu screens specific to each function, for example, in order for a user to access content. In this case, the user's viewing status can be acquired by grasping from which menu screen the user is trying to access the content.

  Here, as the viewing status acquired in the viewing status acquisition unit 5 according to the present embodiment, for example, four statuses shown in FIG. 3, that is, list display (31), video thumbnail (32), search (33), And editing / organizing (34). An example in which these four situations are displayed on the display screen is shown in FIGS. 4 (a) to 4 (c).

  The list display (31) indicates a situation in which the content that the user desires to view is retrieved from the list display displayed on the display screen. As shown in FIG. 4A, a list of contents is displayed on the display screen. For example, the user may select the content desired to be viewed with the cursor 41 or the like by using an operation device corresponding to a display device such as a remote controller.

  The moving image thumbnail (32) indicates a situation where the user searches from the list display displayed on the display screen, as in the above-described list display. Here, the cursor 41 and the like shown in FIG. The focused thumbnail or all displayed thumbnails are displayed as moving images, not as still images.

  Search (33) indicates a situation in which the user searches for specific content from the content stored in the storage unit 3. For example, when a large amount of content is stored in the storage unit 3, it is not an easy task to search for the target content from the list display. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4B, it is possible to search and view the content that the user desires to view from the keyword related to the content (for example, gourmet etc.) or the date when the content was recorded. .

  Edit / Organize (34) indicates a situation where the user edits or deletes the content stored in the storage unit 3. That is, as shown in FIG. 4C, the content is displayed as a moving image on the deletion selection screen in the display device, and the moving image is arbitrarily selected from these moving images and deleted. At this time, in order to confirm whether or not the selected content can be deleted, the content can be confirmed by performing summary playback of the content.

  As described above, the viewing status acquisition unit 5 can determine the viewing status of the user by acquiring, from the display screen or the like, a method for accessing the content when the user performs summary playback of the content. it can.

[Mechanism of summary playback history management unit 4]
Next, a method for managing the summary playback information of each content in the summary playback management unit 4 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail below.

  The summary playback management unit 4 is not particularly limited, but for example, for each content, the number of times of normal playback, the number of times of summary playback, the summary playback mode used when the summary playback was performed in the past, and the summary playback in the past It is only necessary that the viewing situation at the time is managed. FIG. 5 shows a summary reproduction information management table (FIG. 5 (a)) and a summary reproduction history information management table (FIG. 5 (b)) used for managing these data.

  At least one summary playback information management table may be prepared in the summary playback apparatus 10. Although not particularly limited in this table, for example, it is preferable to describe the content name stored in the storage unit 3, the summary playback count, the final summary playback date, and the normal playback count of the content. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5A, content contents-001 has a summary playback count of 2 times, a final summary playback date and time of March 5, 2008, and a normal playback count of 0 times.

  In addition, for example, a summary playback history information identifier may be described in the table. This summary reproduction history information identifier is used to identify a table storing summary reproduction information of each content, and is indicated as D-RIREKI-001 in the content (contents-001) of FIG.

  In the summary playback information management table, the number of times of summary playback is added each time a new summary playback is performed, and the final summary playback date and time can be overwritten. At this time, the acquisition method of the final summary reproduction date / time is not particularly limited. For example, when the control unit 8 can manage the date / time information, the date / time information may be acquired from the control unit 8, a network or the like. You may get directly from.

  The summary playback history information management table is prepared for each content stored in the storage unit 3, and manages summary playback history information of each content. The summary playback history information management table is not particularly limited. For example, a summary playback history information identifier is assigned, and the summary playback history number of contents, summary playback mode in each history, viewing status, and viewing date and time are managed. Can do.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5B, the summary playback information (summary playback history information identifier (D-RIREKI-001)) corresponding to the content (contents-001) has two summary playback histories. Exists. That is, the history 1 is viewed on February 29, 2008, and the summary playback mode at that time is a preview, and the viewing status is a moving image thumbnail. The history 2 is viewed on March 4, 2008. The summary playback mode at that time is a summary, and the viewing status is a list display. When this content (contents-001) is further summarized and reproduced, the summary reproduction information is further updated. FIG. 13 shows a summary playback information management table (FIG. 13 (a)) and a summary playback history information management table (FIG. 13 (b)) in which summary playback information is updated.

  As shown in FIG. 13A, when a summary playback of content (contents-001) is newly performed, the summary playback count of the summary playback information management table is added, and the final summary playback date is updated. Further, the summary playback history information management table of the content (contents-001) is specified from the summary playback history information identifier (D-RIREKI-001) described in the summary playback information management table, and the summary playback history information management table summary The number of plays is updated. At this time, as shown in FIG. 13B, the summary playback mode (summary complement), viewing status (list display), and summary playback date and time (March 5, 2008) are added as the summary playback history.

  In the present embodiment, the summary playback information management table and the summary playback history information management table can be referred to each other by the summary playback history information identifier.

[Judgment of summary playback mode]
Next, the summary playback mode determination according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 show a determination table for determining the summary playback mode according to the present embodiment.

  In this specification, the summary playback mode determination means that the summary playback mode determination unit 6 determines the playback speed according to the importance of each scene in the content to be summarized playback. Specifically, the summary playback mode determination unit 6 determines the summary playback mode corresponding to the viewing state of the user, the number of past summary playbacks, and the characteristics of the content in the content to be summarized playback.

  The summary playback mode is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, the above-described notice, synopsis, synopsis complement, and highlight. The four types of summary playback modes used in this embodiment represent the following contents.

  That is, the preview mode is a mode edited so that the contents of the program can be transmitted except for the most exciting scene, such as a movie trailer. Also, the synopsis mode is a mode in which, for example, it is possible to view mainly a lively scene such as a drama, and the synopsis complement mode is a mode that complements the synopsis mode. The highlight mode is a mode in which, for example, viewing can be performed centering on a lively scene such as a sports program.

  By the way, when the user performs summary playback of the content stored in the storage unit 3, it can be assumed that the summary playback data requested by the user differs depending on the content summary playback information. For example, when the user performs summary playback in order to confirm the content of unviewed content stored in the storage unit 3, it is preferable not to include a summary of the content. In addition, when the user views the content that has been summarized and reproduced in the past, the user often grasps the outline of the content. Therefore, when the summary playback of the content is performed again, it is preferable that the user plays back the scene that has not been viewed.

  Therefore, when the summary playback mode is determined, for example, the mode determination table as shown in FIG. 7 or FIG. 8 is used in consideration of the past summary playback count of the content and the user's viewing situation when the summary playback instruction is given. The summary playback mode may be determined.

  Specifically, in the situation where the user confirms the content contents-003 whose category is drama from the search screen and the summary playback information of the contents-003 is in the state of FIG. 9, the summary playback mode is changed to the following. Can be selected.

  First, the viewing status acquisition unit 5 acquires that the viewing status is “search”, and the summary playback information shown in FIG. 9 managed by the summary playback management unit 4 acquires that the summary playback count is one. Is done. Thus, since the category of the content that is the target of summary playback is drama, the summary playback mode of the summary is acquired from the mode determination table of FIG.

  This prevents the user from viewing the exciting scenes in the content and viewing the previously viewed scenes again, thus preventing the interest in viewing the main content (normal playback) from being attenuated. it can.

  By the way, also in the mode determination table according to the present embodiment, the user's viewing situation and the summary reproduction count of past contents are described, as in the above-described summary reproduction history information management table. Therefore, when the summary reproduction is instructed, the summary reproduction mode can be determined by the mode determination table. At this time, for example, there are cases where the summary playback count of the content to be summarized playback exceeds the summary playback count set in the corresponding mode determination table. In this case, the digest playback mode corresponding to the closest number may be used, or a specific mode may be always selected.

  Further, in this embodiment, when the summary playback mode is determined, a determination table for determining the summary playback mode is prepared for each content category. However, the determination table is not limited thereto. Only one summary playback apparatus 10 may be provided. In addition, a determination table may be prepared for each piece of information (for example, recording date and time) obtained from the content attached information instead of the category. For example, when a determination table is prepared for each recording date and time, the summary playback mode may be changed for content that has passed a certain recording period.

  Note that the summary playback mode determination according to the present embodiment is determined from the summary playback count and viewing status, but the summary playback date and time information may be further added to the summary playback mode determination.

  For example, when viewing a content that the user has viewed in the past again, if a considerable number of days have passed since the last viewed date, the user may forget the previously viewed content. Therefore, for example, if the summary playback mode at the time of the previous viewing was the synopsis mode, the summary playback may be performed on the premise that the user has viewed once like the synopsis complement mode when viewing again. is there. At this time, if the user has forgotten the past viewing content, the content may not be fully understood.

  Therefore, by adding the date and time of summary playback in the past to the determination of the summary playback mode, the user can understand the content even if the user has forgotten the past viewing content.

  As a method of adding the summary playback date and time to the determination, for example, when the summary playback history management unit 4 determines the summary playback mode, the summary playback watched in the past is determined by reducing the number of summary playbacks according to the number of elapsed days. There is a method for summary playback of the same content as. Alternatively, for example, a method of forcibly initializing the number of times of summary playback managed by the summary playback history management unit 4 to make it the same as new content can be considered.

[Summary playback mechanism]
Next, the flow in which the summary playback unit 7 performs summary playback based on the summary playback mode selected by the summary playback mode determination unit 6 and the feature information of the content stored in the storage unit 3 will be described.

  The summary reproduction according to the present embodiment can be realized by determining the reproduction speed of each scene based on the importance assigned to each scene of the content. That is, for the content shown in FIG. 12A, the playback speed of each scene is determined based on the importance of each scene shown in FIG. By reproducing each scene according to the determined reproduction speed, for example, a low importance scene is reproduced at 5 times speed, and a high importance scene is reproduced at 1 time speed. By playing in this way, the user can securely watch the scene with high importance (playing at 1x speed), and without watching the scene with low importance, the contents can be viewed. It is possible to know.

  At this time, the summary playback speed correspondence information shows the correspondence between the importance level and the summary playback speed in each scene, and FIG. 10 shows the summary playback speed between the importance level and the summary playback speed in each scene of the content. A correspondence information table is shown. The summary playback speed correspondence information according to the present embodiment may be managed by the summary playback unit 7 as described above, and the summary playback speed correspondence information is stored in the storage unit 3 and stored in the summary playback unit 7. You may make it read from the part 3. FIG. In FIG. 10, the summary playback speed correspondence information is described as a group of information, but can be managed as information for each playback mode.

  As described above, the summary reproduction speed correspondence information associates the importance assigned to each scene in the content with the reproduction speed. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, summary playback speed correspondence information corresponding to four types of summary playback modes (a synopsis mode, a synopsis complement mode, a notice mode, and a highlight mode) is shown. Here, the speed at which the summary is reproduced is set from the correspondence between each mode and the importance.

  Here, a specific method for determining the speed of each scene will be described below using a mode determination table shown in FIG. 7 whose content category is drama.

  Of the summary playback modes described in the mode determination table of FIG. 7, for example, when the summary playback mode determined by the summary playback mode determination unit 6 is a synopsis mode, referring to the summary playback speed correspondence information of FIG. The importance level 1 is set to 4 times speed, the importance levels 2 and 3 are set to 3 times speed, the importance level 4 is set to 2 times speed, and the importance level 5 is set to 1.3 times speed. On the other hand, when the summary playback mode described above is the notice mode, the importance level 1 is double speed, the importance level 2 is 1.5 times speed, the importance degree 3 is 1 time speed, the importance degree 4 is quadruple speed, and the importance degree 5 Then, 5 times speed is set. FIG. 11 shows the correspondence with the speed of each scene based on these settings. FIG. 11 shows a result of acquiring speed information corresponding to the importance of each scene when the summary playback mode according to the present embodiment is the advance notice mode.

  As shown in this figure, for example, when the user views the notice mode, the playback speed of the importance level 4 or importance level 5, which is a relatively important scene in the content, is set to be higher than that of the less important scene. ing. Therefore, since the user mainly views a scene with a low importance level, such as importance level 2 or importance level 3, even when the summary playback is performed, the user's interest in viewing the content is rarely reduced. .

  Similarly, for example, when the user views the synopsis mode, the setting is such that importance 4 or importance 5 can be viewed mainly on a relatively important scene. The synopsis complement mode is based on the premise that the user has viewed in the past in the synopsis mode. For this reason, it is the setting which can view the scene (importance 3) which reaches the process rather than an important scene. Thus, in this embodiment, since the summary playback speed with respect to the importance level of the scene is changed in each summary playback mode, the summary playback content can be changed for each summary playback mode.

  Next, based on each acquired scene speed information, the content to be summarized and reproduced is summarized and reproduced. For example, FIG. 12A shows the playback speed of each scene when the content category is sports and the summary playback mode is the notice mode. FIG. 12A shows the structure of each scene in the content to be summarized and reproduced. FIG. 12B shows the playback start position (seconds) of each scene in FIG.

  Referring to these figures, the content is subdivided into scenes A to F. From the speed correspondence table shown in FIG. 11, the importance level of scene A is 2, the importance level of scene B is 1, and the content of scene C is It can be seen that the importance is 5, the importance of the scene D is 3, the importance of the scene E is 4, and the importance of the scene F is 3. Thereby, the speed of each scene is determined, and summary reproduction is performed according to the speed.

[Summary]
As described above, when the summary playback apparatus 10 performs summary playback of content, the summary playback mode is determined in consideration of the past summary playback count of the content and the viewing situation at the time when the summary playback instruction is given. . Therefore, for example, even when the same content is viewed a plurality of times, a summary playback different from the previous viewing is performed, so that the user can view an unviewed portion of the content. Furthermore, since different summary reproduction is performed depending on the viewing situation, it is easy to check the contents, and the convenience for the user can be improved.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A various change is possible in the range shown to the claim. In other words, embodiments obtained by combining technical means appropriately changed within the scope of the claims are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

[Content playback program and recording medium]
Finally, each block included in the digest playback apparatus 10 may be configured by hardware logic. Alternatively, it may be realized by software using a CPU (Central Processing Unit) as follows.

  That is, the digest playback apparatus 10 includes a CPU that executes instructions of a control program that realizes each function, a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores the control program, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) that expands the control program into an executable format. ), And a storage device (recording medium) such as a memory for storing the control program and various data.

  With this configuration, the object of the present invention can also be achieved by a predetermined recording medium. This recording medium only needs to record the program code (execution format program, intermediate code program, source program) of the control program of the digest playback apparatus 10 which is software that realizes the above-described functions so that it can be read by a computer. This recording medium is supplied to the digest reproducing apparatus 10. Thus, the digest playback apparatus 10 (or CPU or MPU) as a computer may read and execute the program code recorded on the supplied recording medium.

  The recording medium that supplies the program code to the digest playback apparatus 10 is not limited to a specific structure or type. That is, the recording medium includes, for example, a tape system such as a magnetic tape and a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk / hard disk, and an optical disk such as a CD-ROM / MO / MD / DVD / CD-R. System, a card system such as an IC card (including a memory card) / optical card, or a semiconductor memory system such as a mask ROM / EPROM / EEPROM / flash ROM.

  Even if the digest playback apparatus 10 is configured to be connectable to a communication network, the object of the present invention can be achieved. In this case, the program code is supplied to the digest playback apparatus 10 via the communication network. The communication network is not limited to a specific type or form as long as it can supply program code to the digest playback apparatus 10. For example, the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, a LAN, an ISDN, a VAN, a CATV communication network, a virtual private network, a telephone line network, a mobile communication network, a satellite communication network, or the like may be used.

  The transmission medium constituting the communication network may be any medium that can transmit the program code, and is not limited to a specific configuration or type. For example, wired communication such as IEEE 1394, USB (Universal Serial Bus), power line carrier, cable TV line, telephone line, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) line, infrared light such as IrDA or remote control, Bluetooth (registered trademark), 802. 11 wireless, HDR, mobile phone network, satellite line, terrestrial digital network, etc. can also be used. The present invention can also be realized in the form of a computer data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program code is embodied by electronic transmission.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be widely used as, for example, a summary playback device that can summarize playback of content recorded in a recording / playback device such as a DVD recorder or an HDD recorder, and that can cope with user viewing conditions.

It is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the summary reproduction | regeneration apparatus concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process at the time of summary reproduction | regeneration by the summary reproduction | regeneration apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. An example of the viewing status of the user acquired by the viewing status acquisition unit is shown. (A)-(c) shows the screen information from which a viewing condition acquisition part acquires viewing condition. (A) shows a summary playback information management table managed by the summary playback management unit, and (b) shows a summary playback history information management table managed by the summary playback management unit. An example of the digest playback mode determined by the digest playback mode determination unit is shown. The mode judgment table which judges summary reproduction mode is shown. The mode judgment table which judges summary reproduction mode is shown. The summary reproduction | regeneration information used at the time of summary reproduction | regeneration in one Embodiment of this invention is shown. The summary reproduction speed correspondence information set by the correspondence between the importance level of each content scene and the summary reproduction mode is shown. The result of acquiring speed information corresponding to the importance of each scene when the summary playback mode according to the present embodiment is the notice mode is shown. (A) shows the structure of each scene in the summary playback target content, and (b) shows the playback start position (seconds) of each scene in (a). (A) shows a state where the summary playback information management table managed by the summary playback management unit is updated, and (b) shows a state where the summary playback history information management table managed by the summary playback management unit is updated. Indicates the state.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Content data input part 2 Scene importance calculation part 3 Accumulation part 4 Summary reproduction history management part 5 Viewing condition acquisition part 6 Summary reproduction mode determination part (determination means)
7 Summary playback section (summary playback means)
8 Control unit 10 Summary playback device

Claims (7)

A summary playback device for summary playback of content,
Determining means for determining a summary playback mode for summary playback of the content from the past summary playback count of the content and a procedure for the user to search for the content;
A summary playback device, comprising: summary playback means for performing summary playback of the content in accordance with the summary playback mode determined by the determination means.   2. The summary playback apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determining means determines the summary playback mode based on a category to which the content belongs in addition to the summary playback count and the procedure.   3. The determination unit according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines the summary reproduction mode based on the date and time when the content was summarized and reproduced in the past in addition to the summary reproduction count, the procedure, and the category. The summary reproduction device described in 1.   The summary playback means weights the content for each scene of the content, and shifts the playback speed for each scene set according to the weight according to the summary playback mode. The summary reproduction device according to any one of? A summary playback method executed by a summary playback device that performs summary playback of content,
A determination step of determining a summary playback mode for summary playback of the content from the past summary playback count of the content and a procedure for the user to search for the content;
A summary reproduction method comprising: summarizing and reproducing the content according to the summary reproduction mode determined by the determining step.   A summary playback program for operating the summary playback device according to claim 1, wherein the summary playback program causes a computer to function as each of the above means.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the summary reproduction program according to claim 6 is recorded.

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