JP2010199711A - Apparatus and method for processing content - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively utilize information relating to characters which are superimposed on images and displayed. <P>SOLUTION: A header removal part 41 removes the header of a PES packet configuring a subtitle stream and generates ES data. A subtitle management decoder 43 and a subtitle sentence decoder 44 perform decomposition into data units which are unit data configuring data supplied from the header removal part 41. A data unit decoder 45 decodes each data unit and generates information relating to subtitles such as various control information. A phonetic transcription discrimination part 46 discriminates whether each of characters included in the subtitle is a phonetic transcription, and adds information indicating whether each of the characters included in the subtitle is a phonetic transcription to the information stored in a subtitle information storage buffer 47. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a content processing apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a content processing apparatus and method that can make more effective use of information related to characters displayed superimposed on an image.

  In recent years, in digital broadcasting, caption information is sent out from a broadcasting station as text information and can be displayed on the receiver side.

  Also, a technique for displaying lyrics in Hiragana, Katakana, English, etc. in a karaoke apparatus has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Furthermore, by removing the subtitles from the video signal and reducing the high frequency components that are disadvantageous when performing video compression coding, it is possible to increase coding efficiency and record higher quality image data. It has also been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

  As a result, subtitles can be recorded independently of video and audio to improve operability by the receiver, and the user can arbitrarily select whether or not to display subtitles during playback. .

JP-A-4-13288 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-300525

  For example, there is no provision in the standard or the like that a special name “shake-kana” should be added to subtitles, but generally a reading kana is given with a considerable frequency.

  Such a pseudonym is also annoying for those who have sufficient reading skills.

However, in the prior art, it was not possible to select not to display the kana. In addition, when subtitle characters are used as content metadata, for example, there is a problem that metadata cannot be generated appropriately because the characters of the kana cannot be specified.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and makes it possible to more effectively utilize information relating to characters displayed superimposed on an image.

  One aspect of the present invention is a subtitle data extracting means for extracting subtitle data composed of characters displayed superimposed on an image of content, a character included in the subtitle based on the extracted subtitle data, and Character information acquisition means for acquiring information representing the size of each character, characters included in the subtitle, and information representing the size of each character, the subtitle includes the character of the kana Based on information indicating the characters included in the subtitles and the sizes of the characters, respectively, when it is determined that the subtitles include characters of the hiragana characters. The content processing apparatus includes a kana information generating unit configured to generate information for specifying a kana character among characters included in the subtitle.

  The hiragana determining means specifies a format indicating whether the subtitle is horizontal writing or vertical writing, and when the subtitle format is horizontal writing, the characters included in the subtitle, and the sizes of the respective characters By determining whether there are two or more types of character heights included in the subtitle based on the information representing the subtitle, it is determined whether or not the subtitle includes a kana character. be able to.

  The phonetic kana information generating means detects a character having the smallest height value specified based on information indicating the size of the character among the characters included in the subtitle as a candidate character of the kana, Of the characters included in the subtitle, the character having the same height as the candidate character can be specified as the character of the kana.

  The fake kana information generating means specifies a format indicating whether the subtitle is horizontal writing or vertical writing, and when the subtitle format is vertical writing, the characters included in the subtitle, and those characters respectively Based on the information indicating the size of the subtitle, it is determined whether or not there are two or more types of character widths included in the subtitle, thereby determining whether or not the subtitle includes a kana character can do.

  The hiragana information generating means detects a character having the smallest width value specified based on information representing the size of the character among the characters included in the subtitle as a candidate character for the hiragana, and Among the characters included in the character, a character having the same width as that of the candidate character can be specified as the character of the furigana.

  A screen display control unit for controlling whether or not to display the characters of the phonetic name specified by the phonetic information generating unit based on preset information may be further provided.

  The apparatus may further comprise metadata generation means for generating metadata of the content based on the caption data and the characters of the phonetic name specified by the phonetic information generation means.

  One aspect of the present invention acquires characters included in the subtitle and information indicating the size of each character based on subtitle data including characters displayed superimposed on the content image, and the subtitle And whether or not the subtitles include the characters of the kana characters based on the information indicating the characters included in the subtitles and the sizes of the characters, and the subtitles include the characters of the kana characters If determined, content including a step of generating information identifying characters of the kana among the characters included in the subtitles based on the characters included in the subtitles and information indicating the sizes of the respective characters It is a processing method.

  In one aspect of the present invention, based on subtitle data composed of characters displayed superimposed on the content image, the characters included in the subtitles and information indicating the sizes of the characters are acquired, Based on the characters included in the subtitles and information indicating the size of each of the characters, it is determined whether or not the subtitles include characters of the kana characters, and the subtitles include the characters of the kana characters Is determined, based on the characters included in the subtitles and information indicating the sizes of those characters, the characters of the phonetic name among the characters included in the subtitles are identified.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the information regarding the character displayed superimposed on an image can be utilized more effectively.

It is a figure which shows the example of the content processing apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the content processing apparatus of FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration example of a caption decoder block in FIG. 2. It is a figure explaining the example of a subtitle. It is a figure which shows the example of the information contained in the PES packet corresponding to the caption shown in FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the example of a phonetic name specification process. It is a flowchart explaining the example of a phonetic kana candidate extraction process. It is a figure explaining another example of a subtitle. It is a figure which shows the example of the information contained in the PES packet corresponding to the caption shown in FIG. And FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a personal computer.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a content processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A content processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is configured as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) recorder, for example, and is connected to a display 2 configured as a television receiver or the like.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the content processing apparatus 1 of FIG.

  The content processing apparatus 1 is configured to record a television broadcast program according to a recording reservation set by a user, for example.

  The content processing apparatus 1 includes a digital broadcast receiving circuit 21 that receives a digital broadcast wave received by an antenna (not shown). Data output from the digital broadcast receiving circuit is supplied to the DEMUX 22 and separated into a video stream, an audio stream, and a subtitle stream by the DEMUX 22.

  The data of the video stream output from the DEMUX 22 is supplied to the video decoder 23, and for example, the data compressed and encoded by the MPEG method is decoded to generate image data. The image data output from the video decoder 23 is temporarily stored in the video storage buffer 24 and output as display plane data at a predetermined timing.

  The display plane output from the video storage buffer 24 is combined with subtitle display data by the combining unit 61 and output to the display 2 as described later. As a result, subtitle characters are superimposed and displayed on the content image as necessary.

  The audio stream data output from the DEMUX 22 is supplied to the audio decoder 26, and for example, the data compressed and encoded by the MPEG method is decoded to generate audio data. The audio data output from the audio decoder 26 is temporarily stored in the audio information storage buffer 27 and output to an audio reproduction device (not shown) at a predetermined timing. Note that the audio reproduction device is provided in the display 2 or the like, for example.

  The subtitle stream data output from the DEMUX 22 is supplied to the subtitle decoder block 40.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration example of the caption decoder block 40 of FIG.

  As shown in the figure, a PES (Packetized Elementary Stream) packet forming the subtitle stream is supplied to the header removing unit 41. The header removing unit 41 removes the header of the PES packet and generates ES (Elementary Stream) data.

  The header removing unit 41 separates ES data into subtitle management data and subtitle sentence data, outputs subtitle management data to the subtitle management decoder 43, and outputs subtitle sentence data to the subtitle sentence decoder 44.

  The caption management decoder 43 decomposes the caption management data supplied from the header removing unit 41 into data units that are unit data constituting the caption management data. The caption sentence decoder 44 decomposes the caption sentence data supplied from the header removing unit 41 into data units that are unit data constituting the caption sentence data.

  The data unit decoder 45 is configured to decode each of the data units supplied from the caption management decoder 43 and the caption sentence decoder 44. For example, a data unit conforming to the ARIB (Association of Radio Industries and Businesses) standard is encoded by an 8-unit code encoding method. The data unit decoder 45 decodes the data unit encoded by 8 units and generates information related to subtitles such as various control information.

  Information related to the caption output from the data unit decoder 45 is stored in the caption information storage buffer 47. Thus, the caption information storage buffer 47 stores bitmap information of each character of the caption, information on the display position of each character, information on the size of each character, and other attribute information.

  Based on the information stored in the caption information storage buffer 47, the kana-kana determination unit 46 determines whether each character included in the subtitle is a kana. The kana-kana determination unit 46 adds information indicating whether each character included in the subtitle is a kana to the information stored in the subtitle information storage buffer 47.

  In the setting information storage buffer 48, information set in advance relating to the pseudonym is stored. In the setting information storage buffer 48, for example, information indicating whether or not to display a pseudonym is stored. Note that the information indicating whether or not to display the kana is assumed to be set in advance by the user, for example.

  Based on the information stored in the setting information storage buffer 48, the display control unit 49 selects and outputs the characters of the kana characters among the characters included in the subtitles. For example, when the information stored in the setting information storage buffer 48 is information indicating that the kana is displayed, the display control unit 49 uses the subtitle information based on the information stored in the subtitle information storage buffer 47. Generates and outputs display data that displays all the characters included in. This display data is combined with the display plane output from the video storage buffer 24 by the combining unit 61 in FIG. 2, so that a subtitle with a pseudonym is displayed on the content image on the screen of the display 2. Become.

  Further, for example, when the information stored in the setting information storage buffer 48 is information indicating that the kana is not displayed, the display control unit 49 is based on the information stored in the caption information storage buffer 47. , Generating and outputting display data for displaying on the screen characters other than the hiragana characters included in the subtitles. The display data is combined with the display plane output from the video storage buffer 24 by the combining unit 61 in FIG. 2, so that the subtitles without the pseudonym are displayed on the content image on the screen of the display 2. Become.

  The meta information control unit 50 converts the information stored in the caption information storage buffer 47 into information for use as metadata and stores the information in the meta information storage buffer 51. For example, the meta information control unit 50 converts character information included in the caption into text information, and stores it in the meta information storage buffer 51 in association with information indicating whether each character is a kana.

  For example, it is assumed that the caption displayed by one PES packet supplied to the caption decoder block 40 is as shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 4, a character string “Today is cold”, a pseudonym attached to “Today”, and a pseudonym attached to “Cold” are shown. In the figure, each square frame surrounding each character is for easy understanding of the size of the character, and the actual subtitle is only the character string “It is cold today” and its kana. It will be displayed.

  The example of FIG. 4 is an example of subtitles when displayed in horizontal writing, and the character string “Today is cold” is displayed in one line.

  The PES packet corresponding to the caption shown in FIG. 4 includes at least information as shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the information regarding the subtitles included in the PES packet is configured by information for specifying each character of the subtitle, the size of each character, and the display position of each character.

  In the example of FIG. 5, “ki”, “yo”, “u”, “now”, “day”,... is described. As shown in the figure, the information related to the subtitles included in the PES packet is the name of the kana (in this case, “ki”, “yo”, “u”, etc.) followed by the kana. Kanji characters (in this case, “now”, “day”, etc.) are described. That is, the kana characters “ki”, “yo”, and “u” are described before “now” and “day” of the kanji to which the kana characters are to be attached. After that, hiragana “ha”, which does not need to be assigned a kana, is described. Then, the kana characters “sa” and “mu” are described before the “kanji” kanji characters to which the kana characters are to be added, and then the hiragana characters “i” that are not required to have the kana characters are described.

  Note that the information as shown in FIG. 5 is stored in the caption information storage buffer 47 when one input PES packet is processed by the header removing unit 41 to the data unit decoder 45.

  In the example of FIG. 5, “18 × 18”, “9 × 18”, and “36 × 36” are described as information on the size of each character (described as “size” in the drawing). For example, the size of the subtitle characters “now”, “day”, “ha”,... Is “36 × 36”, and the size of the character “ki” in the kana is “18 × 18”. The size of the letter “yo” in the swing name is “9 × 18”. Here, regarding the character size, the left side of the multiplication symbol represents the character width (display range in the horizontal direction of the screen), and the right side represents the height of the character (display range in the vertical direction of the screen). For example, a character having a size of “9 × 18” is displayed within a display range configured as a rectangle of 9 pixels in the horizontal direction of the screen and 18 pixels in the vertical direction of the screen. Although the size unit has been described as one pixel here, for example, a predetermined plurality of pixels may be used as the size unit.

  In the example of FIG. 5, the size of the subtitle character is “36” for both width and height. On the other hand, as for the size of the characters of the hiragana characters, the height is all “18”, but the width is “9” and “18”. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the letter “yo” of the kana character is a character that represents a so-called stuttering of the twisted sound, and therefore needs to be expressed smaller than the character that represents the straight sound. The widths of the characters are different. Although not shown in the example of FIG. 4, a character (for example, a character of “tsu”) representing a so-called urgent sound is also a character having a small width.

  As described above, the size of the characters of the hiragana character usually includes the size of the character that represents a direct sound and the size of the character that represents a stuttering sound or a prompt sound. However, although the size of a character representing a stuttering sound, a prompt sound, or the like is smaller than that of a character representing a direct sound, it is not different in height from a character representing a direct sound.

  Therefore, by identifying the height of the character of the hiragana character among the characters included in the subtitle and detecting the character size of the specified height among the characters included in the subtitle, the character of the hiragana character Can be specified.

  Here, an example in which the subtitle is written horizontally has been described, but when the subtitle is written vertically, the character width of the kana character is specified and the character size of the character width specified in the subtitles is specified. By detecting this, it becomes possible to specify the characters of the kana.

  For example, the hiragana discrimination unit 46 shown in FIG. 3 specifies the height or width of the characters of the hiragana based on the information as shown in FIG. Then, based on the information as shown in FIG. 5, the hiragana discrimination unit 46 detects the character of the hiragana by detecting the character with the specified height or width among the characters included in the caption. The character is specified.

  In the example of FIG. 5, “(100, 100)”, “(118, 100)”, “(127, 100)” is displayed as information on the display position of each character (indicated as “position” in the figure). , “(100, 136)”,. Here, the information on the display position of the character is expressed as a coordinate position, the x coordinate represents the display position in the horizontal direction of the screen, and the y coordinate represents the display position in the vertical direction of the screen. Note that the coordinates of the display position represent the position of the lower left point of the rectangular frame corresponding to the character size.

  In the example of FIG. 4, since the characters included in the subtitles are horizontally written characters, the y-coordinate value of the display position of characters such as “now” and “date” shown in FIG. 5 is “136”. It is assumed to be constant. That is, it can be seen that the subtitle characters “It is cold today” are displayed along a virtual straight line (y = 136) in the horizontal direction of the screen.

  In the example of FIG. 4, the characters included in the subtitles are horizontal writing characters, so the characters “ki”, “yo”, “u”, etc., are “now”, “day”. It should be displayed on the characters such as. For this reason, the value of the y coordinate of the display position of the character of the kana shown in FIG. That is, a subtitle character “Today is cold” is displayed along a horizontal virtual line (y = 136) of the screen, and a virtual straight line (y = 100), the character strings of the kana characters “Kyo” and “Sam” are displayed.

  Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6, the kana name identification process by the kana determination unit 46 of FIG. 3 will be described.

  In step S <b> 21, the hiragana discrimination unit 46 reads out and acquires information related to the caption stored in the caption information storage buffer 47. At this time, for example, the information described with reference to FIG. 5 obtained by processing one PES packet through the header removal unit 41 to the data unit decoder 45 is acquired.

  In step S22, the kana-kana determination unit 46 determines whether or not the information related to the subtitles acquired in the process of step S21 is the processing target of the kana-kana specifying process. For example, if the subtitles do not include the kana characters, it is not necessary to specify the kana characters in the first place, so that information regarding the subtitles that do not include the kana characters is not to be processed in step S21. Determined.

  Specifically, the hiragana discrimination unit 46 checks the character size information of the information related to the subtitle acquired in the process of step S21. If the subtitle is written horizontally, there are two or more types of character heights. It is determined whether or not. For example, when the information shown in FIG. 5 is acquired in the process of step S21, the height of the character is “18” or “36”. Therefore, in the process of step S22, the information is It is determined that it is a processing target of the phonetic identification process.

  Here, an example in which the subtitle is written horizontally has been described. However, if the subtitle is written vertically, it may be determined in step S22 whether or not there are two or more types of widths of the characters of the kana. .

  Whether the subtitle is written horizontally or vertically is specified based on, for example, information not shown in FIG. 5 and information indicating the format of the subtitle included in the PES packet.

  Alternatively, whether the subtitle is written horizontally or vertically may be specified based on the information on the display position of each character shown in FIG. For example, in the case of FIG. 5, the y-coordinate values of the display positions of a plurality of characters are the same. For this reason, it can be seen that the subtitle characters “It is cold today” are displayed along a virtual straight line (y = 136) in the horizontal direction of the screen. Similarly, it can be seen that characters of the kana names “Kyo” and “Sam” are displayed along a virtual straight line (y = 100) in the horizontal direction of the screen.

  Thus, when characters are displayed along a virtual straight line in the horizontal direction of the screen, it is possible to specify that the caption is in horizontal writing. On the other hand, when a character is displayed along a virtual straight line in the vertical direction of the screen, it is possible to specify that the caption is vertically written.

  Furthermore, it may be specified whether the subtitle is horizontal writing or vertical writing by a method other than the method described above.

  In step S23, the kana-kana determination unit 46 executes a kana-kana candidate extraction process described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG. As a result, one character that is presumed to be the name of the kana character is extracted as a kana character candidate from the characters included in the subtitles corresponding to the information acquired in step S21.

  In step S <b> 24, the hiragana discrimination unit 46 determines the subtitle format. Here, it is determined whether the subtitle corresponding to the information acquired in step S21 is vertical writing or horizontal writing.

  If it is determined in step S24 that the subtitle is horizontal writing, the process proceeds to step S25. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S24 that the subtitle is vertically written, the process proceeds to step S26.

  In step S25, the hiragana discrimination unit 46 extracts characters having the same height as the characters of the candidate for kana extracted in the process of step S23 from the subtitle characters corresponding to the information acquired in step S21. , Specify the characters of the phonetic kana. As a result, the characters of the kana in the horizontally written subtitle are specified.

  In step S26, the hiragana discrimination unit 46 extracts characters having the same width as the characters of the hiragana candidate extracted in the process of step S23 from the subtitle characters corresponding to the information acquired in step S21. Identified as a phonetic character. As a result, the characters of the kana in the vertically written subtitles are specified.

  If it is determined in step S22 that the information related to the caption obtained in the process of step S21 is not to be processed in the assigned name identification process, the processes in steps S23 to S26 are skipped.

  Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7, a detailed example of the candidate name extraction process in step S23 of FIG. 6 will be described.

  In step S41, the phonetic kana discrimination unit 46 determines the subtitle format. Here, it is determined whether the subtitle corresponding to the information acquired in step S21 is vertical writing or horizontal writing.

  If it is determined in step S41 that the subtitle is horizontal writing, the process proceeds to step S42.

  In step S <b> 42, the kana-kana determination unit 46 checks the character size information in the information acquired in step S <b> 21. Then, the hiragana discrimination unit 46 acquires the height of the first character in the information acquired in step S21.

  In step S43, the kana-kana determination unit 46 sets the first character as a kana-kana candidate character.

  In step S44, the kana-kana determination unit 46 determines whether there is a next character. If it is determined that there is a next character, the process proceeds to step S45.

  In step S45, the phonetic kana discrimination unit 46 checks the character size information in the information acquired in step S21, and acquires the height of the next character.

  In step S46, the kana-kana determination unit 46 compares the height of the character acquired in the process of step S45 with the height of the kana-kana candidate character. In this case, the height of the character acquired in step S45 is compared with the height of the character acquired in step S42. Then, it is determined whether or not the character height value acquired in the process of step S45 is smaller than the character height value of the candidate for kana.

  If it is determined in step S46 that the character height value obtained in step S45 is smaller than the character height value of the candidate name, the process returns to step S43, and the character name of the candidate name Is updated. In this case, instead of the first character, the next character is a candidate for the kana character.

  If it is determined in step S46 that the character height value obtained in step S45 is not smaller than the character height value of the candidate for kana, the process returns to step S44, and further Whether or not there is a character is determined.

  As described above, the processes in steps S43 to S46 are repeatedly executed until it is determined in step S44 that there is no next character.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S41 that the caption is vertically written, the process proceeds to step S47.

  In step S47, the hiragana discrimination unit 46 checks information on the character size in the information acquired in step S21. Then, the hiragana discrimination unit 46 acquires the width of the first character in the information acquired in step S21.

  In step S48, the kana-kana determination unit 46 sets the first character as a kana-kana candidate character.

  In step S49, the hiragana discrimination unit 46 determines whether there is a next character. If it is determined that there is a next character, the process proceeds to step S50.

  In step S50, the phonetic kana discrimination unit 46 checks the character size information in the information acquired in step S21, and acquires the width of the next character.

  In step S51, the phonetic kana discrimination unit 46 compares the character width acquired in the process of step S50 with the character width of the candidate for kana. In this case, the character width acquired in step S50 is compared with the character width acquired in step S47. Then, it is determined whether or not the character width value acquired in step S50 is smaller than the character width value of the candidate for kana.

  If it is determined in step S51 that the character width value obtained in step S50 is smaller than the character width value of the candidate name, the process returns to step S48, and the character of the candidate name is updated. Is done. In this case, instead of the first character, the next character is a candidate for the kana character.

  If it is determined in step S51 that the character width value acquired in step S50 is not smaller than the character width value of the candidate for kana, the process returns to step S49, and further the next character It is determined whether or not there is.

  As described above, the processes in steps S48 to S51 are repeatedly executed until it is determined in step S49 that there is no next character.

  If it is determined in step S44 or step S49 that there is no character, the phonetic kana candidate extraction process ends. As a result, one character of the candidate name is extracted, and the process proceeds to step S24 in FIG.

  In this way, the phonetic pseudonym identification process is executed.

  With reference to FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the kana name specifying process will be described in more detail.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of subtitles displayed by one PES packet supplied to the subtitle decoder block 40. Here, a horizontal subtitle will be described as an example.

  In the example of FIG. 8, a character string “Today is cold or hot”, a pseudonym attached to “Today”, a pseudonym attached to “Cold”, and a pseudonym attached to “Hot” are shown. Has been. In the figure, each square frame surrounding each character is for easy understanding of the size of the character. The actual subtitle is the character string “Today is cold or hot” and its kana. Only will be displayed.

  In this example, the character string “Today is cold” is displayed in one line, and the character string “No hot” is displayed in another line. That is, the caption shown in FIG. 8 is displayed in two lines.

  In FIG. 8, the coordinates of the display position of the character “now” and the coordinates of the display position of the character “KI” are displayed for reference. In this example, the coordinates of the “now” display position are (100, 136), and the coordinates of the “ki” display position are (100, 100). Similarly, for reference, the coordinates of the character “I” on the same line as “Hot” and the coordinates of the display position of the character “A” assigned to “Hot” are displayed. In this example, the coordinates of the display position of “I” are (172, 190), and the coordinates of the display position of “A” are (244, 154). These coordinates are for reference only and are not displayed in actual subtitles.

  It is assumed that the PES packet corresponding to the caption shown in FIG. 8 includes information as shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the information related to the subtitles included in the PES packet is the same as the case described above with reference to FIG. 5, the information specifying each character of the subtitle, the size of each character, and the display of each character. It is configured by position. In the example of FIG. 9, the character size of the character string “Today is cold or hot” is all “36 × 36”, and the character size of the kana is “18 × 18” or “18 × 9”. It is said that.

  Now, it is assumed that information as shown in FIG. 9 has been acquired in step S21 of FIG.

  Since the subtitles in FIG. 8 are written horizontally, it is determined in step S22 whether or not there are two or more types of character heights, and is set as a processing target of the assigned name identification process. Note that the subtitles shown in FIG. 8 display characters along a horizontal virtual line (y = 100, y = 136, y = 154, y = 190) on the screen. Can be specified.

Also, in step S41 in FIG. 7, it is determined that the subtitle is horizontal writing, and in step S42, the height of the first character of the information shown in FIG. 9 is acquired. In this case, the first character is “ki” and its height is 18.

  In step S43, the first character “KI” is set as a candidate for the kana character.

  In step S44, it is determined whether or not there is a next character. Since there is a character “ょ”, it is determined that there is a next character, and the process proceeds to step S45.

  In step S45, the height “18” of the character “yo” is acquired.

  In step S46, the height of the character “「 ”is compared with the height of the character“ KI ”as the candidate for kana. In this case, since the character height is the same, it is determined that the character height value acquired in the process of step S45 is not smaller than the character height value of the candidate for kana.

  Thereafter, the process returns to step S44, and the heights of the letters “U”, “Now”, “Day”,... “Hot”, “I” are checked. However, since the height of each character is “18” or “36”, in step S46, the height value of the character obtained in the processing of step S45 is calculated from the height value of the character of the candidate for kana each time. It is determined that it is not small.

  In this example, since it is not determined in step S46 that the character height of the candidate name is smaller than the height value, the character of the candidate name is not updated in step S43, but the character of the candidate name is actually updated. Sometimes.

  That is, in the example of FIG. 9, since the first character is the character of the kana, there is no need to update the kana character candidate, but when the first character is not the kana character, the kana is based on the determination result of step S46. The candidate character needs to be updated.

  When the process of FIG. 7 is completed, the character of the candidate name is “ki”, and the height of the character of the candidate name is “18”.

  Then, after the processing in FIG. 7 is completed, it is determined in step S24 in FIG. 6 that the caption is in horizontal writing, and the process proceeds to step S25. In step S25, a character having the same height as the character of the candidate name is extracted from the characters in FIG. 9 and specified as the character of the name. In this case, as described above, since the height of the character of the candidate for kana is “18”, the characters “ki”, “yo”, “u”, “a”, “tsu” whose height is “18” are used. "Will be extracted. That is, among the characters shown in FIG. 9, each of the characters indicated by hatching is specified as the character of the kana. In the figure, information indicating whether or not each character included in a caption represented by hatching is a pseudonym may be added as a flag, for example.

  In this way, the characters of the kana are specified, and information indicating whether each of the characters included in the subtitle is a kana is added to the information stored in the subtitle information storage buffer 47. That is, in the information stored in the caption information storage buffer 47 after the processing described above with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7, for example, as shown in FIG. "," U "," a ", and" tsu "can be identified as the characters of the kana.

  As a result, as described above, based on the information stored in the setting information storage buffer 48, it is possible to select and output the kana characters among the characters included in the subtitles. Also, it is possible to convert the information of characters included in the caption into text information and store it in the meta information storage buffer 51 in association with information indicating whether each character is a kana.

  Conventionally, for example, in a karaoke apparatus, displaying lyrics in hiragana, katakana, English, and the like has been performed. Furthermore, by removing the subtitles from the video signal and reducing the high frequency components that are disadvantageous when performing video compression coding, it is possible to increase coding efficiency and record higher quality image data. It has also been done.

  However, for a person with sufficient reading ability, it may seem that the name is awkward if a kana is attached, but generally a subtitle is affixed to the subtitles considerably.

  Further, when subtitle characters are used, for example, as content metadata, there is a problem in that metadata cannot be generated properly unless the characters of the kana are specified.

  In the conventional technology, it is not possible to prevent only the characters of the hiragana characters in the subtitles from being displayed, and it is not possible to specify the characters of the hiragana characters in the subtitles.

  On the other hand, in the present invention, it is possible to specify the characters of the hiragana, so that only the characters of the hiragana in the subtitle can be prevented from being displayed, and the metadata is appropriately generated. You can also.

  The series of processes described above can be executed by hardware, or can be executed by software. When the above-described series of processing is executed by software, a program constituting the software executes various functions by installing a computer incorporated in dedicated hardware or various programs. For example, a general-purpose personal computer 700 as shown in FIG. 10 is installed from a network or a recording medium.

  In FIG. 10, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 701 executes various processes according to a program stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 702 or a program loaded from a storage unit 708 to a RAM (Random Access Memory) 703. To do. The RAM 703 also appropriately stores data necessary for the CPU 701 to execute various processes.

  The CPU 701, ROM 702, and RAM 703 are connected to each other via a bus 704. An input / output interface 705 is also connected to the bus 704.

  The input / output interface 705 includes an input unit 706 including a keyboard and a mouse, a display including an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), an output unit 707 including a speaker, a storage unit 708 including a hard disk, a modem, a LAN, and the like. A communication unit 709 including a network interface card such as a card is connected. The communication unit 709 performs communication processing via a network including the Internet.

  A drive 710 is also connected to the input / output interface 705 as necessary, and a removable medium 711 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or a semiconductor memory is appropriately mounted, and a computer program read from them is loaded. It is installed in the storage unit 708 as necessary.

  When the above-described series of processing is executed by software, a program constituting the software is installed from a network such as the Internet or a recording medium such as a removable medium 711.

  The recording medium shown in FIG. 10 is a magnetic disk (including a floppy disk (registered trademark)) on which a program is recorded, which is distributed to distribute the program to the user separately from the apparatus main body, Removable media consisting of optical discs (including compact disc-read only memory (CD-ROM), DVD (digital versatile disc)), magneto-optical discs (including MD (mini-disc) (registered trademark)), or semiconductor memory It includes not only those configured by 711 but also those configured by a ROM 702 storing a program, a hard disk included in the storage unit 708, and the like that are distributed to the user in a state of being incorporated in the apparatus main body in advance.

  Note that the series of processes described above in this specification includes processes that are performed in parallel or individually even if they are not necessarily processed in time series, as well as processes that are performed in time series in the order described. Is also included.

  The embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  1 content processing device, 2 display, 22 DEMUX, 23 video decoder, 24 video storage buffer, 26 audio decoder, 27 audio information storage buffer, 40 subtitle decoder block, 41 header removal unit, 42 data group decoder, 43 subtitle management decoder, 44 Subtitle sentence decoder 45 Data unit decoder 46 Fake kana discrimination unit 47 Subtitle information storage buffer 48 Setting information storage buffer 49 Display control unit 50 Meta information control unit 51 Meta information storage buffer 61 Composition unit

Claims (8)

Subtitle data extraction means for extracting subtitle data consisting of characters displayed superimposed on the content image;
Character information acquisition means for acquiring information representing the characters included in the subtitles and the sizes of the characters based on the extracted subtitle data;
Based on the characters included in the subtitles and information indicating the size of each of those characters, a hiragana determination unit that determines whether or not the subtitles include characters of the kana characters,
When it is determined that the subtitle includes characters of the hiragana, the hiragana of the characters included in the subtitle based on the characters included in the subtitle and the information indicating the size of each of the characters A content processing apparatus comprising: a pseudonym information generating unit that generates information for specifying the character. The fake kana determination unit specifies a format indicating whether the subtitle is horizontal writing or vertical writing,
When the subtitle format is horizontal writing, whether or not there are two or more types of character heights included in the subtitles based on the characters included in the subtitles and information indicating the sizes of the respective characters. The content processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content processing apparatus determines whether or not the subtitle includes a kana character. The fake kana information generating means
Among the characters included in the subtitles, the character having the smallest height value specified based on the information indicating the size of the character is detected as a candidate character for the kana,
The content processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein among the characters included in the subtitle, a character having a value that is the same height as the candidate character is specified as the character of the kana. The furigana information generating means specifies a format indicating whether the subtitle is horizontal writing or vertical writing,
If the format of the subtitle is vertical writing, whether or not there are two or more types of character widths included in the subtitle based on the information included in the subtitles and the information indicating the size of each character. The content processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content processing apparatus determines whether or not the subtitle includes a kana character. The fake kana information generating means
Among the characters included in the subtitles, the character having the smallest width value specified based on the information indicating the size of the character is detected as a candidate character for the kana,
The content processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, among the characters included in the subtitle, a character having a value having the same width as the candidate character is specified as the character of the furigana. The content processing according to claim 1, further comprising: a screen display control unit that controls whether or not to display a screen of the characters of the phonetic name specified by the phonetic information generation unit based on preset information. apparatus. The content processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: metadata generation means for generating metadata of the content based on the caption data and the characters of the phonetic name specified by the phonetic information generation means. Based on the caption data consisting of the characters displayed superimposed on the content image, the characters included in the caption, and information representing the size of each of those characters is obtained,
Based on the characters included in the subtitles and information indicating the size of each of those characters, it is determined whether the subtitles include characters of the kana,
If it is determined that the subtitle includes characters of the hiragana, the hiragana of the characters included in the subtitle based on the characters included in the subtitle and the information indicating the size of each of the characters The content processing method including the step which produces | generates the information which pinpoints the character of.

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