JP2012018488A - Information processor, information processing method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor for managing contents that can create information indicating association between the contents and can manage the association between the contents.SOLUTION: A file name including a first character string common among files set as mutually associated files in a managed file group and a second character string different among the files set as mutually associated files in the managed file group is associated with a file so as to manage the file in a memory. Information specifying the file managed in the memory is received from a client device. A file associated with a file name including the first character string common to the file name associated with the file specified by the information is retrieved from the file group in the memory. Information specifying the file retrieved by retrieval means is created and the created information is transmitted to the client device.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for providing information related to content of an information processing apparatus to an external apparatus.

  In recent years, attention has been focused on sharing contents such as images, moving images, and sounds between devices by interconnecting the devices in a home network, for example. In order to share content, standard communication standards such as UPnP (Universal Plug And Play) and UPnP-based DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) are used. In these standards, a method is defined in which a device (providing device) having content transmits content to another device (acquiring device). In addition, a method for transmitting information (content information) related to the contents of the providing apparatus to the acquisition apparatus is also defined.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a server that can transmit information indicating an executable service to a client. The information transmitted by the server according to Patent Document 1 includes information indicating the URL for starting each executable service. As described above, the server described in Patent Literature 1 can provide information on services.

Japanese Patent No. 4241680

  Content on the network may be interrelated. For example, image data and audio data may be acquired at the same time, and it can be said that they are mutually related. In such a case, an acquisition device that has acquired a certain content may need to acquire other content related to that content. Therefore, when the providing device provides content or provides content information, it is advantageous to transmit information specifying other related content.

  However, in the method of Patent Document 1, although the service activation URL is included in the executable service information and can be transmitted, information indicating the relationship between a plurality of services cannot be provided. Furthermore, in the conventional method, when the acquisition apparatus transmits other contents related to the content of the providing apparatus to the providing apparatus and stores them, the providing apparatus cannot store the two contents in association with each other.

  The present invention provides a technique for generating information indicating a relationship between contents in an information processing apparatus that manages the contents. In order to achieve this object, a technology is provided in which an information processing apparatus that manages content manages the relationship between the contents.

In order to achieve the object of the present invention, for example, an information processing apparatus of the present invention comprises the following arrangement. That is,
An information processing apparatus for managing a file group in a memory,
A first character string that is common among files set as mutually related files in a group of managed files, and a second character string that is different between the files set as the mutually related files, , Management means for managing the file in the memory by associating the file name including the file,
Accepting means for accepting information identifying a file managed in the memory from a client device;
When the information from the client device is detected, a file associated with the file name including the first character string in common with the file name associated with the file specified by the information is stored in the memory. A search means for searching from a group of files,
And a transmission unit configured to generate information for specifying the file searched by the search unit and to transmit the generated information to the client device.

  In an information processing apparatus that manages content, it is possible to generate information indicating the relationship between the contents. In addition, an information processing apparatus that manages content can manage the relationship between the contents.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a system including a content providing apparatus 20 according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of a content providing apparatus 20 according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram as an example of a content providing apparatus 20 according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a file management system according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of content information according to the first embodiment. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing according to the first embodiment. The figure which shows the message which the content provision apparatus 20 which concerns on Example 2 exchanges. FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram as an example of a content providing apparatus 20 according to the second embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the content information contained in a content addition preparation request. The figure which shows an example of the content information after the content addition based on Example 2. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of content addition preparation processing according to the second embodiment. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of content addition processing according to the second embodiment.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following examples.

  The information processing apparatus (content providing apparatus) according to this embodiment manages a file group (content group) in a memory. The content providing apparatus according to the present embodiment may be anything as long as it can provide content to other apparatuses. For example, the content providing apparatus according to the present embodiment can be a server. In particular, the content providing apparatus according to the present embodiment may be a digital media server (DMS: Digital Media Server).

  The content providing apparatus according to the present embodiment can accumulate content. In addition, the content providing apparatus according to the present embodiment can provide content to a client apparatus (content acquisition apparatus) via a network. Furthermore, the content providing apparatus according to the present embodiment can also provide content information related to content to a client apparatus (content acquisition apparatus) via a network.

  In this embodiment, the content can refer to arbitrary data, and includes, for example, an image, sound, a moving image, a document, and the like. In the present embodiment, content information refers to arbitrary information related to content. The content information can include a content file name, a content creation date, a content update date, a content creator, a content type, and the like. The content information can also include information for specifying content in the content providing apparatus, for example, content ID.

  In the above-mentioned DLNA, a mechanism in which DMS provides content and content information is defined. There is a camera device as an example of the DMS. The camera device can provide the content of the camera device to another device such as a computer or a television. In general, a camera device stores and manages captured images and recorded sounds in accordance with a camera file system (design rule for camera file system, DCF: Design rule for Camera File System).

  The content providing apparatus according to the present embodiment can store and manage content according to DCF. Content is stored and managed as files. The DCF will be described in detail with reference to FIG. A file management system according to DCF has a root directory 401 of the entire system. The root directory 401 includes a DCF image root directory 402. The DCF image root directory 402 is a root directory for a directory in which image files are stored.

  The DCF image root directory 402 includes a directory 403 for storing image files. Although only one directory 403 is shown in FIG. 4, the DCF image root directory 402 may include a plurality of directories 403. The directory 403 includes files 404 to 406.

  Each of the files 404 to 406 is associated with a file name. This file name includes a name (first character string) and an extension (second character string). For example, the file 404 is associated with a file name (IMG — 0001.JPG). In the DCF file system, the file name includes a 4-digit number. This number is called the DCF file number. In this embodiment, the DCF file number is considered as “name”. Therefore, it is considered that the names match when the DCF file numbers match. However, “IMG — 0001” may be considered as the name of the character string before the period, for example, the file 404 in the file name.

  In addition, a character string after the period in the file name, for example, “JPG” for the file 404 is called “extension”. The extension indicates the type of file associated with the file name. For example, “JPG” can refer to an image file in JPEG format. “WAV” may refer to a WAVE audio file. The association between the extension and the file type may follow a well-known rule. Further, for example, the content providing apparatus may have information that associates the extension with the file type. This association information can also be disclosed by the content providing apparatus.

  In the present embodiment, each file set as a file associated with each other is associated with a file name including a common name among the files. For example, the file name of the file 404 and the file name of the file 405 include a common name “0001”. Thus, based on the file name, it can be determined whether or not the files are related to each other. In addition, each file set as a file related to each other is associated with extensions different from each other. Each file can be identified by a combination of a name and an extension.

  In the DCF file system, DCF file groups having the same DCF file number in the same directory constitute one DCF object. One DCF object includes image files, audio files, and the like related to each other. The DCF object is composed of a DCF basic file, a DCF extended image file, and a DCF thumbnail file.

  The DCF basic file is usually an image file. In particular, the DCF basic file is usually an image file in JPEG format. The DCF extended image file is a file associated with the DCF basic file. The DCF extended image file includes, for example, an audio file. The DCF thumbnail file includes a DCF basic file and a thumbnail image of a DCF extended image file.

  When the image file captured by the imaging device is a DCF basic file, an audio file recorded at the same time as imaging can be used as a DCF extended image file. By managing the DCF basic file and the DCF extended image file as one DCF object, the DCF extended image file can be associated with the DCF basic file.

  For example, the file 404 and the file 405 have the same DCF file number. Therefore, the file 404 and the file 405 constitute one DCF object. Of these, the file 404 whose file name includes the extension “JPG” can be a DCF basic file. A file 405 that does not include the extension “JPG” in the file name can be a DCF extension file. The file 406 also constitutes a single DCF object. Similar to the file 404, the file 406 is a DCF basic file.

  The content providing apparatus having the DMS function can transmit the requested content when detecting a content acquisition request from the content acquisition apparatus. Further, the content providing apparatus having the DMS function can transmit the requested content information when detecting the content information acquisition request from the content acquisition apparatus. The content providing apparatus according to the DCF can have a plurality of directories. And the content provision apparatus according to DCF can manage a content in any directory.

  The content information acquisition request may be a request for content information regarding any content in the content providing apparatus. Further, the content information acquisition request may request content information for each of the contents managed in any directory in the content providing apparatus.

  The content providing apparatus according to the present embodiment can operate according to the DLNA standard. A content providing apparatus according to the DLNA standard can provide content information in DIDL-Lite (Digital Item Description Language-Lite) format. The DIDL-Lite format is defined by DLNA / UPnP.

  The memory used by the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment for managing content may be a memory included in the information processing apparatus. This memory can be, for example, a RAM, a hard disk, a memory card, a flash memory, or the like. The memory may be installed at a location physically separated from the information processing apparatus. In this case, the information processing apparatus can access the memory through a communication line.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of content information in DIDL-Lite format according to the present embodiment. Specifically, content information about each of the files 404 to 406 included in the directory 403 in FIG. 4 is shown. The content information 501 shown in FIG. 5 includes an item element 502, an item element 503, and an item element 504. The item element 502 corresponds to the file 404, the item element 503 corresponds to the file 405, and the item element 504 corresponds to the file 406. As described above, content information for only the file 404 may be generated. In this case, the content information 501 will include only the item element 502.

  The item element 502 includes an id attribute, a parent attribute, and a relationID attribute. The id attribute is a unique identifier indicating this item element. For example, the id attribute can be used to identify one file 404 in the DCF file system of FIG. The id attribute can be, for example, a file path name. For example, the value of the id attribute for the file 404 in FIG. 4 may be “Root / DCIM / 100ABCD / IMG — 0001.JPG”. Further, the DCF file system of FIG. 4 may have a table that associates the value of the id attribute with the file specified by the value of the id attribute.

  The parentID attribute is a unique identifier for indicating a parent directory including the content indicated by the item element. Specifically, the parentID attribute included in the item element 502 indicates the DCF directory 403. The relationID attribute is a unique identifier for indicating related content related to the content indicated by the item element.

  For example, the file 404 corresponding to the item element 502 and the file 405 corresponding to the item element 503 are included in the same DCF object. Therefore, the content managed as the file 404 and the content managed as the file 405 are content associated with each other. Therefore, the value of the relationID attribute included in the item element 502 can specify the file 405. More specifically, the value of the relationID attribute included in the item element 502 can match the value of the id attribute of the item element 503 corresponding to the file 405.

  Similarly, the value of the relationID attribute in the item element 503 corresponding to the file 405 can match the value of the id attribute of the item element 502 corresponding to the file 404. On the other hand, in the item element 504 corresponding to the file 406, the relationID attribute has no value. This is because the file 406 alone constitutes a DCF object, and there is no content associated with the file 406. Further, the item element 502 includes a dc: title element and an upnp: class element. The dc: title element indicates the name of the content. The upnp: class element indicates the type of content.

  Below, the detailed structural example of the content provision apparatus 20 which concerns on a present Example is demonstrated. FIG. 1 shows an example of a content providing system provided with the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment. A LAN (Local Area Network) 10 is a communication line that connects the content providing device 20 and the content acquisition device 30. The LAN 10 according to the present embodiment can be a home network. Further, the LAN in the present embodiment may be a wired LAN or a wireless LAN (Wireless LAN). The communication line connecting the content providing device 20 and the content acquisition device 30 is not limited to the LAN. For example, instead of a LAN, a communication line such as a WAN (Wide Area Network), an ad hoc network, Bluetooth (registered trademark), ZIGBEE (registered trademark), or UWB (Ultra Wide Band) may be used.

  The content providing apparatus 20 is a content providing apparatus in the home network in the present embodiment via the LAN 10. Further, the content acquisition device 30 acquires content and content information from the content providing device 20 via the LAN 10. Specifically, the content acquisition device 30 requests content or content information from the content providing device 20. When the content request is acquired, the content providing apparatus 20 transmits content or content information to the content acquisition apparatus 30. The content providing apparatus 20 stores content as a file. Therefore, the content acquisition apparatus 30 may request a file corresponding to the content instead of requesting the content.

  In the present embodiment, the content providing apparatus 20 may have a function as a DMS in DLNA. In particular, the content providing device 20 can provide a content directory service (CDS) in the DMS. With the CDS, the content providing apparatus 20 can provide a list of contents that the content providing apparatus 20 has. Further, the content providing device 20 can search for the content requested by the content acquisition device 30 and provide it to the content acquisition device 30.

  The content providing device 20 can be, for example, a camera device or a PC device. The content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment is assumed to be an apparatus having a DMS function in DLNA. However, a device that provides other content and content information can also be used as the content providing device 20. A combination of a device that provides content and a device that provides content information can also be used as the content providing device 20.

  The content acquisition device 30 according to the present embodiment can acquire content via a home network. The content acquisition device 30 can acquire content and content information from the content providing device 20 via the LAN 10. The content acquisition device 30 can be, for example, a digital media controller (DMC, Digital Media Controller) or a digital media player (DMP, Digital Media Player). A device having a function of acquiring content and a device having a function of acquiring content information can be combined to be used as the content acquisition device 30 according to the present embodiment.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment. The content providing apparatus 20 can be a computer, for example, as shown in FIG. For example, a workstation, a desktop computer (PC), a notebook PC, a palmtop PC, or the like can be used as the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment. Furthermore, a terminal having a communication function with another network control device can be used as the content providing device 20. For example, a home appliance such as a television having a communication function, a camera having a communication function, a game machine having a communication function, a mobile phone, or a PHS, and a combination thereof may be used as the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment. it can.

  A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201 controls the entire content providing apparatus 20. A ROM (Read Only Memory) 202 can store programs such as firmware or parameters. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 203 can temporarily store, for example, a program or data acquired via the external storage device 204 or the LAN interface 205.

  The external storage device 204 can be a storage medium that can store a program or data, or a drive that can access the storage medium. The external storage device 204 includes, for example, a hard disk or an SSD (Solid State Drive). The external storage device 204 can read / write data from / to a storage medium such as a memory card, an optical disk such as a flexible disk (FD) or a compact disk (CD), a magnetic card, an optical card, or an IC card. The LAN interface 205 can perform communication control necessary for connecting the content providing apparatus 20 to the LAN 10. A system bus 206 connects the units 201 to 205 included in the content providing apparatus 20. The units 201 to 205 included in the content providing apparatus 20 can communicate with each other via the system bus 206.

  The CPU 201 can execute each function included in the content providing apparatus 20 by executing a computer program stored in the ROM 202 or the RAM 203. This program can be acquired via the external storage device 204 or the LAN interface 205 under the control of the CPU 201. In addition, this program can be stored in the RAM 203 under the control of the CPU 201. The hardware configuration provided in the content providing apparatus 20 has been described above. The content acquisition device 30 can also have the same configuration as the content providing device 20.

  Next, the function of the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment. The communication control unit 301 performs communication control for connecting the content providing apparatus 20 and the LAN 10. The SSDP processing unit 302 performs processing for enabling discovery of UPnP devices on the LAN 10.

  For example, the SSDP processing unit 302 receives a simple service discovery protocol (SSDP) packet from the communication control unit 301. The SSDP processing unit 302 performs SSDP processing defined by UPnP. Through the SSDP process, the content providing apparatus 20 can advertise to the other DLNA apparatuses on the LAN 10 including the content acquisition apparatus 30 that the content providing apparatus 20 exists on the LAN 10 as the DMS. This can be done by using an alive message in SSDP.

  Further, the content providing apparatus 20 can discover other UPnP services on the LAN 10 by SSDP processing. Furthermore, the content providing apparatus 20 can make another DLNA apparatus discover a UPnP service by making a response. In the present embodiment, SSDP processing is used, but the above-described functions can also be realized using other means. For example, Web Services Dynamic Discovery can be used. Furthermore, a media access control (MAC) address or the like can be used.

  The SOAP processing unit 303 can exchange messages and data with a device on the LAN 10, for example, the content acquisition device 30. For example, the SOAP processing unit 303 receives a simple object access protocol (SOAP) packet from the communication control unit 301. The SSDP processing unit 302 performs a SOAP process defined by UPnP. By the SOAP processing, the content providing apparatus 20 can make a processing request to another apparatus. Further, the content providing apparatus 20 can accept and respond to a processing request from another apparatus by the SOAP processing.

  In particular, the SOAP processing unit 303 can receive a content transmission request from the content acquisition device 30. Furthermore, the SOAP processing unit 303 can receive a transmission request for content information from the content acquisition device 30. The content acquisition device 30 can acquire content information related to the content by sending information specifying the content of the storage unit 311 (memory) of the content providing device 20 to the content providing device 20. Specifically, the SOAP processing unit 303 can transmit a response to the request from the content acquisition device 30 to the content acquisition device 30.

  For example, the content acquisition device 30 can send information specifying the file 404 shown in FIG. 4 to the content providing device 20 as the content. Then, the content acquisition device 30 can acquire content information regarding the content managed as the file 404. Further, the content acquisition apparatus 30 can also acquire content information regarding the files 404 to 406 in the directory 403 by sending information specifying the directory 403 shown in FIG. As described above, the content acquisition device 30 can also send information specifying all of the files in the directory to the content providing device 20.

  In this embodiment, messages are exchanged using SOAP processing. However, messages may be exchanged using means for executing a remote object, such as a remote procedure call (RPC). Also, other protocols can be used for transferring data (contents). For example, a hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) can be used. Furthermore, a file transfer protocol (FTP) can also be used.

  The GENA processing unit 304 can add an event to another DLNA device on the LAN 10. In addition, it is possible to subscribe to events of UPnP services possessed by other DLNA devices. For example, the GENA processing unit 304 can perform general event notification architecture (GENA) processing from the communication control unit 301. In the present embodiment, GENA processing is used, but other means such as web service eventing (WS-Eventing) and web service notification (WS-Notification) can also be used.

  The control unit 305 controls each unit included in the content providing apparatus 20. The storage unit 311 stores content as a file. The storage unit 311 can also store content information. The DCF management unit 306 manages the files stored in the storage unit 311 (management unit). In this embodiment, a file system conforming to DCF is used to manage files. The storage unit 311 can be realized using a storage area in the external storage device 204, for example.

  When receiving a request from the content acquisition apparatus 30, the information generation unit 307 can generate transmission data and transmit the transmission data to the content acquisition apparatus 30. For example, the information generation unit 307 can create transmission data including content in response to a request from the content acquisition device 30 received by the SOAP processing unit 303. Further, the information generation unit 307 can transmit the created transmission data to the content acquisition device 30.

  Furthermore, the information generation unit 307 can create transmission data including content information in response to a request from the content acquisition device 30 received by the SOAP processing unit 303. Then, the information generation unit 307 can transmit the created transmission data to the content acquisition device 30. In particular, the information generation unit 307 can create content information about the content specified in the request from the content acquisition device 30.

  Specifically, for example, the information generation unit 307 can inquire of the DCF management unit 306 about information regarding the content specified in the request from the content acquisition device 30. The information generation unit 307 generates content information in DIDL-Lite format based on the information acquired from the DCF management unit 306. In this embodiment, the information generation unit uses content information in DIDL-Lite format. However, other means such as Atom Syndication Format can be used.

  In the present embodiment, the content information generated by the information generation unit 307 is further processed by the association determination unit 309 and the association addition unit 310. The content information processed by the association determination unit 309 and the association addition unit 310 is transmitted to the content acquisition device 30 via the communication control unit 301 by the information generation unit 307. The type determination unit 308 can determine whether the content is a DCF basic file or a DCF extended image file. For example, the type determination unit 308 can determine whether the content specified in the request from the content acquisition device 30 is a DCF basic file or a DCF extended image file.

  The association determination unit 309 searches for a file having a file name including a common name with the file name of the content specified in the request from the content acquisition device 30 (search means). For example, the association determining unit 309 inquires of the DCF management unit 306 whether such a file exists in the storage unit 311. In this way, the association determination unit 309 can find a file having a file name including a common name with the file name of the content specified in the request from the content acquisition device 30.

  For example, it is assumed that content information regarding the file 404 is requested from the content acquisition device 30. In this case, the association determination unit 309 inquires of the DCF management unit 306 whether there is a file having a file name including a name common to the name “0001” of the file 404. In particular, the relationship determination unit 309 can inquire whether a file having a file name including a name common to the file 404 name “0001” exists in the same directory 403 as the file 404.

  In the storage unit 311, there is a file having a file name “IMG — 0001.WAV” including a common name with the name “0001” of the file 404. Accordingly, the DCF management unit 306 indicates to the association determination unit 309 that the file name of the file 405 indicated by the path “Root / DCIM / 100ABCD / IMG — 0001.WAV” includes a common name with the file name of the file 404. You can be notified.

  The association adding unit 310 creates information for specifying the file searched by the association determining unit 309. Alternatively, the association adding unit 310 may create information for specifying content configured by the file searched by the association determining unit 309. When the file searched by the association determining unit 309 is the file 405, the information specifying the file 405 can be, for example, the path “Root / DCIM / 100ABCD / IMG — 0001.WAV” of the file 405. Further, the information specifying the file 405 may be the ID “BBB” of the file 405 as indicated by the item element 503. In this embodiment, the association between the file ID and the path name can be managed by the DCF management unit 306.

  Then, the association adding unit 310 adds information specifying the file searched by the association determining unit 309 to the content information generated by the information generating unit 307. For example, the association adding unit 310 can add information specifying the file searched by the association determining unit 309 to the relationID attribute of the content information 501 generated by the information generating unit 307.

  In the example of FIG. 4, a file having a file name including a name common to the file 404 is a file 405. Therefore, the association adding unit 310 can add the ID “BBB” that identifies the file 405 to the relationID attribute of the item element 502 for the file 404. On the other hand, there is no file having a file name including the name common to the file 406. Therefore, the association adding unit 310 does not add a value to the relationID attribute of the item element 504 for the file 406.

  When there is no file having a file name including a name common to the name of the file of interest, the association adding unit 310 may delete the relationID attribute. Further, when there are two or more files having a file name including a name common to the name of the file of interest, the association adding unit 310 may add two or more values to the relationID attribute. The content information processed by the association determination unit 309 and the association addition unit 310 is transmitted to the content acquisition device 30 by the information generation unit 307 as described above (transmission means).

  The association adding unit 310 adds information for specifying the file searched by the association determining unit 309 to the content information generated by the information generating unit 307. However, the association adding unit 310 may send the information specifying the file (content) searched by the association determining unit 309 to the content acquisition apparatus 30 as it is. In this case, the content acquisition device 30 can know a file (content) related to the content specified in the request. Accordingly, the content acquisition device 30 can subsequently request the content providing device 20 for a file (content) related to the content specified in the request.

  Next, processing performed by the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 6 shows processing when the content providing apparatus 20 receives a request for content information from the content acquisition apparatus 30. In step S601, the SOAP processing unit 303 receives a content information transmission request from the content acquisition device 30 on the LAN 10 (accepting unit). For example, the SOAP processing unit 303 receives a Browse action defined in the CDS from the content acquisition device 30. In this transmission request, the content for which information is requested is specified. When a plurality of contents (files) are specified, the content providing apparatus 20 repeats the processing from step S602 onward for each content.

  In step S <b> 602, the control unit 305 inquires of the DCF management unit 306 about information related to the content (hereinafter referred to as a target file) specified in the content information transmission request. The DCF management unit 306 refers to the storage unit 311 and transmits information related to the file of interest to the information generation unit 307. In step S <b> 603, the information generation unit 307 generates content information according to the information received from the DCF management unit 306. For example, when content information for all files in the directory 403 is requested, the information generation unit 307 generates a portion excluding the value of the relationID attribute from the content information 501 shown in FIG.

  In step S605, the association determination unit 309 acquires the DCF file number of the file of interest. In step S606, the association determination unit 309 determines whether a file having a DCF file number that matches the DCF file number of the file of interest exists. If it exists, the process proceeds to step S607. If not, the process proceeds to step S611.

  In step S607, the association adding unit 310 adds information for specifying a file having a DCF file number matching the DCF file number of the file of interest (hereinafter referred to as a related file) to the content information generated in step S603. In step S <b> 611, the SOAP processing unit 303 transmits content information to the content acquisition device 30. For example, the SOAP processing unit 303 may transmit content information to the content acquisition device 30 as a response to the Browse action specified in the CDS.

  As described above, when content information is requested from the content acquisition device 30 on the LAN 10, the content providing device 20 can add information indicating the relationship between the content to the content information. Therefore, the content acquisition device 30 acquires content information including information indicating the relevance between the contents.

  According to this embodiment, when the content acquisition device 30 acquires content information about a certain content from the content providing device 20, it can know that there is content related to the content. This leads to an improvement in user convenience. For example, when the content acquisition device 30 searches for image content, related audio content can be found at the same time. In this case, the content acquisition device 30 can reproduce the image content and the audio content in combination. This can improve the user experience.

  According to the present embodiment, the content providing apparatus 20 can transmit information specifying a file (related file) related to the file of interest when the content information about the file of interest is requested. However, the content providing apparatus 20 can also transmit a related file when content information about the file of interest is requested.

  Further, in another embodiment, the content providing apparatus 20 transmits the information specifying the related file not only when the content information is requested. For example, the content acquisition apparatus 30 may request the content providing apparatus 20 for information specifying a file related to the file of interest. Further, when the content providing apparatus 20 is requested to transmit the target file, the content providing apparatus 20 may transmit information specifying the related file together with the target file. In this case, the content providing apparatus 20 may transmit a related file together with the file of interest.

[Modification of Example 1]
In the first embodiment, the same processing is performed when the target file is a DCF basic file and when the target file is a DCF extended image file. However, different processing may be performed when the target file is a DCF basic file and when the target file is a DCF extended image file.

  For example, in the first embodiment, information specifying a related DCF extended image file is added to the content information of the DCF basic file. In addition, information specifying a related DCF basic file is added to the content information of the DCF extended image file. However, such information can be added only to the DCF basic file.

  This can be realized by adding a step of determining whether or not the file of interest is a DCF basic file after step S603. In this case, if the file of interest is a DCF basic file, the process proceeds to step S605. If the file of interest is not a DCF basic file, the process proceeds to step S611. In this case, a one-way relationship from the DCF basic file to the DCF extended image file is added to the content information.

  For example, the content acquisition apparatus 30 may play back sound associated with an image while the image is being displayed. In such a case, it is sufficient if the content information of the DCF basic file including the image includes information for specifying the DCF extended image file including the sound. Therefore, when creating content information for a DCF extended image file, steps S605 to S607 in FIG. 6 can be omitted. Thus, the response speed to the content information transmission request from the content acquisition device 30 can be improved.

  Further, when the file of interest is a DCF extended image file, both a related DCF basic file and other related DCF extended image files may exist. In such a case, the content information about the file of interest can include information for specifying all related files. On the other hand, it is also possible to include only information for specifying the related DCF basic file in the content information about the file of interest. Furthermore, when the target file is neither a DCF basic file nor a DCF extended image file, steps S605 to S607 in FIG. 6 can be omitted.

  Hereinafter, Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment has the same function as that of the first embodiment. In addition, the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment is connected to the content acquisition apparatus 30 having the same function as that of the first embodiment via the LAN 10. The content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment can store the content transmitted from the content acquisition apparatus 30. In particular, the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment can execute the content addition preparation function defined in the CDS. For example, the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment can perform a CreateObject action.

  Further, the content acquisition apparatus 30 according to the present embodiment can store the content in the content providing apparatus 20 by transmitting the content to the content providing apparatus 20. For example, the content acquisition apparatus 30 according to the present embodiment can transmit a content addition preparation request and a content addition request to the content providing apparatus 20.

  The content providing apparatus 20 and the content acquisition apparatus 30 according to the present embodiment can be realized using the same hardware as that of the first embodiment. For example, the content providing apparatus 20 and the content acquisition apparatus 30 according to the present embodiment can be realized using the hardware configuration illustrated in FIG.

  Next, functions of the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG. The same functions as those described in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. Explanation of these functions is omitted. Further, FIG. 8 does not illustrate the processing units 307 to 310 described in the first embodiment. The content providing apparatus according to the present embodiment can include these processing units 307 to 310. That is, the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment can also exhibit the functions described in the first embodiment. On the other hand, the content providing apparatus according to the present embodiment may not include these processing units 307 to 310. That is, it is not essential for the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment to exhibit the functions described in the first embodiment.

  The extraction unit 807 extracts content information included in the content addition preparation request. This content addition preparation request is transmitted from the content acquisition device 30 and acquired by the SOAP processing unit 303. This content addition preparation request can be, for example, a CreateObject action request defined in CDS. Further, the content information included in the content addition preparation request may be content information in the DIDL-Lite format shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, in the content addition preparation request, it is possible to request that the second file (second content) be registered in the content providing apparatus 20. At this time, the second file (second content) is registered in the content providing apparatus 20 as a file (content) related to the first file (first content) managed by the content providing apparatus 20. You can request that.

  An example of content information included in the content addition preparation request will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 shows content information 901 in DIDL-Lite format. Each item and element included in the content information 901 indicates the same information as the content information 501. As an example, a case where a related file 407 (not shown) is registered with respect to the file 406 in FIG. 4 will be described. File 407 is an audio file. The file 407 is registered as a DCF extended image file in association with the file 406, which is a DCF basic file.

  The content information 901 includes an item element 902 that indicates content information about the file 407 that is to be registered in the content providing apparatus 20. Since the file 407 has not yet been registered in the content providing apparatus, the id attribute has no value. In the parentID attribute, a directory in which the file 407 is to be registered can be specified. According to the item element 902, the file 407 is registered in the directory 403 of FIG.

  In the relationID attribute, information (relevance information) for specifying the related file 406 (related content) with which the file 407 is associated is set. Specifically, a unique identifier indicating a related file may be designated. As described in the first embodiment, this identifier may be a path name of the related file 406. Further, it may be the value of the id attribute for the related file 406 managed by the DCF file system. In the dc: title element, an arbitrary character string can be specified as the name of the file 407.

  The information presence determination unit 808 determines whether or not the content information 901 extracted by the extraction unit 807 includes relevance information that specifies related content. For example, the information presence determination unit 808 can determine whether or not the relationID attribute of the item element 902 exists. The information presence determination unit 808 can determine whether or not a value is included in the relationID attribute. The information presence determination unit 808 can extract relevance information from the content information 901.

  The content presence determination unit 809 determines whether or not the content (related content) indicated by the relevance information extracted by the information presence determination unit 808 exists in the content providing apparatus 20. For example, the content presence determination unit 809 can make an inquiry to the DCF management unit 306 as to whether or not related content exists in the content providing apparatus 20. Further, the content presence determination unit 809 can inquire whether the related content is a DCF basic file or a DCF extended image file.

  The DCF storage control unit 810 requests the DCF management unit 306 to store the content acquired from the content acquisition device 30 in the storage unit 311 in association with the related content. In this embodiment, the file 407 is stored in association with the file 406. Therefore, the DCF storage control unit 810 first acquires the DCF file number of the file 406. Next, the DCF storage control unit 810 creates a file name having a DCF file number common to the file 406 as the file name of the file 407. Then, the DCF storage control unit 810 requests the DCF management unit 306 to store the created file name in the storage unit 311 in association with the file 407.

  According to the description “object.item.audioItem.musictrack” in the upnp: class element of the content information 901, it can be seen that the file 407 is audio data in the WAVE format. Therefore, the DCF storage control unit 810 can set the extension of the file name of the file 407 to “WAV”. As a result, the file 407 having the file name “IMG — 0002.WAV” is stored as a DCF extended image file in the directory 403 of FIG. The file 406 and the file 407 constitute one DCF object in the directory 403.

  The description in the upnp: class element indicates the file type. As described above, for example, the content providing apparatus 20 may have the information that associates the file document with the extension. Further, the content information 901 may include information for associating a file document with an extension.

  FIG. 10 shows an example of content information provided by the content providing apparatus 20 after the file 407 is stored in the content providing apparatus 20 as described above. The content information 1101 includes item elements 502, 503, 1104, and 1105. The item elements 502 and 503 in FIG. 10 correspond to the item elements 502 and 503 in FIG.

  The item element 1104 is information about the file 406 and is different from the item element 504 in that the relationID attribute includes a value. In this example, since there is a file 407 having a file name including a name that matches the file 406, information specifying the file 407 exists as the value of the relationID attribute. In FIG. 10, the value of the relationID attribute of the item element 1104 is “DDD” that is the value of the id attribute for the file 407.

  The item element 1105 is information about the file 407. The item element 1105 is similar to the item element 1104, but there is information specifying the related file 406 as the value of the relationID attribute. In the present embodiment, the value of the dc: title element indicating the name of the content for the file 407 is the same as the value of the dc: title element for the file 406. This is because the file 406 and the file 407 constitute one DCF object. However, the dc: title element for the file 406 and the dc: title element for the file 407 may have different values.

  The DCF storage control unit 810 can change the file name to be created according to the type of content acquired from the content acquisition device 30 and the type of related content. For example, when the related file 406 is a DCF basic file, the DCF storage control unit 810 can store the file 407 as a DCF extended image file. When the related file 406 is a DCF extended image file, the DCF storage control unit 810 can store the file 407 as a DCF basic file. This process will be described in detail later with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  Further, the DCF storage control unit 810 can determine a directory in which the content acquired from the content acquisition device 30 is stored. For example, the DCF storage control unit 810 can determine a directory for storing content according to the value of the parentID attribute included in the content information acquired from the content acquisition device 30.

  FIG. 7 shows messages exchanged between the content providing device 20 and the content acquisition device 30 when content is added. The message M1201 is a content addition preparation request message from the content acquisition device 30 to the content providing device 20. For example, it may be a CreateObject action request message defined in CDS. The message M1202 is a content addition preparation response message from the content providing apparatus 20 to the content acquisition apparatus 30. For example, it can be a CreateObject action response message defined in CDS.

  A message M1203 is a content addition request message from the content acquisition device 30 to the content providing device 20. The content addition request message includes content entity data registered in the content acquisition device 30. The message M1204 is a content addition response message from the content providing apparatus 20 to the content acquisition apparatus 30.

  FIG. 11 shows processing performed when the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment receives a content addition preparation request. In step S1301, the SOAP processing unit 303 receives a content addition preparation request from the content acquisition device 30 (reception unit). This content addition preparation request includes content information about the content to be added (additional content). For example, the SOAP processing unit 303 receives a CreateObject action defined in the CDS from the content acquisition device 30. When it is requested to prepare to add a plurality of contents, the processes in steps S1302 to S1314 are repeated for each content.

  In step S1302, the extraction unit 807 extracts content information about the additional content from the content addition preparation request received in step S1301. In step S1303, the information presence determination unit 808 determines whether content (related content) related to the additional content is specified in the content information extracted in step S1302. For example, in the content information in DIDL-Lite format, it is determined whether or not the relationID attribute of the item element has a value. If related content has been specified, the process proceeds to step S1304. If the related content is not specified, the process proceeds to step S1313.

  In step S1304, the content presence determination unit 809 determines whether the related content specified in the content information extracted in step S1302 exists in the storage unit 311. Specifically, it may be determined whether there is content identified by the value of the relationID attribute of the item element for the additional content. For example, the content presence determination unit 809 may inquire of the DCF management unit 306 whether there is related content specified in the content information extracted in step S1302. If related content exists, the process advances to step S1305. If there is no related content, the process proceeds to step S1313.

  In step S1305, the content presence determination unit 809 determines whether the related content is a DCF basic file. For example, if the related content is stored as a file with the extension “JPG”, it can be determined that the related content is a DCF basic file. If the related content is a DCF basic file, the process proceeds to step S1306. If the related content is not a DCF basic file, the process proceeds to step S1310.

  In step S1306, the DCF storage control unit 810 determines whether the additional content is an image content. As described above, the type of additional content can be determined based on the value included in the upnp: class element in the item element in the content information extracted in step S1302. If it is determined that the additional content is not image content, the process proceeds to step S1307. If it is determined that the additional content is image content, the process proceeds to step S1308.

  When the process proceeds to step S1307, the related content is a DCF basic file, and the additional content is not an image content. Therefore, the additional content can be stored as a DCF extended image file associated with the related content. For example, the DCF storage control unit 810 may create a file name including a name common to the file name associated with the related content as the file name of the additional content. In this way, additional content and related content can be managed as one DCF object.

  Specifically, the file name having the DCF file number of the related content may be used as the file name of the additional content. When the related content (file) is “IMG — 0002.JPG” and the additional content (file) is an audio file in the WAVE format, the file name of the additional content may be “IMG — 0002.WAV”.

  When the process proceeds to step S1308, the related content is a DCF basic file, and the additional content is an image content. Normally, one DCF object cannot be composed of a plurality of DCF basic files. In this case, the additional content can be stored as a DCF extended image file.

  Specifically, the file name of the additional content may be determined so as to have an extension different from the extension of the related content. In this case, it is preferable that the content providing apparatus 20 has information indicating the relationship between the extension and the content type so that the type of the additional content can be determined based on the extension of the additional content. The file name of the additional content should be determined so as not to match the file name of other files in the directory where the additional content is stored. However, the additional content can also be stored as another DCF basic file independent of the related content by performing the process of step S1313.

  In step S1310, the DCF storage control unit 810 determines whether the additional content is image content as in step S1306. If the additional content is image content, the process proceeds to step S1311. If the additional content is not image content, the process proceeds to step S1312.

  When the process proceeds to step S1311, the related content is a DCF extended image file, and the additional content is an image content. Therefore, the additional content can be stored as a DCF basic file associated with the related content. For example, the DCF storage control unit 810 may create a file name including a name common to the file name associated with the related content as the file name of the additional content. In this way, additional content and related content can be managed as one DCF object.

  Specifically, the file name having the DCF file number of the related content may be used as the file name of the additional content. When the related content (file) is “IMG — 0002.WAV” and the additional content (file) is an image file in the JPEG format, the file name of the additional content may be “IMG — 0002.JPG”.

  When the process proceeds to step S1312, the related content is a DCF extended image file, and the additional content is not an image content. In this case, the additional content can be stored as a DCF extended image file. For example, the DCF storage control unit 810 may create a file name including a common name with the file name associated with the related content as the file name of the additional content. The extension of the additional content can be determined according to the type of the additional content. The file name of the additional content should be determined so as not to match the file name of other files in the directory where the additional content is stored.

  When the process proceeds to step S1313, the file related to the additional file is not specified, or the specified related file does not exist. In this case, the additional file may be stored in accordance with normal processing. For example, the DCF storage control unit 810 may determine the file name of the additional content so that it does not match the file name of another file in the directory where the additional content is stored. The extension of the additional content can be determined according to the type of the additional content.

  In step S1314, the SOAP processing unit 303 responds to the content addition preparation request received in step S1301. Specifically, the SOAP processing unit 303 may execute the process specified by the CreateObject action according to the CDS specification. Next, the SOAP processing unit 303 creates a response to the CreateObject action defined by the CDS. Then, the SOAP processing unit 303 transmits the created response to the content acquisition device 30.

  Thus, the processing performed when the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment receives the content addition preparation request is completed. In this embodiment, the content providing apparatus 20 stores the additional content in association with the related content when the related content exists. However, if the related content is neither a DCF basic file nor a DCF extended image file, the content providing apparatus 20 can also store the additional content as a DCF object separate from the related content.

  FIG. 12 shows processing performed when the content providing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment receives a content addition request. The content addition request is transmitted from the content acquisition device 30 to the content providing device 20 via the LAN 10. As described with reference to FIG. 7, after the content providing apparatus 20 transmits a response to the content addition preparation request to the content acquisition apparatus 30, the content acquisition apparatus 30 transmits the content addition request to the content providing apparatus 20. That is, the content providing apparatus 20 has already determined a file name for the additional content when receiving the content addition request.

  In step S1401, the SOAP processing unit 303 receives a content addition request from the content acquisition device 30. The content addition request message includes entity data of the additional content. In step S1402, the DCF storage control unit 810 stores the additional content included in the content addition request according to the determination when the content addition preparation request is received (registration unit). For example, the DCF storage control unit 810 can request the DCF management unit 306 to store additional content. At this time, the DCF storage control unit 810 can designate a file name used for the additional content and a directory name to be stored. The DCF management unit 306 stores the additional content in the storage unit 311 in accordance with an instruction from the DCF storage control unit 810.

  As described above, the content providing apparatus 20 can store the additional content acquired from the content acquisition apparatus 30 in association with the content in the content providing apparatus 20. For example, additional content and related content set as content related to the additional content can be managed as one DCF object.

  For example, the user of the content acquisition device 30 can register audio content in the content providing device 20. At this time, the user can register the audio content in the content providing apparatus 20 so that the image content and the audio content managed by the content providing apparatus 20 are associated with each other. As a result, as described in the first embodiment, the content acquisition device 30 acquires information specifying audio content related to the image content by transmitting information specifying the image content to the content providing device 20. can do. As described above, the user of the content acquisition device 30 can reproduce the image content and the audio content in association with each other.

[Other Embodiments]
The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media. Then, the computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads and executes the program code. In this case, the program and the storage medium storing the program constitute the present invention.

Claims (6)

An information processing apparatus for managing a file group in a memory,
A first character string that is common among files set as mutually related files in a group of managed files, and a second character string that is different between the files set as the mutually related files, , Management means for managing the file in the memory by associating the file name including the file,
Accepting means for accepting information identifying a file managed in the memory from a client device;
When the information from the client device is detected, a file associated with the file name including the first character string in common with the file name associated with the file specified by the information is stored in the memory. A search means for searching from a group of files,
An information processing apparatus comprising: information for identifying a file searched by the search means; and transmission means for transmitting the created information to the client apparatus. Furthermore,
Receiving means for receiving, from the client device, a second file set as a file related to the first file managed in the memory;
A file name including the first character string common to the file name associated with the first file is created, and the second file is registered in the memory in association with the created file name. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a registration unit. The second character string is an extension of the file name;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first character string is a character string obtained by removing an extension from the file name.   The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the file is managed in a memory according to a design rule for camera file system (Design rule for Camera File System). An information processing method performed by an information processing apparatus that manages a file group in a memory,
A first character string that is common among files set as mutually related files in a group of files managed by the management unit of the information processing apparatus, and between files set as the mutually related files A management step of managing the file in the memory by associating the file name including the second character string different in the file with the file,
An accepting step for accepting information for identifying a file managed in the memory from a client device;
When the information from the client device is detected, the search unit of the information processing device corresponds to the file name including the first character string that is common to the file name associated with the file specified by the information. A search step of searching the attached file from the file group in the memory;
An information processing method comprising: a transmission unit configured to generate information for specifying the file searched in the search step, and to transmit the generated information to the client device. .   The computer program for functioning a computer as each means which the information processing apparatus of any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4 has.

Images