JP3871121B2 - Movie playback device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a moving image reproducing apparatus for reproducing a moving image based on moving image information digitally recorded on a recording medium.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) has been widely used as a recording medium for moving image information. A DVD has a function of restricting viewing on moving image information that may adversely affect growth under a certain age. When the user's age is registered in the DVD player, reproduction is prohibited according to the contents of viewing restrictions. However, in the conventional DVD player, since it was not intended that a plurality of users use the same DVD player, a situation in which viewing restrictions effective for a specific user are not effective for another user occurs. Was.
[0003]
Therefore, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-354231, when a video recording / playback apparatus such as the same DVD player is used by a large number of people and each user inputs a password, the viewing restriction is determined based on the user of the lowest age. A video recording / reproducing apparatus has been proposed.
[0004]
By the way, there is a level in the DVD viewing restriction, and the level is registered in advance by the producer. Therefore, the user accepts the viewing restriction level set by the producer as it is, but the producer often sets the level low for reasons such as a sales strategy. Therefore, at present, viewing restrictions do not function substantially.
[0005]
In view of this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-287155 proposes a moving image reproducing apparatus in which a user sets a desired viewing restriction level and makes it impossible to reproduce a recording medium above a predetermined viewing restriction level.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-mentioned 2000-354231, since the level of viewing restriction uses a level registered in advance by the producer, the level is not set to a level that the user can convince, and is virtually meaningless. It has become.
[0007]
In the above Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-287155, whether or not viewing is possible is determined based on the set viewing restriction level, that is, age, so that when a plurality of users use the same video playback device, It is not possible to set whether to allow viewing by user for reasons other than age.
[0008]
In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a moving image playback apparatus capable of restricting viewing for each user.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in a moving image reproducing apparatus for reproducing moving images based on moving image information digitally recorded on an optical disc, a specific administrator user who uses the apparatus and a plurality of normal user users are preset. An operation panel for manually inputting a unique administrator password and a normal user password, various types of information or display commands to various menu screen display units, and each of the above-mentioned users. An EEPROM in which passwords are individually associated with each content for each optical disc specified by an ID, and viewing restriction information in which the presence / absence of viewing restrictions is individually set for each association, and the entire apparatus A control unit that controls, when the control unit receives any of the passwords from the operation panel When the viewing restriction information in which the input password is associated with each content corresponding to the ID of the optical disc set in the apparatus is read from the EEPROM to determine whether or not there is a viewing restriction, and then it is determined that there is no viewing restriction. Only when the disc drive is controlled so that the content is reproduced, and when it is determined that the viewing is restricted, only the control that displays that the optical disc cannot be reproduced is performed on the display unit, and the password is not input. In this case, the content of the viewing restriction information stored in the EEPROM in association with the ID of the optical disc set in the apparatus is searched for presence / absence of content set as no viewing restriction, and the content is searched. Control to play the content only if there is Only when an administrator password is input, control is performed to allow entry of new setting contents or changed setting contents related to the password and viewing restriction information input from the operation panel and store them in the EEPROM. Features.
[0010]
According to this configuration, by setting and registering the designated content to be viewable only for the user designated by the administrator, it is possible to restrict viewing by user, which cannot be restricted by conventional age-based viewing restriction. In addition, it is not necessary to make the user who does not want to show a violent scene be aware that viewing restrictions are applied. Then, even when a plurality of users view together or when a non-registered user views, it is possible to reflect the setting details of viewing restrictions. Furthermore, only the administrator can set viewing restrictions on new content or change the viewing restrictions on existing content at any time.
[0011]
Further, the present invention provides a moving image playback device that plays back a moving image based on moving image information digitally recorded on a recording medium. Each of the specific administrator users and the plurality of normal user users who use the device has a unique setting that is set in advance. An operation input unit for manually inputting an administrator password and a normal user password, various information, or a display command on a display unit of various menu screens, and the passwords of all the users, The contents of the recording medium individually designated by the ID are individually associated with each other, and the storage unit storing the viewing restriction information in which the presence or absence of the viewing restriction is individually set for each of the relations, and the entire apparatus is controlled. A control unit, the control unit corresponds to the password input from the operation input unit and the ID of the recording medium set in the device After viewing restriction information associated with each content is determined whether the parental lock is read from the storage unit that, the control means controls the disk drive to reproduce the content only if it is determined that no viewing restriction And
[0012]
According to this configuration, by determining the administrator and setting and registering the designated content so that it can be viewed only by the user designated by the administrator, there is a user-specific viewing restriction that cannot be restricted by conventional age-based viewing restrictions. It becomes possible.
[0013]
In the above moving image playback device, the control unit reads out viewing restriction information in which the input password is associated with each content in the recording medium set in the device from the storage unit, and determines whether there is viewing restriction. After that, it is preferable to have a control function for performing only control for displaying on the display unit that the recording medium is simply unplayable when it is determined that there is viewing restriction . Thereby, it is not necessary to make the user who does not want to show the violent scene be aware that the viewing restriction is applied.
[0014]
Further, in the above moving image playback device, when the password is not input, the control unit relates all users in the viewing restriction information stored in the storage unit in association with the ID of the recording medium set in the device. It is desirable to search for the presence / absence of content that is set to have no viewing restriction, and to perform control to reproduce the content only when the content exists . Thereby, even when a plurality of users view together or when a non-registered user views, it is possible to reflect the setting contents of the viewing restriction.
[0015]
Further, in the above-described moving image playback device, the control unit, when only the administrator password is input, is a new setting content or a changed setting content regarding the password and viewing restriction information that is subsequently input from the operation input unit. It is desirable to perform control for allowing the input to be stored in the storage unit . As a result, only the administrator can restrict viewing of new contents or change the viewing restrictions of existing contents at any time according to the situation.
[0016]
Further, in the above moving image reproduction device, the registration format of the storage restriction in the storage unit is a specific administrator password preset for each of a specific administrator user who uses the device and a plurality of normal user users, and A normal user password is associated with each content for each recording medium individually specified by an ID, and is stored as viewing restriction information in which the presence or absence of viewing restriction is individually set for each association. be able to.
[0017]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a DVD player. The DVD player 10 reads a moving image information digitally recorded on a DVD, which is an optical disc, as a data bit stream, and outputs moving image information and audio information before compression conversion from the read data bit stream. Decoder 30 that reproduces video and audio by restoration, EEPROM 31 as a storage unit that stores predetermined user setting information such as passwords and viewing restrictions, and a light receiving circuit that inputs an operation instruction by an infrared blinking signal from remote controller 40 32, an operation panel 33 on which an input operation is performed by a user, and a control unit 34 that controls the entire DVD player 10.
[0018]
The disk drive 20 sends a control signal to a focus servo (not shown) or the like to drive the optical pickup 21 to a predetermined position, and amplifies a read signal from the optical pickup 21 to a predetermined value. And a disk signal processing unit 25 that restores digital data recorded from the amplified signal, converts it into a data bit stream, and outputs it to the decoder 30. Is done.
[0019]
The decoder 30 separates the data bit stream into a video component and an audio component and performs MPEG demodulation, restores the video signal and the audio signal, and outputs them in synchronization.
[0020]
Inside the control unit 34 is a CPU (not shown) that is a main body of arithmetic processing, a ROM (not shown) in which a predetermined program is recorded, a work RAM (not shown), and an external device for controlling external devices. A control circuit (not shown) and the like are provided.
[0021]
Further, the remote controller 40 includes a cursor key 41 for moving the cursor to a desired item on a menu screen displayed on an externally connected display device (not shown), a numeric keypad 42 for inputting a password, a determination key 43, and the like. Arranged. Various keys are also provided on the operation panel 33, and the same operation is configured by operation.
[0022]
Next, a method for setting viewing restrictions will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the DVD player 10 when setting viewing restrictions. The administrator of the DVD player 10 (the person who sets the viewing restriction among the users) operates the remote controller 40 or the operation panel 33 and inputs his / her password set in advance. Accordingly, in step S10, the DVD player 10 recognizes that the input person is an administrator from the input password and the password registered in the EEPROM 31. Then, it progresses to step S11 and recognizes ID of DVD50 set. Next, the process proceeds to step S12, and a menu screen (not shown) in which reproduction, viewing restriction setting, and the like can be selected is output.
[0023]
When an item is selected on the menu screen by the user, the process proceeds to step S13 to determine whether or not the viewing restriction setting is selected. When the item of viewing restriction setting is selected in step S13, the process proceeds to step S14, and the viewing restriction setting screen shown in FIG. 3 is output. In FIG. 3, the content name of the DVD 50 is “aaa”, the user A is an administrator (hereinafter sometimes referred to as an administrator A), the users B to D are normal users, and the user E is used by all of the users A to D. When you are a user. These users A to D are set in advance by the administrator A, and each is given a password. User E is automatically created and is not given a password.
[0024]
Next, the process proceeds from step S14 to step S15, and the presence or absence of viewing restrictions set based on the operation of the administrator A is stored in the EEPROM 31. A specific operation of the administrator A at this time will be described. First, the cursor key 41 of the remote controller 40 is operated to select “viewable” or “not viewable” for each user. Here, the user B to D may be selected. User A is automatically set to “viewable”, and user E is set to “not viewable” if any of users B to D has “not viewable”, and “viewable” if all are “viewable”. It shall be set to “OK”. In FIG. 3, since user D is selected as “not viewable”, user E is also set to “not viewable”. When all the users have been set, the enter key 43 is pressed. As a result, the setting contents for viewing restriction are stored in the EEPROM 31.
[0025]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the contents of viewing restrictions stored in the EEPROM 31. When the registered users A to E have viewing restrictions on the contents “aaa” to “ddd”, they are marked with “x”. In the above description, the method for setting the viewing restriction has been described. However, the viewing restriction can be released in the same manner. At that time, for example, when the viewing restriction on the content “ddd” of the user B in FIG. 4 is released, the viewing restriction of the user E is automatically released.
[0026]
In FIG. 4, the content name is stored in the EEPROM 31 with respect to the user name. However, any registration format may be used as long as the DVD with viewing restrictions can be identified from the password. For example, the ID of each DVD is used for the password. May be stored. Alternatively, only the ID of a DVD that has viewing restrictions on the user name or password may be stored.
[0027]
In this way, it is possible to restrict individual individuals, which cannot be restricted by conventional age-based viewing restrictions. For example, assuming that the age of the user is B>C> D, in the conventional technology, viewing restrictions can be imposed on the users C and D who are older than the user B, such as viewing restriction of the content “bbb” in FIG. However, it is not possible to set the user B to be restricted in view like the view restriction of the content “ddd” and the younger users C and D are not restricted in view. According to the DVD player 10, this is possible, and only the user designated by the administrator A can view the designated content.
[0028]
On the other hand, the operation of the user and the operation of the DVD player 10 when reproducing the content will be described below. As an example, a case where the user C uses the DVD player 10 will be described. FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the operation of the DVD player 10 during reproduction. First, when a password is input by the user C, the DVD player 10 recognizes that the input person is the user C from the input password and the password registered in the EEPROM 31 in step S20. Then, it progresses to step S21 and recognizes ID of DVD50 set. Next, the process proceeds to step S22, and it is determined whether or not the set DVD 50 can be viewed based on the viewing restrictions of the user C registered in the viewing restrictions registered in FIG.
[0029]
If it is determined in step S22 that viewing is possible (when the content is other than “bbb”), the process proceeds to step S23 and reproduction of the DVD 50 is started. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S22 that viewing is not possible (when the content is “bbb”), the process proceeds to step S24, and a message such as “This disc cannot be recognized” is output and playback is not performed. Note that it is desirable that the message output in step S24 has such a content that the user does not know that viewing is restricted. As a result, the user who does not want to show a violent scene or the like does not have to be aware that viewing restrictions are applied.
[0030]
It should be noted that if the user's password is not input when the content is reproduced, the DVD player 10 determines that the user is E.
[0031]
When a DVD that has not been set for viewing restriction by the administrator, that is, a DVD that is not stored in the EEPROM 31, is set by a user other than the administrator, it may be viewable arbitrarily or may not be viewable at all. Also good. This can be done by setting the DVD player 10 in advance.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, by determining an administrator and setting and registering the designated content so that it can be viewed only by the user designated by the administrator, the content can be reproduced only when the moving image reproducing apparatus determines that there is no viewing restriction. . Therefore, it is possible to restrict viewing by user, which cannot be restricted by conventional age-based viewing restrictions.
[0033]
Further, according to the moving image playback device of the present invention, viewing restriction is applied to a user who does not want to show a violent scene or the like by displaying on the external display device that playback is not possible when it is determined that viewing is restricted. You don't have to be aware of
[0034]
In addition, according to the moving image playback apparatus of the present invention, when a password is not input, only content with no viewing restriction can be played back through all registered users, so that a plurality of users can watch or register together. Even when a user who is not viewing views, the setting contents of viewing restriction can be reflected.
[0035]
Also, according to the video playback device of the present invention, when a management password is input, by enabling editing of the presence or absence of viewing restrictions, only the administrator can set viewing restrictions on new content or You can change the viewing restrictions on existing content at any time.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a DVD player according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of a DVD player when setting viewing restrictions.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a viewing restriction setting screen output from a DVD player.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the contents of viewing restrictions stored in an EEPROM.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the DVD player during reproduction.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 DVD player (video playback device)
20 Disk drive (playback means)
31 EEPROM (storage unit)
33 Operation panel (operation unit)
34 Control unit

Claims (6)

In a video playback device for playing back video based on video information digitally recorded on an optical disc,
Specific administrator password and normal user password set in advance for a specific administrator user who uses the device and a plurality of normal user users, various user information, display commands on various menu screen displays, etc. An operation panel for manual input ,
Each of the passwords of all the users and the contents for each of the optical discs individually designated by the ID are associated with each other, and viewing restriction information in which presence / absence of restriction of viewing is individually set for each association is stored. EEPROM,
A control unit for controlling the entire apparatus,
The controller is
When any of the passwords is input from the operation panel, viewing restriction information in which the input password is associated with each content corresponding to the ID of the optical disc set in the apparatus is read from the EEPROM. After determining whether or not there is a restriction, the disk drive is controlled so that the content is played only when it is determined that there is no viewing restriction, and when it is determined that there is a viewing restriction, the optical disk is simply unplayable. Only control to display on the display,
If the password is not entered, search for presence / absence of content set to no viewing restriction for all users in the viewing restriction information stored in the EEPROM in association with the ID of the optical disc set in the apparatus Control to play the content only if it exists,
Only when the administrator password is input, control is performed to allow the new setting contents or changed setting contents regarding the password and viewing restriction information to be subsequently input from the operation panel to be stored in the EEPROM. video playback apparatus according to claim. In a video playback device that plays back video based on video information digitally recorded on a recording medium,
Specific administrator password and normal user password set in advance for a specific administrator user who uses the device and a plurality of normal user users, various user information, display commands on various menu screen displays, etc. An operation input unit for performing input manually,
Each of the passwords of all the users is individually associated with each content of the recording medium individually designated by the ID, and viewing restriction information in which presence / absence of viewing restriction is individually set for each association is stored. Storage unit
A control unit for controlling the entire apparatus,
The controller is
Viewing restriction information in which the password input from the operation input unit and each content corresponding to the ID of the recording medium set in the apparatus are associated is read from the storage unit to determine whether or not there is viewing restriction. A moving image reproducing apparatus for controlling a disc drive to reproduce the content only when it is determined that there is no limit. The control unit reads the viewing restriction information in which the input password is associated with each content in the recording medium set in the apparatus from the storage unit, determines whether there is viewing restriction, and then determines that there is viewing restriction . 3. The moving image reproducing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein only the control for displaying on the display unit that the recording medium is simply unplayable is performed . When the password is not input , the control unit is set to have no viewing restriction for all users in the viewing restriction information stored in the storage unit in association with the ID of the recording medium set in the apparatus. 4. The moving image reproducing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the presence or absence of the content is searched and control is performed to reproduce the content only when the content exists . The storage unit permits the input of new setting contents or changed setting contents regarding the password and viewing restriction information to be subsequently input from the operation input unit only when the administrator password is input. 5. The moving image reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the moving image reproducing apparatus performs control to be stored in the apparatus. The registration format of the storage restriction in the storage unit is a specific administrator password and a normal user password preset for a specific administrator user and a plurality of normal user users who use the device, and individual IDs. 3. A format in which each content for each recording medium specified in the above is associated with each other and stored as viewing restriction information in which the presence / absence of viewing restriction is individually set for each association . 6. The moving image reproducing device according to any one of 5 above.

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