JP4657798B2 - Viewing information management apparatus, content reproduction system, viewing information management method, viewing information management program, recording medium, and digital recording apparatus provided with viewing information management apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus used in a viewing system in which a terminal device that presents electronic data to a viewer and a device that supplies electronic data to the terminal device are connected to a single network. The present invention relates to a viewing information management apparatus that manages the viewing status of electronic data by the viewer.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a home local area network (LAN) that allows a plurality of devices in a home to be connected to a network and used has become widespread. With this home LAN, electronic data (content) stored in a certain device can be viewed from devices installed in various places in the home connected to the home LAN. .

  There are mainly two types of devices connected to the home LAN when classified by function. One is a device (content server) for supplying content, and stores a large number of content such as video and music to be provided to viewers (users). The other is a terminal device (client terminal device) for acquiring the content from the content server and presenting the acquired content to the user. When viewing, the user can view desired content by operating the client terminal device.

  By using these devices via the network, the user can view the content without being aware of where the content is in the home.

  Furthermore, when content is viewed on a certain client terminal device and the viewing is interrupted in the middle, it is considered that it is only necessary to be able to resume viewing from the interrupted location from any client terminal device connected to the home LAN. .

  As an example of a system that enables this, a viewing system as disclosed in Patent Document 1 has been devised.

  The configuration of the viewing system of Patent Document 1 is shown in FIG. This viewing system includes a plurality of server devices 93 and 95, a plurality of client terminals 92 and 94 for user operation and viewing, and a viewing management unit 91, each of which is connected to one network.

  The content is directly provided from the server devices 93 and 95 to the client terminals 92 and 94 via the network in accordance with an instruction from the user input to the client terminals 92 and 94.

  The client terminals 92 and 94 are provided with user ID input means so that the user can input a user ID for the system to uniquely identify the user.

  For example, it is assumed that the user inputs the user ID to the client terminal 92, starts viewing the content X in the server device 93, and then stops viewing. At this time, the server device 93 displays the viewing status (that is, the ID of the server device 93, the ID of the content X, and the interrupt information indicating the interrupted position) as shown in FIG. Viewing information) is transmitted to the viewing information storage unit 96 of the viewing management means 91 in association with the user ID.

  Next, when the user wants to resume viewing the content X at the client terminal 94, the user ID is input to the client terminal 94. The client terminal 94 refers to the viewing information storage unit 96 shown in FIG. 16B, uniquely identifies the server device ID, the content ID, and the content position information using the user ID as a primary key, The interruption position of the content X of the device 93 is acquired.

  As a result, it is possible to request the server device 93 to distribute the content after the interruption position, and it is possible to resume the viewing of the content X at the client terminal 94 from the point at which the interruption has occurred.

In this way, by associating the user ID and the viewing information and storing them in the viewing management means 91, the user can simply input the user ID in an environment where a plurality of client terminals interconnected to the network can be used. The content for which viewing was interrupted immediately before can be viewed again from the interrupted position on a different client terminal.
JP 2004-343445 A (published on December 2, 2004)

  However, the viewing management means 91 (viewing information management device) in the viewing system (content reproduction system) of Patent Document 1 manages content viewing information by managing users of the system by user IDs. Therefore, the following problems occur.

  In other words, in the viewing system described in Patent Document 1, the viewing management unit 91 includes a content that should be replayed based on the user ID and a server device that is the supply source (contents) only when the user inputs the user ID. Therefore, there is a problem that viewing information can be managed only for one content of one content server per user.

  More specifically, for a single user, there is a case where there are multiple contents in one content server for which viewing is to be interrupted, or there are multiple content servers having content for which viewing is to be interrupted. I can't.

  In addition, one content that can be managed by the viewing information is limited to the content that the user was viewing immediately before. Even if there is content that the user has watched two times before and has been interrupted, and the user wants to watch the content from the point at which it was interrupted again, It was only content that was interrupted. Therefore, such a viewing system is not convenient for the user.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a plurality of client terminal devices for viewing content and a plurality of content servers for supplying content to the client terminal device. In a content reproduction system interconnected to one network, regardless of which content is supplied from which content server, any interrupted content can be received at any client terminal device. To provide a viewing information management device, a content reproduction system, a viewing information management method, a viewing information management program, a recording medium, and a digital recording device including a viewing information management device that enable playback from an interrupted position. .

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the viewing information management device according to the present invention includes one or more terminal devices for viewing content and a plurality of server devices for supplying content to the terminal device. In a viewing information management device for managing the viewing status of content used in a content playback system interconnected to two networks, communication means for communicating with each device under the content playback system, and the terminal device An identification information generating means for generating device identification information for identifying each server device as an individual entity, and a content reproduction request signal received when the content reproduction request signal is received from the terminal device via the communication means; Based on the device identification information included in the request server, the requested server device is identified and supplied to the terminal device Relays the designated content by receiving the designated content from the request destination server device and transmitting the designated content to the terminal device. Content relay means, monitoring means for monitoring the relay of the designated content performed by the content relay means, detecting that the relay of the designated content is interrupted, and determining the interruption position of the content from the monitoring result of the monitoring means It is characterized by comprising interruption information generating means for generating content interruption information to be shown in association with the device identification information.

  According to the above configuration, the content reproduction request signal including the device identification information generated by the identification information generation unit and provided to each terminal device is transmitted from the terminal device to the viewing information management device via the communication unit. Then, the content requesting means specifies a request destination server device in which the designated content designated by the terminal device is stored based on the device identification information, and sends a signal requesting delivery of the designated content to the request destination server Send to device. Accordingly, the designated content received from the request destination server device is transmitted to the terminal device via the content relay unit. During this relay, the monitoring means monitors the relay by accumulating the transmitted capacity and / or transmission time of the specified content.

  Here, when the relay to the terminal device is interrupted, the interruption information generating means detects the interruption, and from the result that has been monitored by the monitoring means, the content interruption information indicating the interruption position is obtained from the apparatus identification information. It is generated for each device in association with

  Note that the event that the relay of the specified content is interrupted is caused by an interruption instruction from the terminal device, a sudden power-off in the terminal device, or a communication interruption due to a communication path trouble.

  Further, the content reproduction request signal may or may not include information for specifying the designated content. In the case where the information for specifying the designated content is included, when each server device has a plurality of contents, one of them can be specified by the content reproduction request signal. On the other hand, when the information for specifying the designated content is not included, the content reproduction request signal can be simply a signal for requesting the server device to supply the content. In the latter case, even if a plurality of contents are held in each server apparatus, the order of sending out the contents and the like may be determined on the server apparatus side in response to the content reproduction request. The present invention includes both cases within the technical scope.

  Furthermore, since the terminal device can receive the relay of the designated content from the viewing information management device only by transmitting to the viewing information management device a content reproduction request signal including at least device identification information for specifying the request destination server device. One or a plurality of terminal devices may be used.

  As a result, the content interruption information is identified in association with the device identification information, in other words, in association with each server device. Therefore, the viewing information management device assigns the content interruption information to each server device individually. Can be identified as an entity.

  Therefore, for a single user, even in a content reproduction system in which there are a plurality of server devices having contents that the user wants to interrupt viewing, it is possible to manage a plurality of content interruption information for each server.

  As a result, regardless of which content is delivered from which server device to which terminal device, playback of any interrupted content can be resumed at the interrupt position at any client terminal device. Thus, it becomes possible to centrally manage content whose viewing has been interrupted.

  In order to solve the above problems, the viewing information management device according to the present invention includes one or more terminal devices for viewing content and one or more server devices for supplying content to the terminal device. In a viewing information management device for managing the viewing status of content used in a content playback system interconnected to one network, communication means for communicating with each device under the content playback system, and the terminal device Generates device identification information for identifying each of the server devices as individual entities, and the terminal device identifies content identification information for identifying each of a plurality of contents of each of the server devices as an individual entity The original content identification information previously given to the content by the server device The identification information generating means for generating the information by associating with the apparatus identification information, and the apparatus included in the received content reproduction request signal when the content reproduction request signal is received from the terminal device via the communication means. A request destination server device is specified based on the identification information, and the content corresponding to the content identification information included in the content reproduction request signal is specified as the specified content to be supplied to the terminal device, and the specification is performed. Content request means for requesting content from the request destination server device, and content relay means for receiving the specified content from the request destination server device and transmitting the specified content to the terminal device, thereby relaying the specified content And the designated content performed by the content relay means A monitoring means for monitoring the connection, detecting that the relay of the designated content is interrupted, and content interruption information indicating the interruption position of the content from the monitoring result of the monitoring means, the device identification information and the content identification information And interrupt information generating means for generating the information in association with each other.

  According to the above configuration, the content reproduction request signal including the device identification information generated by the identification information generation unit and provided to each terminal device and the content identification information is received from the terminal device via the communication unit. When sent to the management device, the content requesting means identifies the requested server device storing the designated content designated by the terminal device based on the device identification information, and further designates based on the content identification information The content is specified, and a signal requesting distribution of the designated content is transmitted to the request destination server device. Thus, the received designated content is transmitted to the terminal device via the content relay unit, and the monitoring unit monitors the relay during this time.

  Here, when the relay to the terminal device is interrupted, the interruption information generating means detects the interruption, and from the result that has been monitored by the monitoring means, the content interruption information indicating the interruption position is obtained from the apparatus identification information. And the content identification information.

  Note that the content identification information generated by the identification information generation means may be the same as the original content identification information previously assigned to the content by the server device. In this case, the identification information generation unit generates data that records the original content identification information acquired from the server device in association with the device identification information in the storage unit or the like as the content identification information.

  In addition, the terminal device receives the specified content from the viewing information management device only by transmitting to the viewing information management device a content reproduction request signal including at least the device identification information specifying the request destination server device and the content identification information. Therefore, it may be any one or a plurality of terminal devices.

  Thereby, since the content interruption information is identified based on the content identification information, the viewing information management apparatus can identify the content interruption information for each content as an individual entity.

  Therefore, for a single user, even in a content reproduction system in which there are a plurality of server apparatuses having contents that the user wants to interrupt viewing, and in a content reproduction system in which one or more server apparatuses having a plurality of contents that are desired to be interrupted in viewing exist. Any number of content interruption information can be managed for each content.

  As a result, regardless of which content is delivered from which server device to which terminal device, playback of any interrupted content can be resumed at the interrupt position at any client terminal device. , It becomes possible to centrally manage.

Note that all of the terminal devices that request content playback are connected to the viewing information management device via a network, and all content exchanges between the terminal device and the server device while monitoring interruption information are all performed. This is done via an information management device. In general, since each device on the network can be uniquely identified by an IP address or the like, the viewing information management device can play content from any terminal device (or playback from an interrupt position) among a plurality of terminal devices. Respond to requests and interruption instructions.

The identification information generating means further includes original entity identification information for identifying each entity, which is given in advance to each entity, and whether each entity is uniquely identified, and whether the viewing information management apparatus has There may be provided an identification information converting means for mutually converting the management apparatus entity identification information for handling as described above.

  According to the above configuration, the identification information conversion unit uniquely identifies each entity, and manages the management device entity identification information for handling the viewing information management device as if it had the entities. Convert to entity identification information. The viewing information management device specifies the designated content on the network corresponding to the converted original original entity identification information, and requests the server device having the designated content to distribute the designated content.

  Accordingly, the terminal device wants to view the content using the management device entity identification information from the content that is centrally managed as being included in the viewing information management device. While the content can be specified and the distribution can be requested, the server device can request the requested content for the content distribution request based on the original original entity identification information from the viewing information management device. Can be delivered to.

  As a result, without interrupting the terminal device and the server device to have a specific mechanism for managing content interruption information, any interrupted content is played back from the interruption position at any client terminal device. It is possible to realize a content reproduction system that can be used.

  Here, the identification information generating means may generate the management device entity identification information as a management device network path based on a network path indicating a location of each entity on the network.

  The above management device network path is different from the original network path managed on the network, when the viewing information management device is the highest entity and each server device on the network is regarded as a lower entity. , Indicating the apparent location of each entity. This management apparatus network path is generated based on the original network path indicating the location of each entity on the network by the identification information generating means.

  As a result, each server device in the network and all lower-level entities including the contents of each server device are regarded as lower-level entities included in the viewing information management device, and the location thereof is centralized. Can be managed.

  As a result, from any terminal device, it is possible to handle the entity accessible by the terminal device in an integrated manner.

  Furthermore, an entity list generation means for generating an entity list indicating information of each entity for presentation to the user based on the management apparatus network path may be provided.

  In the entity list, information about entities accessible by the terminal device is arranged as if stored in the viewing information management device. By using such a list, the user can list accessible entities from any terminal device. Thereby, the user can easily make a request for reproducing any content stored in any server device or any interrupted content.

  As a result, it is possible to provide a viewing information management apparatus that can improve the convenience of the user related to the unified management of content.

  The information processing device further comprises storage means for storing the content interruption information, wherein the identification information generation means generates interruption content identification information for the terminal device to identify the content interruption information as an individual entity, and the interruption information The information generation unit may store the content interruption information in the storage unit in association with the interruption content identification information.

  Thus, each time the terminal device suspends the content, one piece of content suspend information is generated, and the generated content suspend information is stored in the storage unit in association with the suspend content identification information for uniquely identifying the content. The Therefore, it is possible to easily manage any number of interrupted contents easily.

  The content requesting means acquires content interruption information based on the interruption content identification information when the content reproduction request signal received from the terminal device specifies the interruption content identification information, and Based on the information, the distribution source server device and the interruption position of the content may be specified, and the content specified by the request signal may be requested to the distribution source server device from the specified interruption position.

  According to the above configuration, when the viewing information management device receives a signal requesting the suspended content from the terminal device, the content requesting unit refers to the storage unit based on the suspended content identification information included in the signal. Acquire content interruption information of the target content. As a result, the distribution source server device of the interrupted content and the interrupt position information of the target content are specified, and the distribution source server device is requested to distribute the content from the interrupt position. Thus, the content received from the interruption position is transmitted to the terminal device via the content relay unit, and the monitoring unit monitors the relay during this time.

  Here, when the relay to the terminal device is interrupted, the interruption information generating means detects the interruption, and the content interruption information indicating the interruption position is identified as the content interruption identification from the result monitored by the monitoring means until then. Generated for each content based on information. At this time, the content interruption information generated at the time of the previous viewing interruption may be deleted, or may be saved in a form such as a history so that the user can reuse it.

  Based on the above, regardless of which content is delivered from which server device, the selected interrupted content is played back from the interrupted position an arbitrary number of times in response to an arbitrary interrupted content playback request from any terminal device. In addition, it is possible to provide a viewing information management device and a content reproduction system that can interrupt the content whose reproduction has been resumed any number of times.

  In order to solve the above problems, the content reproduction system according to the present invention includes one or more terminal devices for viewing content and one or more server devices for supplying content to the terminal device. A content reproduction system interconnected to one network includes the above-described viewing information management apparatus connected to the network.

  According to the above configuration, the terminal information requesting the content reproduction for the user to view the content and the server device for supplying the content to the terminal device are all managed through the network of the viewing information. All the content exchanges between the terminal device and the server device connected to the device are performed via the viewing information management device, thereby making it possible to monitor the interruption information.

  As a result, even when there are a plurality of server devices having content, it is possible to manage a plurality of pieces of content interruption information in association with the device identification information for identifying each server device.

  Therefore, even when there are a plurality of server devices having content that the user wants to interrupt viewing for a single user, a plurality of pieces of content interruption information can be managed for each server device. Regardless of the terminal device from which the content has been distributed, it is possible to provide a content reproduction system capable of resuming reproduction of an arbitrary interrupted content at an arbitrary client terminal device from the interruption position. .

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the viewing information management method according to the present invention includes one or more terminal devices for viewing content and a plurality of server devices for supplying content to the terminal device. In a viewing information management method for managing a viewing state of content in a content playback system interconnected to a single network, the content includes a step of receiving a content playback request signal from the terminal device and the step of receiving When the reproduction request signal is received, the terminal device is device identification information for identifying each of the server devices as an individual entity, and the original device identification information given to the server device in advance by the content reproduction system Of the device identification information generated in association with the received content Specifying a request destination server device based on device identification information included in the solicitation signal, and requesting the request destination server device for the specified content to be supplied to the terminal device; Receiving the designated content and transmitting the designated content to the terminal device, relaying the designated content, monitoring the relay of the designated content in the relaying step, and relaying the designated content And detecting content interruption information indicating the interruption position of the content from the monitoring result of the monitoring step in association with the device identification information.

  According to the above configuration, in the content reproduction request signal transmitted from the terminal device to the viewing information management device, generated device identification information for the terminal device to identify each of the server devices as an individual entity. Is included. When the viewing information management device receives the content reproduction request signal including the device identification information, the requested server device is specified by the device identification information. Thereby, in the step of requesting the designated content, a signal requesting the designated content is transmitted to the request destination server device. Subsequently, in the relaying step, the designated content transmitted by the request destination server device is received, and the designated content is transmitted to the terminal device. At the same time that the relaying step is started, a step of monitoring the relay is started, and the monitoring step is continued until the relay is interrupted. When the relay is interrupted due to an interruption instruction from the terminal device, sudden power off in the terminal device, or interruption of communication due to a communication path trouble, etc., from the monitoring result by the monitoring step, The process proceeds to a step of generating content interruption information indicating the interruption position of the content in association with the device identification information.

  This enables a single user to manage a plurality of content interruption information for each server even in a content reproduction system in which there are a plurality of server devices having content that the user wants to interrupt viewing. Content whose viewing has been interrupted so that playback of any interrupted content can be resumed at an arbitrary client terminal device regardless of which terminal device has been delivered from the server device Can be managed centrally.

  In order to solve the above problems, a viewing information management method according to the present invention includes one or more terminal devices for viewing content, and one or more server devices for supplying content to the terminal device. In the viewing information management method for managing the viewing status of content in a content playback system interconnected to one network, the steps of receiving a content playback request signal from the terminal device, and receiving the step, When the content reproduction request signal is received, (1) device identification information for the terminal device to identify each of the server devices as an individual entity, which is given to the server device in advance by the content reproduction system. Of the device identification information generated in association with the original device identification information A request destination server device is specified based on device identification information included in the content reproduction request signal, and (2) the terminal device identifies each of a plurality of contents of each of the server devices as an individual entity. Content identification information, which is included in the received content reproduction request signal among the content identification information generated by associating the original content identification information previously given to the content by the server device and the device identification information. Identifying the content corresponding to the content identification information being specified as the designated content to be supplied to the terminal device, (3) requesting the designated content from the request destination server device, and from the request destination server device Receiving the designated content and transmitting the designated content to the terminal device; From the monitoring result of the step of performing the relay of the designated content, the step of monitoring the relay of the designated content in the step of performing the relay, and detecting that the relay of the designated content is interrupted. Generating content interruption information indicating the interruption position of the content in association with the device identification information and the content identification information.

  According to the above configuration, in the content reproduction request signal, in addition to the device identification information, the terminal device identifies each of a plurality of contents of each of the server devices as an individual entity. The content identification information generated by associating the original content identification information previously given to the content with the device identification information is included. When the viewing information management device receives the content reproduction request signal including the device identification information and the content identification information, the viewing information management device supplies the requested server device and the terminal device of the server device. Identify the designated content that should be done. Thereby, in the step of requesting the designated content, a signal requesting the designated content is transmitted to the request destination server device. Subsequently, in the relaying step, the designated content transmitted by the request destination server device is received, and the designated content is transmitted to the terminal device. At the same time that the relaying step is started, a step of monitoring the relay is started, and the monitoring step is continued until the relay is interrupted. When the relay is interrupted due to an interruption instruction from the terminal device, sudden power off in the terminal device, or interruption of communication due to a communication path trouble, etc., from the monitoring result by the monitoring step, The process proceeds to a step of generating content interruption information indicating the interruption position of the content in association with the device identification information and the content identification information.

  As a result, for a single user, even in a content reproduction system in which there are a plurality of server devices having contents that the user wants to interrupt viewing, and even when the server device may have a plurality of contents, a plurality of content interruption information is stored in the server. It becomes possible to manage for each device and for each content. As a result, regardless of which content is distributed from which server device to which terminal device, any interrupted content can be managed by any client terminal device. Thus, it is possible to centrally manage content whose viewing has been interrupted so that reproduction can be resumed from the interruption position.

  A viewing information management program according to the present invention is a viewing information management program for operating the viewing information management apparatus, and is a viewing information management program for causing a computer to function as each of the above-described means in order to solve the above-described problems. is there.

  In this case, viewing information can be easily managed by a general-purpose computer.

  Further, if the viewing information management program is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, the viewing information management program is simply provided with the computer, and is interrupted regardless of which content server supplies which content. It is possible to easily realize a viewing information management apparatus that allows arbitrary content to be reproduced from an interrupt position at an arbitrary client terminal apparatus.

  Furthermore, the viewing information management apparatus according to the present invention may be used for a digital recording apparatus connected to the network.

  As a result, even when viewing of a plurality of contents recorded in the digital recording device is interrupted, the interrupt positions of the interrupted contents can be managed and reproduced easily from the interrupt positions.

  As described above, the viewing information management device according to the present invention includes a communication unit that communicates with each device under the content reproduction system, and a device for the terminal device to identify each of the server devices as an individual entity. When receiving a content reproduction request signal from the terminal device via the communication unit and an identification information generating unit that generates identification information, a request destination is based on the device identification information included in the received content reproduction request signal. A server device is specified, content request means for requesting the specified content to be supplied to the terminal device to the request destination server device, the specified content is received from the request destination server device, and the specified content is received from the terminal The content relay means for relaying the designated content by transmitting to the device and the content relay means Monitoring means for monitoring the relay of the designated content to be performed, and detecting that the relay of the designated content is interrupted, and from the monitoring result of the monitoring means, content interruption information indicating the interruption position of the content is identified as the device identification Since there is an interruption information generation means that generates the information in association with the information, regardless of which content is supplied from which content server, the arbitrary interrupted content can be received by an arbitrary client terminal device. There is an effect that it is possible to provide a viewing information management device capable of reproducing from the interruption position and a content reproduction system including the same.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described as follows.

  First, the outline of the content reproduction system of the present invention will be described, and then the details of the viewing information management apparatus of the present invention and the flow of processing when it is incorporated into the content reproduction system will be described.

[Outline of content playback system]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of the content reproduction system according to the present invention. The content reproduction system 100 has a single network, to which client terminal devices (terminal devices) 21, 22, and 23 for presenting content to the user and for supplying content to each of the client terminal devices described above The content servers (server devices) 31, 32, and 33 are connected to the viewing information management device 10 for managing the viewing status of the content of the user.

  In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the number of client terminal devices and content servers in content reproduction system 100 is three, and one or a plurality of contents are stored in each content server. In addition, content with the same content (title) may exist in a plurality of content servers. That is, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that the relationship between the number of “client terminal apparatus” vs. “content server” vs. “content” is many-to-many-to-many.

  However, the configuration of the viewing information management apparatus 10 is the same even in each case of one-to-many one-to-one, one-to-many-to-many, many-to-one-to-many, and one-to-one-to-many, and the present invention is applied. be able to.

  In the following, each component constituting the content reproduction system 100 will be described by taking the client terminal device 21 on the terminal device side and the content server 31 on the server device side as an example.

  In the following description, when the client terminal device 21 and the content server 31 are used alone for the description of the present invention, the remaining client terminal devices 22 and 23 and the content servers 32 and 33 are also the client terminal device 21 and the content server, respectively. 31. Since it has the same function as 31, unless specifically described otherwise, the client terminal device 21 is replaced with the client terminal devices 22 and 23, and the content server 31 is replaced with the content servers 32 and 33. It is also possible.

  The network connects a plurality of devices through a wired or wireless communication interface. Devices connected to this network can communicate with each other by using a communication protocol such as TCP / IP. Accordingly, each of the viewing information management device 10, the client terminal devices 21, 22, 23, and the content servers 31, 32, and 33 can communicate with each other.

  The client terminal device 21 is an audiovisual device used for a user to view content stored in the content server 31.

  A configuration example of the client terminal device 21 is shown in FIG. The client terminal device 21 can display, for example, a communication unit 24 that communicates with other devices on the network, a control unit 25 that controls the operation of the device, an input unit 26 that receives user instructions, and acquired content. It includes a content processing unit 27 for formatting and a display unit 28 for displaying content and the like to the user.

  The user sends a content reproduction instruction to the viewing information management apparatus 10 via the input unit 26, and the instruction is passed to the communication unit 24 via the control unit 25. The communication unit 24 requests the viewing information management apparatus 10 to distribute content or receives the distributed content.

  The client terminal device 21 may be connected to a network and only needs to have a function of communicating with other devices on the network and a function of presenting what the user requests. Play content using digital recording and playback devices such as DVD recorders, network media players that can play back video data stored on network devices, and software for playing back music data and video data. A personal computer (PC).

  The content server 31 has a memory for storing the content therein, and transmits a list of the content stored in the memory according to an instruction from the viewing information management device 10 or transmits the content to the viewing information management device. 10 can be distributed.

  Further, the content server 31 can also notify a network path indicating the location on its own network in response to a request from the viewing information management apparatus 10 or the client terminal apparatus 21. The network path represents each device connected to the network of the content reproduction system 100 and where each of the contents stored in the network exists on the network, and at the same time uniquely identifies them. is there.

  Examples of what can be used as a network path indicating the location of the device include a MAC address or an IP address.

  Thereby, the viewing information management device 10 and the client terminal device 21 can recognize the location of the content server 31. With this network path, the viewing information management apparatus 10 can identify the content server 31 and acquire information such as content.

  Although not shown, the content server 31 may have a function of communicating with other devices on the network and a function of storing one or more contents, like the client terminal device 21.

  As a specific example of the content server 31, content is distributed using a digital recording device such as a hard disk recorder capable of transmitting recorded video data via a network, software for distributing music data and video data, and the like. PC etc. to do.

  According to the above configuration, each client terminal device 21, 22, 23 for requesting content reproduction for the user to view the content, and each content item for supplying the content to each client terminal device 21, 22, 23 The servers 31, 32, and 33 are all connected to the viewing information management apparatus 10 of the present invention via one network. As a result, all content exchanges between the client terminal device and the content server are performed by relaying the viewing information management device 10, and the distribution status, that is, the user viewing status can be monitored.

  Note that the number of client terminal devices and content servers in the content reproduction system 100 may be any number of one or more. If the viewing information management apparatus 10 of the present invention is introduced, in the content reproduction system 100, a plurality of user viewing situations can be managed by the viewing information management apparatus 10 for each content.

[Content hierarchy]
The memory stores one or more contents in a format having a hierarchical structure. In this hierarchical structure, the content server having the above content is defined as the highest entity (root folder), and each of the content such as music and video and one or more content are classified into one entity below it. A folder that is collectively stored as (substance) is a structure that is stored in a hierarchical arrangement. It is also possible to arrange one or more folders below the folder. In the present embodiment, each of “content server”, “folder”, and “content” is handled as one entity.

  Hereinafter, how each entity is arranged in the hierarchical structure will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 4 using an example in which the content server 31 is a root folder.

  An example of the arrangement of each entity in the content server 31 by the hierarchical structure is shown in FIG. An entity indicated by a bold line represents the root folder 34, that is, the highest-level content server 31, an entity indicated by a solid line represents a folder, and an entity indicated by a broken line represents content.

  Each entity is given a title (entity name) and an ID (entity identification information). The title represents the name of each entity, and the ID is given in advance by the content server 31 as a code for uniquely identifying each entity.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the ID “0” is assigned to the root folder indicating the content server 31 at the top of the hierarchical structure. In the lower layer of the root folder, there are folder entities having titles of “video”, “music”, and “image”, and an ID is assigned to each entity by the content server 31.

  Furthermore, in a lower layer, for example, in a lower layer of the “movie” folder 36 below the “video” folder 35 (ie, in the “movie” folder 36), a “history series” folder 37 and a title “SF movie 1” A content 38 and a content 39 titled “Anime movie 1” are included. As described above, one folder may include both one or more folders and one or more contents.

  For such a hierarchical structure, the viewing information management apparatus 10 specifies the location of the content server 31 using the MAC address, the IP address, etc., specifies the ID of each entity for the lower layer, By requesting information on the entity, information on a desired entity (folder or content) can be acquired in the form of a list.

[About the list]
Here, FIG. 5 shows an example of a list obtained from the content server 31 when the viewing information management apparatus 10 designates the entity with the ID “V10” shown in FIG.

  The list 16 illustrated in FIG. 5 is a list in which each of the entities included in the “movie” folder 36 having the ID “V10” specified above is included as one record. The list 16 includes, as attributes, “ID” for uniquely identifying an entity, “type” indicating whether the entity is a folder or content, “title” indicating the name of the entity, and “type” as content. In order to acquire the content entity, it has a “network path” indicating the location on the network, and these attributes are arranged as entity information for one record and supplied to the requesting device, or the user Or be presented.

  The viewing information management device 10 or the client terminal device 21 uses the method of acquiring a lower layer list by using the ID included in the list presented in this way, so that the viewing information management device 10 or the client terminal device 21 has the hierarchical structure shown in FIG. Any entity can be accessed.

[Configuration of viewing information management device]
Next, the viewing information management apparatus 10 of the present invention introduced into the content reproduction system 100 described so far will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Here, as necessary, the client terminal device 21 shown in FIG. 2 is used as a terminal device side device and the content server 31 is used as a server side device.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the viewing information management apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the viewing information management apparatus 10 communicates with a communication unit (communication means) 1 and a client terminal apparatus 21 for communicating with a client terminal apparatus 21 and a content server 31 connected to the same network. Content that is a request destination for the content specified by the ID generation unit (identification information generation means) 2 that generates an entity ID and the client terminal device 21 for uniquely identifying the entity when communicating between the two A content requesting unit (content requesting unit) 3 that requests the server 31; a content relaying unit (content relaying unit) 4 for relaying by receiving the distributed content and transmitting it to the client terminal device 21; Content relay monitoring unit (monitoring means) 5 for monitoring, interrupted when relay was interrupted In order to generate an interruption information generation unit (interruption information generation means) 6 for generating information on the interruption position of the content, an interruption information database (storage means) 7 for holding the interruption information, and a list in which each entity information is arranged. The list generation unit (entity list generation means) 8 is provided.

  The communication unit 1 is a communication unit that enables communication with all devices connected to the network of the content reproduction system 100, and has the same function as the communication unit 24 of the client terminal device 21 described above. An instruction signal for requesting content reproduction or list presentation, list data to be supplied, and the like are transmitted and received via the communication unit 1.

  The communication unit 1 further includes a client terminal device communication unit 11 and a content server communication unit 12, and has a role for realizing communication with the client terminal device 21 and communication with the content server 31. Each is responsible.

  In order for the client terminal device 21 to centrally manage all the entities connected to the network, the ID generation unit 2 uniquely identifies each of the content servers 31, 32, and 33 and the entities included therein. It is for generating an entity ID so that it can be identified.

  In the present embodiment, the ID generation unit 2 assigns the device entity ID (device identification information) of the content server 31 to the content server 31 under the content reproduction system 100 (original device identification information). It is generated in association with. In addition, the ID generation unit 2 uses the entity ID (content identification information) of each entity stored in the content server 31, the ID (original content identification information) previously given to each entity by the content server 31, and the above It is generated by associating with the device entity ID.

  This will be described more specifically with reference to the examples of FIGS. For example, assume that the IP address of the content server 31 (root folder 34) is “192.168.0.11”, and content identification information is generated for the lower-layer “video” folder 35.

  First, the ID generation unit 2 associates the device entity ID “S192-168-0-11-0” of the content server 31 with the IP address so as to become an entity in the lower layer of the viewing information management device 10. Generate. The number sequence between the leading “S” and the last “0” corresponds to the IP address, and “0”, which is the original ID of the content server 31, is given to the last. In the present embodiment, “S” is added to the head to indicate that this entity is a server device.

  Next, an entity ID of the “video” folder 35 is generated. At the end, the original folder ID “V1” of the “video” folder 35 is adopted, and this is associated with the device entity ID of the content server 31, whereby the entity ID “S192-168” of the “video” folder 35 is associated. −0-11-V1 ”is generated.

  Thereby, when viewed from the client terminal device 21, a virtual hierarchical structure in which everything is stored in the viewing information management device 10 is completed.

  Thereby, even if entities having the same ID are stored in different content servers, it is possible to distinguish which content server is an entity, and as a result, the client terminal device 21 can uniquely identify all entities. , It becomes possible to centrally manage.

  Note that the above-described device entity ID and entity ID generation method is merely an example. The present invention can be implemented by any ID generation method as long as each entity can be uniquely identified. For example, a unique number may be assigned to each entity in order. Alternatively, in order to make each entity appear as if it exists in a lower layer of the viewing information management apparatus 10, a management apparatus network path is generated in association with the network path indicating the location of each entity, and the entity ID is generated. It is good.

  Alternatively, both the original ID and the original network path may be generated again so that they can be centrally managed under the viewing information management apparatus 10. In this case, the list generation unit 8 can generate an entity list with a greater amount of information. When the ID of each entity arranged in the entity list shown in FIG. 5 is regenerated by this method so that it can be centrally managed, for example, the entity list 16a as shown in FIG. Is generated by the list generation unit 8.

  Here, the ID of the entity obtained from the content server 31 is generated based on the IP address of the content server 31, and at the same time, the network path of that entity is also generated again in the management device network path based on the device entity ID. Has been. Looking at such a management device network path, it appears that these contents exist inside the viewing information management device 10, and if the conversion law is known, a list in which the original ID and address can be easily extracted is provided to the user. can do.

  For example, in the present embodiment, the first part of the URL shown in the “management device network path” of the entity list 16a, “192.168.0.100”, is shown in FIG. The IP address itself is shown. The inclusion of this indicates that it is a management device network path. Further, the user can handle an entity having such a management apparatus network path as being stored in the viewing information management apparatus 10.

  An example of a virtual hierarchical structure when an entity ID is newly generated for each entity by the ID generation unit 2 by the method described above will be described later.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the ID generation unit 2 includes a network path conversion unit 9 that converts the management device network path of each entity into an original network path managed under the content reproduction system 100. ing. The function of the network path conversion unit 9 will be described later.

  Next, the content request unit 3 is for requesting the content server 31 that is a request destination to distribute the content specified by the client terminal device 21. The content requesting unit 3 determines whether the content reproduction request signal transmitted from the client terminal device 21 is a normal content reproduction request signal for the purpose of viewing the content from the beginning (case 1) or viewing from the content interruption position. The operation differs depending on whether it is an interrupted content reproduction request signal (case 2) for the purpose of resuming.

  In case 1, the content playback request signal includes the above-mentioned device entity ID and an entity ID that specifies the content to be played back. It is possible to specify which content server is requesting reproduction of which content, and request the designated content server 31 for the specified content.

  In case 2, the interrupted content playback request signal includes the interrupted content ID (interrupt content identification information) of the specified content. Based on the interrupted content ID, the interrupt content database 7 designates the interrupted content playback request signal. By referring to the content interruption information, the location of the designated content and its interruption position are specified. As a result, it is possible to request the requested content server 31 to deliver it from the interruption position.

  Note that the content request unit 3 may use the network path conversion unit 9 when requesting delivery of the designated content.

  The network path conversion unit 9 converts the management device network path generated from the original network path of each entity by the ID generation unit 2 to the corresponding original network path. When the ID generation unit 2 generates the management device network path, the network path conversion unit 9 stores the correspondence between the original network path and the management device network path generated therefrom.

  The content request unit 3 identifies the management device network path from the entity ID included in the content reproduction request signal, and delivers it to the network path conversion unit 9. The network path conversion unit 9 returns the original network path corresponding to the passed management apparatus network path to the content request unit 3.

  Specifically, for example, http://192.168.0.100/s192-168-0-11/v21.v listed in the entity list of FIG. Assuming that a content reproduction request including a management device network path called mpg is sent, the network path conversion unit 9 sends the request to the original network path http://192.168.8.0. 11 / v21. Convert to mpg form.

  As a result, the content request unit 3 can determine the location of the designated content from the original network path.

  The content relay unit 4 receives the content distributed to the viewing information management device 10 in response to the request from the content request unit 3 and transmits it to the client terminal device 21 to perform relaying. In the present embodiment, the content relay unit 4 must transmit and receive content consisting of a large amount of data, so that the communication unit 1 does not hinder communication of data other than content. The communication unit 1 has a different configuration. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the communication unit 1 may have the function of the content relay unit 4. In this case, the content relay monitoring unit 5 may be provided so as to monitor the communication unit 1.

  The content relay monitoring unit 5 monitors content relaying performed by the content relay unit 4. While the designated content is being relayed from the content server 31 to the client terminal device 21, the content relay monitoring unit 5 detects the relay operation and relays the designated content (viewing status for the user). ).

  In the present embodiment, the content relay monitoring unit 5 monitors the relay by accumulating the transmitted capacity and transmission time of the specified content.

  These pieces of information are used to generate interruption information for specifying the content interruption position during relay.

  The interruption information generation unit 6 is for generating information on the interruption position of the interrupted content when the relay is interrupted.

  When the relay is interrupted, the interrupt information generation unit 6 detects the interrupt, and acquires the interrupt position information of the interrupted content, that is, the transmitted capacity and the transmission time, from the content relay monitoring unit 5.

  The interruption information generation unit 6 generates interruption information for each interruption of the content based on the interruption position information and stores it in the interruption information database 7.

  Note that the event that the relay of the designated content is interrupted is caused by an interrupt instruction from the terminal device, a sudden power-off in the terminal device, or a communication interruption due to a communication path trouble.

  Here, an example of a list of interruption information stored in the interruption information database 7 is shown in FIG.

  The interrupted content list 17 includes interrupt information generated for each interrupt as one record, an interrupt information ID (interrupt content identification information) for uniquely identifying the interrupt information, a title of the interrupted content, and the content The table structure has the network path indicating the location on the network and the transmitted capacity and transmission time acquired from the content relay monitoring unit 5 as attributes.

  The interruption information ID is for uniquely identifying each interruption information generated by the ID generation unit 2. In addition, it is good also as a structure which the interruption information generation part 6 has a mechanism which produces | generates this interruption information ID. In this case, the interruption information ID generated by the interruption information generation unit 6 is regenerated again when the interruption information is centrally managed by the ID generation unit 2 as individual entities.

  The title of the content represents the name of the content, and is for the user to understand the content. The content network path is used for reference when communicating with the content server 31. The transmitted capacity represents the data size of the content transmitted to the client terminal device 21 until just before the interruption, and is used when requesting redistribution to the content server 31. The transmission time represents the cumulative time of the content that has been played back from the start of the content playback until the point at which it was interrupted. Thus, the user can understand how far the user has viewed.

  The way of viewing the interrupted content list 17 will be described in detail. For example, in the top record, the content titled “SF movie 1” is http://192.168.0.11/v21. This content exists in mpg, and the content is interrupted when transmission is completed up to 1,000,000 bytes, that is, when the content is played back for one hour from the beginning, and is provided with an interruption information ID of “C1”. It shows that.

  Note that an example of a method when the content requesting unit 3 requests the designated interrupted content in the case 2 described above will be described using the above example. When the viewing information management device 10 receives an interrupted content playback request signal designating “C1” from the client terminal device 21, the content request unit 3 refers to the interrupt information ID “C1” from the interrupted content list 17. , The location of the designated content “http://192.168.0.11/v21.mpg” and its interruption position, “1,000,000 bytes” are specified. As a result, the content server 31 having the designated content can be requested to distribute “the content whose content ID is v21 from 1,000,000 bytes”.

  Alternatively, the client terminal device 21 may acquire an entity list and specify a management device network path. In this case, upon receiving the interruption content reproduction request signal designating the interruption information ID “C1” and the management apparatus network path “http://192.168.0.100/C1.mpg”, the content request unit 3 The network path conversion unit 9 can be requested to convert the management apparatus network path, and the corresponding original network path “http://192.168.0.11/v21.mpg” can be obtained. The interruption position can be requested from the content server 31 by specifying the interruption information with reference to the interruption information ID “C1” in the same manner as described above.

  According to the above configuration, in the suspended content list 17 stored in the suspended information database 7, the attribute for storing the network path of the main body can be omitted, and for access control and data processing of the suspended information database 7. Can reduce the load.

  From the above, by distributing the content via the viewing information management device 10, content interruption information is generated, the interruption information ID for uniquely identifying them, the interruption position, and the location of the content Can be played back from the interruption position on any client terminal device regardless of which content is supplied from which content server. It becomes possible.

  Even when the content once interrupted is resumed again using the viewing information management apparatus 10 of the present invention, the resumed viewing status is monitored by the content relay monitoring unit 5 and again. Due to the interruption, new interruption information is generated by the interruption information generation unit 6.

  In this case, the transmitted capacity and transmission time of the content monitored by the content relay monitoring unit 5 are further accumulated by referring to the capacity and time recorded at the time of the previous viewing interruption from the interruption information database 7. You may do it. In this case, the viewing information management apparatus can suspend one content regardless of how many times the content is viewed from the start of viewing until the last viewing of the content. It can be handled as information.

  Alternatively, the old interruption information for the same content is not updated or deleted as described above, but the interruption information generation unit 6 may newly generate interruption information each time interruption is performed. In this case, the interruption information is generated as many times as the number of interruptions, and all of the interruption information is recorded in the interruption information database 7. As a result, a plurality of pieces of interruption information are recorded for a certain content, and the viewing history (interruption history) of the content can be presented to the user.

  As a result, even in the same content, it is possible to resume the reproduction of the desired interrupted content not only from the content interrupted immediately before but also from the previous time, the last time, and any time when the interrupt instruction was given in the past.

  When the client terminal device 21 accesses the viewing information management device 10, the list generation unit 8 displays a list of entities stored in the viewing information management device 10 (or presumed to be stored). , For supplying as an entity list.

  The list generation unit 8 responds to the access from the client terminal device 21, the device entity ID generated by the ID generation unit 2, the entity ID such as a folder or content, and each interruption information stored in the interruption information database 7. A list capable of uniquely identifying all entities is generated on the basis of the interruption information ID associated with.

  Hereinafter, a virtual hierarchical structure, which is a source for creating an entity list, will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 8 includes a viewing information management apparatus 10 that includes each entity for which an entity ID is newly generated by the ID generation unit 2 described above and each entity as interruption information of the interrupted content. Is a virtual hierarchical structure.

  As shown in FIG. 8, since the entity ID or the interruption information ID or the like is stored in the viewing information management device 10 with a hierarchical structure, the viewing information management is performed in the client terminal device 21 that has accessed the viewing information management device 10. It is recognized as if all entities are stored inside the device 10. Of course, the root folder 34 representing the entity of the original content server 31, the root folder 44 representing the entity of the content server 32, and the root folder 40 representing the entity of the viewing information management apparatus 10 are connected to the network. These are only a few examples, and in practice, all devices connected to the network are recognized as entities and displayed in this hierarchy.

  Apart from that, as described above, all entities connected to this network are stored in the lower layer of the viewing information management apparatus 10. All of these entities are arranged with an entity ID or interruption information ID that can be uniquely identified by the client terminal device 21 assigned by the ID generation unit 2.

  As shown in FIG. 8, in the lower layer of the viewing information management apparatus 10, for example, among the entities shown in FIG. 4, the “video” folder 35 is the entity 35a, and the “movie” folder 36 is the entity 36a. Be recognized.

  Further, the root folder 34 representing the content server 31 exists as an entity 34a, and the root folder 44 representing the content server 32 exists as an entity 44a in the lower layer of the viewing information management apparatus 10. Here, the titles may be indicated as “server 31 (interrupt information management is possible)” and “server 32 (interrupt information management is possible)”, respectively. Thereby, when the client terminal device 21 directly accesses the content server 31 without selecting the viewing information management device 10 (selects the root folder 34), or when accessing the content server 31 via the viewing information management device 10 (the entity 34a is changed). Selection) can be distinguished from the user. “(Interruption information management is possible)” is to manage the viewing situation and record the interruption position by transmitting / receiving the content via the viewing information management device 10 when viewing the content under the entity. It is clear to the user that it can be kept.

  On the other hand, in the lower layer of the interrupted content folder 41, which is an entity of a folder for organizing the interrupted content, for example, the title “SF movie 1” interrupt information shown in the interrupted content list 17 of FIG. That is, it is included as one entity.

  These interrupted contents included in the lower level of the interrupted content folder 41 indicate that the content has been viewed once but has not been viewed until the end, but is interrupted in the middle of the viewing.

  According to the above configuration, when there is a request for content information from the client terminal device 21 to the viewing information management device 10, the list generation unit 8 receives each content obtained from the content server 31 outside the viewing information management device 10. The ID generation unit 2 regenerates the ID of the entity information, generates a list that can uniquely identify all entities, and supplies the list to the client terminal device 21.

  Accordingly, the user can list accessible entities from any client terminal device, and can easily make a request for reproducing arbitrary content or arbitrary interrupted content.

  As a result, it is possible to provide the viewing information management apparatus 10 that can improve the convenience of the user related to the unified management of content.

  The viewing information management apparatus 10 of the present invention further has an input interface for accepting a user ID for uniquely identifying a user, and the interruption information generation unit 6 generates the interruption information in association with the user ID. You may make it do.

  In this case, when the user inputs a content interruption instruction to the client terminal device 21, the user inputs a user ID to the viewing information management device 10 via the client terminal device 21. Then, the input user ID is transmitted to the viewing information management apparatus 10 in association with the interruption instruction.

  Subsequently, the interruption information generation unit 6 generates interruption information of the content including the user ID. Thereby, for example, a list in which the attribute of the user ID is further added to the interruption content list 17 shown in FIG. 7 is stored in the interruption information database 7.

  As a result, the user can recognize at a glance which entity he / she watched and interrupted when browsing the list of interrupted content.

  The above configuration is effective when the content reproduction system 100 is shared by a plurality of users. Because, for example, when a plurality of users view or suspend the same content of the same content server 31 on the same or different terminal devices, the suspend information is generated with the same title as the number of suspends, This is because it is stored.

  Therefore, if the viewing information management apparatus 10 includes a user ID input interface and the interruption information is managed for each user, each user can identify and centrally manage an arbitrary number of interruption information. A possible content reproduction system 100 can be provided.

  Next, regarding the flow of processing of content reproduction and viewing information management when the viewing information management apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 is incorporated in the content reproduction system 100, the entities of FIG. 1, FIG. 14, and FIG. Description will be made based on the sequence diagrams of FIGS.

Here, in the content reproduction system 100, the functions that can be realized are roughly classified into the following four, and the flow of processing for each function will be described.
Function 1: A function for creating a list that allows a user to centrally manage content in all servers and all content that has been interrupted by viewing (unified entity management function)
Function 2: A function for managing the viewing status while supplying the server content to the terminal device in response to a content playback request from the client terminal device 21 (relay monitoring function)
Function 3: A function for accepting a content relay interruption instruction from the client terminal device 21, interrupting distribution, and generating and storing interruption information (interruption information generation function)
Function 4: Function for playing back the selected interrupted content from the interrupt position in response to the interrupted content playback request from the client terminal device 21 (interrupt content playback function)
The user first uses function 1 to select desired content from the list. Next, when the content to be played back from the head is selected, the function 2 is operated. When the content to be played back is selected from the interruption position, the function 4 is operated. When the content is reproduced by the operation of the function 2 or the function 4, and the user wants to interrupt the reproduction of the content, the function 3 is used.

  In the following description of each processing flow, as shown in FIG. 2, the IP addresses of the viewing information management device 10, the content server 31, and the content server 32 are set to 192.168.0.100 and 192.168., Respectively. .0.11 and 192.168.0.12 will be described as an example.

[Function 1: Central entity management function]
FIG. 9 is a sequence showing a processing flow when the viewing information management apparatus 10 creates an entity list used for selecting content to be played back by the user in response to a list request instruction from the client terminal apparatus 21. FIG.

  When the user performs an operation (list request instruction) for accessing the viewing information management apparatus 10 via the network using the client terminal apparatus 21 (S101), the client terminal apparatus 21 The viewing information management apparatus 10 is requested to acquire an entity list having 10 as the highest hierarchy, that is, the root folder (S102).

  Next, the viewing information management apparatus 10 receives the request via the client terminal apparatus communication unit 11 and transmits the request to the list generation unit 8.

  The list generation unit 8 inquires of each content server 31 on the network about the entity information (ID, network path, etc.) of the content server 31 via the content server communication unit 12 (S103). On the other hand, the list generation unit 8 refers to the interruption information database 7 inside, and acquires the presence / absence of interruption information (S104).

  In response to the inquiry in S103, the content server 31 supplies its entity information to the viewing information management apparatus 10 (S105).

  Next, the list generation unit 8 gives the entity ID regenerated by the ID generation unit 2 to each entity information acquired in S105 (S106).

  The list generation unit 8 includes each entity information newly assigned with an entity ID in S106 and entity information of the interrupted content folder acquired in S104 in the lower layer of the root folder of the viewing information management apparatus 10 An entity list arranged as described above is created (S107).

  The viewing information management apparatus 10 supplies the entity list created in S107 as a list of entities stored in the viewing information management apparatus 10 to the client terminal apparatus 21.

  The client terminal device 21 presents the entity list to the user (S108).

  The steps from S103 to S107 through S103, S105, and S106 and the steps from S104 to S107 are not necessarily performed in the order described above, and may be performed in parallel. .

  Here, FIG. 14 shows an entity list of a layer immediately below the viewing information management apparatus 10 that is first presented to the user in S108. The entity list 18 corresponds to each entity (34a, 44a, 41) in the immediately lower layer in the hierarchical structure of FIG.

  As already described, the entity ID for uniquely identifying each entity is assigned by the ID generation unit 2.

  Thereby, the client terminal device 21 can handle the content in any content server as the content in the viewing information management device 10.

  The user can specify desired content from such an entity list. Furthermore, since the information about the interrupted content can be specified from the same entity list, the entity list 18 generated by the list generation unit 8 reproduces the content included in the content server 31 from the top (record 51). Selection), or also plays a role as a user interface for selecting whether the interrupted content is to be played back halfway (selecting record 52).

  In addition, since access using the entity ID generated in this way is performed via the viewing information management apparatus 10, it is possible to leave a communication record in the viewing information management apparatus 10.

  Therefore, it is possible to monitor the viewing situation while the content is being reproduced.

  The above description is a case where the entity list of the layer immediately below the viewing information management apparatus 10 including the content server and the entity of the suspended content 42 is created. However, the same processing is performed on the lower-layer entity list, and each time an entity in the folder is selected, an entity list included in the folder (immediately below) is generated and presented to the user. This folder entity list creation process is repeated until the last content entity is selected.

  Alternatively, the hierarchical structure itself shown in FIG. 8 may be created at a time and presented to the user. In this case, the user can visually recognize the hierarchical structure of each entity, and can easily find desired content.

  FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing a flow of processing for creating the folder entity list.

  When the user selects an entity (folder entity) whose “type” is a folder from the entity list (S201), the client terminal device 21 is selected by the viewing information management device 10 based on the ID of the folder entity. An entity list of a lower layer of the folder entity requested is requested (S202).

  In response to the request, the list generation unit 8 uses the designated folder entity ID (for example, “S192-168-0-11-V1” in FIG. 8) as the original folder ID used in the content server 31. (For example, “V1”). Alternatively, the management device network path (for example, “http://192.168.0.100/S192-168-0-11/V1”) of the folder entity is replaced with the original network path (for example, “http: /// /192.168.0.11/v1 "). This conversion is performed by the network path conversion unit 9 of the ID generation unit 2. As a result, the original folder ID and network path corresponding to the folder entity ID are acquired (S203).

  Entity information is requested from the content server 31 by the acquired network path (S204). In response to this request, the content server 31 supplies the information on the requested folder entity to the viewing information management apparatus 10 (S205).

  The list generation unit 8 generates each entity information acquired from S205 and newly given an entity ID using the ID generation unit 2 as an entity list under the viewing information management apparatus 10 (S206). The viewing information management device 10 supplies the generated entity list to the client terminal device 21 via the client terminal device communication unit 11.

  The client terminal device 21 presents the supplied entity list to the user (S207), and allows the user to select a lower entity from the entity list. Thereby, in content reproduction system 100, when it is determined that the selected item is not a content entity but a folder entity (NO in S208), the process returns to S202. On the other hand, if it is determined that the selected entity is a content entity (YES in S208), the process proceeds to the subsequent relay monitoring process, that is, the designated content reproduction process.

[Function 2: Relay monitoring function]
FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing when receiving a content reproduction request signal from the client terminal device 21, receiving the specified content from the content server, relaying it to the client terminal device 21, and monitoring the situation It is.

  When the user selects content from the entity list acquired from the viewing information management device 10 by the function 1 (S301), the client terminal device 21 transmits a content reproduction request instruction signal to the viewing information management device 10 ( S302).

  In response to the reception of this instruction signal, the content management apparatus network path included in the signal is converted into the original network path by converting into the original network path. This conversion is performed by the network path conversion unit 9 of the ID generation unit 2 in the same manner as described in the function 1 above. As a result, the content request unit 3 acquires the original network path corresponding to the management apparatus network path (S303).

  The content request unit 3 requests the requested content server 31 having the designated content to distribute the designated content based on the original network path (S304).

  In response to the distribution request, the content server 31 starts distributing the designated content to the viewing information management apparatus 10 (S305).

  The content relay unit 4 receives the designated content distributed to the content server 31 and transmits it to the client terminal device 21 that is the request source, thereby relaying the designated content. At the same time, the content relay monitoring unit 5 starts monitoring the relay (S306).

  The client terminal device 21 presents the designated content received from the viewing information management device 10 to the user (S307).

  From the above, the user can view desired content, and the viewing status can be managed by the viewing information management apparatus 10. As a result, when the viewed content is interrupted and the viewing is to be resumed from the interruption position, the reproduction of the content can be resumed from the interruption position.

  If it is determined in the content reproduction system 100 that the user has given an interruption instruction while viewing a certain content (NO in S308), the process returns to S306. If it is determined that the user has instructed interruption (YES in S308), the process proceeds to the subsequent interruption information generation process. In the above-described S308, not only the presence / absence of an interruption instruction from the user is determined, but also in a form in which content data is divided into a plurality of packet data and distributed to the client terminal device 21, the client terminal device 21 receives the packet data. Alternatively, it may be determined whether or not an ACK signal indicating success has been returned to the viewing information management apparatus 10 at an expected timing.

[Function 3: Interruption information generation function]
FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram showing a flow of processing when receiving a content reproduction interruption instruction from the client terminal device 21, interrupting distribution, and generating interruption information.

  When the user performs an operation for interrupting content reproduction on the client terminal device 21, the client terminal device 21 cuts off communication with the viewing information management device 10 (S402).

  Next, when communication with the client terminal device 21 is interrupted, the content relay unit 4 detects the communication disconnection and interrupts the relay of content from the content server 31 to the client terminal device 21 (S403). Thereby, the content server 31 stops the distribution of the content (S404).

  On the other hand, the interruption information generation unit 6 detects the interruption of the relay of the content relay unit 4 in S403, acquires the transmitted capacity and transmission time monitored by the content relay monitoring unit 5 at that time, and based on that information, the interruption information Is generated (S405). The generated interruption information is stored in the interruption information database 7 (S406). This interruption information includes the title of the interrupted content, the capacity and time from the beginning of the content distributed until the interruption, and the network path of the interrupted content, for uniquely identifying the interruption information. An interruption information ID is assigned.

  From the above, it becomes possible to manage a plurality of interrupted contents together with the interrupt position information even if the user views and interrupts which content is viewed from which content server. It is possible to reproduce from the interruption position at the client terminal device.

[Function 4: Interrupted content playback function]
FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing when receiving a request for reproduction of interrupted content from the client terminal device 21 and reproducing the specified interrupted content from the interrupt position.

  FIG. 15 shows an entity list 19 of interruption information presented to the client terminal device 21 generated by the list generation unit 8, and here, stored in the interruption information database 7, FIG. An example associated with each piece of interruption information shown will be given. That is, it is a list of (lower) entities included in the interrupted content folder 41 shown in FIG. As described above, the ID of each entity is converted by the ID generation unit 2 into an entity ID for centralized management. In addition, the interruption time is added to the title.

  As a result, the user can request the viewing information management apparatus 10 to reproduce the suspended content and receive the suspended content from the viewing information management apparatus 10.

  When the user selects desired interrupted content (for example, the entity 29) from the interrupted content list as shown in FIG. 15 (S501), the client terminal device 21 sends an instruction signal for interrupted content playback request to the viewing information management device 10. Transmit (S502).

  In response to the instruction signal for the interruption content reproduction request, the content request unit 3 extracts the interruption information ID (for example, “C1”) specified by the signal, and refers to the interruption information database 7 based on the ID, for example, Then, the interruption information of the designated content (for example, “transmitted capacity: 1,000,000 (bytes)”) is acquired from the interruption content list 17 as shown in FIG. 7 (S503).

  The content request unit 3 specifies the location of the designated content and the location of the interruption information from the obtained interruption information (S504), and the content request unit 3 having the specified content receives the content of the content after the interruption position. Distribution is requested (S505).

  The content server 31 distributes the content after the designated position to the viewing information management apparatus 10 (S506).

  The content relay unit 4 relays the designated content by receiving the designated content distributed from the content server 31 and transmitting it to the client terminal device 21 that is the request source. At the same time, the content relay monitoring unit 5 starts monitoring the relay (S507).

  The client terminal device 21 presents the designated content received from the viewing information management device 10 to the user (S508).

  From the above, the user can view desired interrupted content, and the viewing status is managed again by the viewing information management apparatus 10. As a result, even if the viewing is interrupted many times, if the content is to be resumed from the interruption position, the terminal device when the viewing is resumed from the interruption position is a different terminal device even if the terminal device is the same terminal device. Even in such a case, it is possible to resume the reproduction of the content from the interruption position by the same method.

  If it is determined in the content reproduction system 100 that the user has given an interruption instruction while viewing the interruption content (NO in S509), the process returns to S506. If it is determined that the user has instructed interruption (YES in S509), the process proceeds to the above-described interruption information generation process.

  As described above, according to the above-described configuration, it is possible to manage a plurality of interrupted contents in the content reproduction system, and as a result, regardless of which content is supplied from which content server, Any interrupted content can be reproduced from the interrupt position at an arbitrary client terminal device.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope shown in the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  The viewing information management apparatus of the present invention includes a communication means for communicating with a terminal device and a server apparatus on a network, and a conversion means for converting the contents of a request message, content information, etc. received by the communication means. An information processing apparatus comprising: a relay unit that relays and transmits the content received from the server device to the terminal device; and a monitoring unit that monitors the relay of the content performed by the relay unit. It may be configured.

  Further, when the content information obtained from the server device is received, the conversion means may convert identification information such as ID information included in the content information.

  Further, the conversion means may convert identification information such as ID information included in the request message when the request message is received from the terminal device.

  The monitoring unit may create interruption information including an interruption stop position when content relaying by the relay unit is interrupted.

  The viewing information management apparatus of the present invention is configured as an information processing apparatus further comprising storage means for holding interruption information generated when the relay of the content is interrupted, and the monitoring means includes: After the interruption information is created, it may be registered in the storage means.

  In this case, when the reproduction request from the interruption position is made from the terminal device, the conversion unit acquires the interruption information from the storage unit, and transmits the content based on the interruption information to the server device. A request may be made.

  According to the above configuration, the terminal device used by the user accesses the information processing apparatus, and acquires a content list from the content server via the information processing apparatus. When the content is distributed, the content server distributes the content to the information processing device, and the information processing device redistributes the content to the terminal device. For this reason, when the terminal device interrupts the reproduction of the content in the middle, the information processing device detects that the distribution of the content has stopped, and thereby creates the interruption information.

  The information processing device presents the interruption information to the terminal device as content in a special folder, and when the terminal device requests reproduction of the content, the interruption information management device processes the interruption information and the content reproduction start position. Recognize The information processing apparatus acquires the content after the interrupted position recognized in this way from the content server and distributes it to the terminal device. By doing so, it is possible to perform reproduction from the interruption position in the terminal device.

  Thus, in a network environment where the content in the server device can be viewed on the client terminal device, the content on the server device can be viewed from a certain client terminal device using the server device and client terminal device that do not incorporate a special mechanism. An information processing device that determines the content interruption position in the same client terminal device or a different client terminal device on the network and enables playback from the interruption position when the viewing is interrupted in the middle, It is possible to provide an information processing method, an information processing system, and the like.

  An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and the computer of the system or apparatus (or CPU or MPU (Micro Processing Unit). Needless to say, the above can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, or the like can be used. The program code may be downloaded from another computer system to a storage medium via a transmission medium such as a communication network.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function is determined based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU of the expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  When the present invention is applied to the above-described storage medium, the storage medium stores program codes corresponding to the operation of the viewing information management apparatus 10 in the sequence diagram described above.

  In addition, each unit and each processing step of the viewing information management apparatus according to the above-described embodiment is such that a calculation unit such as a CPU executes a program stored in a storage unit such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a RAM, and an input such as a keyboard It can be realized by controlling a means, an output means such as a display, or a communication means such as an interface circuit. Therefore, various functions and various processes of the viewing information management apparatus according to the present embodiment can be realized simply by a computer having these means reading the recording medium storing the program and executing the program. In addition, by recording the program on a removable recording medium, the various functions and various processes described above can be realized on an arbitrary computer.

  As the recording medium, a program medium such as a memory (not shown) such as a ROM may be used for processing by the microcomputer, and a program reading device is provided as an external storage device (not shown). It may be a program medium that can be read by inserting a recording medium there.

  In any case, the stored program is preferably configured to be accessed and executed by the microprocessor. Furthermore, it is preferable that the program is read out, and the read program is downloaded to a program storage area of the microcomputer and the program is executed. It is assumed that this download program is stored in advance in the main unit.

  The program medium is a recording medium configured to be separable from the main body, such as a tape system such as a magnetic tape or a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a flexible disk or a hard disk, or a disk such as a CD / MO / MD / DVD. Fixed disk system, card system such as IC card (including memory card), or semiconductor memory such as mask ROM, EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), flash ROM, etc. In particular, there is a recording medium carrying a program.

  In addition, if the system configuration is capable of connecting to a communication network including the Internet, the recording medium is preferably a recording medium that fluidly carries the program so as to download the program from the communication network.

  Further, when the program is downloaded from the communication network as described above, it is preferable that the download program is stored in the main device in advance or installed from another recording medium.

  By using the viewing information management apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to manage the interruption position information for a plurality of contents for which the viewing is interrupted. Therefore, content reproduction in which audiovisual devices are connected to each other by, for example, a home LAN It can use suitably for a system. Also, the viewing information management device can be applied to various audiovisual devices such as a television broadcast receiving device, a hard disk recorder, a DVD recorder, and other digital recording / playback devices that can be connected to a network, and a personal computer that can play music data and video data. can do.

It is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the viewing-and-listening information management apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the outline | summary of the content reproduction system which concerns on this invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a configuration example of one client terminal device illustrated in FIG. 2. It is a figure which shows the example of arrangement | positioning by the hierarchical structure of each entity in one content server shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the entity list | wrist which can be acquired from the content server shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the entity list shown to a user by a client terminal device, when the entity list shown in FIG. 5 is acquired via a viewing-and-listening information management apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of a structure of the interruption content list stored in the interruption information database shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of arrangement | positioning by a virtual hierarchical structure when the hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 4 is handled as a lower layer of the viewing-and-listening information management apparatus of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of a process when the viewing-and-listening information management apparatus of this invention produces the entity list used in order to select the content which a user reproduces | regenerates according to the instruction | indication of the list request | requirement from a client terminal device. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of a process when the viewing-and-listening information management apparatus of this invention produces the entity list of a folder entity. The flow of processing when the viewing information management apparatus of the present invention receives a content reproduction request signal from a client terminal apparatus, receives specified content from a content server, relays it to the client terminal apparatus, and monitors the situation FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of a process when the viewing-and-listening information management apparatus of this invention receives the interruption instruction | indication of the content reproduction from a client terminal device, interrupts delivery, and produces | generates interruption information. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of a process when the viewing-and-listening information management apparatus of this invention receives the signal of the reproduction request of the interruption content from a client terminal device, and reproduces | regenerates the designated interruption content from the interruption position. It is a figure which shows the example of the entity list of the layer immediately under the viewing-and-listening information management apparatus which is first shown with respect to a client terminal device produced | generated by the list production | generation part. It is a figure which shows the example of the entity list of the interruption information shown with respect to the client terminal device produced | generated by the list production | generation part. (A) is a block diagram which shows the outline | summary of the viewing-and-listening system in patent document 1, (b) is a figure which shows the example of the list of viewing-and-listening information stored in the viewing-and-listening information storage part shown to (a). .

Explanation of symbols

1 Communication unit (communication means)
2 ID generator (identification information generator)
3. Content request section (content request means)
4 Content relay section (content relay means)
5 Content relay monitoring unit (monitoring means)
6 Interruption information generation unit (interruption information generation means)
7 Interruption information database (storage means)
8 List generator (entity list generator)
9 Network path converter (identification information converter)
10. Viewing information management device (viewing information management device)
11 client terminal device communication unit 12 content server communication unit 16 list 16a entity list 17 suspended content list 18 entity list 19 entity list 21 client terminal device 31 content server 34 root folder 34a entity 35 folder 35a entity 36 folder 36a entity 37 folder 38 Content 39 Content 40 Root folder 41 Interrupted content folder 42 Interrupted content 44 Root folder 44a Entity 100 Content playback system

Claims (13)

Content used in a content playback system in which one or more terminal devices for viewing content and one or more server devices for supplying content to the terminal devices are interconnected to one network In the viewing information management device for managing the viewing status of
Communication means for communicating with each device under the content reproduction system;
Identification information generating means for generating device identification information for the terminal device to identify each of the server devices as an individual entity;
When the content reproduction request signal is received from the terminal device via the communication means, the requested server device is identified based on the device identification information included in the received content reproduction request signal, and the terminal device is identified. Content request means for requesting the requested server device for the specified content to be supplied;
Content relay means for relaying the designated content by receiving the designated content from the request destination server device and transmitting the designated content to the terminal device;
Monitoring means for monitoring the relay of the designated content performed by the content relay means;
Interruption information generating means for detecting that the relay of the designated content is interrupted and generating content interruption information indicating the interruption position of the content from the monitoring result of the monitoring means in association with the device identification information ;
Storage means for storing the content interruption information,
The identification information generating means generates interrupt content identification information for the terminal device to identify the content interrupt information as an individual entity different from the interrupted designated content,
The viewing information management apparatus , wherein the interruption information generation means stores the content interruption information in association with the interruption content identification information in the storage means . The identification information generating means further includes:
The terminal device generates device identification information for identifying each of the server devices as an individual entity, and the terminal device for identifying each of a plurality of contents of each of the server devices as an individual entity The content identification information is generated by associating the original content identification information previously given to the content by the server device and the device identification information,
The content requesting means is
Et al is, the content corresponding to the content identification information included in the content reproduction request signal, and identified as the designated content to be supplied to the terminal device, to the request destination server device identified the designated content the request,
The interruption information generating means is
The content interruption information, viewing information management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the benzalkonium generates in association with the above-described apparatus identification information and the content identification information.   The interruption information generating means is
  Each time the specified content interruption is detected, content interruption information is generated,
3. The viewing information management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the generated content interruption information is stored in the storage means in association with each interruption content identification information.   The identification information generating means further includes original entity identification information for identifying each entity, which is given in advance to each entity, and whether each entity is uniquely identified and the viewing information management apparatus has 4. The viewing information management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising identification information conversion means for mutually converting management apparatus entity identification information to be handled as described above. An entity list that generates, for presentation to the user, an entity list that can identify each content interruption information to which the interruption content identification information is assigned and each entity to which the management device entity identification information is assigned as an individual entity. The viewing information management apparatus according to claim 4 , further comprising a generation unit.   6. The viewing information according to claim 5, wherein the identification information generating means generates the management device entity identification information as a management device network path based on a network path indicating a location of each entity on the network. Management device. When the content reproduction request signal received from the terminal device specifies the interrupted content identification information, the content request unit acquires content interrupt information based on the interrupted content identification information, and stores the content interrupt information in the content interrupt information. based identifies the interruption position of the origin server apparatus and the content, the content of the request signal designates the interruption location identified above, claim 1, characterized in that the request to the origin server device The viewing information management apparatus according to any one of 6 to 6 . In a content reproduction system in which one or more terminal devices for viewing content and one or more server devices for supplying content to the terminal device are interconnected to one network,
Connected to said network, characterized in that it comprises a viewing information management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, the content reproduction system. Content viewing in a content playback system in which one or more terminal devices for viewing content and one or more server devices for supplying content to the terminal device are interconnected to one network In the viewing information management method for managing the situation,
In the content reproduction system, device identification information for the terminal device to identify each of the server devices as an individual entity is given to the server device in advance,
Receiving a content reproduction request signal from the terminal device;
The request destination server device is specified based on the device identification information included in the content reproduction request signal received in the receiving step, and the requested content to be supplied to the terminal device is requested to the request destination server device. And steps to
Receiving the designated content from the request destination server device and transmitting the designated content to the terminal device, thereby relaying the designated content;
Monitoring the relay of the designated content in the relaying step;
Detecting that the relay of the designated content is interrupted, and generating content interruption information indicating the interruption position of the content from the monitoring result of the monitoring step in association with the device identification information ;
The terminal device generating the suspended content identification information for identifying the content suspension information as an individual entity different from the suspended designated content;
A step of associating the content interruption information with the interruption content identification information and storing the content interruption information in a storage means for storing the content interruption information . In the content reproduction system, further, the content identification information for identifying each of the plurality of contents as individual entities each having upper SL terminal device the server apparatus is previously assigned to the content by the server device the original content identification information, which is generated in advance by Rukoto association with the device identification information,
In the requesting step above,
Further, the content corresponding to the content identification information included in the received the content reproduction request signal, and identified as the designated content to be supplied to the terminal device, the request destination server identifying the designated contents of its apparatus to the request,
In the above generating step,
Viewing information management method according to claim 9, the content interruption information, wherein the benzalkonium generates in association with the above-described apparatus identification information and the content identification information.   A viewing information management program for operating the viewing information management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the viewing information management program causes a computer to function as each means described above.   The computer-readable recording medium which recorded the viewing-and-listening information management program of Claim 11.   A digital recording apparatus comprising the viewing information management apparatus according to claim 1.

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