JP5028922B2 - Music playback device, music playback program, and music playback method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a music playback device, a music playback program, and a music playback method that simultaneously display representative images of a category when each element in a predetermined category related to music is displayed as a selection item.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a technique for improving a user interface in a portable music player, there is known a technique capable of searching for a reproduction target by tracing a predetermined category hierarchy. For example, a genre, an artist, an album, a playlist, etc. can be adopted as a category forming a hierarchy. In this case, for example, genres, artists, albums, and music included in each album can form a hierarchical structure in this order. For example, the user can search for a reproduction target starting from any one of albums, artists, genres, and playlists displayed on the home screen and moving toward a lower category.

  For example, the user can display a list of albums recorded in the apparatus by selecting an album category on the home screen. Furthermore, any album can be selected and a list of music included in the album can be displayed. Similarly, by selecting an artist on the home screen, a search can be performed from the upper level to the lower level in the order of artist, album, and music. When a genre is selected on the home screen, a search can be performed while descending the hierarchy in the order of genre, artist, album, and music. When a playlist is selected, it is possible to search for albums and music that the user has registered in the playlist in advance.

  On the other hand, a music playback device that displays an image of an album jacket of the music or an image related to the genre of the music during playback of the music is also known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 9 shows a music list display screen in a music reproducing apparatus according to another prior art. The music list display is used as a music selection menu. When the album is selected, the music list is displayed on the music included in the album as a lower screen. In this music reproducing apparatus, the search according to the hierarchical structure by the category similar to the technique in the above-mentioned user interface improvement technique is enabled. Each song in the song list is associated with a jacket image of the album to which the song belongs, and when the song list is displayed, an image associated with the song is displayed in association with the display of the name of each song. Is displayed.

  That is, in the music list display screen 80 shown in FIG. 9, “album A”, which is the name of the selected album, is displayed in the uppermost album display field 81. In the music display column 82 below, “music 1”, “music 2”,... Are displayed as the names of the music included in the album A. In addition, an album jacket image 83 associated with each song is also displayed in association with the display of each song name. Basically, the same jacket image is associated with each piece of music included in the same album. However, different images may be associated.

  In the display column 82a for the selected song in the song list, that is, the display column 82a where the cursor is located, the display of the image is enlarged so that it can be seen that the color is different from the other display columns 82. Information is displayed in characters. In the expanded display field 82a, in addition to the music name, information on the artist name “artist α” and performance time “3:38” is additionally displayed. Regarding the music being selected, reproduction is started when a predetermined user operation is performed.

JP 2006-216201 A

  However, according to the conventional example of FIG. 9 described above, since the same jacket image is repeatedly displayed in the display columns 82 and 82a of each musical piece, a troublesome impression is given as a feeling of watching. Further, when the jacket image has a bright color scheme, the character information is relatively difficult to see, and the visibility of information about each piece of music may be lowered. Furthermore, when moving the cursor to select music, there is a problem that even if an attempt is made to increase the moving speed, the moving speed does not increase smoothly due to the load for rewriting the image display.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a music reproducing apparatus capable of displaying a music list that is more suitable for searching for music in view of such problems of the prior art.

In order to achieve the above object, the music playback device of the present invention stores music data so that it can be divided into each element in a predetermined category related to music, and supports a related image corresponding to each music data for each music data. A storage means for storing information, and a list display area in the screen, each element in the category is displayed as a selection item of only character information , and at that time, a representative image of the category is displayed in the category display area in the screen The display means for displaying simultaneously, the specifying means for calculating the sum of the number of reproductions for all the music items belonging to each selection item in the category, and specifying the maximum selection item having the maximum sum, and the specifying means and selecting means for selecting the associated image stored in association with the music data of the music as the representative images belonging to the maximum selection was, the display ; And a selecting means for selecting a desired one from the selection list displayed by stage.

  Here, as the music reproducing device, for example, a portable music reproducing device with a built-in hard disk is applicable. Examples of the predetermined category include an artist, an album, a genre, and a playlist. The category of music as a subordinate category of the album category also corresponds. The category element corresponds to jazz or classical music in the category of genre. Each category may have a hierarchical structure. For example, it has a hierarchical structure in which the hierarchy goes down in the order of genre, artist, album, and music, and in this order, it is possible to search through the hierarchy while selecting a selection item in each category. May be. When displaying each element included in a certain category as a selection item, for example, the name of each element is displayed as a selection item. For example, in the case of a genre category, genre names such as “jazz”, “classic”, and “rock” are listed as selection items.

  In this configuration, when each element of a predetermined category related to music is displayed as a selection item, a representative image of that category is also displayed. As the representative image, an image associated with a selection item for which the degree of preference is determined to be a predetermined degree is selected based on the preference data indicating the degree of user preference regarding each selection item. For example, when the predetermined category is an artist category, an image associated with the artist determined to be most preferred by the user based on the preference data regarding each artist is selected. As an image associated with such an artist, a representative image of an album category located under the artist can be employed. The user can select a desired item from the selection item list in which the representative image is displayed in this way. When the category has a hierarchical structure, a list of selection items related to the lower category of the selected item is displayed, so that the search can be performed while going down the hierarchy. The user can select a desired item from the displayed selection item list. After selecting any item, by performing a predetermined operation, the music included in the selected item can be reproduced.

The music reproduction program of the present invention stores music data so that it can be divided into each element in a predetermined category related to music, and a storage means for storing a related image corresponding to each music data in association with each music data , Displaying each element in the category as a selection item of only character information in a list display area in the screen , at that time, a display means for simultaneously displaying a representative image of the category in the category display area in the screen, Calculating a total sum of the number of times of reproduction of all the music pieces belonging to each selection item in the category, specifying a maximum selection item having the maximum sum, and a music piece belonging to the maximum selection item specified by the specifying means and selecting means for selecting the associated image corresponding to the music data stored as the representative image, displayed by the display means Causing a computer to function as a selecting means for selecting a desired one from 択項 th list.

The music reproduction method of the present invention stores the music data so that the music data can be divided into each element in a predetermined category related to the music, and stores a related image corresponding to each music data in association with each music data ; Displaying each element in the category in a list display area in the screen as a selection item of only character information, a display step of simultaneously displaying a representative image of the category in the category display area in the screen, Calculate the sum of the number of playbacks for all the songs belonging to each selection item in the category, specify a maximum selection item having the maximum sum, and a song belonging to the maximum selection item specified in the specification step a selection step of selecting the associated image corresponding to the music data stored as the representative image, selection displayed in the display step Music playback method characterized by comprising a selecting step for selecting a desired one from the item list.

  According to the present invention, when each element of a predetermined category related to music is displayed in a list as a selection item, an image associated with the selection item having a user preference level in the category equal to or higher than a predetermined value is displayed as a representative image. Therefore, the display screen of the selection item list can be designed to reflect the user's preference.

  In addition, when the predetermined category is a category of a song included in a certain album, a representative image of the category is selected as an image associated with each song among the images associated with each song, It can be displayed together with the music list. Therefore, it is possible to omit displaying an image associated with each piece of music. This eliminates the annoying impression of the feeling of viewing due to repeated display of the same image, prevents a decrease in the visibility of character information due to the repeatedly displayed image, It is possible to prevent the music list scroll from becoming dull.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a portable music player according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, this apparatus includes a control unit 11 that controls each part of the apparatus and processes various information, a hard disk 12 that is accessed by the control unit 11, and a display unit 13 that displays various information under the control of the control unit 11. An input unit 14 for a user to input an operation to the control unit 11 and an audio output unit 15 that converts an audio signal from the control unit 11 into a sound wave and outputs the sound wave.

  The hard disk 12 stores music files used for music playback and image data associated with each music. The control unit 11 performs a user interface function using the input unit 14 and the display unit 13, reproduction of music specified through the function, and the like while referring to data in the hard disk 12 according to a predetermined program.

  FIG. 2 shows the front of the device of FIG. In the figure, 21 is a screen of a liquid crystal display constituting the display unit 13, 22 is an operation key constituting the input unit 14, 23 is a menu key similarly constituting the input unit 14, and 24 is a voice output unit 15. Headphones. The operation key 22 includes five keys: a center key M located at the center, an upper key U located above, a lower key D located below, a right key R located on the right side, and a left key L located on the left side. . Each is composed of tact switches. In particular, the upper key U and the lower key D are each constituted by a tact switch that operates in two steps by lightly pressing lightly and pressing strongly. That is, the upper key U and the lower key D can perform two types of operation inputs by light pressing and strong pressing with one key, respectively.

  The menu key 23 can be used for displaying a menu screen in which selection items for setting various operation modes are arranged in the vertical direction. The up key U and the down key D can be used to select a selection item on various menu screens. When the up key U or the down key D is pressed, the playback device moves the cursor indicating the currently selected item upward or downward in the menu. At this time, if the number of selection items is large, the menu display is scrolled up and down as necessary. The speed of cursor movement and menu display scrolling by pressing the up key U or down key D is slow when lightly pressed and fast when strongly pressed. The right key R can be used to display a lower screen related to the currently selected item.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a method for sorting music recorded on the hard disk 12. Based on information such as album name, artist name, and genre name attached to the music file of each song, each song can be classified for each album as shown in FIG. Each album can be classified by artist, and each artist can be classified by genre. That is, it is possible to form a hierarchical structure in which genres, artists, albums, and songs are categories in each hierarchy. As the hierarchical structure, in addition to the example of FIG. 3, various forms that can be formed using information such as album names, artist names, and genre names attached to music files can be adopted. For example, a hierarchical structure consisting of only a music category including all songs as a category element, an artist category hierarchy including all artists as a category element, and a music category divided for each artist as a lower hierarchy You may employ | adopt the hierarchical structure which consists of a hierarchy of.

  FIG. 4 shows the home screen displayed on the screen 21. On this screen, category names such as “artist”, “album”, “genre”, etc. are displayed. By selecting one of the categories and pressing the right key R, starting from the category hierarchy, According to the hierarchical structure as shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to search for an element in a desired hierarchical category.

  For example, when the cursor is positioned on “Artist” on the home screen of FIG. 4 and the right key R is pressed in a state where “Artist” is selected, the music reproducing device, according to the example of FIG. An artist list screen with “Artist A”, “Artist B”... As selection items is displayed. In this screen, when “Artist B” is selected by the operation of the upper key U and the lower key D and the right key R is pressed, albums having “album b” and “album c” belonging to artist B as selection items are selected. Display the list screen. In this screen, when the album c is selected by the operation of the up key U and the down key D and the right key R is pressed, the music having “music 12”, “music 13”. Display the list screen. On this screen, one of the displayed music pieces can be selected by operating the up key U and the down key D.

  In addition, by selecting and selecting a selection element in a desired hierarchical category in this way, it is possible to designate a reproduction range and a reproduction start position. For example, when artist B is selected and the center key M is pressed, the music playback device plays back all the music of all albums belonging to artist B or the first album b belonging to artist B, depending on the setting. Playback starts from song 6.

  FIG. 5 shows an album list screen displayed on the screen 21 when the artist B in the example of FIG. 3 is selected and the right key R is pressed, that is, a menu screen for album selection. As shown in the figure, on this menu screen, a representative image 51 of an album belonging to artist B and character information 52 regarding artist B are displayed at the top. As the character information 52, the artist name “artist B” of artist B and the number of albums “2 albums” belonging to artist B are displayed. As the representative image 51, an album jacket image that is associated with the album b and album c belonging to the artist B and having the larger number of reproductions of the music belonging to them is employed.

  In a list display area 53 below this display, a list of albums as selection items is displayed. As an album list, information on album b and album c belonging to artist B is displayed in FIG. In the initial state of this screen, the cursor 54 is positioned at the top of the list display area 53, so that the album b on which the album name or the like is displayed at the top is selected. For the selected album b, the album name “album b”, artist name “artist B”, number of recorded songs “6 songs”, and total playback time “40:27” are displayed as character information. For the album c not selected, only the album name “album c” is displayed.

  FIG. 6 shows a music selection menu screen displayed on the screen 21 when album c is selected by the lower key D and the right key R is pressed on the menu screen of FIG. On this screen, a representative image 61 of each song belonging to album c and character information 62 relating to album c are displayed at the top. As the character information 62, the album name “album c”, the artist name “artist B”, the number of songs “15 songs”, and the total playback time “50:43” are displayed. As the representative image 61, an album jacket image associated with a song having the largest number of reproductions among the songs 12 to 26 belonging to the album c is employed.

  In the list display area 53, the songs 16 to 26 belonging to the album c are displayed as a list as selection items. However, in FIG. 6, only the pieces of music 12 to 16 are displayed in the initial state because of the size of the screen 21. In the initial state, the cursor 54 positioned at the top is moved to the item position immediately before the lowermost item in the list display area 53 by the down key D, and when the down key D is further pressed, the list display area 53 is displayed. The displayed music list scrolls downward, and the selection items for the music 17, the music 18,... Appear in this order, and the selection is made. Note that the position of the cursor 54 during scrolling is not limited to the item position immediately before the lower end item, and for example, an intermediate position in the list display area 53 may be adopted.

  FIG. 10 shows an artist selection menu screen displayed on the screen 21 when “Artist” is selected and the right key R is pressed on the home screen of FIG. On this screen, a representative image 101 and character information 102 in the genre of the artist are displayed at the top. As the character information 102, “artist” indicating that the list is an artist and “7 names” indicating the number of artists are displayed. As the representative image 101, an image associated with an artist having the highest user preference among the artists displayed as selection items in the list display area 53 is employed.

  In this case, in the list display area 53, there is no limitation on the genre and the like, and all artists stored in the hard disk 12 are displayed as a selection item in a list. The display contents of each selection item include character information such as artist names “artist A”, “artist B”... Of each artist, and images 103, 104. The display is added as a thumbnail. As an image associated with each artist, an image associated with the highest degree of preference by the user among albums belonging to the artist can be employed. On this menu screen, for example, when “Artist B” is selected and the right key R is pressed, the album selection menu screen shown in FIG. 5 is displayed.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing preference data acquisition processing by the control unit 11. This process is a process for acquiring preference data indicating the degree of user preference for each category of music, album, artist, and genre. Specifically, for each element of each category, the count value of the number of times of reproduction for the music belonging to that element is acquired as the preference data. This process is performed every time the music is played.

  That is, when the process is started, the control unit 11 first counts up the count value of the number of reproductions of the reproduced music in step 71. Next, in step 72, the count value of the number of times of reproduction is counted up for the album to which the reproduced music belongs. Further, in step 73, the count value of the number of times of reproduction is counted up for the artist to which the reproduced music belongs. In step 74, for the genre to which the reproduced music belongs, the count value of the number of times of reproduction is counted up. Thereafter, the process of FIG. 7 is terminated.

  Thus, in the example of FIG. 3, for example, if the reproduced music is music 5, the count value of the number of times of reproduction set for each of music 5, album a, artist A, and genre α is counted up. . If the reproduced music is music 12, the count value of the number of times of reproduction set for each of music 12, album c, artist B, and genre α is counted up.

  The count value for each category element obtained in this way is used as data representing the degree of user preference for the element.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing representative image selection processing by the control unit 11. This process is performed to select the representative image displayed on the selection menu screen for the category element relating to each category, that is, the representative image 51 in the example of FIG. 5 and the representative image 61 in the example of FIG. This process is performed when each category on the home screen displayed on the screen 21 of FIG. 4 or any category element other than the music illustrated in FIG. 3 is selected and the right key R is pressed. . That is, it is performed when a selection menu as shown in FIG. 5 or 6 is displayed for any category element.

  When the process is started, the control unit 11 first extracts a category element having a maximum count value in the target category in step 81. This count value is obtained by the processing of FIG.

  Next, in step 82, an album jacket image associated with the extracted category element is selected as a representative image. Thereafter, the process of FIG. 8 is terminated. The selected representative image is used as a representative screen in the category element selection menu in the target category.

  For example, in the example of FIG. 5, for the album category belonging to artist B, the one with the larger count value is extracted from album b and album c that are category elements. Then, the album jacket image associated with the extracted album b or album c is selected as the representative image and displayed as the image 51. In the example of FIG. 6, for the music category belonging to the album c, among the music elements 12 to 26 that are category elements, the one with the maximum count value is extracted, and the album jacket image associated therewith is extracted. The image 61 is displayed.

  According to this embodiment, when a list of elements of a predetermined category related to music is displayed as a selection item, an album jacket image associated with the selection item with the maximum number of playbacks of the music to which it belongs is displayed as a representative image. Therefore, the display screen of the selection item list can be designed to incorporate an album jacket image associated with a selection item having a high degree of user preference.

  In addition, when the predetermined category is a category of a song included in a certain album, an album jacket image associated with each song is selected as a representative image of the category, which is associated with the song preferred by the user. Can be displayed together with the music list. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, it is possible to omit the display of the album jacket image associated with each piece of music and to obtain a menu screen displaying only the representative image 61 as shown in FIG. This eliminates the annoying impression of the feeling of viewing due to the repeated display of the same jacket image, prevents a decrease in the visibility of character information due to the repeatedly displayed jacket image, It is possible to prevent the music list scrolling from becoming dull.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately modified and implemented. For example, in the above description, a hard disk is used to store music files and related graphics, but a semiconductor memory may be used instead.

  Moreover, in the above, in order to acquire the preference data indicating the degree of preference of the user regarding each selection item, the number of times of playing the music related to each selection item is counted. Means may be provided for accepting input of data indicating the degree of preference by the user for the selection item, and preference data may be acquired based on this data.

  In the above description, as the data representing the degree of user preference for each category element, a value obtained by counting the number of times of reproduction of each song belonging to each category element is used. You may make it use the frequency | count of reproduction | regeneration of the music with the largest number of reproduction | regeneration times for each element for every element. That is, every time a song is played, only the count value of the number of times of playing the song to be played is counted up, and the album, artist or genre containing the song with the highest number of times of playing has the highest preference You may make it evaluate that it is.

  According to this, for example, in the example of FIG. 3, the number of reproductions of the music 1 is the largest 10 times among the music 1 to 5, the music 6 is the largest number of reproductions 20 times among the music 6 to 11, and If the number of times of the music 12 among the music 12 to 26 is 30 times, the music 1 and the music 6 are displayed on the music selection menu screens for the album a, the album b, and the album c, respectively. , And an image associated with the music piece 12 is a representative image. In the album selection menu screen for artist B, the image associated with album c is the representative image. At this time, as an image associated with the album c, an image associated with the music piece 12 having the largest number of reproductions in the album c may be employed. On the artist selection menu screen for genre α, the image associated with artist B is the representative image. At this time, as an image associated with artist B, an image associated with album c having the highest degree of preference belonging to artist B (for example, an image associated with song 12) may be employed.

  Even when only the count value of the number of times of reproduction for the music to be reproduced is counted up, the total number of times of reproduction of each music included in the album is obtained for each album when evaluating the degree of preference for each album or the like. Thus, the same value as the count value counted up in the above-described step 72 for the album can be acquired and used as data indicating the degree of preference.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the portable music reproducing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the front of the apparatus of FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows an example of the method of classifying the music recorded on the hard disk of the apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the home screen in the apparatus of FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an album selection menu screen displayed when artist B in the example of FIG. 3 is selected and the right key R is pressed. FIG. 6 shows a music selection menu screen displayed when album c is selected by the lower key D and the right key R is pressed on the menu screen of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the preference data acquisition process by the control part in the apparatus of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the representative image selection process in the apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the screen which displayed the list | wrist of the music contained in one album in the conventional music reproduction apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the menu screen for the artist selection in the apparatus of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  11: Control unit, 12: Hard disk, 13: Display unit, 14: Input unit, 15: Audio output unit, 21: Screen, 22: Operation key, 23: Menu key, 24: Headphone, M: Center key, R: Right key, L: Left key, U: Up key, D: Down key, 51: Representative image, 52: Character information, 53: List display area, 61: Representative image, 62: Character information, 80: Display screen, 81 : Album display field, 82: Display field, 82a: Enlarged display field, 83: Image, 101: Representative image, 102: Character information, 103, 104: Image.

Claims (3)

Storage means for storing music data in a manner that can be divided into elements in a predetermined category related to music, and storing a related image corresponding to each music data in association with each music data ;
Display means for displaying each element in the category as a selection item of only character information in a list display area in the screen, and at the same time, a display means for simultaneously displaying a representative image of the category in the category display area in the screen ;
Calculating a sum of the number of times of reproduction for all of the music pieces belonging to each selection item in the category, and specifying means for specifying the maximum selection item having the maximum sum ;
Selecting means for selecting, as the representative image, a related image stored in association with music data of the music belonging to the maximum selection item specified by the specifying means ;
A music reproducing apparatus comprising: selection means for selecting a desired item from the selection item list displayed by the display means. Storage means for storing music data in a manner that can be divided into elements in a predetermined category related to music, and storing a related image corresponding to each music data in association with each music data ;
Display means for displaying each element in the category as a selection item of only character information in a list display area in the screen, and at the same time, a display means for simultaneously displaying a representative image of the category in the category display area in the screen ;
Calculating a sum of the number of times of reproduction for all of the music pieces belonging to each selection item in the category, and specifying means for specifying the maximum selection item having the maximum sum ;
Selecting means for selecting, as the representative image, a related image stored in association with music data of the music belonging to the maximum selection item specified by the specifying means ;
A music reproduction program for causing a computer to function as a selection means for selecting a desired item from a selection item list displayed by the display means. A storage step of storing music data so as to be separable into each element in a predetermined category related to music, and storing a related image corresponding to each music data in association with each music data ;
Displaying a list of each element in the category as a selection item of only character information in a list display area in the screen, and simultaneously displaying a representative image of the category in the category display area in the screen ;
A specific step of calculating a sum of the number of times of reproduction for all of the music pieces belonging to each selection item in the category, and specifying a maximum selection item having a maximum sum ;
A selecting step of selecting, as the representative image, a related image stored in association with the music data of the music belonging to the maximum selection item specified in the specifying step ;
And a selection step for selecting a desired item from the selection item list displayed in the display step.

Images