JP5146329B2 - Content playback device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a content reproduction apparatus, and more particularly to a content reproduction apparatus capable of reproducing content stored in a server.

  Conventionally, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or the like, which is connected to a server in which content such as video data and music data and a container storing the content are recorded via a network and can receive the content received from the server, A content reproduction apparatus such as a network television is known. In this type of content reproduction apparatus, when update processing such as addition or deletion of content is performed on the server, it is not known which update processing has been performed on the content stored in which container. Since it is necessary to find an updated container by tracing the containers one by one, it is inconvenient for the user.

  On the other hand, Patent Document 1 discloses a content management apparatus that can use content through other devices on a network even if the device cannot directly use content provided from a server. However, even this type of content management device cannot solve the above problem because the user cannot easily find updated content.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a content service system that transmits an event message including information on updated content over a network using multicast. However, in this type of system, a new problem arises that the network is loaded because event messages are always transmitted by multicast.

  By the way, in Patent Document 3, a user interacts with a user interface of a control point (CP) of the UPnP standard, and a CP generates a content information query in response to a user's selection. (CDS) is transmitted to a service providing apparatus, and a system is disclosed in which a CP predicts a response time by the service providing apparatus. However, this type of system cannot solve the above problem.

JP 2008-21293 A JP 2008-16019 A JP-T-2007-515696

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a content reproduction apparatus that allows a user to easily find updated content and prevent an increase in network load. And

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a content playback apparatus connected via a network to a server in which content and a container for storing the content are recorded, and a content update notification is sent from the server. Container information requesting means for receiving and requesting the server to send container information including the number of contents stored in each container on the server to the own device, and each container acquired by the container information requesting means And a notification means for notifying the user that the content has been updated when there is a container having a different content number. .

The invention of claim 2 compares the number of contents of each container acquired by the container information request means with the number of contents of each container stored in the own apparatus in the content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1 , When there is a container having a different number of contents, the updated content is detected by comparing the content information acquired by the container information requesting unit with the content information stored in the device itself. It further includes display means for displaying content information about the content in a list format .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the content reproduction apparatus according to the first or second aspect, communication is performed with the server according to a UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) standard.

According to the invention of claim 1, when there is a container in which the number of contents of each container on the server and the number of contents of each container stored in the own device are different, the user is notified that the contents have been updated. Therefore, the user can easily know the update of the content, and the usability for the user is improved.

According to the invention of claim 2, since the content information about the content for which the update is detected is displayed in a list format, the user can visually recognize the updated content immediately and the usability for the user is improved. .

  According to the invention of claim 4, since communication is performed with the server according to the UPnP standard, it is not necessary to incur the introduction cost of dedicated equipment or dedicated software corresponding to the original protocol, so that the manufacturing cost of the content reproduction apparatus is reduced. Can be made.

The figure which shows the network structure of PDA which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, and the server connected to this PDA via the network. The figure which shows the internal structure of the said PDA. The figure which shows the internal structure of the said server. The conceptual diagram explaining the hierarchical structure of the content and container which were recorded on the said server. The functional block diagram which shows the processing flow by each function of the said PDA, and each function of the said server. The flowchart which shows the procedure of the content update detection process by said PDA. The flowchart which shows the procedure of the hierarchy information acquisition process in the said content update detection process. The flowchart which shows the procedure of the hierarchy information update detection process in the said content update detection process. The figure which shows an example of UI screen displayed on the said PDA. The figure which shows an example of UI screen displayed on the said PDA. The figure which shows an example of UI screen displayed on the said PDA.

  Hereinafter, a content reproduction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. In the present embodiment, the case where the content reproduction apparatus of the present invention is a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) is shown. FIG. 1 shows a network system 1 including a PDA 2 and a server 3 connected to the PDA 2 via a network N. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the PDA 2, and FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure. The PDA 2 and the server 3 are devices compatible with UPnP AV (an interconnection standard for AV devices based on the universal plug and play specification). The server 3 records content such as video data and music data and a container for storing the content, and the PDA 2 can receive the content from the server 3 and display it. In the present embodiment, video data, music data, and the like are represented as “content”, but may be represented as “item”. Further, “container” may be expressed as “folder”.

  UPnP-compatible devices exchange metadata that conforms to XML (extensible Markup Language) between each other's devices, determine the operation method of each device and the procedure for cooperating with each other as a standard, and operate according to this standard . Therefore, there is an advantage that UPnP-compatible devices can be easily added to or deleted from the network. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the server 3 functions as a content directory service (CDS: Content Directory Service) such as a media server based on the UPnP AV specification. The PDA 2 functions as a control point (CP: Control Point) based on the UPnP AV specification, and the PDA 2 can transmit a command such as Browse () to the content directory service (CDS) of the server 3. And

The PDA 2 includes a liquid crystal display unit (display unit , notification unit ) 21, a speaker 22 that outputs sound, a wireless network interface 23 for communication by connecting to the network N, and an operation button 24 operated by a user. Is provided. The PDA 2 further includes a cache memory 25 that stores received content and the like, and a content control unit ( container information request unit ) 26 that controls each unit of the device in the PDA 2.

  The liquid crystal display unit 21 displays a content received by the wireless network interface 23, a container in which the content is stored, and a user interface (hereinafter referred to as UI) screen including content and container information. The UI screen is a screen on which an operation such as selection of content to be played back is performed by the user. In the cache memory 25, in addition to the content received from the server 3, content configured from a content name, the number of content stored in each container, and hierarchical information such as a hierarchical position of the container in which the content is stored Information is stored.

  The content control unit 26 operates as a UI screen control function 26 a, a content update detection function 26 b that detects update of content on the server 3, and a server inquiry function 26 c that acquires content information of the server 3. The UI screen control function 26a performs processing for controlling display of a UI screen displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 21. The content update detection function 26b performs processing to detect updated content when a content update notification is received from the server 3. The server inquiry function 26c performs processing of transmitting a command such as a content reception request to the CDS function 34a (see FIG. 3) of the server 3.

  The server 3 includes a wired network interface 31 to which the network cable 4 for connection to the network N is connected, an operation unit 32 operated by the user, a hard disk (hereinafter referred to as a container storing the content and a container for storing the content). HDD 33) and a content control unit 34 for controlling each unit in the server 3.

  The content control unit 34 operates as a CDS (Content Directory Service) function 34a that functions as a CDS, and an event notification function 34b that transmits an event message (content update notification) when an event such as addition or deletion of content occurs. . Content and containers are recorded in the HDD 33 in a hierarchical structure by the CDS function 34a. The container can store contents and containers that are one level lower in the hierarchy.

  Next, a hierarchical structure of contents and containers will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows the concept of the hierarchical structure of content and containers. In the example shown in FIG. 4, containers F11 to F13 are stored in the topmost root container F1, and contents C11 and C12 and a container F21 are stored in the container F12. In the container F21, contents C21 and C22 are stored.

  Next, content update detection processing by the PDA 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the flow of processing by the functions 26a to 26c of the content control unit 26 of the PDA 2 and the functions 34a and 34b of the content control unit 34 of the server 3, and FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of a process.

  When the content stored in the server 3 is updated, the PDA 2 sends a content update notification transmission request for requesting the server 3 to transmit an event message (content update notification) to the PDA 2. Send to. Specifically, the content update detection function 26b performs subscription registration with respect to the server 3 so that the event notification function 34b is notified of the event of the SystemUpdateID variable defined by the CDS (S1 in FIG. 6). ).

  The value of SystemUpdateID is updated when an update process such as addition of content recorded in the server 3 is performed. Here, when the update process is performed on the content of the server 3, the value of SystemUpdateID is incremented.

  Then, the server inquiry function 26c transmits a Browse () command to the CDS function 34a, thereby performing a hierarchy information acquisition process (S2) for acquiring the contents information and contents information of the server 3 and the container. Then, the acquired hierarchy information and content information are stored in the cache memory 25 (S3). The details of the hierarchy information acquisition process in S2 will be described later.

  Then, when an event message is transmitted from the event notification function 34b and the PDA 2 receives this message (S4), it is determined whether or not this event message has been transmitted because the content has been updated. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the value of SystemUpdateID included in the event message has been updated (incremented). If it has been updated (YES in S5), it can be determined that content update processing has been performed. Therefore, the hierarchy information update detection process (S6) for detecting the updated content is performed. Details of the hierarchy information update detection process will be described later. On the other hand, when the SystemUpdateID has not been updated (NO in S5), the processes after S4 are performed again.

  As a result of the detection process of S6, when the old and new hierarchical structures, that is, the old and new containers and the number of contents in each hierarchical structure do not match (NO in S7), the hierarchy information and content information acquired in the process of S6 are stored in the cache memory 25. (S8), the UI screen display function 26a updates the display of the UI screen displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 21 (S9). Specifically, the updated content or container is highlighted on the UI screen. The highlighted display on the UI screen will be described later.

  On the other hand, if the new and old hierarchical information, that is, the old and new containers and the number of contents in each hierarchical structure match as a result of the detection process in S6 (YES in S7), the content update detection is performed without performing the processes in S8 and S9. End the process.

  Next, details of the hierarchy information acquisition process will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, using the server inquiry function 26c, a Browse () command is transmitted to the CDS function 34a of the server 3 (S11), and the number of containers and the number of contents stored in the root container of the HDD 34 are acquired (S12).

  Then, after setting the initial value of the internal variable i to 1 (S13), if the value of the variable i is smaller than the number of containers stored in the root container (NO in S14), each stored in the root container A Browse () command for acquiring the container hierarchy information and the content information is transmitted (S15). Specifically, when a container is further stored in the container stored in the root container, all the contents stored in this container are acquired, and the number of contents stored in a lower container is also acquired. Hierarchy information is acquired by sending a Browse () command until all of them are acquired. Further, for each content stored in each container, content information including information such as a content name and a container storage position is also acquired.

  Then, the variable i is incremented (S17), and the processes after S14 are repeated. On the other hand, when the value of the variable i is larger than the number of containers stored in the root container in S14 (YES in S14), the process is terminated.

  Next, details of the hierarchy information update detection processing in S6 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Note that S21 to S25 of this process are the same as the processes of S11 to S15 shown in FIG. 7 described above, and S27 of this process is the same as the process of S16 shown in FIG. .

  The content update detection function 26b detects an update of content based on the hierarchy information and content information acquired in the process of S25 (corresponding to S15 in FIG. 7) (S26). Specifically, the number of contents stored in each container does not match by comparing the hierarchy information stored in the cache memory 25 in the process of S3 in FIG. 6 with the hierarchy information acquired in S25. , It detects that the content stored in this container has been updated. Then, by comparing the acquired content information with the content information stored in the cache memory 25, a content that does not match this information is detected as an updated content.

  When the update detection processing for the content stored in this container is completed for all containers stored in the root container, that is, the value of the variable i is stored in the root container. If it is larger than the number of containers (YES in S24), this process is terminated.

  Next, the UI screen will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 11 show examples of UI screens displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 21 of the PDA 2. Here, it is assumed that the display of the UI screen is updated by detecting the update of the content.

  When the content stored in the container F12 is updated, as shown in FIG. 9, the container F12 is highlighted by displaying it larger than the other containers. Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the container name in which the content detected to be updated is stored may be highlighted by displaying it in bold and underline. Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the content name for which the update has been detected may be displayed in a list format, and the name of the container in which the content is stored may be displayed.

  As described above, according to the PDA 2 according to the present embodiment, when an event message notifying update of contents is received from the server 3, the number of contents stored in each container on the server 3 and the cache memory 25 are stored. Compare the number of contents of each container. As a result of the comparison, the containers having different contents are highlighted on the UI screen, so that the user can easily know the container in which the updated contents are stored and can easily access the updated contents. Because it can be searched for easily, usability is improved. In addition, since the number of contents is compared only when an event message notifying update of contents is received from the server 3, an increase in network load can be prevented.

  In addition, when an event message notifying update of contents is received from the server 3, the number of contents (hierarchy information) stored in each container on the server 3 and the number of contents of each container stored in the cache memory 25 ( (Hierarchical information). If there is a container having a different number of contents as a result of the comparison, the updated content is detected by comparing the content information received immediately before with the content information stored in the cache memory 25, and detection is performed. Information such as the content name for the selected content is displayed in a list format on the UI screen. Therefore, since the user can visually recognize the updated content immediately, usability is improved.

  In addition, since the PDA 2 communicates with the server 3 in accordance with the UPnP standard, it is not necessary to incur the introduction cost of dedicated equipment, dedicated software, etc. corresponding to the unique protocol. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the PDA 2 can be reduced.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the content playback device in the claims is PDA2 is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and is a device compliant with the UPnP AV standard, and content information is transmitted via a network. Any device that can receive the signal may be used.

2 PDA (content playback device)
3 Server 21 Liquid crystal display (display means , notification means )
26 Content control unit ( container information request means )
N network

Claims (3)

A connected Ru content playback apparatus via a network to a server container and is recorded to store the content and the content,
Container information request means for receiving a content update notification from the server and requesting the server to send container information including the number of contents stored in each container on the server to the own device;
The number of contents of each container acquired by the container information request means is compared with the number of contents of each container stored in its own device, and if there is a container with a different number of contents, the content is updated. A content reproduction apparatus comprising notification means for notifying a user . The container information requesting unit compares the number of contents of each container acquired by the container information requesting unit with the number of contents of each container stored in its own device. It further comprises display means for detecting the updated content by comparing the acquired content information with the content information stored in the device, and displaying the content information about the detected content in a list format. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein communication is performed with the server in accordance with a UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) standard .

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