JP5350040B2 - Information processing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device and a method capable of improving the convenience of a user by sharing information when setting the same mail address in a plurality of devices in the case where a method of sharing the reproduction state, such as how far the user has viewed a video, is required when browsing contents of an image sharing site by a plurality of devices. <P>SOLUTION: In a network environment in which a common mail address is used in a plurality of devices, that is, a device (1) and a device (2), there are provided a processing part 201 at mail reception, a processing part 209 at mail transmission, and a reproduction state updating part 207. The processing part 209 at mail transmission transmits a mail to which information about the reproduction state is attached to a shared mail address. Upon receipt of a mail, a mail originator identifying part 204 in the processing part at mail reception 201 detects the mail destined to the shared mail address. Based on the contents of the mail, the reproduction state updating part 207 updates the reproduction state and performs reproduction control of the contents including adding an icon to a video in accordance with the most recent reproduction state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing method and apparatus for sharing information among a plurality of apparatuses having a common mail address.

In recent years, there are many image sharing sites. For example, in the case of an online album, there are known a function in which a user accesses and enjoys content such as a moving image and a still image, and a function of notifying an album created by an individual to a friend by e-mail. Some digital devices having an email receiving function have a function of displaying an email notification from a friend as an icon on a screen.
On the other hand, in digital devices such as digital television broadcast receivers, game machines, and recorders, there are increasing opportunities to access image sharing sites and browse and enjoy content. In addition, in digital devices, in addition to a content browsing function, an electronic mail transmission / reception function can be added.

  By the way, when a user accesses an online album using a plurality of devices and browses content, a method for sharing the reproduction status such as how far the user has viewed the image is required. In such a case, a method has been proposed in which information is shared among a plurality of devices using electronic mail instead of centrally managing information by a server device on the network (see, for example, Patent Document 1). ). As a specific example, there is a configuration in which there are a plurality of terminal devices on which a shared information management program operates, and each device has a mailbox in a mail server device. When the shared information management program is terminated on its own machine, if the shared information management program is not operating in any of the other terminal apparatuses, all terminal apparatuses including the own apparatus are connected to the mail server apparatus. Send an email as a destination. Thereby, information sharing is realized.

JP 2007-334822 A

In conventional systems, each terminal device has an e-mail address. However, in home use environments, when a user uses multiple digital devices, the same e-mail address may be set on these devices. Conceivable. In the conventional system, the operation of the digital device on the receiving side is not changed depending on the content of the e-mail or the transmission source. For this reason, in an environment where the same email address is shared between multiple devices, there are restrictions in terms of convenience and usability, and it is impossible to realize operations that are beneficial to the user, and conversely, unnecessary processing is involved. There was a problem.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing method and apparatus capable of sharing information and improving user convenience when using a common mail address in a plurality of devices.

To solve the problems described above, the present invention has a common email address with other devices, and when receiving the mail in connection information processing device in the network, has received the mail the An information processing method in which an information processing device performs display control of an icon added to a video, wherein the information processing device that has received a mail addressed to the common mail address identifies a sender of the mail; and depending on the information identification result and the information processing apparatus in step is shared with the other device, the information processing apparatus that has received the mail for displaying or hiding the icons indicating that received the email but having, determining.

  According to the present invention, in a network environment using a common e-mail address among a plurality of devices, information such as a reproduction state can be shared between the devices, and the system and configuration are considerably complicated for that purpose. There is no.

It is a figure which shows the system configuration example of one Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the internal structural example of the apparatus (1) and apparatus (2) which concern on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of a notification icon. It is the figure which illustrated the processing sequence. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen. In 2nd Embodiment of this invention, it is a figure which shows the example of a display screen at the time of showing a user the last viewing environment. It is a figure which shows the internal structural example of the apparatus (1) which concerns on 2nd Embodiment, and an apparatus (2).

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a system configuration example according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment has an image browsing function, and can send and receive emails using a common email address (shared email address) with other devices. For example, in the information sharing system, a first device (hereinafter referred to as device (1)) 101, a second device (hereinafter referred to as device (2)) 102, an image sharing site 106, and a mail server 107 are used. . The device (1) 101 and the device (2) 102 are connected by a cable 103 for video display and audio output. The device (1) 101 and the device (2) 102 can be connected to the image sharing site 106 and the mail server 107 via the Internet 105 via a gateway connected by a LAN (local area network) 104. For example, the device (1) 101 includes a television broadcast receiver, and the device (2) 102 includes a home game machine. Further, it is assumed that the device (1) 101 and the device (2) 102 share a mail address.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the internal configuration of the device (1) 101 and the device (2) 102. An email reception processing unit 201, an email transmission processing unit 209, a playback state update unit 207, an icon addition determination unit 208 (for user notification), a temporary storage unit 212, a slide show playback unit 213, a video transmission unit 214, and a display unit 215 Is provided. Only the device (1) 101 includes the display unit 215. That is, when displaying a video created by the device (2) 102, a video signal can be sent to the device (1) 101 via the cable 103 and displayed on the display unit 215.

  Hereinafter, each part will be described in detail. The mail reception processing unit 201 includes a disclosure notification mail detection unit 202, a shared content detection unit 203, and a transmission source identification unit 204. The transmission source identification unit 204 includes two mail detection units 205 and 206. One of them is a first mail detecting unit 205 that detects an e-mail originating from a shared mail address, and the other is a second mail detecting unit 206 that detects an e-mail originating from other than the shared mail address.

  The public notification mail detection unit 202 detects mail sent from the received mail via the mail server 107 from the image sharing site 106. The shared content detection unit 203 detects which album content in the image sharing site 106 is the email detected by the disclosure notification email detection unit 202. The sender identification unit 204 is provided to identify the sender mail address when receiving mail. The first mail detection unit 205 and the second mail detection unit 206 determine whether or not the received electronic mail is a mail transmitted from a mail address shared by the device (1) 101 and the device (2) 102. Identify. The identification result by the first mail detection unit 205 is sent to the reproduction state update unit 207, and the identification result by the second mail detection unit 206 is sent to the icon addition determination unit 208.

When the first mail detection unit 205 detects an e-mail transmitted from the e-mail address shared by the device (1) 101 and the device (2) 102, the reproduction state update unit 207 determines that the e-mail is a certain rule. Analyze based on Then, the playback state update unit 207 detects the playback state relating to the album content, determines the following state, and updates the playback state information (hereinafter referred to as playback state information) according to the result.
・ Not played / Played / Playing (total number of playbacks / total number of contents in album)
Note that an analysis method in the reproduction state update unit 207 will be described later. The analysis result of the reproduction state update unit 207 is stored in the temporary storage unit 212. The temporary storage unit 212 serves as a storage unit that stores reproduction state information and image identification information.

The icon addition determination unit 208 performs the following processing based on the identification result of the transmission source identification unit 204 and the reproduction state information.
(A) When a mail from the shared mail address is detected by the first mail detection unit 205, processing is changed as follows according to the result of the reproduction state update unit 207.
Unplayed: To add a notice icon for the user to the video.
Played: To delete the notification icon for the user from the video.
During playback: Adding a notification icon for the user to the video.
(B) When a mail other than the shared mail address is detected by the second mail detection unit 206, a notification icon for the user is added to the video.
The notification icon for the user is an icon for recommending that the user browse the album content of the image sharing site 106. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the notification icon is displayed at the upper right of the display screen. The

  The slide show reproduction unit 213 reproduces images as a slide show when an instruction is given by a user operation. The slide show playback unit 213 extracts playback state information from the temporary storage unit 212 and determines a playback start position. Also, the slide show playback unit 213 stores the playback state information in the temporary storage unit 212 at the end of playback.

The mail transmission processing unit 209 has a mail transmission function to which reproduction state information indicating that an image has been viewed and image identification information are added to the shared mail address. The mail transmission time processing unit 209 includes a reproduction state detection unit 210 and a mail creation unit 211 for a shared mail address. The reproduction state detection unit 210 takes out reproduction state information from the temporary storage unit 212. The mail creating unit 211 for the shared mail address creates an email including the following contents based on a predetermined rule.
-Album ID (URL, etc.) in the image sharing site 106 reproduced this time
・ Playback state

Hereinafter, a detailed example of creation and analysis of an e-mail based on a predetermined rule will be described.
First, the header part of the e-mail is described as follows.
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From: “From mail address”
Contents_id: “Album ID (URL etc.) in the image sharing site 106”
Status_information: “Playback status”
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  In this example, the header is defined using “From”, “Contents_id” (for content identification), and “Status_information” (playback status), followed by “:” and then the content description format. It has been. For the convenience of explanation, the description target is described in “”, but actually, an e-mail address and identification information are described. An e-mail is created and analyzed according to such rules. The place where the content is described is not limited to the header portion of the e-mail, and may be the text of the e-mail, for example.

The video transmission unit 214 outputs video signals (including a GUI screen and the like) generated internally by the device (1) 101 and the device (2) 102 to the display unit 215. There are the following differences depending on the type of equipment.
When the device has a display device such as a television broadcast receiver, the video sending unit 214 sends a video signal to the display device.
When the device does not have a display device such as a game machine or a recorder, the video transmission unit 214 transmits a video signal via the cable 103 to the external device having the display device.
The display unit 215 displays the video according to the video signal from the video transmission unit 214.

  Next, an example of sharing information between the device (1) 101 and the device (2) 102 sharing the mail address regarding the playback state of the album content existing in the image sharing site 106 will be described with reference to FIG. . FIG. 4 shows a sequence example for explaining the flow of processing according to time series. In this example, a television broadcast receiver is assumed as the device (1) 101, and a game machine is assumed as the device (2) 102. Further, it is assumed that user A owns device (1) 101 and device (2) 102, and these devices share an email address, and user B transmits an invitation email for album content. The numbers shown in the circles in the figure correspond to the numbers in parentheses below. FIG. 5 shows a screen display example of the display unit 215.

(1) Invitation Mail First, user B sends an invitation mail for album content existing in the image sharing site 106 to user A. Thereby, the mail from the user B reaches the mail server 107 (see S401). Here, the invitation e-mail is an e-mail for the user B to urge the user A to browse the album contents existing on the image sharing site 106. It is assumed that at least the following information is included in the body or header portion of the mail.
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From: “Source mail address” (User B's address in this example)
Contents_id: “Album ID (URL etc.) in the image sharing site 106”
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(2) Device power-on, email POP
By the operation of the user A, power is turned on to the device (1) 101 and the device (2) 102 (S402, S403). Here, the device (2) 102 starts video transfer to the device (1) 101 (S404), and the video is displayed on the display unit 215 of the device (1) 101. The device (2) 102 receives the mail from the user B by the POP reception function of the electronic mail (S405) with respect to the mail server 107 at a preset timing (S406). In this example, it is assumed that the mail is not deleted from the mail server 107 at the time of mail POP.

(3) Addition of Notification Icon Upon receiving the mail from the user B, the device (2) 102 adds an invitation notification icon to the video (S407).
(4) Receiving and Displaying Video Signal with Notification Icon The device (1) 101 receives a video signal with an invitation notification icon from the device (2) 102 and displays the notification icon on the display unit 215 (S408). . An example of the video is as shown in FIG.

(5) Slideshow display request User A operates the device (2) 102 while viewing the displayed notification icon to make a slideshow display request (S409).
(6) Acquisition of Album Content The device (2) 102 acquires album content from the image sharing site 106 using a slide show display request (S409) as a trigger (S411). At this time, the album content ID from the image sharing site 106 can be obtained by analyzing the invitation mail from the user B.

(7) Slideshow creation Upon acquiring the album content, the device (2) 102 creates a slideshow (S412).
(8) Slide Show Display The device (1) 101 receives the video signal from the device (2) 102 and displays the slide show on the display unit 215 (S413).

In the following, description will be given in the following cases depending on the playback state of the slide show.
Case A: When the user has finished watching the album content to the end in the slide show.
Case B: When the user interrupts the slide show in the middle of the album content.

First, case A will be described.
(9) End of slide show When the user A has finished watching the slide show to the end, the user A requests the device (2) 102 to end the slide show (S414). Thereby, the device (2) 102 ends the slide show (S415).
(10) Mail transmission The device (2) 102 sends an e-mail to the mail address shared by the devices (1) 101 and (2) 102 to the effect that “the album content invited from the user B has been reproduced”. Send to. At that time, the user may be inquired on the GUI screen or the like regarding selection regarding whether or not to send mail. An example of the contents of the email is as follows.
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From: “Mail address shared by device (1) 101 and device (2) 102”
Contents_id: “Album ID (URL etc.) in the image sharing site 106”
Status_information: “Played”
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In this case, the status corresponding to the reproduction state information is “reproduced”, which means that the reproduction of the album content has ended. Thereafter, the user A turns off the power of the device (1) 101 and the device (2) 102 (S417, S418).
(11) Power on and mail POP
At a later date, the device (1) 101 is powered on by the operation of the user A (S419). Here, the device (1) 101 POPs the mail from the mail server 107 at a preset timing (S420), and receives the following two mails (S421).
Invitation email from user B (same email as previously acquired by device (2) 102).
A mail addressed to the shared mail address sent from the device (2) 102 to the mail server 107 in step (10).
(12) Update playback status information

The device (1) 101 determines the latest state of the reproduction state corresponding to the corresponding album content in the image sharing site 106 from the two mails, and updates the information (S422). The specific judgment method is as follows.
The shared content detection unit 203 determines that the identification information following “Contents_id” in the two emails is the same.
The sender identifying unit 204 identifies the sender from the address information following “From”.
As a result, the mail from the shared address sent by the device (2) 102 in the step (10) is detected by the first mail detection unit 205. Only in this case, the following processing is performed.
The playback status update unit 207 determines playback status information following “Status_information”. As a result, it is found that the latest state is “album content invited from user B has been reproduced”. Therefore, the icon addition determination unit 208 does not add an icon to the video.

(13) Notification Icon Hiding Control The device (1) 101 displays an image on the display unit 215 without adding an invitation notification icon. A display example at this time is shown in FIG.
Next, the case B will be described.
(9) End of slide show User A makes a slide show end request to the device (2) 102 in the middle of the album content, for example, when the number of playbacks is 60 out of a total of 100 (S414). Thereby, the device (2) 102 ends the slide show (S415).

(10) E-mail transmission At this time, the device (2) 102 sends an e-mail indicating that “album content invited from the user B has been reproduced to the 60th out of a total of 100”, and the device (1) 101 and the device (2) Send to the mail address shared by 102. At that time, the user may be inquired about selection regarding whether or not mail transmission is permitted on the GUI screen or the like. An example of the contents of the email is as follows.
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From: “Mail address shared by device (1) 101 and device (2) 102”
Contents_id: “Album ID (URL etc.) in the image sharing site 106”
Status_information: “During playback (60/100)”
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In this case, the status corresponding to the playback status information indicates the number of playbacks in the total number of album contents being played back. Thereafter, the user A turns off the power of the device (1) 101 and the device (2) 102 (S417, S418).
The processing of (11) and (12) is the same as in the case A, and therefore detailed description is omitted. However, as a result of (12), it is found that the latest state is “the album invited from the user B is being played (playing up to the 60th in the 100th total)”.

(14) Notification Icon Display Control The icon addition determination unit 208 adds an icon to the video (S424). The device (1) 101 displays the video with the invitation notification icon added on the display unit 215. An image display example at this time is shown in FIG.
Hereinafter, after the process in (1 4 ), when the slide show is executed on the album content corresponding to the invitation notification icon in the device (1) 101, the user's intention confirmation process will be described. FIG. 5C shows a screen display example presented when the user inquires whether he wants to see the video from the previous continuation. In this example, the user is presented that the 60th image has been reproduced out of the total number of 100 images, and further an inquiry display as to whether or not to view the video ahead is displayed. Then, “Yes” or “No” options are displayed, and it is determined whether or not to reproduce the subsequent video according to the instruction selected by the user operation.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, in an environment having a common mail address among a plurality of devices connected only by a LAN, the reproduction state is sent to the shared mail address with a simple configuration regardless of the connection form. Send to. The album content once viewed by the user can be avoided so that the notification to the user is not repeated. In the present embodiment, an example in which an icon is used for the notification method to the user has been described. However, various notification means corresponding to this can be taken (this is also true in the later-described embodiments and modifications). .

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, in addition to the first embodiment, when the album content is reproduced in the middle, the reproduction effect at the time of the previous browsing is presented to the user. That is, the difference from the first embodiment is the contents of the mail sent to the shared mail address. Therefore, in order to avoid duplication of explanation, explanation of the same matters as in the first embodiment is omitted.
An example of the mail contents in the second embodiment is shown below.
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From: “From mail address”
Contents_id: “Album ID (URL etc.) in the image sharing site 106”
Status_information: “Playback status”
Device_name: “E-mail source device name” (the device name used during the previous playback)
Effect: “Display effect during playback”
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The newly added “Device_name” is a descriptor for specifying the subsequent device name, and “Effect” is a descriptor for specifying the subsequent reproduction effect.
FIG. 6 shows an example of a display screen presented to the user by the display unit 215. The user can grasp that the playback device is a game machine and the playback effect is side-in. Thereby, it is possible to present to the user the playback device and the playback effect when the album content was played back from any device.

  The system configuration in the second embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment (see FIG. 1). Hereinafter, differences in the internal configuration of the device (1) 101 and the device (2) 102 will be described with reference to FIG. explain. The difference from the first embodiment is that a source device identification unit 1016 and a reproduction effect identification unit 1017 are added. What differs in internal processing from the case of the first embodiment is a mail creation unit 1011 and a slide show playback unit 1013 for a shared email address. Therefore, details of these components will be described below, and components similar to those in the first embodiment will be omitted by adding 800 to the reference numerals used in FIG. To do.

When the first mail detection unit 1005 detects an e-mail from the shared mail address, the transmission source device identification unit 1016 acquires information following the “Device_name” and identifies the playback device that performed the previous slide show display. . Then, the transmission source device identification unit 1016 stores information indicating the specified device name in the temporary storage unit 1012.
When the first mail detection unit 1005 detects an e-mail from the shared mail address, the reproduction effect identification unit 1017 acquires information following the “Effect” and displays the reproduction effect when the slide show is displayed last time. Identify. Then, the reproduction effect identification unit 1017 stores information indicating the specified reproduction effect in the temporary storage unit 1012.
As described above, the mail creating unit 1011 for the shared mail address creates a mail including the five descriptors “From, Contents_id, Status_information, Device_name, Effect” and information following them.

The slide show playback unit 1013 retrieves information from the temporary storage unit 1012 and determines the album content and playback start location in order to play back the slide show in response to an instruction by a user operation. At the end of the slide show reproduction, each information of the reproduction state indicated by “Status_information”, the reproduction device name indicated by “Device_name”, and the reproduction effect indicated by Effect is stored in the temporary storage unit 1012.
As described above, by analyzing the mail contents from any device, it is possible to present to the user the playback device and playback effect used at the time of playback of the previous album content. According to the second embodiment, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, the user can easily grasp by presenting the previous slide show reproduction environment.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In addition to the first embodiment, the third embodiment determines the notification state to the user according to the viewing method. The difference from the first embodiment is the content of the mail sent to the shared mail address. Therefore, the difference will be mainly described below.
An example is shown about the content of the mail in 3rd Embodiment.
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From: “From mail address”
Contents_id: “Album ID (URL etc.) in the image sharing site 106”
Status_information: “Playback status”
Form: “Viewing during playback”
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The newly added “Form” is a descriptor for specifying the viewing method at the time of subsequent playback, and an example of the viewing method is shown below.
・ Simple playback / normal playback Here, “simple playback” means that the user does not view the content in detail, for example, “only access to album content”, “slanting”, “play only thumbnail list”, etc. Reproduction to the extent that an overview or part is understood. “Normal playback” refers to playback to the extent that the user can continuously view the content.

As a method for determining the viewing method, for example, there is a method of setting a threshold value as a criterion for viewing time based on the ratio between the total number of albums and viewing time, an offset described later, and the like. When the viewing time exceeds a predetermined threshold value, it is determined as normal playback, and otherwise it is determined as simple playback. An actual processing example is shown below.
(1) Acquisition of reproduction status information When the information following the “Status_information” is “during reproduction”, the reproduction status update unit acquires information on the total number of reproductions and the total number of contents in the album.
(2) Determination of threshold for judging viewing method Variables A to D are defined as follows.
-Viewing time per picture: A seconds (example: 5 seconds).
-Total number of albums: B (example: 100).
-Number of playbacks: C (example: 50).
Additional time with other operation time as an offset: D seconds (example: 5 minutes).
And the threshold value used for determination of viewing time is set as follows.
Threshold = A × B + D × 60 × (C / B) seconds (in the above example, 500 + 300 ÷ 2 = 650 seconds).
(3) Measurement of viewing time during slide show playback.
This measurement is performed by the slide show playback unit 213.

(4) Comparison determination processing At the end of the slide show reproduction, the reproduction state detection unit 210 compares the threshold value of (3) with the viewing time (reproduction time), and when “reproduction time <threshold value”, the viewing method is “simple reproduction”. If “playback time> threshold”, the viewing method is determined as “normal playback”. In the case of “reproduction time = threshold value”, it may be determined in advance which one to use.

(5A) Process at the time of simple reproduction When the simple reproduction is determined, an inquiry screen is displayed to the user as to whether or not to display a notification icon next time at the end of reproduction. Only when “with notification icon” is selected by a user operation, the mail transmission time processing unit 209 transmits a mail including simple reproduction as viewing method information to the shared mail address.
(5B) Processing at the time of normal reproduction When the normal reproduction is determined, an e-mail transmission processing unit 209 transmits an e-mail including normal reproduction as viewing method information to the shared e-mail address at the end of reproduction.

(6) Determination of mail reception and viewing method Each device receives the mail from the mail server 107 and performs the following determination.
When the viewing method information subsequent to “Form” is “simple playback”, a video with a notification icon added is created according to the icon addition determination unit 208 regardless of the playback state.
When the viewing method information following “Form” is “normal playback”, the icon addition determination unit 208 determines the presence or absence of a notification icon according to the playback state. The determination method is the same as in the first embodiment.

  According to the third embodiment, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, the presence or absence of a notification icon for the user can be appropriately presented according to the user's intention. For example, the user's intention can be reflected in the addition control of the icon, such as “simply look at the content first and watch it slowly later” or “view the content quickly because it is boring”. Specifically, there is an advantage that a notification icon can be appropriately presented when the user thinks that the video is viewed obliquely on a mobile device or the like and then the video is slowly viewed on the television broadcast receiver.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the fourth embodiment, in addition to the first embodiment, the state of notification to the user is determined using the display resolution at the time of the previous slide show reproduction. The difference from the first embodiment is the content of the mail sent to the shared mail address. Therefore, the difference will be mainly described below. An example is shown about the content of the mail in 4th Embodiment.
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From: “From mail address”
Contents_id: “Album ID (URL etc.) in the image sharing site 106”
Status_information: “Playback status”
Device_name: “E-mail source device name” (the device name used during the previous playback)
Resolution: “Display resolution” (display resolution of the device used during the previous playback)
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The newly added “Resolution” is a descriptor in which the subsequent information indicates the display resolution, and the resolution is as follows, for example. The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions.
-HD television broadcast receiver (1920 * 1080)
・ Full-wide XGA (1368 * 768)
・ SD television broadcast receiver (720 * 480)

An actual processing example using these pieces of information is shown below.
(1) Email transmission The device that has played the slide show creates an email including the display resolution of the playback device used during the previous playback and sends it to the shared email address.
(2) Determination of display resolution When each device receives the e-mail, the display resolution is determined as follows.
First, processing for comparing the display resolution of the playback device at the previous playback with the display resolution of the current playback device is performed. As a result, in the case of “display resolution of playback device at the time of previous playback <display resolution of current device”, the notification icon is displayed according to the icon addition determination unit 208 regardless of the playback state. Further, in the case of “display resolution of playback device at the time of previous playback> display resolution of current device”, processing according to the playback state is performed as follows.
-When the playback status is "Played", the notification icon is not displayed.
-When the playback state is "Now playing" or "Not playing", a notification icon is displayed.
Before reproduction, processing for notifying the user of the previous reproduction environment is performed.
According to the fourth embodiment, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, it is possible to present a better viewing environment for the user.

Next, a modification of the fourth embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, in addition to the first embodiment, the state of notification to the user is determined using the display resolution level at the time of the previous slide show reproduction. An example of the contents of the email is shown below.
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From: “From mail address”
Contents_id: “Album ID (URL etc.) in the image sharing site 106”
Status_information: “Playback status”
Device_name: “E-mail source device name” (the device name used during the previous playback)
Resolution_level: “Display resolution level” (display resolution level of the device used during the previous playback)
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Here, “Resolution_level” is a descriptor in which the subsequent information indicates the display resolution level, and is as follows, for example.
A two-step level where “high” is displayed when the display resolution is equal to or higher than a predetermined resolution threshold (eg, 1920 * 1080), and “low” when the display resolution is lower than the predetermined resolution threshold.
An actual processing example using this display resolution level is shown below.
When the threshold of the display resolution level is set to 1920 * 1080, for example, examples of the “high” level device include an HD television broadcast receiving device, a high-end game machine, and the like. Examples of “low” level devices include SD television broadcast receivers and mobile devices.

When the display resolution level at the time of the previous reproduction is “high”, the following processing is performed.
(1) The device that has played the slide show sends a mail including the display resolution level “high” of the playback device at the time of the previous playback to the shared mail address.
(2) Each device receives the mail, and determines the display resolution level according to the playback state.
-When the playback status is "Played", the notification icon is not displayed.
-When the playback state is “playing” or “not played”, a notification icon is displayed.
(3) Before the next playback, the device notifies the user of the previous playback environment.

When the display resolution level at the time of the previous playback is “low”, the following processing is performed.
(1) When a video is reproduced at a low resolution, a GUI screen for inquiring the user whether or not to display a next notification icon at the end of the reproduction is displayed. As a result, only when “notification icon present” is selected by the user operation, the mail transmission time processing unit 209 transmits a mail including the display resolution level “low” to the shared mail address.
(2) When each device receives the email, a notification icon is displayed regardless of the playback state.

  According to this example, a better viewing environment for the user can be presented by performing icon display control in consideration of the display resolution level of the playback device. Needless to say, the display resolution level may be further controlled by employing three or more stages.

Although the video display form using one icon has been described in the above embodiment, a plurality of icons may be used. As an example, the following icons (or user notification marks, etc.) can be prepared in advance and used appropriately.
An icon indicating that the playback state is “not played”.
An icon indicating that the playback state is “playing”. For example, the icon type, size, color, and other attributes change according to the number of images being played.
An icon indicating that the display resolution level of the playback device at the time of the previous playback was “low”.
An icon indicating that the viewing method at the previous playback was “simple playback”.
By using such an application-specific icon, the playback state can be presented in a manner that is easy for the user to understand.

101, 102 Equipment (information processing device)
106 Image sharing site 107 Mail server 201, 1001 Mail reception processing unit 204, 1004 Source identification unit 207, 1007 Playback state update unit 208, 1008 Icon addition determination unit 209, 1009 Mail transmission processing unit 210, 1010 Playback state detection Section 211, 1011 Mail creation section 212, 1012 Temporary storage section 213, 1013 Slide show playback section 214, 1014 Video transmission section 215, 1015 Display section 1016 Source device identification section 1017 Playback effect identification section

Claims (14)

Have a common email address with other devices, and when receiving the mail in the information processing apparatus connected via a network, the display control icon the information processing apparatus which has received the mail is added to the video An information processing method for performing
The information processing apparatus that has received a mail addressed to the common mail address identifies a sender of the mail ;
Depending on the information identification result and the information processing apparatus in said step is shared with the other device, the information processing that has received the mail for displaying or hiding the icons indicating that received the email And a step of determining by the apparatus . By the information processing apparatus,
A transmission step of transmitting an e-mail with the reproduction state information indicating that the image has been reproduced and the identification information of the image to the common e-mail address;
A storage step of storing the reproduction state information and the identification information of the image;
An identification step that identifies the email address of the sender when receiving the email;
Wherein when the common mail address identification step is identified, further comprising: a mail content, and a updating step of updating the information of the reproduction state based on the information stored in said storing step,
The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein display or non-display of the icon is determined according to an identification result in the identification step and the reproduction state.   The information processing method according to claim 2, wherein the playback state includes any of unplayed, played back, or being played back.   The information processing method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the mail transmitted in the transmission step includes information on a device name for identifying the transmission source device. 5. The information processing method according to claim 2, wherein the mail transmitted in the transmission step includes information for specifying a reproduction effect selected at the time of reproducing an image. 6. 6. The information processing method according to claim 2, wherein the mail transmitted in the transmission step includes information indicating a viewing method at the time of reproducing an image. The information processing method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the mail transmitted in the transmission step includes information on a display resolution or a display resolution level of a device used at the time of reproducing an image. . An information processing apparatus having an image playback function and capable of sending and receiving emails using a common email address with other devices,
An identification means for identifying a sender of the mail when the mail addressed to the common mail address is received ;
Determining means for determining whether to display or hide an icon indicating that the mail has been received according to the identification result by the identification means and information shared with the other device. Information processing apparatus. And transmitting means for said common mail address, an image to send mail added with the identification information of the information and the image reproduction state indicating that reproduced,
Storage means for storing the reproduction state information and the identification information of the image;
If the is the common email address identified by the identification means, comprising: a mail content, and a updating means for updating the information of the reproduction state based on the information the storage means has stored,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the determination unit determines whether to display or hide the icon according to the identification result by the identification unit and the reproduction state.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the playback state includes any of unplayed, played back, or being played back.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the mail transmitted by the transmission means includes information on a device name for identifying a transmission source apparatus. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the mail transmitted by the transmission unit includes information for specifying a reproduction effect selected at the time of reproducing an image. 13. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the mail transmitted by the transmission unit includes information indicating a viewing method at the time of reproducing an image. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein the mail transmitted by the transmission unit includes information on a display resolution or a display resolution level of a device used at the time of reproducing an image. .

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