JP5360025B2 - Content reproduction apparatus, content reproduction method, and content reproduction program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display additional data related to a content during reproduction of the content and perform content reproduction full of variety without requiring complicated decision and troublesome operation of a user. <P>SOLUTION: A control part 17A sends a search condition generated by a search condition data generation part 11A to a search server 2. An additional data acquisition part 14 acquires additional data from a search result received from the search server 2 and if the received search result is access information, the additional data acquisition part 14 acquires additional data from an information providing server which the access information shows. An adaptation calculation part 13A analyzes the additional data and calculates an adaptation according to a character number which can be displayed in each area surrounded by area formation data. An area selection part 18A selects areas whose adaptations are higher than a specified value or in descending order of the adaptation from the additional data, not exceeding the prescribed number of areas. A reproduction part 16 relates the information included in the areas selected by the area selection part 18A to one content and reproduces it. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2012,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a content reproduction device, a content reproduction method, and a content reproduction program, and more particularly to a content reproduction device, a content reproduction method, and a content reproduction program that display additional information related to the content during content reproduction.

  In recent years, content such as music and video has been widely played on personal computers and portable playback players. In addition, when content is played back, metadata included in the content file is displayed on the screen of the playback device. For example, in the case of music content, the music title, album name, artist name, etc. are used as such metadata.

  However, in general, the amount of metadata contained in a content file is limited, so there is a problem that the screen display at the time of content reproduction is the same every time and the change is scarce and the user is easily bored.

  On the other hand, as a method for dealing with such a problem, a technique has been disclosed in which additional data such as lyrics and jacket images not included in the original content file is imported from the server to the playback device via the network and used in the playback device. (For example, refer to Patent Documents 1 to 3).

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for transferring lyrics and still images of music contents from a server to a personal computer, and further transferring them from the personal computer to an audio player for display. Patent Document 2 discloses a technique in which a jacket image is transferred from a server to a CD player, and an album jacket image and a single jacket image are switched and displayed. Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for transmitting TOC (Table Of Contents) information of a CD from a CD player to a server, and receiving and displaying lyrics of the corresponding music.

JP 2004-117618 A JP 2006-65967 A JP 2005-70472 A

  In a situation where a large number of users access a server via a network, the types of additional data (content lyrics data and image data) required for the server from terminals such as the above personal computers and CD players are very large. Become. In order to fully meet the terminal requirements, it is necessary to prepare a large number of types of additional data in the server, but it is often difficult in terms of cost and man-hours. Therefore, in actuality, there are cases where additional data related to the content requested by the terminal is not stored in the server and cannot be transmitted from the server to the terminal. However, the conventional technology assumes that all the additional data requested by the terminal is stored in the dedicated server, and considers the case where the additional data that matches the search condition transmitted by the terminal is not stored in the server. Not.

  On the other hand, in recent years, information on the Internet represented by WWW (World Wide Web) has increased explosively. Furthermore, with the development of Internet search engines, it is possible to search a very large amount of information. For example, in addition to general-purpose search engines, search sites specialized in searching for specific types of information such as lyrics and images have appeared.

  If general-purpose search engines on the Internet and various search sites can be used to search for and acquire additional data on content, it will be possible to handle much more types of content than building a dedicated server that provides additional data. It is considered that the convenience of the user is enhanced.

  However, when a search is performed using an Internet search engine or a search site, a huge amount of search results are generally obtained. Therefore, it is not easy to search for desired information from the search results. For example, if a search is performed with the name of a famous artist or the name of a song specified as a search keyword, the number of search results will be enormous, so check the link information returned by the search engine and check the Web page of the information source Complicated operations such as repeated operations are required. However, since the main purpose of the user is to view content, it is not appropriate to request the user for such a complicated operation in order to obtain auxiliary information.

  In addition, Web pages obtained by following links from search engine search results are generally created to be browsed using a browser. Since various information is included in one Web page, the user needs to search for a place where information that matches his / her interest is described while performing a scroll operation using a mouse or the like. For example, web pages often contain advertisements, and in that case, an operation for searching for desired information while avoiding advertisements and links to other sites is required. However, it is not appropriate to require the user to make complicated judgments and frequent operations in order to supplementarily provide the user with information on the network during content playback.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and various search sites such as a general-purpose search engine are effectively used to acquire various additional data corresponding to more types of contents and to be complicated for the user. To provide a content playback apparatus, a content playback method, and a content playback program for displaying additional data related to the content during content playback and performing content playback with a variety of changes without making any complicated judgments or complicated operations Objective.

  In order to achieve the above object, the content reproduction apparatus of the first invention transmits additional data, which is structured text using a tag, in which information related to the content is described as a search result in response to the search condition. Or a search server for transmitting access information to the information providing server for acquiring additional data, a transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving the information providing server via the network, content and its metadata The content storage means for storing in association, the search condition creating means for creating a search condition based on metadata related to one content stored in the content storage means, and the created search condition via the transmission / reception means To the search server, receive the search result based on the search condition from the search server via the transmission / reception means, and collect additional data. If the received search result is access information, the data is acquired by additional data acquisition means for accessing the information providing server indicated by the access information and acquiring additional data from the information providing server, and additional data acquisition means. Each additional data is analyzed, and a region combination tag, which is a first predetermined tag and a second predetermined tag other than the region formation tag, is used as region formation data, and is surrounded by the region formation data. When two adjacent areas of the extracted areas are adjacent via a predetermined combination pattern based on the area formation data, the two adjacent areas including the predetermined combination pattern based on the area formation data are defined as 1 The merge processing is performed as one area, and the degree of fitness corresponding to the number of characters that can be displayed is set for each area after the merge processing. A degree-of-fit calculation means for calculating, a region selection means for selecting a region whose fitness is higher than a predetermined value from the acquired additional data, or a region whose number does not exceed a predetermined number in order of the fitness, and one content And reproduction means for reproducing the information included in the area selected by the area selection means in association with each other.

  In order to achieve the above object, the content reproduction apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention provides additional data that is structured text using tags in which information related to content is described as a search result in response to a search condition. A search server for transmitting access information to the information providing server for acquiring additional data, transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving via the network between the information providing server, content and its metadata Content storage means for storing the information in association with each other, keyword information storage means for storing the plurality of keyword patterns composed of one or more keywords for use in search, and the respective priorities of the keyword patterns in association with each other And selecting one keyword pattern from multiple keyword patterns according to priority In addition, the search condition creating means for creating a search condition using the metadata corresponding to one content stored in the content storage means and the selected one keyword pattern, and the created search condition via the transmission / reception means If the received search result is access information, the access information further indicates that the search data is transmitted to the search server, the search result based on the search condition is received from the search server via the transmission / reception means, and the additional data is acquired. An additional data acquisition means for accessing the information providing server and acquiring additional data from the information providing server; and additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition means, respectively, and a region forming tag as a first predetermined tag; And a predetermined combination pattern by a second predetermined tag other than the area formation tag is defined as area formation data, and is surrounded by the area formation data. When two adjacent areas of the extracted areas are adjacent via a predetermined combination pattern based on the area formation data, the two adjacent areas including the predetermined combination pattern based on the area formation data are defined as 1 From the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition means, the fitness calculation means for calculating the fitness according to the number of characters that can be displayed for each area after the merge processing is performed. When the degree of matching is higher than the predetermined value or the number of areas not exceeding the predetermined number is selected in order of the higher degree of matching, and if the selected area is less than the predetermined number, the search condition creating means Next, select the keyword pattern with the next highest priority and support the newly selected keyword pattern and the same content. Region selection means for causing the additional data acquisition means to acquire additional data corresponding to the new search condition, and to select the content and the area selection. And reproducing means for reproducing information associated with the area selected by the means.

  In order to achieve the above object, the content reproduction apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention provides additional data that is structured text using tags in which information related to content is described as a search result in response to a search condition. Or a plurality of search servers for transmitting access information to the information providing server for acquiring additional data, transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving via the network to the information providing server, content and Content storage means for associating and storing metadata, server information storage means for associating and storing a plurality of search servers and priorities, and metadata related to one content stored in the content storage means. Search condition creating means for creating a search condition in the server and a plurality of search servers according to the priority read from the server information storage means Select one search server from within, send the search condition created by the search condition creation means to the selected one search server via the transmission / reception means, and search results based on the search condition from the one search server Is received via the transmission / reception means, and additional data is obtained. If the received search result is access information, the information providing server indicated by the access information is further accessed to obtain additional data from the information providing server. The additional data acquisition means and the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition means are each analyzed, and a predetermined combination pattern by a region forming tag that is a first predetermined tag and a second predetermined tag other than the region forming tag Is the region formation data, the region surrounded by the region formation data is extracted, and two adjacent regions of the extracted regions are determined by the region formation data When adjoining via a fixed combination pattern, merge processing is performed to combine two adjacent areas including a predetermined combination pattern based on area formation data as one area, and display is possible for each area after the merge processing A fitness calculation means for calculating a fitness according to the number of characters, and an additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition means, a region whose fitness is higher than a predetermined value or a number that does not exceed a predetermined number in order of fitness. In addition to selecting an area, if the selected area is less than the predetermined number, the additional data acquisition means selects the search server having the second highest priority after the one search server, and transmits / receives the search result from the search server. Region selection means for receiving new additional data by receiving the content, one content, and information included in the region selected by the region selection means And reproducing means for reproducing in association with each other.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the content reproduction apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the fitness calculation means according to the first to third aspects includes the third predetermined tag in the area after the merge processing. In this case, the calculation is performed so that the fitness of the region becomes a larger value.

  In order to achieve the above object, the content reproduction apparatus according to the fifth invention is such that the fitness calculation means according to the first to fourth inventions includes the number of displayable characters included in the area after the merge process and the merge process. The degree of fitness is calculated according to the type of area formation data surrounding the subsequent area.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the content reproduction apparatus of the sixth invention, the content storage means in the first to fifth inventions stores the reproduction time of the content as metadata, and the fitness calculation means When the number of characters that can be displayed in the area after the merging process is a predetermined value set based on the playback time, the fitness is the maximum value, and when the number of characters that can be displayed in the area is other than the predetermined value, the difference from the predetermined value is The feature is that the fitness is calculated as a smaller value as the value becomes larger.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the content storage means in the first to sixth inventions stores the content reproduction time as metadata, and the area selection means is adapted. A region whose degree is higher than a predetermined value set according to the reproduction time, or a region that does not exceed a predetermined number set to a larger value as the reproduction time is longer, is selected in descending order of fitness. .

  In order to achieve the above object, the content reproduction apparatus according to an eighth aspect of the present invention relates to the first to seventh aspects of the area selected by the area selection unit in association with the content stored in the content storage unit. Additional data storage means for storing the area data and the acquisition date and time when the area was acquired, and the search condition creating means is a content for which no information exists in the additional data storage means among the contents stored in the content storage means And the content whose acquisition date is older than the predetermined date is preferentially selected as one content, the area selection means updates the additional data storage means every time the area is selected, and the reproduction means receives the content from the content storage means. Read out the area data corresponding to the contents from the additional data storage means, To, characterized in that.

  In order to achieve the above object, the content reproduction method of the ninth invention is based on the metadata related to one content read from the content storage means storing the content and its metadata in association with each other. A search condition creation step for creating a search condition; a transmission / reception step for transmitting the created search condition to the search server via the transmission / reception means; and receiving a search result based on the search condition from the search server via the transmission / reception means; Acquire additional data, which is structured text using tags, in which information related to the content is described from the search result received in the transmission / reception step, and the received search result to the information providing server for acquiring the additional data In the case of access information, the information providing server indicated by the access information is further accessed and the information providing server An additional data acquisition step for acquiring additional data, and additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition step are analyzed, respectively, and an area formation tag that is a first predetermined tag and a second predetermined tag other than the area formation tag When a predetermined combination pattern is used as area formation data, an area surrounded by the area formation data is extracted, and two adjacent areas among the extracted areas are adjacent via a predetermined combination pattern based on the area formation data. Conformance that calculates the degree of conformity according to the number of characters that can be displayed for each region after the merge processing is performed by combining two adjacent regions including a predetermined combination pattern based on region formation data as one region From the calculation step and the acquired additional data, a predetermined number of areas where the fitness is higher than a predetermined value or the highest fitness The number area selecting step of selecting an area of not exceeding, characterized in that it comprises a one content, a reproduction step of reproducing in association with information included in the area selected by the area selecting step.

  In order to achieve the above object, a content reproduction method according to a tenth aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of keyword patterns composed of one or more keywords for use in search, and respective priorities of the plurality of keyword patterns. In accordance with the priority read from the keyword information storage means stored in association with one another, a single keyword pattern is selected from the plurality of keyword patterns, and the content storage means stores the contents in association with the metadata. A search condition creation step for creating a search condition using the metadata corresponding to the read one content and the selected one keyword pattern, and the created search condition is transmitted to the search server via the transmission / reception means to be searched. Sending search results based on search conditions from the server via the sending / receiving means Information for acquiring additional data, which is structured text using tags, in which information related to the content is described from the search results received in the transmission step and the transmission / reception step, and for the received search results to acquire additional data In the case of access information to the providing server, the additional data acquisition step of accessing the information providing server indicated by the access information and acquiring additional data from the information providing server, and the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition step Each region is analyzed, and a region combination tag by a region predetermined tag which is a first predetermined tag and a second predetermined tag other than the region formation tag is defined as region formation data, and a region surrounded by the region formation data is defined as Extracted, and two adjacent areas of the extracted areas are predetermined combination patterns based on area formation data When adjacent to each other, a merge process that combines two adjacent areas as a single area including a predetermined combination pattern based on the area formation data is performed, and each area after the merge process is adapted according to the number of characters that can be displayed. From the fitness calculation step for calculating the degree and the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition step, select a region whose fitness is higher than a predetermined value or a number of regions that do not exceed a predetermined number in order of fitness. If the selected area is less than the predetermined number, a keyword pattern having the next highest priority after one keyword pattern is newly selected, and metadata corresponding to the newly selected keyword pattern and one content is selected. To create a new search condition and acquire additional data corresponding to the new search condition. And a reproduction step of reproducing the content in association with the information included in the area selected in the area selection step.

  In order to achieve the above object, a content reproduction method according to an eleventh aspect of the present invention is based on metadata related to one content read from content storage means storing the content and its metadata in association with each other. A search condition creation step for creating a search condition, and a search server is selected from a plurality of search servers according to the priority read from the server information storage means that stores and associates a plurality of search servers with priorities. The search condition created in the search condition creation step is transmitted to the selected one search server via the transmission / reception means, and the search result based on the search condition is received from the one search server via the transmission / reception means. Using tags that contain information related to content from the transmission / reception step and the search results received in the transmission / reception step When additional data that is structured text is acquired, and the received search result is access information to the information providing server for acquiring additional data, the information providing server indicated by the access information is further accessed to obtain the information. An additional data acquisition step of acquiring additional data from the providing server, and additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition step are analyzed, respectively, and a region formation tag that is a first predetermined tag and a second other than the region formation tag A predetermined combination pattern by a predetermined tag is used as area formation data, an area surrounded by the area formation data is extracted, and two adjacent areas of the extracted areas are adjacent via a predetermined combination pattern by area formation data. When two adjacent areas including a predetermined combination pattern based on the area formation data are The merge processing is performed, and for each area after the merge processing, the compatibility is calculated from the fitness calculation step for calculating the fitness according to the number of characters that can be displayed, and the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition step. Select a region whose degree is higher than a predetermined value or a region whose number does not exceed a predetermined number in order of suitability, and if the selected region is less than the predetermined number, the next highest priority is given to one search server Select a search server, receive the search result from the search server and acquire new additional data, and play by associating one content with the information included in the region selected in the region selection step And a reproducing step.

  In order to achieve the above object, a content reproduction program according to a twelfth aspect causes a computer to execute each step of the content reproduction method according to the ninth aspect, and a content reproduction program according to the thirteenth aspect is performed by a computer. Each step of the content reproduction method of the tenth invention is executed, and the content reproduction program of the fourteenth invention causes a computer to execute each step of the content reproduction method of the eleventh invention.

  According to the present invention, various search sites such as a general-purpose search engine are effectively used to acquire a variety of additional data corresponding to more types of content, and the user can perform complicated judgments and complicated operations. Therefore, it is possible to display additional data related to the content during the content reproduction and to perform content reproduction rich in change.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the whole content reproduction system containing the content reproduction apparatus of this invention. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of a content reproduction apparatus of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the data format of the content storage means in the content reproduction apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data format of the content management table shown to FIG. 3 (A). It is a figure which shows an example of the data format of the content management table shown in FIG.3 (B). 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the content reproduction apparatus in FIG. 2 when additional data is acquired prior to content reproduction. It is a figure which shows an example of the format of the additional data which the additional data storage part of FIG. 2 stores. It is a figure which shows an example of the data format of the additional data management table in FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of a fitness level calculation unit of the content reproduction apparatus in FIG. 2. It is a figure which shows an example of the additional data for demonstrating the area | region extraction process by the fitness calculation part of the content reproduction apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the characteristic of the function which the fitness calculation part of the content reproduction apparatus of FIG. 2 uses. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a content reproduction operation of the content reproduction apparatus in FIG. 2. It is a figure which shows an example of the content list menu displayed by the content reproduction apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a display screen in case the content by the content reproduction apparatus of this invention is a music. It is a figure which shows an example of a display screen in case the content by the content reproduction apparatus of this invention is a moving image with an audio | voice. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the content reproduction apparatus in FIG. 2 when additional data is acquired during content reproduction. It is a block diagram of 2nd Embodiment of the content reproduction apparatus of this invention. 18 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the content reproduction apparatus in FIG. 17 when additional data is acquired prior to content reproduction. It is a figure which shows an example of the data format of the keyword information table stored in the keyword information storage part of the content reproduction apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the data format of an additional data management table. 18 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the content reproduction apparatus in FIG. 17 when additional data is acquired during content reproduction. It is a figure which shows the structure of the whole content reproduction system containing the content reproduction apparatus of the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of 3rd Embodiment of the content reproduction apparatus of this invention. 24 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the content reproduction apparatus in FIG. 23 when additional data is acquired prior to content reproduction. It is a figure which shows an example of the data format of the server information table stored in the server information storage part of the content reproduction apparatus of FIG. 24 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the content reproduction apparatus in FIG. 23 when additional data is acquired during content reproduction.

(First embodiment)
Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of an entire content reproduction system including a content reproduction apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, the content reproduction system has a configuration in which a content reproduction device 1, a search server 2, and n (n is an integer of 1 or more) information providing servers 31 to 3n are connected via a network 4. is there. In FIG. 1, one content playback apparatus 1 is used, but a plurality of content playback apparatuses 1 may be connected to the network 4. Further, the number of information providing servers is not two or more, but only one. Further, the search server 2 may have the functions of the information providing servers 31 to 3n. As the network 4, the Internet, an intranet, a home network, or the like can be used.

  In FIG. 1, a content reproduction apparatus 1 stores content and has a function of reproducing it. The search server 2 has a search function related to content additional data. The search server 2 receives the search condition regarding the additional data of the content transmitted from the content reproduction apparatus 1 and transmits a search result that matches the search condition to the content reproduction apparatus 1. This search result is access information (link information) to the additional data possessed by the information providing servers 31 to 3n when the additional data is provided from the information providing servers 31 to 3n. When the search server 2 provides additional data, the additional data itself may be transmitted as a search result. If the search result is access information to the additional data, the content reproduction device 1 acquires the additional data accordingly.

  The additional data includes information related to the content and is structured text data described in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), XHTML (Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language), XML (Extensible Markup Language), or the like. For example, as the search server 2, an Internet search engine that searches data described in HTML or the like can be used.

  The content in the present embodiment will be described on the assumption that the content is a moving image content with audio such as music content and music video, which is composed of two elements of the content main body and metadata (attribute information). In the case of music content, the content body is audio data, and in the case of moving image content with audio, the content body is audio data and moving image data. In addition, a plurality of types of metadata are associated with these contents. Examples of metadata types include, but are not limited to, music titles, artist names, album names, genre names, production years, playback times, and the like. Of course, other types may be used.

  However, the present invention is not limited to music content and moving image content with audio, and can be applied to other forms of content.

  Further, the additional data of the contents in the present embodiment is lyrics, hit chart information, concert information, explanations and impressions related to the contents and artists, blogs, etc., which are Web pages described in HTML or XHTML. However, it is not limited to these.

  FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a first embodiment of a content reproduction apparatus according to the present invention.

  A content playback apparatus 1A according to the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to the content playback apparatus 1 in FIG. 1, and includes a content storage unit 10 for storing content and search condition data transmitted to the search server 2. A search condition data creation unit 11A for creating data, a transmission / reception unit 12 for transmitting / receiving data between the search server 2 and the information providing servers 31 to 3n, a fitness calculation unit 13A, and a search received from the search server 2 Based on the results, the additional data acquisition unit 14 that acquires additional data from the information providing servers 31 to 3n, the additional data storage unit 15A that stores the acquired additional data, the playback unit 16 that reproduces the content, and the overall control of the device. The control unit 17A is configured to include an area selection unit 18A.

  Further, the content playback apparatus 1A includes an input device 60 such as a keyboard, a mouse, a remote control, and a touch panel for receiving user operation instructions, and a display device 61 such as a display necessary for playing back content and additional data. A sound output device 62 such as a speaker is connected.

  The content playback apparatus 1A is a software that uses a general computer including a central processing unit (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a hard disk drive (HDD), and the like. It can also be realized as a process.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the content storage unit 10 stores content including a content management table and N content files (N is a natural number of 1 or more) each including a content main body and metadata. Yes. As shown in FIG. 3B, the content storage unit 10 may store content including a content management table and N content files including only a content main body that does not include metadata. .

  The content management table in the case where the content main body and metadata shown in FIG. 3A are stored in the same content file is in the format shown in FIG. 4, and the content ID for uniquely identifying the content and the path of the content file are shown. It is related. Each file stores metadata in a predetermined format. As described above, the types of metadata associated with the content include a song name, artist name, album name, genre name, production year, reproduction time, and the like.

  The content management table in the case where metadata is stored in the content management table without putting the metadata shown in FIG. 3B in the content file is in the format shown in FIG. Stores the content file path in association with each other. Even if the metadata is included in the content file, the metadata item may be registered in the content management table redundantly as shown in FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the case where content metadata is stored in the content reproduction apparatus 1A in advance has been described. However, metadata may be acquired from a server that provides metadata via a network and used. For example, a server for specifying content based on data corresponding to TOC (Table Of Contents) of CD (Compact Disc) and audio signal data of music and providing the metadata is prepared, and this server is connected to this server via a network. You may make it access and acquire metadata.

  The search condition creating unit 11A constitutes a search condition creating unit of the present invention, reads metadata of the notified content ID from the content storage unit 10, and creates search condition data using the metadata.

  The suitability calculation unit 13A constitutes the suitability calculation means of the present invention, analyzes each additional data, and forms a first predetermined tag, a region formation tag, and a second predetermined other than the region formation tag. When a predetermined combination pattern by a tag is used as area formation data, an area surrounded by the area formation data is extracted, and two adjacent areas of the extracted areas are adjacent via a predetermined combination pattern by area formation data Then, a merging process is performed in which two adjacent areas including a predetermined combination pattern based on the area formation data are combined into one area, and a matching degree corresponding to the number of characters that can be displayed is calculated for each area after the merging process.

  The area selection unit 18A constitutes an area selection unit of the present invention, and from the acquired additional data, an area whose fitness is higher than a predetermined value or a number of areas not exceeding a predetermined number in order of higher fitness. select. The selected area is an area suitable for displaying additional data during content reproduction.

  The content playback apparatus 1A has a feature of displaying additional data related to the content while playing back the content. In the content playback apparatus 1A, additional data may be acquired prior to content playback, or additional data may be acquired during content playback.

  First, the operation of the content reproduction apparatus 1A according to the present embodiment when additional data is acquired prior to content reproduction will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Here, the additional data acquisition operation is started when the user performs a predetermined operation on the input device 60. In addition to this, it may be activated at an appropriate timing when the user is not reproducing the content, or may be activated at a predetermined time.

  First, the control unit 17A reads the content storage unit 10 and the additional data storage unit 15A, determines the content for which additional data needs to be acquired, and creates a set of content IDs of the content (step S100). The control unit 17A determines that the additional data needs to be acquired when the content has no additional data in the additional data storage unit 15A and when the acquisition date is older than the predetermined date.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the additional data storage unit 15A stores an additional data management table 45 and M additional data files 461 to 46M. The additional data management table 45 is in the format shown in FIG. 8, and for each of the M additional data files, a number for identifying the additional data file, a content ID, a path of the additional data file, an acquisition date and time, a fitness level described later, The latest display date and time are stored in association with each other. As will be described later, the latest display date and time is recorded every time an additional data file is displayed. For an additional data file that has never been displayed, data “NULL” is recorded. . A plurality of additional data files can be stored for one content.

  Next, the control unit 17A selects one unprocessed content ID from the content ID set created in step S100 and notifies the search condition data creation unit 11A (step S110). Then, the search condition data creation unit 11A reads the content ID metadata notified in step S110 from the content storage unit 10 (step S120).

  Subsequently, the search condition data creation unit 11A creates search condition data using the metadata read from the content storage unit 10 in step S120 (step S130). For example, when the read metadata is “artist name = CoolA”, “album name = WarmB”, and “song name = HotC”, these are combined by AND condition, and search condition data “CoolA∩WarmB∩HotC” Create If the search server 2 can interpret the attribute name of the metadata, the search condition data creation unit 11A enters the attribute name as “artist name = CoolA∩album name = WarmB∩song name = HotC”. Create search condition data in the form.

  Here, among the metadata items, the search condition data is created by combining the artist name, the album name, and the song name using the AND condition. However, the search condition data is not limited to this combination, and a single metadata item is used. Or a combination of other metadata items may be used.

  Next, the additional data acquisition unit 14 instructs the transmission / reception unit 12 to transmit the search condition data created in step S130 (step S140). As a result, the search condition data is transmitted from the content reproduction apparatus 1 to the search server 2. Then, the search server 2 transmits search result data that matches the search condition of the received search condition data to the content reproduction apparatus 1. The search server 2 transmits, as a search result, access information to the additional data held by the information providing servers 31 to 3n, specifically, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the additional data. Alternatively, when the search server 2 has additional data, the additional data itself may be transmitted. The number of access information and additional data transmitted by the search server 2 may be one or plural. If there is no additional data that matches the search condition, data notifying that fact is transmitted.

  Next, the additional data acquisition unit 14 receives the search result data transmitted from the search server 2 via the transmission / reception unit 12 (step S150). Subsequently, the additional data acquisition unit 14 determines whether the received search result data is the additional data itself or access information for accessing the additional data (step S160). If the search result data is access information, the process proceeds to step S170; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S180.

  In step S170, the additional data acquisition unit 14 accesses the information providing server corresponding to the access information among the information providing servers 31 to 3n via the transmission / reception unit 12 based on the received access information, and adds the information from the information providing server. Get the data. When there are a plurality of pieces of access information, additional data corresponding to all of them or an appropriate number of pieces of access information is acquired. From step S170, the process proceeds to step S180. In many cases, the additional data acquisition unit 14 generally acquires a plurality of additional data through steps S160 and S170.

  When the additional data acquisition unit 14 determines in step S160 that the search result data is additional data, or when additional data is acquired from one or more information providing servers among the information providing servers 31 to 3n in step S170, The fitness calculation unit 13A analyzes the additional data, extracts a region where displayable characters corresponding to a predetermined type of tag are continuous, and sets the number of characters that can be displayed for each extracted region. A corresponding degree of matching is calculated (step S180). When there are a plurality of acquired additional data, processing is performed for each additional data. Details of step S180 will be described later.

  Subsequently, the area selection unit 18A selects a predetermined number of areas in which the fitness is higher than a predetermined value or the highest fitness from the additional data acquired based on the fitness of each area calculated in step S180. A region is selected (step S190). Then, the area selection unit 18A updates and stores the additional data storage unit 15 in association with the content ID, using the area data of the selected area as an additional data file. Details of step S190 will also be described later.

  Next, the control unit 17A determines whether or not all the content ID sets created in step S100 have been processed (step S200). If all content IDs have been processed, the process ends. If not, the process returns to step S110 to continue the process.

  The above is description of operation | movement of 1 A of content reproduction apparatuses when acquiring additional data from the server 2 prior to content reproduction. By acquiring the additional data prior to the content reproduction, the additional data can be quickly displayed during the content reproduction. In step S100, since the additional data is determined to be updated using the acquisition date and time of the additional data, the old additional data is not continuously used, and the screen display during reproduction can be changed. .

  Next, in describing the details of step S180, first, how a general search engine is used will be described as a background.

  In general, when using a search engine, a user performs an interactive operation using a browser. Specifically, when a user inputs a search keyword in a text field of a browser and then presses a “search” button, the search engine accesses information (link information) to a plurality of Web pages and headlines / summary of the Web pages. And the browser displays it as a list of search results.

  The user determines a Web page to access while viewing the headline / summary of the Web page, and clicks the link. If the accessed web page does not meet the user's purpose, the user returns to the search result list and accesses another web page for confirmation. When the number of search results is large, a scroll operation for viewing the search result list and an operation for switching a plurality of pages are required. Further, considering each Web page, even if information that matches the user's interest is included, other information, such as advertisements, is often included in the page. For this reason, even when browsing a single Web page, it is necessary to perform a scroll operation for searching for a place where information of interest to the user is described. When using a search engine, the user generally repeats such an interactive operation.

  However, such an operation that requires the user to make many judgments and inputs is not suitable for the purpose of displaying the additional data while reproducing the content. In this case, the main purpose of the user is to enjoy the content to the last, so that a complicated operation that hinders viewing of the content is inappropriate.

  Therefore, in the content reproduction apparatus 1A of the present embodiment, even when a general search engine is used as the search server 2, a Web page to be displayed is determined / designated from the search result list, or individual Web pages The Web page to be displayed and the location to be displayed are automatically determined without requesting the user to determine / designate the portion to be displayed.

  Next, the details of step S180 will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, the fitness level calculation unit 13A selects one unprocessed additional data that has not been subjected to the fitness level calculation process from the additional data acquired in step S160 or S170 (step S181). Subsequently, the fitness calculation unit 13A analyzes the additional data selected in step S181, and displays a region corresponding to the region formation tag that is at least one of the predetermined tag and the combination pattern of the predetermined tag as a display candidate region. (Step S182).

  Here, as an example, a case where the additional data shown in FIG. 10 is selected and the extraction process in step 182 is performed will be described. In this example, the additional data is described in HTML (XHTML). In FIG. 10, a region surrounded by a predetermined tag and continuous displayable characters is surrounded by a frame and given a number. First, the tag itself surrounded by “<>” is not a display target, and thus does not become an area to be extracted. Next, since the script description portion corresponding to the “<script>” tag is not a display target, it is not an area to be extracted.

  Therefore, basically, as shown in area # 1 and area # 2 in FIG. 10, display is possible between the start tag “<title>” and the end tag “</ title>” representing the title of the page. Character strings and character strings that can be displayed between the start tag “<h2>” and the end tag “/ h2>” representing level 2 headings are grouped into one area. That is, a predetermined start tag and end tag related to displayable characters are used as region forming tags, and a portion related to the region forming tag is extracted as a display candidate region. The part related to the area formation tag is usually the part enclosed by the start tag of the area formation tag and the corresponding end tag, but only one of the start tag or end tag of the area formation tag exists. For example, a portion surrounded by one of the start tag or the end tag of the region forming tag and the other tag may be a portion related to the region forming tag.

  However, there are tags that are not used as region formation tags even if they are related to displayable characters. For example, a tag (character modification tag) for designating a character font (font), a character size, a character color, or the like is not used as a region formation tag. That is, the part enclosed by the character modification tag is not extracted as an independent area. In addition, for example, a “<br />” tag or a “<br>” tag indicating a line feed is not used as a region formation tag.

  Furthermore, when a predetermined type of tag appears under a predetermined condition (predetermined pattern), a process of merging the regions on both sides of the appearance location (merge process) may be performed. For example, when the "</ p>" tag indicating the end of a paragraph and the "<p>" tag indicating the beginning of a paragraph are used as region forming tags, they are consecutively "</ p> <p>" When appearing in a pattern, the regions on both sides of the pattern may be merged instead of dividing the region at that point.

  Such a merge process will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 10, the suitability calculation unit 13 </ b> A performs a start tag “<p>” (a tag indicating the start of a paragraph) on the 13th line and an end tag “</ p>” (the end of the paragraph) on the 16th line. And the region # 3-1 surrounded by them are extracted. Similarly, the start tag “<p>” on the 17th line and the end tag “</ p>” on the 20th line are used as area formation tags, respectively, and an area # 3-2 surrounded by them is extracted. The area # 3-1 includes a “<br />” tag representing a line break, but is not treated as an area formation tag as described above, and thus does not become a separate area before and after “<br />”. It is one area. Similarly, the area # 3-2 includes a “<br>” tag representing a line break, a start tag “<b>” which is a character modification tag representing displaying a character in bold, and an end tag corresponding thereto. "</ B>" is included, but it is one area.

  Furthermore, the matching level calculation unit 13A has a predetermined pattern (“<p>” and “</ p>”) of a predetermined type of region formation tag (“<p>”) between the region # 3-1 and the region # 3-2. </ p> <p> ”) is detected, and the region # 3-1 and the region # 3-2 are not divided, and the predetermined pattern“ </ p> <p> ”is included. Merge processing is performed on the two areas # 3. The predetermined pattern here is a pattern in which these are continuous in the order of “</ p>” and then “<p>”.

  Next, an example shown in region # 4 of FIG. 10 will be described. First, the fitness calculation unit 13A includes a tag "<p>" indicating the beginning of a paragraph, a tag "</ p>" indicating the end of a paragraph, and a start tag "<a ...>" indicating a hyperlink. Then, processing is performed by treating the corresponding end tag “</a>” as a region formation tag. And in the area # 4-1 (“My”), “<a ...>” and “</a>” surrounded by “<p>” and “<a ...>” 3 of the enclosed area # 4-2 ("Friend"), and the area # 4-3 ("The opinion of ...") surrounded by "</a>" and "</ p>" First, one region is extracted.

  Next, the goodness-of-fit calculation unit 13A determines whether the data immediately before the “<a...” Tag is a displayable character instead of other tags. , <a ...> "tag, and the merge processing to combine the areas between the" <a ...> "tag and the" </a> "tag into one. In this example, since the data immediately before the “<a...” Tag is a displayable character “no”, it matches the condition for performing the merge process. When performing the merge process, a large area including the “<a...” Tag itself is used. In this example, the area # 4-1, the “<a...” Tag, and the area # 4-2 are first combined into one area (area # 4-4).

  Next, the goodness-of-fit calculation unit 13A determines whether the data immediately after the “</a>” tag is a displayable character rather than another tag. A merge process is performed to combine the area between the “<a...” Tag and the “</a>” tag and the area after the “</a>” tag. In this example, since the data immediately after the “</a>” tag is a displayable character “no”, it matches the conditions for the merge process. When performing the merge process, the large area including the “</a>” tag itself is taken as one large area. In this example, since the area # 4-2 before the “</a>” tag is already merged with the area # 4-4, the area # 4-4, the “</a>” tag and the area # 4-3 are grouped into one area to create area # 4. As shown in this example, merge processing is performed when a certain region forming tag ("<a ...>") satisfies a predetermined condition (a condition that a character immediately before the tag is a character that can be displayed instead of other tags). It can be performed. That is, in the merging process performed when a predetermined type of tag appears under a predetermined condition (predetermined pattern), the predetermined pattern does not necessarily have to be a combination of a plurality of types of tags, and a single tag and data adjacent thereto It may be a pattern determined according to the type.

  In the areas # 5 and # 6 in FIG. 10, tags of the same type as the area # 4 (“<a ...>” and “</a>”) appear. Have different appearance patterns. That is, the data immediately before the start tag “<a...” Representing a hyperlink is not a displayable character but is adjacent to another tag (“div”). Also, the data immediately after the end tag “</a>” of the hyper ring is not a displayable character but is adjacent to another tag (“/ div”). Area # 5 and area E6 correspond to a predetermined type of tag, but do not correspond to a predetermined pattern. For this reason, merge processing is not performed in region # 5 and region # 6.

  In the example of FIG. 10, the suitability calculation unit 13A uses each tag as a region formation tag, but treats a predetermined combination pattern of a predetermined tag that is not a region formation tag equivalent to the region formation tag. An area may be extracted. Such a combination pattern of predetermined tags other than the region formation tag and the region formation tag are collectively referred to as region formation data.

  For example, if the “<h6>” tag that represents the level 6 heading and the “<font ...>” tag that specifies the font of the character are not used as region forming tags, Even when region extraction is not performed, the pattern “<h6> <font ...>” combining these two tags may be used as region formation data, and region extraction may be performed when this pattern appears. . In addition, for example, the “<tr>” tag representing the start of one row of the table and the “<td>” tag representing the data cell of the table are not used as region forming tags, but the combination pattern “<tr>” <td> ”may be the area formation data. In this way, the data rows of the table can be divided into regions one by one. As shown in the above example, a combination pattern of a plurality of predetermined tags may be handled in the same way as one region forming tag.

  Here, the reason why the region forming tag is limited to a predetermined type of tag and the reason why the merging process is performed will be described. Tags indicating line breaks ("<br />", "<br>") and paragraph separators ("<p>", "</ p>") appear in places with relatively long sentences In many cases, the place where these tags exist is not an additional information such as an advertisement, but is likely to be a place related to the main theme of the Web page. In addition, the portions adjacent to these tags are not completely different contents, but are often highly relevant contents. Therefore, it is more semantically important to limit the region formation tags to a predetermined type of tag and perform the merge process. In many cases, highly related text data is collected in one region. Even when the user passively appreciates the additional data, an effect that the user can easily understand the content of the displayed text can be obtained.

  Furthermore, in the area extraction process in step S182, the fitness level calculation unit 13A may extract only a portion where the number of characters in the displayable character string (hereinafter referred to as the number of displayable characters) continues for a predetermined number or more as the extraction target region. . For example, only a character string having a displayable number of characters “4” or more is set as an extraction region target, and region # 6 in FIG. 10 where the number of displayable characters is “2” is excluded from the extraction target region. Processing may be performed.

  Next, the fitness level calculation unit 13A calculates the fitness level indicating the level of fitness for the purpose of displaying the content while reproducing it for each region extracted in step S182 (step S183). The goodness of fit can be calculated by the following method.

  The first method is a method of counting the number D of displayable characters included in the area and setting this as the fitness C. As described above, a tag may be included in the area, but this is not counted as a displayable character. According to the first method, the fitness C becomes a larger value as the number D of characters that can be displayed in the area increases.

  The second method is a method of calculating the fitness C using predetermined coefficients α and β determined according to the number D of characters that can be displayed and the type of region forming tag surrounding the region, as shown in Expression (1). It is.

C = αD + β (1)
As the type of region forming tag surrounding the region is more likely to be related to the main theme of the Web page, the values of the coefficients α and β are increased so that the fitness C becomes a larger value. For example, in the example of FIG. 10, the type of region formation tag “<title>” that represents the title of the Web page is more than the type of region formation tag “<h2>” that represents the second level heading. The content (theme) of the entire Web page is expressed in a straightforward manner and is considered important. Therefore, the region # 1 surrounded by the region formation start tag "<title>" and the end tag "</ title>" Regarding the coefficients α1, β1, and the coefficients α2, β2 of the region # 2 surrounded by the region formation start tag “<h2>” and the end tag “</ h2>”, “α1> α2” and “β1> β2 The coefficient C is set so as to satisfy at least one of the conditions, and the fitness C is calculated. In Formula (1), β = 0 may be set, and the fitness C may be calculated using only α.

  The third method uses the number D of characters that can be displayed, the number B of tags that represent line breaks included in the area, and the number P of tags that represent paragraph breaks included in the area, as shown in Expression (2). This is a method of calculating the fitness C.

C = γD + λB + μP (2)
Here, γ, λ, and μ are predetermined weighting factors. As mentioned above, the place where many tags that represent line breaks and tags that represent paragraph breaks are likely to be related to the main theme that the creator of the Web page emphasizes. Thus, the fitness C is calculated. That is, in the third method, when a predetermined second tag such as a tag indicating a line break or a tag indicating a paragraph break is included in the extracted area, the fitness D of the area is set to a larger value. It is a method of calculating as follows.

  In equation (2), λ = 0 or μ = 0 may be set. That is, the fitness C may be calculated using either the number B of tags representing line breaks included in the region or the number P of tags representing paragraph breaks included in the region. In the above description, the number of tags representing line breaks and the number of tags representing paragraph breaks are used. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the number of other predetermined tags included in the region is used. May be. For example, when the number of character modification tags that increase the character size is large, the degree of matching may be calculated to be a large value.

  The fourth method is a method of calculating the fitness C using the number D of characters that can be displayed and the function F as shown in Expression (3).

C = F (D) (3)
As shown in FIG. 11, the function F has such a characteristic that the output is small when the input is small, the output is rapidly increased when the input is medium, and the output is decreased when the input is very large. It is a function to have. That is, in the range from 0 to the saturated input value, the output increases as the input increases, but when the input exceeds the saturated input value, the output decreases as the input increases. ing. When Expression (3) is used, when the number D of characters that can be displayed in the area that is the input of the function F exceeds the saturation input value, the fitness C that is the output of the function F decreases. An area having a very large number of characters that can be displayed is too long as information to be displayed while reproducing the content. Therefore, if it is determined that the information is inappropriate, Expression (3) may be used.

  In FIG. 11, the saturation input value corresponding to the saturation point at which the output value turns from increasing to decreasing may be set in advance, or may be set according to the playback time of the content. For example, the fitness level calculation unit 13A may read the content playback time from the content storage unit 10 and set the saturation input value to be larger as the playback time is longer. When the number of characters that can be displayed in the area is very large, it is not possible to display all of them during the playback of the content, and the halfway display ends and the user satisfaction is reduced. There is a case. However, the halfway display problem can be reduced by adding a process for changing the saturation input value greatly according to the reproduction time.

  In addition, you may perform the process which combined the said 2nd-4th method suitably. For example, the fitness C may be calculated according to the formula (5) or the formula (6) by combining the third method and the fourth method.

C = F (γD + λB + μP) (5)
C = F (γD) + λB + μP (6)
The above is the description of step S183.

  Next, the fitness calculation unit 13A determines whether there is unprocessed additional data (step S184). If there is unprocessed additional data, the process returns to step S181 to repeat the process. If there is no unprocessed additional data, that is, if the fitness level calculation processing is performed for all the additional data acquired in steps S160 and S170, the processing ends. The above is the detailed description of step S180.

  Next, details of step S190 in FIG. 6 will be described. In step S190, the area selection unit 18A first selects an area suitable for display from the additional data areas extracted in step S180 as follows.

  The first method is a method of selecting a region having a fitness level equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Here, as the predetermined value, a preset value may be used, or a predetermined value (threshold value) corresponding to the playback time of the content may be used. When using a predetermined value (threshold value) according to the playback time of content, for example, for content with a long playback time, the threshold value is set to a small value so that a relatively large number of areas are selected. For content with a short playback time, the threshold value is set to a large value, and the area is carefully selected and selected.

  The second method is a method of selecting a number of regions not exceeding a predetermined number in descending order of fitness. Here, as the predetermined number, a preset value may be used, or a predetermined number (threshold value) corresponding to the playback time of the content may be used. When using a predetermined value (threshold value) according to the playback time of the content, for example, for content with a long playback time, the threshold value is set to a large value so that more regions are selected. For content with a short playback time, the threshold value is set to a small value, and the area is carefully selected and selected. If the number of regions extracted in step S180 is greater than the predetermined number, a predetermined number of regions are selected, and if the number is less than the predetermined number, all the extracted regions are selected. That is, in the latter case, a smaller number of regions than the predetermined number are selected.

  Next, the area selection unit 18A creates an additional data file for each selected area and stores it in the additional data storage unit 15. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the area selection unit 18A adds the corresponding content ID, the path of the additional data file, the acquisition date and time, and the area data to the additional data management table of the additional data file stored in the additional data storage unit 15. Record information such as the degree of conformance and the latest display date and time. When new registration is performed, the latest display date and time is set to “NULL”. The above is the details of the processing in step S190.

  Next, the content reproduction operation of the content reproduction apparatus 1A of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the control unit 17A reads content metadata stored in the content storage unit 10, creates a content list menu, and displays the content list menu on the display device 61 (step S300). FIG. 13 shows an example of the content list menu. The content list menu displays artist names, album names, song names, and the like for each content. In this example, the content ID is not displayed on the display device 61, but the control unit 17 manages which row in the content list menu corresponds to which content ID.

  The arrow on the left side of the screen in FIG. 13 is a cursor, indicating that the content with the arrow is selected. The user can select the content to be played by operating the input device 60 and moving the cursor.

  Next, the control unit 17A specifies the content ID of the content selected by the user, and notifies the playback unit 16 (step S310). Then, the playback unit 16 reads out the content body from the content storage unit 10 and outputs a video signal and an audio signal to the display device 61 and the audio output device 62 while performing a necessary decoding process, and starts playback (step). S320). In the case of music content, the decoded audio signal is output to the audio output device 61, and in the case of moving image content with audio, the decoded video signal is output to the display device 61 and decoded to the audio output device 62. The audio signal is output.

  Next, the playback unit 16 refers to the additional data management table of the additional data storage unit 15 and selects the additional data file to be displayed from the additional data file corresponding to the specified content ID by the following method. Are selected (step S330). The first selection method is a method of selecting at random. What is necessary is just to select at random each time using a random number. The second selection method is a method of selecting in descending order of fitness. The third selection method is a method of preferentially selecting “NULL”, which is a blank display date because the latest display date is not displayed, or an older display date. For example, the additional data file whose latest display date and time is “NULL” is selected with the first priority, and when there is no “NULL” data, the additional data file is selected in order of the latest display date and time.

  Moreover, you may make it select, combining these, or changing a selection method each time, without fixing to any of the said 1st-3rd selection method.

  When a plurality of additional data files are selected and displayed during playback of one content, control is basically performed so that the same additional data file is not repeatedly selected, but the additional corresponding to the specified content ID is performed. If there is only one data file, it may be selected repeatedly.

  Next, the reproducing unit 16 reads the additional data file selected in step S330 and displays the additional data on the display device 61 (step S340). This display processing is performed in parallel with the content reproduction processing in step S320, and information contained in the additional data file is displayed while reproducing the content. Further, the current date and time when the display process is performed is set for the latest display date and time of the additional data management table stored in the additional data storage unit 15. An example of the screen of the display device 61 when displaying additional data is shown below.

  FIG. 14 is an example of a display screen when the content is music. The upper part of the screen is a metadata display area 51, which displays appropriate metadata such as artist name, album name, song name, genre name, and playback time. The lower part of the screen is an additional data display area 52. Here, lyrics, hit chart information, concert information, homepage information, blog information and the like related to the content are displayed.

  In addition to the displayable characters, the additional data file may contain tags that indicate line breaks, paragraph breaks, character size specifications, character color specifications, etc. May be ignored, or line breaks may be processed according to the tag.

  If the entire additional data cannot be displayed at once in the display area, the text information is automatically scrolled horizontally or vertically at an appropriate speed to display it as a telop or display characters at appropriate time intervals. Display while switching sequentially. By displaying the additional data in this way, it is not necessary for the user to perform an operation such as scrolling, and the additional data can be provided without significantly disturbing the user's content viewing. Further, when the additional data includes temporal synchronization information, the character string may be switched in synchronization with the reproduction of the content or may be displayed while changing the display color of the character string.

  FIG. 15 is an example of a display screen when the content is a moving image with sound. The moving image is displayed in the moving image display area 54 at the lower center of the screen. The display method of the metadata display area 53 and the additional data display area 55 is the same as when the content described with reference to FIG. 14 is music.

  As shown in FIG. 15, the metadata, the moving image, and the additional data may be displayed in separate display areas 53 to 55, respectively, but two or all of the metadata, the moving image, and the additional data are all included. May be displayed in the same display area overlapping with a format such as superimpose. Similarly, when the content is music, the metadata and the additional data may be displayed in one display area.

  Next, the playback unit 16 determines whether or not the playback of the content has ended (step S350). If the content reproduction has ended, the process ends. If not, the process proceeds to step S360. In step S360, the reproducing unit 16 determines whether or not the display of the additional data file selected in step S330 is finished. If not finished, the process returns to step S350 and the content reproduction is continued. If completed, the process returns to step S330 to select a new additional data file. As described above, at this time, control is performed so as not to repeatedly select the same additional data file. The above is the description of the content reproduction process.

  Next, the operation of the content reproduction apparatus 1A according to the present embodiment when additional data is acquired during reproduction will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the figure, the same processing steps as those in FIGS. 6 and 12 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  First, the control unit 17A reads content metadata stored in the content storage unit 10, creates a content list menu, and displays the content list menu on the display device 61 (step S400). Subsequently, the control unit 17 specifies the content ID of the content selected by the user, and notifies the search condition data creation unit 11A (step S410). Thereafter, after the processes of steps S120 to S190 shown in FIG. 6 are sequentially performed, the processes of steps S320 to S360 at the time of content reproduction shown in FIG. 12 are sequentially performed.

  With the above processing, it is possible to acquire additional data from the search server 2 or the information providing servers 31 to 3n at the time of content reproduction and display the additional data simultaneously with the reproduction of the content. In this example, new additional data is acquired every time the content is played back. Therefore, when the additional data provided by the search server 2 or the information providing servers 31 to 3n is changed, the content playback device 1A quickly reflects it. can do. It is also possible to display new information every time the content is reproduced, and the screen during the content reproduction can be very varied.

  As described above in detail, according to the content playback apparatus 1A of the present embodiment, an operation for inputting a keyword used for search, an operation for allowing a user to determine and select information to be displayed from a large list of search results, and acquisition A general search engine or search site that does not require the user to perform complicated operations such as determining and selecting a portion to be displayed from information, and searching for a place with useful information from many Web pages. Can be used to acquire information related to the content and automatically display the information (additional data) related to the content reproduction.

  Further, according to the content reproduction apparatus 1A of the present embodiment, the number of characters that can be displayed for each area extracted by analyzing the additional data, rather than displaying the entire additional data provided by the information providing servers 31 to 3n as they are. The degree of fitness is calculated according to the selection, and a predetermined number of areas are selected in order of higher fitness than the specified value or in order of higher fitness, so only information on the area suitable for display during content playback is automatically selected. When the plurality of additional data is acquired, the area extracted from them is continuously displayed, so even when the same content is reproduced, the displayed information and its order are easily changed. The effect is that the user is less tired.

  In addition, according to the content playback apparatus 1A of the present embodiment, when a plurality of additional data is acquired, the additional data acquired once for a certain content is not used as it is. Since a high-frequency area is selected and displayed, it is easy to increase variations in information to be displayed, and the effect that the user is not bored is obtained.

  With these features, according to the content playback apparatus 1A of the present embodiment, the screen display at the time of playback can be varied, so that even if the same content is viewed repeatedly, the user is less likely to get bored and the content or content The effect that it is easy to maintain the user's interest in the playback apparatus 1A is obtained.

(Second Embodiment)
The content reproduction apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention is used in the same system configuration as the content reproduction system shown in FIG. As in the first embodiment, the content in the present embodiment will be described as audio content with audio such as music content and music video.

  FIG. 17 shows a block diagram of a second embodiment of the content reproduction apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, the same components as those in FIG. A content playback device 1B according to the second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 17 corresponds to the content playback device 1 of FIG. 1, and includes a content storage unit 10 for storing content and search condition data transmitted to the search server 2. A search condition data creation unit 11B for creating data, a transmission / reception unit 12 for transmitting / receiving data between the search server 2 and the information providing servers 31 to 3n, a fitness calculation unit 13B, and a search received from the search server 2 Based on the results, the additional data acquisition unit 14 that acquires additional data from the information providing servers 31 to 3n, the additional data storage unit 15B that stores the acquired additional data, the playback unit 16 that reproduces the content, and the overall control of the device. The control unit 17B, the region selection unit 18B, and the keyword information storage unit 19 are configured. The keyword information storage unit 19 stores a keyword information table that associates a keyword pattern composed of one or more keywords used when creating search condition data and the priority of the keyword pattern.

  The content playback apparatus 1B includes an input device 60 such as a keyboard, a mouse, a remote controller, and a touch panel for receiving user operation instructions, and a display device 61 such as a display necessary for playing back content and additional data. A sound output device 62 such as a speaker is connected. The content reproduction apparatus 1B is a software that uses a general computer that includes a central processing unit (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a hard disk drive (HDD), and the like. The processing can be realized in the same manner as the content reproduction apparatus 1A.

  Similarly to the content playback apparatus 1A, the content playback apparatus 1B may acquire additional data prior to content playback, or may acquire additional data during content playback.

  First, the operation of the content reproduction apparatus 1B according to the present embodiment when additional data is acquired prior to content reproduction will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the figure, the same parts as those in the processing steps of FIG. Here, the additional data acquisition operation is started when the user performs a predetermined operation on the input device 60. In addition to this, it may be activated at an appropriate timing when the user is not reproducing the content, or may be activated at a predetermined time.

  Following the metadata reading process in step S120, the control unit 17B sets one type of additional data to be acquired as an initial value (step S121). As the types of additional data, “lyrics”, “blog”, “concert”, “hit chart”, “new score”, and the like are stored in the control unit 17B, and one of these is set as an initial value. . The types of additional data are not limited to these. In the present embodiment, processing is performed for all types of additional data stored, but it is also possible to allow the user to select the type of additional data to be acquired and process only that type.

  Subsequently, the control unit 17B sets initial values of parameters (search condition parameters) for controlling the search condition data creation unit 11B (step S122). The search condition parameter is a parameter that is held in the control unit 17B and can be referred to by the search condition data creation unit 11B, and corresponds to the priority of the keyword pattern as will be described later. As this initial value, a numerical value corresponding to the highest priority among the priorities stored in the keyword information storage unit 19 is used. In the present embodiment, the initial value of the search condition parameter is “1”.

  Next, the search condition data creation unit 11B reads the value of the search condition parameter set by the control unit 17B and refers to the keyword information table stored in the keyword information storage unit 19 while referring to the value of the search condition parameter. A keyword pattern having a priority corresponding to is selected as a keyword pattern to be used (step S123). The keyword pattern is composed of one or more keywords used for search.

  The keyword information storage unit 19 stores a keyword information table in which a plurality of priorities and keyword patterns are associated with each type of additional data in the format shown in FIG. The type of additional data in the keyword information table corresponds to the type of additional data stored in the control unit 17B. Each keyword pattern is described using words, logic symbols, and parentheses. Here, “∩” indicates a logical product (AND) operation, and “∪” indicates a logical ring (OR) operation.

  The keyword pattern is used to create one search condition data in combination with a word / phrase included in the metadata in the next step S131. Since metadata alone results in a huge number of search results and it is often difficult to narrow down appropriately, create a search condition by combining different keywords with metadata for each type of additional data that you want to obtain in this way. .

  In the example shown in FIG. 19, when the additional data type is “lyrics”, the keyword pattern with the priority “1” is “∩ (lyrics ∩ lyrics)” and the keyword pattern with the priority “2” is “ The keyword pattern with the priority “3” is “∩ (lyrics ∪ Lyrics)”. “Lyrics” means lyrics written in English. The highest priority is “1”, and the higher the number, the lower the priority. Each keyword pattern is associated with a priority starting from “1” and increasing by “1”.

  In general, a keyword pattern with a high priority has a narrow search condition, and a keyword pattern with a low priority has a wide search condition. For this reason, keyword patterns with high priority cannot easily obtain a sufficient number of search results (or no search results at all), instead of easily obtaining information highly relevant to content (information with high accuracy). ) The possibility is relatively high. Conversely, low-priority keyword patterns are relatively unlikely to yield a sufficient number of search results, but the search results include information that has low relevance to the content (information with low accuracy). The possibility increases.

  For example, when a keyword pattern with a priority “1” is used, a search result that meets the conditions may be obtained when a keyword pattern with a priority “2” is used, even if no search result is obtained. is there. In this way, by switching the keyword pattern according to the priority, it is possible to obtain a necessary search result without unnecessarily increasing the number of searches, so that efficient processing becomes possible.

  In addition, since the priority in this embodiment is set in consideration of the meaning and usage of each keyword, it is more efficient and accurate than simply repeating the search process by increasing or decreasing the number of items used for the search. High processing is possible. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 19, the number of items used in the keyword pattern with the priority “1” is two, “lyrics” and “lyrics”. Similarly, the number of items used in the keyword pattern with the priority “2” is two (“lyrics” and “search”). The former is based on an empirical rule that the additional data (Web page) including both “lyrics” and “lyrics” is likely to be the lyrics of the music, while the latter is not as probable as the former. The additional data including both “lyrics” and “search” is based on an empirical rule that the lyrics of the music have a certain probability.

  In addition, the latter tends to have more search results than the former. In other words, when the keyword pattern with the priority “1” is used, the probability that the lyrics of the music being played is directly obtained is relatively high. On the other hand, using the keyword pattern with the priority “2” has a relatively high probability of obtaining some search result. Therefore, first, the keyword pattern with the priority “1” is tried, and if the search result is not obtained, the search process is performed using the keyword pattern with the priority “2”. it can. As described above, in the present embodiment, not only the number of items used in the search and the combination of logical product and logical sum but also the priority of the keyword is taken into consideration and the general usage tendency on the network. Therefore, efficient and highly accurate processing is possible. Note that the relationship between the priority and the search pattern is not limited to the regularity as described above.

  Next, the search condition data creation unit 11B creates specific search condition data by combining the metadata read in step S120 and the keyword pattern selected in step S123 (step S131). For example, when the read metadata is “artist name = CoolA”, “album name = WarmB”, “song name = HotC”, and the keyword pattern “∩ (lyrics 作 lyrics)” is selected in step S123, “ Search condition data such as “CoolA ∩ WarmB ∩ HotC ∩ (lyrics 作 lyrics)” is created. Here, the search condition data is created by combining the artist name, album name, and song name under the AND condition. However, the search condition data is not limited to this combination, and other types of metadata combinations may be used.

  Subsequently, the same processing of step S140 to step S180 as in FIG. 6 is performed. In step S180, the same processing as in the first embodiment may be performed, but the degree of fitness may be calculated using the keyword included in the keyword pattern selected in step S123. For example, the fitness may be calculated so that the fitness of an area including the keyword is larger than the fitness of an area where the keyword is not included under the same other conditions. Further, for the purpose of giving the user surprise or surprise when viewing the additional data, the degree of matching of the area including the keyword may be calculated to be smaller so that the area including the keyword is not easily displayed. After processing step S180, the region selection unit 18B determines and selects whether or not the region is suitable for display during content playback based on the suitability of each region of the additional data extracted in step S180. Further, an additional data file is created for each selected area, and stored in the additional data storage unit 15B in association with the content ID (step S191). The processing in step S191 by the region selection unit 18B is substantially the same as the processing in step S190 by the region selection unit 18A shown in FIG. 6, but the format of the additional data management table stored in the additional data storage unit 15B is different.

  That is, the format of the additional data management table stored in the additional data storage unit 15B is different from that of the additional data management table of the additional data storage unit 15A shown in FIG. The type of the added data is also stored in the additional data management table.

  Next, the control unit 17B determines whether or not the number of regions selected in step S191 is equal to or greater than a predetermined number (step S201). When the number of selected areas is less than the predetermined number, it is determined that the display of the additional data is finished immediately during the content reproduction, and the process proceeds to step S230 to determine whether or not the type of the additional data can be changed. On the other hand, when the number of selected areas is equal to or greater than the predetermined number, it is determined that the data is additional data whose display time continues during content reproduction, and the process proceeds to step S210.

  In step S210, the control unit 17B determines whether or not the value of the search condition parameter can be changed while referring to the keyword information table stored in the keyword information storage unit 19. The control unit 17B changes the value of the search condition parameter within the range supported by the search condition data creation unit 11B. If there is a search condition parameter value that has not been used for the currently set additional data type, it is determined that the search condition parameter can be changed, and the process proceeds to step S220. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S230.

  In step S220, the control unit 17B changes the value of the search condition parameter to a value of the search condition parameter that is not used. For example, when using the values of the search condition parameter in ascending order, the value may be set to “1” larger than the currently set value. After the process of step S220 is completed, the process returns to the keyword pattern selection process used in step S123.

  When the number of selected areas is less than the predetermined number or the value of the search condition parameter cannot be changed, the control unit 17B determines whether or not the type of additional data can be changed (step S230). If it can be changed, the process proceeds to step S240, and the control unit 17B sets a new type of additional data. If it cannot be changed, the process proceeds to step S250. After the process of step S240 is completed, the process proceeds to a search condition parameter initial value setting process of step S122.

  On the other hand, in step S250, the control unit 17B determines whether all the content ID sets created in step S100 have been processed. If all the content IDs have been processed, all the processes are terminated. If not, the process returns to step S110 to continue the process. This completes the description of the operation when additional data is acquired prior to content playback.

  The content reproduction operation of the content reproduction device 1B of the present embodiment is the same as the reproduction operation of the content reproduction device 1A described with the flowchart of FIG. However, a specific type of additional data may be displayed using the additional data type stored in the additional data management table of the additional data storage unit 15B.

  Next, the operation of the content reproduction apparatus 1B according to the present embodiment when additional data is acquired during reproduction will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the figure, the same processing steps as those in FIGS. 16 and 18 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted. As shown in FIG. 21, in the present embodiment, the number of selected areas determined in step S201 is a predetermined number or more, or the value of the search condition parameter determined in step S210 is not changeable. When the condition and the second condition that the type of additional data determined in step S230 cannot be changed are satisfied at the same time, the same processing as steps S320 to S360 shown in FIG. 16 is performed instead of the processing of step S250. .

  Compared to the content playback apparatus 1A, the content playback apparatus 1B of the present embodiment further prepares a keyword information table in which a plurality of keyword patterns are defined in the keyword information storage unit 19, and further includes keywords in addition to the phrases included in the metadata. Since the search condition data is created by adding, more appropriate search results can be easily obtained. Also, according to the content playback apparatus 1B of the present embodiment, a plurality of keyword patterns composed of one or more keywords are prepared, and the necessary search results are obtained while changing the keyword pattern to be used according to the priority of the keyword pattern. Since the search is repeated until it is obtained, the search accuracy is improved as compared with the search using only the words included in the metadata. In addition, since the keyword pattern is selected according to the priority, an efficient search that balances the search accuracy and the processing time is possible.

  Furthermore, according to the content reproduction apparatus 1B of the present embodiment, when the number of selected areas is less than the predetermined number and sufficient search results cannot be obtained, feedback is performed to the search condition data creation unit 11B. , According to the priority of the keyword set in consideration of the meaning and usage of the keyword pattern, the search condition data is created and the search is executed while switching the keyword pattern to be used. It is possible to acquire a lot of additional data.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 22 shows an overall configuration diagram of a content reproduction system including the content reproduction apparatus 1C according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same components as those in FIG. This content playback system is different from the content playback system shown in FIG. 1 in that there are 21 to 2m search servers (m is a natural number of 2 or more). Similar to the content system shown in FIG. 1, the search servers 21 to 2m may have the functions of the information providing servers 31 to 3n.

  FIG. 23 shows a block diagram of a third embodiment of the content reproduction apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, the same components as those in FIG. 17 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted. A content playback apparatus 1C according to the third embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 23 includes a content storage unit 10 for storing content and a search condition data creation unit 11C for creating search condition data to be transmitted to the search servers 21 to 2m. Information is provided based on the search results received from the transmission / reception unit 12 for transmitting / receiving data to / from the search servers 21 to 2m and the information providing servers 31 to 3n, the fitness calculation unit 13B, and the search servers 21 to 2m. An additional data acquisition unit 14 that acquires additional data from the servers 31 to 3n, an additional data storage unit 15B that stores the acquired additional data, a playback unit 16 that plays back content, and a control unit 17C that controls the entire apparatus. The area selection unit 18B stores a server information table that associates the type, priority, and connection information of additional data to be acquired. It is composed of a chromatography server data storage unit 20.

  Similarly to the content playback devices 1A and 1B, an input device 60, a display device 61, and an audio output device 62 are connected to the content playback device 1C. The content playback apparatus 1C is a software that uses a general computer including a central processing unit (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a hard disk drive (HDD), and the like. The processing can be realized in the same manner as the content reproduction apparatuses 1A and 1B.

  Similar to the content playback devices 1A and 1B, the content playback device 1C may acquire additional data prior to content playback, or may acquire additional data during content playback.

  First, the operation of the content reproduction apparatus 1C according to the present embodiment when additional data is acquired prior to content reproduction will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the figure, the same processing steps as those in FIGS. 6 and 18 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted. Hereinafter, the operations of the control unit 17C and the server information storage unit 20 will be mainly described. Here, the additional data acquisition operation is started when the user performs a predetermined operation on the input device 60. In addition to this, it may be activated at an appropriate timing when the user is not reproducing the content, or may be activated at a predetermined time.

  The controller 17C sets initial values of parameters (server selection parameters) following the processing of steps S100 to S121 (step S125). This server selection parameter is held in the control unit 17C and is used to select a search server to be used from among the plurality of search servers 21 to 2m. In the present embodiment, the initial value of the server selection parameter is “1”.

  Subsequently, the search condition data creation unit 11C creates search condition data using the metadata read from the content storage unit 10 in step S120 (step S130). This is the same as step S130 of FIG. 6 performed by the search condition data creation unit 11A, but the search condition data creation unit 11C is different from the search condition data creation unit 11A and transmits search conditions to m search servers 21 to 2m. Create data.

  Next, the control unit 17C refers to the server information table stored in the server information storage unit 20, and sets the “additional data type” and “priority” of the server information table in the control unit 17C. It selects as a search server that uses the search server for the connection information of the entry that matches the “additional data type” and “server selection parameter” (step S135).

  In the server information storage unit 20, the information of the plurality of search servers 21 to 2m is a server information table in a format in which the type of additional data to be acquired, the priority, and the connection information are associated as shown in FIG. Stored. The priority shown in FIG. 25 has the meaning that a search server with a lower priority is used earlier, like the priority in the second embodiment. As connection information shown in FIG. 25, URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) of connection destinations of the search servers 21 to 2m, parameters used for connection, and the like are recorded.

  Subsequently, the control unit 17C instructs the transmission / reception unit 12 to transmit the search condition data created in step S130 to the connection destination search server read in step S135 (step S141).

  Thereafter, through the processing of steps S150, S160, S170, S180, S191, and S201 described above, the control 17C can change the value of the server selection parameter while referring to the server information table stored in the server information storage unit 20. It is determined whether or not (step S211). If there is a server selection parameter value that is not yet used for the currently set additional data type, the control unit 17C determines that it can be changed, and proceeds to step S221. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S230.

  In step S221, the control unit 17C changes the value of the server selection parameter to the value of the server selection parameter that is not used. For example, when using the values of the server selection parameters in ascending order, they may be set to a value “1” larger than the currently set value. After the process of step S221 is completed, the process returns to the search server selection process used in step S135.

  When the number of selected areas is less than the predetermined number or the value of the server selection parameter is not changeable, the control unit 17C determines whether or not the type of additional data can be changed (step S230). If it can be changed, the process proceeds to step S240, and the control unit 17C sets a new type of additional data. If it cannot be changed, the process proceeds to step S250. After the process of step S240 is completed, the process proceeds to the server selection parameter initial value setting process of step S125.

  On the other hand, in step S250, the control unit 17C determines whether all the content ID sets created in step S100 have been processed. If all the content IDs have been processed, all the processes are terminated. If not, the process returns to step S110 to continue the process. The above is the description of the operation of the content reproduction apparatus 1C when additional data is acquired prior to content reproduction.

  The content playback operation of the content playback device 1C is the same as the content playback operation of the content playback device 1B.

  Next, the operation of the content reproduction apparatus 1C according to the present embodiment when additional data is acquired during reproduction will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the figure, the same processing steps as those in FIGS. 21 and 24 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 26, in the present embodiment, the number of selection areas determined in step S201 is a predetermined number or more, or the value of the server selection parameter determined in step S211 is not changeable. When the condition and the second condition that the type of additional data determined in step S230 cannot be changed are satisfied at the same time, the same processing as steps S320 to S360 shown in FIG. 21 is performed instead of the processing of step S250. .

  The content playback apparatus 1C according to the present embodiment further prepares a server information table in which a plurality of server information is defined in the server information storage unit 20 as compared with the content playback apparatus 1A, and according to the type of additional data to be acquired, Since connection information to an appropriate search server is stored, a more appropriate search result can be easily obtained.

  In addition, according to the content reproduction apparatus 1C of the present embodiment, search processing is performed by switching a plurality of search servers, so that more various additional information can be obtained and the response is poor due to an increase in server load. Even if there is a server, additional information can be obtained using another search server.

  In addition, according to the content playback apparatus 1C of the present embodiment, new additional information can be acquired at an appropriate frequency, and a plurality of additional information can be combined and displayed during playback. Therefore, it is possible to increase the user's interest in the content and the content reproduction apparatus.

  Furthermore, according to the content reproduction apparatus 1C of the present embodiment, when sufficient search results cannot be obtained, the search is repeatedly performed while switching the search server according to the priority. Additional data can be acquired, and variations of the additional data can be easily increased.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. The additional data is obtained by combining the second embodiment and the third embodiment and using a plurality of keyword patterns and a plurality of search servers. May be obtained.

  Further, the present invention includes a content reproduction method for realizing the operations of the content reproduction apparatuses 1A to 1C according to the above-described embodiments, and each operation (content reproduction method) of the content reproduction apparatuses 1A to 1C by software is performed on a computer. The content reproduction program to be executed is also included. In this case, the content reproduction program may be taken into the computer from the recording medium, or may be delivered via the communication network and taken into the computer.

  The content playback device, content playback method, and content playback program according to the present invention can be applied to an audio playback device, a video playback device, a music playback program, a multimedia playback program, and the like.

1, 1A, 1B, 1C Content playback device 2, 21-2m Search server
3, 31 to 3n Information providing server 4 Network 10 Content storage unit 11A, 11B, 11C Search condition data creation unit 12 Transmission / reception unit 13A, 13B Conformity calculation unit 14 Additional data acquisition unit 15A, 15B Additional data storage unit 16 Playback unit 17A , 17B, 17C Control unit 18A, 18B, 18C Area selection unit 19 Keyword information storage unit 20 Server information storage unit 60 Input device 61 Display device 62 Audio output device

Claims (14)

Access to the information providing server for transmitting additional data, which is structured text using tags, in which information related to content is described as a search result in response to a search condition, or to acquire the additional data A transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving information via a network between a search server for transmitting information and the information providing server;
Content storage means for associating and storing content and its metadata;
Search condition creating means for creating a search condition based on metadata related to one content stored in the content storage means;
The created search condition is transmitted to the search server via the transmission / reception means, the search result based on the search condition is received from the search server via the transmission / reception means, and the additional data is acquired, When the received search result is the access information, additional data acquisition means for further accessing the information providing server indicated by the access information and acquiring the additional data from the information providing server;
Each of the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition unit is analyzed, and a predetermined combination pattern is formed by a second predetermined tag other than the region forming tag and a region forming tag that is a first predetermined tag. As a data, a region surrounded by the region formation data is extracted, and when two adjacent regions among the extracted regions are adjacent to each other via a predetermined combination pattern based on the region formation data, a predetermined value based on the region formation data is obtained. A degree-of-fit calculation means for performing a merging process for combining the two adjacent areas including the combination pattern as one area, and calculating a degree of matching according to the number of characters that can be displayed for each of the areas after the merging process; ,
A region selecting means for selecting, from among the acquired additional data, a region where the fitness is higher than a predetermined value or a number of regions not exceeding a predetermined number in order of the fitness;
Reproduction means for reproducing the one content in association with information included in the area selected by the area selection means;
A content playback apparatus comprising: Access to the information providing server for transmitting additional data, which is structured text using tags, in which information related to content is described as a search result in response to a search condition, or to acquire the additional data A transmission / reception means for transmitting / receiving information via a network between a search server for transmitting information and the information providing server;
Content storage means for associating and storing content and its metadata;
A keyword information storage means for storing a plurality of keyword patterns composed of one or more keywords to be used for search and the respective priorities of the plurality of keyword patterns in association with each other;
A keyword pattern is selected from the plurality of keyword patterns according to the priority, and a search is performed using metadata corresponding to one content stored in the content storage unit and the selected one keyword pattern. A search condition creating means for creating a condition;
The created search condition is transmitted to the search server via the transmission / reception means, the search result based on the search condition is received from the search server via the transmission / reception means, and the additional data is acquired, When the received search result is the access information, additional data acquisition means for further accessing the information providing server indicated by the access information and acquiring the additional data from the information providing server;
Each of the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition unit is analyzed, and a predetermined combination pattern is formed by a second predetermined tag other than the region forming tag and a region forming tag that is a first predetermined tag. As a data, a region surrounded by the region formation data is extracted, and when two adjacent regions among the extracted regions are adjacent to each other via a predetermined combination pattern based on the region formation data, a predetermined value based on the region formation data is obtained. A degree-of-fit calculation means for performing a merging process for combining the two adjacent areas including the combination pattern as one area, and calculating a degree of matching according to the number of characters that can be displayed for each of the areas after the merging process; ,
From the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition means, the region having the fitness level higher than a predetermined value or the number of regions not exceeding the predetermined number in order of the fitness level is selected, and the selected region is If the predetermined number is not reached, the search condition creating means newly selects a keyword pattern having the next highest priority after the one keyword pattern, and sets the newly selected keyword pattern and the one content. A region selection unit that causes a new search condition to be created by the search condition creation unit using corresponding metadata, and causes the additional data acquisition unit to acquire additional data corresponding to the new search condition;
Reproduction means for reproducing the one content in association with information included in the area selected by the area selection means;
A content playback apparatus comprising: Access to the information providing server for transmitting additional data, which is structured text using tags, in which information related to content is described as a search result in response to a search condition, or to acquire the additional data A plurality of search servers for transmitting information, and transmission / reception means for performing transmission / reception via the network with the information providing server;
Content storage means for associating and storing content and its metadata;
Server information storage means for storing the plurality of search servers in association with priorities;
Search condition creating means for creating a search condition based on metadata related to one content stored in the content storage means;
According to the priority read from the server information storage means, one search server is selected from the plurality of search servers, and the search condition created by the search condition creation means is added to the selected search server. Transmitting via the transmission / reception means, receiving the search result based on the search condition from the one search server via the transmission / reception means to acquire the additional data, and the received search result is the access information In some cases, additional data acquisition means for accessing the information providing server indicated by the access information and acquiring the additional data from the information providing server;
Each of the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition unit is analyzed, and a predetermined combination pattern is formed by a second predetermined tag other than the region forming tag and a region forming tag that is a first predetermined tag. As a data, a region surrounded by the region formation data is extracted, and when two adjacent regions among the extracted regions are adjacent to each other via a predetermined combination pattern based on the region formation data, a predetermined value based on the region formation data is obtained. A degree-of-fit calculation means for performing a merging process for combining the two adjacent areas including the combination pattern as one area, and calculating a degree of matching according to the number of characters that can be displayed for each of the areas after the merging process; ,
From the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition means, the region having the fitness level higher than a predetermined value or the number of regions not exceeding the predetermined number in order of the fitness level is selected, and the selected region is When the predetermined number is not reached, the additional data acquisition unit selects the search server having the second highest priority after the one search server, and receives the search result from the search server via the transmission / reception unit. Area selection means for acquiring new additional data;
Reproduction means for reproducing the one content in association with information included in the area selected by the area selection means;
A content playback apparatus comprising:   When the third predetermined tag is included in the area after the merging process, the fitness level calculating unit calculates the fitness level of the area to be a larger value. The content reproduction apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   The fitness calculation means calculates the fitness according to the number of displayable characters included in the area after the merging process and the type of area formation data surrounding the area after the merging process. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content reproduction apparatus is a content reproduction apparatus. The content storage means stores the playback time of the content as the metadata,
The fitness calculation means sets the fitness to a maximum value when the number of characters that can be displayed in the area after the merging process is a predetermined value set based on the reproduction time, and the number of characters that can be displayed in the area is 6. The content reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the difference is other than the predetermined value, the fitness is calculated as a smaller value as the difference from the predetermined value becomes larger. The content storage means stores the playback time of the content as the metadata,
The region selection means is configured to select a region whose fitness is higher than a predetermined value set according to the playback time, or a predetermined number of regions set to a larger value as the playback time is longer in descending order of the fitness. 7. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content reproduction apparatus is selected. In addition to the content stored in the content storage means, additional data storage means for storing the area data of the area selected by the area selection means and the acquisition date and time when the area was acquired,
The search condition creating means preferentially selects content that does not have the information in the additional data storage means and content whose acquisition date and time is older than a predetermined date and time among the contents stored in the content storage means. Select as
The area selection means updates the additional data storage means every time the area is selected,
The reproduction means reads the content from the content storage means, reads the area data corresponding to the content from the additional data storage means, and reproduces them in association with each other.
The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content reproduction apparatus is a content reproduction apparatus. A search condition creation step for creating a search condition based on metadata related to one content read from the content storage means storing the content and its metadata in association with each other;
A transmission / reception step of transmitting the created search condition to a search server via a transmission / reception unit, and receiving a search result based on the search condition from the search server via the transmission / reception unit;
Providing information for acquiring additional data, which is structured text using tags, in which information related to content is described from the search result received in the transmission / reception step, and for acquiring the additional data using the received search result In the case of access information to a server, the additional data acquisition step of further accessing the information providing server indicated by the access information and acquiring the additional data from the information providing server;
Each of the additional data acquired in the additional data acquisition step is analyzed, and a predetermined combination pattern is formed by a second predetermined tag other than the first predetermined tag and the second predetermined tag. As a data, a region surrounded by the region formation data is extracted, and when two adjacent regions among the extracted regions are adjacent to each other via a predetermined combination pattern based on the region formation data, a predetermined value based on the region formation data is obtained. A degree-of-fit calculation step of performing a merging process for combining the two adjacent areas including the combination pattern as one area, and calculating a degree of matching according to the number of characters that can be displayed for each of the areas after the merging process; ,
A region selection step of selecting, from the acquired additional data, a region where the fitness is higher than a predetermined value or a number of regions not exceeding a predetermined number in order of the fitness.
A reproduction step of associating and reproducing the one content and the information included in the area selected in the area selection step;
A content reproduction method comprising: The plurality according to the priority read from the keyword information storage means that stores a plurality of keyword patterns composed of one or more keywords for use in search and the respective priorities of the plurality of keyword patterns in association with each other. The one keyword pattern is selected from among the keyword patterns, and the metadata corresponding to the one content read from the content storage means storing the content and its metadata in association with each other and the selected one keyword pattern A search condition creation step for creating a search condition using and
A transmission / reception step of transmitting the created search condition to a search server via a transmission / reception unit, and receiving a search result based on the search condition from the search server via the transmission / reception unit;
Providing information for acquiring additional data, which is structured text using tags, in which information related to content is described from the search result received in the transmission / reception step, and for acquiring the additional data using the received search result In the case of access information to a server, the additional data acquisition step of further accessing the information providing server indicated by the access information and acquiring the additional data from the information providing server;
Each of the additional data acquired in the additional data acquisition step is analyzed, and a predetermined combination pattern is formed by a second predetermined tag other than the first predetermined tag and the second predetermined tag. As a data, a region surrounded by the region formation data is extracted, and when two adjacent regions among the extracted regions are adjacent to each other via a predetermined combination pattern based on the region formation data, a predetermined value based on the region formation data is obtained. A degree-of-fit calculation step of performing a merging process for combining the two adjacent areas including the combination pattern as one area, and calculating a degree of matching according to the number of characters that can be displayed for each of the areas after the merging process; ,
From the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition step, select a region where the fitness is higher than a predetermined value or a number of regions not exceeding a predetermined number in order of the fitness, and the selected region is When the predetermined number is not reached, the keyword pattern having the next highest priority is selected next to the one keyword pattern, and the newly selected keyword pattern and the metadata corresponding to the one content are selected. A region selection step of creating a new search condition using the new search condition and acquiring additional data corresponding to the new search condition;
A reproduction step of associating and reproducing the one content and the information included in the area selected in the area selection step;
A content reproduction method comprising: A search condition creation step for creating a search condition based on metadata related to one content read from the content storage means storing the content and its metadata in association with each other;
One search server is selected from the plurality of search servers according to the priority read from the server information storage means storing the plurality of search servers in association with the priorities, and the selected one search server is selected. Transmitting / receiving the search condition created by the search condition creating step via the transmission / reception means, and receiving a search result based on the search condition from the one search server via the transmission / reception means; ,
Information for acquiring additional data that is structured text using a tag in which information related to content is described from the search result received in the transmission / reception step, and the received search result acquires the additional data In the case of access information to a providing server, an additional data acquisition step of further accessing the information providing server indicated by the access information and acquiring the additional data from the information providing server;
Each of the additional data acquired in the additional data acquisition step is analyzed, and a predetermined combination pattern is formed by a second predetermined tag other than the first predetermined tag and the second predetermined tag. As a data, a region surrounded by the region formation data is extracted, and when two adjacent regions among the extracted regions are adjacent to each other via a predetermined combination pattern based on the region formation data, a predetermined value based on the region formation data is obtained. A degree-of-fit calculation step of performing a merging process for combining the two adjacent areas including the combination pattern as one area, and calculating a degree of matching according to the number of characters that can be displayed for each of the areas after the merging process; ,
From the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition step, select a region where the fitness is higher than a predetermined value or a number of regions not exceeding a predetermined number in order of the fitness, and the selected region is If the predetermined number is not reached, a search server having the second highest priority after the one search server is selected, a search result is received from the search server, and new additional data is acquired; and
A reproduction step of associating and reproducing the one content and the information included in the area selected in the area selection step;
A content reproduction method comprising: On the computer,
A search condition creation step for creating a search condition based on metadata related to one content read from the content storage means storing the content and its metadata in association with each other;
A transmission / reception step of transmitting the created search condition to a search server via a transmission / reception unit, and receiving a search result based on the search condition from the search server via the transmission / reception unit;
Providing information for acquiring additional data, which is structured text using tags, in which information related to content is described from the search result received in the transmission / reception step, and for acquiring the additional data using the received search result In the case of access information to a server, the additional data acquisition step of further accessing the information providing server indicated by the access information and acquiring the additional data from the information providing server;
Each of the additional data acquired in the additional data acquisition step is analyzed, and a predetermined combination pattern is formed by a second predetermined tag other than the first predetermined tag and the second predetermined tag. As a data, a region surrounded by the region formation data is extracted, and when two adjacent regions among the extracted regions are adjacent to each other via a predetermined combination pattern based on the region formation data, a predetermined value based on the region formation data is obtained. A degree-of-fit calculation step of performing a merging process for combining the two adjacent areas including the combination pattern as one area, and calculating a degree of matching according to the number of characters that can be displayed for each of the areas after the merging process; ,
A region selection step of selecting, from the acquired additional data, a region where the fitness is higher than a predetermined value or a number of regions not exceeding a predetermined number in order of the fitness.
A reproduction step of associating and reproducing the one content and the information included in the area selected in the area selection step;
A content reproduction program characterized in that On the computer,
The plurality according to the priority read from the keyword information storage means that stores a plurality of keyword patterns composed of one or more keywords for use in search and the respective priorities of the plurality of keyword patterns in association with each other. The one keyword pattern is selected from among the keyword patterns, and the metadata corresponding to the one content read from the content storage means storing the content and its metadata in association with each other and the selected one keyword pattern A search condition creation step for creating a search condition using and
A transmission / reception step of transmitting the created search condition to a search server via a transmission / reception unit, and receiving a search result based on the search condition from the search server via the transmission / reception unit;
Providing information for acquiring additional data, which is structured text using tags, in which information related to content is described from the search result received in the transmission / reception step, and for acquiring the additional data using the received search result In the case of access information to a server, the additional data acquisition step of further accessing the information providing server indicated by the access information and acquiring the additional data from the information providing server;
Each of the additional data acquired in the additional data acquisition step is analyzed, and a predetermined combination pattern is formed by a second predetermined tag other than the first predetermined tag and the second predetermined tag. As a data, a region surrounded by the region formation data is extracted, and when two adjacent regions among the extracted regions are adjacent to each other via a predetermined combination pattern based on the region formation data, a predetermined value based on the region formation data is obtained. A degree-of-fit calculation step of performing a merging process for combining the two adjacent areas including the combination pattern as one area, and calculating a degree of matching according to the number of characters that can be displayed for each of the areas after the merging process; ,
From the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition step, select a region where the fitness is higher than a predetermined value or a number of regions not exceeding a predetermined number in order of the fitness, and the selected region is When the predetermined number is not reached, the keyword pattern having the next highest priority is selected next to the one keyword pattern, and the newly selected keyword pattern and the metadata corresponding to the one content are selected. A region selection step of creating a new search condition using the new search condition and acquiring additional data corresponding to the new search condition;
A reproduction step of associating and reproducing the one content and the information included in the area selected in the area selection step;
A content reproduction program characterized in that On the computer,
A search condition creation step for creating a search condition based on metadata related to one content read from the content storage means storing the content and its metadata in association with each other;
One search server is selected from the plurality of search servers according to the priority read from the server information storage means storing the plurality of search servers in association with the priorities, and the selected one search server is selected. Transmitting / receiving the search condition created by the search condition creating step via the transmission / reception means, and receiving a search result based on the search condition from the one search server via the transmission / reception means; ,
Information for acquiring additional data that is structured text using a tag in which information related to content is described from the search result received in the transmission / reception step, and the received search result acquires the additional data In the case of access information to a providing server, an additional data acquisition step of further accessing the information providing server indicated by the access information and acquiring the additional data from the information providing server;
Each of the additional data acquired in the additional data acquisition step is analyzed, and a predetermined combination pattern is formed by a second predetermined tag other than the first predetermined tag and the second predetermined tag. As a data, a region surrounded by the region formation data is extracted, and when two adjacent regions among the extracted regions are adjacent to each other via a predetermined combination pattern based on the region formation data, a predetermined value based on the region formation data is obtained. A degree-of-fit calculation step of performing a merging process for combining the two adjacent areas including the combination pattern as one area, and calculating a degree of matching according to the number of characters that can be displayed for each of the areas after the merging process; ,
From the additional data acquired by the additional data acquisition step, select a region where the fitness is higher than a predetermined value or a number of regions not exceeding a predetermined number in order of the fitness, and the selected region is If the predetermined number is not reached, a search server having the second highest priority after the one search server is selected, a search result is received from the search server, and new additional data is acquired; and
A reproduction step of associating and reproducing the one content and the information included in the area selected in the area selection step;
A content reproduction program characterized in that

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