JP5811896B2 - Content management apparatus, content management method, and content management program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a content management apparatus and the like.

  In recent years, there are services that share and use content such as photos and videos created by users among good friends and family. With the help of the spread of smartphones and the like, the user can always upload the content that he / she has taken and can view the content of friends.

  FIG. 22 is a diagram for explaining a conventional system for sharing content. The system shown in FIG. 22 includes a server 10 and terminals 20a and 20b. The server 10 and the terminals 20a and 20b are connected to each other via the network 30. The server 10 and the terminals 20a and 20b have storages 11, 21a and 21b for storing contents, respectively.

  Here, a case where the terminal 20a accesses content stored in the storage 21b of the terminal 20b will be described. For example, the following two techniques can be raised for the process of accessing content.

  The first technique will be described. The terminal 20b uploads the contents stored in the storage 21b collectively to the server 10, and stores the contents in the storage 11 of the server 10. And the terminal 20a acquires the content of the terminal 20b by accessing the content memorize | stored in the storage 11 of the server 10. FIG.

  The second technique will be described. The storage 21 of the terminal 20b operates as NAS (Network Attached Storage). The terminal 20a accesses the storage 20b of the terminal 20b via the server 10 and acquires content.

JP 2005-346494 A

  However, the above-described conventional technology has a problem that the content cannot be efficiently shared.

  For example, in the first technique, content is updated at a time, so that the line is compressed and the load on the terminal increases. For this reason, the processing of the terminal being uploaded becomes slow, and it is difficult to comfortably execute other processes using the terminal. Further, when the terminal to be updated is battery-powered, power is consumed greatly.

  In the second technique, if the accessed line is poor, the line is compressed when the access is concentrated. In general, the second technique also has a drawback that the access speed is slower than the first technique.

  The disclosed technology has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a content management apparatus, a content management method, and a content management program capable of efficiently sharing content.

  The disclosed content management apparatus includes an information acquisition unit, a priority determination unit, and a content transmission / reception unit. The information acquisition unit acquires user information in which the position of the terminal and the time when the position of the terminal is measured are associated with each other from the plurality of terminals. In addition, the information acquisition unit acquires, from the terminal, meta information in which the type of content, the time when the content is acquired, and the position of the terminal at the time when the content is acquired are associated with each other. The priority determination unit groups terminals included in a predetermined distance threshold at different times based on a plurality of user information and meta information, and sets the group and content type that have the smallest distance in the same time zone. Associate. Further, the priority determination unit determines the priority for each content type based on the number of terminals included in the group corresponding to the content type. The content transmission / reception unit receives content from the terminal based on the determination result of the priority determination unit, and transmits the received content to another terminal.

  According to the disclosed content management apparatus, there is an effect that the content can be efficiently shared.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating the configuration of the terminal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the device information. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of user information. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of meta information. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of content information. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the upload registration information. FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram illustrating the configuration of the content management apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the user information table. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the temporary table. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of processing for grouping. FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining processing for determining priority. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a priority determination result. FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the processing procedure of the content management apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the priority determination processing. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of temporary table estimation processing. FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of upload determination processing. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the system according to the second embodiment. FIG. 19 is a functional block diagram of the configuration of the content management apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating the processing procedure of the content management apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a computer that executes a content management program. FIG. 22 is a diagram for explaining a conventional system for sharing content.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a content management device, a content management method, and a content management program disclosed in the present application will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

  A configuration of the system according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the system according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, this system includes terminals 100a, 100b, 100c, 100d, and 100e, and a content management apparatus 200. In the following description, terminals 100a to 100e are collectively expressed as terminal 100 as appropriate. The terminal 100 and the content management apparatus 200 are connected to each other via the network 30. Note that the terminal 100 may connect to the network 30 by performing wireless communication with the base station.

  The terminal 100 accesses the content management apparatus 200 and acquires content. Further, the terminal 100 uploads the corresponding content to the content management apparatus 200 in response to a request from the content management apparatus 200. Details of the terminal 100 will be described later.

  The content management apparatus 200 is a server that enables content sharing among the terminals 100 by acquiring content from a certain terminal and transmitting the content to other terminals. When sharing the content, the content management apparatus 200 calculates the priority of the content according to the number of peripheral terminals at the time when the terminal acquires the content, and uploads the content in order from the highest priority content. Details of the content management apparatus 200 will be described later.

  Next, the configuration of terminal 100 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating the configuration of the terminal according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the terminal 100 includes a power supply monitoring unit 101, a line monitoring unit 102, a processing load monitoring unit 103, a timer 104, a position information acquisition unit 105, and a communication unit 106. In addition, the terminal 100 includes a storage unit 150, a device information acquisition unit 161, a user information acquisition unit 162, a content management unit 164, a response unit 165, and a request unit 166. Although not shown, the terminal 100 has an input unit for a user to input information and a display unit for referring to the content.

  The power supply monitoring unit 101 monitors a power supply unit (not shown) and determines whether or not a power supply is connected. In addition, the power monitoring unit 101 monitors the battery and identifies the remaining battery level. The power supply monitoring unit 101 outputs information about whether or not a power supply is connected and information on the remaining battery level to the device information acquisition unit 161.

  The line monitoring unit 102 monitors the line load of the line used by the terminal 100. For example, the line used by the terminal 100 may be a line between the terminal 100 and the base station, or may be a line between the terminal 100 and the content management apparatus 200. The line monitoring unit 102 outputs line load information to the device information acquisition unit 161.

  The processing load monitoring unit 103 monitors the processing load of the terminal 100. For example, the processing load monitoring unit 103 monitors a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown) and other processing units to determine the processing load of the terminal 100. The processing load monitoring unit 103 outputs processing load information to the device information acquisition unit 161.

  The timer 104 is a timer that outputs time information to the device information acquisition unit 161, the user information acquisition unit 162, and the content management unit 164.

  The position information acquisition unit 105 measures the position information of the terminal 100 using GPS (Global Positioning System). The position information acquisition unit 105 outputs the position information to the user information acquisition unit 162 and the content management unit 164.

  The communication unit 106 performs data communication with the content management apparatus 200 via the network 30. The communication unit 106 may perform wireless communication and connect to the network 30 via a base station. For example, the communication unit 106 corresponds to a communication device that performs communication using a predetermined communication protocol.

  The storage unit 150 is a storage device that stores device information 150a, user information 150b, meta information 150c, content information 150d, and upload registration information 150e. The storage unit 150 corresponds to, for example, a semiconductor memory device such as a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), and a flash memory, or a storage device such as a hard disk or an optical disk.

  The device information 150a includes information regarding the power supply information of the terminal 100, the load of the line to which the terminal 100 is connected, and the processing load of the terminal 100. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the device information. As shown in FIG. 3, the device information 150a associates terminal identification information, a user, a remaining battery level, a power connection state, a processing load, a line load, and a time.

  In the first embodiment, for convenience, the terminal identification information of the terminals 100a to 100e is set to 100a to 100e, respectively. In addition, the users of the terminals 100a to 100e are A to E, respectively.

  The user information 150b includes the position information of the terminal and the time when the position information of the terminal is measured. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of user information. As shown in FIG. 4, the user information 150b has terminal identification information, a user, time, and a position.

  The meta information 150c includes the type of content, the time when the content is acquired, and the location information of the terminal 100 at the time when the content is acquired. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of meta information. As shown in FIG. 5, the meta information 150c has a content name, type, time, and position.

  The content information 150d includes various types of information related to the content. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of content information. As shown in FIG. 6, the content information 150d has a content name, type, time, position, and content. The time included in the content information 150d is the time when the content is acquired. The position included in the content information 150d is the position of the terminal 100 at the time when the content is acquired.

  The upload registration information 150e includes information for designating a content disclosure range. For example, the upload registration information 150e is set in advance by the user. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the upload registration information. As shown in FIG. 7, the upload registration information 150e includes a group table 151e and a public table 151f.

  The group table 151e is a table that associates group names with user names. In the first row of the group table 151e, the group a includes users C, D, and E.

  The public table 151f is a table that associates content names with public groups. For example, in the first row of the disclosure table 151f, it is specified that the image A is disclosed to the group a. Referring to the group table 151e, since the group a includes the users C, D, and E, the users who disclose the image A are the users C, D, and E.

  The device information acquisition unit 161 is a processing unit that stores information acquired from the power supply monitoring unit 101, the line monitoring unit 102, the processing load monitoring unit 103, and the timer 104 in the storage unit 150 as device information 150a. In addition, the device information acquisition unit 161 sets terminal identification information and a user set in advance in the device information 150a.

  The user information acquisition unit 162 sequentially stores information acquired from the timer 104 and the position information acquisition unit 105 in the storage unit 150 as user information 150b. The time of the user information 150b is the time when the position of the terminal 100 is measured. In addition, the user information acquisition unit 162 sets terminal identification information and a user set in advance in the user information 150b.

  The meta information acquisition unit 163 acquires content name, type, time, and position information from the information included in the content information 150d, and stores the acquired information in the storage unit 150 as meta information 150c.

  The content management unit 164 is a processing unit that acquires content from a content acquisition device (not shown), associates the position and time at the time of acquiring the content, and stores the content information 150d in the storage unit 150. The content acquisition device corresponds to a camera, a microphone, a video camera, and the like. The camera, microphone, and video camera may be those provided in the terminal 100. It is assumed that the content name and type are associated with the content in advance.

  The response unit 165 is a processing unit that transmits various types of information to the content management apparatus 200 in response to a data request from the content management apparatus 200. When the response unit 165 receives a request for device information from the content management device 200, the response unit 165 transmits the device information 150 a to the content management device 200. When the response unit 165 receives a request for user information from the content management apparatus 200, the response unit 165 transmits user information 150 b to the content management apparatus 200. When the response unit 165 receives a meta information request from the content management apparatus 200, the response unit 165 transmits the meta information 150 c to the content management apparatus 200.

  In addition, when the response unit 165 receives a request for content information from the content management apparatus 200, the response unit 165 transmits the content information 150 d to the content management apparatus 200. In the following description, a request for content information received from the content management apparatus 200 is referred to as content request information.

  In the content request information, the content name is associated with the priority order of the content with the content name. The response unit 165 transmits the content of the content information 150d to the content management apparatus 200 according to the priority order.

  The request unit 166 is a processing unit that requests the content management apparatus 200 to upload content. When making a content upload request, the request unit 166 transmits the upload registration information 150 e to the content management apparatus 200.

  In addition, the request unit 166 requests the content uploaded to the content management apparatus 200 by another terminal according to a user instruction, and acquires the content from the content management apparatus 200.

  Next, the configuration of the content management apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 2 will be described. FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram illustrating the configuration of the content management apparatus according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the content management apparatus 200 includes a communication unit 210, an input unit 220, a display unit 230, a storage unit 240, and a control unit 250.

  The communication unit 210 is a processing unit that performs data communication with each terminal 100 via the network 30. A control unit 250 described later exchanges data with each terminal 100 via the communication unit 210. The communication unit 210 corresponds to a communication device that performs communication using a predetermined communication protocol.

  The input unit 220 is an input device that inputs various types of information to the content management device 200. For example, the input unit 220 corresponds to a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, or the like. The display unit 230 is a display device that displays various types of information. For example, the display unit 230 corresponds to a display, a touch panel, or the like.

  The storage unit 240 includes upload registration information 240a, device information 240b, meta information 240c, a user information table 240d, a temporary table 240e, and content information 240f. The storage unit 240 corresponds to, for example, a semiconductor memory device such as a RAM, a ROM, or a flash memory, or a storage device such as a hard disk or an optical disk.

  The upload registration information 240a is upload registration information acquired from the terminal 100 that performs the upload. The data structure of the upload registration information 240a in FIG. 8 corresponds to the upload registration information 150e shown in FIG.

  The device information 240b is device information acquired from the terminal 100 that performs upload. The data structure of the device information 240b in FIG. 8 corresponds to the device information 240b shown in FIG.

  The meta information 240c is meta information acquired from the terminal 100 that performs the upload. The meta information 240c in FIG. 8 corresponds to the meta information 150c illustrated in FIG.

  The user information table 240d is a table having user information from each terminal. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the user information table. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the user information table 240 d includes user information acquired from each terminal 100. Although not shown in FIG. 9, it is assumed that user information other than the terminal identification information 100a to 100c is also included in the user information table 240d.

  The temporary table 240e is a table used when groups of terminals having close positions are grouped. Details of the temporary table 240e will be described later.

  The content information 240f corresponds to the content uploaded from the terminal 100.

  The control unit 250 includes an information acquisition unit 250a, a priority determination unit 250b, and a content transmission / reception unit 250c. The control unit 250 corresponds to an integrated device such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The control unit 250 corresponds to an electronic circuit such as a CPU or MPU (Micro Processing Unit).

  The information acquisition unit 250a is a processing unit that acquires upload registration information, device information, meta information, and user information from each terminal 100. It has a meta information acquisition unit 251, a user information acquisition unit 252, and a device information acquisition unit 253. Hereinafter, an example of processing for the meta information acquisition unit 251, the user information acquisition unit 252, and the device information acquisition unit 253 will be described in order.

  The meta information acquisition unit 251 will be described. As described above, for example, when the terminal 100 requests the content management apparatus 200 to upload, the terminal 100 transmits upload registration information to the content management apparatus 200. When the meta information acquisition unit 251 acquires the upload registration information, the meta information acquisition unit 251 stores the upload registration information 240a in the storage unit 240.

  After storing the upload registration information 240a in the storage unit 240, the meta information acquisition unit 251 requests meta information from the terminal 100 that is the transmission source of the upload registration information 240a. When the meta information acquisition unit 251 receives the meta information from the terminal 100, the meta information acquisition unit 251 stores the received meta information 240 c in the storage unit 240.

  The user information acquisition unit 252 will be described. The user information acquisition unit 252 refers to the upload registration information 240a and requests user information from the user terminal 100 included in each group. It is assumed that the user information acquisition unit 252 knows in advance the relationship between the user and the terminal. The user information acquisition unit 252 acquires user information from each terminal 100 and registers each user information in the user information table 240d.

  The device information acquisition unit 253 will be described. The device information acquisition unit 253 requests device information from the terminal 100 that performs the upload. The device information acquisition unit 253 acquires device information and stores the device information 240b in the storage unit 240.

  The priority determination unit 250b is a processing unit that determines the priority of each content. The priority determination unit 250b outputs the priority determination result to the content transmission / reception unit 250c. When the terminal 100 acquires content, the priority determination unit 250b determines the priority of the content based on the number of terminals existing around the terminal. Hereinafter, the processing of the priority determination unit 250b will be specifically described.

  The priority determination unit 250b refers to the meta information 240c and selects a content that is a priority determination target. The priority determination unit 250b specifies the time of the selected content from the meta information 240c, and acquires the position of each user in the same time zone as the specified time from the user information table 240d.

  After obtaining the position of each user, the priority determination unit 250b performs grouping based on the position of each user. The priority determination unit 250b compares the positions of the users and classifies users who are less than the predetermined distance dmin into the same group. Also, the priority determination unit 250b includes, in the group, terminals whose center-of-gravity coordinates and the distance between other terminals are less than the threshold value dmin. Alternatively, the priority determination unit 250b classifies groups in which the distance between the centroid coordinates of the group and the centroid coordinates of other groups is less than the threshold value dmin into the same group.

  After the grouping is performed, the priority determination unit 250b determines the group closest to the position of the selected content, and determines the number of users included in the determined group. The priority determination unit 250b performs the above process on each content, and calculates the number N of users for each content.

  The priority determination unit 250b specifies the maximum number Nmax of users among the number N of users corresponding to each content. For each content, the priority determination unit 250b calculates the content priority by dividing the number N of users by Nmax. For example, when the number of users corresponding to a certain content is N, the priority of the content is N / Nmax.

  Here, a process when the priority determination unit 250b determines the number of users corresponding to the content name “image A” will be described. The priority determination unit 250b specifies the time corresponding to the content name “image A” from the meta information 240c. For example, the time of the image A is “2011/09/27/11: 00: 34”.

  The priority determination unit 250b acquires the position of each user at the time “2011/09/27/11: 00: 34” from the user information table 240d. The priority determination unit 250b generates a temporary table 240e based on the position of each user.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the temporary table. In the example shown in FIG. 10, the distance between the user A and the user B is “0.3”, the distance between the user A and the user C is “1.1”, and the user A and the user A are used. The distance between the user D and the user D is “3.0”, and the distance between the user A and the user E is “2.5”. Further, the distance between the user B and the user C is “0.4”, the distance between the user B and the user D is “2.8”, and the distance between the user B and the user E is Is “2.6”. Further, the distance between the user C and the user D is “2.5”, and the distance between the user C and the user E is “3.0”. Further, the distance between the user D and the user E is “2.0”.

  The priority determination unit 250b performs grouping based on the temporary table 240e. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of processing for grouping. The priority determination unit 250b refers to the first-stage temporary table 240e and determines the combination of users that minimizes the distance between the users. In the first row of FIG. 11, the combination of users that minimizes the distance between each user is a combination of user A and user B, and the distance between each user is “0.3”. The priority determination unit 250b groups user A and user B when the minimum distance is less than a predetermined threshold value dmin. For example, the threshold value dmin is set to “1.5”. A group including user A and user B is defined as a group (A, B).

  The priority determination unit 250b sets the barycentric coordinates of the grouped user A position and the user B position as the group (A, B) position. The priority determination unit 250b updates the temporary table 240e based on the relationship between the position of the group (A, B) and the positions of the users C, D, E. The updated temporary table 240e is shown in the second row of FIG.

  In the temporary table 240e shown in the second row of FIG. 11, the distance between the group (A, B) and the user C is “0.5”, and the distance between the group (A, B) and the user D is “2”. .8 ”, and the distance between the group (A, B) and the user E is“ 2.5 ”. The relationship between the distances of users C, D, and E is the same as that of the temporary table 240e at the first level.

  The priority determination unit 250b refers to the temporary table 240e in the second stage and determines the combination that minimizes the distance. In the second row of FIG. 11, the minimum combination is the group (A, B) and the user C, and the distance is “0.5”. Since the minimum distance is less than the threshold value dmin, the priority determination unit 250b adds the user C to the group (A, B) to form the group (A, B, C).

  The priority determination unit 250b sets the barycentric coordinates of the positions of the user A, the user B, and the user C as the position of the group (A, B, C). The priority determination unit 250b updates the temporary table 240e based on the positions of the groups (A, B, C) and the positions of the users D, E. The updated temporary table 240e is shown in the third row in FIG.

  In the temporary table 240e shown in the third row in FIG. 11, the distance between the group (A, B, C) and the user D is “2.5”, and the group (A, B, C) and the user E are separated. The distance is “2.6”. The distance between the user D and the user E is “2.0”. Since there is no distance that is less than the threshold value dmin in the temporary table 240e shown in the third row in FIG. 11, the priority determination unit 250b ends the grouping. When the priority determination unit 250b sets the group closest to the position of the image A as a group (A, B, C), the number of users corresponding to the image A is “3”.

  The priority determination unit 250b determines the number of users in the same manner for other contents, and determines the priority of each content. FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining processing for determining priority. In FIG. 12, the vertical axis indicates the number of users, and the horizontal axis indicates time. For example, the time t3 is a time when the content of the content “image H” is acquired. The time t5 is set as the time when the content “image B” is acquired. Let time t7 be the time when the content “image A” was acquired. Let time t14 be the time when the content “image C” is acquired.

  The priority determination unit 250b compares the number of users corresponding to each content, and determines the maximum usage number Nmax. In the example shown in FIG. 12, the number of users corresponding to the content “image C” is the maximum, and Nmax is “12”. The priority determination unit 250b determines the priority of each content by dividing the number N of users of each content by Nmax.

  The priority determination unit 250b generates a priority determination result by assigning priorities to each content in order from the highest priority of each content in order. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a priority determination result. As shown in FIG. 13, the priority order of the content name “image C” is first, followed by image E, image D, image F, image B, image I, image G, image A, and image H. . The priority determination unit 250b outputs the determination result to the content transmission / reception unit 250c.

  The content transmission / reception unit 250c receives content information from the terminal 100 that performs upload based on the determination result of the priority determination unit 250b. The content transmitting / receiving unit 250c stores the received content information 240f in the storage unit 240. In addition, when the content transmitting / receiving unit 250c receives a request for the content information 240f, the content transmitting / receiving unit 250c transmits the corresponding content information 240f to the requesting terminal 100. When the content information 240f is transmitted, the content information 240f refers to the upload registration information 240a and transmits the content information to the user corresponding to the content public group.

  Processing when the content transmitting / receiving unit 250c receives content will be described. The content transmission / reception unit 250c refers to the device information 240b of the terminal 100 that performs the upload, and determines whether to request the upload. Below, the case where the terminal 100 which performs upload is connected to a power supply and the case where it is not connected are demonstrated in order.

  A case where the terminal 100 that performs the upload is connected to a power source will be described. The content transmission / reception unit 250c transmits content request information to the terminal 100 when the processing load of the terminal 100 is less than the threshold Tc and the line load is less than the threshold Tn. The content name shown in FIG. 13 and the priority order are associated with the content request information.

  On the other hand, when the processing load of the terminal 100 that performs upload is equal to or higher than the threshold value Tc or the line load is equal to or higher than the threshold value Tn, the content transmitting / receiving unit 250c waits for a predetermined time and repeatedly executes the above processing.

  A case where the terminal 100 that performs upload is not connected to a power source will be described. The content transmission / reception unit 250c transmits content request information to the terminal 100 when the remaining battery level of the terminal 100 is greater than or equal to the threshold Tb, the processing load is less than the threshold Tc, and the line load is less than the threshold Tn. To do. The content name shown in FIG. 13 and the priority order are associated with the content request information. Further, in this case, the content transmission / reception unit 250c sets the content with the priority order of 1 to n in the content request information.

  The content transmitting / receiving unit 250c waits for a certain period of time when the remaining battery level of the terminal 100 that performs the upload is equal to or greater than the threshold value Tb. Repeat the process.

  On the other hand, the content transmitting / receiving unit 250c does not make an upload request to the terminal 100 when the remaining battery level of the terminal 100 that performs the upload is less than the threshold value Tb.

  Next, a processing procedure of the content management apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the processing procedure of the content management apparatus according to the first embodiment. For example, the process illustrated in FIG. 14 is executed when the upload registration information 240a is received from the terminal 100 that performs the upload.

  As shown in FIG. 14, the content management apparatus 200 acquires the meta information 240c from the terminal 100 (step S101), acquires all the user information in the group, and registers them in the user information table 240d (step S102). .

  The content management information 200 executes a priority determination process (step S103). The content management apparatus 200 acquires device information (step S104). The content management apparatus 200 executes upload determination processing (step S105).

  Next, the priority determination process shown in step S103 of FIG. 14 will be described. FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the priority determination processing. As shown in FIG. 15, the content management apparatus 200 acquires the creation time ti of all unuploaded content (step S111), and executes temporary group estimation processing (step S112).

  The content management apparatus 200 sets the maximum value of the number of users in all groups to Nmax (step S113). The content management apparatus 200 sets an initial value 0 for i (step S114).

  The content management apparatus 200 identifies the number Nri of user involvement for the content that has not been uploaded (step S115). Here, the number Nri of user involvement indicates the number of users in the group corresponding to the content.

  The content management apparatus 200 calculates a priority for content that has not been uploaded (step S116). The content management apparatus 200 sets the priority order in the order of the content with the highest priority (step S117).

  The content management apparatus 200 updates i with a value obtained by adding 1 to the value of i (step S118). The content management apparatus 200 determines whether or not the value of i is less than Nc (step S119). Nc corresponds to the number of contents.

  If the value of i is equal to or less than Nc (step S119, Yes), the content management apparatus 200 proceeds to step S115 again. On the other hand, when the value of i is larger than Nc (No in step S119), the content management apparatus 200 ends the priority determination process.

  Next, the temporary group estimation process shown in step S112 of FIG. 15 will be described. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of temporary table estimation processing. As shown in FIG. 16, the content management apparatus 200 acquires the position of the user in the group at time ti (step S121).

  The content management apparatus 200 sets all users as initial groups (step S122). The content management apparatus 200 generates a temporary table 240e (Step S123). The content management apparatus 200 identifies a combination of groups having the minimum distance value D (step S124).

  The content management apparatus 200 determines whether or not the condition of D <dmin or Np = 1 is satisfied (step S125). Here, Np corresponds to the number of clusters. When the condition of D <dmin or Np = 1 is not satisfied (No at Step S125), the content management apparatus 200 proceeds to Step S126. The content management apparatus 200 associates the group having the closest distance to the content (step S126), and ends the temporary group estimation process.

  On the other hand, when the condition of D <dmin or Np = 1 is satisfied (step S125, Yes), the content management apparatus 200 proceeds to step S127. The content management apparatus 200 sets a group combination having the minimum distance combination as one group n, updates the temporary table (step S127), and proceeds to step S124.

  Next, the upload determination process shown in step S105 of FIG. 14 will be described. FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of upload determination processing. As shown in FIG. 17, the content management apparatus 200 refers to the device information 240b and determines whether or not a power source is connected to the terminal 100 (step S131).

  When the power source is connected to the terminal 100 (step S131, Yes), the content management apparatus 200 determines whether the processing load of the terminal 100 is less than the threshold value Tc (step S132). When the processing load of the terminal 100 is equal to or greater than the threshold Tc (No at Step S132), the content management apparatus 200 acquires device information after a predetermined time has elapsed (Step S135), and proceeds to Step S132.

  On the other hand, when the processing load of the terminal 100 is less than the threshold value Tc (step S132, Yes), the content management apparatus 200 determines whether the line load is less than the threshold value Tn (step S133). If the line load is equal to or greater than the threshold value Tn (step S133, No), the content management apparatus 200 proceeds to step S135.

  When the line load is less than the threshold Th (step S133, Yes), the content management apparatus 200 uploads all the contents sequentially according to the priority order (step S134).

  By the way, when the power source is not connected to the terminal 100 in step S131 (step S131, No), the content management apparatus 200 determines whether the remaining battery level is equal to or greater than the threshold value Tb (step S136).

  When the remaining battery level is less than the threshold value Tb (No in step S136), the content management apparatus 200 determines whether the processing load of the terminal 100 is less than the threshold value Tc (step S137). When the processing load on the terminal 100 is equal to or greater than the threshold Tc (No at Step S137), the content management apparatus 200 acquires device information after a predetermined time has elapsed (Step S140), and proceeds to Step S137.

  On the other hand, when the processing load of the terminal 100 is less than the threshold Tc (step S137, Yes), the content management apparatus 200 determines whether the line load is less than the threshold Th (step S138). If the line load is equal to or greater than the threshold Th (No at Step S138), the content management apparatus 200 proceeds to Step S140.

  When the line load is less than the threshold Th (step S138, Yes), the content management apparatus 200 uploads n contents from the top of the priority order (step S139).

  Next, effects of the content management apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment will be described. The content management apparatus 200 determines the priority of each content based on the number of users around the terminal at the time when the terminal 100 acquires the content. Then, the content management apparatus 200 notifies the terminal 100 of content priority information, and uploads content in descending order of priority. For this reason, it is not possible to upload all the contents at once, and it is possible to prevent the line from being compressed, and it is possible to reduce the processing load on the terminal 100.

  In addition, the content management apparatus 200 adjusts the upload timing from the terminal 100 based on the device information 240b. For this reason, it is possible to solve problems such as giving an excessive load to the terminal 100 and running out of battery. Further, the user of the terminal 100 can comfortably operate the terminal 100 even during uploading.

  Next, the configuration of the system according to the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the system according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 18, this system includes terminals 100 a, 100 b, 100 c, 100 d, 100 e and a content management device 300. Note that the terminal 100 may connect to the network 30 by performing wireless communication with the base station.

  The terminal 100 accesses the content management apparatus 200 and acquires content. Further, the terminal 100 uploads the corresponding content to the content management apparatus 200 in response to a request from the content management apparatus 200. The description regarding the terminal 100 is the same as the description regarding the terminal 100 of the first embodiment.

  The content management apparatus 300 is a server that enables content sharing between the terminals 100 by acquiring content from a certain terminal and transmitting the content to other terminals. When sharing content, the content management apparatus 300 calculates the priority of the content according to the number of peripheral terminals at the time when the terminal acquires the content, and uploads the content in order from the highest priority content. In addition, when calculating the priority, the content management apparatus 300 calculates the priority by focusing on the content related to the user of the terminal 100 that is the content access source.

  Next, the configuration of the content management apparatus 300 shown in FIG. 18 will be described. FIG. 19 is a functional block diagram of the configuration of the content management apparatus according to the second embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 19, the content management apparatus 300 includes a communication unit 210, an input unit 220, a display unit 230, a storage unit 240, and a control unit 350.

  Among these, the description regarding the communication unit 210, the input unit 220, the display unit 230, and the storage unit 240 is the same as the description regarding the communication unit 210, the input unit 220, the display unit 230, and the storage unit 240 described in the first embodiment.

  The control unit 350 includes an information acquisition unit 250a, a priority determination unit 350b, and a content transmission / reception unit 350c. The description regarding the information acquisition unit 250a is the same as the information acquisition unit 250a described in the first embodiment.

  The priority determination unit 350b is a processing unit that determines the priority of each content. The priority determination unit 350b acquires information on the user who has requested access to the content from the content transmission / reception unit 350c, and specifies content related to the acquired user based on the upload registration information 240a. If the access source user is included in the content public group, the priority determination unit 350b determines that the content is related to the user.

  For example, when the user who made the access request is the user C, the priority determination unit 350b uses the images A, B, C, D, and H based on the upload registration information 240a shown in FIG. Are determined to be contents related to the user C.

  The priority determination part 350b determines the priority with respect to the specified content, and gives a priority order after specifying the content which concerns a user. The process in which the priority determination unit 350b determines the priority and assigns the priority is the same as the priority determination process 250b in the first embodiment.

  When the content transmission / reception unit 350c receives a content access request from the terminal 100, the content transmission / reception unit 350c outputs information on the user of the terminal that has made the access request to the priority determination unit 350b. Other processes of the content transmission / reception unit 350c are the same as the processes of the content transmission / reception unit 250c described in the first embodiment.

  Next, a processing procedure of the content management apparatus 300 according to the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating the processing procedure of the content management apparatus according to the second embodiment. For example, the process illustrated in FIG. 20 is executed when the upload registration information 240a is received from the terminal 100 that performs the upload.

  As shown in FIG. 20, the content management apparatus 300 acquires the meta information 240c from the terminal 100 (step S201), acquires all the user information in the group, and registers them in the user information table 240d (step S202). .

  The content management apparatus 300 acquires a content access request (step S203), and extracts the content related to the user who is the content access request source (step S204).

  The content management apparatus 300 executes a priority determination process (step S205). The content management apparatus 300 acquires device information (step S206), and executes upload determination processing (step S207).

  The processing procedure of the priority determination process shown in step S205 of FIG. 20 corresponds to the processing procedure shown in FIG. The upload determination process shown in step S207 of FIG. 20 corresponds to the process procedure shown in FIG.

  Next, effects of the content management apparatus 300 according to the second embodiment will be described. When the content management apparatus 300 accepts a content access request, the content management device 300 identifies content related to the user who made the access request. The content management apparatus 300 determines the priority for the content related to the user and uploads the content in order from the highest priority content. There is a high possibility that the content related to the user who has requested access to the content will continue to receive access requests from the same user. Therefore, it is possible to preferentially upload content that is likely to receive an access request while reducing the processing load on the terminal, the line load, and the like.

  In the first and second embodiments, the number of users is used when determining the priority of content. However, the priority of content is determined based on the number of terminals instead of the number of users. You may judge.

  Next, an example of a computer that executes a content management program that realizes the same function as the content management apparatus described in each embodiment will be described. FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a computer that executes a content management program.

  As illustrated in FIG. 21, the computer 400 includes a CPU 401 that executes various arithmetic processes, an input device 402 that receives input of data from a user, and a display 403. The computer 400 includes a reading device 404 that reads a program and the like from a storage medium, and an interface device 405 that exchanges data with another computer via a network. The computer 400 also includes a RAM 406 that temporarily stores various types of information and a hard disk device 407. The devices 401 to 407 are connected to the bus 408.

  The hard disk device 407 includes, for example, an information acquisition program 407a, a priority determination program 407b, and a content transmission / reception program 407c. The CPU 401 reads each program 407 a to 407 c and develops it in the RAM 406.

  The information acquisition program 407a functions as an information acquisition process 406a. The priority determination program 407b functions as a priority determination process 406b. The content transmission / reception program 407c functions as a content transmission / reception process 406c.

  For example, the information acquisition process 406a corresponds to the information acquisition unit 250a. The priority determination process 406b corresponds to the priority determination unit 250b. The content transmission / reception process 406c corresponds to the content transmission / reception unit 250c.

  Note that the programs 407a to 407c are not necessarily stored in the hard disk device 407 from the beginning. For example, each program is stored in a “portable physical medium” such as a flexible disk (FD), a CD-ROM, a DVD disk, a magneto-optical disk, and an IC card inserted into the computer 400. Then, the computer 400 may read and execute each of the programs 407a to 407c from these.

  The following supplementary notes are further disclosed with respect to the embodiments including the above examples.

(Supplementary note 1) User information in which the position of the terminal is associated with the time when the position of the terminal is measured is acquired from each of the plurality of terminals,
An information acquisition unit that acquires from the terminal meta information that associates the type of content, the time when the content was acquired, and the position of the terminal at the time of acquiring the content;
Based on a plurality of user information and the meta information, the terminals included in the predetermined distance threshold are grouped at different times, the group having the smallest distance in the same time zone is associated with the type of content, and the content A priority determination unit that determines the priority for each content type based on the number of terminals included in the group corresponding to the type,
A content management apparatus comprising: a content transmission / reception unit that receives content from the terminal based on a determination result of the priority determination unit and transmits the received content to another terminal.

(Additional remark 2) The said information acquisition part further acquires the apparatus information containing the power condition of a terminal, the load of the line | wire which a terminal connects, and the processing load of a terminal from several terminals, The said content transmission / reception part is the said apparatus information 2. The content management apparatus according to appendix 1, wherein the time for receiving the content from the terminal is adjusted based on the content.

(Additional remark 3) When the said priority determination part receives the access request of content from a terminal, it detects the content which concerns on this terminal, and determines the priority of the detected content characterized by the above-mentioned 2. The content management apparatus according to 2.

(Supplementary Note 4) A content management method executed by a computer,
User information in which the position of the terminal and the time at which the position of the terminal is measured is associated with each other is acquired from a plurality of terminals,
Meta information that associates the type of content, the time when the content was acquired, and the position of the terminal at the time of acquiring the content is acquired from the terminal,
Based on a plurality of user information and the meta information, the terminals included in the predetermined distance threshold are grouped at different times, the group having the smallest distance in the same time zone is associated with the type of content, and the content Based on the number of terminals included in the group corresponding to the type of, the priority is determined for each content type,
A content management method, comprising: executing a process of receiving content from the terminal and transmitting the received content to another terminal based on a priority determination result.

(Additional remark 5) The process which acquires the said information further acquires the apparatus information including the power supply state of a terminal, the load of the line to which the terminal is connected, and the processing load of the terminal from a plurality of terminals, The content management method according to appendix 4, wherein a time for receiving content from the terminal is adjusted based on the device information.

(Additional remark 6) When the process which determines the said priority receives the access request of content from a terminal, the content which concerns on this terminal is detected, and the priority of the detected content is determined. The content management method according to 4 or 5.

(Appendix 7)
User information in which the position of the terminal and the time at which the position of the terminal is measured is associated with each other is acquired from a plurality of terminals,
Meta information that associates the type of content, the time when the content was acquired, and the position of the terminal at the time of acquiring the content is acquired from the terminal,
Based on a plurality of user information and the meta information, the terminals included in the predetermined distance threshold are grouped at different times, the group having the smallest distance in the same time zone is associated with the type of content, and the content Based on the number of terminals included in the group corresponding to the type of, the priority is determined for each content type,
A content management program that executes each process of receiving content from the terminal and transmitting the received content to another terminal based on a priority determination result.

(Supplementary Note 8) The process for acquiring the information includes a process of further acquiring device information including a power state of the terminal, a load of a line connected to the terminal, and a processing load of the terminal from a plurality of terminals, and transmitting and receiving the content. The content management program according to appendix 7, wherein a time for receiving content from the terminal is adjusted based on the device information.

(Supplementary note 9) When the priority determination process receives a content access request from a terminal, it detects the content related to the terminal and determines the priority of the detected content. The content management program according to 7 or 8.

100a, 100b, 100c, 100d, 100e Terminal 200, 300 Content management device

Claims (5)

User information in which the position of the terminal and the time at which the position of the terminal is measured is associated with each other is acquired from a plurality of terminals,
An information acquisition unit that acquires from the terminal meta information that associates the type of content, the time when the content was acquired, and the position of the terminal at the time of acquiring the content;
Based on a plurality of user information and the meta information, the terminals included in the predetermined distance threshold are grouped at different times, the group having the smallest distance in the same time zone is associated with the type of content, and the content A priority determination unit that determines the priority for each content type based on the number of terminals included in the group corresponding to the type,
A content management apparatus comprising: a content transmission / reception unit that receives content from the terminal based on a determination result of the priority determination unit and transmits the received content to another terminal.   The information acquisition unit further acquires device information including a power state of the terminal, a load of a line to which the terminal is connected, and a processing load of the terminal from a plurality of terminals, and the content transmission / reception unit is based on the device information. The content management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time for receiving content from a terminal is adjusted.   The said priority determination part detects the content in connection with this terminal, when receiving the access request of the content from a terminal, The priority of the detected content is determined. Content management device. A content management method executed by a computer,
User information in which the position of the terminal and the time at which the position of the terminal is measured is associated with each other is acquired from a plurality of terminals,
Meta information that associates the type of content, the time when the content was acquired, and the position of the terminal at the time of acquiring the content is acquired from the terminal,
Based on a plurality of user information and the meta information, the terminals included in the predetermined distance threshold are grouped at different times, the group having the smallest distance in the same time zone is associated with the type of content, and the content Based on the number of terminals included in the group corresponding to the type of, the priority is determined for each content type,
A content management method, comprising: executing a process of receiving content from the terminal and transmitting the received content to another terminal based on a priority determination result. On the computer,
User information in which the position of the terminal and the time at which the position of the terminal is measured is associated with each other is acquired from a plurality of terminals,
Meta information that associates the type of content, the time when the content was acquired, and the position of the terminal at the time of acquiring the content is acquired from the terminal,
Based on a plurality of user information and the meta information, the terminals included in the predetermined distance threshold are grouped at different times, the group having the smallest distance in the same time zone is associated with the type of content, and the content Based on the number of terminals included in the group corresponding to the type of, the priority is determined for each content type,
A content management program that executes each process of receiving content from the terminal and transmitting the received content to another terminal based on a priority determination result.

Images