JP6697854B2 - Video content browsing device, video content browsing system, video content browsing method, and computer program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a video content browsing device, a video content browsing method, and a computer program for displaying a video content by designating a character string of sequentially displayed metadata.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a television broadcast receiving device that receives a television broadcast is provided with a recording device capable of simultaneously receiving a plurality of broadcast signals and recording all programs (video contents) broadcast in a certain period due to an increase in capacity of a recording unit. ing. In such a recording device, it is possible to select a video content to be reproduced from a large number of programs broadcast during a certain period and reproduce it on the video display device.

  Further, in recent years, metadata is provided for broadcast video contents. This metadata is information created by a provider for each program, and includes the broadcast date, day of the week, station name, classification, title, summary of program content, headline, program start time, program end time, and appearance. It is a text that includes various information such as the name of the person, the corner, and the genre. This metadata is sequentially created by the provider during the broadcasting of the program, and is provided in substantially real time with a short delay (1-2 minutes at the shortest) from the broadcasting of the program. In recent years, video contents recorded using this metadata are selected and viewed.

  In Patent Document 1, a program content and metadata of this program content are recorded in a recording medium in association with each other, and when selecting a program content to be reproduced, an attribute selection list is displayed on the screen of the display, and this attribute selection is performed. A program content having an attribute selected on the basis of the list is extracted from the recording medium and displayed as a program selection list, and a moving image of the program content of the cursor placed on the program selection list is superimposed and displayed on the moving image window. A recording/reproducing apparatus for finally reproducing the program content selected from the program selection list on the entire screen of the display is described.

Further, Patent Document 2 is a recording/reproducing apparatus that includes an HDD recorder including a recorded program storage unit and a metadata storage unit, and is used by being connected to a computer. The computer is included in Web information and metadata. The displayed word is compared with the displayed word, and the word selected from the displayed words is transmitted to the HDD recorder as a video search keyword. The HDD recorder displays the video content related to the video search keyword. To the information processing unit, receives the selection information of the video content selected by the information processing unit based on the metadata from the information processing device, and reproduces the video content corresponding to the selection information. Is listed.
JP-A-2007-274561 JP, 2009-15365, A

  However, the metadata provided as described above is used to identify and search the video contents acquired in the past, as in the inventions described in Patent Documents 1 and 2. However, it is not used for searching for the video content acquired now or in the near past. That is, it is impossible to immediately specify and display the video content from the metadata provided every moment during the current broadcasting. Such a function of displaying video contents using metadata in real time is useful for analyzing information from a television program itself or a television program, and is expected to be provided.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and when selecting a video content to be viewed, a desired video content can be displayed by designating the video content by selecting metadata that is acquired and displayed in real time. An object is to provide a displayable video content browsing device, a video content browsing system, and a video content browsing method.

The invention according to claim 1 for solving the above-mentioned problems stores a plurality of video contents provided from a plurality of sources connected to a metadata server that supplies metadata summarizing contents of the video contents via the Internet . The video content storage unit and the metadata acquisition unit that is associated with the video content and that acquires the metadata from the metadata server and stores the metadata in the metadata storage unit are selected based on the metadata. A video content browsing device for displaying desired video content on video display means, wherein the plurality of video contents or video content on air are respectively displayed in a plurality of video display areas arranged by source in the video display means. a video display unit capable of displaying, and metadata display means for displaying the metadata extracted constant conditions from the metadata storage unit as character in the metadata display areas arranged on the image display means, said meta Pointing means for specifying the metadata displayed as characters in the data display area, video content specifying means for specifying the video content associated with the metadata specified by the pointing means, and metadata by the pointing means Until the designation of, the on-air video content is displayed in the video display area, and when the metadata is designated by the pointing means, the video content identified by the title of the metadata is displayed. A specified video content display unit that is acquired from the video content storage unit and that is displayed in the video display area displaying the video content that is on air from the identified source of the video content. .
According to the video content browsing apparatus of the present invention, when selecting the video content to be browsed, the video content is designated by selecting the metadata displayed in the metadata display area by the pointing means, and the video of the video display means is displayed. A desired video content can be displayed in the display area.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the video content browsing apparatus according to the first aspect, the metadata is composed of a title and a metadata body, and the acquired metadata is stored in the metadata display area. And a metadata body display means for displaying the metadata body corresponding to the title of the metadata designated by the pointing means in the metadata body display area of the video display means.
According to the present invention, the title of metadata can be displayed in the metadata display area of the video display means, and the text of the metadata can be displayed in the metadata text display area.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the video content browsing device according to the second aspect, the metadata display means displays the title of the metadata as a character string that moves to the metadata display area. Characterize.
According to the present invention, a plurality of metadata are sequentially displayed as a character string to be moved to the metadata display area, and a desired character string can be selected from the displayed plurality of metadata.

Similarly, the invention according to claim 4 is the video content browsing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the pointing means is a mouse.
According to the present invention, it is possible to easily specify metadata on the screen by using a mouse.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the video content browsing apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the video content acquisition means provides a program content that has been televised in the past. Is stored as the video content for each broadcasting station.
According to the present invention, it is possible to select metadata while visually checking the video content displayed for each broadcasting station.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the video content browsing apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, one of the metadata stored in the metadata storage means is designated. It is characterized by comprising metadata search means for extracting the metadata of the condition and displaying the metadata in the metadata display area by the metadata display means.
According to the present invention, the metadata to be displayed on the metadata display means can be searched and specified, and the video content in the desired field or area can be selected.

Similarly, an invention according to claim 7 is the video content browsing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, the video display means connected to the video content browsing device, and the video content acquisition means. And a metadata supply means for supplying the metadata, the video content browsing system.
According to the present invention, when selecting a video content to be displayed on the video display means and viewed, the metadata is acquired in real time by the video content browsing device and displayed in the metadata display area of the video display means by the pointing means. By selecting and designating the video content, the desired video content can be displayed in the video display area of the video display means.

Similarly, when the desired video content is displayed on the video display means from the video content storage means that stores the video content acquired from a plurality of sources, the invention specified by the video content storage means 1 or A step of acquiring a plurality of the video contents; a step of acquiring metadata about the video contents stored in the video content storage means; a step of displaying the acquired plurality of video contents or video contents on air Means for displaying the metadata in a video display area arranged according to the source, and displaying the obtained metadata about the video content as characters in a metadata display area arranged in the display area of the video display means; When the data display area is specified by the pointing means, the step of specifying the video content specified by the metadata displayed in the specified area, and the time until the metadata is specified by the pointing means. Displays the on-air video content in the video display area, and when the pointing means specifies the metadata, acquires the video content specified by the title of the metadata from the video content storage means. A computer program for causing the computer to execute the step of displaying the video content which is on air from the specified video content providing source in the video display area .

  According to the computer program of the present invention, when selecting the video content to be browsed, the video content is designated by selecting the metadata acquired in real time and displayed in the metadata display area of the video display means by the pointing means. The desired video content can be displayed in the video display area of the video display means.

  According to the video content browsing apparatus, the video content browsing method, and the computer program according to the present invention, when selecting the video content to be browsed, the metadata acquired in real time and displayed in the metadata display area of the video display means is pointed. The video content can be designated by selecting the video content by means of the means, and the desired video content can be displayed in the video display area of the video display means.

1 is a block diagram showing a video content browsing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the video content browsing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the functional structure of the same video content browsing apparatus. It is a schematic diagram which shows the display screen of the browsing state of the display screen in the same video content browsing apparatus. It is a schematic diagram which shows the display state of the metadata title display area of the display screen in the same video content browsing apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the process between the same video content browsing apparatus, a video content server, and a metadata server. It is a flowchart which shows the process in the same video content browsing apparatus.

  Hereinafter, a video content browsing device, a video content browsing system, a video content browsing method, and a computer program according to embodiments of the present invention will be described.

First, a video content browsing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a video content browsing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The video content browsing system 100 according to the embodiment includes a video content browsing device 200 according to the embodiment, a mouse 300 that is a pointing device connected to the video content browsing device 200, a television set 400 that is a video display device, and It comprises a video content storage means 500 and a metadata server 600. In this embodiment, the video content storage unit 500 is built in the video content browsing device 200.

  The video content browsing device 200 constitutes a computer. Also, the mouse 300 forms a pointing means and is wirelessly connected to the video content browsing apparatus 200 so that coordinates on the display surface of the television set 400 can be designated. This designation can be performed by placing the cursor in a specific area of the display screen of the television set 400 and clicking the mouse, or by mouseover simply placing the cursor in the specific area. Note that the mouse 300 can be a general-purpose product that is connected by wireless connection such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) or by wire connection using a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector or the like. Thereby, the cost can be suppressed.

The video content storage means 500 stores the program content that has been broadcast by television on each channel that is the source of the video content over a predetermined period in the past. That is , the video content storage means 500 includes storage means such as a television tuner and a hard disk. As a result, the video content storage means 500 stores video data and audio data from each broadcasting station (hereinafter, video data and audio data are collectively referred to as video data), a program name, a time stamp, such as a start time and an end time. Title data is accumulated and desired video data and title data can be transmitted. The video content storage unit 500 sends out program content including video and audio on a predetermined date and time, a channel, and information such as a title and a broadcast time in response to a request input to the video content browsing apparatus 200. The video content storage means 500 may be integrated with the video content browsing device 200, or may be connected to the video content browsing device 200 by a LAN (Local Area Network) or a USB (Universal Serial Bus). it can.

The metadata server 600 forms a metadata supply unit and stores and supplies various information (metadata) regarding each program. The metadata server 600 is connected to the video content browsing device 200 via the Internet. The metadata server 600 is operated by a metadata provider. Here, the metadata is information created by a provider for each program, and includes the broadcast date, day of the week, station name, classification, summary of program content, headline, program start time, program end time, performer. , Information such as the name of the corner and the genre. This metadata is sequentially created by the provider during the broadcast of the program, and is provided in substantially real time with a short delay (1-2 minutes) from the broadcast of the program. The metadata cannot be acquired from the video content storage means 500.

Next, the video content browsing device 200 will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the video content browsing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. As described above, the video content browsing device 200 is configured as a computer. The video content browsing device 200 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 210 and a RAM (Random Memory) as main storage devices.
An Access Memory) 220 and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 230 are provided, and an HDD (Hard Disc Drive) 240 is provided as an auxiliary storage device. The video content browsing device 200 also includes an input interface 260 for connecting the mouse 300 and an HDMI (registered trademark) 270 for connecting the television set 400. Further, the video content browsing device 200 includes a video content storage means 500, an internet communication control device 290 connecting the metadata server 600, a mouse 300, a keyboard 310, and a DVD drive 330 which is a recording means for recording on the DVD medium 340. .

  These units are connected by a bus line 350, and the CPU 210 executes the computer program according to the embodiment of the present invention stored in the RAM 220 by using the ROM 230 as an execution area to realize the functional units described below. Then execute the video content browsing method.

  Next, the functional configuration of the video content browsing device 200 and the display on the television set 400 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a functional unit of the video content browsing device, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a display screen of a browsing state of a display screen in the video content browsing device. As shown in FIG. 3, the video content browsing device 200 includes a control unit 710, a metadata acquisition unit 730, a video content display unit 740 that is a video display unit, a metadata display unit 750, a designated video content display unit 760, and a video content. A temporary storage unit 770 and a metadata storage unit 780 are provided.

  Next, a screen displayed on the television set 400 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, on the display screen 800 of the television set 400, a video content display area 810 which is a video display area, a metadata title display area 820 which is a metadata display area, and metadata which is a metadata body display area. A body display area 830 and an operation display area 840 are displayed. Further, the mouse cursor 301 is displayed, and by clicking the button of the mouse 300, the coordinates of the display screen 800 on which the mouse cursor 301 is displayed are designated.

  In this example, in the video content display area 810, display areas 811 to 816 are set for each of six providing sources, that is, for each broadcasting station. That is, the display area 811 has a channel A, the display area 812 has a channel B, the display area 813 has a channel C, the display area 814 has a channel D, the display area 815 has a channel E, and the display area 816 has a channel F. Six video contents are displayed. On-air video contents are displayed in the display areas 811 to 816 of the video content display area 810 at all times. By placing the mouse cursor 301 in any of the display areas 811 to 816 and clicking the mouse 300, the sound of the video content displayed in the display area is reproduced. The video content display area 810 can display an arbitrary number of display areas, for example, 2, 4, 8 and the like.

  In the metadata title display area 820, the title of the acquired metadata is displayed as a moving character string. By specifying the title of the metadata with the mouse cursor 301, the video content specified by the title of the metadata is displayed in the display area of the channel that broadcast the video content.

  In the metadata body display area 830, the body of metadata corresponding to the title of the metadata in the metadata title display area 820 selected by the mouse cursor 301 is displayed.

  An operation symbol of the video content browsing device 200 is displayed in the operation display area 840. By selecting the operation symbol, an operation of making the display screen 800 the initial screen, an operation of displaying the entire video content, and the like can be performed. You can

  In the video content browsing device 200, the control unit 710 controls the entire video content browsing device 200. The control unit 710 also functions as a video content specifying unit and a metadata searching unit. The metadata acquisition unit 730 acquires predetermined metadata from the metadata server 600. The acquired video content is stored in the video content temporary storage means 770, and the acquired metadata is stored in the metadata storage means 780.

  The video content display unit 740 displays the latest video content in the display areas 811 to 816 in the video content display area 810 of the display screen 800.

  The metadata display means 750 displays the acquired metadata title in the metadata title display area 820 as a moving character string. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a display state of a metadata title display area of a display screen in the video content browsing apparatus. In the example shown in FIG. 5A, the character string “AA...AA” indicating the title of metadata is displayed in the metadata title display area 820 while moving from right to left. The displayed metadata title is selected according to a time range, a channel, a keyword, or the like designated in advance.

  In this state, when the mouse 300 is clicked on the area 821A that displays the character string "AA...AA" that displays the title of the metadata that is moved by the mouse cursor 301, the control unit 710 causes the image specified by the title of the metadata. Identify the content.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, a character string “BB... BB” indicating the title of the next metadata is displayed after the character string “AA... AAA” with a gap. In this case, desired metadata can be selected by selecting either the area 821A indicating the character string "AA...AA" or the area 821B indicating the character string "BB...BB" with the mouse cursor 301.

  The designated video content display means 760 displays the video content specified by the title of the designated metadata in any of the display areas 811 to 816 in which the channel on which the video content is broadcast is displayed.

  Then, the metadata display means 750 displays the body of the metadata specified in the metadata title display area 820 in the metadata body display area 830. Thereby, the metadata body of the selected video content can be displayed.

Next, the operation of the video content browsing system 100 according to this embodiment will be described. First, the processing between the video content storage unit 500, the video content browsing apparatus 200 and the metadata server 600 in the video content browsing apparatus 200 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing between the video content browsing device, the video content acquisition means, and the metadata server. As shown in FIG. 6, in the video content browsing system 100, the video content storage means 500 stores the program content broadcast by the broadcasting station over a certain period in the past as the video content (step S1). In addition, the metadata of the program content broadcast by the designated broadcasting station over a certain period in the past is generated and stored in the metadata server 600 (step S2).

In such a state, the video content browsing device 200 browses the video content stored in the video content storage means 500. When the video content browsing device 200 is activated, the video content browsing device 200 sequentially acquires the video content and metadata of each station (step S3). The acquired video content is stored in the video content temporary storage means 770, and the metadata is stored in the metadata storage means 780. This process is performed until the operation of the video content browsing device 200 ends (step S4).

  Next, a browsing process in the video content browsing apparatus 200 will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process in the video content browsing device. The user of the video content browsing device 200 specifies the search range of metadata and the keyword (step S11). In this designation, the target search range and keyword are designated. The range specifies, for example, the past two hours, the month from the month to the hour from the hour to the hour, the month, the day, etc., and the broadcasting station (channel) to be browsed. Regarding the designation of keywords, personal names, company names, place names, case names, and other terms can be designated as long as they are created metadata. The logical sum, logical product, exclusion condition, etc. of multiple keywords can be set arbitrarily.

  The search range and the keyword can be specified by using the mouse 300 to specify the soft keyboard displayed on the keyword specifying screen displayed on the television set 400, or by using the keyboard 310 connected to the video content browsing device 200. .

  During this designation, the video content display means 740 displays the video content broadcast by each channel in the display areas 811 to 816 of the video content display area 810 (step S12). Then, the control unit 710 extracts the metadata from the metadata storage unit 780 according to the designation in Step S11 (Step S13), and the metadata display unit 750 displays the extracted title of the metadata in the metadata title display area 820. The moving character strings are sequentially displayed at intervals (step S14). At this time, the titles of the metadata are displayed at appropriate intervals at a speed that allows the mouse cursor 301 to be sequentially displayed and designated in the metadata title display area 820 (see FIG. 5).

In this state, control unit 710 determines whether a character string is designated by mouse cursor 301 (step S15). When the character string is not designated (No in step S15), the processes of steps S11 to S15 are continued.
When the title of metadata is designated by the mouse cursor 301 (Yes in step S15), the control unit 710 extracts the video content specified by the title of the selected metadata, and the video content display unit 740 extracts the video content. The content is displayed in one of the display areas 811 to 816 displaying the channel on which the content is broadcast (step S16). At this time, a mark for identifying the display area corresponding to the text, for example, a border can be displayed.
At the same time, the control unit 710 causes the metadata display unit 750 to display the metadata text in the metadata text display area 830 (step S17).
As a result, the user can easily confirm what kind of video content the metadata body that is interested is. Then, by right-clicking the mouse 300, the video content can be rewound or repeat-played, and the video content can be displayed on the entire surface of the display screen 800 as needed. Further, the selected video content can be edited and recorded on the DVD medium 340 by the DVD drive 330.

  Such processing is executed until the end of the designated video content (step S18) and further until the video content browsing device 200 is stopped (step S19).

  As described above, according to the video content browsing system 100 according to the present embodiment, the video content desired to be viewed can be browsed only by designating the title of the metadata displayed in the metadata title display area 820. At this time, since the metadata text can also be displayed, the details of the video content can be accurately grasped, and the video content can be more accurately browsed.

In the video content browsing system 100 according to the above-described embodiment, the video content browsing device 200 and the video content storage means 500 are described as separate bodies, but they are integrated into a hard disk recorder capable of recording on a DVD or Blu-ray medium. Can be configured as. In this case, the hard disk recorder is equipped with a plurality of TV tuners and a hard disk for recording.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the video content storage unit 500 stores the program content televised on the television, but the video content storage unit 500 is not limited to the program content, but the video content distributed on the Internet. Content, other video content such as self-made video content are stored and can be browsed by the video content browsing apparatus 200.

  In the above embodiment, the example in which the television set 400 is used as the video display means has been described, but a personal computer, a tablet terminal, a smartphone, or the like can be used as the video display means. Further, in the above embodiment, the video content browsing device 200 and the television set 400 are described as separate bodies. The video content browsing system can be configured by connecting the above-mentioned video content acquisition means via a LAN or the like.

  A video content browsing device, a video content browsing system, a video content browsing method, and a computer program according to the present invention are capable of browsing a target video content by a simple operation while checking a preview screen and metadata. It can be used in industry and video content distribution industry.

100: video content browsing system 200: video content browsing device 300: mouse (pointing means)
301: Mouse cursor 310: Keyboard 330: DVD drive 340: DVD medium 350: Bus line 400: TV set (video display means)
500: video content storage means 600: metadata server 710: control section (video content specifying means, metadata search means )
730: Metadata acquisition means 740 Video content display means (video display means)
750 metadata display means 760 specified video content display means 770 video content temporary storage means 780 metadata storage means 800: display screen 810 video content display areas 811 to 816 display area 820 metadata title display area 830 metadata text display area 840 operation Department

Claims (8)

A video content storage unit that is connected to the metadata server that supplies metadata that summarizes the content of the video content by the Internet , stores a plurality of video contents provided from a plurality of sources, and is associated with the video content. A video content browsing device that has the metadata acquisition unit that acquires the metadata from the metadata server and stores the metadata in the metadata storage unit, and displays the desired video content selected based on the metadata on the video display unit. A device,
Video display means capable of respectively displaying the plurality of video contents or video contents on air in a plurality of video display areas arranged by source in the video display means,
Metadata display means for displaying the metadata extracted from the metadata storage means under a certain condition as characters in a metadata display area arranged in the video display means;
Pointing means for designating the metadata displayed as characters in the metadata display area;
Video content specifying means for specifying the video content associated with the metadata specified by the pointing means,
Until the metadata is designated by the pointing means, the video content on air is displayed in the video display area, and when the metadata is designated by the pointing means, it is specified by the title of the metadata. A specified video content display means for acquiring the specified video content from the video content storage means, and displaying the video content on air from the specified video content providing source in the video display area displaying the video content. An apparatus for browsing video content, comprising: The metadata is composed of a title and a metadata body,
In the metadata display area, the title of the acquired metadata is displayed,
The video according to claim 1, further comprising a metadata text display unit for displaying a metadata text corresponding to the title of the metadata designated by the pointing device in a metadata text display area of the video display unit. Content browsing device.   The video content browsing device according to claim 2, wherein the metadata display unit displays the title of the metadata as a character string that moves to the metadata display area.   The video content browsing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the pointing means is a mouse.   5. The video content storage means stores the program content that has been televised in the past as the video content for each broadcasting station that is a source of supply. The video content browsing device described in. Of the metadata stored in the metadata storage means, the metadata of a specified condition
A method for extracting data and displaying it in the metadata display area by the metadata display means.
6. A data retrieval unit is provided, and any one of claims 1 to 5 is provided.
The video content browsing device described in.   7. The video content browsing device according to claim 1, the video display means connected to the video content browsing device, the video content storage means, and metadata for supplying the metadata. A video content browsing system comprising: a supply unit. When displaying desired video content on the video display means from the video content storage means storing the video content acquired from a plurality of sources,
Obtaining one or more of the specified video contents from the video contents storage means;
Obtaining metadata about the video content stored in the video content storage means;
A step of displaying the acquired plurality of video contents or video contents on air in a video display area arranged in the video display means according to a source;
Displaying the acquired metadata about the video content as characters in a metadata display area arranged in the display area of the video display means;
Specifying the metadata display area by pointing means, specifying the video content specified by the metadata displayed in the specified area,
Until the metadata is designated by the pointing means, the video content on air is displayed in the video display area, and when the metadata is designated by the pointing means, it is specified by the title of the metadata. A step of acquiring the specified video content from the video content storage means, and displaying the specified video content in the video display area displaying the on-air video content from the supply source of the specified video content ;
A computer program that causes a computer to execute.