KR20150057741A - Methods and apparatuses of providing linked content using user equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for providing linked contents. According to an embodiment of the present invention, when contents are played on a contents playing device, the apparatus transmits the linked contents related to the contents being played to a terminal. Therefore, each user, manipulating a terminal, can selectively use an audio track and a title, related to the contents being displayed on the contents playing device, according to taste of the user.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing linked content using a terminal,

The present invention relates to a content information providing method, and more particularly, to a method of providing media content information using a terminal.

In the case of watching media contents such as a movie or a drama, there are cases where the viewer wants to listen to different dubbing audio for each viewer. In this case, most of the main audio is served in the language of one country, and subtitles are served for other languages.

In order to solve such a problem, a technique of displaying a plurality of subtitles on a single screen has been proposed.

However, when there are many cases where the service is performed with audio dubbed from subtitles, and a large number of people of different nationalities watch the same video, if a plurality of subtitles are displayed on the screen, There is a problem that we have to pay for it.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for providing linked contents in which a plurality of viewers can listen to different audio while reproducing media contents with a single content reproduction apparatus.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a content providing method performed by a content reproducing apparatus, the method comprising: reproducing a content; And transmitting at least one of an associated content item and an associated content item related to the content to be played back to the terminal according to at least one of setting information of the terminal and request for a linked content.

Wherein the step of transmitting at least one of the linked content and the associated content indication to the terminal comprises the steps of: receiving at least one of configuration information of a terminal and request for a linked content, Determining linkage content to be transmitted to the terminal, and transmitting at least one of the determined linkage content and the determined linkage content indicator to the terminal.

The step of transmitting at least one of the linked content and the associated content indicator to the terminal includes determining a linked content to be transmitted to the terminal using at least one of the throughput of the terminal and the communication state of the terminal can do.

Wherein the step of transmitting at least one of the linked content and the associated content indicator to the terminal includes determining a size of a linked content to be transmitted to the terminal using at least one of the throughput of the terminal and the communication state of the terminal, Transcoding the linked content according to the determined size of the linked content, and transmitting the transcoded linked content to the terminal.

The step of transmitting at least one of the linked contents and the linked contents indicator to the terminal may include transmitting the linked contents in synchronization with the reproduced contents.

The step of transmitting at least one of the linked content and the associated content indicator to the terminal may include transmitting the time stamp together with the linked content.

And transmitting the reproduction position of the content being reproduced by the content reproduction apparatus and the reproduction time of the reproduction content of the content being reproduced by the content reproduction apparatus.

The step of reproducing the content may include reproducing the plurality of contents together.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of receiving content from a terminal, the method comprising: connecting to a content player; The content reproduction apparatus according to at least one of the present invention includes a transmitting unit configured to transmit at least one of information and a content request to a content reproduction apparatus, And receiving at least one of the indicators.

Wherein the step of receiving at least one of the linked content and the linked content indicator comprises the steps of: receiving a transport stream including at least one linked content; decoding linked content from the transport stream; And outputting the linked content.

The configuration information of the terminal may include at least one of the throughput information of the terminal and the communication state information of the terminal.

And outputting the received linked content in synchronization with the content being played back in the content playback apparatus.

Wherein the step of receiving at least one of the linked content and the linked content indicator includes receiving a time stamp, and the step of outputting the received linked content in synchronization with the content being reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus comprises: And outputting the linked content in synchronization with the content being played back.

Wherein the step of receiving at least one of the linked content and the linked content indicator includes receiving the playback position of the content being played back in the content playback apparatus and the time information in which the playback position of the content being played back in the content playback apparatus is played back .

Wherein the step of outputting the received linked content in synchronization with the content being reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus includes the step of determining a reproduction position of the content being reproduced in the current content reproduction apparatus by using the reproduction position and the time information of the received content As shown in FIG. The method may further include receiving the linked content from the server using the linked content indicator.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a content providing apparatus for providing content, the apparatus comprising: a playback unit that plays back content; And a communication unit for receiving at least one of the linked content related to the content being played back in the playback unit and the indicator of the linked content according to at least one of the setting information of the terminal and the linked content request .

The linked content providing apparatus determines a linked content to be transmitted to the terminal according to language setting information of the terminal and determines a data size of the linked content to be transmitted to the terminal using at least one of the throughput of the terminal and the communication state of the terminal And a transcoding unit for transcoding the linked content according to the determined data size, wherein the communication unit can transmit the transcoded linked content to the terminal.

The communication unit may transmit, along with the linked contents to be transmitted, the reproduction position of the content being reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus, the time information in which the reproduction position is reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus, and the time stamp of the linked content.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a content-content receiving terminal connected to a content reproducing apparatus, the content reproducing apparatus comprising: And a communication unit for receiving at least one of a linked content and a linked content indicator related to the content being reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus according to at least one of the transmitted terminal setting information and the content request from the content reproduction apparatus, .

The terminal may further include an output unit for outputting the content and a control unit for controlling the output unit to output the linked content, wherein the setting information of the terminal includes information on the throughput of the terminal, Wherein the communication unit includes at least one piece of linked content or a linked content indicator, together with a play position of the content being played back in the content playback apparatus, a time at which the playback position is played in the content playback apparatus, Wherein the control unit further receives a time stamp of a linked content indicator, the control unit determines a playback position of the content being played back in the current content playback apparatus using the playback position and time information of the received content, Synchronized with the playback position of the content being The control output can output the content associated with parts.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method and apparatus for providing linked contents according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the method and apparatus for providing linked content, The present invention provides an effect that the user can selectively consume audio tracks, subtitles, and the like related to the content being reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus according to his or her preference.

1 is a diagram illustrating a content information providing system in which a content information providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is performed.
FIG. 2 is a view showing a display screen of a content reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing content information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of a step of transmitting and receiving content information related to content to be reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus in the content information providing method shown in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a second embodiment of transmitting and receiving content information in the content information providing method shown in FIG.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a third embodiment of transmitting and receiving content information in the content information providing method shown in FIG.
7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a content reproduction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention for transmitting content information to a plurality of terminals, respectively.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the provision of synchronized content information in the method of providing content information according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a content reproduction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail.

It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as a first component. And / or < / RTI > includes any combination of a plurality of related listed items or any of a plurality of related listed items.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, . On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between.

The terminology used in this application is used only to describe a specific embodiment and is not intended to limit the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the present application, the terms "comprises" or "having" and the like are used to specify that there is a feature, a number, a step, an operation, an element, a component or a combination thereof described in the specification, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning in the context of the relevant art and are to be interpreted in an ideal or overly formal sense unless explicitly defined in the present application Do not.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In order to facilitate the understanding of the present invention, the same reference numerals are used for the same constituent elements in the drawings and redundant explanations for the same constituent elements are omitted.

The content is defined as a concept including all kinds of contents used in a home media server environment. For example, it includes contents recorded directly by a user, contents downloaded using an IP network, or contents transmitted from another server.

1 is a diagram illustrating a content information providing system in which a content information providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is performed. The content information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a server 110, a network 120, a content reproducing apparatus 130, and a terminal 140.

The server 110 is a content source or a broadcasting station for storing contents. The server 110 transmits the stored contents to the content reproduction apparatus 130 via the network 120. [ The content stored in the server 110 may be a large-capacity content. The server 110 may provide a list of contents stored in the server 110 to the content reproduction apparatus 130. The server 110 may transmit data of the content stored in the server 110 according to a request from the content reproduction apparatus 130. The server 110 may control the quality of the content transmitted to the content reproduction apparatus 130 according to the performance of the content reproduction apparatus 130 or the transmission status of the network 120.

The network 120 provides a communication connection between the server 110 and the content reproduction apparatus 130. The network 120 may be a wireless or wired network.

The content reproduction apparatus 130 receives at least one of a list of contents, information of content, and content data from the server 110 via the network 120. Also, the content reproduction apparatus 130 may include a content storage unit for storing information related to the content, and may store content related data received from the server 110 or may store data related to the content separately from the server 110. For example, the content reproduction apparatus 130 generally includes all kinds of devices that use media content. For example, the content reproduction apparatus 130 may be a set-top box that reproduces video received from the server 110 using an output device such as a monitor.

The content reproduction apparatus 130 may transmit the content information to the terminal 140. The content information includes a list of content, an audio track of the content, video data of the content, information of other content related to the content, and the like. For example, the content reproduction apparatus 130 may transmit the content information stored in the storage unit of the content reproduction apparatus 130 to the terminal 140 in response to a request from the terminal 140, Video data, bibliographic information of the content, and information related to other contents. Also, the content reproduction apparatus 130 may directly transmit the data received from the server 110 to the terminal 140 without storing the data in the storage unit.

The terminal 140 is connected to the content reproduction apparatus 130 via a network and exchanges data with the content reproduction apparatus 130. The terminal 140 can form a network by being paired with the content reproduction apparatus 130 using protocols such as Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), and Bluetooth. For example, the terminal 140 and the content reproduction apparatus 130 may constitute a home network. The terminal 140 may be a PC, a portable terminal, a notebook, a PMP, a PDA, a smart phone, and the like, and is not necessarily limited to the above example.

A plurality of terminals 140 may exist. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a terminal 140 includes a first terminal 141, a second terminal 142, , And the nth terminal 143, for example. A plurality of terminals can receive different contents information from the contents reproducing apparatus 130. For example, a plurality of terminals can request different contents of different contents from the contents reproducing apparatus 130, and the contents reproducing apparatus 130 can transmit contents information according to each request to each terminal.

1, the terminal 140 may directly receive content information from the server 110 via the network 120. [ For example, the content information received from the content reproduction apparatus 130 may include a content information indicator indicating the location of the content information stored in the server 110. The content information indicator may include a meta information indicator indicating the location of the meta information stored in the server 110, a linked content indicator indicating the location of the linked content stored in the server 110, and the like. The terminal 140 can request content information from the server 110 using the content information indicator included in the content information received from the content playback apparatus 130 and receive the content information from the server 110 accordingly . For example, the associative content indicator may be an identification number of associated content such as an audio track, a caption, a video clip, or the like, stored in the server, or an HTTP or FTP-based address of such linked content. The terminal 140 may access the linked content of the server 110 using the identification number or the address.

The terminal 140 can output the content information received from the server 110 to the user in accordance with the status of the content reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus 130 by synchronizing with the content reproduction apparatus 130. [ For example, the terminal 140 may perform synchronization according to the time stamp received from the content reproduction apparatus 130. Also, the server 110 may synchronize the content reproduction apparatus 130 and the terminal 140. For example, according to the time stamp transmitted from the server 110, the reproduction position of the content reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus 130 can be synchronized with the terminal 140.

The content reproduction apparatus 130 adjusts the reproduction position of the content according to the time stamp transmitted from the server 110 and adjusts the output time of the content information according to the time stamp transmitted from the server 110 , Content reproduction in the content reproduction apparatus 130 and synchronization of the content information output in the terminal 140 can be achieved.

The method of providing content information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes providing content information related to content to be played on the content playback apparatus 130 to a user using the terminal 140 while the content playback apparatus 130 plays the content do.

The content information may be visual, auditory, and tactile information. For example, the content information may be meta information such as the name of the content, program title, information of general media content such as program synopsis. Further, the content information may include at least one of a sound track of the media content, audio data of each language of the media content, a language-dependent subtitle of the media content, and a vibration content provided in addition to the media content, And may be linked content that may be provided together with < / RTI > The linked content may be provided in accordance with the playback period of the content being played back. In addition, the vibration content included in the linked content may be vibration data related to the content provided by the content reproduction apparatus 130, so that the terminal 140 provides the vibration using the vibration unit in relation to the provided content, Information may be provided.

As described above, the content information may include a content information indicator indicating the location of the content information stored in the server 110. [ The content information indicator may include a meta information indicator indicating the location of the meta information stored in the server 110, a linked content indicator indicating the location of the linked content stored in the server 110, and the like. Accordingly, the description of the content information can be applied to the meta information, the linked content, the meta information indicator, and the linked content indicator. The description of the content information indicator can also be applied to the meta information indicator and the linked content indicator.

The method of providing content information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention transmits audio data related to content to a searched terminal so that users can listen to various sound tracks while watching a screen. 1, a first terminal 141 provides a sound track 1 while a content playback apparatus 130 plays media content, a second terminal 142 provides a sound track 7, So that users of each terminal can enjoy different sound tracks while viewing the same screen. In a similar manner, when the content reproduction apparatus 130 reproduces movie content recorded with audio in English, the first terminal 141 can provide audio recorded in Korean according to the movie content, and the second terminal 142 ) Can provide audio recorded in Japanese in accordance with movie contents. In a similar manner, when the content reproduction apparatus 130 reproduces movie content recorded with audio in English, the first terminal 141 may provide Korean subtitles to the movie content, and the second terminal 142 may provide Japanese subtitles Can be provided according to the movie contents.

A content information providing method according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The content reproduction apparatus can reproduce a plurality of contents together as shown in FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display screen 200 of the content reproduction apparatus. The screen 200 is divided into four areas, and each area can reproduce the respective contents. For example, the first area 201 can reproduce the A content, the second area 202 can reproduce the B content, the third area 203 can reproduce the C content, and the fourth area ( 204 can play D content. In this example, if the contents reproducing apparatus 130 simultaneously provides the audio of a plurality of contents to the audio apparatus included therein, a problem that a plurality of audio items are mixed and difficult to recognize by the user occurs.

In order to solve such a problem, each terminal 140 can select and provide audio data of a desired content according to an input. For example, the first terminal 141 may provide audio recorded in the Korean language of the A content, and the second terminal 142 may provide the audio of the C content recorded in Japanese in synchronization with the reproduction of the C content . In a similar manner, each terminal can provide captions.

The sound track data, the audio data for each language, and the caption data for each language are stored in the terminals 140, so that the terminal 140 can synchronize with the content reproducing apparatus 130 and provide the same to the user. Alternatively, such data may be received from the content reproduction apparatus 130 and provided to the user in synchronism with the reproduction status of the content reproduced by the content reproduction apparatus 130 as described above.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing content information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. First, the content reproduction apparatus 130 and the terminal 140 establish a communication connection (S310). The content reproduction apparatus 130 and the terminal 140 can exchange data using infrared communication, Bluetooth, WIFI, or other communication method. Alternatively, the content reproduction apparatus 130 and the terminal 140 may be connected through DLNA or other home network communication methods to exchange data. The communication connection between the content reproduction apparatus 130 and the terminal 140 may be such that the content reproduction apparatus 130 can request a communication connection to the terminal 140 and conversely, Lt; / RTI >

Next, the content reproduction apparatus 130 and the terminal 140 exchange content information related to the content to be reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus 130 (S320).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of transmitting and receiving content information related to contents to be reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus 130 (S320) in the content information providing method shown in FIG. First, the content reproduction apparatus 130 transmits the available content information list to the terminal 140 (S410). The available content information list may be a list of content information related to the content being played back in the content playback apparatus 130. [ The available content list may include only content information that can be transmitted in the list of the content information.

For example, in the content reproduction apparatus 130, a content titled ABC is currently being played, and the ABC content may be a Korean audio track, an English audio track, a Japanese audio track, a Chinese audio track, Korean subtitles, English subtitles, In case of including Chinese subtitles, the content information of the ABC contents may include a Korean audio track, an English audio track, a Japanese audio track, a Chinese audio track, Korean subtitles, English subtitles, Japanese subtitles, Chinese subtitles, etc. of ABC contents . If the Japanese audio track and the Japanese audio caption can not be transmitted among the contents information, the available contents information is a Korean audio track, an English audio track, a Chinese audio track, a Korean subtitle, an English subtitle, and a Chinese subtitle of ABC contents, The list may comprise a list of the available content information.

The content information includes all information related to the content being reproduced by the content reproduction apparatus 130 as described above. For example, the information related to the content may be an audio track of the content being reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus 130, a caption, related content information, advertisement related to the reproduction screen of the content, product information, and the like.

Next, the terminal refers to the available content information list and requests the content reproduction apparatus 130 to select specific content information to be provided to the user according to the input of the user (S420). The terminal may transmit the selection of the user to the content reproduction apparatus 130. Next, the content reproduction apparatus 130 transmits the content information requested from the terminal 140 to the terminal 140 (S430).

Alternatively, steps S420 and S430 may be performed between the terminal 140 and the server 110. [ As described above, the terminal 140 can request content information from the server 110 through the network 120 and receive content information from the server 110 using the content information indicator included in the content information.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a second embodiment of transmitting and receiving content information (S320) in the content information providing method shown in FIG. In the second embodiment, the content reproduction apparatus 130 transmits the available content information using the information of the terminal 140 received from the terminal 140 without transmitting the available content information list to the terminal. First, the terminal 140 transmits information of the terminal to the content reproduction apparatus 130 (S510). The terminal information transmitted by the terminal 140 to the content reproduction apparatus 130 includes configuration information of the terminal. For example, the terminal 140 can transmit configuration information of the terminal, such as language setting information and content information request setting information, of the terminal 140 to the content reproducing apparatus. For example, the language setting information may be setting information of the language used in the terminal 140. The content information request setting information may be a type of content information that the user desires to receive. For example, the user can basically select at least one of audio track, subtitle, related content information, advertisement information, and related product information, and detailed settings of the types, as a type of content information to be received. For example, you can set to receive Korean audio tracks by default. In addition, it can be set to receive audio tracks compressed at a bit rate of 320kbps or higher. The terminal 140 may transmit the throughput of the terminal 140 and the performance information of the terminal 140 to the content reproduction apparatus and may transmit the communication status information between the terminal 140 and the content reproduction apparatus 130 . For example, the CPU throughput of the terminal, the available memory space of the terminal, the available storage space of the terminal, the rate at which the terminal downloads content on the network, and the rate at which the terminal downloads content from the content playback apparatus.

Next, the content reproduction apparatus 130 transmits the available content information to the terminal 140 using the received information of the terminal 140 (S520). For example, the content reproduction apparatus transmits available content information corresponding to the type to the user using the setting information set in the terminal 130. For example, if the user has previously set the content to receive a caption or an audio track, the content reproduction apparatus 130 is connected to the terminal 130, and when information of the terminal is transmitted, Lt; / RTI > or audio track. At this time, using the language setting information of the terminal, the subtitle or audio track to be transmitted can be transmitted to a subtitle or an audio track corresponding to the language. For example, if the language set in the terminal 140 is Korean, the content reproduction apparatus 130 may transmit the Korean audio track of the content being reproduced by the content reproduction apparatus 130 to the terminal 140 among the plurality of audio tracks .

Also, when the terminal 140 is set to receive the related content information, the related advertisement information, the related product information, etc., the content reproduction apparatus 130 may transmit the corresponding information or may transmit the information in the language set in the terminal.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a third embodiment of transmitting and receiving content information (S320) in the content information providing method shown in FIG. In the third embodiment, the content reproduction apparatus 130 does not transmit the available content information list to the terminal, but uses the information of the terminal 140 received from the terminal 140, as in the second embodiment, send. However, in the third embodiment, the performance information of the terminal 140 including the throughput of the terminal 140 received from the terminal, the communication status information between the terminal 140 and the content reproduction apparatus 130 An example in which content information is transmitted using a content server will be described.

The content reproduction apparatus 130 may use the performance information of the terminal 140 received from the terminal and the communication status information between the terminals 140 to determine whether the terminal 140 can be used in real- The content information can restrict transmission. For example, when the performance of the terminal 140 is low and it is difficult to reproduce the high-resolution media content, if the communication state to the terminal 140 is poor and it is difficult to transfer the losslessly compressed high-resolution media content, The transmission of the media content related to the content being played back can be restricted.

In order to restrict the transmission of the content information, the content reproduction apparatus 130 calculates the size of the content information to be transmitted to the terminal using the performance information of the terminal and the communication state to the terminal as described above. The size of the content information can be calculated based on the data rate between the terminal and the content reproduction apparatus.

Alternatively, the content reproduction apparatus 130 may use the performance information of the terminal 140 received from the terminal and the communication status information between the terminals 140 to determine whether the terminal 140 can be used in real time The content information can be transcoded and transmitted to the terminal 140 so that it can be used in real time. A flow chart of such a method is shown in Fig.

First, the content reproduction apparatus 130 receives performance information from the terminal 140 (S610). The content reproduction apparatus 130 determines the usable size of the content information to be transmitted based on the size of the content information that can be processed in real time by the terminal using the performance information received from the terminal and can be transmitted to the terminal in real time. The available size may be a specific value that is less than or equal to the size of the maximum transmittable content information. The content reproduction apparatus 130 compares the available size with the size of the content to be transmitted. If the size of the content to be transmitted is smaller than or equal to the available size, the content reproduction apparatus 130 can directly transmit the content information to the terminal without transcoding. However, if the size of the content information to be transmitted is larger than the usable size, the content reproduction apparatus 130 performs the transcoding so that the content information is smaller than or equal to the available size (S620). The transcoding can use a known transcoding method. Finally, the content reproduction apparatus 130 transmits the transcoded content information to the terminal 140 (S630). For example, the content reproduction apparatus 130 may convert the content information such as an audio MPEG2 TS into an appropriate audio format without transmitting the information to the terminal, and transmit the converted content information to the terminal.

7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a content reproduction apparatus 130 that transmits content information to a plurality of terminals 141 to 143, respectively. As described above, the content reproduction apparatus can transcode the content information and transmit it to the terminal.

The content reproducing apparatus 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a receiving unit 131, a decoder 132, a first buffer 133, a transcoding unit 134, a second buffer 135, a transmitting unit 136 And a control unit (not shown). The first and second buffers may be omitted and used as optional elements.

The receiving unit 131 receives content from an external content source. Content can be received included in the transport stream. The decoder 132 decodes the received transport stream to generate content data. The content data includes video content information, audio content information, photographic content information, and other types of content information. The generated content data may be stored in a storage unit (not shown). The audio content information includes an audio track.

The transcoding unit 134 transcodes content generated in the decoder 132 or stored in the storage unit. For example, the transcoding unit 134 may transcode the audio content information. The transcoding unit 134 may transcode the audio content information so that the size of the audio content information is less than a specific size under the control of the controller. The transcoding unit 134 may load audio content information from the storage unit into the first buffer 133 before transcoding. The transcoding unit 134 sequentially transcodes the audio contents in the order stored in the first buffer. The transcoding unit 134 performs transcoding using a known method. And the transcoding unit 134 transfers the transcoded audio content to the transmission unit 136. [ The audio content transmitted to the transmission unit 136 may be stored in the second buffer. The transmitting unit 136 may transmit the transcoded audio content to each terminal.

The video content, audio content, photo content, and other types of content information may also be transcoded using the transcoding unit 134, such as the transcoding method of the above audio content.

The control unit controls the receiving unit 131, the decoder 132, the transcoding unit 134, and the transmitting unit 136. The control unit controls the transcoding unit 134 and the transmission unit 136 according to the request of each terminal or according to the setting information transmitted from each terminal, and transmits content information to be transmitted to each terminal to each terminal. If the content reproduction apparatus does not have the content information requested by the terminal, the control unit may receive the content information requested from the external content using the receiving unit 131 using a transmitting unit (not shown).

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the provision of synchronized content information in the method of providing content information according to an embodiment of the present invention. The terminal 140 can provide content information by synchronizing the content information with the reproduction of the content in the content reproduction apparatus 130. The terminal 140 may perform synchronization using the time stamp received together with the content information in the content reproduction apparatus. The time stamp may be received in the content information, and may be received separately from the content information. The content reproduction apparatus 130 may periodically transmit a time stamp to the terminal 140 in addition to the information related to the content.

8 is a graph showing output of content and content information along the time axis. 8, A is a graph showing first time stamps 810a, 820a, and 830a, which are time stamps of contents reproduced by the content reproduction apparatus 130, on a time axis, and B is a time stamp 2 time stamps 810b, 820b and 830b on the time axis. When the content reproduction apparatus 130 is reproducing the content at the 801 location, the terminal 140 can provide information related to the content in synchronization with the reproduction of the content at a time stamp of 801 or later. For example, subtitles or audio can be provided to the user in synchronization with the position of the content to be reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus.

In one embodiment, the content reproducing apparatus 130 generates the content information, and generates the content information by using the position of the content to be reproduced in the content reproducing apparatus 130 and the position at which the position is reproduced in the content reproducing apparatus, And a first output time information including a pair of a time point at which a specific position of the transmitted content information is to be output from the terminal may be included in the time stamp. The terminal can synchronize the output position of the content information output from the terminal to the reproduction position of the content to be reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus by using the first output time information included in the time stamp.

In another embodiment, each time the content reproduction apparatus changes the reproduction status of the content to be reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus, the content reproduction apparatus transmits the content reproduction time information, which is a pair of the reproduction point at which the content reproduced at the content reproduction apparatus is reproduced, To the terminal. The content reproduction apparatus may transmit the content information together with the second output time information including the position of the content information to be output to the reproduction position of the content. The terminal determines the reproduction position of the content to be reproduced in the current content reproduction apparatus 130 by using the received content reproduction time information and the elapsed time after the reproduction state of the content is changed in the content reproduction apparatus 130, Can be reproduced in synchronization with the reproduction position of the content to be reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus by using the second output position.

The terminal 140 may provide the content information in synchronization with the reproduction state of the content to be reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus using the first output time information or the second output time information.

The content reproduction apparatus 130 may periodically transmit the time stamp to the terminal 140 using a separate transmission format independently of the information related to the content in order to transmit the time stamp every predetermined period during the reproduction time of the content .

In another embodiment, when a delay occurs in transmission of the content information, such as when transcoding the content information, the content reproduction apparatus 130 temporarily stops the reproduction of the content reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus. The content information corresponding to the position of the content to be reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus is transmitted to the terminal and the synchronization of the content information received using the time stamp with the reproduction position of the content being reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus is achieved When the playback apparatus 130 receives the content, the content playback apparatus 130 can resume playback of the content.

9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a content reproduction apparatus 900 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The content reproduction apparatus 900 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a communication unit 910, a content information generation unit 920, a content information storage unit 930, a transcoding unit 940, a content playback unit (not shown) And a control unit 950.

The communication unit 910 performs communication with a content source and a terminal, such as the server of FIG. 1, under the control of the controller 950. The communication unit 910 includes a transmitting unit 911 and a receiving unit 915. The transmitting unit 911 requests content from a content source or transmits content information to the terminal 140. The receiving unit 912 receives content from the server or receives a connection request, setting information, terminal performance information, and content information request from the terminal.

The content information generation unit 920 generates content information from the content data received from the content source under the control of the control unit 950. [ The content information generation unit 920 can store the generated content information in the content information storage unit 930. [ The content reproducing unit reproduces the content using the output unit included in the content information generating unit. The transcoding unit 940 performs transcoding of the content information under the control of the controller 950.

The control unit 950 determines the content information to be transmitted to the terminal according to the setting information of the terminal, which is received using the receiving unit 915 and stored in the content information storage unit 930. The control unit 950 may determine the linked content to be transmitted to the terminal among the linked contents related to the reproduction of the content being reproduced in the current content reproduction apparatus according to at least one of the terminal setting information and the linked content request received from the terminal.

The control unit 950 also receives data of content information to be transmitted to the terminal using at least one of the throughput of the terminal received and stored in the content information storage unit 930 using the receiving unit 915, The size can be determined.

In addition, the control unit 950 generates a time stamp of the content being reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus, time information of the reproduction position in the content reproduction apparatus, and time stamp of the content information together with the transmitted content information, 911 to the terminal.

10 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a terminal 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The terminal 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a communication unit 1010, an input unit 1020, an output unit 1030, and a control unit 1040.

The communication unit 1010 performs communication with the content reproduction apparatus under the control of the control unit 1040. [ The communication unit 1010 includes a transmitting unit 1011 and a receiving unit 1015. The transmitting unit 1011 may transmit a connection request, a content information request, a terminal setting information, a terminal performance information, and the like to the content reproducing apparatus to perform a connection with the content reproducing apparatus. The receiving unit 1015 can receive the content information from the content reproducing apparatus, the reproducing position of the content being reproduced by the content reproducing apparatus, the time information at which the reproducing position is reproduced by the content reproducing apparatus, and the time stamp of the content information. Content information, time stamp, and the like can be received in the transport stream.

The output unit 1030 includes a display unit 1032, an audio unit 1034, and a vibration unit 1036, including a display unit 1032, an audio unit 1034, and a vibration unit 1036 under the control of the control unit 1040. [ ) To output the content information to the user visually, audibly, and tactually. The output unit may include a decoder to decode and output content information. The input unit 1020 receives a user input from the user and transmits the user input to the control unit 1040.

The control unit 1040 determines the reproduction position of the content being reproduced in the current content reproduction apparatus by using the reproduction position and the time information of the received content, synchronizes the reproduction position of the reproduction-in-progress content with the time stamp, It is possible to output the content information.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be carried out without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The combination of the above-described embodiments is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various combinations of types as well as the above-described embodiments may be provided according to implementation and / or necessity.

In the above-described embodiments, the methods are described on the basis of a flowchart as a series of steps or blocks, but the present invention is not limited to the order of steps, and some steps may occur in different orders or in a different order than the steps described above have. It will also be understood by those skilled in the art that the steps depicted in the flowchart illustrations are not exclusive and that other steps may be included or that one or more steps in the flowchart may be deleted without affecting the scope of the invention You will understand.

The foregoing embodiments include examples of various aspects. While it is not possible to describe every possible combination for expressing various aspects, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other combinations are possible. Accordingly, it is intended that the invention include all alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (21)

A content providing method performed by a content reproducing apparatus,
Reproducing the content;
Receiving at least one of setting information of a terminal and requesting a linked content from the terminal; And
And transmitting at least one of a linked content related to the content to be reproduced and an indicator of the linked content to the terminal according to at least one of setting information of the terminal and request for a linked content. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the step of transmitting at least one of the linked content and the associated content indication to the terminal comprises:
Determining a linked content to be transmitted to the terminal among the linked contents related to the reproduction of the content to be reproduced according to at least one of setting information of a terminal and request for a linked content received from the terminal; And
And transmitting at least one of the determined linkage content and the determined linkage content indicator to the terminal. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the step of transmitting at least one of the linked content and the associated content indication to the terminal comprises:
And determining linkage contents to be transmitted to the terminal using at least one of a throughput of the terminal and a communication state of the terminal. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the step of transmitting at least one of the linked content and the associated content indication to the terminal comprises:
Determining a size of linked content to be transmitted to the terminal using at least one of a throughput of the terminal and a communication state of the terminal;
Transcoding the linked content according to the determined size of the linked content; And
And transmitting the transcoded linked content to the terminal. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the step of transmitting at least one of the linked content and the associated content indication to the terminal comprises:
And transmitting the linked content in synchronization with the content to be reproduced. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the step of transmitting at least one of the linked content and the associated content indication to the terminal comprises:
And transmitting a time stamp together with the linked content. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising the step of transmitting the reproduction position of the content being reproduced by the content reproduction apparatus and the reproduction time of the reproduction content being reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus. The method according to claim 1,
The method of claim 1,
And reproducing the plurality of contents together. A content receiving method performed by a terminal,
Connecting to the content reproduction apparatus;
Transmitting at least one of setting information of a terminal and request for a linked content to the content reproducing apparatus; And
And receiving at least one of a linked content and a linked content indicator related to the content being played back in the content playback apparatus according to at least one of the setting information of the terminal and the content request transmitted from the content playback apparatus And the content is received. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the step of receiving at least one of the linked content and the linked content indicator comprises:
The method comprising: receiving a transport stream including at least one associated content;
Decoding the linked content from the transport stream; And
And outputting the linked content selected according to the language setting information of the terminal. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the setting information of the terminal includes at least one of the throughput information of the terminal and the communication state information of the terminal. 10. The method of claim 9,
Further comprising the step of outputting the received linked content in synchronization with the content being played back in the content reproducing apparatus. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the step of receiving at least one of the linked content and the linked content indicator comprises:
Receiving a timestamp,
The step of outputting the received linked content in synchronization with the content being reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus may include outputting the linked content in synchronization with the content being reproduced using the time stamp A method for receiving linked contents. 14. The method of claim 13,
Wherein the step of receiving at least one of the linked content and the linked content indicator comprises:
Further comprising the step of receiving the reproduction position of the content being reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus and the reproduction time of the reproduction content being reproduced in the reproduction apparatus. 15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the step of outputting the received linked content in synchronization with the content being reproduced in the content reproducing apparatus comprises:
Further comprising the step of determining the reproduction position of the content being reproduced by the current content reproduction apparatus using the reproduction position and the time information of the received content. 10. The method of claim 9,
Further comprising receiving linked content from a server using a linked content indicator. A content providing apparatus for providing a content,
A reproducing unit for reproducing the content; And
A content playback method comprising: receiving at least one of setting information of a terminal and a request for a linked content from a terminal; requesting at least one of a linked content related to a content being played back in the playback unit and an indicator And a communication unit for transmitting one to the terminal. 18. The method of claim 17,
The linked content providing apparatus includes:
A control unit for determining linkage content to be transmitted to the terminal according to language setting information of the terminal and determining a data size of linking content to be transmitted to the terminal using at least one of the throughput of the terminal and the communication state of the terminal; And
And a transcoding unit for transcoding the linked content according to the determined data size,
And the communication unit transmits the transcoded linked contents to the terminal. 18. The method of claim 17,
Wherein the communication unit transmits, along with the linked contents to be transmitted, the reproduction position of the content being reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus, the time information in which the reproduction position is reproduced in the content reproduction apparatus, and the time stamp of the linked content. Content providing apparatus. In the terminal,
The content reproduction apparatus is connected to the content reproduction apparatus and transmits at least one of configuration information of the terminal and a request for linked content to the content reproduction apparatus, And a communication unit that receives at least one of a linked content and a linked content indicator related to the content being played back in the content playback apparatus. 21. The method of claim 20,
The terminal further includes an output unit for outputting the content and a control unit for controlling the output unit to output the linked content,
Wherein the setting information of the terminal includes at least one of the throughput information of the terminal and the communication status information of the content reproducing apparatus and the terminal,
Wherein the communication unit transmits the received linked content or linked content indicator together with the playback position of the content being played back in the content playback apparatus, the time information at which the playback position is played back in the content playback apparatus, and the time stamp of the linked content or linked content indicator Lt; / RTI >
Wherein the control unit determines a reproduction position of the content being reproduced in the current content reproduction apparatus using the reproduction position and the time information of the received content, synchronizes with the reproduction position of the reproduction content using the time stamp, And outputting the linked content using the content.

Images