WO2011077642A1 - コンテンツ先読み制御装置及び先読み制御方法 - Google Patents
コンテンツ先読み制御装置及び先読み制御方法 Download PDFInfo
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- WO2011077642A1 WO2011077642A1 PCT/JP2010/006904 JP2010006904W WO2011077642A1 WO 2011077642 A1 WO2011077642 A1 WO 2011077642A1 JP 2010006904 W JP2010006904 W JP 2010006904W WO 2011077642 A1 WO2011077642 A1 WO 2011077642A1
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N7/00—Television systems
- H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
- H04N7/162—Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
- H04N7/163—Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing by receiver means only
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/438—Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. retrieving MPEG packets from an IP network
- H04N21/4383—Accessing a communication channel
- H04N21/4384—Accessing a communication channel involving operations to reduce the access time, e.g. fast-tuning for reducing channel switching latency
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/442—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk
- H04N21/44213—Monitoring of end-user related data
- H04N21/44222—Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/47—End-user applications
- H04N21/482—End-user interface for program selection
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N5/00—Details of television systems
- H04N5/44—Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards
- H04N5/50—Tuning indicators; Automatic tuning control
Definitions
- the present invention relates to time reduction until content is output to a screen or the like for content that takes a long time to load, such as content for digital broadcasting or streaming playback.
- terminals such as televisions capable of receiving and outputting content such as video content on the network (hereinafter referred to as streaming video content) and digital broadcasting have been commercialized, and the number of such products has increased.
- mobile devices such as mobile phones have come out with products that can output similar contents, and the number of terminals of such products is increasing.
- the moving image content of a channel in the vicinity of the channel currently being viewed is buffered in advance. And the said invention carries out buffering beforehand, and when a channel is selected by user operation, a moving image content will be output rapidly. This realizes comfortable operability when the user performs a zapping operation on digital broadcasting or streaming video content.
- Patent Document 1 has the following problems.
- the zapping operation it is not always possible to view only the moving image content of a channel in the vicinity of the channel that the user is currently viewing.
- the content may be viewed in a channel away from the channel currently being viewed by the user skipping many channels due to a zapping operation.
- the user may suddenly switch to a channel away from the channel currently being viewed by the zapping operation.
- the buffering of the moving image content that the user views next is not in time, and a time lag occurs before the content output starts.
- the present invention solves the above-described problem, and provides a content prefetch control device that shortens the time until content output starts even when the user suddenly switches to a channel away from the channel currently being viewed by a zapping operation.
- the purpose is to do.
- a content prefetch control device is a content prefetch control device included in a content output device that outputs content, in which the order of content to be switched by a specific user operation is described
- a content map holding unit for storing a map, an operation determination unit for determining a zapping operation for continuously switching content based on a specific user operation, and a zapping for cumulatively storing the zapping operations determined by the operation determination unit
- a zapping operation prediction unit that predicts the next zapping operation based on the zapping operation prediction unit, and the next predicted by the zapping operation prediction unit Zapping operation to be performed and content map
- a viewing target prediction unit that predicts at least one content to be viewed next by the user, and a prefetch execution unit that prefetches at least one content to be viewed predicted by the viewing target prediction unit.
- the viewing target prediction unit predicts the content most likely to be viewed next by the user and the content in the vicinity on the content map based on the next zapping operation and the content map. May be.
- the content prefetch control device further includes a content attribute table storing time required for buffering for each content, and the viewing target prediction unit refers to the content attribute table and stores at least one content to be viewed.
- a prefetch target determination unit that selects some content based on the time required for buffering may be provided, and the prefetch execution unit may prefetch some content.
- the prefetch target determination unit may select a predetermined number of contents as a part of content in order of the time required for buffering from at least one content to be viewed.
- the predetermined number may be the maximum number of prefetchable contents based on the storage capacity of the content output device.
- the content prefetch control apparatus of the present invention may further include an external factor acquisition unit that periodically measures the data reception state by the network and updates the time required for buffering the content attribute table.
- the content map holding unit may acquire the content map from the map generation unit in the content output device that has generated the content map.
- the content prefetch control method of the present invention is a content prefetch control method included in a content output device that outputs content, and a zapping operation for continuously switching content performed by a user operation is accumulated.
- the zapping operation prediction step for predicting the next zapping operation based on the recorded history, the next zapping operation predicted by the zapping operation prediction step, and the order of contents switched by a specific user operation are described.
- a viewing target prediction step for predicting at least one content to be viewed next by the user based on the content map, and a prefetch execution step for prefetching at least one viewing target content predicted by the viewing target prediction step; Having And features.
- the content prefetch control apparatus and method according to the present invention predict moving image content that is likely to be viewed next by the user based on the user's past zapping operation history. Therefore, the content prefetch control apparatus and method of the present invention can shorten the time until the content output starts even when the user suddenly switches to a channel away from the channel currently being viewed by the zapping operation.
- FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of a content output apparatus 100 including a content prefetch control apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 2 shows an internal configuration of the acquisition unit 110 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of the content map 119 in the first embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 4 shows an internal configuration of the content prefetch control apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation until the content output apparatus 100 acquires a zapping operation history.
- FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation until the content output apparatus 100 acquires a zapping operation history.
- FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of a content output apparatus 100 including a content prefetch control apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 2 shows an internal configuration of the acquisition unit 110 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of the content map
- FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the content prefetch control apparatus 200 when starting prefetching of moving image content.
- FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the content prefetch control apparatus 200 when starting prefetching of moving image content.
- FIG. 9 shows an example of the prediction result of the zapping operation prediction unit 203.
- FIG. 10 shows a specific example for explaining the operation content after step S16 in FIG.
- FIG. 11 shows a specific example for explaining the operation content after step S16 in FIG.
- FIG. 12 shows a specific example for explaining the operation details of the content prefetch control apparatus 200.
- FIG. 13 shows a specific example for explaining the operation details of the content prefetch control apparatus 200.
- FIG. 10 shows a specific example for explaining the operation content after step S16 in FIG.
- FIG. 11 shows a specific example for explaining the operation content after step S16 in FIG.
- FIG. 12 shows a specific example for explaining the operation details of the content prefetch
- FIG. 14 shows an overall configuration of a content output device 100a including the content prefetch control device 200a according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 15 shows an internal configuration of the acquisition unit 110a according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram of a content map in the second embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 17 shows the internal configuration of the content prefetch control apparatus 200a of the present invention.
- FIG. 18 shows an example of a content attribute table.
- FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the content prefetch control apparatus 200a when starting prefetching of moving image content.
- FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the content prefetch control apparatus 200a when starting prefetching of moving image content.
- FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the content prefetch control apparatus 200a when starting prefetching of moving image content.
- FIG. 21 shows a specific example for explaining the operation content after step S16 in FIG.
- FIG. 22 shows a specific example for explaining the operation content after step S16 in FIG.
- FIG. 23 shows an internal configuration of the content prefetch control apparatus 200b according to the modification of the second embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 24 shows an overall configuration of a content output device 100c including the content prefetch control device 200c according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 25 shows an internal configuration of the acquisition unit 110c according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 26 is a conceptual diagram of a content map in the third embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 27 shows an internal configuration of the content prefetch control apparatus 200c according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing an example of operations until the content output apparatus 100c according to the third embodiment of the present invention acquires a zapping operation history.
- FIG. 29 shows an example of the prediction result of the zapping operation prediction unit 203c in the third embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 30 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the content prefetch control apparatus 200c when starting prefetching of moving image content.
- FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the content prefetch control device 200c when starting prefetching of moving image content.
- FIG. 32 shows a specific example for explaining the operation content after step S72 in FIG.
- FIG. 33 illustrates an example of a prediction area defined by the viewing target prediction unit 205c.
- FIG. 34 shows an example of a prediction area defined by the viewing target prediction unit 205c.
- FIG. 35 illustrates an example of a prediction area defined by the viewing target prediction unit 205c.
- FIG. 36 shows a specific example for explaining the operation content after step S81 in FIG.
- FIG. 37 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the content prefetch control device 200 when starting prefetching of moving image content.
- FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a content output apparatus 100 including a content prefetch control apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
- the content output apparatus 100 is a television that receives broadcast waves transmitted from a broadcast station or a mobile terminal that is taken out of the house.
- the user switches the content one after another after confirming the content information by a zapping operation.
- the content information that the user confirms is the title, playback time, thumbnail, performer, popularity, etc. of the content. Further, the user can switch the contents one after another while confirming the information of the displayed contents by an operation such as a long press of a key.
- the content output device 100 is a terminal capable of screen display corresponding to such a user's viewing mode.
- the content output device 100 includes an acquisition unit 110, an input unit 120, a storage unit 130, an output unit 140, an output control unit 150, and a content prefetch control device 200.
- the acquisition unit 110 receives a broadcast wave and generates a content map to be described later.
- FIG. 2 shows an internal configuration of the acquisition unit 110.
- the acquisition unit 110 includes a broadcast reception unit 111 and a map generation unit 114.
- the broadcast receiving unit 111 receives the moving image content transmitted from the broadcasting station, and causes the storage unit 130 to buffer the received moving image content.
- the broadcast receiving unit 111 receives an electronic program guide and the like transmitted by being superimposed on radio waves from a broadcast station.
- the map generation unit 114 generates a content map 119 composed of a list of moving images sent from receivable broadcast stations based on the electronic program guide described above.
- the content map 119 is not only generated by receiving the electronic program guide, but may also be stored in the acquisition unit 110 in advance, or generated by user settings at the time of initial setting of the content output device 100. Also good.
- FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of the content map 119 in the first embodiment.
- the content map shown in FIG. 3 shows an example in which channels of broadcast stations that can be received by the acquisition unit 110 are arranged one-dimensionally.
- the channel switching operation in ascending order and descending order shown in FIG. 3 is performed.
- the channel is switched one by one in the direction of the ascending or descending arrow by a single channel switching operation.
- the switching operation to ascending order is performed, for example, when the user presses the upper button provided in the input unit 120.
- switching operation to descending order is performed, for example, when a user presses the down button with which the input part 120 is provided.
- the input unit 120 includes operation buttons such as key buttons, up / down / left / right buttons, and a pressure-sensitive touch panel, and receives operations such as content switching from the user.
- the input unit 120 may be composed of two units, a remote controller and a controller receiving unit. In that case, in the input unit 120, the remote controller receives a user operation and transmits it to the controller reception unit, and the controller reception unit receives the signal and receives an operation such as content switching from the user. After receiving the user operation, the input unit 120 outputs user operation information 121 (not shown) regarding the user operation to the output control unit 150 and the content prefetch control device 200.
- Storage unit 130 buffers moving image content.
- the storage unit 130 is typically implemented by a storage device such as a non-volatile memory that does not lose its stored contents even when the power is turned off.
- the output unit 140 displays the moving image content buffered by the storage unit 130 in accordance with an instruction from the output control unit 150, and performs audio output.
- the output unit 140 may output the content information together with the moving image content or before outputting the moving image content. Note that the output unit 140 may not have an audio output function depending on the type of the content output device 100.
- the output control unit 150 switches to a channel that the user desires to view based on the content map 119 acquired from the acquisition unit 110.
- the output control unit 150 controls the output unit 140 according to the operation information.
- the content prefetch control device 200 determines whether or not it is a zapping operation based on the user operation information 121 input from the input unit 120, and accumulates the zapping operation information as a zapping operation history.
- the zapping operation information accumulated as the zapping operation determination and the zapping operation history will be described later.
- the content prefetch control device 200 predicts the zapping operation that the user will perform next from the zapping operation history. Then, based on the predicted zapping operation, the content prefetch control apparatus 200 causes the acquisition unit 110 to receive the moving image content of the channel that the user is expected to view next, and causes the storage unit 130 to buffer it in advance.
- the channel that is considered to be viewed next is a channel different from the channel received by the acquisition unit 110 under the control of the output control unit 150.
- the content prefetch control apparatus 200 includes an operation determination unit 201, a zapping operation history storage unit 202, a zapping operation prediction unit 203, a content map holding unit 204, a viewing target prediction unit 205, and a prefetch execution unit 206.
- the operation determination unit 201 determines whether the user is performing a zapping operation based on the user operation information 121 output from the input unit 120. A method for determining the zapping operation will be described later. Furthermore, the operation determination unit 201 determines whether or not there has been a channel switching operation within a predetermined time after the content output, based on the user operation information 121 output from the input unit 120.
- the zapping operation history storage unit 202 stores operation information determined by the operation determination unit 201 as a user's zapping operation.
- This operation information refers to various types of information related to the user's zapping operation, such as the date and time of zapping, the time required for one zapping operation, and how many channels were skipped by zapping.
- the storage format of the zapping operation history is saved as a database or as a file. The format at this time is arbitrary, such as XML (extensible Markup Language).
- the zapping operation prediction unit 203 predicts the next zapping operation that is predicted to be performed after the user has viewed the moving image content currently being viewed, based on the zapping operation history stored in the zapping operation history storage unit 202.
- the content map holding unit 204 holds the content map 119. Then, when the map generation unit 114 of the acquisition unit 110 newly generates the content map 119, the new content map 119 is acquired.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 predicts which channel on the content map 119 is switched to by the next zapping operation based on the zapping operation predicted by the zapping operation prediction unit 203.
- the prefetch execution unit 206 prefetches the moving image of the channel predicted by the viewing target prediction unit 205. Specifically, the prefetch execution unit 206 causes the acquisition unit 110 to start receiving moving image content transmitted from the broadcast station.
- FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation until the content output apparatus 100 acquires a history of zapping operations when a user's channel switching operation is continuously detected by the input unit 120.
- the case where the user's channel switching operation is continuously detected by the input unit 120 means one of the following four.
- the operation determination unit 201 determines whether there has been a channel switching operation by the user based on the user operation information 121 (step S01). If there is no channel switching operation (No in step S01), the process returns to step S01.
- step S01 If it is determined that there has been a channel switching operation (Yes in step S01), the operation determination unit 201 determines whether the channel switching operation in step S01 is in the ascending order of FIG. 3 based on the user operation information 121 (step S02). ).
- the operation determining unit 201 acquires the number of changed channels in the ascending order input within a certain time from the channel switching operation in step S01 ( Step S03).
- the operation determining unit 201 acquires the number of changed channels in the descending order input within a certain time from the channel switching operation in step S01 ( Step S04).
- the operation determination unit 201 determines whether or not the number of changed channels obtained in step S03 or step S04 is larger than a predetermined threshold (step S05). If the number of changed channels is larger than the threshold (Yes in step S05), the operation determination unit 201 determines that zapping is being performed (step S06). Then, the zapping operation history storage unit 202 stores operation information determined as the user's zapping operation (step S07). Conversely, when the number of changed channels is equal to or smaller than the threshold (No in step S05), the operation determination unit 201 determines that zapping is not being performed (step S08). When the processes of steps S07 and S08 are completed, the process returns to the state of step S01.
- the operation determination unit 201 performs zapping viewing even when both the ascending / descending channel switching operations are performed within a certain period of time after the channel switching operation is started and the number of switching operations within that time is large. Can be determined. In this case, the operation determination unit 201 does not perform the determination process of step S02 in FIG. 5, but simply starts channel change and acquires the number of changed channels in both ascending order and descending order within a certain time. Furthermore, the operation determination unit 201 may determine whether or not zapping is being performed based on whether or not the number of changed channels exceeds a predetermined threshold.
- the zapping operation history storage unit 202 stores the channel switching change direction (ascending order, descending order) and the number of channel switching from immediately before the zapping start to the zapping end time as a history.
- FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation until the content output apparatus 100 acquires a zapping operation history when the input unit 120 of the content output apparatus 100 can input a zapping instruction.
- the input of the zapping instruction means, for example, an input of pressing a scan button (a button for starting the zapping process when pressed).
- the input of a zapping instruction means until the user touches the touch panel again when the user performs an operation (flick) of gently touching the finger on the touch panel.
- the input of the zapping instruction means an input by flicking when the output control unit 150 performs zapping only for a time corresponding to the flick operation speed.
- FIG. 6 the same processes as those in FIG.
- the operation determination unit 201 determines whether a user has input a zapping instruction based on the user operation information 121 (step S09). If it is determined that the user has input a zapping instruction (Yes in step S09), the operation determination unit 201 determines that zapping is being performed (step S06). Conversely, when there is no zapping instruction input by the user (No in step S09), the operation determination unit 201 determines that zapping is not in progress (step S08).
- FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation related to the content prefetch control device 200 when starting prefetching of moving image content.
- the operation determination unit 201 determines whether or not there has been a channel switching operation within a predetermined time after the start of content output by channel switching or power-on (step S11). For this predetermined time, an optimum value is set in advance for each content output device 100 and stored in the content prefetch control device 200. If there is a channel switching operation within the predetermined time (No in step S11), the process returns to step S11.
- the prefetch execution unit 206 releases the memory area excluding the memory area related to the moving image content of the channel that the user is currently viewing (step S12).
- the memory area to be released refers to a memory area used for past prefetching, that is, a memory area storing moving picture content prefetched in the past.
- the prefetch execution unit 206 sets the prefetch number Nr to 0 (step S13).
- the prefetch number Nr is a count value related to the prefetched moving image content number.
- the zapping operation prediction unit 203 predicts the next zapping operation based on the zapping operation history stored in the zapping operation history storage unit 202 (step S15). At this time, the zapping operation prediction unit 203 may predict the next zapping operation based on all past operation histories, or may predict the next zapping operation based only on the latest operation history for a certain period. Also good.
- FIG. 9 is a table showing an example of the prediction result of the zapping operation prediction unit 203.
- the left column of this table indicates the number of channels that move in ascending or descending order in one zapping operation.
- the positive and negative signs in the left column represent the movement of the channel in descending order by “+” and the movement of the channel in ascending order by “ ⁇ ”.
- the right column shows the appearance probability of each zapping operation. This appearance probability indicates the ratio of the zapping operation performed in the entire zapping history used for predicting the next zapping operation in step S15.
- the zapping operation prediction unit 203 predicts the next zapping operation on the assumption that the operation having a high appearance probability in the past operation history is likely to be performed by the user next.
- the maximum value and the minimum value ⁇ Nmax in the left column are the maximum value and the minimum value of the number of mobile channels predetermined in the zapping operation prediction unit 203. In the following description, it is assumed that the appearance probabilities between the number of mobile channels between ⁇ Nmax and ⁇ 9 and between +9 and + Nmax in FIG. 9 are all 0%.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects the channel most likely to be the next viewing target based on the prediction result shown in FIG. 9 and the content map 119 held by the content map holding unit 204. (Step S16). When a channel is selected, the channel currently being viewed and the channel selected in the past are excluded from the selection targets. Also, the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects a channel that is most likely to be a viewing target when step S16 is first executed.
- the prefetch execution unit 206 starts prefetching of content in the channel selected by the viewing target prediction unit 205 (step S17).
- the prefetch execution unit 206 adds 1 to the prefetch number Nr (step S18).
- the prefetch execution unit 206 determines whether or not Nr has reached the loadable number (step S19).
- the loadable number is the maximum number of prefetchable moving image contents, and is determined based on the storage capacity of the storage unit 130 and the like. If the loadable number has not been reached (No in step S19), the processes in and after step S16 are executed again. When the loadable number is reached (No in step S19), the content prefetching operation by the prefetch execution unit 206 ends.
- FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation related to the content prefetch control apparatus 200 corresponding to the problem.
- FIG. 8 the same operations as those of FIG. Hereinafter, operations different from those in FIG. 7 will be described in detail.
- the viewing target predicting unit 205 selects an unselected channel from the channel selected in step S16 and the m channels before and after it, except for the channel currently being viewed. Step S21).
- the value of m is a predetermined value and is determined based on the storage capacity of the storage unit 130 and the like. In the following description, the number of channels selected in step S21 is n.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 determines whether Nr + n is equal to or greater than the loadable number (step S22). When Nr + n is equal to or greater than the loadable number (Yes in step S22), the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects (loadable number ⁇ Nr) channels in order from the channel selected in step S16 (step S23). . Then, the prefetch execution unit 206 starts prefetching of the content in the channel selected in step S23 (step S24), and sets Nr as a loadable number (step S25). After step S25, the content prefetching operation ends.
- Nr + n is smaller than the loadable number (No in Step S22)
- the prefetch execution unit 206 starts prefetching of content in the channel selected in Step S21 (Step S26). Then, the prefetch execution unit 206 adds n to Nr (step S27). Thereafter, the processing after step S16 is executed again.
- FIG. 10 is a specific example for explaining the operation content after step S16 in FIG.
- reference numerals C01 to C07 are assigned to the respective channels, which correspond to the respective channels in FIG.
- the prediction result shown in FIG. 9 is obtained in step S15 of FIG. 7, and the channel currently being viewed is C01.
- step S16 the viewing target prediction unit 205 finds that the zapping operation with the maximum appearance probability is “+4” from the prediction result of FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C05, which is the fourth channel in descending order from C01, as the channel most likely to be viewed.
- step S17 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts content prefetching for C05 selected in step S16.
- step S18 the prefetch execution unit 206 adds 1 to the prefetch number Nr.
- Nr the prefetch number
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 finds that the zapping operation with the second highest appearance probability is “ ⁇ 6” from the prediction result of FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C02, which is the sixth channel in ascending order from C01, as a channel that is most likely to be the viewing target next to C05 that has already been selected.
- step S17 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts content prefetching for C02 selected in step S16.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 finds that the zapping operation with the third highest appearance probability is “+6” based on the prediction result of FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C07, which is the sixth channel in descending order from C01, as the channel that is most likely to be viewed after the already selected C05 and C02.
- step S17 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts content prefetching for C07 selected in step S16.
- FIG. 11 is a specific example for explaining the operation content after step S16 in FIG.
- reference numerals C01 to C07 are assigned to the respective channels, which correspond to the respective channels in FIG.
- the prediction result shown in FIG. 9 is obtained in step S15 of FIG. 8, and the channel currently being viewed is C01.
- the value of m in step S21 in FIG. 8 is 1, and the loadable number in step S22 and subsequent steps in FIG.
- step S16 the viewing target prediction unit 205 finds that the zapping operation with the maximum appearance probability is “+4” from the prediction result of FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C05, which is the fourth channel in descending order from C01, as the channel most likely to be viewed.
- step S21 the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C04 and C06, which are one channel before and after C05.
- C04 to C06 are not currently being viewed and are not yet selected, the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects all of C04 to C06. Therefore, the value of n in step S21 is 3.
- step S22 the viewing target prediction unit 205 calculates a value of Nr + n.
- Nr + n 3
- Nr + n is less than the loadable number 5. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205 determines “No” in step S22.
- step S26 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts prefetching of content for C04 to C06 selected in step S17. Then, in step S27, the prefetch execution unit 206 adds 3 to Nr.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 finds that the zapping operation with the second highest occurrence probability is “ ⁇ 6” from the prediction result of FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C02, which is the sixth channel in ascending order from C01, as the channel most likely to be viewed next to C04 that has already been selected.
- step S21 the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C02 and C03 excluding C01 currently being viewed from the selected C02 and the channels C01 and C03 before and after the selected C02. Therefore, the value of n in step S21 is 2.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects (loadable number ⁇ Nr), that is, two channels in order from the channel predicted in step S16.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects two of C02 and C03.
- step S24 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts content prefetching for C02 and C03 selected in step S23.
- the prefetch execution unit 206 sets Nr to the loadable number 5. Then, the content prefetching operation ends.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 may perform the following operation in step S16 after the second time. In this case, the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects the channel to be switched in the second step S16 by performing the zapping operation with the highest appearance probability from the channel selected in the first step S16. Thereafter, in each step S16, the viewing target prediction unit 205 sequentially selects the channels to be switched by performing the zapping operation with the highest appearance probability from the channel selected in the previous step S16.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C05 (one viewing target) in the first step S16. Thereafter, in the second step S16, the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C02 (second viewing target) which is the fourth channel in descending order from C05. Then, in the third step S16, the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C06 (third viewing target) that is the fourth channel in descending order from C02.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 may perform the following operation in the second and subsequent steps S16.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects channels up to the number that can be loaded in the order closer to the channel selected in the first step S16.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 may preferentially select either descending order or ascending order in two channels that are the same number of channels as the channel selected the first time.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C05 in step S16 for the first time.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C06 ((1) in the figure) in the second step S16.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C04 ((2) in the figure) in the third step S16.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C07 ((3) in the figure) in the fourth step S16.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 selects C03 ((4) in the figure) in step S16 for the fifth time.
- the content prefetch control device can predict video content that is likely to be viewed next by the user based on the user's past zapping operation history when the user starts viewing the content. Therefore, even when the user suddenly switches to a channel away from the channel currently being viewed by the zapping operation, the content output device including the content prefetch control device can shorten the time until the content output starts. .
- the content output device including the content prefetch control device saves resources such as memory. be able to.
- the operation of the zapping operation prediction unit 203 described above does not identify the user who operated the content output device 100, and therefore the history of zapping operations of various users except when the content output device 100 is a personal terminal. Are mixed. Therefore, if the zapping history for each user can be identified, the prediction accuracy of the zapping operation can be increased.
- the zapping operation history storage unit 202 is provided for each user. Manage the zapping operation history. Then, based on the zapping operation history for each user, the zapping operation prediction unit 203 may obtain a prediction result as shown in FIG. 9 by referring only to the history of the user currently viewing. As a result, the content prefetch control apparatus can predict the zapping operation from the history for each individual, and thus the prediction accuracy of the zapping operation can be increased.
- the time zone and day of the week on which the user mainly uses the content output apparatus 100 are different for each user, and are considered to be fixed to some extent according to customs. Therefore, the zapping operation prediction unit 203 acquires the zapping history having the same time zone (morning, around noon, daytime, evening, night), day of the week, and the like from the zapping operation history storage unit 202, from the history. You may obtain
- the zapping operation prediction unit 203 may calculate the probability values as shown in FIG. 9 after weighting the zapping operation history in the order from the current time. Alternatively, the zapping operation that is most likely to be performed next may be predicted based on the tendency of changes in the zapping operation from the past to the present. Further, the prediction result obtained by the zapping operation prediction unit 203 may calculate a statistic such as an average value or a median in addition to the probability as shown in FIG. 9 and use it as a prediction result.
- FIG. 14 is an overall configuration diagram of a content output device 100a including the content prefetch control device 200a according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
- the content output device 100a is a television having the following functions or a mobile terminal taken out of the house.
- the content output device 100a receives a broadcast wave transmitted from a broadcast station.
- the content output apparatus 100a can connect to a plurality of media such as a media server 400 (described later) and a memory card that distribute streaming video, acquire content, and reproduce the acquired content.
- the content output device 100a according to the second embodiment outputs content having different playback means such as streaming playback, file playback, and broadcast wave decoding.
- content attributes are called content attributes.
- the content output device 100a includes an acquisition unit 110a, an input unit 120, a storage unit 130, an output unit 140, an output control unit 150, and a content prefetch control device 200a.
- an acquisition unit 110a an input unit 120
- a storage unit 130 an output unit 140
- an output control unit 150 an output control unit 150
- the acquisition unit 110a differs from the acquisition unit 110 of the first embodiment in that it can acquire content with various content attributes.
- FIG. 15 shows the internal configuration of the acquisition unit 110a.
- the acquisition unit 110a includes a broadcast reception unit 111, a communication interface unit 112, a recording medium access unit 113, and a map generation unit 114a.
- the communication interface unit 112 is connected to the media server 400 that distributes the streaming video via the network 300.
- the communication interface unit 112 typically implements connection to the network 300 using a wired LAN (Local Area Network) and a wireless LAN.
- the communication interface unit 112 receives the moving image content transmitted from the media server 400 and causes the storage unit 130 to buffer the received moving image content. Furthermore, the communication interface unit 112 acquires a reproduction list in which information for uniquely specifying moving image content on the network is described. As information for uniquely specifying the moving image content, for example, there is a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). Preferably, the communication interface unit 112 may access the media server 400 every time the content output device 100a is activated, and newly acquire a reproduction list relating to a moving image list including the latest streaming moving image.
- URL Uniform Resource Locator
- the media server 400 is a server that is arranged in the house or outside the house and distributes moving image content in a streaming manner.
- a network 300 accessing a home media server typically refers to an intranet.
- the communication interface unit 112 and the media server 400 in the home communicate with each other using a protocol such as DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance).
- a network 300 that accesses a media server outside the home typically refers to the Internet.
- the communication interface unit 112 and the media server 400 outside the home communicate with each other by using a protocol such as WWW (World Wide Web).
- the recording medium access unit 113 accesses a recording medium such as a memory card inserted into the content output device 100a, a hard disk built in the content output device 100a, and acquires content.
- a recording medium such as a memory card inserted into the content output device 100a, a hard disk built in the content output device 100a, and acquires content.
- the recording medium access unit 113 stores the moving image content downloaded via the broadcast wave or the network in the recording medium in response to a request from the output control unit 150. Further, the recording medium access unit 113 obtains a reproduction list in which information for uniquely specifying the content recorded on the recording medium is described. As information for uniquely specifying the content, for example, there is a file path or the like.
- the map generation unit 114a generates a content map 119a from the above-described electronic program guide and reproduction list.
- FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram of the content map 119a in the second embodiment.
- the content map shown in FIG. 16 shows an example in which the above-described electronic program guide and reproduction list are arranged one-dimensionally.
- the user performs only the channel switching operation in the ascending order and descending order shown in FIG. Further, it is assumed that the user switches the channels one by one in the direction of the ascending or descending arrow by a single channel switching operation.
- a plurality of moving image contents having different content attributes are arranged according to the order determined for each content output device 100a. Specifically, it is rearranged according to popular moving image content, broadcast time order, or content attribute.
- the content map classified by the content attribute when the content that has been streamed from the media server 400 is downloaded to the internal hard disk by another means, the content attribute of the content changes.
- the map generation unit 114a newly generates a content map 119a when the communication interface unit 112 or the recording medium access unit 113 newly acquires a reproduction list. Furthermore, the map generation unit 114a newly generates a content map 119a when accessible content changes. A change in accessible content occurs due to a change in the network status obtained from the communication interface unit 112, the attachment / detachment of a memory card obtained from the recording medium access unit 113, the content erasing by the user, and the like.
- the acquisition unit 110a transmits the content map 119a generated as described above to the output control unit 150 and the content prefetch control device 200a.
- the content prefetch control device 200a includes an operation determination unit 201, a zapping operation history storage unit 202, a zapping operation prediction unit 203, a content map holding unit 204, a viewing target prediction unit 205a, a prefetch execution unit 206, and a content attribute table 211.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205a includes a prefetch target determination unit 212.
- the content attribute table 211 is a table showing correspondence between content attributes and time taken to start reproduction.
- FIG. 18 shows an example of a content attribute table.
- Streaming (in-home) is a content attribute of video content that is streamed from a media server in the home via the intranet.
- Streaming (outside of home) is a content attribute of moving image content that is streamed from a media server outside the home via the Internet.
- ile is a content attribute of the moving image content stored in the recording medium via the recording medium access unit 113.
- Broadcast is a content attribute of moving image content transmitted from a broadcasting station.
- each content attribute describes the time required to start playback.
- the average is 3000 ms
- the average is 2000 ms
- immediate reproduction is possible
- the case of “broadcasting” about 200 ms.
- the numerical values and content attributes shown in the second embodiment are examples.
- the time required to start reproduction depends on the network environment.
- the prefetch target determination unit 212 acquires the content attribute of the moving image content located around the channel that is expected to be switched next based on the zapping operation predicted by the zapping operation prediction unit 203. Then, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 and identifies the time required for buffering each content from the content attribute. Then, the prefetch target determination unit 212 excludes channels that have a short time required for buffering and do not require prefetching. Further, if all the remaining channels except for the channels that do not need prefetching are buffered, the prefetch target determination unit 212 gives priority to a channel that requires a long time for buffering when the capacity of the storage unit 130 is exceeded. Select
- the viewing target prediction unit 205a is obtained by adding the processing content of the prefetch target determination unit 212 in addition to the viewing target prediction unit 205 of the first embodiment.
- FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the content prefetch control device 200a when starting prefetching of moving image content.
- the same operations as those in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.
- step S16 when the viewing target prediction unit 205a selects a channel, the prefetch target determination unit 212 determines whether the load time of the channel is equal to or greater than a threshold (step S41).
- This threshold value is a value close to 0, is set according to the usage pattern of the user, and is stored in advance in the prefetch target determination unit 212.
- step S16 If the load time is smaller than the threshold (No in step S41), the process of step S16 is executed again. If the load time is equal to or greater than the threshold (Yes in step S41), the prefetch execution unit 206 executes the operations after step S17.
- FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation related to the content prefetch control device 200a for improving the influence due to the shift of the zapping operation of the user in the second embodiment.
- FIG. 18 the same operations as those in FIG. Hereinafter, operations different from those in FIG. 8 will be described in detail.
- step S21 the viewing target prediction unit 205a selects n channels.
- the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 based on the content attribute of the moving image content of the n channels, and acquires the load time (step S51). Then, the prefetch target determination unit 212 selects a channel whose load time is equal to or greater than a threshold value from the video content of the n channels. This threshold value is the same as the threshold value in step S41 of FIG. In the following description, the number of channels selected in step S51 is k.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205a determines whether Nr + k is equal to or greater than the loadable number (step S52). This loadable number is the same as the loadable number in step S22 of FIG.
- the prefetch target determining unit 212 executes the process of step S53.
- the prefetch target determination unit 212 selects (the loadable number ⁇ Nr) channels in the order of longer load time among the k channels selected in step S51 (step S53).
- the prefetch execution unit 206 starts prefetching of content in the channel selected in step S53 (step S54), and sets Nr as a loadable number (step S55).
- Step S52 When Nr + k is smaller than the loadable number (No in Step S52), the prefetch execution unit 206 starts prefetching of content in the k channels selected in Step S51 (Step S56). Then, the prefetch execution unit 206 adds k to Nr (step S57). When the prefetch execution unit 206 executes the operation of step S57, the process of step S16 is executed.
- FIG. 21 is a specific example for explaining the operation content after step S16 in FIG.
- reference numerals C11 to C17 are assigned to the respective channels, which correspond to the respective channels in FIG.
- the prediction result shown in FIG. 9 is obtained in step S15 of FIG. 19, and the channel currently being viewed is C11.
- the content attribute table 211 referred to in step S41 in FIG. 19 is the one shown in FIG. 18, and the threshold value in step S41 is 30 ms.
- step S16 the viewing target prediction unit 205a recognizes that the zapping operation with the maximum appearance probability is “+4” from the prediction result of FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205a selects C15, which is the fourth channel in descending order from C11, as the channel most likely to be viewed.
- step S41 since the content attribute of C15 selected in step S16 is “broadcast”, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 in FIG. 18 and sets the load time (200 ms). get. Since this load time is equal to or greater than the threshold of 30 ms, the prefetch target determination unit 212 determines “Yes” in step S41.
- step S17 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts content prefetching for C15.
- step S18 the prefetch execution unit 206 adds 1 to the prefetch number Nr.
- Nr the prefetch number
- the viewing target prediction unit 205a finds that the zapping operation with the second highest appearance probability is “ ⁇ 6” from the prediction result of FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205a selects C12, which is the sixth channel in ascending order from C11, as a channel that is most likely to be the viewing target next to C15 that has already been selected.
- step S41 since the content attribute of C12 selected in step S16 is “broadcast”, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 in FIG. 18 and sets the load time (200 ms). get. Since this load time is equal to or greater than the threshold of 30 ms, the prefetch target determination unit 212 determines “Yes” in step S41.
- step S17 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts content prefetching for C12.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205a finds that the zapping operation with the third highest appearance probability is “+6” based on the prediction result of FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205a selects C17, which is the sixth channel in descending order from C11, as the channel that is most likely to be the viewing target next to the already selected C15 and C12.
- step S41 since the content attribute of C17 selected in step S16 is “file”, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 of FIG. 18 and sets the load time (0 ms). get. Since the load time is less than the threshold value 30 ms, the prefetch target determination unit 212 determines “No” in step S41.
- the zapping operation with the fourth highest occurrence probability is selected from FIG.
- This zapping operation corresponds to both “ ⁇ 5” and “ ⁇ 7”, but since the seventh channel is the channel C11 currently being viewed in ascending order from C11, the viewing target predicting unit 205a selects the channel C11. Exclude from selection. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205a selects C13, which is the fifth channel in ascending order from C11, as the channel that is most likely to be the viewing target next to the already selected C15, C12, and C17.
- step S41 the prefetch target determination unit 212 knows that the content attribute of C13 selected in step S16 is “streaming (out-of-home)”. Therefore, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 in FIG. 18 and acquires the load time (3000 ms). Since this load time is equal to or greater than the threshold of 30 ms, the prefetch target determination unit 212 determines “Yes” in step S41.
- step S17 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts content prefetching for C13 selected in step S16.
- FIG. 22 is a specific example for explaining the operation content after step S16 in FIG.
- symbols C11 to C17 are assigned to the respective channels and correspond to the respective channels in FIG.
- the prediction result shown in FIG. 9 is obtained in step S15 of FIG. 20, and the channel currently being viewed is channel C11.
- the value of m in step S21 in FIG. 20 is 1, and the loadable number in step S52 and subsequent steps in FIG.
- the content attribute table 211 referred to in step S51 in FIG. 21 is assumed to be the one shown in FIG. 18, and the threshold value in step S51 is 30 ms.
- step S16 the viewing target prediction unit 205a recognizes that the zapping operation with the maximum appearance probability is “+4” from the prediction result of FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205a selects C15, which is the fourth channel in descending order from C11, as the channel most likely to be viewed.
- step S21 the viewing target prediction unit 205a selects C14 and C16, which are one channel before and after C15.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205a selects all of C14 to C16.
- step S51 the prefetch target determination unit 212 knows that the content attributes of C14, C15, and C16 selected in step S21 are “file”, “broadcast”, and “streaming (out-of-home)”, respectively. . Therefore, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 in FIG. 18 and acquires the respective load times (0 ms, 200 ms, and 3000 ms). Then, the prefetch target determination unit 212 selects C15 and C16 whose load time is equal to or greater than the threshold of 30 ms. Therefore, the value of k in step S51 is 2.
- step S52 the viewing target prediction unit 205a calculates a value of Nr + k.
- Nr + k 2
- Nr + k 3
- step S56 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts prefetching of content for C15 and C16 selected in step S51. Then, in step S57, the prefetch execution unit 206 adds 2 to Nr.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205a finds that the zapping operation with the second highest appearance probability is “ ⁇ 6” from the prediction result of FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205a selects C12, which is the sixth channel in ascending order from C11, as a channel that is most likely to be the viewing target next to C15 that has already been selected.
- step S21 the viewing target prediction unit 205a selects C12 and C13 excluding C11 currently being viewed from the selected C12 and the channels C11 and C13 before and after the selected C12.
- step S51 the prefetch target determination unit 212 knows that the content attributes of C12 and C13 selected in step S21 are “broadcast” and “streaming (out-of-home)”, respectively. Therefore, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 in FIG. 18 and acquires each load time (200 ms, 3000 ms). Then, the prefetch target determination unit 212 selects C12 and C13 whose load time is equal to or greater than the threshold of 30 ms. Therefore, the value of k in step S51 is 2.
- step S53 the prefetch target determination unit 212 selects (loadable number ⁇ Nr), that is, one channel in the order of the long load time.
- the prefetch target determination unit 212 selects C13.
- step S54 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts content prefetching for C13 selected in step S53.
- step S55 the prefetch execution unit 206 sets Nr to a loadable number 3. Then, the content prefetching operation ends.
- the content prefetch control device can be applied to moving image content having different content attributes such as broadcast wave decoding and streaming playback in addition to the operation of the content prefetch control device according to the first embodiment. For this reason, the content prefetch control apparatus can prefetch preferentially the content having a long load time among the moving image contents having different content attributes. Therefore, even when the user suddenly switches to a channel away from the channel currently being viewed by the zapping operation, the content output device including the content prefetch control device effectively shortens the time until the content output starts. be able to.
- step S53 in FIG. 20 when there are a plurality of contents having the same load time and (loadable number ⁇ Nr) channels cannot be selected, the priority order of the channels is arbitrary. For example, a channel close to the channel selected in step S16 may be preferentially selected. Moreover, a priority order may be determined according to the user's preference and popularity.
- the map generation unit 114a may generate only the changed part of the content map 119a when accessible content changes.
- the accessible content changes due to the network status obtained from the communication interface unit 112, the attachment / detachment of the memory card obtained from the recording medium access unit 113, the content erasing by the user, and the like.
- the acquisition unit 110a transmits the changed portion of the content map 119a to the output control unit 150 and the content prefetch control device 200a.
- the output control unit 150 and the content map holding unit 204 of the content prefetch control device 200a generate a new content map 119a based on the information on the changed part of the content map 119a.
- the prefetch execution unit 206 may prefetch the content of the next channel without performing prefetching.
- FIG. 23 is an internal configuration diagram of the content prefetch control apparatus 200b according to a modification of the second embodiment.
- the content prefetch control device 200b includes an operation determination unit 201, a zapping operation history storage unit 202, a zapping operation prediction unit 203, a content map holding unit 204, a viewing target prediction unit 205a, a prefetch execution unit 206, a content attribute table 211, and external factor acquisition. Part 213.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205a includes a prefetch target determination unit 212.
- movement as 2nd Embodiment description is abbreviate
- the external factor acquisition unit 213 periodically measures the reception state of data by the network. When the reception state changes, the time required for buffering is changed, and the content attribute table 211 is updated. The content loading time depends on the bit rate of content playback, the file size of the content, and the network environment. Therefore, the external factor acquisition unit 213 updates the necessary load time based on the file size, bit rate, etc. of each content and the network environment.
- the external factor acquisition unit 213 changes the time required for buffering in accordance with the change in the network, so that it is possible to realize prefetching of content with higher accuracy.
- FIG. 24 is an overall configuration diagram of a content output device 100c including the content prefetch control device 200c according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
- the content output device 100c is a television provided with a two-dimensional content map in addition to the function of the content output device 100a or a mobile terminal taken out of the house.
- the user can perform zapping by two-dimensional key operations such as up, down, left, and right.
- the content output device 100c includes an acquisition unit 110c, an input unit 120, a storage unit 130, an output unit 140, an output control unit 150c, and a content prefetch control device 200c.
- FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating the internal configuration of the acquisition unit 110c.
- the acquisition unit 110c includes a broadcast reception unit 111, a communication interface unit 112c, a recording medium access unit 113c, and a map generation unit 114c.
- the broadcast receiving unit 111 performs the same operation as that of the second embodiment, description thereof is omitted.
- the communication interface unit 112c and the recording medium access unit 113c are different from the communication interface unit 112 and the recording medium access unit 113 of the second embodiment in the information of the playlist acquired from the media server.
- information uniquely specified for each moving image content is described in the reproduction list.
- a set of contents is set as one group, information for uniquely specifying the group, and information for uniquely specifying each video content in the group are described in the playlist.
- the set of contents refers to, for example, the same type (moving image, still image, text, Web page, mail, etc.), the same genre (movie, music, variety, etc.), a playlist, and the like. That is, the third embodiment is characterized in that information for uniquely specifying content has two layers.
- the map generation unit 114c generates a content map 119c (not shown) from the electronic program guide and the reproduction list described above.
- the content map 119c regards the above-described content group as one channel, and manages the content belonging to each channel.
- FIG. 26 is a conceptual diagram of a content map in the third embodiment in which each row indicates the above-described channel and each column indicates content belonging to each channel.
- C11 to C17 displayed in FIG. 26 correspond to the channels C11 to C17 in FIG. Of C11 to C17, 5 channels excluding broadcast channels C12 and C15 are assumed to be the above-described content group, and the content of each channel is displayed in an array.
- C11 [1] indicates the first content of the channel C11.
- channels C12 and C15 which are broadcast channels, a content map is generated so as to include only one content C12 [1] and C15 [1] distributed from the broadcasting station.
- the hatched portion in the center of the content map indicates the content that is output when the user switches channels. For example, if the user switches between two channels in descending order while currently viewing the channel C14, the content output device 100c displays the content C16 [1]. As shown in the example of FIG. 26, the content output when the user switches channels is not limited to the first content of each channel, but varies depending on the user's viewing method and viewing history. Will be described later.
- the user when viewing the zapping, the user performs a left / right content switching operation in addition to the ascending / descending channel switching operation shown in FIG. Then, it is assumed that the channel is switched one by one in the direction of the ascending or descending arrow by one channel switching operation. Alternatively, the content is switched one by one in the direction of the left or right arrow by one content switching operation.
- the channel switching operation and the content switching operation when reaching the one end of FIG. 26 and repeating the same switching operation, the other end channel or content is called. For example, when the channel switching operation is further performed in descending order after reaching channel C17, the channel switching operation is performed again in descending order from channel C11. Further, in the channel C14, when a content switching operation is further performed to the right after the switching operation to the content C14 [3], the content C14 [4] is switched.
- the map generation unit 114c newly generates a map in which the content output when the user switches channels is updated. For example, in the content map of FIG. 26, it is assumed that the user performs content switching operations twice in the right direction while viewing the content C13 [1] of the channel C13. In this case, the map generation unit 114c generates a content map obtained by shifting the entire content of the channel C13 (that is, the entire content in the third row from the top in FIG. 24) by two in the left direction.
- the map generation unit 114c newly generates a map in which the content output when the user switches channels is updated. For example, in the content map of FIG. 26, it is assumed that the user has watched the content C13 [1] of the channel C13 to the end. In this case, the map generation unit 114c generates a content map obtained by shifting the entire content of the channel C13 (that is, the entire content in the third row from the top in FIG. 24) by one in the left direction. In this case, the next content that the user views on channel C13 is C13 [2].
- the acquisition unit 110c transmits the content map 119c generated as described above to the output control unit 150c and the content prefetch control device 200c.
- the output control unit 150c stores, in the storage unit 130, content that the user desires to view to the acquisition unit 110c when the operation information 121 is content switching operation information.
- the buffering is different.
- the content prefetch control device 200c includes an operation determination unit 201c, a zapping operation history storage unit 202c, a zapping operation prediction unit 203c, a content map holding unit 204, a viewing target prediction unit 205c, a prefetch execution unit 206, and a content attribute table 211.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 c includes a prefetch target determination unit 212.
- the operation determination unit 201c is different from the operation determination unit 201 of the first embodiment in that the zapping operation is also determined by the user content switching operation. A method for determining the zapping operation will be described later.
- the zapping operation history storage unit 202c is different from the zapping operation history storage unit 202 of the first embodiment in that it stores a zapping operation including a user content switching operation.
- the zapping operation prediction unit 203c is different from the zapping operation prediction unit 203 of the first embodiment in that the predicted zapping operation includes both a user channel switching operation and a content switching operation.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205c differs from the viewing target prediction unit 205a of the second embodiment in that the prediction result of the viewing target is different due to the different contents of the predicted zapping operation. Details of the prediction result will be described later.
- FIG. 28 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation until the content output apparatus 100c acquires a zapping operation history when a user's channel switching operation is continuously detected by the input unit 120.
- the case where the user's channel switching operation is continuously detected by the input unit 120 is the same as the definition in FIG. 5.
- FIG. 28 the same processes as those in FIG.
- the operation determination unit 201c determines whether there has been a channel switching operation or a content switching operation (step S60). If there is no channel switching operation or content switching operation (No in step S60), the operation determining unit 201c waits until there is a channel switching operation or content switching operation.
- step S61 the operation determination unit 201c acquires the number of changed channels in both ascending order and descending order and the number of both right and left content switchings input within a certain time from the start of the channel switching operation or content switching operation. Then, the operation determination unit 201c calculates the sum of the number of changed channels in ascending order, the number of changed channels in descending order, the number of content switches in the left direction, and the number of content switches in the right direction (step S62).
- the operation determination unit 201c determines whether or not the sum obtained in step S62 is larger than a predetermined threshold (step S63). If the number of changed channels is larger than the threshold (Yes in step S63), the operation determination unit 201c determines that zapping is being performed (step S06). Then, the zapping operation history storage unit 202c stores operation information determined as the user's zapping operation (step S64). In this case, the zapping operation history storage unit 202c stores a history of zapping operations from the content immediately before the start of zapping to the content at the end of zapping. The history to be stored includes, for example, a channel switching change direction (ascending order and descending order), a content switching change direction (left and right), a channel switching number, and a content switching number.
- step S63 determines that zapping is not being performed.
- step S08 determines that zapping is not being performed.
- the operation determination unit 201c returns to the state of step S60 when the processes of steps S64 and S08 are completed.
- the zapping operation determination process of the operation determination unit 201c may be replaced with step S60 of FIG. 28 in FIG.
- FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating an example of a prediction result of the zapping operation prediction unit 203c.
- the numbers in the leftmost column of the table in FIG. 29 indicate the number of channel switching in ascending order or descending order in one zapping operation.
- the positive and negative signs in the leftmost column are “+” for channel movement in descending order and “ ⁇ ” for channel movement in ascending order.
- the top row indicates the number of content changes in the left direction or the right direction in one zapping operation.
- the positive and negative signs in the top row represent content switching in the right direction with “+” and content switching in the left direction with “ ⁇ ”.
- the number represented by the probability in the table represents the appearance probability of the zapping operation for performing the channel switching number corresponding to the column and the content switching number corresponding to the row.
- This appearance probability indicates the ratio of the zapping operation performed in the entire zapping history used for predicting the next zapping operation in step S15.
- the zapping operation prediction unit 203c predicts the next zapping operation on the assumption that the operation having a high appearance probability in the past operation history is likely to be performed by the user next.
- the maximum value and the minimum value ⁇ Nmax in the leftmost column are the maximum value and the minimum value of the number of mobile channels predetermined in the zapping operation prediction unit 203c.
- the maximum value and the minimum value ⁇ Mmax of the top row are the maximum value and the minimum value of the number of channel switching predetermined in the zapping operation prediction unit 203c.
- the appearance probabilities are all between ⁇ Nmax and ⁇ 3 max and between +3 and + Nmax, or the content switching number is between ⁇ Mmax and ⁇ 3 and +3 and + Mmax. Suppose that it is 0%.
- FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the content prefetch control device 200c when starting prefetching of moving image content.
- the same operations as those in FIG. 19 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.
- the operation determination unit 201c determines whether or not there has been a channel switching operation or a content switching operation within a predetermined time after the content is output due to channel or content switching or power-on (step S71). For the predetermined time, as in step S11 of FIG. 7, an optimum value is set in advance for each content output device 100c and stored in the content prefetch control device 200c. If there is a channel switching operation within the predetermined time (No in step S71), the operation determination unit 201c waits until there is no channel switching operation within the predetermined time. Since the processing from step S71 to step S15 is the same as that in FIG. 7, the description thereof is omitted.
- step S15 the zapping operation prediction unit 203c predicts the next zapping operation. Thereafter, the viewing target prediction unit 205c selects the content most likely to be viewed next to the content selected in the past, except for the content currently being viewed (step S72). Note that the viewing target prediction unit 205c selects the content most likely to be a viewing target when step S72 is executed for the first time.
- the prefetch target determination unit 212 determines whether or not the load time of the channel is equal to or greater than a threshold (step S73).
- This threshold value is the same as the threshold value in step S41 of FIG.
- step S72 If the load time is smaller than the threshold (No in step S73), the process of step S72 is executed. If the load time is equal to or greater than the threshold (Yes in step S73), the prefetch execution unit 206 starts prefetching of the content in the selected content (step S74). The operations after step S74 are the same as those in FIG.
- FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation related to the content prefetch control device 200c for improving the influence due to the deviation of the user's zapping operation in the third embodiment.
- FIG. 31 the same operations as those in FIGS. Hereinafter, operations different from those in FIGS. 20 and 30 will be described in detail.
- step S72 when the viewing target prediction unit 205c selects content, the viewing target prediction unit 205c selects content that has not yet been selected from among the content in the prediction area set near the content (step S81). . Details of this prediction area will be described later. In the following description, the number of contents selected in step S81 is n.
- the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 based on the content attributes of the n pieces of content, and acquires the load time. Then, among the n pieces of content, the content whose load time is equal to or greater than the threshold is selected (step S82).
- This threshold value is the same as the threshold value in step S51 of FIG. In the following description, the number of contents selected in step S81 is k.
- the prefetch target determination unit 212 executes the process of step S83.
- the prefetch target determination unit 212 selects (number of loadable items ⁇ Nr) pieces of content in order from the longest loading time among the k pieces of pieces of content selected in step S82 (step S83).
- the prefetch execution unit 206 starts prefetching the content in the content selected in step S83 (step S84).
- the subsequent processing is the same as in FIG.
- the prefetch execution unit 206 executes the process of step S85.
- the prefetch execution unit 206 starts prefetching the content in the k pieces of content selected in step S82 (step S85). The subsequent processing is the same as in FIG.
- step S72 in FIG. 30 the operation contents after step S72 in FIG. 30 will be described using a specific example in FIG. In FIG. 32, description will be made using a content map represented by a two-dimensional plane of 7 squares ⁇ 7 squares.
- step S15 of FIG. 30 it is assumed that the prediction result shown in FIG. 29 is obtained, and the channel currently being viewed is channel C14 (the displayed content is C14 [1]). Furthermore, it is assumed that the loadable number in step S19 in FIG. Then, the content attribute table 211 referred to in step S73 in FIG. 30 is the one shown in FIG. 18, and the threshold value in step S73 is 30 ms.
- the content attributes of all the contents of the channels C11, C13, and C16 are “streaming (outside the house)”. Further, it is assumed that the content attributes of all the contents of the channels C12 and C15 are “broadcast”. Further, it is assumed that the content attribute of all the contents of the channels C14 and C17 is “file”.
- step S72 the viewing target prediction unit 205c indicates that the zapping operation with the maximum appearance probability is the channel switching number “ ⁇ 2” and the content switching number “+2” from the prediction result of FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205c selects C12 [1] indicated by a thick frame in FIG. 32 as the content most likely to be viewed.
- step S73 since the content attribute of C12 [1] selected in step S72 is “broadcast”, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 in FIG. 200 ms). Since this load time is equal to or greater than the threshold of 30 ms, the prefetch target determination unit 212 determines “Yes” in step S73.
- step S74 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts content prefetching for C12 [1].
- step S18 the prefetch execution unit 206 adds 1 to the prefetch number Nr.
- Nr the prefetch number
- the prefetch execution unit 206 determines “No” in step S19.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205c indicates that the zapping operation with the second highest occurrence probability based on the prediction result of FIG. 29 is the channel switching number “+2” and the content switching number “ ⁇ 2”. I understand. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205c selects C16 [4] indicated by a thick frame in FIG. 30 as a channel that is highly likely to be the next viewing target among channels that have not yet been selected.
- step S73 the prefetch target determination unit 212 knows that the content attribute of C16 [4] selected in step S72 is “streaming (out-of-home)”. Therefore, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 in FIG. 18 and acquires the load time (3000 ms). Since the load time is equal to or greater than the threshold of 30 ms, the prefetch target determination unit 212 determines “Yes” in step S73.
- step S74 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts content prefetching for C16 [4].
- the viewing target prediction unit 205c finds that the zapping operation with the third highest occurrence probability is the channel switching number “+3” and the content switching number “+3” from FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205c selects C17 [1] indicated by a thick frame in FIG. 30 as a channel that is likely to be the next viewing target among the channels that have not been selected yet.
- step S73 since the content attribute of C17 [1] selected in step S72 is “file”, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 of FIG. 0 ms). Since this load time is less than the threshold value 30 ms, the prefetch target determination unit 212 determines “No” in step S73.
- the viewing target predicting unit 205c finds that the zapping operation with the fourth highest occurrence probability is the channel switching number “ ⁇ 3” and the content switching number “ ⁇ 1” as shown in FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205c selects C11 [7] indicated by a thick frame in FIG. 30 as a channel that is likely to be the next viewing target among the channels that have not been selected yet.
- step S73 the prefetch target determination unit 212 knows that the content attribute of C11 [7] selected in step S72 is “streaming (out-of-home)”. Therefore, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 in FIG. 18 and acquires the load time (3000 ms). Since the load time is equal to or greater than the threshold of 30 ms, the prefetch target determination unit 212 determines “Yes” in step S73.
- step S74 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts content prefetching for C11 [7] selected in step S72.
- step S72 in FIG. 31 will be described in detail using specific examples in FIGS.
- the content map shown in FIG. 26 will be described using a two-dimensional plane of 7 squares ⁇ 7 squares.
- the prediction result shown in FIG. 29 is obtained in step S15 of FIG. 31, and the channel currently being viewed is channel C14 (the displayed content is C14 [1]).
- the loadable number after step S52 in FIG. The content attribute table 211 referred to in steps S82 and S83 in FIG. 31 is as shown in FIG. 18, and the threshold value in step S82 is 30 ms.
- the content attributes of all the contents of the channels C11, C13, and C16 are streaming (outside the house). Further, it is assumed that the content attributes of all the contents of the channels C12 and C15 are broadcasting. Further, it is assumed that the content attributes of all the contents of the channels C14 and C17 are files.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205c indicates that the zapping operation with the highest appearance probability is the channel switching number “ ⁇ 2” and the content switching number “+2”. Accordingly, in step S72, the viewing target prediction unit 205c selects C12 [1] indicated by a thick frame in FIGS. 33 to 35 as the content most likely to be the next viewing target.
- step S81 the viewing target prediction unit 205c determines a prediction region near C12 [1] selected in step S72.
- FIGS. 33 to 35 are examples showing the prediction regions.
- a content in which the difference between the content selected in step S72, the number of channel switching, and the number of content switching is equal to or less than a threshold is set as a prediction region.
- the threshold value may be determined in advance in accordance with the content output device 100c.
- the region described below including the content selected in step S72 is a predicted region.
- content that has been switched from the content being viewed on the content map by the content switching number s ( ⁇ Mmax ⁇ s ⁇ + Mmax) and the channel switching number t ( ⁇ Nmax ⁇ t ⁇ + Nmax) is (s, t ).
- s and t are integers, and the positive and negative signs are based on the description of FIG.
- the content selected in step S72 is (i, j)
- the union of the following set A and set B is used as the prediction region.
- A ⁇ (i, m): m is an integer from 0 to j ⁇
- B ⁇ (n, j): n is an integer from 0 to i ⁇
- the content currently being viewed is C14 [3].
- the content corresponding to the set B is three C12 [1] (hatched and displayed in the figure) which are (0, -2), (+1, -2), and (+2, -2). . Therefore, the prediction area in FIG. 34 is composed of five hatched contents.
- a predetermined width (an example in which the size of the width is 1 is displayed in the figure) is provided inside and outside the prediction area (the horizontal stripe area in the figure) defined by the method of FIG.
- the region is a prediction region.
- An optimum value for the width may be determined in advance according to the content output device 100c.
- the prediction area may be an area obtained by adding only one of the inside and the outside of the prediction area defined by the method of FIG. 34 to the prediction area defined by the method of FIG.
- the prediction areas shown in FIGS. 33 to 35 are merely examples, and any area may be used as long as the prediction area is the vicinity of the content selected in step S72.
- the processing content will be described assuming that the prediction region determined in step S81 is that of FIG.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205c Since all the contents in the prediction region in FIG. 34 are not currently being viewed and are not yet selected, the viewing target prediction unit 205c performs all of C12 [1], C13 [3], and C14 [3] in step S81. Select in.
- step S82 the prefetch target determination unit 212 determines that the content attributes of C12 [1], C13 [3], and C14 [3] selected in step S81 are “broadcast” and “streaming (out-of-home)”, respectively. , “File”. Therefore, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 in FIG. 18 and acquires the respective load times (200 ms, 3000 ms, and 0 ms). Then, the prefetch target determination unit 212 selects C12 [1] and C13 [3] whose load time is equal to or greater than the threshold of 30 ms. Therefore, the value of k in step S82 is 2.
- step S52 the viewing target prediction unit 205c calculates a value of Nr + k.
- Nr + k 2
- Nr + k 3
- step S85 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts prefetching of content for C12 [1] and C13 [3] selected in step S82. Then, in step S57, the prefetch execution unit 206 adds 2 to Nr.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205c finds that the zapping operation with the second highest occurrence probability is the channel switching number “+2” and the content switching number “ ⁇ 2” from FIG. Therefore, the viewing target prediction unit 205c selects C16 [4] indicated by a thick frame in FIG. 36 as the content that is likely to be the viewing target next to the already selected C12 [1].
- step S81 the viewing target prediction unit 205c then selects C14 [4], C15 [1], C16 [4], and C16 [5] that are not yet selected from the contents in the prediction region illustrated in FIG. , C16 [1] is selected.
- step S82 the prefetch target determination unit 212 determines that the content attributes of C14 [4], C15 [1], C16 [4], C16 [5], and C16 [1] selected in step S81 are “ It can be seen that “file”, “broadcast”, “streaming (outside of home)”, “streaming (outside of home)”, and “streaming (outside of home)”. Therefore, the prefetch target determination unit 212 refers to the content attribute table 211 of FIG. 18 and acquires the respective load times (0 ms, 200 ms, 3000 ms, 3000 ms, 3000 ms). Then, the prefetch target determination unit 212 selects C15 [1], C16 [4], C16 [5], and C16 [1] whose loading time is 30 ms or more. Therefore, the value of k in step S82 is 4.
- step S83 the prefetch target determination unit 212 selects (loadable number ⁇ Nr), that is, three channels in order of load time.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205c determines C16 [4], C16 [5], and C16 [1]. select.
- step S84 the prefetch execution unit 206 starts content prefetching for C16 [4], C16 [5], and C16 [1] selected in step S83.
- step S55 the prefetch execution unit 206 sets Nr to the loadable number 5. Then, the content prefetching operation ends.
- the content prefetch control device can be applied when the user performs zapping by two-dimensional key operations such as up, down, left, and right in addition to the operation of the content prefetch control device according to the second embodiment. is there. For this reason, the user may suddenly switch from the content currently being viewed by the zapping operation to content that cannot be accessed unless many operations such as key input of up, down, left, and right are performed. Even in such a case, the content prefetch control apparatus can predict the content that is likely to be viewed next by the user. Therefore, the content output device including the content prefetch control device can shorten the time until the content output starts.
- the present embodiment by predicting the user's zapping operation using the prediction regions shown in FIGS. 33 to 35, even if the user's zapping operation slightly deviates from the prediction result, the content prefetching is performed. The effect can be demonstrated.
- the priority order of the contents is arbitrary. For example, content close to the content selected in step S72 may be preferentially selected. Moreover, a priority order may be determined according to the user's preference and popularity.
- the map generation unit 114c may not newly generate the content map 119c in accordance with the content switching operation by the user and the content viewing state. Furthermore, instead of newly generating the content map 119c according to the content switching operation or the content viewing state, the map generation unit 114c may generate only the changed portion of the content map 119c. In that case, the acquisition unit 110c transmits the changed portion of the content map 119c to the output control unit 150c and the content prefetch control device 200c. Then, the output control unit 150c and the content map holding unit 204 of the content prefetch control device 200c generate a new content map 119c based on the information on the changed part of the content map 119c.
- the prefetch execution unit 206 may prefetch the next content without performing prefetching.
- the operation of the zapping operation prediction unit 203c is similar to the first embodiment, acquires zapping history having the same time zone (in the morning, around noon, daytime, evening, night) to which the current time belongs, A prediction result as shown in FIG. 29 may be obtained from the history. Further, the zapping operation prediction unit 203c may obtain a prediction result as shown in FIG. 29 with reference to only the history of the user currently viewing. Furthermore, the prediction result obtained by the zapping operation prediction unit 203c may calculate a statistic such as an average value or a median value in addition to the probability as shown in FIG. 29 and use it as a prediction result. Alternatively, the zapping operation prediction unit 203c may predict the zapping operation that is most likely to be performed next based on the tendency of changes in the zapping operation from the past to the present.
- FIGS. 7, 8, 19, 20, 30, and 31 are examples of operations of the content prefetch control devices 200, 200a, and 200c. These operations have the following two characteristics. (1) The operations in steps S11 and S71 determine whether there is no switching operation within a predetermined time after content output, that is, whether or not the user has started viewing the content. Next, in the operations after steps S11 and S71, if the user has started viewing, the content is prefetched by performing the content prefetching to the minimum necessary. (2) The operations of steps S18, S19, S22 to S25, S27, S52 to S55, S57, S83, and S84 can maximize the effect of prefetching by prefetching as many contents as possible. I am doing so.
- the operation determination units 201 and 201c do not have to perform the operations of steps S11 and S71. 7, 19, and 30, when only one content is prefetched by one content prefetching operation instead of (2), the prefetch execution unit 206 does not perform the operations of steps S ⁇ b> 18 and S ⁇ b> 19. Good.
- the content prefetch control apparatus 200 prefetches only the n channels selected in step S21 in one content prefetch operation instead of (2), the following processing is omitted. Good.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205 may not perform the operation of step S22, the prefetch execution unit 206 may omit the operations of S23 to S25 and S27, and end the prefetch operation after the operation of step S26.
- the content prefetch control apparatus 200a prefetches only the k channels selected in step S51 in one content prefetch operation, the following processing is performed. It may be omitted.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205a may not perform the operation of step S52, and the prefetch execution unit 206 may omit the operations of S53 to S55 and S57 and end the prefetch operation after the operation of step S26. Further, in FIG.
- step S82 when the content prefetch control device 200c prefetches only k channels selected in step S82 in one content prefetch operation, the following processing is omitted. May be.
- the viewing target prediction unit 205c does not have to perform the operation of step S52, and the prefetch execution unit 206 omits the operations from S83 to S55 and S57, and ends the prefetch operation after the operation of step S85. .
- step S15 to S17 when the content prefetch control apparatus 200 periodically performs an operation of prefetching only one content at a time, as shown in FIG. 37, three steps from step S15 to S17 are performed. It only has to be executed.
- the map generation unit generates the content map from the electronic program guide or the reproduction list.
- the map generation unit changes the content map based on the user's zapping operation history. May be. For example, when the content on the content map that the user is predicted to reach next is predicted to be streaming video content based on the user's zapping history, the map generation unit may add the streaming video content on the content map to the network Content that does not use resources may be replaced. Further, the map generation unit may replace the file reproduction with a short load time in order from the content with the highest probability that the user on the content map will arrive next based on the user's zapping operation history. Furthermore, the map generation unit may replace content in the vicinity of the content with file playback having a short load time.
- the content output device including the content prefetch control device according to the present invention has a function of shortening the content switching time during the zapping operation, and has a display function of a television, a digital recorder device, a mobile phone, a digital camera, a personal computer, and the like. Useful for various devices.
Abstract
Description
図1は、本発明の第1の実施形態におけるコンテンツ先読み制御装置200を備えたコンテンツ出力装置100の全体構成図である。コンテンツ出力装置100は、放送局から送出される放送波を受信するテレビまたは、宅外に持ち出すモバイル端末である。
(1)ユーザが操作ボタンを繰り返し押下した場合
(2)ユーザがタッチパネルにおいて指を軽く払う動作(フリック)を1回行うと、出力制御部150がフリックの向きに応じて昇り順、降り順のいずれかにチャンネルを1つ切り替える形態においてユーザがフリックを繰り返し行った場合
(3)ユーザが操作ボタンを長押しすると切り替え操作に関する信号が一定時間経過するごとに入力部120において検出される場合
(4)ユーザが操作ボタンを長押しすると切り替え操作に関する同一の信号が入力部120において継続して検出され、入力部120が一定時間経過するごとに当該信号の有無によって切り替え操作を実行するか否かを判断する場合
図14は、本発明の第2の実施形態におけるコンテンツ先読み制御装置200aを備えたコンテンツ出力装置100aの全体構成図である。コンテンツ出力装置100aは、以下の機能を有するテレビ、または宅外に持ち出すモバイル端末である。コンテンツ出力装置100aは、放送局から送信される放送波を受信する。さらに、コンテンツ出力装置100aは、ストリーミング動画を配信するメディアサーバ400(後述)やメモリカードなどの複数のメディアと接続し、コンテンツを取得して、取得したコンテンツを再生することができる。本第2の実施形態のコンテンツ出力装置100aは、ストリーミング再生、ファイル再生、放送波デコードのような再生手段が異なるコンテンツを出力する。以降の説明では、このように再生手段の違うコンテンツの種類をコンテンツ属性と呼ぶ。
図24は、本発明の第3の実施形態におけるコンテンツ先読み制御装置200cを備えたコンテンツ出力装置100cの全体構成図である。このコンテンツ出力装置100cは、コンテンツ出力装置100aの機能に加えて、2次元のコンテンツマップを備えるテレビまたは、宅外に持ち出すモバイル端末である。さらに、コンテンツ出力装置100cでは、ユーザが上下左右の2次元のキー操作等によってザッピングを行うことが可能である。
A={(i,m):mは0からjまでの全ての整数}
B={(n,j):nは0からiまでの全ての整数}
110、110a、110c 取得部
111 放送受信部
112、112c 通信インタフェース部
113、113c 記録媒体アクセス部
114、114a、114c マップ生成部
119、119c コンテンツマップ
120 入力部
121 ユーザ操作情報
130 記憶部
140 出力部
150、150c 出力制御部
200、200a、200b、200c コンテンツ先読み制御装置
201、201c 操作判定部
202、202c ザッピング操作履歴記憶部
203、203c ザッピング操作予測部
204 コンテンツマップ保持部
205、205a、205c 視聴対象予測部
206 先読み実行部
211 コンテンツ属性テーブル
212 先読み対象判定部
213 外的要因取得部
300 ネットワーク
400 メディアサーバ
Claims (8)
- コンテンツを出力するコンテンツ出力装置に含まれるコンテンツ先読み制御装置であって、
特定のユーザ操作により切り替えられるコンテンツの順番が記述されたコンテンツマップを格納するコンテンツマップ保持部と、
前記特定のユーザ操作に基づいて、前記コンテンツを連続して切り替えるザッピング操作を判定する操作判定部と、
前記操作判定部によって判定された前記ザッピング操作を累積的に記憶するザッピング操作履歴記憶部と、
前記ザッピング操作履歴記憶部に記憶された複数のザッピング操作の履歴に基づいて、次に行われるザッピング操作を予測するザッピング操作予測部と、
前記ザッピング操作予測部により予測された前記次に行われるザッピング操作と、前記コンテンツマップとに基づき、ユーザが次に視聴する少なくとも1つの視聴対象のコンテンツを予測する視聴対象予測部と、
前記視聴対象予測部により予測された前記少なくとも1つの視聴対象のコンテンツを先読みする先読み実行部とを備える、コンテンツ先読み制御装置。 - 前記視聴対象予測部は、前記次に行われるザッピング操作と前記コンテンツマップとに基づき、ユーザが次に視聴する最も可能性の高いコンテンツと、当該コンテンツと前記コンテンツマップ上で近傍にあるコンテンツとを予測することを特徴とする請求項1に記載のコンテンツ先読み制御装置。
- 前記コンテンツ先読み制御装置は、コンテンツ毎にバッファリングに要する時間を格納したコンテンツ属性テーブルをさらに備え、
前記視聴対象予測部は、前記コンテンツ属性テーブルを参照し、前記少なくとも1つの視聴対象のコンテンツのうち、前記バッファリングに要する時間をもとに一部のコンテンツを選択する先読み対象判定部を備え、
前記先読み実行部は前記一部のコンテンツを先読みすることを特徴とする請求項1に記載のコンテンツ先読み制御装置。 - 前記先読み対象判定部は、前記少なくとも1つの視聴対象のコンテンツの中から、前記バッファリングに要する時間が長い順に、所定数のコンテンツを前記一部のコンテンツとして選択することを特徴とする請求項3に記載のコンテンツ先読み制御装置。
- 前記所定数は、前記コンテンツ出力装置の記憶容量に基づいた先読み可能なコンテンツの最大数であることを特徴とする請求項4に記載のコンテンツ先読み制御装置。
- ネットワークによるデータの受信状態を定期的に測定し、前記コンテンツ属性テーブルの前記バッファリングに要する時間を更新する外部要因取得部をさらに備えることを特徴とする請求項3に記載のコンテンツ先読み制御装置。
- 前記コンテンツマップ保持部は、コンテンツマップを生成した前記コンテンツ出力装置内のマップ生成部から、前記コンテンツマップを取得することを特徴とする請求項1に記載のコンテンツ先読み制御装置。
- コンテンツを出力するコンテンツ出力装置に含まれるコンテンツ先読み制御方法であって、
ユーザ操作により行われた、前記コンテンツを連続して切り替えるザッピング操作が累積的に記憶された履歴に基づいて、次に行われるザッピング操作を予測するザッピング操作予測ステップと、
前記ザッピング操作予測ステップにより予測された前記次に行われるザッピング操作と、前記特定のユーザ操作により切り替えられるコンテンツの順番が記述されたコンテンツマップに基づき、ユーザが次に視聴する少なくとも1つの視聴対象のコンテンツを予測する視聴対象予測ステップと、
前記視聴対象予測ステップにより予測された前記少なくとも1つの視聴対象のコンテンツを先読みする先読み実行ステップとを含むことを特徴とするコンテンツ先読み制御方法。
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US13/145,159 US8368818B2 (en) | 2009-12-22 | 2010-11-26 | Contents read-ahead control device and read-ahead control method |
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US20120257120A1 (en) | 2012-10-11 |
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