WO2013014864A1

WO2013014864A1 - Control device, transfer device, recording medium, and content encoding format determination method

Info

Publication number: WO2013014864A1
Application number: PCT/JP2012/004308
Authority: WO
Inventors: 路子田中
Original assignee: パナソニック株式会社
Priority date: 2011-07-26
Filing date: 2012-07-03
Publication date: 2013-01-31
Also published as: JP2014197721A

Abstract

Provided is a control device that determines encoding formats to be used by a recording device to record desired content on the storage device such that at least one of multiple reproduction devices can reproduce the content from the storage device. A monitoring unit of the control device monitors the use status of the storage device. An encoding format management unit manages information that indicates encoding formats decodable by the respective reproduction devices. A history management unit manages operation histories, such as reproduction of content from the storage device, of the respective reproduction devices. A determination unit selects, among the encoding formats decodable by the multiple reproduction devices, one or more encoding formats in descending order of likelihood of being used in transferring content from the storage device to any one of the reproduction devices on the basis of the use status of the storage device and the histories such that entire data obtained by encoding the desired content using the one or more encoding formats are recorded on the storage device.

Description

Control device, transfer device, recording medium, and content encoding format determination method

The present invention relates to a content recording / playback technology, and more particularly, to a technology for transferring content from a recording device to a playback device.

In recent years, with the advancement of content recording / playback technology, it has become possible to play back content recorded on various recording devices on various playback devices. For example, a television program recorded by a hard disk recorder can be displayed on any of displays placed in different rooms such as a living room, a kitchen, and a bedroom. In addition, the recorded program can be viewed outside the home by mobile devices such as portable video players, mobile phones, and tablet computers. Also, music downloaded from the Internet by a personal computer can be listened to outside the home by a portable audio player, a mobile phone, and a car navigation system. In addition, photographs taken with a digital still camera can be displayed on a display or printed by a printer.

The recording device records content on a built-in or external storage device such as an HDD or a removable recording medium such as a removable memory card. Therefore, content transfer from the recording device to the playback device is realized by connecting the storage device to the playback device by wire or wirelessly, or by moving a portable recording medium from the recording device to the playback device. Further, a high-functional mobile device typified by a smartphone may be used for transferring content from a recording device to a playback device. That is, the content is once transferred from the recording device to the mobile device, and then transferred from the mobile device to the playback device.

The type of encoding format that can be decoded by a certain playback device is determined by the power source type, memory capacity, screen size, manufacturing cost, and the like of the playback device. Therefore, in general, the decodable encoding format differs depending on the model of the playback apparatus. For example, video encoding formats are MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264, and so on. It is defined by parameters such as algorithms such as H.264, profile, level, and mode. These parameters vary depending on the processing capability of the playback device, such as resolution, bit rate, and frame rate. The audio encoding format is defined by algorithms such as MPEG2, AAC, MPEG4, AAC, MP3, etc., parameters such as bit rate and sampling frequency. These parameters also differ depending on the processing capability of the playback device. Therefore, when a user records content on a recording device, the encoding format of the content must be set so that the content can be decoded by a predetermined playback device. However, since the detailed setting of the encoding format is generally complicated, it is not preferable that the user manually set the encoding format.

For example, the techniques described in

Patent Documents

1 and 2 are known as techniques for causing a recording apparatus to automatically set the encoding format of content to be recorded. According to these techniques, parameter information that defines an encoding format that can be decoded by a predetermined playback device is recorded in advance on a portable recording medium in which content to be recorded is to be stored. When recording a content, the recording device first reads the parameter information from the portable recording medium. Next, the recording device determines the encoding format of the content based on the parameter information, encodes the content in the encoding format, and records the encoded content on the portable recording medium. Thus, the encoding format of the content to be recorded is automatically set to be decodable by a predetermined playback device.

JP 2007-13602 A International Publication No. 03/042915 Pamphlet

In order to make the content reproducible by different types of playback devices, the recording device must encode the content in each of the encoding formats that can be decoded by those playback devices. Therefore, in general, the amount of data to be recorded increases as the number of playback device models increases. When a portable recording medium or a mobile device is used for transferring content from the recording device to each playback device, their storage capacity is generally smaller than the capacity of the storage device built in the recording device. As a result, if there are too many types of playback devices, the data amount of the encoded content may exceed the free capacity of the portable recording medium or the storage device in the mobile device. In that case, the content cannot be recorded in a form reproducible by all of these playback devices, so the types of content encoding formats must be limited. However, it is not obvious to those skilled in the art how it would be appropriate to have the recording device perform such a restriction.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems, and in particular, when the free capacity of a storage device used for transferring content from a recording device to a playback device is insufficient, the content encoding format is appropriately set. It is to provide a control device that can be selected.

The control device according to one aspect of the present invention is used when the recording device records the content in the storage device so that at least one of the plurality of playback devices can reproduce the desired content from the storage device. Determine the encoding format to be used. The control device includes a monitoring unit, an encoding format management unit, a history management unit, and a determination unit. The monitoring unit monitors the usage status of the storage device. The encoding format management unit manages information indicating an encoding format that can be decoded by each of the plurality of playback devices. The history management unit manages a history of operations in which each of the plurality of reproducing devices reproduces content from the storage device or establishes connection with the storage device. The determining unit selects one or more encoding formats from among the encoding formats decodable by the plurality of reproducing devices based on the usage status of the storage device and the history, and selects any one of the plurality of reproducing devices from the storage device. In order of the high possibility of being used for the transfer of the content to the network, the entire data obtained by encoding the desired content in the one or more encoding formats is selected to be recorded in the storage device. The determining unit further determines the one or more encoding formats as encoding formats to be used when the recording device records desired content in the storage device.

The control device according to the above aspect of the present invention transfers one or more encoding formats from among the encoding formats decodable by each of a plurality of playback devices to transfer content from the storage device to any playback device. Select in descending order of likelihood of use. Therefore, content in an encoded format that is highly likely to be reproduced is preferentially recorded in the storage device. As described above, the control device can appropriately select the content encoding format when the free space of the storage device is insufficient.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a video content recording / playback system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the recording apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the transfer apparatus shown by FIG. (A) is a table | surface which shows the data structure of the connection management information stored in the memory | storage part of the transfer apparatus shown by FIG. (B) is a table | surface which shows the data structure of the encoding format management information stored in the memory | storage part. (C) is a table | surface which shows the data structure of the reproduction | regeneration management information stored in the memory | storage part. It is a block diagram which shows the structure common to each reproducing | regenerating apparatus shown by FIG. (A) is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the list of the content displayed by the display part of the reproducing | regenerating apparatus shown by FIG. (B) is a schematic diagram which shows an example of EPG displayed by the display part. It is a flowchart of the recording / reproducing process of the content by the system shown by FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the encoding format selection part of the transfer apparatus shown by FIG. FIG. 7 is the left half of the flowchart of step S704 shown in FIG. 7, that is, the encoding format selection process by the transfer apparatus shown in FIG. 7 is the right half of the flowchart of step S704 shown in FIG. 7, that is, the encoding format selection processing by the transfer apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 11 is a flowchart of step S <b> 1002 shown in FIG. 10, that is, a selection process of a playback device as a transfer destination by the transfer device shown in FIG. (A) is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the usage condition of the memory | storage part of the transfer apparatus shown by FIG. (B) is a schematic diagram showing data obtained by encoding “drama 2” and “sport 2” in an encoding format decodable by the playback device AD shown in FIG. . (C) is a schematic diagram showing the usage status of the storage unit of the transfer device after the content shown in (b) is transferred from the recording device shown in FIG. 1 to the transfer device. (D) is a schematic diagram showing a list of contents displayed on the screen of the playback apparatus AD in accordance with the list of contents received from the transfer apparatus. (A) is a schematic diagram which shows another example of the usage condition of the memory | storage part of the transfer apparatus shown by FIG. (B) is a schematic diagram showing a usage state of the storage unit after deleting encoded data that can be decoded only by a playback device having no playback history from the storage unit. (C) is a schematic diagram showing data obtained by encoding “drama 2” and “sport 2” in an encoding format that can be decoded by each of the playback devices A and C. FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the change of the data amount estimated in the selection process of the reproducing | regenerating apparatus of a transfer destination. (A), (b), and (c) The amount of data predicted when the length of the vertical side of the large rectangle is 1, 2, 3, respectively. Represents. FIG. 13A is a schematic diagram showing the usage status of the storage unit of the transfer device after the content shown in FIG. 13C is transferred from the recording device shown in FIG. 1 to the transfer device. It is. (B) is a schematic diagram showing a list of contents displayed on the screens of the playback apparatuses A and C in accordance with the list of contents received from the transfer apparatus. (C) is a schematic diagram showing a list of contents displayed on the screen of playback apparatus B according to the list of contents received from the transfer apparatus. (D) is a schematic diagram showing a list of contents displayed on the screen of the playback apparatus D in accordance with the list of contents received from the transfer apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the transfer apparatus by Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the encoding format selection part shown by FIG. It is a table | surface which shows an example of electric power supply information. 18 is a flowchart of processing in which the transfer time determination unit shown in FIG. 17 determines whether it is appropriate for the transfer device shown in FIG. 16 to transfer content from the recording device at the present time. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the data recording area of the portable recording medium by Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the recording / reproducing system of the video content by Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the recording device shown by FIG. FIG. 22 is a flowchart of content recording / playback processing by the system shown in FIG. 21;

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<< Embodiment 1 >>

[System overview]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a video content recording / playback system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, this system includes a recording device 110, a transfer device 120, a playback device A131, a playback device B132, a playback device C133, and a playback device D134. The recording device 110 is a device capable of recording video content in a built-in storage unit, and is installed in the user's home 101. The recording device 110 is, for example, a hard disk recorder, and may be an optical disk recorder, a set top box, or a personal computer. The transfer device 120 is a mobile device capable of wired or wireless communication with the recording device 110 and each of the playback devices 131-134, and is used to transfer video content from the recording device 110 to each of the playback devices 131-134. The arrows shown in FIG. 1 represent the movement of video content accompanying the transfer. The transfer device 120 is, for example, a smartphone, and may be a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable video player, or a tablet computer. Each of the playback devices A131 to D134 is a device that can play back the video represented by the video content on the screen. The playback device A131 is a small flat panel display, and is installed in the kitchen of the user's home 101. The playback device B132 is a large flat panel display, and is installed in the living room of the user's home 101. The playback device C133 is a car navigation system and is installed in a user-owned automobile. The playback device D134 is a large flat panel display, and is installed in a house different from the user's home 101, for example, the user's home 102. In addition, the playback device may be an optical disc player, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a PDA, a portable video player, a set-top box, or a personal computer.

First, the recording device 110 receives the recording reservation information from the transfer device 120 or generates the recording reservation information in accordance with a user instruction. The recording reservation information is information for specifying a program to be reserved for recording. For example, the broadcast station name, the program name, the recording start time, the recording time, the recording image quality, and the recording reservation information are generated. Contains device identification information. Next, the recording device 110 receives the digital broadcast wave using the built-in tuner and the antenna 111 of the home 101, and extracts and stores the content of the program to be reserved for recording from the broadcast wave. To record. Thereafter, the recording device 110 transmits a recording completion notification to the transfer device 120 when communication with the transfer device 120 becomes possible. The notification indicates the identification information of the recorded content, the encoding format, and the data amount. In response to the notification, a transfer request is transmitted from the transfer device 120 to the recording device 110. The transfer request indicates information for identifying content to be transferred from the recording device 110 to the transfer device 120, and an encoding format to be used in the transfer. The recording device 110 identifies the content to be transferred from the transfer request, encodes the content in the encoding format indicated by the transfer request, and transmits the encoded content to the transfer device 120. Here, when the transfer request indicates a plurality of encoding formats, the recording apparatus 110 encodes the content to be transferred in each encoding format.

The transfer device 120 first receives recording reservation information and a list of decodable encoding formats from each of the playback devices 131-134. Next, the transfer device 120 transmits the recording reservation information to the recording device 110. After the scheduled recording is performed by the recording device 110, the transfer device 120 receives a recording completion notification from the recording device 110. In response to the notification, the transfer device 120 selects one or more encoding formats from among the encoding formats that can be decoded by the reproducing devices A131 to D134, and sets them in the transfer request. The encoding format indicated by the transfer request represents an encoding format to be used when the recording device 110 transfers the content to be transferred to the transfer device 120. In the encoding format selection process, the usage status of the storage unit built in the transfer device 120, the playback history of each playback device 131-134, and the connection history between the transfer device 120 and each playback device 131-134 are displayed. Referenced. As a result, the transfer request is set in order from the most frequently used encoding format used for transferring content from the transfer device 120 to any one of the playback devices A131 to D134. Moreover, the encoding format set in the transfer request is such that the entire data obtained by encoding the content to be transferred in the encoding format indicated by the transfer request is recorded in the storage unit of the transfer device 120. The number is limited. Subsequently, the transfer device 120 transmits a transfer request to the recording device 110, receives the content to be transferred from the recording device 110 as a reply, and stores it in the storage unit. Thereafter, when the transfer device 120 becomes communicable with any of the playback devices A131 to D134, the transfer device 120 generates a list of contents and transmits the content list to the playback device. The list of contents indicates identification information of contents encoded in an encoding format that can be decoded by a reproduction apparatus as a transmission destination among contents stored in the storage unit of the transfer apparatus 120. Further, when a playback request is returned from the playback device that has received the list of contents to the transfer device 120, the transfer device 120 transfers the content indicated by the playback request from the storage unit to the playback device. Thereafter, the transfer device 120 updates the playback history and connection history related to the transfer destination playback device.

When each playback device 131-134 has a built-in tuner, it receives a digital broadcast wave using the tuner and an external antenna, and creates an electronic program guide (EPG) based on information represented by the broadcast wave. Generate. In addition, each playback device 131-134 may acquire information necessary for generating an EPG from the Internet or the transfer device 120. Each playback device 131-134 further displays an EPG on the screen in accordance with a user's instruction, and generates recording reservation information based on information from the user. Thereafter, each of the playback devices 131 to 134 transmits the recording reservation information to the transfer device 120 together with a list of encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback device when communication with the transfer device 120 becomes possible. On the other hand, each playback device 131-134 receives a list of contents from the transfer device 120 and displays it on the screen. Subsequently, when the content to be played is designated by the user, each playback device 131-134 sets the identification information of the content in the playback request and transmits the playback request to the transfer device 120. Each playback device 131-134 then plays back the content transferred from the transfer device 120 in response to the playback request. The reproduction process may be performed by a streaming method or a download method.

As described above, in the recording / playback system according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the transfer device 120 is used to transfer content from the recording device 110 to each of the playback devices 131-134. As a result, the content recorded by the recording device 110 can be reproduced by the reproducing devices A131 to D134 that cannot be directly connected to the recording device 110. Further, the transfer device 120 selects an encoding format to be used when the recording device 110 transfers desired content to the transfer device 120 from among the encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback devices A131 to D134. At that time, the number of encoding formats to be selected is limited such that the entire data obtained by encoding the desired content in these encoding formats is recorded in the storage unit of the transfer device 120. Therefore, when the free space of the storage unit is insufficient, it is not possible to select all the encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback devices A131 to D134. However, the transfer device 120 selects the encoding format in descending order of frequency used for transferring content from the transfer device 120 to any one of the playback devices A131 to D134. The more frequently encoded content is more likely to be played back by one of the playback devices A131-D134. Accordingly, the storage unit of the transfer device 120 preferentially records data obtained by encoding desired content in an encoding format that is highly likely to be reproduced. As described above, the transfer device 120 can appropriately select the content encoding format when the free space of the storage unit is insufficient.

[Recording device configuration]

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the recording apparatus 110 shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 2, a recording apparatus 110 includes a digital tuner 201, a control unit 202, an output unit 203, a bus interface (I / F) 204, an operation unit 205, an input / output (I / O) port 206, an optical disc. A drive 207, a storage unit 208, and a communication unit 209 are provided. The digital tuner 201 is connected to an external antenna 111, receives a digital broadcast wave through the antenna 111, and demodulates desired information from the broadcast wave. The control unit 202 includes a CPU, a RAM, and a nonvolatile memory. The control unit 202 functions by the CPU executing the firmware stored in the nonvolatile memory, and controls other elements of the recording device 110. In particular, the control unit 202 decodes video content from the information demodulated by the digital tuner 201. The output unit 203 is connected to an external display device DSP via an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) cable. The output unit 203 converts the video content decoded by the control unit 202 into an HDMI video signal / audio signal, and sends it to the display device DSP through the HDMI cable. Thereby, the video represented by the video content is reproduced on the screen of the display device DSP. The I / F 204 relays data between the control unit 202 and the other elements 205-209. The operation unit 205 receives a radio signal from an external remote controller RMC, or receives a signal indicating that the button has been pressed from a button provided on the front panel of the recording apparatus 110. The operation unit 205 further decodes the function indicated by these signals and instructs the control unit 202 to execute the function. The I / O port 206 is a connector for a memory device MCD such as a memory card and a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, and relays data between the memory device MCD and the I / F 204. The optical disc drive 207 irradiates the surface of an optical disc DSC such as a DVD or a Blu-ray (registered trademark) disc with laser light, and decodes data recorded on the optical disc DSC from the change in the amount of reflected light to the I / F 204. hand over. The storage unit 208 is a mass storage device such as an HDD or a semiconductor memory device, and mainly stores the video content decoded by the control unit 202 and the video content read from the optical disc DSC by the optical disc drive 207. To do. The communication unit 209 is connected to the transfer device 120 and the Internet by a wired method such as USB or Ethernet (registered trademark) or a wireless method such as WiFi (registered trademark), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or NFC (Near Field Communication). Communication is possible.

The control unit 202 operates as various functional units depending on the type of firmware executed by the CPU. These functional units include a recording unit 221, a connection management unit 222, a transfer unit 223, and an encoding unit 224.

The recording unit 221 receives recording reservation information from the transfer device 120 through the communication unit 209. In addition, the recording unit 221 generates an EPG based on the information demodulated by the digital tuner 201 or the information acquired from the Internet through the communication unit 209, and displays it on the display device DSP through the output unit 203 for the user. Encourage recording reservation. In this case, the recording unit 221 receives a user instruction through the operation unit 205, and generates recording reservation information according to the instruction. According to the recording reservation information thus obtained, the recording unit 221 performs reserved recording. Specifically, the recording unit 221 extracts the content of the program indicated by the recording reservation information from the information demodulated by the digital tuner 201 in the time zone indicated by the recording reservation information, and stores it in the storage unit 208. . When the recording reservation information is received from the transfer device 120, the recording unit 221 notifies the transfer unit 223 of the identification information of the transfer device 120 together with the recording reservation information. On the other hand, when the recording unit 221 generates the recording reservation information itself, it notifies the transfer unit 223 of the identification information of the default transfer device together with the recording reservation information. Further, when the scheduled recording is finished, the recording unit 221 sets the recorded content identification information and the data amount in the recording completion notification, and transmits the notification to the transfer unit 223.

When the communication unit 209 establishes a connection with an external device such as the transfer device 120, the connection management unit 222 reads connection management information related to the connection destination device from the storage unit 208 and causes the communication unit 209 to use it. . The connection management information includes identification information of a connection destination device, a connection history between the communication unit 209 and the device, a connection method, and a key for encrypting communication data. Further, each time the communication unit 209 disconnects the connection with an external device, the connection management unit 222 receives information about the connection from the communication unit 209 and updates the connection management information using the information.

The transfer unit 223 stores in the storage unit 208 a pair of the recording reservation information notified from the recording unit 221 and the identification information of the transfer device. Further, when receiving a recording completion notification from the recording unit 221, the transfer unit 223 searches the storage unit 208 for recording reservation information including content identification information indicated by the notification, and transfers the transfer device associated with the recording reservation information Identify the identification information. Thereafter, the transfer unit 223 causes the connection management unit 222 to use the identification information of the transfer device to monitor whether the communication unit 209 has established a connection with the transfer device. When establishment of the connection is detected by the connection management unit 222, the transfer unit 223 transmits a recording completion notification to the transfer device and waits for a transfer request from the transfer device. When the transfer request arrives, the transfer unit 223 searches the storage unit 208 for the content indicated by the transfer request, and determines whether the encoding format of the content matches the encoding format indicated by the transfer request. To do. If both encoding formats match, the transfer unit 223 transfers the content as it is from the storage unit 208 to the transfer device. On the other hand, if the two encoding formats do not match, the transfer unit 223 causes the encoding unit 224 to convert the encoding format of the content into the encoding format indicated by the transfer request, and then transfers the content to the transfer device. Forward.

The encoding unit 224 converts the content encoding format stored in the storage unit 208 into a desired encoding format. The conversion is realized by re-encoding the content in a desired encoding format. In addition, the encoding unit 224 may acquire content encoded in a desired encoding format from the Internet or the optical disc DSC.

[Transfer device configuration]

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the transfer device 120 shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 3, the transfer device 120 includes a control unit 301, an I / F 302, an operation unit 303, an I / O port 304, a storage unit 305, and a communication unit 306. The control unit 301 includes a CPU, a RAM, and a nonvolatile memory. The control unit 301 functions when the CPU executes firmware stored in the nonvolatile memory, and controls other elements of the transfer device 120. In particular, the control unit 301 uses the playback device A131-D134 based on the usage status of the storage unit 305, the playback history of each playback device 131-134, and the connection history between the communication unit 209 and each playback device 131-134. To select one or more encoding formats from among the encoding formats that can be decoded. The I / F 302 relays data between the control unit 301 and the other elements 303-306. The operation unit 303 receives a signal indicating pressing and touching by a user's finger from buttons and a touch panel provided on the housing of the transfer device 120. The operation unit 303 further decodes the functions indicated by these signals and instructs the control unit 301 to execute the functions. The I / O port 304 is a connector for a memory device MCD such as a memory card and a USB memory, and relays data between the memory device MCD and the I / F 302. The storage unit 305 is a mass storage device such as an HDD or a semiconductor memory device, and stores video content to be transferred from the recording device 110 to each of the playback devices 131-134. The communication unit 306 can communicate with the recording device 110, the playback device A131-D134, and the Internet by a wired method such as USB or Ethernet, or a wireless method such as WiFi, Bluetooth, or NFC.

The control unit 301 operates as various functional units depending on the type of firmware executed by the CPU. These functional units include a connection management unit 311, a transfer unit 312, and an encoding format selection unit 313.

When the communication unit 306 establishes a connection with an external device such as the recording device 110, the connection management unit 311 reads connection management information regarding the connection destination device from the storage unit 305 and causes the communication unit 306 to use the connection management information. . Further, every time the communication unit 306 disconnects from an external device, the connection management unit 311 receives information related to the connection from the communication unit 306 and updates the connection management information using the information. The connection management unit 311 also uses the connection management information to check the history of the recording device 110 and the playback devices A131 to D134 from the latest connection to the connection a certain number of times ago. Calculate the number of connection operations per month or year. The number of times is called connection frequency. The connection frequency is stored in the storage unit 305 as part of the connection management information.

The transfer unit 312 receives a notification of establishment from the connection management unit 311 each time the communication unit 306 establishes a connection with each playback device 131-134. In response to the notification, the transfer unit 312 requests recording reservation information and a list of encoding formats that can be decoded from the connected playback device. The transfer unit 312 further receives the information from the playback device and passes the information to the encoding format selection unit 313.

When the connection unit 311 is notified that the communication unit 306 has established a connection with the recording device 110, the transfer unit 312 acquires the recording reservation information from the encoding format selection unit 313 and transmits the recording reservation information to the recording device 110. To do. Subsequently, when a recording completion notification is received from the recording device 110, the transfer unit 312 requests the encoding format selection unit 313 to select an encoding format in response to the notification. The encoding format to be selected should be used when the recording device 110 transfers the content indicated by the recording completion notification to the storage unit 305. The transfer unit 312 also reads the encoded format and data amount of the recorded content from the recording completion notification and passes them to the encoding format selection unit 313 to be used for selecting the encoding format. After the encoding format is selected by the encoding format selection unit 313, the transfer unit 312 sets the encoding format to a transfer request and transmits the transfer request to the recording device 110. Subsequently, the transfer unit 312 receives the desired content from the recording device 110 as a reply to the transfer request and stores it in the storage unit 305.

Thereafter, when the transfer unit 312 is notified from the connection management unit 311 that the communication unit 306 has established a connection with any one of the playback devices A131 to D134, the transfer unit 312 encodes the encoding format management information related to the playback device to which it is connected. Obtained from the format selection unit 313. The encoding format management information is information in which a list of encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback device is associated with the identification information of each playback device 131-134. Further, the transfer unit 312 generates a list of contents based on the encoding format management information and transmits it to the playback device. The list of contents indicates identification information of contents encoded in an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback apparatus, among the contents stored in the storage unit 305. Further, when a playback request is returned from the playback device, the transfer unit 312 transfers the content indicated by the playback request from the storage unit 305 to the playback device. After the end of the transfer operation, the transfer unit 312 notifies the encoding format selection unit 313 of information related to the transfer operation, such as content playback time, encoding format, and data amount.

Each time the transfer unit 312 transfers the content from the storage unit 305 to one of the playback devices, the encoding format selection unit 313 acquires information on the transfer operation from the transfer unit 312 and based on the information, the storage unit The playback management information related to the playback device stored in 305 is updated. The reproduction management information is information in which the reproduction history of each reproduction apparatus A131-D134 that can be connected to the communication unit 306 is associated with the reproduction history of the reproduction apparatus. The reproduction history represents a history of content transfer operations performed by the transfer device 120 on the reproduction device. The encoding format selection unit 313 also refers to the reproduction management information to perform a certain number of times before the transfer operation, for example, 10 times before the latest transfer operation performed by the transfer device 120 for each of the reproduction devices 131-134. The history is checked, and the playback frequency of each playback device 131-134 is calculated from the history. The reproduction frequency is expressed as the number of transfer operations per week, January, or year. The reproduction frequency is stored in the storage unit 305 as part of the reproduction management information.

When receiving the recording reservation information from the transfer unit 312, the encoding format selection unit 313 stores the recording reservation information in the storage unit 305. The encoding format selection unit 313 also reads out desired recording reservation information from the storage unit 305 and passes it to the transfer unit 312 in response to a request from the transfer unit 312. On the other hand, when the encoding format selection unit 313 receives from the transfer unit 312 a list of encoding formats that can be decoded by any of the playback devices, the encoding format management unit 313 manages the encoding format stored in the storage unit 305 based on the list. Update information. The encoding format selection unit 313 further refers to the reproduction management information related to the reproduction device, and from the latest transfer operation performed by the transfer device 120 to the reproduction device until a certain number of times before the transfer operation, for example, ten times before. Check the history of. Then, the encoding format selection unit 313 calculates an average amount of data that the playback device reproduces per hour from the history and incorporates it in the encoding format management information.

The encoding format selection unit 313 monitors the usage status of the storage unit 305, specifically, the area of the storage unit 305 in which data is recorded, that is, the change of the usage area. Further, when the encoding unit selection unit 313 is requested by the transfer unit 312 to select an encoding format, the encoding format selection unit 313 calculates the size of the used area based on the usage status of the storage unit 305 and compares the size with a threshold value. For example, when the capacity of the storage unit 305 is 10 GB, the threshold value is set to 7 GB.

When the size of the used area of the storage unit 305 does not exceed the threshold, the free capacity of the storage unit 305 is sufficiently large. The encoding format selection unit 313 refers to the connection management information in the storage unit 305 and sets a playback device whose connection frequency with the communication unit 306 is higher than a predetermined value as a content transfer destination. The predetermined value depends on at least how often the connection frequency is likely to be used for reproducing the content. In particular, when the predetermined value is 0, all playback devices that have been connected to the transfer device 120 in the past are set as content transfer destinations.

If the size of the used area of the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold, there is a high possibility that the free space of the storage unit 305 will be insufficient.Therefore, by limiting the number of transfer destination playback devices, it is recorded in the storage unit 305. There is a need to limit the amount of content data that should be. First, the encoding format selection unit 313 acquires the reproduction frequency of each reproduction device 131-134 from the reproduction management information in the storage unit 305. Next, the encoding format selection unit 313 selects one or more of the playback devices A131 to D134 as content transfer destinations in descending order of playback frequency. At that time, the number of transfer destination playback devices is limited as follows. First, the encoding format selection unit 313 identifies content recorded by the recording device 110 that has not yet been transferred to the storage unit 305 (hereinafter referred to as unviewed recorded content). Next, the encoding format selection unit 313 predicts the amount of data obtained by encoding the unviewed recorded content in an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback apparatus of the transfer destination. Specifically, the encoding format selection unit 313 reads the recording time of the unviewed recorded content from the recording reservation information, and from the encoding format management information, the transfer destination playback device reproduces the average per hour. The data amount is read, and the product of the recording time and the average data amount is calculated as a predicted value. The encoding format selection unit 313 limits the number of transfer destination playback devices so that the predicted data amount does not exceed the free capacity of the storage unit 305.

Subsequently, the encoding format selection unit 313 refers to the encoding format management information in the storage unit 305, and identifies an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback apparatus of the content transfer destination as a selection candidate. Further, the encoding format selection unit 313 transfers the content from the transfer device 120 to any one of the playback devices based on the playback frequency and playback history indicated by the playback management information in the storage unit 305. Calculate the frequency of use. After that, the encoding format selection unit 313 selects one or more encoding formats from the selection candidate encoding formats in the order of the above-mentioned frequency. In the selection process, the encoding format selection unit 313 first predicts the data amount obtained by encoding the desired content in the selected encoding format. In the prediction process, the content encoding format and the data amount indicated by the recording completion notification are used. Next, the encoding format selection unit 313 limits the number of encoding formats to be selected so that the predicted data amount does not exceed the free capacity of the storage unit 305. When the size of the used area in the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold, the encoding format selection unit 313 deletes from the storage unit 305 encoded data that can be decoded only by a playback device other than the transfer destination. As a result, the encoding format selection unit 313 expands the free capacity of the storage unit 305 as much as possible so that desired content can be recorded in the storage unit 305 in as many encoding formats as possible. The encoding format selection unit 313 determines the encoding format thus selected as an encoding format to be used when the recording device 110 records desired content on the transfer device 120 and notifies the transfer unit 312 of the encoding format.

[Connection management information]

4A is a table showing the data structure of connection management information stored in the storage unit 305 of the transfer device 120. FIG. Referring to FIG. 4A, in the connection management information, the connection frequency and the connection history are associated with the identification information of the connection target device. The connection history includes the communication unit 306 of the transfer device 120 for each connection target device, the date of the connection operation performed between the present and a predetermined period before, for example, one year ago, and the time that the connection was maintained. A pair of For example, according to FIG. 4A, the playback device A131 maintains the connection with the communication unit 306 of the transfer device 120 for 10 minutes on February 21, 30 minutes on February 22, and 24 February. Maintain 40 minutes a day. On the other hand, the playback apparatus B132 maintains the connection with the communication unit 306 of the transfer apparatus 120 for 5 minutes on January 5. The connection frequency is calculated by the connection management unit 311 of the transfer device 120 from the history up to a certain number of times before the latest connection, for example, the connection 10 times before. For example, according to (a) of FIG. 4, the playback device A 131 performs the average connection from the latest connection with the communication unit 306 of the transfer device 120 to the previous connection 10 times at a frequency of 3 times a week.

[Encoding format management information]

FIG. 4B is a table showing the data structure of the encoding format management information stored in the storage unit 305 of the transfer device 120. Referring to (b) of FIG. 4, the encoding format management information includes the encoding format and resolution, and the average amount of data per hour in the identification information of each of the playback devices A131 to D134. Corresponds. The format and resolution of the encoding format represent those that can be decoded by the associated playback device. The average data amount per hour represents the average data amount that the associated playback device plays back per hour. For example, the playback device A131 can decode content encoded with MPEG4 and H264 / AVC. Further, the playback device A131 plays back the content encoded in MPEG4 on an average of 500 MB per hour.

[Reproduction management information]

(C) of FIG. 4 is a table showing a data structure of the reproduction management information stored in the storage unit 305 of the transfer device 120. Referring to (c) of FIG. 4, in the reproduction management information, the reproduction frequency and reproduction history of the reproduction device are associated with the identification information of each of the reproduction devices A131 to D134.

The playback history includes items such as date, playback time, encoding format, and data volume. “Date” represents the date when the transfer device 120 transferred the content to the playback devices A 131 to D 134 before a predetermined period from the present, for example, one year ago. “Reproduction time” represents the time when the content transferred to the reproduction devices A131 to D134 was reproduced. If the transfer is a streaming system, the playback time is equal to the transfer time. If the transfer is a download system, the playback time indicates the playback time of the transferred part of the content. The “encoding format” represents the encoding format of the transferred content. “Data amount” represents the data amount of the transferred content. For example, according to FIG. 4C, the playback device A131 receives content of 50 minutes playback time on January 5 from the transfer device 120, and receives content of 30 minutes playback time on February 1. Receiving content with a playback time of 20 minutes on the 8th, receiving content with a playback time of 30 minutes on February 15. On the other hand, the playback device B132 has not received any content from the transfer device 120 between now and a predetermined period. Furthermore, the content received by the playback device A131 from the transfer device 120 on January 5 is encoded by MPEG4 720p, and the data amount is 400 MB.

The reproduction frequency is calculated from the history up to a certain number of times before the latest transfer operation performed by the transfer device 120 for each of the reproduction devices A131 to D134, for example, up to 10 times before the transfer operation. For example, according to FIG. 4C, the playback device A131 receives the content from the transfer device 120 on an average once a week. Also, the encoding format “MPEG4 720p” is used for transferring content from the transfer device 120 to the playback device A131 with an average of three times a month.

[Configuration of playback device]

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration common to the playback devices 131-134 shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 5, the playback device 130 includes a digital tuner 501, a control unit 502, a display unit 503, an I / F 504, an operation unit 505, an I / O port 506, and a communication unit 507. The digital tuner 501 is connected to an antenna ANT external to the playback device 130 or an antenna built in the playback device 130, receives a digital broadcast wave through the antenna ANT, and demodulates desired information from the broadcast wave. The control unit 502 includes a CPU, a RAM, and a nonvolatile memory. The control unit 502 functions when the CPU executes the firmware stored in the nonvolatile memory, and controls other elements of the playback device 130. In particular, the control unit 502 decodes video content from the information demodulated by the digital tuner 501 and the data transferred from the transfer device 120. The display unit 503 includes a display panel, and reproduces the video represented by the video content decoded by the control unit 502 on the display panel. The I / F 504 relays data between the control unit 502 and other elements 505-507. The operation unit 505 receives a radio signal from the external remote controller RMC, or receives a signal indicating that the button is pressed from a button provided on the front panel of the playback device 130. The operation unit 505 further decodes the function indicated by these signals and instructs the control unit 502 to execute the function. The I / O port 506 is a connector for a memory device MCD such as a memory card or a USB memory, and relays data between the memory device MCD and the I / F 504. The communication unit 507 can communicate with the transfer device 120 and the Internet by a wired method such as USB or Ethernet, or a wireless method such as WiFi, Bluetooth, or NFC.

The control unit 502 operates as various functional units depending on the type of firmware executed by the CPU. These functional units include a playback unit 521, a recording reservation unit 522, and a connection management unit 523.

The playback unit 521 decodes the video content demodulated by the digital tuner 501. The playback unit 521 also decodes the video content transferred from the transfer device 120 through the communication unit 507. The playback unit 521 further transmits the decoded video content to the display unit 503, and causes the display unit 503 to play back the video represented by the video content. In particular, when the content transferred from the transfer device 120 is played back on the display unit 503, the playback unit 521 first receives a list of content from the transfer device 120 and displays it on the display unit 503, and allows the user to select the content to be played back. Prompt for specification. After that, when the operation unit 505 identifies the identification information of the content to be played according to the user's instruction, the playback unit 521 sets the identification information as a playback request and transmits the playback request to the communication unit 507 to the transfer device 120. Let Subsequently, the playback unit 521 decrypts the content transferred from the transfer device 120 to the communication unit 507 in response to the playback request, and causes the display unit 503 to play back the content. The reproduction process may be performed by a streaming method or a download method.

In addition, the playback unit 521 holds a list of encoding formats that can be decoded. When the communication unit 507 is notified from the connection management unit 523 that the connection with the transfer device 120 has been established, the playback unit 521 transmits the list to the transfer device 120.

The recording reservation unit 522 generates an EPG based on information demodulated by the digital tuner 501 or information acquired from the Internet through the communication unit 507 and displays it on the display unit 503 to prompt the user to make a recording reservation. The recording reservation unit 522 further receives a user instruction through the operation unit 505, and generates recording reservation information according to the instruction. The recording reservation unit 522 further transmits recording reservation information to the transfer device 120 when the communication unit 507 establishes a connection with the transfer device 120.

The connection management unit 523 causes the communication unit 507 to use connection management information regarding the connection destination device when the communication unit 507 establishes a connection with an external device such as the transfer device 120. Further, each time the communication unit 507 disconnects the connection with an external device, the connection management unit 523 receives information regarding the connection from the communication unit 507 and updates the connection management information using the information.

[Specify the content to be played using the content list]

(A) of FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a list of contents displayed by the display unit 503 of the playback device 130. Referring to FIG. 6A, the content list includes the content title, the recording date, and the recording time as items. “Content title” indicates a title of content encoded in an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback unit 521 of the playback device 130 among the content stored in the storage unit 305 of the transfer device 120. The user operates the remote controller while viewing this list, for example, moves the cursor to an item related to the program “Drama 2” and presses the enter button. A hatched portion shown in FIG. 6A represents a cursor. The operation unit 505 of the playback device 130 identifies the identification information of the program “Drama 2” based on the signal from the remote controller. The playback unit 521 sets the identification information in the playback request.

[Recording reservation using EPG]

FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an EPG displayed by the display unit 503 of the playback device 130. The EPG shown in (b) of FIG. 6 represents a list of broadcast programs from 19:00 to 23:00 on the month and day. The user operates the remote controller while viewing this EPG, for example, moves the cursor to the item indicating the program “Drama 1” that is scheduled to be broadcast from the 20:00 to 21:00, and presses the enter button. A hatched portion shown in FIG. 6B represents a cursor. The operation unit 505 of the playback device 130 specifies identification information of the program “Drama 1” based on a signal from the remote controller. The recording reservation unit 522 searches the EPG for information relating to the program “Drama 1” using the identification information, and generates recording reservation information based on the information. The recording reservation information includes the identification information of the broadcasting station A, the identification information of the program “drama 1”, the recording start time “○ month × day 20:00”, the recording time “60 minutes”, the image quality of recording, and the playback device 130. Including identification information.

[Content recording / playback processing]

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of content recording / playback processing by the system shown in FIG. This process is started when the transfer device 120 is connected to one of the playback devices A131 to D134.

In step S701, the playback unit 521 of the playback device 130 connected to the transfer device 120 transmits a list of encoding formats that can be decoded to the transfer device 120. Further, the recording reservation unit 522 of the playback device 130 transmits the recording reservation information to the transfer device 120. The transfer device 120 stores the information in the storage unit 305. Here, if the encoding format management information regarding the playback device 130 is already stored in the storage unit 305 of the transfer device 120, the playback unit 521 of the playback device 130 transmits a list of encoding formats that can be decoded again. You don't have to. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S702.

In step S702, when the communication unit 306 of the transfer device 120 establishes a connection with the recording device 110, the transfer unit 312 of the transfer device 120 transfers the recording reservation information to the recording device 110. At that time, in the recording device 110, the recording unit 221 accepts the recording reservation information and notifies the transfer unit 223 together with the identification information of the transfer device 120. In response to the notification, the transfer unit 223 stores the pair of the recording reservation information and the identification information of the transfer device 120 in the storage unit 208. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S703.

In step S703, the recording unit 221 of the recording apparatus 110 performs reserved recording according to the recording reservation information stored in the storage unit 208. When the reserved recording is completed, the recording unit 221 transmits a recording completion notification to the transfer unit 223 of the recording device 110. In response to the notification, the transfer unit 223 searches the storage unit 208 for recording reservation information including the content identification information indicated by the notification, and identifies the identification information of the transfer device 120 associated with the recording reservation information. The transfer unit 223 further causes the connection management unit 222 to use the identification information to monitor whether the communication unit 209 has established a connection with the transfer device 120. When the establishment of the connection is detected by the connection management unit 222, the transfer unit 223 transmits a recording completion notification to the transfer device 120. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S704.

In step S704, when the transfer unit 312 of the transfer device 120 receives the recording completion notification from the recording device 110, it requests the encoding format selection unit 313 to select the encoding format. The encoding format selection unit 313 selects an encoding format according to the request. Details of the selection process will be described later. After the selection process, the transfer unit 312 sets the selected encoding format as a transfer request, and transmits the transfer request to the recording device 110. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S705.

In step S705, the transfer unit 223 of the recording apparatus 110 searches the storage unit 208 for the content indicated by the transfer request in response to the transfer request, and the encoding format of the content matches the encoding format indicated by the transfer request. Judge whether to do. If both encoding formats match, the transfer unit 223 transfers the content as it is from the storage unit 208 to the transfer device 120. On the other hand, if the two encoding formats do not match, the transfer unit 223 causes the encoding unit 224 to convert the encoding format of the content into the encoding format indicated by the transfer request, and then transfers the content to the transfer device 120. Forward to. The transfer unit 312 of the transfer device 120 receives the content and stores it in the storage unit 305. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S706.

In step S706, when the communication unit 306 of the transfer device 120 establishes a connection with one of the playback devices A131 to D134, the transfer unit 312 of the transfer device 120 performs the playback based on the identification information of the playback device connected to the transfer device 120. Reference is made to encoding format management information related to the device. Further, the transfer unit 312 generates a list of contents based on the encoding format management information and transmits it to the playback device. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S707.

In step S707, the playback unit 521 of the playback device 130 receives the content list from the transfer device 120 and displays it on the display unit 503 to prompt the user to specify the content to be played back. The operation unit 505 of the playback device 130 receives an instruction from the user, and specifies identification information of content to be played back according to the instruction. The playback unit 521 of the playback device 130 sets the identification information as a playback request, and causes the communication unit 507 to transmit the playback request to the transfer device 120. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S708.

In step S708, when the playback request is returned from the playback device 130, the transfer unit 312 of the transfer device 120 transfers the content indicated by the playback request from the storage unit 305 to the playback device 130. The playback unit 521 of the playback device 130 decrypts the content received by the communication unit 507 and causes the display unit 503 to play back the content. On the other hand, the encoding format selection unit 313 of the transfer device 120 updates the reproduction management information when the transfer of the content is completed. Thereafter, the process ends.

[Configuration of transfer device encoding format selection unit]

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the encoding format selection unit 313 of the transfer apparatus 120 shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 8, the encoding format selection unit 313 includes a monitoring unit 801, a recording reservation management unit 802, a history management unit 803, an encoding format management unit 804, a data amount prediction unit 805, and a determination unit 806. These functional units 801 to 806 operate when a CPU in the control unit 301 executes predetermined firmware.

The monitoring unit 801 monitors the usage status of the storage unit 305 of the transfer device 120. Further, in response to the inquiry from the determination unit 806, the monitoring unit 801 calculates the size of the usage area based on the usage status of the storage unit 305, and compares the size with a threshold value. The comparison result is notified to the determination unit 806 as a reply to the inquiry.

When the recording reservation management unit 802 receives the recording reservation information from the transfer unit 312 of the transfer device 120, the recording reservation information is stored in the storage unit 305. In response to a request from the transfer unit 312, the recording reservation management unit 802 reads desired recording reservation information from the storage unit 305 and passes it to the transfer unit 312. At that time, the recording reservation management unit 802 updates information for identifying whether or not the recording reservation information has already been transferred to the recording device 110 for each of the recording reservation information stored in the storage unit 305. The recording reservation management unit 802 further stores recording reservation information used when the transfer unit 312 transfers content from the recording device 110 to the storage unit 305 and instructs the recording device 110 to record the content. Search from part 305. Thereby, the recording reservation management unit 802 identifies, for each recording reservation information stored in the storage unit 305, whether or not the content indicated by the recording reservation information has already been transferred from the recording device 110 to the storage unit 305. Manage information.

In response to a request from the data amount prediction unit 805, the recording reservation management unit 802 calculates the total recording time between the contents recorded by the recording device 110 but not yet transferred to the storage unit 305 as follows: To calculate. First, the data amount prediction unit 805 searches the recording reservation information stored in the storage unit 305 for the following: the recording reservation information has already been transferred to the recording device 110, and the recording start time indicated by the recording reservation information Has already passed, but the content indicated by the recording reservation information has not yet been transferred from the recording device 110 to the storage unit 305. Next, the recording reservation management unit 802 adds up the recording time with the entire searched recording reservation information, and passes the obtained value to the data amount prediction unit 805.

Each time the transfer unit 312 transfers content from the storage unit 305 to one of the playback devices, the history management unit 803 acquires information regarding the transfer operation from the transfer unit 312 and stores the information in the storage unit 305 based on the information. The stored reproduction management information relating to the reproduction apparatus is updated. The history management unit 803 also refers to the reproduction management information, and records the history from the latest transfer operation performed by the transfer device 120 to each of the playback devices 131 to 134 a certain number of times before, for example, the transfer operation 10 times before. The reproduction frequency of each reproduction device 131-134 is calculated from the history. The history management unit 803 incorporates the reproduction frequency into a part of the reproduction management information. Further, in response to a request from the determination unit 806, the history management unit 803 reads the reproduction frequency of each reproduction device 131-134 from the reproduction management information in the storage unit 305 and passes it to the determination unit 806.

When the encoding format management unit 804 receives a list of encoding formats that can be decoded by any of the playback devices from the transfer unit 312, the encoding format management unit 804 stores the encoding format management information stored in the storage unit 305 based on the list. Update. The encoding format management unit 804 further refers to the playback management information related to the playback device, and from the latest transfer operation performed by the transfer device 120 to the playback device, for example, up to a transfer operation 10 times before, for example, Check the history of. Then, the encoding format selection unit 313 calculates an average amount of data that the playback device reproduces per hour from the history and incorporates it in the encoding format management information. The encoding format management unit 804 also reads encoding format management information from the storage unit 305 in response to a request from the data amount prediction unit 805 or the determination unit 806, and passes it to the data amount prediction unit 805 or the determination unit 806.

In response to a request from the determining unit 806, the data amount predicting unit 805 determines the data amount obtained by encoding the content recorded by the recording device 110 in a specific encoding format using any of the following two methods. Predict.

In the first method, the data amount prediction unit 805 first acquires the recording time of unviewed recorded content from the recording reservation management unit 802. On the other hand, the data amount prediction unit 805 obtains the encoding format management information related to each reproduction device 131-134 from the encoding format management unit 804, and each reproduction device 131-134 obtains the encoding format management information from the encoding format management information. Read the average amount of data to be played back per hour. Next, the data amount prediction unit 805 calculates, as a predicted value, the product of the average data amount that the specific playback device plays back per hour and the recording time of unviewed recorded content.

In the second method, the data amount prediction unit 805 first reads the content encoding format and the data amount from the recording completion notification received by the transfer unit 312 from the recording device 110. Next, the data amount prediction unit 805 converts the content of the data amount indicated by the recording completion notification into the specific encoding format from the change rate of the data amount when the encoding format indicated by the recording completion notification is converted into the specific encoding format. The amount of data obtained by converting to is calculated as a predicted value. Here, the data amount prediction unit 805 stores in advance the rate of change of the data amount when converting one of the various pairs of encoding formats into the other.

The first method has a smaller amount of calculation than the second method, so the calculation of the predicted value is faster. On the other hand, since the second method uses the data amount of the content before transfer for prediction, a more accurate predicted value than that of the first method can be obtained.

The determination unit 806 selects an encoding format as follows in response to a request from the transfer unit 312. The determination unit 806 further determines the selected encoding format as an encoding format to be used when the recording device 110 transfers the content to be transferred indicated by the recording completion notification to the transfer device 120, and sends it to the transfer unit 312. Notice.

First, the determination unit 806 inquires of the monitoring unit 801 whether or not the size of the used area of the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold value. When the size of the used area does not exceed the threshold, the determination unit 806 refers to the connection management information in the storage unit 305 and sets a playback device having a connection frequency with the communication unit 306 higher than 0 as the content transfer destination To do. On the other hand, when the size of the used area exceeds the threshold, the determination unit 806 acquires the playback frequency of each playback device 131-134 from the history management unit 803, and selects one or more of the playback devices A131-D134. The content is selected as a transfer destination in descending order of reproduction frequency. At that time, the number of transfer destination playback devices is limited as follows. First, the determination unit 806 causes the data amount prediction unit 805 to predict the data amount obtained by encoding the unviewed recorded content in an encoding format that can be decoded by the transfer destination playback device using the first method. Next, the determination unit 806 limits the number of transfer destination playback devices so that the predicted data amount does not exceed the free capacity of the storage unit 305.

Next, the determination unit 806 obtains the encoding format management information related to the playback device at the transfer destination from the encoding format management unit 804, and based on the encoding format management information, the encoding format that can be decoded by these playback devices Are identified as selection candidates. Subsequently, the determination unit 806 causes the data amount prediction unit 805 to predict the data amount obtained by encoding the transfer target content indicated by the recording completion notification in the encoding format of the selection candidate by the second method. Further, the determination unit 806 acquires the reproduction management information from the history management unit 803, and from the reproduction frequency and the reproduction history indicated by the reproduction management information, each encoding format of the selection candidate is transferred from the transfer device 120 to the reproduction devices A131 to D134. Calculate the frequency used to transfer content to any of the above. The determination unit 806 then prioritizes the selection candidate encoding formats in descending order of the calculated frequency, and selects one or more encoding formats from the selection candidate encoding formats according to the priority order. At that time, the determination unit 806 determines the number of encoding formats to be selected so that the amount of data obtained by encoding the content to be transferred in the selected encoding format does not exceed the free capacity of the storage unit 305. Limit. The determining unit 806 also deletes, from the storage unit 305, encoded data that can be decoded only by a playback device other than the transfer destination when the size of the use area of the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold value. At that time, the free data in the storage unit 305 is transferred in order from the data that is not likely to be used for playback, such as data that has not been used for playback and old data that has not been used for playback so far. It is selected so as to exceed the amount of content data. By deleting those encoded data, the determination unit 806 can increase the free capacity of the storage unit 305 as much as possible, and can record the content to be transferred in the storage unit 305 in as many encoding formats as possible. To.

[Encoding format selection process by transfer device]

9 and 10 are flowcharts of step S704 shown in FIG. 7, that is, the encoding format selection processing by the transfer apparatus 120. This process is started when the transfer unit 312 of the transfer device 120 receives a recording completion notification from the recording device 110.

In step S901, the transfer unit 312 requests the encoding format selection unit 313 to select an encoding format in response to the recording completion notification from the recording device 110. In the encoding format selection unit 313, in response to a request from the transfer unit 312, the determination unit 806 inquires of the monitoring unit 801 about the result of comparing the size of the used area of the storage unit 305 with the threshold value. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S902.

In step S902, the monitoring unit 801 calculates the size of the used area of the storage unit 305 in response to the inquiry from the determination unit 806, and notifies the determination unit 806 of the result of comparing the size with the threshold value. If the size of the used area does not exceed the threshold, the process proceeds to step S903. If the size of the used area exceeds the threshold, the process proceeds to step S1001.

In step S903, since the size of the used area does not exceed the threshold value, the free space in the storage unit 305 is sufficiently large. The determination unit 806 refers to the connection management information in the storage unit 305, and sets a playback device having a connection frequency with the communication unit 306 higher than 0 as a content transfer destination. As a result, all playback devices having a connection history are set as transfer destinations. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S904.

In step S904, the determination unit 806 first acquires the encoding format management information related to the transfer destination playback device from the encoding format management unit 804, and can be decoded by those playback devices based on the encoding format management information. An encoding format is specified as a selection candidate. Next, the determination unit 806 instructs the data amount prediction unit 805 to predict the data amount obtained by encoding the transfer target content indicated by the recording completion notification in the encoding format of the selection candidate by the second method. Request. In response to the request, the data amount predicting unit 805 uses the data amount change rate when converting the encoding format indicated by the recording completion notification to each encoding format of the selection candidate and the data amount indicated by the recording completion notification. Calculate the predicted value. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S905.

In step S905, the determination unit 806 first obtains the reproduction management information from the history management unit 803, and uses the reproduction frequency and the reproduction history indicated by the reproduction management information to indicate that each of the encoding formats of the selection candidates is the transfer device 120. The frequency used to transfer the content from one to the playback devices A131 to D134 is calculated. Next, the determination unit 806 gives priorities to the selection candidate encoding formats in descending order of the calculated frequency. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S906.

In step S906, the determination unit 806 first acquires the free capacity of the storage unit 305 from the monitoring unit 801. Next, the determination unit 806 selects one or more encoding formats according to the priority order from the encoding formats of the selection candidates. Next, the determination unit 806 obtains a predicted value of the data amount obtained by encoding the content to be transferred in the selected encoding format from the data amount prediction unit 805 and compares it with the free capacity of the storage unit 305. To do. If the predicted value does not exceed the free space, the determination unit 806 selects a new encoding format from the remaining selection candidates according to the priority order. In this way, the determination unit 806 can select the encoding value while comparing the predicted value with the free space in the storage unit 305, thereby allowing the predicted value not to exceed the free space in the storage unit 305. Select as many encoding formats as possible. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S907.

In step S907, the determination unit 806 determines the selected encoding format as the encoding format that the recording device 110 should use to transfer the content to the transfer device 120, and notifies the transfer unit 312 of it. Thus, the encoding format selection process ends. Thereafter, the processing proceeds to step S705 shown in FIG.

In step S1001, since the size of the used area of the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold value, there is a high possibility that the free capacity of the storage unit 305 is insufficient. Therefore, the determination unit 806 first obtains the reproduction management information from the history management unit 803, and identifies a reproduction device without a reproduction history based on the reproduction management information. Next, the determination unit 806 deletes from the storage unit 305 encoded data that can be decoded only by the specified playback device. Thereby, the determination unit 806 increases the free capacity of the storage unit 305. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S1002.

In step S1002, the determination unit 806 acquires the playback frequency of each playback device 131-134 from the playback management information, and determines N units (the letter N represents an integer of 1 or more) from the playback devices A131-D134. Select content transfer destinations in descending order of playback frequency. At that time, the determining unit 806 causes the data amount predicting unit 805 to predict the data amount obtained by encoding the unviewed recorded content in an encoding format that can be decoded by the transfer destination playback device, using the first method, The number N of transfer destination playback devices is limited so that the amount of data does not exceed the free capacity of the storage unit 305. Details of this selection process will be described later. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S1003.

In step S1003, the determination unit 806 operates in the same manner as in step S904. That is, the determination unit 806 is obtained by specifying an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback apparatus as the transfer destination as a selection candidate, and encoding the transfer target content indicated by the recording completion notification in the selection candidate encoding format. The data amount prediction unit 805 is made to predict the data amount by the second method. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S1004.

In step S1004, the determination unit 806 acquires the free capacity of the storage unit 305 from the monitoring unit 801, and compares the data amount predicted by the data amount prediction unit 805 in step S1003 with the free capacity. If the free capacity is equal to or less than the data amount, the process proceeds to step S1005. If the free capacity is larger than the data amount, the process proceeds to step S1009.

In step S1005, the free capacity of the storage unit 305 is equal to or less than the predicted value of the data amount. Therefore, the determination unit 806 checks whether or not the encoded data that can be decoded only by the playback device other than the transfer destination remains in the storage unit 305. If such encoded data remains, the process proceeds to step S1006. If such encoded data does not remain, the process proceeds to step S1007.

In step S1006, encoded data that can be decoded only by a playback device other than the transfer destination remains in the storage unit 305. Therefore, the determination unit 806 deletes the oldest encoded data from the storage unit 305. Thereafter, the process is repeated from step S1004. In the loop processing in steps S1004 to S1006, all the encoded data that can be decoded by the playback device other than the transfer destination is deleted from the storage unit 305 until the free space in the storage unit 305 exceeds the predicted value of the data amount Repeat until.

In step S1007, the determination unit 806 calculates the frequency at which each of the selection candidate encoding formats was used to transfer the content from the transfer device 120 to any one of the playback devices A131 to D134 in the same manner as in step S905. Priorities are assigned to the selection candidate encoding formats in descending order of the calculated frequency. Thereafter, processing proceeds to step S1008.

In step S1008, the determination unit 806 selects as many encoding formats as possible from the encoding formats of the selection candidates according to the priority order in the same manner as in step S906. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S907.

In step S1009, the amount of data obtained by encoding the content to be transferred with all the encoding formats of the selection candidates is smaller than the free capacity of the storage unit 305. Therefore, the determination unit 806 selects all the encoding formats of selection candidates. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S907.

[Transfer device selection process for transfer device]

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of step S1002 shown in FIG. 10, that is, a transfer destination playback device selection process by the transfer device 120. In this process, the transfer apparatus 120 operates the elements of the encoding format selection unit 313 shown in FIG. 8 as follows.

In step S1101, the recording reservation management unit 802 identifies unviewed recording content based on the recording reservation information, reads the recording time TRT of the unviewed recording content from the recording reservation information, and passes it to the data amount prediction unit 805. Here, when there are a plurality of unviewed recorded contents, the recording reservation management unit 802 sums the recording times of the unviewed recorded contents and passes the total value to the data amount prediction unit 805. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S1102.

In step S1102, the data amount prediction unit 805 acquires the encoding format management information regarding the reproducing devices A131-D134 from the encoding format management unit 804, and each reproducing device 131-134 uses the encoding format management information. Read the average amount of data PTH reproduced per hour. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S1103.

In step S1103, the determination unit 806 acquires the playback frequency of each playback device 131-134 from the history management unit 803 and initializes the variable N to 1. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S1104.

In step S1104, the determination unit 806 first selects N playback devices from the playback devices A131 to D134 in descending order of playback frequency, and notifies the data amount prediction unit 805 of the identification information of these N playback devices. To do. In response to the notification, the data amount prediction unit 805 adds up the average data amount PTH that is reproduced per hour for each of the N playback devices. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S1105.

In step S1105, the data amount prediction unit 805 calculates the product of the total of the average data amount PTH calculated in step S1104 and the recording time TRT of the unviewed recorded content, and determines that product as a predicted value. To pass. The determination unit 806 acquires the free capacity of the storage unit 305 from the monitoring unit 801, and compares the predicted value received from the data amount prediction unit 805 with the free capacity. If the predicted value is smaller than the free space, the process proceeds to step S1106. If the predicted value is greater than or equal to the free capacity, the process proceeds to step S1107.

In step S1106, since the predicted value is smaller than the free capacity of the storage unit 305, unviewed recorded content may be further recorded in the storage unit 305 in an encoding format that can be decoded by a playback device different from the N playback devices. I don't know. Therefore, the determination unit 806 increases the variable N by 1. Thereafter, the process is repeated from step S1104.

In step S1107, since the predicted value is equal to or larger than the free capacity of the storage unit 305, the unviewed recorded content cannot be recorded in the storage unit 305 in an encoded format that can be decoded by all N playback devices. Accordingly, the determination unit 806 decreases the variable N by 1. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S1108.

In step S1108, the determination unit 806 selects N playback devices from the playback devices A131 to D134 in descending order of playback frequency, and sets these N playback devices as content transfer destinations. In this way, the transfer destination playback device prevents the predicted value of the data amount obtained by encoding the unviewed recorded content in an encoding format decodable by the transfer destination playback device from exceeding the free capacity of the storage unit 305. The number N is limited. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S1003.

[Changes in content stored in storage unit of transfer device]

(A) of FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a usage state of the storage unit 305 of the transfer device 120. A large rectangle 1201 shown in FIG. 12A represents the storage area of the storage unit 305, and a small rectangle 1202 represents data obtained by encoding the content in a specific encoding format. Further, the length of the vertical side of each of the

rectangles

1201 and 1202 represents the data amount. Referring to (a) of FIG. 12, the storage unit 305 stores two types of video contents “sport 1” and “drama 1”. Each content is encoded in an encoding format that can be decoded by each of the playback devices A131 to D134. For example, “sport 1; A” is data obtained by encoding “sport 1” in an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback device A131. According to FIG. 4B, the encoding format is MPEG4. Further referring to FIG. 12A, the size USA of the portion where the content is recorded in the storage area of the storage unit 305, that is, the size USA of the use area is smaller than the threshold THR.

Here, it is assumed that the recording device 110 records two types of contents “drama 2” and “sport 2” in accordance with the recording reservation information received from the transfer device 120. When the recording device 110 is connected to the transfer device 120, the recording device 110 transmits a recording completion notification regarding “drama 2” and “sport 2” to the transfer device 120. In response to the notification, the encoding format selection unit 313 of the transfer device 120 first calculates the size of the used area in the storage unit 305 and compares the size with a threshold value. In the example shown in FIG. 12A, the size USA of the used area of the storage unit 305 is smaller than the threshold value THR. Accordingly, based on the connection management information, the encoding format selection unit 313 sets all the playback devices that have been connected to the transfer device 120 in the past as content transfer destinations. According to FIG. 4A, all of the playback devices A131-D134 have been connected to the transfer device 120 in the past. Therefore, all of the playback devices A131 to D134 are set as content transfer destinations. Next, the encoding format selection unit 313 selects one or more encoding formats from among the encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback device A131-D134 as the transfer destination, and transfers them from the storage unit 305 to one of the playback devices A131-D134. Are selected in descending order of frequency of use. The encoding format selection unit 313 further predicts the data amount obtained by encoding “drama 2” and “sport 2” with the selected encoding format by the second method, and the predicted value is stored in the storage unit. The number of encoding formats to be selected is limited so as not to exceed 305 free space.

(B) of FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing data obtained by encoding “drama 2” and “sport 2” in an encoding format decodable by the playback devices A131-D134. Each rectangle shown in (b) of FIG. 12 represents data obtained by encoding “Drama 2” or “Sport 2” in a specific encoding format. For example, “Drama 2; A” represents data obtained by encoding “Drama 2” in an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback device A131. Further, the length of the vertical side of each rectangle represents the predicted value of the data amount by the data amount prediction unit 805.

In the example shown in FIG. 4C, the reproduction frequency is higher in the order of the reproduction apparatuses A131, C133, D134, and B132. Therefore, the encoding format selection unit 313 can encode the encoding format decodable by the reproducing device A131, the encoding format decodable by the reproducing device C133, the encoding format decodable by the reproducing device D134, and decodable by the reproducing device B132. Prioritize in order of encoding format. The encoded data represented by the rectangle shown in (b) of FIG. 12 has the highest priority in the encoding format in order from the top. Referring to (a) and (b) of FIG. 12, the prediction of the amount of data obtained by encoding “drama 2” and “sport 2” in an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback devices A131-D134. Value, that is, the predicted value CTS of the total data amount of “Drama 2; A”, “Sport 2; A”, “Drama 2; C”,..., “Sport 2; B” is the capacity TTL of the storage unit 305. Is a value obtained by removing the size USA of the used area, that is, the free space SPA = TTL−USA. Accordingly, the encoding format selection unit 313 selects all encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback apparatuses A131 to D134 as transfer destinations.

A predicted value of the data amount obtained by encoding “Drama 2” and “Sport 2” in an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback devices A131 to D134 is shown in FIG. Unlike the existing value CTS, when the free space SPA of the storage unit 305 is exceeded, the encoding format selection unit 313 sequentially deselects from the encoding format with the lowest priority. In the example shown in FIG. 12B, the selected encoding format is limited so that the encoded data “sport 2; B” represented by the lowermost rectangle is deleted in order.

(C) of FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing a usage state of the storage unit 305 of the transfer device 120 after the content shown in (b) is transferred from the recording device 110 to the transfer device 120. In FIG. 12C, as in FIG. 12A, the large rectangle represents the storage area of the storage unit 305, and the small rectangle represents data obtained by encoding the content in a specific encoding format. The encoding format selected by the encoding format selection unit 313 is notified from the transfer device 120 to the recording device 110 by a transfer request. In response to the transfer request, the recording device 110 encodes “drama 2” and “sport 2” in the encoding format indicated by the transfer request and transfers them to the storage unit 305 of the transfer device 120. As a result, as shown in FIG. 12 (c), the playback device as the transfer destination for any of the four types of content “sport 1”, “drama 1”, “drama 2”, and “sport 2” Encoded data that can be decoded by A131-D134 is recorded in the storage unit 305. Accordingly, the transfer device 120 includes identification information of “sport 1”, “drama 1”, “drama 2”, and “sport 2” in the list of contents to be transmitted to any of the playback devices A131 to D134 as the transfer destination. Describe.

(D) of FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing a list of contents displayed on the screen of the playback apparatus in accordance with the list of contents received from the transfer apparatus 120. Each of the transfer destination playback devices A131 to D134 displays a list of contents shown in FIG. 12D on the screen. Therefore, the user of any playback device can select the content to be played back from “Sport 1”, “Drama 1”, “Drama 2”, and “Sport 2”.

(A) of FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the usage status of the storage unit 305 of the transfer device 120. A large rectangle 1301 shown in FIG. 13A represents a storage area of the storage unit 305, and a small rectangle 1302 represents data obtained by encoding the content in a specific encoding format. The length of the vertical side of each of the

rectangles

1301 and 1302 represents the data amount. Referring to (a) of FIG. 13, the storage unit 305 stores two types of video contents “sport 1” and “drama 1”. Each content is encoded in an encoding format that can be decoded by each of the playback devices A131 to D134. Further referring to FIG. 13A, the size USA of the used area of the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold value THR.

Here, it is assumed that the recording device 110 records two types of contents “drama 2” and “sport 2” in accordance with the recording reservation information received from the transfer device 120. When the recording device 110 is connected to the transfer device 120, the recording device 110 transmits a recording completion notification regarding “drama 2” and “sport 2” to the transfer device 120. In response to the notification, the encoding format selection unit 313 of the transfer device 120 first calculates the size of the used area in the storage unit 305 and compares the size with a threshold value. In the example shown in FIG. 13A, the size USA of the used area of the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold value THR. Therefore, the encoding format selection unit 313 first identifies a playback device without a playback history based on the playback management information. In the example shown in FIG. 4B, the playback management information does not include the playback history related to the playback device B132, so the playback device B is specified. Next, the encoding format selection unit 313 deletes the encoded data that can be decoded only by the reproducing apparatus B from the storage unit 305. In FIG. 13A, the data to be deleted, that is, the encoded data “sport 1; B” and “drama 1; B”, which can be decoded only by the playback device B, are highlighted with diagonal lines. FIG. 13B is a schematic diagram illustrating a usage state of the storage unit 305 after the encoded data that can be decoded only by a playback device having no playback history is deleted from the storage unit 305. The

rectangles

1301 and 1302 shown in FIG. 13B are the same as those shown in FIG. Since the encoded data indicated by the oblique lines in FIG. 13A is deleted from the storage unit 305, the free capacity of the storage unit 305 is calculated from the value SPA shown in FIG. Increase to the value SPB shown in (b).

Subsequently, the encoding format selection unit 313 encodes unviewed recorded content, that is, “drama 2” and “sport 2” in an encoding format that can be decoded by each playback device 131-134. Is predicted by the first method. The encoding format selection unit 313 further acquires the playback frequency of each playback device 131-134 from the playback management information, and selects N playback devices A131-D134 in descending order of playback frequency as content transfer destinations. To do. The encoding format selection unit 313 then limits the number N of transfer destination playback devices so that the total amount of data predicted for each transfer destination playback device does not exceed the free capacity of the storage unit 305. . In the example shown in FIG. 4C, the reproduction frequency is higher in the order of the reproduction apparatuses A131, C133, D134, and B132. The encoding format selection unit 313 further restricts the content transfer destinations to two units, ie, the reproduction device A131 and the reproduction device C133, on the condition that the total of the predicted data amount does not exceed the free capacity of the storage unit 305.

Next, the encoding format selection unit 313 selects one or more encoding formats from among the encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback apparatuses A131 and C133 that are the transfer destinations, and transfers them from the storage unit 305 to any one of the playback apparatuses A131 to D134. Are selected in descending order of frequency of use. The encoding format selection unit 313 further selects the data amount obtained by encoding “drama 2” and “sport 2” in the selected encoding format so that it does not exceed the free capacity of the storage unit 305. Limit the number of encoding formats to be played.

(C) of FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing data obtained by encoding “Drama 2” and “Sport 2” in an encoding format that can be decoded by each of the playback devices A131 and C133. Each rectangle shown in (c) of FIG. 13 represents data obtained by encoding the content in a specific encoding format, and the length of the vertical side of the rectangle is the data amount prediction unit 805. Represents the predicted value of the data volume.

The playback frequency of the playback device A131 is higher than the playback frequency of the playback device C133. Therefore, the encoding format selection unit 313 gives higher priority to the encoding format that can be decoded by the reproducing device A131 than the encoding format that can be decoded by the reproducing device C133. The encoded data represented by the rectangle shown in (c) of FIG. 13 has the highest priority in the encoding format in order from the top. Referring to (b) and (c) of FIG. 13, the prediction of the data amount obtained by encoding “drama 2” and “sport 2” in an encoding format decodable by the playback devices A131 and C133. Value, that is, the predicted value CTS of the total data amount of “drama 2; A”, “sport 2; A”, “drama 2; C”, and “sport 2; C” is the free space SPB of the storage unit 305 Smaller than. Accordingly, the encoding format selection unit 313 selects all encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback apparatuses A131 and C133 as transfer destinations.

Note that the predicted value of the data amount obtained by encoding “drama 2” and “sport 2” in an encoding format decodable by the playback apparatuses A131 and C133 at the transfer destination is shown in FIG. Unlike the value CTS shown, when the free space SPB of the storage unit 305 is exceeded, the encoding format selection unit 313 first selects encoded data that can be decoded only by a playback device other than the transfer destination from the oldest one. In order, they are deleted from the storage unit 305. Thereby, the encoding format selection unit 313 expands the free space of the storage unit 305 as much as possible. In the example shown in FIG. 13B, the encoded data “drama 2; D” and “sport 2; D” that can be decoded only by the playback device D134, which is a playback device other than the transfer destination, are stored in the storage unit 305. Is recorded. Therefore, the encoding format selection unit 313 deletes these encoded data from the storage unit 305. Even if all the encoded data that can be decoded only by the playback device other than the transfer destination is deleted from the storage unit 305, if the predicted value exceeds the free capacity of the storage unit 305, the encoding format selection unit 313 In addition, the encoding format with the lowest priority is removed from the selection in order. In the example shown in FIG. 13C, the selected encoding format is limited so that data “sport 2; C” represented by the lowermost rectangle is deleted in order.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing a change in the amount of data predicted in the selection process of the transfer destination playback device. The lengths of the vertical sides of the

large rectangles

1401, 1402, and 1403 shown in FIGS. 14A, 14B, and 14C are 1, 2, and 3, respectively. This represents the amount of data expected in some cases.

When the number N is 1, the determination unit 806 selects the playback device A131 having the highest playback frequency as the playback device of the transfer destination. Referring to FIG. 14A, the length of the vertical side of the small rectangle 1411 represents the average data amount PTHA that the playback device A131 plays back per hour. The product PTHA × TRT of the data amount PTHA and the recording time TRT of the unviewed recorded content is calculated as a predicted value of the data amount. Since the predicted value PTHA × TRT is smaller than the free space SPB of the storage unit 305 shown in FIG. 13B, the determination unit 806 increases the number N = 1 to 2.

When the number N is 2, the determination unit 806 selects the playback device A131 having the highest playback frequency and the playback device C133 having the second highest playback frequency as playback devices to be transferred. Referring to FIG. 14B, the lengths of the vertical sides of the

small rectangles

1411 and 1412 represent the average data amounts PTHA and PTHC reproduced by the playback devices A131 and C133, respectively, per hour. The product (PTHA + PTHC) × TRT of the total PTHA + PTHC of these data amounts and the recording time TRT of the unviewed recorded content is calculated as a predicted value of the data amount. Since this predicted value (PTHA + PTHC) × TRT is also smaller than the free capacity SPB of the storage unit 305, the determination unit 806 increases the number N = 2 to 3.

When the number N is 3, the determination unit 806 selects the playback devices A131, C133, and D134 as the transfer destination playback devices in descending order of playback frequency. Referring to FIG. 14C, the lengths of the vertical sides of the

small rectangles

1411, 1412, 1413 are respectively the average data amounts PTHA, PTHC, Represents PTHD. The product (PTHA + PTHC + PTHD) × TRT of the total PTHA + PTHC + PTHD of the data amount and the recording time TRT of the unviewed recorded content is calculated as a predicted value of the data amount. Since this predicted value (PTHA + PTHC + PTHD) × TRT is larger than the free capacity SPB of the storage unit 305, the determination unit 806 returns the number N = 3 to 2, and determines the playback device as the transfer device A131, C133.

FIG. 15A is a schematic diagram showing a usage state of the storage unit 305 of the transfer device 120 after the content shown in FIG. 13C is transferred from the recording device 110 to the transfer device 120. . In FIG. 15A, as in FIG. 13B, the large rectangle 1501 represents the storage area of the storage unit 305, and the small rectangle 1502 is obtained by encoding the content in a specific encoding format. Data. The encoding format selected by the encoding format selection unit 313 is notified from the transfer device 120 to the recording device 110 by a transfer request. In response to the request, the recording apparatus 110 encodes “drama 2” and “sport 2” in the encoding format indicated by the transfer request, and transfers them to the storage unit 305 of the transfer apparatus 120. Referring to (a) of FIG. 15, for the contents “sport 1” and “drama 1” already recorded in the storage unit 305, playback devices other than the playback device B132 having no playback history, A131, C133, Only the encoded data that can be decoded by D134 remains in the storage unit 305. On the other hand, for the contents “drama 2” and “sport 2” newly transferred from the recording device 110 to the transfer device 120, only encoded data that can be decoded by the playback devices A131 and C133 is recorded in the storage unit 305. ing. Accordingly, the transfer device 120 describes all identification information of “sport 1”, “drama 1”, “drama 2”, and “sport 2” in the list of contents to be transmitted to the playback devices A131 and C133. In the list of contents to be transmitted to the playback device D134, identification information for “sport 1” and “drama 1” is described. On the other hand, the identification information of any content is not described in the content list transmitted to the playback device B132.

(B) of FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing a list of contents displayed on the screens of the reproducing apparatuses A131 and C133 according to the list of contents received from the transfer apparatus 120. As shown in FIG. 15 (a), the storage unit 305 uses the playback devices A131 and C133 for "sport 1", "drama 1", "drama 2", and "sport 2". Decoded encoded data is stored. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 15B, the list of contents displayed on the screen includes all of “sport 1”, “drama 1”, “drama 2”, and “sport 2”. Therefore, the users of the playback devices A131 and C133 can select the content to be played back from “Sport 1”, “Drama 1”, “Drama 2”, and “Sport 2”.

(C) of FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing a list of contents displayed on the screen of the playback apparatus B 132 in accordance with the list of contents received from the transfer apparatus 120. As illustrated in FIG. 15A, the storage unit 305 does not store encoded data that can be decoded only by the playback apparatus B. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 15C, a message indicating that there is no content that can be played back by the playback device B is displayed on the screen. Therefore, the user of the playback device B132 cannot view any content of “Sport 1”, “Drama 1”, “Drama 2”, and “Sport 2”.

(D) of FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing a list of contents displayed on the screen of the reproducing apparatus D134 in accordance with the list of contents received from the transfer apparatus 120. As shown in FIG. 15A, among the encoded data of the content stored in the storage unit 305, the encoded data that can be decoded only by the playback device D are “sport 1; D” and “drama 1”. Only "D". Therefore, as shown in FIG. 15D, the list of contents displayed on the screen includes only “sport 1” and “drama 1”. Therefore, the user of the playback device D134 can view only “Sport 1” or “Drama 1”.

[Advantages of transfer device according to embodiment 1]

When the transfer device 120 requests the recording device 110 to transfer the desired content to the storage unit 305, the transfer device 120 determines the encoding format to be used for the transfer in an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback devices A131 to D134. Choose from. At that time, the number of encoding formats to be selected is limited so that the entire data obtained by encoding the desired content in these encoding formats is recorded in the storage unit 305. Therefore, when the free space in the storage unit 305 is insufficient, it is not possible to select all the encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback devices A131 to D134. Therefore, the transfer device 120 selects an encoding format in descending order of frequency of use for transferring content from the storage unit 305 to any one of the playback devices A131 to D134. The more frequently encoded content is more likely to be played back by one of the playback devices A131-D134. Therefore, the storage unit 305 preferentially records data obtained by encoding desired content in an encoding format that is highly likely to be reproduced. As described above, the transfer device 120 can appropriately select the content encoding format when the storage unit 305 has insufficient free space.

The transfer device 120 further checks whether or not the size of the used area in the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold value. When the size of the use area of the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold value, there is a high possibility that an area for recording content in a low-priority encoding format cannot be secured in the storage unit 305. Accordingly, similarly to the case where the size of the used area does not exceed the threshold value, data obtained by encoding desired content in an encoding format that can be decoded only by the playback device up to a playback device with low playback frequency. There is a high probability that the amount does not have to be predicted. Therefore, when the size of the used area exceeds the threshold, the transfer device 120 performs the transfer destination playback device selection processing (S1002) prior to the encoding format selection processing (S1003-S1009), and the playback frequency is high. A playback device is preferentially set as a transfer destination. As a result, the number of encoding format selection candidates decreases, so that the burden on the transfer apparatus 120 is reduced by the data amount prediction processing for each selection candidate (S1003). Further, in the selection process of the transfer destination playback apparatus, the first method, which is simpler than the second method, is used for predicting the data amount. Therefore, the burden on the transfer device 120 is light throughout the entire encoding format selection process (S1001-S1009).

(A) The recording / playback system according to the first embodiment of the present invention treats a broadcast program recorded by the recording device 110 as content to be transferred to the playback devices A131-D134. In addition, the recording / reproducing system may treat content read from a portable recording medium such as an optical disk or a memory card, or content downloaded from a network by the recording device 110 as a transfer target. In this case, the content to be transferred may be a still image or audio content in addition to the moving image content, and includes a radio broadcast program, a home video, a photograph, a song, a lecture / lecture, and a copy of commercially available content. The recording device 110 may be an optical disc recorder, a digital video camera, a digital still camera, an audio recorder, an IC recorder, or the like in addition to an electronic device having a broadcast program recording function. On the other hand, the playback device may be an audio player, a surround system, and a printer in addition to an electronic device having a video playback function.

(B) In the recording / reproducing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the recording reservation information and the list of decodable encoding formats are transmitted from each reproducing device 131-134 to the recording device 110 via the transfer device 120. The In addition, the recording reservation information or the like may be transmitted from each playback device 131-134 to the recording device 110 via a home network or a network such as the Internet. Even in this case, the recorded content is transferred from the recording device 110 via the transfer device 120 to each playback device 131-134. Thereby, it is possible to prevent an excessive increase in network traffic due to the transfer of content.

(C) The transfer device 120 according to the first embodiment of the present invention transfers the content from the recording device 110 and the content to the playback devices A131 to D134 by wire or wirelessly. In addition, the recording device 110 may write the content to be transferred to a memory device such as a memory card or a USB memory, and the transfer device 120 may read the content from the memory device. Further, the transfer device 120 may write the content to be transferred to the memory device, and the playback devices A131 to D134 may read the content from the memory device.

(D) The transfer device 120 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is used only for transferring content to the playback devices A131 to D134. In addition, when the transfer device 120 is an electronic device equipped with a video playback function, such as a smartphone and a tablet computer, the transfer device 120 may be used as one of the playback devices.

(E) The recording unit 221 and the encoding unit 224 of the recording apparatus 110 shown in FIG. 2 operate when the control unit 202 executes specific firmware by the CPU. In addition, the recording unit and the encoding unit may be configured by dedicated hardware.

(F) The encoding format selection unit 313 of the transfer device 120 compares the size of the used area of the storage unit 305 with a predetermined threshold, and transfers the transfer if the size of the used area of the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold. Limit the number of previous playback devices. In addition, the encoding format selection unit 313 compares the free capacity of the storage unit 305 or the ratio of the size of the used area to the capacity of the storage unit 305 with a predetermined threshold, and the free capacity is below the threshold, or When the ratio exceeds the threshold, the number of transfer destination playback devices may be limited.

(G) The encoding format selection unit 313 calculates the reproduction frequency of each reproduction apparatus 131-134 from the history indicated by the reproduction management information and incorporates it in the reproduction management information. In addition, the encoding format selection unit 313 calculates the frequency used for transferring content to one of the playback devices for each type of encoding format from the history indicated by the playback management information, and incorporates it in the playback management information. But you can.

(H) Whenever the transfer unit 312 transfers the content to any one of the playback devices, the encoding format selection unit 313 refers to the playback management information regarding the playback device, and the playback device plays back per hour. Calculate the average amount of data. In addition, the encoding format selection unit 313 may acquire an average amount of data that each playback device plays back per hour from the playback device or the recording device 110. In addition, a standard value may be incorporated in advance in the encoding format management information as the amount of data that each playback device plays back per hour.

(I) The encoding format selection unit 313 transfers the content from the transfer device 120 to any one of the playback devices A131 to D134 with respect to the encoding format that can be decoded by the transfer destination playback device. Prioritize in order of frequency used. Accordingly, it is considered that an encoding format having a higher frequency is more likely to be used for transferring content from the transfer device 120 to any one of the playback devices A131 to D134. In addition, the encoding format selection unit 313 may assign a higher priority to an encoding format that can be decoded by a playback device having a high playback frequency or connection frequency. In that case, it is considered that an encoding format that can be decoded by a playback device having a high playback frequency or connection frequency is likely to be used for transferring content from the transfer device 120 to any one of the playback devices A131 to D134.

(J) When the size of the used area of the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold, the (J) encoding format selection unit 313 uses the reproduction frequency to limit the number of reproduction apparatuses as transfer destinations. In addition, the encoding format selection unit 313 may use connection frequency. Further, the number of transfer destination playback devices may be set by a user or set to a default value.

(K) When the size of the used area of the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold value, the encoding format selection unit 313 converts all of the unviewed recorded content in an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback device of the transfer destination. The amount of data obtained by encoding the content is predicted. In addition, the encoding format selection unit 313 may limit the data amount prediction target to unrecorded recorded content recorded from the present time to a predetermined period before, for example, one week before.

(L) When the size of the used area of the storage unit 305 exceeds the threshold value, the encoding format selection unit 313 is less likely to be used for reproduction out of the encoded data stored in the storage unit 305. The necessary amount is automatically deleted from the storage unit 305. In addition, the encoding format selection unit 313 may cause the user to select content to be deleted from the content stored in the storage unit 305.

<< Embodiment 2 >>

The recording / reproducing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention differs from the system according to the first embodiment in that the transfer device 120 restricts the time when the content is transferred from the recording device 110 to a time when power can be secured. Since other configurations and functions are the same as those of the system according to the first embodiment, the description of the first embodiment is used for the similar configurations and functions.

Since the transfer device 120 is a mobile device, it normally receives power from a built-in battery. However, transfer of content from the recording device 110 to the transfer device 120 takes a long time and consumes a large amount of power, so there is a risk that the battery will run out during the processing. Therefore, as described below, when the transfer device 120 according to the second embodiment of the present invention can be regarded as being in a state where it can receive power supply from the external power supply based on the history of receiving power supply from the external power supply, The content is transferred from the recording device 110. Thereby, the risk of running out of battery due to the content transfer process can be suppressed.

[Transfer device configuration]

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the transfer apparatus 120 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 16, transfer device 120 includes a GPS (Global Positioning System) unit 1601 and a power supply control unit 1602 in addition to the elements shown in FIG. 3. These

elements

1601 and 1602 can exchange data with the control unit 301 through the I / F 204. The GPS unit 1601 receives radio waves transmitted by at least three GPS satellites, and determines the distance between the transfer device 120 and each GPS satellite from the difference between the time indicated by those radio waves and the time when these radio waves are received. Calculate The GPS unit 1601 further calculates the latitude and longitude of the transfer device 120 from the calculated distance. The power control unit 1602 controls processing for charging a battery built in the transfer device 120 using an external power source.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the encoding format selection unit 313 shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 17, the encoding format selection unit 313 includes a power monitoring unit 1701, a position detection unit 1702, and a transfer time determination unit 1703 in addition to the function units 801-806 shown in FIG. Similar to the other function units 801-806, these function units 1701-1703 operate by the CPU in the control unit 301 executing predetermined firmware.

The power monitoring unit 1701 monitors whether or not the transfer device 120 is supplied with power from an external power source through the power control unit 1602 and notifies the transfer timing determination unit 1703 of the start and end of the power supply.

The position detection unit 1702 uses the GPS unit 1601 to monitor the latitude and longitude of the transfer device 120, and in response to a request from the transfer time determination unit 1703, the current latitude and longitude are transferred to the transfer time determination unit 1703. Notice.

The transfer time determination unit 1703 generates power supply information using notifications from the power monitoring unit 1701 and the position detection unit 1702. The power supply information is a history that the transfer device 120 has received power supply from an external power source. The transfer time determination unit 1703 further sets a pair of a power guarantee period and a power guarantee area using the power supply information. The power guarantee period and the power guarantee area respectively represent a time zone in which the possibility that the transfer device 120 receives power supply from the external power source is higher than a predetermined level, and a range of latitude and longitude. If the transfer device 120 is located in any power guarantee area that is paired with any power guarantee period, the transfer device 120 is considered to be in a situation where it can receive power from an external power source. be able to. Accordingly, when the determination unit 806 is requested by the transfer unit 312 to select an encoding format, the transfer time determination unit 1703 firstly belongs to one of the power guarantee periods, and the power guarantee period It is determined whether or not the current latitude and longitude of the transfer device 120 belong to a pair of power security areas. If the determination is affirmative, the transfer time determination unit 1703 allows the transfer unit 312 to transfer the content from the recording device 110 to the storage unit 305. On the other hand, if the determination is negative, the transfer timing determination unit 1703 causes the power monitoring unit 1701 to monitor whether or not the transfer device 120 is connected to an external power source. Thereafter, when the power monitoring unit 1701 detects that the transfer device 120 is connected to the external power supply, the transfer time determination unit 1703 allows the transfer unit 312 to transfer the content from the recording device 110 to the storage unit 305. .

[Electricity guarantee period / area setting]

FIG. 18 is a table showing an example of power supply information. Referring to FIG. 18, the power supply information includes a combination of start time, supply time, and position in one item. The “start time” represents the date and time when the transfer device 120 starts to receive power supply from the external power supply. The transfer time determination unit 1703 records the time when the start of power supply is notified from the power monitoring unit 1701 as the start time. “Supply time” represents a time during which the transfer device 120 was supplied with power from an external power source. The transfer time determination unit 1703 records the difference between the time when the end of power supply is notified from the power monitoring unit 1701 and the start time as the supply time. “Position” represents the latitude and longitude that the transfer device 120 was located during the period when it was supplied with power from the external power supply. When notified of the start of power supply from the power monitoring unit 1701, the transfer time determination unit 1703 acquires the latitude and longitude of the transfer device 120 from the position detection unit 1702 and records them as the position of the transfer device 120.

The transfer time determination unit 1703 sets the power guarantee period / area from the power supply information as follows. First, the transfer time determination unit 1703 extracts an item indicating a matching position with GPS accuracy, for example, 100 m accuracy, from the items of power supply information. Next, the transfer time determination unit 1703 overlaps at least two items from the start time and the supply time indicated by each of the extracted items in the time period during which the transfer device 120 was supplied with power from the external power supply. Find the part. Subsequently, the transfer time determination unit 1703 obtains the frequency recorded in the power supply information per predetermined period, such as one week, for each discovered part. A time zone in which the frequency exceeds a predetermined level, for example, once per week, is set as a power guarantee period, and the range of latitude and longitude that matches the position of the transfer device 120 in the time zone with the accuracy of GPS is power. Set as security area.

In the table shown in FIG. 18, the positions indicated by the items in the first, third, and fourth rows match. Therefore, the transfer time determination unit 1703 searches for a time zone overlapping between at least two of the items from the start time and the supply time indicated by the items in the first, third, and fourth rows. The period indicated by the item in the first row is “21:00 to 24:00”, the time zone indicated by the item in the third row is “22:00 to 23:00”, and the item in the fourth row indicates The time zone is “23:00 to 4:00”. Accordingly, “22:00 to 23:00” overlaps between the items in the first row and the items in the third row, and “23:00 to“ from the items in the first row to the items in the fourth row. 24:00 "is duplicated. Furthermore, in any of these overlapping time zones, the frequency recorded in the power supply information is twice every four days, which is higher than the frequency once per week. Therefore, the transfer timing determination unit 1703 sets “22:00 to 24:00” as the power guarantee period, and the position of the transfer device 120 in that time zone (34 degrees 78 minutes 46.77 seconds north, 135 degrees 63 east longitude). A range within a radius of 100 m centered on the minute (10.35 seconds) is set as the power guarantee region.

[Processing to determine the appropriateness of the timing for transferring content from the recording device]

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of processing in which the transfer time determination unit 1703 determines whether it is appropriate for the transfer device 120 to transfer content from the recording device 110 at this time. This processing is started by sending a signal to the transfer time determination unit 1703 when the determination unit 806 is requested by the transfer unit 312 to select an encoding format.

In step S1901, the transfer timing determination unit 1703 acquires the current time and requests the position detection unit 1702 to notify the current position of the transfer device 120. In response to the request, the position detection unit 1702 notifies the transfer time determination unit 1703 of the current latitude and longitude measured by the GPS unit 1601. Thereafter, processing proceeds to step S1902.

In step S1902, the transfer timing determination unit 1703 uses the power supply information to set a power security period and a power security area. Thereafter, processing proceeds to step S1903.

In step S1903, the transfer time determination unit 1703 confirms whether or not both the power security period and the power security area have been successfully set in step S1902. If both of these settings have succeeded, the process proceeds to step S1904. If at least one of the settings has failed, the process proceeds to step S1906.

In step S1904, the power guarantee period is successfully set. The transfer time determination unit 1703 determines whether or not the current time belongs to any power guarantee period. If the current time belongs to any power guarantee period, the process proceeds to step S1905. If the current time does not belong to any power guarantee period, the process proceeds to step S1906.

In step S1905, the power security area has been successfully set. Further, the current time belongs to one of the power guarantee periods. The transfer timing determination unit 1703 determines whether or not the current position of the transfer device 120 belongs to the power guarantee area that forms a pair with the power guarantee period. If the current position belongs to the power guarantee area, the process proceeds to step S1907. If not, the process proceeds to step S1906.

In step S1906, it is unknown whether the transfer device 120 can receive power from an external power source. Accordingly, the transfer time determination unit 1703 inquires of the power monitoring unit 1701 whether or not the transfer device 120 is connected to an external power source. If the power monitoring unit 1701 detects that the transfer device 120 is connected to the external power supply, the process proceeds to step S1907, and the process repeats step S1906 until the detection is detected.

In step S1907, since the transfer device 120 is located in the corresponding power guarantee area during the power guarantee period, the transfer device 120 can be regarded as being in a state where it can receive power supply from an external power source. it can. Alternatively, the transfer device 120 is actually connected to an external power source and supplied with power therefrom. Therefore, the transfer time determination unit 1703 permits the transfer unit 312 to transfer content from the recording device 110 to the storage unit 305. Thereafter, the process ends.

[Advantages of transfer device according to embodiment 2]

As described above, when transferring a content from the recording device 110, the transfer device 120 according to the second embodiment of the present invention first has a current time that belongs to any one of the power guarantee periods, and is compatible with the power guarantee period. It is determined whether the latitude and longitude of the transfer device 120 at the present time belong to the power security area. If the determination is affirmative, the transfer device 120 can be regarded as being in a state where it can receive power supply from the external power supply even though it is not actually connected to the external power supply. Therefore, the transfer device 120 immediately starts transferring content from the recording device 110 in a state where it is not actually connected to an external power supply, and as a result, the battery is likely to run out before the transfer is completed. Even if this happens, there is a high possibility that the user will quickly connect the transfer device 120 to an external power source to avoid running out of the battery. In this way, the transfer device 120 does not require the user to connect the transfer device 120 to an external power source every time content is transferred from the recording device 110, and the battery is exhausted due to the transfer processing of the content from the recording device 110. Risk can be suppressed.

(M) The transfer device 120 shown in FIG. 16 measures the position by the GPS unit 1601. In addition, the transfer device 120 may measure the position based on the intensity of the radio wave received from the base station whose position is fixed using the wireless communication function.

(N) The method of setting the power guarantee period / area from the power supply information is not limited to the above method. For example, a time zone that overlaps between items included in the power supply information may be searched first, and then the frequency with which the position of the transfer device 120 in the searched time zone matches with the accuracy of GPS may be calculated. Further, the transfer time determination unit 1703 may allow the user to set the power guarantee period / area.

<< Embodiment 3 >>

[System overview]

The video content recording / playback system according to the third embodiment of the present invention differs from the system according to the first embodiment mainly in the following two points: (1) A portable recording medium is transferred from the recording device to the playback device instead of the transfer device. Used to transfer content to (2) A recording device, instead of the transfer device, selects an encoding format for recording content on a portable recording medium. Since other configurations and functions are the same as those of the system according to the first embodiment, the description of the first embodiment is used for the similar configurations and functions.

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the data recording area 2010 of the portable recording medium 2000 according to the third embodiment of the present invention. This portable recording medium 2000 is a memory card such as an SD card. In addition, a USB memory, an optical disk, or a removable HDD may be used. The memory card 2000 can be connected to both the recording device and the playback device included in the system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 20, data recording area 2010 of memory card 2000 includes six areas 2001-2006. In the first area 2001, recording reservation information is recorded. In the second area 2002, connection management information AD is recorded. The connection management information A, B, C, and D are connection management information related to the connection between the memory card 2000 and the four playback devices A, B, C, and D, respectively. In the third area 2003, encoding format management information AD is recorded. Encoding format management information A,..., D is encoding format management information related to an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback devices A,. In the fourth area 2004, reproduction management information AD is recorded. Reproduction management information A,..., D is reproduction management information related to reproduction processing performed by the reproduction apparatuses A,. In the fifth area 2005, content 1; AD and content 2; AD are recorded as content to be transferred from the recording device to the playback device AD. Content 1; A,..., D are data obtained by encoding the same content 1 in an encoding format decodable by the playback devices A,. The same applies to content 2; AD. In the sixth area 2006, a list of contents that can be reproduced by each of the reproduction apparatuses AD among the contents recorded in the fifth area 2005 is recorded.

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram showing a video content recording / playback system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. The arrows shown in FIG. 21 represent the movement of video content when transferred from the recording device 2110 to the playback devices A131-D134. As indicated by the arrows, the content to be transferred is first written into the memory card 2000 by the recording device 2110. Thereafter, the memory card 2000 is removed from the recording device 2110 by the user and connected to one of the reproducing devices A131 to D134. As a result, the content to be transferred is reproduced from the memory card 2000 by the connected reproduction device.

When the memory card 2000 is connected to the recording device 2110, the recording device 2110 first reads the recording reservation information from the memory card 2000. Next, the recording device 2110 performs reserved recording according to the recording reservation information. Here, the memory card 2000 may be temporarily removed from the recording device 2110 until the scheduled recording is completed. When the memory card 2000 is connected to the recording device 2110 after the scheduled recording is completed, the recording device 2110 first starts from the memory card 2000 with connection management information AD, encoding format management information AD, and reproduction management. Read information AD. Next, the recording apparatus 2110 selects one or more encoding formats from among the encoding formats that can be decoded by the reproducing apparatuses A131 to D134 based on the read management information, and records the recorded content in those encoding formats. Is encoded and written to the memory card 2000. In the encoding format selection process, the usage status of the data recording area 2010 of the memory card 2000, the playback history of each playback device 131-134, and the connection history between the memory card 2000 and each playback device 131-134 are referred to. Is done. As a result, data encoded in the encoding format having a high frequency used for transferring contents from the memory card 2000 to any one of the playback devices A131 to D134 is written in the memory card 2000 in order. In addition, the number of encoding formats to be selected is limited so that the entire data obtained by encoding the content to be transferred in the selected encoding format is recorded on the memory card 2000. The recording device 2110 further generates a list of content encoded in an encoding format that can be decoded by each of the playback devices 131 to 134 out of the content stored in the memory card 2000, and writes the list to the memory card 2000.

When the memory card 2000 is connected to each playback device 131-134, the playback device writes the recording reservation information to the memory card 2000. The playback apparatus further updates the encoding format management information related to itself stored in the memory card 2000 as necessary. On the other hand, each playback device 131-134 reads a list of contents from the memory card 2000 and displays it on the screen. Subsequently, when content to be played is designated by the user, each playback device 131-134 reads the content from the memory card 2000 and plays it. When the playback processing is completed, each playback device 131-134 updates the playback management information related to itself stored in the memory card 2000. Thereafter, when the user instructs removal of the memory card 2000, each of the playback devices 131-134 updates the connection management information regarding itself stored in the memory card 2000, and disconnects the connection with the memory card 2000.

As described above, in the recording / reproducing system according to the third embodiment of the present invention, the memory card 2000 is used to transfer content from the recording device 2110 to each of the reproducing devices 131-134. As a result, the content recorded by the recording device 2110 can be reproduced by the reproducing devices A131 to D134 that cannot be directly connected to the recording device 2110. Further, the recording device 2110 selects an encoding format to be used when the recording device 110 writes desired content to the memory card 2000 from among encoding formats that can be decoded by the reproducing devices A131 to D134. At that time, the number of encoding formats to be selected is limited so that the entire data obtained by encoding the desired content in these encoding formats is recorded in the memory card 2000. Therefore, when the free space of the memory card 2000 is insufficient, it is not possible to select all of the encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback devices A131 to D134. However, the recording device 2110 selects the encoding format in descending order of frequency of use for transferring contents from the memory card 2000 to any one of the playback devices A131 to D134. The more frequently encoded content is more likely to be played back by one of the playback devices A131-D134. Accordingly, the memory card 2000 preferentially records data obtained by encoding desired content in an encoding format that is highly likely to be reproduced. As described above, the recording device 2110 can appropriately select the content encoding format when the free space of the memory card 2000 is insufficient.

[Recording device configuration]

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the recording apparatus 2110 shown in FIG. The recording apparatus 2110 shown in FIG. 22 is different from the recording apparatus 110 shown in FIG. 2 in that the control unit 202 further includes an encoding format selection unit 2210. Regarding other elements, the recording apparatus 2110 shown in FIG. 22 is the same as the recording apparatus 110 shown in FIG. Therefore, for the details of these similar elements, the description in Embodiment 1 is incorporated.

The control unit 202 operates as various functional units depending on the type of firmware executed by the CPU. These functional units further include an encoding format selection unit 2210 in addition to the recording unit 221, the connection management unit 222, the transfer unit 223, and the encoding unit 224 shown in FIG.

The recording unit 221 reads recording reservation information from the memory card 2000 through the I / O port 206. In addition, the recording unit 221 generates recording reservation information in accordance with a user instruction. According to the recording reservation information thus obtained, the recording unit 221 performs reserved recording. When the recording reservation information is read from the memory card 2000, the recording unit 221 notifies the transfer unit 223 of the identification information of the memory card 2000 together with the recording reservation information. On the other hand, when the recording unit 221 generates the recording reservation information itself, it notifies the transfer unit 223 of the default recording medium identification information together with the recording reservation information. Further, when the scheduled recording is finished, the recording unit 221 sets the recorded content identification information and the data amount in the recording completion notification, and transmits the notification to the transfer unit 223.

When the I / O port 206 establishes a connection with the memory card 2000, the connection management unit 222 reads connection management information related to the memory card 2000 from the storage unit 208 and causes the I / O port 206 to use it. Further, each time the I / O port 206 disconnects from the memory card 2000, the connection management unit 222 receives information related to the connection from the I / O port 206 and updates the connection management information using the information. To do.

The transfer unit 223 stores the pair of the recording reservation information notified from the recording unit 221 and the identification information of the recording medium in the storage unit 208. Further, when receiving a recording completion notification from the recording unit 221, the transfer unit 223 searches the storage unit 208 for recording reservation information including content identification information indicated by the notification, and a recording medium associated with the recording reservation information Identify the identification information. Thereafter, the transfer unit 223 causes the connection management unit 222 to use the identification information of the recording medium to monitor whether the I / O port 206 has established a connection with the recording medium. When the connection management unit 222 detects that the connection between the I / O port 206 and the memory card 2000 is established, the transfer unit 223 reads the connection management information, the reproduction management information, and the encoding format management information from the memory card 2000. To the encoding format selection unit 2210 and requests the encoding format selection unit 2210 to select the encoding format. The encoding format to be selected should be used when the transfer unit 223 transfers the content indicated by the recording completion notification to the memory card 2000. The transfer unit 223 also reads the recording format and the data amount of the recorded content from the recording completion notification and passes them to the encoding format selection unit 2210 to be used for selection of the encoding format. After the encoding format is selected by the encoding format selection unit 2210, the transfer unit 223 determines whether the encoding format matches the encoding format of the recorded content. If both encoding formats match, the transfer unit 223 transfers the content as it is from the storage unit 208 to the memory card 2000. On the other hand, if both encoding formats do not match, the transfer unit 223 causes the encoding unit 224 to convert the encoding format of the content into the encoding format selected by the encoding format selection unit 2210, and then The content is written to the memory card 2000.

Subsequently, the transfer unit 223 acquires the encoding format management information from the encoding format selection unit 2210, and generates a list of contents based on the encoding format management information. The list of contents indicates identification information of contents encoded in an encoding format that can be decoded by each of the playback devices 131 to 134 among the contents stored in the memory card 2000. The transfer unit 223 further writes the list of contents into the memory card 2000.

The encoding format selection unit 2210 refers to the playback management information regarding each playback device 131-134, and transfers a certain number of times before the latest transfer operation performed by the playback device to the memory card 2000, for example, 10 times before. Check the history up to the operation. The encoding format selection unit 2210 further calculates an average amount of data that the playback device reproduces per hour from the history and incorporates it in the encoding format management information.

The encoding format selection unit 2210 monitors the usage status of the memory card 2000, specifically, changes in the area actually used in the data recording area. Further, when the encoding format selection unit 2210 is requested by the transfer unit 223 to select an encoding format, the encoding format selection unit 2210 calculates the size of the usage area based on the usage status of the memory card 2000 and compares the size with a threshold value.

If the size of the used area of the memory card 2000 does not exceed the threshold, the free space of the memory card 2000 is sufficiently large. The encoding format selection unit 2210 refers to the connection management information acquired from the transfer unit 223, and sets a playback device having a connection frequency with the memory card 2000 higher than a predetermined value as a content transfer destination. The predetermined value depends on at least how often the connection frequency is likely to be used for reproducing the content. In particular, when the predetermined value is 0, all playback devices that have been connected to the memory card 2000 in the past are set as the content transfer destination.

If the size of the used area of the memory card 2000 exceeds the threshold, there is a high possibility that the memory card 2000 will run out of free space, so recording on the memory card 2000 is limited by limiting the number of transfer destination playback devices. There is a need to limit the amount of content data to be done. The encoding format selection unit 2210 first acquires the playback frequency of each playback device 131-134 from the playback management information acquired from the transfer unit 223. Next, the encoding format selection unit 2210 selects one or more of the playback devices A131 to D134 as content transfer destinations in descending order of playback frequency. At that time, the encoding format selection unit 2210 limits the number of transfer destination playback devices in the same manner as the encoding format selection unit 313 included in the transfer device 120 according to the first embodiment. Specifically, first, content that has not yet been transferred to the memory card 2000 among the content recorded by the recording device 2110 is encoded in an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback device at the transfer destination. The amount of data is predicted. Next, the number of transfer destination playback devices is limited so that the predicted data amount does not exceed the free capacity of the memory card 2000.

Next, the encoding format selection unit 2210 refers to the encoding format management information acquired from the transfer unit 223, and specifies an encoding format that can be decoded by the transfer destination playback device as a selection candidate. The encoding format selection unit 2210 further determines, from the playback frequency and playback history indicated by the playback management information, the frequency at which each encoding format of the selection candidate was used to transfer content from the memory card 2000 to any playback device. Calculate. In addition, the encoding format selection unit 2210 selects one or more encoding formats from the selection candidate encoding formats in the order of the above-mentioned frequencies. In the selection process, the encoding format selection unit 2210 first predicts the data amount obtained by encoding the desired content in the selected encoding format. Next, the encoding format selection unit 2210 limits the number of encoding formats to be selected so that the predicted data amount does not exceed the free capacity of the memory card 2000. When the size of the used area of the memory card 2000 exceeds the threshold value, the encoding format selection unit 2210 deletes the encoded data that can be decoded only by the playback device other than the transfer destination from the memory card 2000. Thereby, the encoding format selection unit 2210 expands the free space of the memory card 2000 as much as possible, and enables desired content to be recorded in the memory card 2000 in as many encoding formats as possible. The encoding format selection unit 2210 determines the encoding format thus selected as an encoding format to be used when the transfer unit 223 records desired content on the memory card 2000, and notifies the transfer unit 223 of the determination.

[Content recording / playback processing]

FIG. 23 is a flowchart of content recording / playback processing by the system shown in FIG. This process is started when the memory card 2000 is connected to one of the playback devices A131-D134.

In step S2301, the playback unit 521 of the playback device 130 connected to the memory card 2000 transmits the encoding format management information to the memory card 2000. Further, the recording reservation unit 522 of the playback device 130 transmits the recording reservation information to the transfer device 120. Here, if the encoding format management information related to the playback device 130 is already stored in the memory card 2000, the playback unit 521 of the playback device 130 may not transmit the encoding format management information again. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S2302.

In step S2302, when the memory card 2000 is connected to the recording device 2110, the recording unit 221 of the recording device 2110 reads the recording reservation information from the memory card 2000. The recording unit 221 further notifies the transfer unit 223 of the recording reservation information together with the identification information of the memory card 2000. In response to the notification, the transfer unit 223 stores the pair of the recording reservation information and the identification information of the memory card 2000 in the storage unit 208. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S2303.

In step S2303, the recording unit 221 of the recording device 2110 performs reserved recording according to the recording reservation information stored in the storage unit 208. When the scheduled recording is completed, the recording unit 221 transmits a recording completion notification to the transfer unit 223 of the recording device 2110. In response to the notification, the transfer unit 223 searches the storage unit 208 for recording reservation information including the identification information of the content indicated by the notification, and identifies the identification information of the memory card 2000 associated with the recording reservation information. The transfer unit 223 further causes the connection management unit 222 to use the identification information to monitor whether the I / O port 206 has established a connection with the memory card 2000. Thereafter, processing proceeds to step S2304.

In step S2304, the connection management unit 222 detects that the I / O port 206 is connected to the memory card 2000. In that case, the transfer unit 223 reads the connection management information, the reproduction management information, and the encoding format management information from the memory card 2000 and passes them to the encoding format selection unit 2210, and the encoding format selection unit 2210 stores the encoding format information. Request selection. The encoding format selection unit 2210 selects an encoding format according to the request. The details of the selection process are the same as those according to the first embodiment. Thereafter, processing proceeds to step S2305.

In step S2305, the transfer unit 223 of the recording device 2110 determines whether or not the encoding format selected by the encoding format selection unit 2210 matches the encoding format of the recorded content. If both encoding formats match, the transfer unit 223 transfers the content as it is from the storage unit 208 to the memory card 2000. On the other hand, if the two encoding formats do not match, the transfer unit 223 first causes the encoding unit 224 to convert the encoding format of the content into the encoding format selected by the encoding format selection unit 2210. Next, the transfer unit 223 writes the content to the memory card 2000. Subsequently, the transfer unit 223 acquires the encoding format management information from the encoding format selection unit 2210, generates a list of contents based on the encoding format management information, and writes the content list to the memory card 2000. Thereafter, processing proceeds to step S2306.

In step S2306, when the memory card 2000 is connected to any of the playback devices A131 to D134, the playback unit 521 of the playback device 130 reads the content list from the memory card 2000 and causes the display unit 503 to display the content list. Prompt to specify the content to be played. Thereafter, processing proceeds to step S2307.

In step S2307, the operation unit 505 of the playback device 130 receives an instruction from the user, and specifies identification information of the content to be played according to the instruction. Using the identification information, the playback unit 521 of the playback device 130 reads the content to be played back from the memory card 2000, decodes it, and causes the display unit 503 to play it back. Thereafter, processing proceeds to step S2308.

In step S2308, when the content playback process is completed, the playback unit 521 of the playback device 130 updates the playback management information related to itself stored in the memory card 2000. After that, when the user instructs removal of the memory card 2000, the connection management unit 523 of the playback device 130 updates the connection management information related to itself stored in the memory card 2000 and cuts off the connection with the memory card 2000. To do. Thereafter, the process ends.

[Advantages of recording apparatus according to Embodiment 3]

When transferring desired content to the memory card 2000, the recording device 2110 selects an encoding format to be used for the transfer from among encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback devices A131-D134. At that time, the number of encoding formats to be selected is limited so that the entire data obtained by encoding the desired content in these encoding formats is recorded in the memory card 2000. Therefore, when the free space of the memory card 2000 is insufficient, it is not possible to select all of the encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback devices A131 to D134. Accordingly, the recording device 2110 selects the encoding format in descending order of frequency of use for transferring contents from the memory card 2000 to any one of the playback devices A131 to D134. The more frequently encoded content is more likely to be played back by one of the playback devices A131-D134. Therefore, the memory card 2000 preferentially records data obtained by encoding desired content in an encoding format that is highly likely to be reproduced. As described above, the recording device 2110 can appropriately select the content encoding format when the free space of the memory card 2000 is insufficient.

(O) In the recording / reproducing system according to the third embodiment of the present invention, the recording reservation information and the encoding format management information are transmitted from each reproducing device 131-134 to the recording device 2110 via the memory card 2000. In addition, the recording reservation information or the like may be transmitted from each playback device 131-134 to the recording device 2110 via a home network or a network such as the Internet. Even in this case, the recorded content is transferred from the recording device 2110 via the memory card 2000 to each of the playback devices 131-134. Thereby, it is possible to prevent an excessive increase in network traffic due to the transfer of content. In this case, the memory card 2000 may not have the

areas

2001 and 2003 for recording the recording reservation information and the encoding format management information.

<< Supplement >>

The present invention may be characterized as follows based on the above embodiment.

In the control device according to one aspect of the present invention, the determination unit determines from the storage device any one of the encoding formats that can be decoded by each of the plurality of playback devices based on the history managed by the history management unit. The frequency used to transfer the content to the playback device may be calculated, and it may be considered that there is a high possibility that the content will be used to transfer the content to any of the playback devices in descending order of the frequency. In addition, the history management unit calculates the frequency at which each playback device plays back content from the storage device, or establishes a connection with the storage device, and the decision unit can decode it by the playback device with the higher frequency. Such an encoding format may be regarded as an encoding format that is highly likely to be used for transferring content to any of the playback devices. In any case, it is possible to appropriately evaluate the possibility that each encoding format is used for transferring content to any one of the playback devices.

In the control device according to another aspect of the present invention, the monitoring unit, the history management unit, and the determination unit may operate as follows. The monitoring unit compares the size of the used area of the storage device with a predetermined threshold value. The history management unit calculates the frequency of the operation for each of the plurality of playback devices to play back content from the storage device or to establish a connection with the storage device. When the size of the used area of the storage device exceeds the threshold, the determination unit selects one or more playback devices from the plurality of playback devices as the transfer destination playback device in the order of the above-mentioned frequency, and determines The encoding format candidates determined by the unit are limited to encoding formats that can be decoded by the playback apparatus at the transfer destination. As a result, when the free space of the storage device is insufficient, an encoding format that is highly likely to be used for transferring content to any of the playback devices is preferentially selected. Thus, the control apparatus can appropriately select the content encoding format.

Further, in this control device, the determination unit, when the size of the use area of the storage device is less than the threshold, the frequency of the operation of establishing a connection with the storage device from a plurality of playback devices exceeds a predetermined value. A playback device may be selected, and encoding format candidates determined by the determination unit may be limited to encoding formats that can be decoded by the selected playback device. As a result, even if there is a free space in the storage device, the free space is not consumed.

When the desired content is a broadcast program that should be reserved and recorded by the recording device, the control device may further include a recording reservation management unit and a data amount prediction unit. The recording reservation management unit manages information related to reserved recording by the recording device. The data amount prediction unit predicts the data amount obtained by encoding the desired content in a specific encoding format from the encoding format decodable by each of the plurality of playback devices and information related to the reserved recording. In this case, the determination unit causes the data amount prediction unit to predict the amount of data obtained by encoding the desired content in an encoding format that can be decoded by the playback device of the transfer destination, and the predicted value is the free capacity of the storage device. The number of playback devices as transfer destinations may be limited so as not to exceed.

When the storage device can be driven by both the external power supply and the battery, the control device may further include a power monitoring unit, a position detection unit, and a transfer time determination unit. The power monitoring unit monitors whether the storage device is supplied with power from an external power source. The position detection unit detects the position of the storage device. The transfer time determination unit uses the power monitoring unit and the position detection unit to determine a time zone and a region where the storage device is more likely to receive power supply from an external power source than a predetermined level, and the current time Belongs to the time zone and the current position of the storage device belongs to the area, the recording device is allowed to transfer the content to the storage device. Using these elements, the control device described above restricts the transfer of content from the recording device to the storage device to a situation where it is assumed that the storage device can be supplied with power from an external power source. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the content transfer from being interrupted due to the battery running out.

A transfer device according to one aspect of the present invention is a device that is portable and transfers desired content from a recording device to at least one of a plurality of playback devices, and includes a storage unit, a control unit, and a transfer unit. Yes. The storage unit receives desired content from the recording device and stores it. The control unit determines an encoding format to be used when the recording device records desired content in the storage unit. The transfer unit notifies the recording device of the encoding format determined by the control unit, and transfers the desired content encoded in the encoding format from the recording device to the storage unit. To at least one of the devices. The control unit includes a monitoring unit, an encoding format management unit, a history management unit, and a determination unit. The monitoring unit monitors the usage status of the storage unit. The encoding format management unit manages information indicating an encoding format that can be decoded by each of the plurality of playback devices. The history management unit manages a history of operations in which each of the plurality of reproducing devices reproduces content from the storage unit or establishes a connection with the transfer device. The determining unit selects one or more encoding formats from among the encoding formats that can be decoded by each of the plurality of playback devices based on the usage status of the storage unit and the history, and any playback device from the storage unit. In order of the high possibility of being used for the transfer of content to the Internet, the entire data obtained by encoding the desired content in the one or more encoding formats is selected to be recorded in the storage unit. The determining unit further determines the one or more encoding formats as encoding formats to be used when the recording apparatus records desired content in the storage unit.

This transfer device selects one or more encoding formats from among the encoding formats that can be decoded by each of the plurality of reproducing devices in the order of the high possibility. As a result, the transfer device can appropriately select the content encoding format even when the storage unit has insufficient free space.

A recording medium according to one aspect of the present invention is a recording medium used when transferring desired content from a recording apparatus to at least one of a plurality of reproducing apparatuses, and includes the following areas: (1 ) An area in which information indicating an encoding format decodable by each of a plurality of playback devices is recorded. (2) Each of the playback devices plays back content from the recording medium or accesses the recording medium. An area where an operation history is recorded, and (3) an area where desired content is encoded and recorded by the recording device. In particular, the encoding format of the desired content is used for transferring content from the recording medium to one of the playback devices, among the encoding formats that can be decoded by each of the plurality of playback devices based on the above history. This is an encoding format that is highly likely to be generated.

By using this recording medium, the recording device can select one or more encoding formats from among the encoding formats that can be decoded by each of the plurality of reproducing devices, in the order of the above-mentioned possibility. The desired content encoded in the encoding format is selected so as to be recorded on the recording medium. As a result, the recording apparatus can appropriately select the content encoding format even when the recording medium has insufficient free space.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for determining a content encoding format, in which a recording device stores the content in the storage device so that at least one of the plurality of playback devices can reproduce the desired content from the storage device. Is a method for causing the control device to determine the encoding format to be used when recording the video, and includes the following steps. First, an encoding format that can be decoded by each of a plurality of playback devices is stored. Next, each of the plurality of playback devices acquires a history of an operation of playing back content from the storage device or an operation of establishing a connection with the storage device. Subsequently, the usage status of the storage device is monitored. Furthermore, based on the usage status of the storage device and the above history, one or more encoding formats can be selected from among the encoding formats that can be decoded by each of the plurality of playback devices, and any one of the playback devices from the storage device. In order of the high possibility of being used for the transfer of content to the network, the entire data obtained by encoding the desired content in the one or more encoding formats is selected so as to be recorded in the storage device. One or more encoding formats are determined as encoding formats to be used when the recording device records desired content in the storage device.

In this method, one or more encoding formats are selected from the encoding formats that can be decoded by each of a plurality of playback devices in the order of the high possibility. As a result, even if the storage device has insufficient free space, the content encoding format can be selected appropriately.

The present invention relates to a content recording / reproducing technique, and as described above, one or more encoding formats are selected from encoding formats decodable by each of a plurality of reproducing apparatuses. Thus, the present invention is clearly industrially applicable.

110 Recording device 120 Transfer device 131 Playback device A
132 Playback device B
301 Control unit 302 I / F unit 303 Operation unit 304 I / O port 305 Storage unit 306 Communication unit 311 Connection management unit 312 Transfer unit 313 Encoding format selection unit MCD memory device

Claims

Control for determining a coding format to be used when the recording device records the desired content in the storage device so that at least one of the plurality of playback devices can reproduce the desired content from the storage device A device,
A monitoring unit for monitoring the usage status of the storage device;
An encoding format management unit that manages information indicating an encoding format that can be decoded by each of the plurality of playback devices;
A history management unit that manages a history of an operation in which each of the plurality of reproduction devices reproduces content from the storage device or an operation to establish a connection with the storage device; and
Based on the usage status of the storage device and the history, one or more encoding formats from the decodable encoding format are used for transferring content from the storage device to any of the plurality of playback devices. In order from the highest possibility, the entire data obtained by encoding the desired content in the one or more encoding formats is selected to be recorded in the storage device, and the one or more codes A determination unit that determines an encoding format as an encoding format to be used when the recording device records the desired content in the storage device;
A control device comprising:
The determining unit calculates, based on the history, a frequency used for transferring content from the storage device to one of the plurality of playback devices for each of the decodable encoding formats, and the frequency is The control device according to claim 1, wherein the possibility is considered to be higher in descending order.
The history management unit calculates the frequency of an operation for each of the plurality of playback devices to play back content from the storage device, or an operation to establish a connection with the storage device,
The control device according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit regards an encoding format that can be decoded by the high-frequency playback device as an encoding format having the high possibility.
The monitoring unit compares the size of the used area of the storage device with a predetermined threshold,
The history management unit calculates the frequency of an operation for each of the plurality of playback devices to play back content from the storage device, or an operation to establish a connection with the storage device,
When the size of the used area exceeds the threshold, the determination unit selects one or more playback devices from the plurality of playback devices as a transfer destination playback device in order of the frequency, and The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one or more encoding format candidates are limited to an encoding format that can be decoded by the reproduction apparatus at the transfer destination.
When the size of the used area is less than the threshold value, the determination unit selects a playback device that has an operation frequency of establishing a connection with the storage device from the plurality of playback devices that exceeds a predetermined value. The control device according to claim 4, wherein the one or more encoding format candidates are limited to an encoding format that can be decoded by the selected playback device.
The desired content is a broadcast program to be reserved and recorded by the recording device;
The control device is
A recording reservation management unit for managing information related to reserved recording by the recording device; and
A data amount prediction unit that predicts a data amount obtained by encoding the desired content in a specific encoding format from the decodable encoding format and the information related to the reserved recording;
Further comprising
The determination unit causes the data amount prediction unit to predict a data amount obtained by encoding the desired content in an encoding format that can be decoded by the transfer destination playback device, and a predicted value is stored in the storage device. The control device according to claim 4, wherein the number of transfer destination playback devices is limited so as not to exceed a free capacity.
The storage device can be driven by both an external power source and a battery,
A power monitoring unit for monitoring whether the storage device is supplied with power from an external power source;
A position detector for detecting the position of the storage device; and
Using the power monitoring unit and the position detection unit, a time zone and a region in which the storage device is likely to receive power supply from an external power source is higher than a predetermined level, and the current time is the time A transfer time determination unit that permits the recording device to transfer the desired content to the storage device when the storage device belongs to a zone and the current position of the storage device belongs to the area;
The control device according to claim 1, further comprising:
A transfer device that is portable and transfers desired content from a recording device to at least one of a plurality of playback devices,
A storage unit for receiving and storing the desired content from the recording device;
A control unit that determines an encoding format to be used when the recording device records the desired content in the storage unit; and
Notifying the recording device of the encoding format determined by the control unit, transferring the desired content encoded in the encoding format from the recording device to the storage unit, A transfer unit for transferring to at least one of the playback devices;
With
The controller is
A monitoring unit for monitoring the usage status of the storage unit;
An encoding format management unit that manages information indicating an encoding format that can be decoded by each of the plurality of playback devices;
A history management unit that manages a history of an operation in which each of the plurality of reproduction devices reproduces content from the storage unit or an operation to establish a connection with the transfer device; and
Based on the usage status of the storage unit and the history, one or more encoding formats from among the decodable encoding formats are transferred from the storage unit to any of the plurality of playback devices. In order from the highest possibility of being used, the entire data obtained by encoding the desired content in the one or more encoding formats is selected to be recorded in the storage unit, and the one or more are selected. A determination unit that determines the encoding format to be used when the recording device records the desired content in the storage unit;
A transfer device.
A recording medium used when transferring desired content from a recording device to at least one of a plurality of playback devices,
An area in which information indicating an encoding format that can be decoded by each of the plurality of playback devices is recorded,
An area in which a history of an operation of reproducing content from the recording medium or an operation of accessing the recording medium is recorded by each of the plurality of reproducing devices; and
An area where the desired content is encoded and recorded by the recording device;
With
The encoding format of the desired content is highly likely to be used for transferring content from the recording medium to any of the plurality of playback devices, among the encoding formats that can be decoded based on the history. A recording medium characterized by being in an encoding format.
The control device uses an encoding format to be used when the recording device records the desired content in the storage device so that at least one of the plurality of playback devices can reproduce the desired content from the storage device. A method to determine
Storing an encoding format that can be decoded by each of the plurality of playback devices;
Obtaining a history of operations in which each of the plurality of reproduction devices reproduces content from the storage device or establishes a connection with the storage device;
Monitoring the usage status of the storage device; and
Based on the usage status of the storage device and the history, one or more encoding formats out of the decodable encoding formats are transferred from the storage device to one of the plurality of playback devices. Selecting one or more of the data obtained by encoding the desired content in the one or more encoding formats in order of the possibility of being used, so that the data is recorded in the storage device; Determining the encoding format to be used when the recording device records the desired content in the storage device;
Having a method.