JP2005354561A - Content preview device and content preview method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a content preview device and a content preview method capable of previewing stored program content simply and quickly.
A content preview device is a content preview device for previewing program metadata and program content, a program content holding unit for storing program content, and a program metadata holding unit for holding program metadata relating to the program content. And a program content to be transferred to the program receiving device and a transmission content selection unit for selecting the program content, and direct reference information that is position information of the program content when there is an indirect reference description to the program content in the program metadata. A content rewriting unit for adding the association to the program metadata, and a content sending unit for sending the program metadata to the program receiving device.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  According to the present invention, regarding a digital broadcast program or content on a Web server accessible as a digital broadcast program, whether the program and the content can be normally played back by the receiving device before the program broadcast or before the content is released. The present invention relates to a content preview device and a content preview method for previewing content to check whether or not.

  Currently, a new broadcasting format called server-type broadcasting that distributes digital broadcasting programs via a network is being studied. In such a broadcast format, program content and program metadata can be acquired not only using a broadcast wave but also using a communication line, and the viewer need not be aware of the broadcast time and location of the program.

  Program content may be stored in advance on the receiver's hard disk or published on a Web server. In either case, program content should be accessed using program metadata. Is possible.

  Here, the program metadata is data in which information related to a program is described. Information related to program contents such as a program title, performers, etc., information related to program broadcasting such as broadcast time, viewing restrictions, etc., one program In the case that is composed of multiple corners, information related to the program structure such as the start time and end time of each corner is included, and the relationship with other programs such that one program is a sequel to another program Sex etc. are described.

  Based on such program metadata information, the viewer selects a desired program content from a plurality of program content, or selects other program content related to the program content being viewed. Is possible.

  Such program content and program metadata are usually generated offline using an authoring tool or the like. The broadcast station reproduces the actually received environment by the preview device before broadcasting the generated program content and program metadata or before publishing, and the program content is normally reproduced in the reproduced environment. A confirmation is made as to whether or not it will be played back.

In this way, since the program metadata is confirmed to be reproduced in advance and then broadcasted digitally from the broadcast station or released on the Web server, the viewer can use the receiving device to display the program content. Can be normally received, and the received program content can be reproduced or useful additional information can be acquired (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-338801 A

  As described above, by using the program metadata, the viewer can access the program content regardless of the broadcast time of the program. Therefore, a service that publishes a program content equivalent to the digital broadcast program on a Web server so that the same program content can be viewed even by a viewer who has not accumulated the program at the program broadcast time. Is done.

  In this way, the location where program content is stored differs depending on the reception status of viewers, and it may not be possible to acquire program content normally only by specifying the location using a URL or the like that is a conventional technology. Come.

  In server-type broadcasting, it is possible to add a descriptor for indirect reference to program content (hereinafter referred to as an indirect reference descriptor). When it is desired to acquire program content, an indirect reference called a location server is used. The program content can be acquired after inquiring of the server that holds the correspondence between the descriptor for use and the actual registration position of the program and acquiring the storage location of the program.

  In a broadcasting station, in order to confirm whether or not a certain program metadata operates normally, all program contents that can be accessed by the program metadata are stored on the Web server. In each case, it is necessary to check whether the operation is normal, and it is necessary to reproduce the arrangement of all program contents and set a table indicating the correspondence relationship held by the location server. For this reason, there is a problem that the program content cannot be previewed quickly.

  The present invention proposes a content preview device and a content preview method capable of previewing stored program content simply and quickly.

  A content preview device according to claim 1 of the present invention is a content preview device for previewing program metadata and program content, and a program content holding unit for storing program content and a program for holding program metadata relating to the program content. If there is an indirect reference description to the program content in the program metadata, the metadata holding unit, the transmission content selection unit for selecting the program metadata and program content to be transferred to the program receiving device, and the location information of the program content A content rewriting unit for adding a correspondence with certain direct reference information to the program metadata and a content sending unit for sending the program metadata to the program receiving device are included.

  In this way, by including in the program metadata direct reference information indicating the storage location information of the program content referred to by the indirect reference description, the storage location of the program content can be specified, and the program metadata can be identified by a simple method. You can preview whether the data works properly.

  The content preview device according to claim 2 of the present invention is the content preview device according to claim 1, wherein the content sending unit directly uses the program content specified by the indirect reference description in the program metadata as reference information. It is characterized in that it is registered at the position described in the above.

  When the storage location specified by the direct reference information is the program receiving device, it is possible to send the program content to the program receiving device and store it at a predetermined location for previewing, as well as a Web server, etc. If the storage location information is used, it is possible to preview the program content in a state where the program content is transmitted to the designated server and stored.

  The content preview device according to claim 3 of the present invention is the content preview device according to claim 2, wherein the content rewriting unit includes direct reference information among the program metadata and the program content referred to by the indirect reference description. If it is undecided, appropriate direct reference information is given, and the indirect reference description to the program content described in the program metadata is associated with the direct reference information that is the position information of the program content in the program metadata. It is characterized by adding.

  In this case, by adding storage position information for actually storing the program content to the undecided direct reference information, it is possible to normally preview the program content referred to by the program metadata.

  A content preview device according to claim 4 of the present invention is the content preview device according to claim 3, further comprising a pseudo content server in which program content referred to from program metadata is stored, and the direct reference information is: It is specified by the address of the pseudo content server and the storage location of the program content in the pseudo content server.

  Even if the program content is published on a Web server, it cannot be released at the time of previewing. For example, a server with a fixed IP address in the broadcasting station is set as a pseudo content server, and the program content is stored in this pseudo content server. Can be stored and previewed easily.

  A content preview method according to claim 5 of the present invention is a content preview method for previewing program metadata and program content, the step of acquiring the program metadata, and indirect reference described in the program metadata A stage of extracting a description, a stage of searching program content having a value equivalent to the indirect reference description in the indirect reference description of the program content management data, and a value equivalent to the indirect reference description to the indirect reference description of the program content management data. The program metadata associates the stage of setting the program content with the content to be transmitted, the indirect reference description described in the program metadata, and the direct reference information which is the storage location information of the corresponding transmission target program content. And adding program metadata to the program receiving device.

  In this case, the storage location of the program content can be specified by including the direct reference information indicating the storage location information of the program content referenced by the indirect reference description in the program metadata, and the program metadata operates normally. You can easily preview whether or not to do.

  The content preview method according to claim 6 of the present invention is the content preview method according to claim 5, and when the direct reference information is undecided in the program content management data of the program content to be transmitted, an appropriate direct The method further includes the step of providing reference information.

  In this case, previewing can be performed normally by using the storage location information for actually storing the program content as direct reference information.

  In the present invention, it is possible to easily reproduce an environment in which operation can be confirmed even in an environment where it is difficult to install a location server or the like for program content that can be referred to from a certain program metadata using an indirect reference descriptor. The operation verification of the program content including the cooperative operation between the program content can be quickly performed with simple equipment.

A content preview apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail based on the following embodiments.
<First embodiment>
FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of a content preview apparatus in which the first embodiment of the present invention is employed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the content preview system 101 includes a content preview device 102 and a program receiving device 103.

  The content preview device 102 is a device for constructing an environment for enabling the program receiving device 103 to confirm the reproduction operation, and includes a program metadata holding unit 104, a program content holding unit 105, a transmission content selection unit 106, A content rewriting unit 107, a content sending unit 108, a pseudo content server 109, and the like are provided.

  The program content holding unit 105 stores program content to be broadcast. The program metadata holding unit 104 holds program metadata related to the program content stored in the program content holding unit 105. The transmission content selection unit 106 selects program metadata and program content to be transferred to the program receiving device 103 from the program metadata and program content stored in the program metadata holding unit 104 and the program content holding unit 105. . If there is a descriptor for indirect reference to the program content in the program metadata selected by the transmission content selection unit 106, the content rewriting unit 107 associates the program metadata with the direct reference information that is the position information of the program content. Append to data. The content sending unit 108 sends the program metadata and the program content selected by the sending content selection unit 106 to the program receiving device 103.

  The program receiving device 103 is a program receiving device such as a set-top box or a TV tuner used by a viewer to receive a server-type broadcast. The content receiving unit 116, the content storage unit 110, the browser 111, and content acquisition The content creator is used for the purpose of confirming the reproduction operation in the same environment as the viewer.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of program content held in the program content holding unit 105 shown in FIG.

  Here, the program content in the present embodiment will be described.

  The program content is composed of program moving image data, and may include a data broadcast program related to the program moving image data and the program metadata.

  Here, the program moving image data is moving image data of a digital broadcast program broadcast from a broadcasting station. The data broadcasting program is digital data independent of the video and audio described in “ARIB STD-B24”, and specifically refers to data such as a BML document or a monomedia referenced from the BML document. .

  Each program content stored in the program content holding unit 105 can be stored and managed in a separate folder as shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 2, one program content called “News on the morning of January 10, 2004” program content 201 is stored in the “morning” folder under the “news” folder under the “2004 — 01 — 10” folder. “Morning.avi” “January 10, 2004 Morning News” program moving image data 211 and “morning.bml” BML document 212 are configured.

  Further, in this embodiment, as the information for managing the program content, one piece of program content management data describing information on the configuration and arrangement position of the program content is held in each program content, as shown in FIG. As described above, the program content management data of the program content 201 includes “morning.inf” “January 10, 2004 morning news” program content management data 203.

  Similarly, “January 10, 2004 noon news” program content 202 is stored in the “afternoon” folder under the “news” folder, and is “afternoon.avi” “January 10, 2004”. “Noon News” program moving image data 221, a BML document 222 “afternoon.bml”, and “afternoon.inf” “January 10, 2004 noon news” program content management data 223. Furthermore, the “News on January 10, 2004” program content 203 is stored in the “digest” folder under the “news” folder, and “digest.avi” is “01.01.2004 "News of the day" program moving image data 231 and "Digest.inf" "News of the day of January 10, 2004" program content management data 232 are provided.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of program content management data. The program content management data includes a broadcast attribute column, a content configuration column, a management attribute column, and the like. The broadcast attribute column includes attributes such as an indirect reference descriptor, receiver storage location, content registration location, and content configuration. In the column, the program composition element is described, and in the management attribute column, the content name and the like are described.

  For example, in the program content management data, when accessing the program content, an “indirect reference descriptor” for uniquely identifying the program content and a “program constituent element” indicating an element constituting the program content are included. is described.

  The program content management data includes a “receiver storage location” indicating a storage location in the program receiving device 103 when a program is distributed to a receiver using a broadcast and a communication line, and a “content” which is a registration destination of the program content. It can be configured to include a “registration position” and a “content name” for allowing the content creator to uniquely identify the program content.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that a program can be acquired using a communication line or the like for a viewer who could not receive and store the program when the program was broadcast. The “content registration position” refers to the registration position of the program content on the content server provided on the Web or the like where the program content is registered for the purpose of causing the above-mentioned viewer to acquire the program.

  In the example of FIG. 3A, the program content management data 300 is set with the indirect reference descriptor, the attribute of the receiver storage position and its value, and the content registration position is given only with the attribute. It is not in a state. In the example of FIG. 3B, the program content management data 301 is given an attribute and a value for the indirect reference descriptor and the content registration position, and no attribute is given for the reception storage position. It has become. Further, in the example of FIG. 3 (c), the program content management data 302 is given the attribute and value of the indirect reference descriptor, and the content registration position is not set with only the attribute, and is received. The tree storage position has no attribute.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of program metadata held in the program metadata holding unit 104. In the present embodiment, the program metadata is described using a description format that is being studied in the TV-anytime Forum, but the embodiment is not limited to this.

  One or more program metadata 400 may exist in one program content, and are held in the program metadata holding unit 104 separately from the program content, but are managed together with the program content in the program content holding unit 105. It is possible.

  Here, the program metadata is data in which information on a program, that is, program moving image data is described. The program metadata includes information related to program contents such as program titles and performers, information related to program broadcasting such as broadcast time and viewing restrictions, and when one program is composed of a plurality of corners. In addition to information related to the program structure such as the start time and duration of each corner, the relationship with another program is described such that one program is a sequel to another program. The program metadata can describe information on a plurality of programs.

  The viewer can select a program content suitable for the purpose from a plurality of program contents based on the program title and performer described in the program metadata information. Further, it is possible to selectively view only a specific corner of the program based on the start time and duration of each corner.

  As shown in FIG. 4, under the <ProgramInformationTable> element 401, information related to program contents is listed in units of programs. Among these, each <ProgramInformation> element 410, 420, 430 corresponds to one program.

  The value of the “ProgramId” attribute of the <ProgramInformation> element describes “indirect reference descriptor”. The “indirect reference descriptor” is an identifier for uniquely identifying a program, and indicates which program moving image data the program metadata file is related to. For example, in the value of the “ProgramId” attribute of the <ProgramInformation> element 410, “indirect reference descriptor 411” is described, thereby identifying which program moving image data the program metadata is related to. It becomes possible.

  The <BasicDescription> element under the <ProgramInformation> element describes basic program information, and includes, for example, a <Title> element for describing a program title. For example, a <Title> element 413 is further subordinate to the <BasicDescription> element 412 under the <ProgramInformation> element 410, and the value of the <Title> element is for presenting to the viewer. A “program title 414” corresponding to the <ProgramInformation> element 410 is described.

  In the example of FIG. 4, the program metadata 400 is a program whose “indirect reference descriptor” is “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.morning” and the program title is “News on the morning of January 10, 2004”. (<ProgramInformation> element 410), a program (<Indirect Reference Descriptor> “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.afternoon”, and a program title “January 10, 2004 noon news” (< ProgramInformation> element 420), “indirect reference descriptor” is “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.digest”, and the program title is “January 10, 2004 News” (<Pr GramInfomation> and the indicated that the element 430) is a program metadata related.

  In addition, when a program is divided into corners, a <SegmentList> element is provided under the <SegmentInformationTable> element, and in order to list information about each corner under the <SegmentList> element, There are as many <SegmentInformation> elements as there are numbers. In the portion surrounded by the <SegmentInformation> element, “corner information” that is the corner specific information is described.

  In the example of FIG. 4, a <SegmentList> element 440 is provided under the <SegmentInformationTable> element 402, and the “SegmentInformation> elements 440 surrounded by <SegmentInformation> elements are included under the <SegmentList> element 440. "-" Corner information 470 "is described.

  The “crid” attribute value of the <ProgramRef> element under the <SegmentInformation> element describes “indirect reference descriptor”. The “descriptor for indirect reference” indicates which program moving image data the corner information of the segment including the “crid” attribute, ie, one corner surrounded by the <SegmentInformation> element.

  In addition, the value of the <Title> element under the <SegmentInformation> element describes “corner title” to be presented to the viewer.

  In the <SegmentLocator> element under the <SegmentInformation> element, “corner start time” and “corner duration” are described.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in the corner information 450, the “indirect reference descriptor 451” is indicated by “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.morning”, and the corner start time 453 is an indirect reference description. The program corresponding to the child 451, that is, the program title of the program whose title is “January 10, 2004 Morning News”, the corner duration 454 is 10 minutes, and the “Corner Title 452” is “Morning Head Line "is set.

  Similarly to the corner information 450, the corner information 460 and 470 also include data such as an indirect reference descriptor, a corner title, a corner start time, and a corner duration, respectively. “Corner title” for 10 minutes from the start of the program whose descriptor is “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.morning”, that is, the program whose “program title 402” is “January 10, 2004 Morning News”. "The morning headline" is broadcasted, and the program whose "indirect reference descriptor" is "broadcast.co.jp/2004_01_10.news.afternoon", that is, the program title is "January 10, 2004 noon Of the program For 10 minutes from the start of the group, a corner with the corner title “daytime headline” is broadcast, and the “indirect reference descriptor” is “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.digest”, that is, “program title” Will be broadcast for 10 minutes from the start of the program "News on January 10, 2004" for 10 minutes with the corner title "Tomorrow's Weather".

  In addition, a plurality of <SegmentGroupInformation> elements are arranged under the <SegmentGroupList> element. A plurality of segments described under <SegmentGroupInformation>, that is, a plurality of program corners, can be processed together as one group or given the same attribute. Therefore, a plurality of corners that the content creator regards as the same group are listed.

  The “value” attribute of the <GroupType> element under the <SegmentGroupInformation> element describes what purpose a plurality of corners are grouped together.

  In the example of FIG. 4, the <SegmentGroupInformation> element 481 under the <SegmentGroupList> element 480 is set with the value “highlights” in the “value” attribute 483 of the <GroupType> element 482, indicating the group title <title>. Group information in which “digest” is set in the element 484 is set. In this case, since the value “highlights” is designated in the “value” attribute, when viewing of this group is instructed by the program receiving apparatus 103, the corners grouped into this group are successively reproduced sequentially. Is meant to be. In addition to “highlights”, any value can be described in the “value” attribute as long as the program receiving apparatus 103 can interpret it. In addition, since the “group title” of this segment group is “digest” and the value of refList of the <Segments> element 485 is “S1 S6 S15”, the segmentId is “S1” “S6” “S15”. Specifies that a segment is included. That is, when viewing of the “digest” is instructed by the program receiving apparatus 103, the “indirect reference descriptor” is 10 from the program start time of the program whose “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.morning”. The corner of the corner title “Morning Headline” is played, and then the “indirect reference descriptor” is “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.afternoon”. The corner titled “Daytime Headline” is played, and the “Indirect Reference Descriptor” is “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.digest”. A corner called "weather" Corner of torque is played.

  In order to check the operation of the program metadata 400 as described above, the program metadata 400 and program content accessible from the program metadata 400 are transmitted to the program receiving device 103 or a terminal accessible from the program receiving device 103. There is a need to.

  Here, the program content that can be accessed from the program metadata 400 is program content in which access means is described in the program metadata 400 using direct reference information such as an indirect reference descriptor or URL. In this embodiment, an implementation method related to the preview method is described only when access means for program content is described using “indirect reference descriptor” which is a characteristic description of server type broadcasting. Yes.

  When the association between the program metadata 400 and the program content is performed using the “indirect reference descriptor”, the program content corresponding to the designated “indirect reference descriptor” is stored in the program receiving device 103. Alternatively, after sending to the terminal accessible from the program receiving apparatus 103, the program metadata associates the “direct reference descriptor” with the “direct reference information” which is the position information where the program content is actually arranged. By being described in 400, the program content can be referred to from the program metadata 400.

  When the content creator selects program metadata to be previewed, the transmission content selection unit 106 determines the program content and program metadata that can be referred to from the program metadata, and sets them as transmission targets.

  When the program metadata and the program content are associated using the indirect reference descriptor, the content rewriting unit 107 arranges the “indirect reference descriptor” described in the program metadata and the corresponding program content. The association with the “direct reference information” as the position is described in the program metadata.

  The content sending unit 108 sends the program metadata and the program content determined to be sent by the sending content selection unit 106 to the program receiving device 103.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the content preview device 102 when a preview is instructed for the program metadata.

  When instructed to preview the program metadata, the content preview apparatus 102 acquires the target program metadata from the program metadata holding unit 104 (S501).

  The content preview device 102 analyzes the description content in the program metadata acquired from the program metadata holding unit 104, and determines whether there is an indirect reference descriptor that has not been extracted (S502). In this embodiment, since it is possible to specify that the indirect reference descriptor is an attribute value or an element value starting with “crid //”, the character string “crid //” is searched from the program metadata file. Then, an attribute value or element value including a character string “crid //” is extracted as an indirect reference descriptor.

  If the content preview device 102 determines that there is an indirect reference descriptor that is not extracted in the program metadata, the content preview device 102 extracts this (S503).

  The content preview device 102 searches for the program content having a value equivalent to the indirect reference descriptor extracted from the program metadata in the indirect reference descriptor of the program content management data (S504).

  As a result of searching the program content, the content preview device 102 sets the program content having a value equivalent to the indirect reference descriptor extracted from the program metadata as the indirect reference descriptor of the program content management data as the transmission target program content. (S505). In this embodiment, the program content to be transmitted and the program content not to be transmitted are distinguished by copying the program content to be transmitted to the content transmitting unit 108.

  The content preview device 102 repeats the processing from S502 to S505 until there is no indirect reference descriptor extracted from the program metadata, and performs program metadata rewriting processing when there is no indirect reference descriptor extracted. (S506).

  Thereafter, the content preview device 102 sends the target program metadata to the content receiving unit 110 of the program receiving device 103 (S507).

  The content preview device 102 sends the program content to be sent to the pseudo content server 109 (S508), and ends this processing.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of program metadata rewriting processing in the content rewriting unit 107.

  The content rewriting unit 107 performs the following processing on the program content set as the transmission target program content in S506.

  The content rewriting unit 107 determines whether or not there is a transmission target program content that has not been processed (S601). If it is determined that there is no transmission target program content that has not been processed, the processing is terminated.

  When the content rewriting unit 107 determines that there is a program content to be transmitted that has not been processed, the content rewriting unit 107 reads the program content management data of the corresponding program content (S602), and the “receiver storage location” attribute is included in the read program content management data. It is determined whether or not it exists (S603). Here, regardless of whether or not a value is included in the “receiver storage location”, if the attribute “receiver storage location” exists in the program content management data, the “receiver storage location” attribute is present. judge.

  If the content rewriting unit 107 determines that the “receiver storage location” attribute does not exist in the program content management data, it determines whether there is “content registration location” information (S604). Here, if the “content registration position” attribute has a value, it is determined that there is “content registration position” information.

  When the content rewriting unit 107 determines that the “content registration position” information is included in the program content management data, the “content registration position” of the program content management data is the pseudo content server that is the actual content registration destination. The information is rewritten to 109 position information. In this embodiment, only the domain name portion of “content registration position” is rewritten to the IP address of the pseudo content server (S605).

  If the content rewriting unit 107 determines that there is no “content registration position” information in the program content management data, it adds “content registration position” information (S606). That is, the content rewriting unit 107 adds an appropriate value to the “content registration position” information of the program content management data.

  In this embodiment, since the transmission target program content is copied to the content transmission unit 108, the “receiver storage location” information that has been rewritten or added is not reflected in the original program content.

  Thereafter, the content rewriting unit 107 adds a pair of “indirect reference descriptor” and “content registration position” to the program metadata file (S607).

  If the content rewriting unit 107 determines in step S603 that the “receiver storage location” attribute is present, the content rewriting unit 107 further determines whether there is “receiver storage location” information (S608).

  If the content rewriting unit 107 determines that there is no “receiver storage location” information in the program content management data, it adds “receiver storage location” information (S609). That is, an appropriate value is added to the “receiver storage location” information of the program content management data. In this embodiment, since the transmission target program content is copied to the content transmission unit 108, the added “receiver storage location” information is not reflected in the original program content.

  If the “receiver storage location” in the program content management data includes a value, the content rewriting unit 107 determines that there is “receiver storage location” information, and proceeds to S610.

  The content rewriting unit 107 assigns an appropriate value when “receiver storage location” information is included in the program content management data and when there is no “receiver storage location” information. ”And“ receiver storage location ”are added to the program metadata file (S610).

  Hereinafter, the flow of processing of the program content preview device 102 when a preview is instructed for the program metadata 400 shown in FIG. 4 will be described with reference to the drawings.

  When the preview of the program metadata 400 is instructed, the content preview device 102 acquires the target program metadata 400 from the program metadata holding unit 104 (S501), analyzes the description content of the program metadata 400, and still extracts it. It is determined whether or not there is an indirect reference descriptor (S502).

  First, the content preview device 102 searches for an attribute value or an element value starting from the character string “crid //”, and is the programRef attribute value of the <SegmentInformation> element of the corner information 450 and the ProgramId attribute value of the <ProgramInformation> element. Since “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.morning” (indirect reference descriptor 451) has not been extracted, this value is extracted as an indirect reference descriptor (S503).

  The content preview device 102 includes a program content having a value equivalent to the extracted indirect reference descriptor “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.morning” as the indirect reference descriptor of the program content management data. And the program content whose content name is “News of the morning of January 10, 2004”, that is, the program content 201 of the “January 10, 2004 morning” is specified. (S504). The content preview device 102 sets the “News of the morning of January 10, 2004” program content 201 as the transmission target program content (S505). That is, the content preview device 102 copies the “News of the morning of January 10, 2004” program content 201 to the content transmission unit 108.

  Thereafter, the content preview device 102 analyzes the description content of the program metadata 400 to determine whether there is an indirect reference descriptor that has not yet been extracted (S502), and the <SegmentInformation> element in the corner information 460 "Programcast.co.jp/2004_01_10.news.afternoon", which is the ProgramId attribute value of <ProgramInformation> element and the ProgramId attribute value of <ProgramInformation> element, has not been extracted, so that this value is extracted as an indirect reference descriptor (S503). . The content preview device 102 holds a program content program having a value equivalent to the extracted indirect reference descriptor “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.afteron” in the indirect reference descriptor of the program content management data. The program content is searched from the section 105 and the program content management data 301 and the content name is “January 10, 2004 noon news”, that is, the program content 202 “January 10, 2004 noon news” corresponds. (S504). The content preview device 102 sets the program content 207 “January 10, 2004 noon news” as the program content to be transmitted (S505). That is, the content preview device 102 copies the program content 207 of “News on January 10, 2004 noon” to the content transmission unit 108.

  Thereafter, the content preview device 102 analyzes the description content of the program metadata 400 to determine whether there is an indirect descriptor that has not yet been extracted (S502), and the <SegmentInformation> element in the corner information 470 Since the programRef attribute value of <ProgramInformation> element and "Broadcast.co.jp/2004_01_10.news.digest" which is the ProgramId attribute value of the <ProgramInformation> element have not been extracted, this value is extracted as a descriptor for indirect reference (S503). . The content preview device 102 has a value equivalent to the extracted indirect reference descriptor “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news. Digest” in the indirect reference descriptor of the program content management data, that is, “2004 The program content 203 is searched for the “January 10th News” program content 203, and the program content management data 302 and the content name “January 10, 2004 News”, that is, “ “News on January 10, 2004” The program content 203 is identified (S504). The content preview device 102 sets the program content 203 “News on January 10, 2004” as the program content to be transmitted (S505). In other words, the content preview device 102 copies the “News on January 10, 2004” program content 203 to the content transmission unit 108.

  Thereafter, the content preview device 102 analyzes the description content of the program metadata 400 to determine whether there is an indirect reference descriptor that has not yet been extracted (S502), and since there is no unextracted indirect reference, Program metadata rewriting processing is performed (S506).

  The content rewriting unit 107 performs the following processing on the program content set as the transmission target program content in S506.

  The content rewriting unit 107 determines whether there is a program content to be sent that has not been processed (S601), detects that the “News on the morning of January 10, 2004” program content 201 has not been processed, The program content management data 300 of the program content is read (S602), and it is determined whether or not the “receiver storage location” attribute exists in the program content management data 300 (S603).

  After detecting that the “receiver storage location” attribute is present in the program content management data 300, the content rewriting unit 107 determines whether there is “receiver storage location” information (S608). When the content rewriting unit 107 detects the “receiver storage location” information in the program content management data 300, the indirect reference descriptor “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.morning” and the receiver storage location “ A combination of the storage location “2004 — 01 — 10 / news / morning / morning.avi” generated from “2004 — 01 — 10 / news / morning” and the program moving image data name “morning.avi” described in the program component “description for indirect reference” As a pair of “child” and “direct reference information”, it is added to the program metadata file (S610). Here, the storage location “2004 — 01 — 10 / news / morning / morning.avi” is “arib: // 2004 — 01 — 10 / news / with a description added to indicate that the program content is stored inside the program receiving device. "morning / morning.avi" is added to the program metadata file.

  In this embodiment, a pair of “indirect reference descriptor” and “direct reference information” is enumerated using <OnDemandProgram> element under <ProgramLocation> element, and <Program> in <OnDemandProgram> element. An “indirect reference descriptor” is described using an element, and “direct reference information” is described using a <ProgramURL> element.

  A pair of “indirect reference descriptor” and “direct reference information” may be described using another element in the program metadata. In the description format under consideration in TV-AnytimeForum used as an example of program metadata in this embodiment, it is under the <ScheduleEvnet> element, under the <BroadcastEvnet> element, and under the <OnDemandProgram> element under the <OnDemandService> element. In addition, since a pair of <Program> element and <ProgramURL> can be described, a pair of “indirect reference descriptor” and “direct reference information” may be described using the above element. Further, when a description format other than TV-Anytime is used, the correspondence between “indirect reference descriptor” and “direct reference information” can be described using the same method as the implementation method in this embodiment. An “indirect reference descriptor” and “direct reference information” may be added to the element.

  Thereafter, the content rewriting unit 107 determines whether or not there is a program content to be transmitted that has not been processed (S601), detects the “News on January 10, 2004 noon” program content 202, and the program content The program content management data 301 is read (S602), and it is determined whether or not the “receiver storage location” attribute exists in the program content management data 301 (S603). The content rewriting unit 107 detects that there is no “receiver storage location” attribute in the program content management data 301, and determines whether there is “content registration location” information based on this (S604). . The content rewriting unit 107 detects that there is “content registration position” information in the program content management data 301, and the “content registration position” of the program content management data 301 is “http://www.news. co.jp/news/afternoon "is rewritten with the location information of the pseudo content server 109 which is the actual content registration destination. In this embodiment, the content rewriting unit 107 uses only “http://www.news.co.jp” that is the domain name of “content registration position” as “xxx.xxx.xxx” that is the IP address of the pseudo content server. .Xxx ”, and the registered position“ http://xxx.xxx.xxx/news/afternoon/ ”where the program moving image data name“ afternoon.avi ”described in the program component is added to the position information. to “afternoon.avi”.

  Then, the content rewriting unit 107 includes “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.afternoon” as an indirect reference descriptor and “xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/news/afternoon/afternoon.avi” as a content registration position. Are added to the program metadata file as “indirect reference descriptor” and “direct reference information” (S610).

  Further, the content rewriting unit 107 determines whether or not there is a transmission target program content that has not been processed (S601), detects the “News on January 10, 2004” program content 204, and the program The program content management data 302 of the content is read (S602), and it is determined whether or not the “receiver storage location” attribute exists in the program content management data 302 (S603). The content rewriting unit 107 detects that the “receiver storage location” attribute does not exist in the program content management data 302, and further determines whether there is “content registration location” information (S604). The content rewriting unit 107 detects that there is no “content registration position” information in the program content management data 302, and “xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/news/digest/digest.avi” as “content registration position” information. Is given (S605). Then, the content rewriting unit 107 reads “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.digest” which is an indirect reference descriptor and “xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/news/digest/digest.avi” which is a content registration position. Are added to the program metadata file as “indirect reference descriptor” and “direct reference information” (S610).

  Thereafter, the content rewriting unit 107 determines whether or not there is a transmission target program content that has not been processed (S601), determines that there is no transmission target program content that has not been processed, and S506 that is a program metadata rewriting process. Exit.

  FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the program metadata 700 in which the correspondence relationship between the indirect reference descriptor and the direct reference information is added to the program metadata 400 by the program metadata rewriting process of S506. In the example of the program metadata 700 shown in the figure, the description after the <SegmentGroupList> element is the same as that of the program metadata 400, and thus the description is omitted.

  The correspondence between the indirect reference descriptor and the direct reference information is described in the <Program> element and the <ProgramURL> element within the <OnDemandProgram> element listed under the <ProgramLocation> element.

  In the illustrated program metadata 700, since there are three <OnDemandProgram> elements 710, 720, and 730 under the <ProgramLocation> element 701, the correspondence between the three pairs of indirect reference descriptors and the direct reference information It can be seen that is described.

  That is, “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10._1.news.morning” as the indirect reference descriptor 711 defined in the <OnDemandProgram> element 710 and “arib-dc: // 2004 — 01 — 10 /” as the direct reference information 712. “news / morning / morning.avi”, “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.afternon” which is the indirect reference descriptor 721 defined in the <OnDemandProgram> element 720 and “xxx” which is the direct reference information 722. .Xxx.xxx.xxx / news / afternoon / afternoon.avi ", <InDemandProgram> element 730 The correspondence relationship between the reference descriptor 731 “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.digest” and the direct reference information 732 “xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/news/digest/digest.avi” is described. ing.

  After finishing S506, which is the program metadata rewriting process, the content preview device 102 sends the program metadata 700 after the rewriting of the target program metadata 400 to the content receiving unit 110 (S507), and the target program content “2004” "News of the morning of January 10, 2004" Program content 201, "News of the day of January 10, 2004" Program content 202, "News of the day of January 10, 2004" Program content 203 is set to the program receiver 110 or pseudo content. The message is sent to the server 109 (S508), and the process ends.

  “News on the morning of January 10, 2004” The program content 201 is “arib-dc: // 2004 — 01 — 10 / news / morning / morning.avi” which is the “receiver storage location” described in the program content management data 300. The “contents registered location” described in the program content management data 301 is “xxx. “xxx.xxx.xxx/news/afternoon/afternoon.avi” together with a storage instruction is sent to the pseudo-content server 109, and “News on January 10, 2004” program content 203 includes program content management data 302. Is described in Together with a storage instruction to “xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/news/digest/digest.avi” which is a “content registration position”.

  The program receiving apparatus 103 stores the program metadata 700 received by the content receiving unit 110 in a predetermined location, and the received program content is instructed by the “receiver storage location” information of the content storage unit 113. Save to path. The pseudo content server 109 stores the received program content in the path designated by the “content registration position” information in the server.

  Through the above processing, program metadata and program content are transferred to the program receiving apparatus 103, and program content that can be referred to from the program metadata is appropriately arranged, so that the operating environment for confirming playback has been reproduced. become.

  In this embodiment, since there is only one program metadata to be checked for operation, the received program metadata 700 is sent to the browser 111 without waiting for an instruction from the content creator, and the presentation is started. However, when a plurality of program metadata exist in the content storage unit 113, the program content to be previewed may be selected.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of program metadata and program content stored in the content storage unit 113. In this embodiment, the program metadata 700 is arranged under the “metadata” folder 240, and the program content 201 ′ including the program moving image data 211 and the data broadcasting program BML data 212 is stored in the “receiver storage location” of the program content management data. Is placed in the path specified by the information.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of program content stored in the pseudo content server 109. The program content is arranged in the path specified by the “content registration position” information of the program content management data. Here, the program content 202 ′ including the program moving image data 221 and the data broadcast program BML data 222 and the program content 203 ′ including the program moving image data 231 are respectively stored in the “receiver storage location” information of the program content management data. Placed in the specified path.

  The content receiving unit 110 stores the program metadata and program content sent from the content sending unit 108 in the designated storage location of the content storage unit 113.

  The browser 111 presents program metadata and program content in accordance with the description content, and receives processing from the content creator via a remote controller or the like to perform processing according to the description content. In addition, when it is necessary to acquire program content due to input from the user, the content acquisition unit 112 is instructed to acquire content. At this time, if it is an instruction to acquire program content using the indirect reference descriptor, an instruction to acquire the storage location of the program content pointed to by the indirect reference descriptor is issued, and after acquiring the program content storage location, the content acquisition unit A content acquisition instruction is given to the storage unit 113.

  The content acquisition unit 112 acquires the program content from the content storage unit 113 and the pseudo content server 109 based on the acquired program content storage position, and delivers the program content to the browser 111. The program metadata transferred to the program receiving apparatus 103 is sent to the browser 111 and presented according to the description.

  FIG. 10A is a diagram showing an example of a service image when the program metadata 700 shown in FIG. 7 is received by the program receiving apparatus 103 and presented by the browser 111. The value of <Title> under <ProgramInformationTable> indicating the title of the program is acquired, and “Title News on Jan. 10, 2004”, “Noon News on Jan. 10, 2004”, “ "News of January 10, 2004" is displayed, the value of <Title> under <Description> under <SegmentInformation> indicating the title of the segment group is acquired, and "Viewing Segment Group Selection Button 1003" Display as “Digest”. In addition, a plurality of corners constituting the segment group are collectively displayed in one place, a value of <Title> under <SegmentInformation> indicating the title of the corner is obtained, and “Morning head” is displayed on the viewing segment selection button 1004. "Line", "Daytime headline", and "Tomorrow's weather".

  Here, the content creator confirms whether or not the intended operation can be performed by checking the contents of the presented screen or pressing each viewing segment selection button using an input means such as a remote control. By confirming, the operation of the program metadata 700 is confirmed.

  FIG. 10B is a diagram showing an example of a service image when the viewing segment group selection button 1003 corresponding to “Digest” in FIG. 10A is pressed.

  When the viewing segment group selection button 1003 corresponding to “digest” is pressed, the browser 111 analyzes the inside of the <SegmentGroupList> element 480 of the program metadata 700 corresponding to the viewing segment group selection button 1003, and the segment group displays the corner information. It can be seen that it is necessary to sequentially reproduce the corners described in 450, corner information 460, and corner information 470.

  Also, the corner information 450 is about 10 minutes from the program start time for program contents whose indirect reference descriptor, that is, the programId attribute value of the <ProgramInformation> element is “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.morning” ( The corner information 460 indicates that the indirect reference descriptor is “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.afternoon” for 10 minutes (600 minutes) from the program start time. The corner information 470 indicates that the indirect reference descriptor is “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.digest”. For content, shows that from the point of the program after 50 minutes, 10 minutes (600 seconds) are corner to continue.

  First, the browser 111 acquires the program moving image data of the program content whose indirect reference descriptor is “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.morning”, so the indirect reference descriptor “broadcast.co.jp/ 2004_01 — 10.news.morning ”content storage destination is acquired. Specifically, the values of the <Program> and <ProgramURL> elements of the <OnDemandProgram> element 710 listed under the <ProgramLocationTable> element 701 of the program metadata 700 correspond to the indirect reference descriptor and the content storage destination. Because of the relationship, the indirect reference descriptor 711 of the <Program> element having the same value as the indirect reference descriptor “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.morning” is detected, and the <ProgramURL> element's Direct reference information 712 “arib-dc: // 2004 — 01 — 10 / news / morning / morning.avi” which is a value is acquired, and this value is transferred to the content acquisition unit 112 together with a content acquisition instruction.Based on the value of “arib-dc: // 2004 — 01 — 10 / news / morning / morning.avi”, the content acquisition unit 112 stores the program video data in the “news” folder under the “news” folder in the “2004 — 01 — 10” folder. "Morning.avi" under the folder, the program moving image data is acquired from the content storage unit 113 and sent to the browser 111. The browser 111 reproduces a 10-minute video from the program start time for the acquired moving image data, and the content creator can confirm that a moving image as shown in FIG. 10B is reproduced.

  Thereafter, the browser 111 acquires the program moving image data of the program content whose indirect reference descriptor is “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.afternoon”, so the indirect reference descriptor “broadcast.co.jp/ 2004_01_10.news.afternoon "is acquired. Specifically, the indirect reference descriptor “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news.afternoon” is derived from the <Program> element of the <OnDemandProgram> element listed under the <ProgramLocationTable> element of the program metadata 700. The indirect reference descriptor 721 of the <Program> element having the same value is detected, and the direct reference information 722 “http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/2004 — 01 — 10 / news /, which is the value of the <ProgramURL> element, is detected. “afternoon / afternoon.avi” is acquired, and this value is transferred to the content acquisition unit 112 together with the content acquisition instruction. The content acquisition unit 112 uses the acquired address “http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/2004 — 01 — 10 / news / afternoon / afternoon.avi” as the IP address “xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx”. "Afternoon.avi" under the "afternoon" folder under the "news" folder of the server "" is acquired, and the moving image data stored at the designated position is acquired and sent to the browser 111. The browser 111 reproduces the 10-minute video from the program start point with respect to the acquired moving image data, and the content creator follows the reproduction of the moving image data as shown in FIG. ) Confirm that the video shown in

  In this embodiment, all program contents that can be referred to from the program metadata are arranged in a specific pseudo content server 109 with a fixed IP address, and the direct reference information is the IP address of the specific pseudo content server 109 with a fixed IP address. The storage position in the pseudo content server 109 is designated. Thereby, it is not necessary to arrange a plurality of content servers or a DNS server, and a preview system can be constructed with very simple equipment.

  However, the embodiment is not limited to this, and the server name and the storage location in the server may be specified in the direct reference information, and the server name and IP address may be resolved using a DNS server.

  Through the same processing as described above, the moving image data of “broadcast.co.jp/2004 — 01 — 10.news. Digest”, which is an indirect reference descriptor, is acquired, and a 10-minute video from the 50-minute program start point is played back. Then, the content creator confirms that the moving image as shown in FIG. 10D is reproduced following the reproduction of the moving image data as shown in FIG.

  By using the above-described content preview system, a content creator can only specify program metadata, and the program metadata and program content that can be referred to from the program metadata can be accessed from the program receiving device and the program receiving device. For program content that is appropriately arranged in the program metadata and accessed from the program metadata using the indirect reference descriptor, the correspondence relationship between the indirect reference descriptor and the storage location of the program content is added to the program metadata. Therefore, the operating environment for confirming the reproduction of the program metadata is reproduced.

  Therefore, since the operation environment for confirming the reproduction is easily reproduced, it is possible to quickly verify the operation of the content including the cooperative operation between the program metadata and the program content.

  In the present invention, a content preview method used in the content preview device as described above is also proposed as a gist of the invention. In this case, the present invention also includes a program for causing a computer to execute such a content preview method, a program for causing a computer to function as the content preview device of the present invention, and a recording medium recording such a program. Is done.

  A program for realizing the content preview device and the content preview method of the present invention includes a portable recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a flexible disk, another recording device provided at the end of a communication line, a hard disk built in a computer, The program may be recorded on any recording medium such as a RAM, and can be configured to be loaded onto the main memory of a computer and executed when the program is executed.

  In the present invention, it is possible to easily reproduce the environment where the operation can be confirmed even in an environment where it is difficult to install a location server or the like for the program content that can be referred to from the program metadata using the indirect reference descriptor. It is possible to quickly verify the operation of the program content including the cooperative operation between the program content with simple equipment.

It is a functional block diagram of the content preview system in 1st Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the program content which the program content holding | maintenance part hold | maintains. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of program content management data. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of program metadata. It is a flowchart which shows the content transmission process in a content preview apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows a content rewriting process. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the program metadata which performed the content rewriting process. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the program metadata and the program content which the content storage part hold | maintains. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the program metadata and the program content which the pseudo content server holds. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a service in 1st Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Content preview system 102 Content preview apparatus 103 Program receiver 104 Program metadata holding | maintenance part 105 Program content holding | maintenance part 106 Transmission content selection part 107 Content rewriting part 108 Content transmission part 109 Pseudo content server 110 Content reception part 111 Browser 112 Content acquisition part 113 Content storage unit

Claims (6)

A content preview device for previewing program metadata and program content,
A program content holding unit for storing program content;
A program metadata holding unit for holding program metadata related to the program content;
A transmission content selection unit for selecting program metadata and program content to be transferred to the program receiving device;
A content rewriting unit that adds an association with direct reference information that is position information of the program content to the program metadata when there is an indirect reference description to the program content in the program metadata;
A content sending unit for sending program metadata to the program receiving device;
Content preview device.   The content preview apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content sending unit registers the program content specified by the indirect reference description in the program metadata at a position described by the direct reference information.   The content rewriting unit assigns appropriate direct reference information to the program content described in the program metadata if the direct reference information is not determined among the program metadata and the program content referred to by the indirect reference description. The content preview device according to claim 2, wherein the indirect reference description is associated with the program metadata in association with direct reference information that is position information of the program content.   A pseudo content server storing program content referred to from the program metadata; and the direct reference information is specified by an address of the pseudo content server and a storage location of the program content in the pseudo content server. The content preview device according to claim 3. A content preview method for previewing program metadata and program content,
Acquiring program metadata;
Extracting an indirect reference description described in the program metadata;
Searching for program content having a value equivalent to the indirect reference description in the indirect reference description of the program content management data;
Setting a program content having a value equivalent to the indirect reference description in the indirect reference description of the program content management data as a transmission target program content;
Adding an association between the indirect reference description described in the program metadata and the direct reference information that is storage location information of the corresponding transmission target program content to the program metadata;
Sending program metadata to the program receiving device;
Content preview method including 6. The content preview method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of assigning appropriate direct reference information when direct reference information is undetermined in the program content management data of the program content to be transmitted.

Images