JP2009302975A - Content distribution apparatus, terminal device, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a content distribution apparatus and a terminal apparatus that allow content information to be viewed preferentially or forcibly through a peer-to-peer communication system.
A content distribution device includes a broadcast information generation unit that generates broadcast information, a broadcast information transmission unit that broadcasts broadcast information to a terminal via a network, and content that is sent from the terminal based on the broadcast information. By referring to the content request information receiving unit that receives the request information and the content storage unit, it is confirmed whether the requested content matches the license condition and is stored. A content determination unit that reads content from the content storage unit; and a content transmission unit that transmits the content read by the content determination unit to the terminal device that is the request source.
[Selection] Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a content distribution device, a terminal device, and a computer program for distributing content data using a network.

  In recent years, with the widespread use of the Internet, download content and streaming content distribution services using a client-server type using a communication network have been expanded. However, if a content distribution company assumes a large-scale service and a large number of users, enormous costs are required for constructing a large-scale system and network infrastructure that is directly connected to the system. The problem of increased load on servers and networks due to concentration may occur.

  As a solution to these problems, a content distribution technique using a P2P (peer-to-peer) network has attracted attention (see Non-Patent Document 1). For example, in the world, a free telephone service using P2P technology, a service that distributes streaming content for free, a service that distributes download content, and the like are performed. In Japan, various businesses use content delivery services for end users and services for B2B (business-to-business) using P2P technology.

  P2P technology reduces the amount of information traffic from the server as much as possible and exchanges contents between terminals, which not only reduces the scale of system and network infrastructure construction, but also reduces the server load and network load caused by congestion. It has the feature that it can be greatly reduced.

  Thus, although it is a P2P technology that has advantages for content distribution operators, the total amount of P2P distribution content that flows through the entire network does not change, so it is currently a mechanism that has advantages for communication carriers. I can not say. In addition, with the spread of content distribution by P2P technology, the proportion of P2P content in the total amount of content flowing through the entire network is increasing. For this reason, there are moves among telecommunications carriers to limit P2P content and to examine the fairness of the cost burden of the network.

  The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications held a round-table conference on the neutrality of the network from FY2006, discussed the state of the P2P network, etc., and compiled a final report on September 20, 2007 (see Non-Patent Document 2). In addition, the P2P network experiment council formulates guidelines for content distribution over the P2P network, conducts verification experiments on existing services, and holds symposiums to discuss the future of P2P networks. (See Patent Document 3). Research institutions including universities, content holders, existing distributors, etc. participate here, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications also participates as observers.

On the other hand, in the Internet world, RSS (Rich) based on XML (Extensible Markup Language) is used as a data format for structuring and describing metadata such as website headings and summaries.・ Rich Site Summary is used. This RSS is mainly used to publish site update information. In a document described in RSS, a web site title, address, update time, and the like can be described. By using RSS, update information of a large number of sites can be grasped in a unified manner. In order to use such RSS site update information, software (RSS browser) that creates a web page that summarizes update information of a specified site, or ticker software (RSS that displays update information on the desktop screen of a personal computer) Leader) has been developed. In addition, when using software of these RSS browsers and RSS readers, site-side update information is acquired by a user-side device leading to a server device or the like.
“Special Feature: P2P Architecture”, ASCII, Inc., UNIX MAGAZINE, October 2006 issue. “Society on Network Neutrality”, [online], Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, [May 1, 2008 search], Internet <URL: http://www.soumu.go.jp/joho_tsusin/policyreports/chousa/network_churitsu /index.html> “P2P Network Experiment Council”, [online], Multimedia Promotion Center, [Search May 1, 2008], Internet <URL: http://www.fmmc.or.jp/P2P/about.htm >

  In content distribution through a P2P network, an inquiry is made from a terminal operated by a user to another terminal connected to the network as to whether or not the user has the desired content. If there is a terminal that owns the content among the terminals that have received the inquiry, the terminal returns a response result including the address information of the terminal to the inquiry source terminal. Then, the terminal operated by the user accesses the corresponding terminal using the address information included in the response result to acquire the desired content, and the user can view the content.

  However, in the technology of the P2P network, there is no means for sending content data update information, for example, from the content distributor to the terminal. In addition, for example, there has been no means for preferentially or forcibly listening to content for all users from the content distribution company side. Even if the RSS reader or RSS browser technology described above is applied to P2P type communication, the user terminal side takes the lead in referring to the update information, and the content distribution company side leads the content that the content distributor wants to view at an arbitrary timing. It was not possible to distribute it automatically and let the user receive or view it preferentially or forcibly.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and allows a terminal device connected to a P2P communication network or a connectable terminal device to view content preferentially or forcibly. An object of the present invention is to provide a content distribution apparatus and a computer program thereof. It is another object of the present invention to provide a terminal device connected to a P2P type communication network and capable of preferentially or forcibly viewing content provided from the content distribution device and a computer program thereof. To do.

[1] In order to solve the above problem, a terminal device according to an aspect of the present invention includes a content storage unit that stores content, identification information that identifies the content, and acquisition destination information of the content via a network. A broadcast information receiving unit for receiving the broadcast information included, a broadcast information control unit for controlling information based on the broadcast information to be displayed on a screen preferentially, and a content request for requesting the content based on the broadcast information A content request generating unit that generates information; a content request transmitting unit that transmits the content request information; a content receiving unit that receives content corresponding to the content request information and writes the content request information to the content storage unit via a network;
A content control unit that controls to display the content read from the content storage unit on a screen.

According to this configuration, the external device broadcasts broadcast information, and the broadcast information control unit preferentially displays the broadcast information on the screen. In this way, the terminal device can display push-type content from the external device. Further, based on the broadcast information received by the broadcast information receiving unit, the content request generating unit generates content request information, and the content request transmitting unit transmits the content request information. Then, the content receiving unit receives the content sent according to the content request information, and the content control unit controls the content control unit to display the content on the screen. Further, since the content received by the content receiving unit is written into the content storage unit, this terminal device can read this content from the content storage unit and send it to the request source when requested by another external device. it can.
Usually, since the size of broadcast information is overwhelmingly smaller than the size of content, according to the above configuration, broadcast information can be quickly displayed without waiting for the distribution of content.

  [2] Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, in the above terminal device, the content request transmission unit determines whether or not the corresponding content is stored in another terminal device connected to the network. When the other terminal device stores the content, the content request information is transmitted to the other terminal device, and the other terminal device does not store the content. In this case, the content request information is transmitted to the acquisition destination device based on the acquisition destination information included in the broadcast information, and the content reception unit receives the content from the destination device that has transmitted the content request information. Is received.

  According to this configuration, the content request transmission unit inquires of other terminal devices whether or not the corresponding content is stored prior to transmission of the content request information. When the other terminal device stores the content, the content request transmission unit transmits the content request information to the other terminal device. When the other terminal device does not store the content, the content request transmission unit transmits the content request information based on the acquisition destination information included in the broadcast information. In any of these cases, the content receiving unit receives content from the destination device that has transmitted the content request information. Accordingly, the terminal device can change the content acquisition source according to the situation. That is, it can be avoided that content requests for the content distribution apparatus are concentrated and the content distribution apparatus and the surrounding network are overloaded. In other words, content can be received from a suitable device according to the load status of the requested device, the load status of the network, whether or not other terminal devices are storing the content, etc. Can be planned.

  [3] Further, according to an aspect of the present invention, in the above terminal device, the content of the acquisition source information included in the broadcast information received by the broadcast information reception unit is updated, and the updated broadcast information is transmitted to the network. A broadcast information transmission unit configured to transmit to another terminal device via the network;

  According to this configuration, since the terminal device can transfer the broadcast information to other terminal devices, it is possible to avoid overloading the device that is the distribution source of the broadcast information and the surrounding network. In addition, since the terminal device updates the contents of the acquisition destination information, the content request information from another terminal device that has received the updated acquisition destination information is sent to the device indicated by the original acquisition destination information before the update. And do not concentrate. That is, concentration of content request information can be avoided, and overloading of the distribution source device and its surrounding network during content distribution can be avoided. That is, load distribution can be achieved.

  [4] In addition, according to one aspect of the present invention, in the above terminal device, a broadcast information request transmission unit that transmits a broadcast information request for requesting the broadcast information to another terminal device after the own device is activated. Further, the broadcast information receiving unit receives the broadcast information from the other terminal device to which the broadcast information request is transmitted.

  According to this configuration, the terminal device transmits a broadcast information request after the own device is activated, and receives the broadcast information in response to this request. Therefore, the broadcast information broadcast before the own apparatus is activated (that is, the power is turned off) can be acquired later, and the content can be received based on the broadcast information. In other words, when viewed from the entire system, push-type content can be distributed even to a terminal device that is turned off at the time of distribution (broadcast information distribution time). That is, it becomes possible to reliably distribute push-type content to the terminal device.

  [5] Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, in the above terminal device, the content request transmission unit may be configured to send the acquisition destination device to the acquisition destination information based on the acquisition destination information included in the received broadcast information. The content request information is transmitted.

  With this configuration, the terminal device can receive not only the content from the broadcast information distribution source, but also the content from the device (content distribution device or other terminal device) indicated by the acquisition destination information. Note that the acquisition destination information included in the broadcast information may be updated by a terminal device that relays the information as described above. This makes it possible to geographically distribute the network load during content distribution.

  [6] A content distribution apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes a content storage unit that stores in advance content and license information indicating whether the content is licensed for a terminal device, and the content. A broadcast information generation unit that generates broadcast information including identification information to identify and content acquisition destination information, and a broadcast that broadcasts the broadcast information generated by the broadcast information generation unit to a terminal device via a network By referring to the information sending unit, the content request information receiving unit that receives the content request information sent from the terminal device based on the broadcast information, and the content storage unit, the requested content is In The content determination unit reads the content from the content storage unit if the license condition is stored and the content determination unit reads the content read by the content determination unit to the requesting terminal device. And a content transmission unit for transmitting the content.

  According to this configuration, the broadcast information transmission unit broadcasts the broadcast information generated by the broadcast information generation unit to the terminal device. The terminal device that has received this refers to the acquisition destination information (content acquisition destination information) included in the broadcast information, and transmits content request information based on this acquisition destination information. When the acquisition destination information represents the content distribution device as a content acquisition destination, the content request information is transmitted to the content distribution device. Then, the content request information receiving unit receives content request information from the terminal device. Based on this, the content determination unit reads the content from the content storage unit, and the content transmission unit transmits the content to the requesting terminal device. The terminal device that has received the content performs display based on the content. In addition, it is possible to control the broadcast information to be displayed quickly before the content is displayed. In this way, push-type content distribution can be realized. Since the content distribution device does not broadcast the content itself but transmits the content based on the content request information, the load on the network can also be reduced.

  [7] Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, broadcast information including identification information for identifying the content and acquisition destination information of the content via a network in a computer including a content storage unit that stores the content Broadcast information reception procedure for receiving the broadcast information, a broadcast information control procedure for controlling the information based on the broadcast information to be preferentially displayed on the screen, and content request information for requesting the content based on the broadcast information. A content request generation procedure; a content request transmission procedure for transmitting the content request information; a content reception procedure for receiving content corresponding to the content request information and writing the content request information to the content storage unit via the network; A content control step of controlling to display the contents read out from parts on the screen, a program for executing processing of.

  [8] Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer including a content storage unit that stores in advance content and license information indicating whether the content is licensed for a terminal device. Broadcast information generation procedure for generating broadcast information including identification information for identifying the content and the acquisition destination information of the content, and broadcasting the broadcast information generated in the broadcast information generation procedure to the terminal device via the network By referring to the broadcast information transmission procedure, the content request information reception procedure for receiving the content request information sent from the terminal device based on the broadcast information, and the content storage unit, the requested content is licensed. A content determination procedure for checking whether the content matches and is stored, and if the content matches the license condition, the content is read from the content storage unit; and the content read in the content determination procedure is the requesting terminal This is a program for executing the content transmission procedure to be transmitted to the apparatus.

According to the present invention, push-type content distribution can be performed even in a content distribution system using a P2P network. In addition, it is possible to distribute and reduce the load on the apparatus and the load on the network during content distribution. Therefore, network congestion can be prevented.
In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to distribute push-type content to a terminal device that is turned off at the time of distribution after the terminal device is turned on.

  In addition, according to the present invention, a message related to content that a content distribution company wants to provide can be preferentially and forcibly received by a terminal and presented to a user earlier than acquiring the content body. . In addition, the content body is acquired after the message is acquired, but it is possible to acquire the message while avoiding congestion. In addition, a message or content can be acquired by a terminal that is not connected to the network and presented to the user. Further, it is possible to automatically or preferentially acquire the content body after acquiring the message and present only the content body to the user without presenting the message to the user.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of content distribution in a P2P network according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
Note that in the present embodiment, the content is data such as various moving images, still images, sounds, and characters distributed to the user, and the format is arbitrary. The content distribution apparatus is an apparatus that includes a computer that stores the content and is connected to a communication network such as the Internet. The distribution company is a business entity that operates a business of providing content to the terminal device on the member side via the content distribution apparatus. Broadcasting means transmitting data from a certain peer (device) to many other specified or unspecified other peers (devices).
This embodiment relates to push type content distribution in a P2P network.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of hardware of a content distribution system using a P2P network. The entire system shown in the figure includes a content distribution system 200 owned and operated by a content distribution company, a plurality of terminal devices 50, and a communication network 20.

The content distribution system 200 includes a content distribution device 10 that distributes content, an authentication server 202 that authenticates a user's terminal device, a content management server 203 that accumulates and manages content, and keys necessary for accessing content and the like. It includes a key management server 204 that manages, and a user information management server 205 that manages user information and the like.
The communication network 20 includes at least the Internet and is configured using a plurality of routers 7. In addition, for example, a configuration may be included in which a mobile phone terminal connects to the Internet from a network other than the Internet, such as when the mobile phone terminal accesses the Internet via a mobile phone network.

  As illustrated, the terminal device 50 may be a fixed terminal including a fixed receiver and a display device, or may be a mobile phone terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or the like. May be. The terminal device 50 operated by each user transmits a content request (content request) to the content distribution system 200 via the communication network 20, or is transmitted from the content distribution system 200 side in response to the content request. Receive content (providing content). Similarly, the terminal device 50 may exchange content requests and provisions with other terminal devices 50 via the communication network 20 in the same manner.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a content distribution model based on a P2P network. This figure represents the connection relationship between peers, and corresponds to the case where the configuration of peers is a tree type. In this tree type, connections between peers have a hierarchical structure to form a network. Specifically, peer A is the root node of the entire tree. Peer A corresponds to an apparatus (content distribution apparatus) of a distribution company that distributes content. Directly connected to peer A are peers B, C, D,. At this time, peer A is a parent and peers B, C, D,..., X are children. Further, peers E, F, and G are directly connected to the peer B as its children. Further, peers H, I, and J are directly connected to the peer C as its children. The same applies to peers D and X. Thus, in the case of a tree-type configuration, the root node is connected to one or a plurality of child nodes. Nodes other than the root node are always connected to one parent node and may be connected to one or more child nodes.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of a content distribution model based on a P2P network. This figure shows the connection relationship between peers, and corresponds to the case where the peer configuration is a mesh type. In the mesh type configuration, there is no parent-child constraint as in the tree type configuration, and it has a general graph structure in which one peer is connected to one or more other peers. In other words, the mesh type is a network in which all peers are connected equally. In the example of this figure, the peer 2 corresponds to a distribution company's device (content distribution device).

  In both the tree type and the mesh type, peers (content distribution devices and terminal devices) constituting the P2P network communicate with each other using the application layer P2P protocol to exchange data. Existing technology can be used as this P2P protocol, and various forms are conceivable. In either case, each peer device stores the network configuration definition information, and it is appropriate according to this network definition information. To distribute data. The network configuration definition information includes network topology information and address information of each peer. This P2P network is realized using the hardware configuration shown in FIG.

[Configuration and operation of distribution device]
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the content distribution apparatus. As illustrated, the content distribution apparatus 10 includes a broadcast information registration unit 11, a broadcast information generation unit 12, a broadcast information storage unit 13, a broadcast information transmission unit 14, a content registration unit 15, and a content storage unit 16. The content request receiving unit 17, the content determining unit 18, and the content sending unit 19 are included.
Each of the broadcast information storage unit 13 and the content storage unit 16 has a storage unit realized by a semiconductor memory, a hard disk device, or the like.

  The content distribution device 10 may be realized as a device dedicated to content distribution using a so-called server computer device or the like, or a terminal device for content reception using a so-called personal computer, mobile phone, PDA, or the like serves as a distribution function. You may make it implement | achieve in the form which also has.

The broadcast information registration unit 11 registers a message to be broadcast to the terminal device. This message is a predetermined message (text information telegram) prescribed by the distribution company for emergency distribution such as the occurrence of a large-scale disaster.
The broadcast information generation unit 12 generates broadcast information for distribution to the user. This broadcast information includes identification information for identifying the content, and acquisition destination information of the content.
The broadcast information accumulation unit 13 accumulates broadcast information generated and distributed in the past.
The broadcast information sending unit 14 broadcasts (sends) the broadcast information generated by the broadcast information generating unit 12 to the terminal device via the network.

The content registration unit 15 registers content including data such as moving images, still images, sounds, and characters.
The content storage unit 16 stores in advance content and license information indicating whether the content is licensed for the terminal device. When there is a content request from a user (terminal device), the corresponding content is read from the content storage unit 16 and can be provided to the requesting terminal device.

The content request receiving unit 17 (content request information receiving unit) receives a content request from a user.
The content determination unit 18 checks whether or not the content requested by the user matches the license condition and is stored, and if the content meets the license condition and stores the content, the content storage unit 16 (read).
The content transmission unit 19 transmits the content acquired by the content determination unit 18 to the terminal device via the communication network.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the content of broadcast information when the content is disaster information. The broadcast information shown in this figure is described in the XML format, and its contents include (1) message type, (2) message body, and (3) content time stamp. Of these, for example, the message type is represented by an integer value. In the illustrated example, “1” is earthquake information, “2” is typhoon information, “3” is tsunami information, and “4” is heavy rain information (hereinafter described). Respectively). The message body represents information about the content. For example, information such as the title, genre, and detailed information of the content, information such as the content ID (identifier, identification information), version, and time stamp, Contains information about the acquisition source. The time stamp of the content is information indicating the generation time of the message.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the content of broadcast information when the content is news, weather information, recommended program information, and the like. The broadcast information shown in this figure is also described in the XML format. Like the broadcast information shown in FIG. 5, the contents include (1) message type, (2) message body, and (3) content time stamp. It is included. Among these values, “1” corresponds to news information, “2” corresponds to weather information, and “3” corresponds to recommended program information (hereinafter omitted). Further, the message body and the time stamp of the content are the same as those in FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of content (content data). This data has an MP4 file box structure. That is, this data is based on the content main body (MPEG4 format), content information representing content attribute information, license information representing information related to the content license, and thumbnail images holding the thumbnail image data of the content. Composed.

  FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing more detailed data contents of the content information shown in FIG. As shown in the drawing, the content information is data in XML format that is indirectly addressed by “cinf”, which is data of a box (box) size of 4 bytes. The contents (attribute information) of this data include a content ID (content identifier), a content title, a content version, a content description genre, a keyword related to the content, and a URL (Uniform) indicating the location of the thumbnail image of the content. Resource Locator), content creation date and time, content size (data size), content division number, and the like, and the like.

  FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing more detailed data contents of the license information shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the license information is data in XML format that is indirectly addressed by “clic” that is data of a box size of 4 bytes. The contents of this data (license information) include the validity period of the content, age restrictions that are restrictions on the age at which the content can be viewed, the number of times the content has been reproduced, the number of times the content has been copied, the copyright display of the content, etc. Including.

  FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the contents of the thumbnail image data shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the thumbnail image is data that is indirectly addressed by “thum” that is data of a box size of 4 bytes, and the content is still image data in JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format. .

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure performed by the content distribution apparatus 10. Hereinafter, the operation of the content distribution apparatus 10 will be described with reference to this flowchart.

  First, in step S <b> 802, the broadcast information registration unit 11 of the content distribution apparatus 10 receives the broadcast information and registers the broadcast information in the broadcast information accumulation unit 13. The contents of the information registered here are information such as the type of message necessary for sending broadcast information and the text of the message. The message type is information representing a type such as earthquake information, typhoon information, tsunami information, heavy rain information, and the like. The message text includes information related to the content. The information included in the message body includes, for example, the content title, the content genre, the detailed content information, the content identifier (identification information), the content version, the content time stamp, the validity period, the content acquisition source, and the like. is there.

Next, in step S803, the broadcast information generation unit 12 determines whether there is the same broadcast information in the past. At this time, the broadcast information generation unit 12 refers to past broadcast information stored in the broadcast information storage unit 13 and determines whether there is the same information. As a result, if there is the same thing (step S803: YES), the process proceeds to step S804, and if there is no same thing (step S803: NO), the process proceeds to step S805.
In step S804, the broadcast information generation unit 12 acquires the necessary broadcast information from the broadcast information storage unit 13 in the XML format.

In step S805, the broadcast information generation unit 12 generates broadcast information for transmission. The broadcast information generated at this time is added with the message type and message body registered in step S802 and the time stamp information when the broadcast information is generated.
In step S806, the broadcast information generation unit 12 stores the broadcast information generated above in the broadcast information storage unit 13.

  In step S807, the broadcast information transmission unit 14 transmits the broadcast information acquired in step S804 or the broadcast information generated in step S805. The transmitted broadcast information is received by the terminal device via the network. Here, the broadcast information is transmitted to each terminal device via a P2P network constituted by the content distribution device 10 and a large number of terminal devices. Note that transmission of broadcast information will be described later as processing on the terminal device side.

In step S808, the content request receiving unit 17 receives a content request from the terminal device (user side) via the network. Note that the process in which the terminal device transmits the content request will be described later as the process of the terminal device.
In step S809, the content determination unit 18 determines whether the corresponding content is stored in the content storage unit 16 together with license information for the requesting terminal device. If there is corresponding content together with the license information for the terminal device (step S809: YES), the process proceeds to step S810 as it is, and if there is no corresponding content or the content is not licensed to the terminal device (step S809: YES) skips the processes of steps S810 and S811, and ends the process of the entire flowchart.

In step S 810, the content determination unit 18 acquires the content from the content storage unit 16.
In step S811, the content transmission unit 19 transmits the content acquired by the content determination unit 18 toward the user terminal device.
When the process of step S811 ends, the content distribution apparatus 10 ends the process of the entire flowchart.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a modification of the above-described series of processing procedures (from step S802 to S811). The processing procedure shown in FIG. 12 is different from the processing procedure shown in FIG. 11 above when the determination result in step S803 is YES. In this modified example, if YES is obtained in step S803, that is, if there is the same broadcast information, the broadcast information is not acquired and transmitted, but the processing of this flowchart is terminated as it is. Whether to use the procedure shown in FIG. 11 or the procedure shown in FIG. 12 is appropriately determined by design. Alternatively, any operation is performed according to a set value for the apparatus.

  Note that the content registration unit 15 registers this data when content data (data such as moving images, still images, audio and text, and license information thereof) is input in advance. That is, the content registration unit 15 writes content data into the content storage unit 16. The content storage unit 16 stores the content registered by the content registration unit 15.

[Configuration and operation of terminal device]
FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the terminal device. As illustrated, the terminal device includes a power input unit 51, a broadcast information request sending unit 52, a broadcast information receiving unit 53, a broadcast information control unit 54, a broadcast information accumulation unit 55, and a content request generation unit 56. A content request sending unit 57, a license receiving unit 58, a license storage unit 59, a content control unit 60, a license request sending unit 61, a content receiving unit 62, a content storage unit 63, and a display unit 64. Consists of including.
The broadcast information storage unit 55, the license storage unit 59, and the content storage unit 63 each have a storage unit that is realized by a semiconductor memory, a hard disk device, or the like.

Hereinafter, functions of main components of the terminal device 50 will be described.
The power input unit 51 is connected to a power source that supplies power to the entire circuit of the terminal device 50, and turns on (turns on) or disconnects (turns off). Further, the power supply input unit 51 passes a signal indicating that to the broadcast information request transmission unit 52 after the own apparatus is activated (that is, when the power is turned on).

When the broadcast information request sending unit 52 receives the activation signal of its own device from the power input unit 51, the broadcast information request sending unit 52 sends the latest or effective broadcast information to the content distribution device 10 and the surrounding terminal devices 50 via the network. Send data to make a request.
The broadcast information receiving unit 53 receives broadcast information transmitted from the content distribution device 10 or the surrounding terminal device 50.

The broadcast information control unit 54 compares and compares the received broadcast information with the broadcast information that has been stored in the broadcast information storage unit 55 in the past. In addition, the broadcast information control unit 54 confirms the type of message described in the broadcast information. Furthermore, the broadcast information control unit 54 controls the display unit 64 to display the received broadcast information, the comparison / collation result, and the message type confirmation result, and also compares the broadcast information comparison / collation result and the message type confirmation result. Accordingly, control is performed so that the content request generation unit 56 generates content request information for requesting content corresponding to the broadcast information.
The broadcast information accumulation unit 55 accumulates broadcast information received by the broadcast information reception unit 53 and passed from the broadcast information control unit 54.

The content request generation unit 56 generates content request information for requesting content corresponding to the broadcast information based on the control by the broadcast information control unit 54, and sends the generated content request information to the content request transmission unit 57. To pass.
The content request transmission unit 57 transmits the content request information received from the content request generation unit 56 to the device indicated by the content acquisition destination via the communication network 20.

The content reception unit 62 receives content (this content may include license information) as a response to the content request information, and writes it in the content storage unit 63.
The content accumulation unit 63 accumulates the content received by the content reception unit 62.

  The content control unit 60 determines whether the content stored in the content storage unit 63 has a license (whether or not there is a license). The content control unit 60 makes the above determination by referring to the license information stored in the license storage unit 59 or by referring to the license information when the license information is included in the content. . When the outside terminal device 50 has a license and meets the license conditions, the content control unit 60 performs control to display the content on the display device 64. If the license is not owned, or if the license is not met even if the license is owned, the content control unit 60 creates a license request and sends the license request to the license request sending unit 61. hand over.

The license request transmission unit 61 transmits the license request received from the content control unit 60 via the network. The transmission destination of the license request is not necessarily the content acquisition destination. Normally, the transmission destination of the license request is the content distribution apparatus 10.
The license receiving unit 58 receives license information sent via the network as a response to the license request. Further, the license receiving unit 58 is not limited to transmitting a license request, and may receive license information transmitted from another device at any time.
The license storage unit 59 stores the license information received by the license receiving unit 58.

  The display unit 64 displays a message or the like of broadcast information or content in accordance with the control by the broadcast information control unit 54 or the content control unit 60 described above. Thereby, the user can browse such information.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure performed by the terminal device 50. Hereinafter, a procedure of a series of processes in which the terminal device 50 receives push-type content when the power is on will be described with reference to this flowchart.

First, in step S902, the broadcast information receiving unit 53 of the terminal device 50 receives broadcast information transmitted from the content distribution device side of the distribution company. At this time, the broadcast information receiving unit 53 may receive the broadcast information directly from the content distribution device (by an IP packet or the like from the content distribution device), or may receive the broadcast information from another terminal device 50 that transfers the broadcast information. It may be received.
In step S903, the broadcast information control unit 54 checks the acquired broadcast information stored in the broadcast information storage unit 55 to determine whether the received broadcast information is the latest. If it is the latest one (step S903: YES), the process proceeds to the next step S905. If it is not the latest one (step S903: NO), the process of the entire flowchart is terminated.

When the process proceeds to step S905, the broadcast information control unit 54 accumulates the received broadcast information in the broadcast information accumulation unit 55 in the same step.
In step S906, the broadcast information control unit 54 causes the display unit 64 to display the broadcast information. The broadcast information control unit 54 performs control to display this information on the display unit 64 with priority. Here, “preferentially” means that, for example, even when there is information that is already displayed on the display unit 64 at that time, it is received in this procedure over information that was originally displayed by screen control such as pop-up. The broadcast information is temporarily displayed on the screen and displayed. Thereby, push type information distribution is realized. Further, according to this procedure, when the terminal apparatus receives a plurality of pieces of broadcast information, the terminal apparatus may be controlled to display the information sequentially in the order of arrival according to the time series.

  In step S907, the content request generation unit 56 generates content request information for requesting content corresponding to the broadcast information.

  In step S908, the content request transmission unit 57 transmits the content request generated above. At this time, the content request transmission unit 57 first checks whether or not another user's terminal device owns (stores) the corresponding content. If any other terminal device sends a response that the corresponding content is stored, the content request sending unit 57 sends the content request information to the terminal device. When none of the confirmation destination terminal devices stores the corresponding content, the content request sending unit 57 refers to the content acquisition destination information included in the broadcast information, and the acquisition destination information represents The content request information is transmitted to the device (this device is the content distribution device 10 or another terminal device 50).

Here, details of a processing procedure for confirming whether or not the terminal device owns the corresponding content with respect to another terminal device will be described.
First, a terminal device to be confirmed is autonomous in a P2P network based on a) another terminal device directly connected to the own terminal device, b) user information or communication history information of the terminal device, etc. A terminal device included in the group range grouped into the group, or c) a terminal device included in the group range determined by the distribution company (for example, the user's region, age, gender, common interest, etc.) It is a terminal device determined as appropriate. The connection status or group configuration is appropriately stored in the terminal device, and the terminal device to be confirmed is determined by referring to the information.
Next, a method for performing this confirmation will be described. As a premise, all terminal devices own (store) a list of contents owned by themselves as an XML format content list. In this content list, information such as content ID (identifier), content name, and genre is described. This content list is created when a P2P application (software for performing communication over a P2P network) is started in the terminal device, and is updated when there is a change in the content, license, or the like held.
Then, the terminal device on the requesting side transmits a message to the terminal device in the above range regarding the desired content. The terminal device on which the confirmation is requested refers to the above content list to determine whether or not the own terminal device has accumulated the requested content, and to the terminal device on which the confirmation is requested Respond with the result. In this way, the terminal device on the side requesting confirmation obtains information on the countryside whether other terminal devices are storing the corresponding content.

As a result of the confirmation in step S908, if there is another terminal device that owns the content, the content receiving unit 62 receives the corresponding content from the terminal device. If the terminal device does not own the corresponding content, the content is received from another terminal device or from the content distribution device.
After receiving the content, the content receiving unit 62 stores the content in the content storage unit 63 in step S910.

  In step S911, the content control unit 60 refers to the license information stored in the license storage unit 59 to determine whether there is a license for the user to view and store the content received above. . If there is no license (step S911: NO), the process proceeds to step S912. If there is a license (step S911: YES), the process proceeds to step S915.

When the process proceeds to step S912, in the same step, the license request sending unit 61 generates information for requesting a license for the content, and transmits the request to the server of the content distribution company via the network.
In step S913, the license receiving unit 58 receives the license information transmitted from the server of the content distributor.
In step S914, the license receiving unit 58 stores the received license information in the license storage unit 59.
And if the process of step S914 is completed, it will return to step S911.

As a result of the determination in step S911, if the process proceeds to step S915, the content control unit 60 reads the corresponding content from the content storage unit 63 and displays it on the display unit 64 in the same step.
Thus, the terminal device 50 ends the process of this flowchart.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating another processing procedure performed by the terminal device 50. This flowchart shows a processing procedure for acquiring the content after the power of the terminal device 50 is turned on when the content is distributed from the content distribution server when the power of the terminal device 50 is turned off. ing. Hereinafter, a series of processing procedures in which the terminal device 50 receives push-type content in this case will be described with reference to this flowchart.

First, in step S <b> 1002, the power input unit 51 turns on the power supplied to the entire terminal device 50 based on the operation of a switch or the like by the user.
When the power is turned on (that is, after the terminal device 50 (own device) is activated), in step S1003, the broadcast information request sending unit 52 sends a broadcast information request to another terminal device connected to the P2P network. Is sent out.

When the other terminal device possesses the latest broadcast information, it returns the broadcast information accordingly.
In step S1004, the broadcast information receiving unit 53 receives the broadcast information.
Hereinafter, the processing of each step from step S1005 to S1017 corresponds to the processing from step S903 to S915 in the flowchart shown in FIG. 14, and is the same processing. Therefore, detailed description thereof is omitted here.

<Transfer of broadcast information between terminal devices and rewrite at that time>
Next, a process in which the terminal device 50 transfers broadcast information from the content distribution device to another terminal device 50 will be described.
Broadcast information may be transmitted directly from the content distribution device 10 to the terminal device 50, or may be relayed by the terminal device 50 and further transferred to another terminal device 50. When the terminal device 50 relays and transfers the broadcast information, the content reference information (content acquisition destination information) included in the broadcast information can be rewritten. Details of the processing are as follows.

  The range of other terminal devices to which the terminal device 50 transfers broadcast information is as follows. That is, a) other terminal devices to which the terminal device is directly connected via the P2P network, b) all other devices that are within the peer group defined by the P2P protocol and are connected to the communication network A terminal device, c) a group positioned above the P2P protocol and defined in an application layer using the P2P protocol (this group includes a user's range of interest, viewing history, region, age, sex, etc.) Any of all other terminal devices that are within the scope of this group and may be dynamically changed over time) and connected to the communication network.

  The broadcast information includes flag information indicating whether or not the content reference information can be rewritten, as a premise of the process in which the terminal device 50 rewrites the content reference information. Based on the flag information, the terminal device 50 can determine whether or not to rewrite the content reference information described in the broadcast information.

  If it is determined that the content distribution device 10 cannot respond to direct content requests from a large number of terminal devices 50 in the configuration of the device itself and the surrounding network, the content distribution device 10 sets the flag information to “ON” (content Broadcast information is transmitted. In the above description, whether or not the content distribution device 10 can respond to the content request from the terminal device 50 is determined based on the request number index set in advance according to the processing capability of the own device, the allowable traffic amount of the network, and the like. Is compared with a predicted value of the number of content requests occurring in the network (this predicted value is calculated based on the P2P network configuration information, the group configuration information, and the like).

On the terminal device 50 side, when the broadcast information whose flag information is “ON” is received, the content reference destination is appropriately rewritten to the own terminal device or another terminal device.
Therefore, the terminal device 50 updates the content of the acquisition destination information included in the broadcast information received by the broadcast information receiving unit 53, and transmits the updated broadcast information to other terminal devices via the network. A transmission unit (not shown in FIG. 13) is further provided.

  Note that the terminal device 50 determines whether to rewrite the content reference information based not only on the content reference information rewrite enable / disable flag in the broadcast information but also on the service provision area. May be. Here, the service providing area is an area in which content corresponding to the broadcast information is displayed. This service provision area is predetermined for each content, for example, and broadcast information including information on the service provision area is distributed from the content distribution apparatus 10. In addition, each terminal device 50 acquires its own position information from setting information (in the case of a fixed terminal device), or acquires current position information calculated based on a signal from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite. (In the case of a mobile terminal device or the like), and collating this with the information in the service providing area, it is determined whether or not the own device is in the service providing area. The terminal device 50 rewrites the content reference information only when the terminal device is in the service providing area and the rewrite permission / inhibition flag is “ON”, and in other cases, the terminal device 50 rewrites the content reference information. Do not rewrite.

  Furthermore, when the terminal device 50 rewrites the content reference information in the broadcast information, the terminal device 50 (the terminal device or other terminal device that is sure or highly likely to hold the content) The content reference information may be updated using the address of the terminal device. In this case, the terminal device 50 obtains information on the terminal device that is surely or highly likely to hold the content based on information preset as the configuration information of the P2P network.

<Process in which terminal device receiving content request sends content>
Next, a procedure of processing in which the terminal device 50 transmits the corresponding content in response to a content request from another terminal device 50 will be described.

As described above, a situation in which content is transmitted to another terminal device occurs in the following case. That is, a) When the own terminal device transfers broadcast information to another terminal device, the content reference information is rewritten to the address of the own terminal device, and a content request arrives from the terminal device that received the broadcast information B) When another terminal device further forwards broadcast information to another terminal device, the content reference information is rewritten to the address of its own terminal device, and a content request arrives from the terminal device receiving the broadcast information C) By the above-described method, a request for confirmation as to whether or not a specific content is held is received from another terminal device to the own terminal device, and the content is included in the content list stored in the own terminal device. And when a positive response is made to the other terminal device.
In these cases, the terminal device 50 that has received the content request reads the content from the content storage unit 63 of its own device, and transmits it to another requesting terminal device using a communication protocol such as TCP / IP. To do.

<Processing by Terminal Device Receiving Broadcast Information Request>
In step S1003 of the processing procedure shown in FIG. 15, the terminal device sends a broadcast information request to another terminal. At this time, the processing of the terminal device on the side receiving the broadcast information request will be described below.

  As described above, each terminal device stores the received broadcast information in the broadcast information storage unit 55. The broadcast information includes information on the generation time of the message and information on the expiration date. The terminal device that has received the broadcast information request compares the current time obtained from the system clock of the own device with the message generation time information and the message expiration date information in the broadcast information stored in the own device, Broadcast information that is valid at that time is extracted, and the broadcast information is transmitted to the requesting terminal device. At this time, if there is no effective broadcast information at that time, the terminal device transmits a message indicating that there is no effective broadcast information to the requesting terminal device.

<Example of screen display>
FIG. 16 and FIG. 17 are schematic diagrams showing images of screens when the terminal device receives and presents push-type content, respectively.

FIG. 16 shows an example in which disaster information (content corresponding to the broadcast information shown in FIG. 5) is displayed. The disaster information is content distributed from the content distribution device 10 when a large-scale disaster such as an earthquake, tsunami, or typhoon occurs.
In the display screen 100 illustrated in FIG. 16, a display area 101 and a display area 102 are provided as areas for the display unit 64 of the terminal device 50 to display the above-described push type content. The display area 102 is a push type content video reproduction display portion. Further, a display area 103 for displaying a “recommended program list” is provided. First, when receiving broadcast information, the terminal device 50 controls the screen so that the display area 101 pops up, and displays a message based on the message type information included in the broadcast information. That is, this information is preferentially and forcibly displayed over the information in the display area 103. Then, after receiving the video content corresponding to the broadcast information, the terminal device 50 performs control to display the video content on the display area 102.

  FIG. 17 shows an example in which news, weather information, recommended program information, etc. (contents corresponding to the broadcast information shown in FIG. 6) are displayed. News, weather information, recommended program information, and the like are contents distributed from the content distribution apparatus 10 as needed. The display screen 110 illustrated in FIG. 17 includes a display area 111 for displaying a “recommended program list”, a display area 112 for reproducing and displaying video of push-type distribution content, a display area 113 for displaying weather information, and news. And a display area 114 for displaying. Recommended program information, weather information, news information, etc. are distributed from the content distribution device 10 as push-type content at any time and received directly from the content distribution device 10 or via other terminal devices. The terminal device 50 controls the display so that the latest push-type content information is always displayed on the screen.

  Note that some or all of the functions of the content distribution device and the terminal device in the above-described embodiment may be realized using a computer program. In that case, it is realized by recording a program for realizing a function such as control relating to the content distribution on a computer-readable recording medium, causing the computer system to read and execute the program recorded on the recording medium. You may do it. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a storage device such as a flexible medium, a magneto-optical disk, a portable medium such as a ROM and a CD-ROM, and a hard disk incorporated in a computer system. Furthermore, the “computer-readable recording medium” dynamically holds a program for a short time like a communication line when transmitting a program via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In this case, a volatile memory inside a computer system serving as a server or a client in that case may be included and a program that holds a program for a certain period of time. The program may be a program for realizing a part of the functions described above, and may be a program capable of realizing the functions described above in combination with a program already recorded in a computer system.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes designs and the like that do not depart from the gist of the present invention.

[Other variations]
In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which a P2P network is used to deliver content with high speed and priority, such as disaster information. However, the present embodiment can be applied to services for providing other information. You can also.
Moreover, the communication line which comprises a network may be constructed | assembled with various transmission media, such as a copper wire, an optical fiber, and radio | wireless.
Further, as examples of the terminal device, a fixed terminal device, a mobile phone terminal, a PDA, and the like have been described. However, the present invention does not depend on the type of the terminal and can be applied to other terminal devices.

  The present invention can be used for distribution of content data using a communication network such as the Internet. In particular, it can be used as a push type content distribution mechanism in a P2P network.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of a content distribution system, a terminal device, and an entire network according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the schematic which shows an example (tree type) of the structure of the P2P network which the embodiment uses. It is the schematic which shows another example (mesh type) of the structure of the P2P network used by the embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the function structure of the content delivery apparatus by the embodiment. It is the schematic which showed the structural example of the broadcast information by the same embodiment in case a content is disaster information. It is the schematic which showed the structural example of the broadcast information by the same embodiment in case a content is news, weather information, recommended program information, etc. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the content data by the embodiment. It is the schematic which shows the data structure of the content information by the embodiment. It is the schematic which shows the data structure of the license information by the embodiment. It is the schematic which shows the data structure of the thumbnail image by the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process by the content delivery apparatus by the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the modification of the procedure of the process by the content delivery apparatus by the embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the terminal device by the same embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process of the terminal device by the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of another process of the terminal device by the embodiment. It is the schematic which shows the screen image when the terminal device by the same embodiment receives and displays push type content. It is the schematic which shows another screen image when the terminal device by the embodiment receives and displays push type content.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Content distribution apparatus 11 ... Broadcast information registration part 12 ... Broadcast information generation part 13 ... Content registration part 14 ... Broadcast information transmission part 15 ... Content registration part 16 ... Content Storage unit 17 ... Content request receiving unit 18 ... Content judging unit 19 ... Content sending unit 50 ... Terminal device 51 ... Power input unit 52 ... Broadcast information request sending unit 53 ... Broadcast information receiving unit 54 ... Broadcast information control unit 55 ... Broadcast information storage unit 56 ... Content request generation unit 57 ... Content request transmission unit 58 ... License reception unit 59 ... License storage unit 60 ... Content control unit 61 ... License request sending unit 62 ... Container Tsu receiver 63 ... content storage unit 64 ... display unit

Claims (8)

A content storage unit for storing content;
A broadcast information receiving unit for receiving broadcast information including identification information for identifying the content and acquisition destination information of the content via a network;
A broadcast information control unit for controlling information based on the broadcast information to be preferentially displayed on a screen;
A content request generator for generating content request information for requesting the content based on the broadcast information;
A content request sending unit for sending the content request information;
A content receiving unit that receives the content corresponding to the content request information and writes the content in the content storage unit via a network;
A content control unit that controls to display the content read from the content storage unit on a screen;
A terminal device comprising: The terminal device according to claim 1,
The content request sending unit performs a process of inquiring whether or not the corresponding content is stored in another terminal device connected to the network, and the other terminal device stores the content. In this case, the content request information is transmitted to the other terminal device, and when the other terminal device does not store the content, the acquisition destination based on the acquisition destination information included in the broadcast information. The content request information is transmitted to the device of
The content receiving unit receives the content from a destination device that has transmitted the content request information;
A terminal device characterized by that. The terminal device according to claim 1,
A broadcast information transmitting unit that updates the content of the acquisition source information included in the broadcast information received by the broadcast information receiving unit and transmits the updated broadcast information to another terminal device via a network; A terminal device comprising the terminal device. The terminal device according to claim 1,
A broadcast information request sending unit for sending a broadcast information request for requesting the broadcast information to another terminal device after starting the own device;
The broadcast information receiving unit receives the broadcast information from the other terminal device to which the broadcast information request is transmitted;
A terminal device characterized by that. The terminal device according to claim 4,
The content request sending unit sends out the content request information to the acquisition destination device based on the acquisition destination information included in the received broadcast information. A content storage unit that stores in advance content and license information indicating whether the content is licensed for a terminal device;
A broadcast information generating unit that generates broadcast information including identification information for identifying the content and acquisition destination information of the content;
A broadcast information transmission unit that broadcasts the broadcast information generated by the broadcast information generation unit to a terminal device via a network;
A content request information receiving unit that receives content request information sent from the terminal device based on the broadcast information;
By referring to the content storage unit, it is confirmed whether the requested content matches the license condition and is stored. If the content matches the license condition, the content determination unit reads the content from the content storage unit. When,
A content sending unit for sending the content read by the content judging unit to the requesting terminal device;
A content distribution apparatus comprising: In a computer having a content storage unit for storing content,
Broadcast information reception procedure for receiving broadcast information including identification information for identifying the content and acquisition destination information of the content via a network;
A broadcast information control procedure for controlling the information based on the broadcast information to be preferentially displayed on the screen;
A content request generation procedure for generating content request information for requesting the content based on the broadcast information;
A content request sending procedure for sending the content request information;
A content receiving procedure for receiving the content corresponding to the content request information and writing it in the content storage unit via a network;
A content control procedure for controlling the content read from the content storage unit to be displayed on a screen;
Program to execute the process. A computer comprising a content storage unit that stores in advance content and license information indicating whether the content is licensed for a terminal device;
Broadcast information generation procedure for generating broadcast information including identification information for identifying the content and acquisition destination information of the content;
A broadcast information sending procedure for broadcasting the broadcast information generated in the broadcast information generating procedure to a terminal device via a network;
A content request information receiving procedure for receiving content request information sent from the terminal device based on the broadcast information;
By referring to the content storage unit, it is confirmed whether the requested content matches the license condition and is stored, and if it matches the license condition and is stored, the content determination procedure for reading the content from the content storage unit When,
A content transmission procedure for transmitting the content read in the content determination procedure to the requesting terminal device;
Program to execute the process.

Images