JP4862761B2 - Content reproduction apparatus and program thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a content playback apparatus that plays back content recorded in a content storage unit and a program thereof.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, content playback apparatuses that include an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and play back content selected from a plurality of contents (for example, song data) recorded on the HDD have become widespread. In such a content reproduction apparatus, based on content information such as the number of reproductions given to the song data, in addition to the reproduction processing for continuously reproducing the song data included in the song list selected by the user operation, For example, a reproduction process has been proposed in which music data is reproduced in order from the song data having the largest number of reproductions.

  However, there are the following problems when music data is reproduced in descending order of the number of reproductions. If a piece of song data is played frequently, such as by shuffle playback, the user does not like the song data, so skip processing is performed during playback of the song data, and processing proceeds to playback of the next song data. Sometimes. Since the number of times of reproduction is also counted for the music data skipped in this way, music data that is not preferred by the user is preferentially reproduced when the music data is simply reproduced in order from the largest number of times of reproduction.

  On the other hand, it is conceivable that the number of reproductions is not counted for music data that has been skipped. However, if it is the song data that the user prefers and skip processing has been executed for the purpose of listening to the next song data immediately before the song data has been completely played back, The number of playbacks cannot be increased.

  Therefore, there is a demand for a playback method that can preferentially continuously play back music data that the user thinks is preferred.

  The following Patent Document 1 describes the following contents. The control unit obtains the reproduction count of each song during CD reproduction in order to obtain the reproduction priority order. Then, the control unit calculates a normalized count from the playback count and recording time of each song, recognizes this as a playback ratio, and determines the playback priority for each CD accordingly. Here, it is generally considered that the playback time of a song that the user likes is long. On the other hand, if it is a favorite song, it is considered that the user tries to reproduce the song as completely as possible (from the beginning to the end). Therefore, by using the reproduction ratio as described above, it is possible to acquire a reproduction priority order that appropriately reflects user preferences.

  However, since the method of Patent Document 1 simply divides the playback count (playback time) by the recording time, the song count with a large number of playbacks simply increases the playback count, and the user's preference is further increased. There is a problem that it cannot be accurately reflected.

JP 2004-288245 A

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a content playback apparatus capable of continuously playing back content, reflecting the user's preference.

  A content playback apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a content storage unit for recording a plurality of contents, a playback unit for playing back the content recorded in the content storage unit, and each of the content storage units recorded in the content storage unit For content, a content information storage unit for recording the content length, cumulative playback time, and playback count, playback count update means for updating the playback count when the content is played back, and playback of the content is completed The cumulative playback time updating means for updating the playback time by adding the playback time to the cumulative playback time, and calculating a complete playback rate proportional to the cumulative playback time and inversely proportional to the length of the content and the number of playbacks, A calculation means for recording in the content information storage unit, and a content list based on the complete playback rate calculated by the calculation means. It generates, and a reproduction control means for reproducing the content included in the content list in the reproduction means.

  The complete playback rate is high when the playback time averaged per playback is close to the length of the content, and low when the playback time averaged per playback is far from the length of the content. Become. That is, content that is always played back almost to the end has a high complete playback rate, and content that is always played only halfway has a low complete playback rate. Therefore, by generating a content list based on the complete reproduction rate and reproducing the content in the content list, it is possible to reproduce the content that suits the user's preference.

  In a preferred embodiment, the reproduction control unit generates a content list in which the contents are sorted in descending order of the complete reproduction rate, and causes the reproduction unit to reproduce the contents in the order of the content list.

  In this case, since the reproduction is performed in order from the content with the highest complete reproduction rate, the reproduction can be performed in order from the content estimated to be preferred by the user.

  In a preferred embodiment, the reproduction control means generates a content list in which the contents are further sorted in the order of the accumulated reproduction time for the contents having the same complete reproduction rate.

  In this case, it is presumed that the content with a longer cumulative playback time is the content that the user prefers, so that it is estimated that the user prefers by playing in order from the content with the longer cumulative playback time when the complete playback rate is the same. Content can be played in order.

  In a preferred embodiment, the playback control means excludes content whose complete playback rate is less than a first predetermined value from the content list.

  In this case, it is possible to prevent the content that is estimated to be unfavorable by the user from being reproduced.

  In a preferred embodiment, the playback control means excludes content whose complete playback rate is less than a first predetermined value and whose cumulative playback time is less than a second predetermined value from the content list.

  In this case, it is possible to prevent the content that is estimated to be unfavorable by the user from being reproduced.

  In a preferred embodiment, the reproduction control means generates a content list in which contents are sorted in the order of long accumulated reproduction time, and the contents are further sorted in descending order of the complete reproduction rate for the same accumulated reproduction time.

  In a preferred embodiment, when the content in the content list is reproduced, the reproduction control unit causes the reproduction unit to reproduce only the time obtained by multiplying the length of the content by the complete reproduction rate.

  In this case, content that is always played back to the end can be played back to the end, and content that is always played back only up to half can be played back only up to half.

  In another aspect of the present invention, an operation program for a content reproduction device for causing a computer to execute each unit in each of the content reproduction devices may be provided.

  According to the present invention, since the content list is generated based on the complete reproduction rate, it is possible to automatically select content suitable for the user's preference and continuously reproduce it.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a content reproduction apparatus 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The content playback apparatus 100 plays back music data selected from a plurality of content files (hereinafter simply referred to as music data, files or contents) recorded in an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 5 in the playback unit 6. , Video and / or audio. The content playback apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment newly adds content information called a complete playback rate to each content, and automatically reproduces a content list based on the complete playback rate when continuously playing back content in the BGM mode. Generate and preferentially play content with a high complete playback rate. Here, the content is a general term for video data, music (music) data, still image data, and the like. In this example, the case of music data will be described as an example.

  The content playback apparatus 100 includes a system control unit 2, a RAM 3, a ROM 4, a content storage unit 5 such as an HDD, a playback unit 6, an operation unit 7, and a display unit 8. These are connected to each other via a bus.

  A plurality of contents (music data) are recorded in the HDD 5. The music data recorded in the HDD 5 is read by an instruction from the system control unit 2 and reproduced by the reproduction unit 6.

  The HDD 5 stores a content information database. The content information database (hereinafter referred to as a content information DB) is a database that manages content information regarding all content recorded in the HDD 5. The content information in the content information DB is used for generating a content list (hereinafter referred to as a song list) for the playback unit 6 to continuously play back song data. As shown in FIG. 2, for example, the content information includes a song name, artist name, album name, genre name, song length (total (total) playback time of song, unit is second), skip count, cumulative playback time. (Unit is seconds), and complete playback rate. The number of skips, the cumulative playback time, and the complete playback rate are information that is updated when music data is played back or skipped, and the other information is generally fixed information for content.

  The number of skips is the number of times that the playback music has been changed to other music data by the user operation until the music data has been played to the end (the number of times skip processing has been performed). That is, the skip count is one index for determining the user's preference, and song data with a large number of skips is often changed to another song data during playback, and is not preferred by the user. Can be estimated. The cumulative playback time is the total playback time of the song data so far (after being recorded in the HDD 5). The song data with a long cumulative reproduction time is a song that has been frequently listened to by users in the past, and it can be estimated that the song data is preferred by the user.

When the song data is played back, the complete playback rate is an average of the length of the song of the song data (total playback time) on average, and how much time is played back. Show. In other words, when the song data is played back, the complete playback rate is, on average, per playback, how long the song data has been stopped during the entire playback time, or skipped. Indicates whether it has been processed. The complete reproduction rate is expressed by the following formula, for example, and takes a value of 0 to 1 in this example. The complete playback rate is proportional to the cumulative playback time, and inversely proportional to the song length (total playback time) and the number of playbacks.

  Here, FIG. 3 shows a song list in which song data is sorted in the order of track numbers, and FIG. 4A shows song data in order of increasing values with the complete playback rate as the first condition and the cumulative playback time as the second condition. Shows a sorted song list. Referring to FIG. 4A, the song data of track number 11 has a song length of 360 seconds, a playback count of 2 times, a cumulative playback time of 720 seconds, and a complete playback rate of 720 ÷ (360 × 2) = 1 That is, in all reproductions, the music data has been reproduced to the end (reproduced for the entire reproduction time), so the complete reproduction rate is 1, which is the maximum. The track number 20 song data has a song length of 60 seconds, a playback count of 3 times, a cumulative playback time of 90 seconds, and a complete playback rate of 90 ÷ (60 × 3) = 0.5. That is, if the music data is played to the end in all playbacks, the cumulative playback time is 180 seconds, but the cumulative playback time is 90 seconds. The playback is stopped or skipped in exactly half, and the complete playback rate is 0.5. As described above, the complete reproduction rate shows how much of the total reproduction time is reproduced when averaged by one reproduction of the music data, and is an index for determining the user's preference very accurately.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the system control unit 2 controls the entire content reproduction apparatus 100, and reads out and executes a program stored in the ROM 4 or the HDD 5 into the RAM 3 to execute each process described later.

  When the system control unit 2 finishes playing the song data to the end, or when the playback is stopped halfway by a user operation, or when it is skipped to another song data halfway by a user operation, Update the playback count, cumulative playback time, and skip count for song data. That is, the system control unit 2 increments the number of reproductions by 1, adds the reproduction time reproduced this time to the cumulative reproduction time, and increases the number of skips by 1 when skip processing is performed. Thereafter, the system control unit 2 calculates a complete reproduction rate based on the number of reproductions, the accumulated reproduction time, and the length of the song, and records it in the content information DB.

  When the BGM mode, which is one of the continuous playback modes, is selected, the system control unit 2 automatically generates a song list with reference to information related to the user's preference among the content information, and Play song data continuously in the order of the list. Specifically, the system control unit 2 generates a song list based on the complete reproduction rate so that song data having a high complete reproduction rate is preferentially selected. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the system control unit 2 sorts all song data recorded in the HDD 5 in order of highest complete playback rate (so that song data with the highest complete playback rate comes first), and For song data having the same complete reproduction rate, a song list is generated by further sorting in order of longer accumulated reproduction time (so that song data having a longer accumulated reproduction time comes first). Then, the system control unit 2 controls the reproduction unit 6 so as to reproduce the song data in the order of the generated song list.

  Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4B, all song data recorded on the HDD 5 is sorted in the order of the longest cumulative playback time, and further, the song data having the same cumulative playback time is further sorted in the order of the highest complete playback rate. A song list may be generated.

  The operation unit 7 receives an instruction from the user and transmits it to the system control unit 2, and is an operation button, a remote control, or the like. For example, the operation unit 7 receives an instruction to play music data in the BGM mode, an instruction to select a content list, an instruction to start playback, an instruction to stop playback, and an instruction to skip music data. Is input by.

  The display unit 8 is an LCD (liquid crystal display), an FL tube, or the like, and displays a song list, content information of song data being reproduced, and the like based on an instruction from the system control unit 2. The playback unit 6 plays back the song data read from the HDD 5.

  The operation of the content reproduction apparatus 100 having the above configuration will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing of the system control unit 2 that calculates the complete reproduction rate when the music data is reproduced. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing of the system control unit 2 that generates and continuously plays a song list based on the complete playback rate in the BGM mode.

  First, the process of calculating the complete reproduction rate will be described with reference to FIG. 5 is executed not only when the music data selected by the user operation is reproduced, but also when the music data in the music list automatically generated in the BGM mode is reproduced. As shown in FIG. 5, when the system control unit 2 instructs the reproduction unit 6 to reproduce the song data, the reproduction unit 6 reads the song data from the HDD 5 and starts reproduction (S1). During reproduction of music data, the reproduction time of the music data is measured by a counter (not shown).

  Here, the system control unit 2 monitors whether or not a skip instruction is input by a user operation (S2). Furthermore, the system control unit 2 monitors whether or not the music data currently being played has been played back to the end, or whether or not the music data playback has been stopped in the middle of playback by a user operation (excluding pause) ( S3).

  When a skip instruction is input by a user operation (YES in S2), the system control unit 2 increments the skip count of the song data in the content information DB by 1, updates the skip count (S7), and proceeds to S4. move on. At this time, the system control unit 2 terminates the time counting by the reproduction time counter and determines the reproduction time.

  On the other hand, when the music data currently being played has been played back to the end, or when the playback of the music data is stopped by the user operation (YES in S3), the system control unit 2 displays the playback time counter. The time counting by is terminated, the reproduction time is determined, and the process proceeds to S4.

  In S4, the system control unit 2 adds the current reproduction time of the reproduced music data to the cumulative reproduction time of the corresponding music data in the content information DB, and updates the accumulated reproduction time (S4). For example, when song data has been played to the end, the current playback time is equal to the song length (total playback time), so the song length (total playback time) is added to the current cumulative playback time. The If the music data whose total playback time is 360 seconds has been played back to 180 seconds, which is exactly half, and skipped or stopped halfway, the current cumulative playback time is half the song length. 180 seconds is added.

  Subsequently, the system control unit 2 increments the number of reproductions of the corresponding song data in the content information DB by 1 and updates the number of reproductions (S5). This process can also be executed immediately after the music data is started to be reproduced in S1.

  Finally, the system control unit 2 calculates the complete reproduction rate of the corresponding song data in the content information DB using the accumulated reproduction time and the number of reproductions updated in S4 and S5, and records them in the content information DB (S6). The method for calculating the complete reproduction rate is as described above. After the complete playback rate is calculated in S6, if there is still music data next to the music data that has been played back in the currently played music list, the process returns to S1 and the same process is repeated.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 6, a process of generating a song list based on the complete reproduction rate and continuously reproducing in the BGM mode will be described. The system control unit 2 monitors whether an instruction to start reproduction in the BGM mode is input by a user operation (S11).

  When an instruction to start playback in the BGM mode is input (YES in S11), the system control unit 2 generates a song list based on the complete playback rate and the cumulative playback time (S12). Specifically, the system control unit 2 reads the content information for all the song data in the content information DB into the RAM 3 and, as shown in FIG. 4A, first, in order from the highest complete playback rate (the higher the complete playback rate is, If song data is sorted and then the complete playback rate is the same, then the song data is sorted in the order of longer cumulative playback time (so that the longer cumulative playback time is first) Generate a list.

  Subsequently, the system control unit 2 excludes, from the song list, song data having a complete playback rate less than a first predetermined value (0.5 in this example) from the song list of FIG. 4A as necessary. (S13). Song data with a complete playback rate of less than 0.5 has been skipped or halfway played until the half of the song length (total playback time) is averaged per playback. Since the reproduction is stopped, it is estimated that the music data is not preferred by the user. Therefore, by excluding music data having a complete reproduction rate of less than 0.5 from the music list, it is possible to prevent music data that is not preferred by the user from being reproduced in the BGM mode.

  After the song list is generated, the system control unit 2 controls the playback unit 6 to play the song data in the order of the song list, and the playback unit 6 reads the song data from the HDD 5 in the order of the song list, Continuous reproduction is performed (S14). Through the above processing, the music data can be continuously played in the order of the highest complete playback rate, and the music data can be continuously played in order from the music data presumed to be preferred by the user. As described above, when the song data in the song list of FIG. 4A is played back, the complete playback rate is updated again by the process of FIG. 5, and then a playback instruction in the BGM mode is input by a user operation. This can be reflected when generating the song list at that time.

  Next, a playback method using a complete playback rate according to another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 7, but the same parts as those in FIG. In this example, after the song list is similarly generated based on the complete reproduction rate and the accumulated reproduction time in S12, the system control unit 2 determines that the complete reproduction rate is less than a predetermined value (for example, 0.5), and Music data whose continuous reproduction time is less than a second predetermined value (for example, 600 seconds) is excluded from the music list (S21). For example, in the song list of FIG. 4A, the song data of track number 17 has a very long cumulative playback time of 1200 seconds, but the complete playback rate is 0.33. Excluded. However, in this example, even if the complete playback rate is less than 0.5, music data with a cumulative playback time of 600 seconds or longer is left in the music list. As a result, for example, it is possible to reproduce the song data that is listened very well by favoring only the first half of the song data.

  Next, a reproduction method using a complete reproduction rate according to still another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 6 again. In this example, when the song data in the song list is played back in S14 of FIG. 6, the song length (total playback time) of the song data to be played back is multiplied by the complete playback rate, and the song data is played back. Move to the next song in the list. For example, since the song data of track number 11 in FIG. 4A has a song length of 360 seconds and a complete playback rate of 1, 360 × 1 = 360 seconds (that is, one song) is played back, but track number 20 Since the song length is 60 seconds and the complete reproduction rate is 0.5, only 60 × 0.5 = 30 seconds (that is, half of one song) is reproduced. Thus, the song data that is always played to the end is played back to the end even in the BGM mode, and the song data that is played back only half on average is played back only to half of the song in the BGM mode. It can be made to respond to the user's preference. That is, weighting according to the user's preference can be given to each piece of music data in the form of the playback time as well as the playback order of the songs.

  As mentioned above, although preferable embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to these embodiment. In FIG. 6, the song data is sorted using the complete reproduction rate and the accumulated reproduction time. However, the song data may be sorted using only the complete reproduction rate. In this case, when the complete reproduction rate is the same, they may be arranged in the order of track number, alphabetical order, or Japanese alphabet. Conversely, sorting can be performed including content information such as skip count and playback count. The complete reproduction rate may be expressed as a percentage by further multiplying the above expression by 100, or may be multiplied by another coefficient. The content targeted when generating the song list based on the complete playback rate is not limited to all the content recorded in the HDD 5, but is limited in advance by arbitrary information, for example, limited to the content of the genre set by the user. May be. Further, the song data in the song list generated by deleting the song data having the complete reproduction rate less than the predetermined value may be shuffled (randomly) reproduced by a known method. The predetermined value for excluding music data from the music list is not limited to 0.5 and may be 0.3 or the like. In addition, music data whose skip count is greater than or equal to a predetermined value may be excluded from the music list, and the predetermined value may be a value that varies according to the number of playbacks, for example, 0.7 times the number of playbacks. Further, the value of the complete reproduction rate that is a criterion for exclusion may be changed depending on the number of music data in the music list. The present invention may be provided in the form of a computer program for operating the content reproduction apparatus or a recording medium on which the computer program is recorded.

  The present invention can be suitably applied to a content reproduction apparatus including an HDD.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the content reproduction apparatus 100 by preferable embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of content information. It is a figure which shows a music list. It is a figure which shows a music list. It is a figure which shows a music list. It is a flowchart which shows the process which calculates a perfect reproduction rate. It is a flowchart which shows the reproduction | regeneration processing of the music data using a perfect reproduction rate. It is a flowchart which shows the other reproduction | regeneration processing of the music data using a perfect reproduction rate.

Explanation of symbols

100 content playback device 2 system control unit 3 RAM
4 ROM
5 HDD
6 Playback section 7 Operation section 8 Display section

Claims (2)

A content storage unit for recording a plurality of contents;
Playback means for playing back the content recorded in the content storage unit;
For each content recorded in the content storage unit, a content information storage unit for recording the length of the content, the cumulative playback time, and the number of playbacks;
A number of times update means for updating the number of views when the content is played,
A cumulative playback time update means for adding the playback time to the cumulative playback time and updating when the playback of the content is terminated;
A calculation means for calculating a complete playback rate that is proportional to the cumulative playback time and inversely proportional to the length of the content and the number of playbacks;
Playback control means for causing the playback means to play back the content selected based on the complete playback rate calculated by the calculation means ,
The playback control means is the playback means for a time obtained by multiplying the length of the content by the complete playback rate.
A content playback device for playback. An operation program for a content reproduction apparatus for causing a computer to execute each means in the content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1 .

Images