JP2003255958A - Music use state and music information providing method and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily provide music information matching individual's preferences for individuals and to provide music most suitable to individuals. <P>SOLUTION: In a music database 131, the artist names, names, genres, etc., of songs stored in a storage part 123 of a user-side device 120 are recorded. Information including how many times a user reproduced respective songs recorded in the recording part 123 is generated as a use history table 132 by reference to the music database 131. The use history table 132 is transmitted to a trader's side device 130 through the Internet. The trader's side device 130 sends new release information on an artist or genre recorded in the use history table 132 to the user through the Internet. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for providing music information to a plurality of users using a communication network, and more particularly to a method for providing optimum music information to each user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Songs such as popular songs of classical, jazz, rock, western and Japanese music are sold as optical disks such as CDs and DVDs, or distributed as content data via a communication network such as the Internet. .

[0003] A user determines a music piece such as a new musical score that suits his / her taste by an advertisement such as a magazine or a television program, a music program or a magazine specialized in music, and purchases a CD or the like containing the music piece or via the Internet. I record the distributed music on my computer or other recording device.

[0004]

Generally, in advertisements such as magazines and televisions or music programs, little information is available, and it is not possible to provide information that suits the taste of each person. Also, when judging music by a music specialized magazine, it is necessary to purchase a music specialized magazine and examine the contents described therein.

That is, in the past, a business selling CDs or the like could not easily provide each person with music information that suits their taste.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to easily provide each person with music information that suits their taste, and to provide a music piece most suitable for each person.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an embodiment of the present invention provides a system for providing music information including optimum new music information to a user based on the music usage status of the user. A method of providing a music usage status from a user-side device to a business operator of the system, the method comprising: creating a music database of music stored in a storage unit of the user-side device; and music stored in the storage unit. And a step of creating a music use history table indicating information including the number of times of reproduction of the above, by referring to the music database, and transmitting the music use history table to the business operator via a communication network.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the music providing system of the present invention. In this system, a device 100 on the business side and a device 120 on the user side, which is configured by a personal computer or the like, are connected via a communication network 110 such as the Internet. User-side device 12
0 is a configurable recording / playback device (PD: portable devic
e) 130 can be connected. Businesses sell music packages (CDs) or music content data.

The vendor device 100 includes a control unit 101, a data storage unit (HDD) 102, a CRT 103, a network processing unit 106, and a UI processing unit 107.

The data storage unit 102 guides the sale or distribution of the music content to be provided to a large number of users having various tastes, a database recording data such as artists and genres related to the music content, and the music content. Stores homepage data for doing.

The UI processing unit 107 allows the operator to input characters or Y in response to the contents presented on the CRT 103 of the display unit.
Includes a keyboard for entering es / No, etc.,
It interfaces the operator with the device 100.
The network processing unit 106 performs a connection process to the communication network 110 and a data transmission protocol control.

The control unit 101 is a controller composed of a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM for comprehensively controlling the apparatus 100 on the business operator side. The control unit 101 includes a new music information creation unit 105, and based on the music usage history (described later) of the user received by the new music information creation unit 105 from the user-side device 120 via the communication network 110, the user's preference. Create music information including new music information suitable for. This music information is transmitted to the device 120 on the user side via the communication network 110. The new musical score information creating unit 105 is a program loaded from the data storage unit 102 into the RAM when the device is initialized after power-on.

The device 120 on the user side includes a control unit 121, a network processing unit 122, and a data storage unit (HDD) 12.
3, an LCD 124, a CD drive 125, a PD (portable device) interface 126, and a UI processing unit 127.

The data storage unit 123 is a CD drive 12
5 stores the content data of the music reproduced by No. 5 and the music received via the communication network 117.
The network processing unit 122 performs connection processing to the communication network 110 and control of a data transmission protocol. UI
The processing unit 127 includes a keyboard for the operator to input characters or Yes / No with respect to the content presented on the LCD 124 of the display unit, and performs an interface between the operator and the device 120. The PD interface 126 controls the connection process to the portable device 130 and the data transmission protocol. In the present application, a case where a CD drive is used as the disc drive will be described, but another disc drive such as a DVD or MD may be used.

The control unit 121 is a controller including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM for comprehensively controlling the user-side device 120. The control unit 121 includes a history table creation unit 128 and a song database creation unit 129. The history table creation unit 128 creates a usage history table and the song database creation unit 117 creates a song database. The song database will be described later,
This is a database in which the song titles, artist names, etc. of the songs recorded by the user in the data storage device 123 are recorded. The usage history table is stored in
5 is a table showing the user's music usage status, such as the number of times music has been played back using the data storage unit 123 or the data storage unit 123. still,
History table creation unit 128 and song database creation unit 1
Reference numeral 29 is a program loaded from the data storage unit 123 into the RAM at the time of initialization after power-on of the device.

The PD 130 includes a control unit 131, an interface 132, a memory card (or removable recording medium such as MD) 134, and an audio reproducing unit 133. Control unit 1
Reference numeral 31 controls a process of recording the music content received via the interface 132 in the memory card 134, a process of reading the content from the memory card 134, and a process of reproducing the content by using the audio reproducing unit 133.

Next, the operation of the system according to the present invention will be described in detail. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall data flow in the system of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation according to an embodiment of the user side device 120.

When the user gives an instruction to copy the CD 140 via the UI processing unit 127 (Y in step ST1 of FIG. 3).
In the case of ES), the control unit 121 uses the audio management tool to record the music content recorded on the CD 140 and information about the music content in the song database 131 in the data storage unit 123 (ST2). This content is, for example, music content compressed in MP3 (MPEG1 Layer 3) format. Song database 1
As shown in FIG. 2, 31 is composed of information such as a music object (content data) of each recorded music, an artist name, a music title, a genre or a music ID. If the information is recorded on the CD 140, its value is used, and if not recorded, it can be loaded from the device 100 on the business operator side via the communication network 110.

When a new song object is recorded in the song database 131, the control section 121 records a song ID for identifying the recorded song in the song ID column of the usage history table 132 (ST3). Usage history table 132
2, as shown in FIG. 2, the song ID, the number of playbacks, C / O, C /
Includes item I. The song ID is the song database 131 or C
If it is recorded in D140, that value is used, and if not recorded, the data of the first few seconds of the song object may be used. C / O (check out) is the user-side device 12
0 indicates the number of times the music object has been transferred to the PD 130, and C / I (check in) indicates the number of times the music object has been transferred from the PD 130 to the user-side device 120.

When the user instructs the reproduction of the music recorded in the data storage unit 123 via the UI processing unit 127, the control unit 121 reads out the music object recorded in the data storage unit 123 and uses the voice reproduction unit 119. To play. When the music object recorded in the data storage unit 123 is reproduced in this way (YES in ST4), the control unit 121 adds 1 to the number of times of reproduction corresponding to the reproduced music in the usage history table 132. Accordingly, the usage history table 132 is updated (ST5).

When the user plays the CD 140, the UI processing unit 1
When the instruction is given via 27, the control unit 121 reads the music object recorded on the CD 140 by using the CD drive 125, and reproduces it by the sound reproducing unit 119. When the CD 140 is reproduced in this way (YES in ST6), the control unit 121 controls the song ID of the usage history table 132.
The music ID of the reproduced music is recorded in the column, and the usage history table is updated by adding 1 to the number of times of reproduction (ST8).

In general, when reproducing a CD, the information of the CD instructed to be reproduced does not exist in the music database 131. In such a case, as described above, the song ID uses the value if it is recorded on the CD, otherwise uses the data for the first few seconds of the song object, or Communication network 11 based on ID
You may load from 0 from the business entity side apparatus 100.

When the user instructs, via the UI processing unit 127, the transfer of the music object recorded in the data storage unit 123 to the portable device 130, the control unit 121
Reads out the music object recorded in the data storage unit 123 and transfers it to the portable device 139 via the PD interface 126. The control unit 131 of the portable device 130 records the music object received via the interface 132 in the memory card 134.

In this way, when the music object is transferred from the data storage unit 123 to the portable device 130 or from the portable device 130 to the data storage unit 123 (YES in ST8), the control unit 121 corresponds to the transferred music object. Update the usage history table by adding 1 to the C / O or C / I column (S
T9).

The control section 121 controls the steps ST3, ST5,
After the usage history table 132 is updated as in ST7 and ST9, the contents of the usage history table 132 are transmitted to the business operator side after a predetermined time or at regular intervals (ST10).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the operation of the business unit apparatus 100.

When the usage history table 132 is received from the receiving side device 120 via the communication network 110 (in the case of YES in step ST21), the control unit 1 on the business side.
05 is based on the received usage history table 132,
The music information including the new music most suitable for the musical taste of the user is searched from the data storage unit 102, and the music information is transmitted to the user (ST22).

For example, the control unit 105 stores the new music of the same artist or group as the artist or group corresponding to the music ID recorded in the usage history table 132, or the new music belonging to the genre corresponding to the music ID. Search from and send to users. At this time, the control unit 105 provides such music information to the user as, for example, an electronic mail or a home page on the Internet.

This music information is received by the user-side device 120 via the communication network 110. The received music information is displayed as the music information providing screen 133 of FIG. On the music information providing screen 133, song titles, artist names, titles such as CDs, genres, etc. are displayed. Based on the music information provision screen 133, the user decides a favorite CD or music and purchases it as a package (disk) or data.

The business operator pays a certain amount of money to the tool provider for each of these transactions. Here, the tool means a program having processing steps as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, that is, application software. or,
A system in which the business operator pays the fee to the tool provider based on the number of persons registered on the business entity side as members of such a system instead of the transaction unit may be used.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of the data flow in the system according to the present invention.

In this example, users having similar tastes are extracted based on the usage history tables 132 and 134 of a plurality of users such as user A and user B. In FIG. 5, the music object of the user A and the music ID of the user B are common, and it can be determined that the preferences of the user A and the user B are similar. If the preferences of user A and user B are similar,
If there is a song that user A likes to listen to and user B does not listen to (song whose song ID is C in FIG. 5),
By introducing the artist to the user B, the purchase range of the user B can be expanded.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another configuration example of the system according to the present invention.

In this system, the enterprise side device 140 provides the above-mentioned tool according to the present invention to the user side device 120 via the communication network 110 in response to a user's request. As described above, the user-side device 120 creates the song database 131 by the song database creation unit 129, and creates the user usage history table 132 by the usage history table creation unit 128.

The usage history table 132 is transmitted to the company-side device 140 via the communication network 110. The business entity apparatus 140 transmits a plurality of usage history tables 132 provided by a plurality of users to a sales company such as a CD.

The sales company side device 150 transmits music information such as new music information, which is most suitable for each user, to each user via the communication network 110 based on each transmitted usage history table 132. The user side device 120 sends the CD purchase information based on the transmitted music information to the sales company side device 1.
Send to 50.

In this system, a business operator who provides a sales company with usage history tables from a plurality of users can charge a fee to the CD sales company in accordance with, for example, the number of provided usage history tables. Also, the sales company side device 15
0 does not need to receive the usage history table from each user. The device 150 on the sales company side can collectively receive a large number of usage history tables from the device 140 on the company side, for example, using a high-speed data line. Therefore, the management of the usage management table becomes easy.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, the system operator can easily provide each person with music information that suits their taste, and can provide the most suitable music piece to each person.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a music providing system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall data flow in the system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation according to an embodiment of a user-side device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the operation of the business entity side device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of the flow of data in the system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another configuration example of the system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Business unit side device, 105 ... New music information creating unit, 11
0 ... Communication network, 120 ... User side device, 128
... History table creation unit, 129 ... Song database creation unit, 130 ... Portable device, 131 ... Usage history table, 132,134 ... Song database 133, ...
Homepage screen for purchasing CDs.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G11B 27/00 G11B 27/00 D // G10K 15/04 302 G10K 15/04 302D

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method of providing the music usage status from a user-side device to a business operator of the system in a system for providing music information including optimum new music information to the user based on the music usage status of the user. Refer to the song database for creating a song database of songs stored in the storage unit of the user-side device, and a song usage history table indicating information including the number of times of playing the song stored in the storage unit. And a step of transmitting the music use history table to the business operator via a communication network. 2. The music usage status providing method according to claim 1, wherein the music usage history table includes the number of times music is transferred between the portable device connected to the user-side device and the storage unit. 3. A method for providing the music information from a device on the business side of the system to a device on the user side in a system for providing music information including new music information most suitable for the user based on the music usage status of the user. And a step of receiving a music usage history table indicating information including the number of times the user has played music from the user side device, and including new music information optimal for the user based on the received music usage history table. Selecting music information from a database and transmitting the music information to the user-side device. 4. A step of determining users having similar tastes based on the music use history from a plurality of users,
Based on the music usage history of users with similar tastes,
4. The music information providing method according to claim 3, further comprising: selecting the music information from a database for a specific user among the users having similar tastes. 5. A program for providing the music usage status from a user-side device to a business operator of the system in a system for providing music information including optimum new music information to the user based on the music usage status of the user. Is a recording medium in which the program is recorded, and the program indicates information including a step of creating a music database of the music stored in the storage unit of the user side device, and information including the number of times of reproduction of the music stored in the storage unit. Providing a music usage history table, and creating a music usage history table with reference to the music database; and sending the music usage history table to the business operator via a communication network. Recording medium.