JP2012113554A - Content reproduction device and content reproduction system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize the continuous reproduction of content on a database whose attribute is in common with the attribute of the content under current reproduction.SOLUTION: A reproduction unit 111 reproduces content. An attribute information acquisition unit 112 acquires attribute information showing any attribute, among attributes classified into a plurality of attributes in advance, being assigned to content to be reproduced by the reproduction unit 111. A content searching unit 115 searches the content relating to the text of the content under reproduction by the reproduction unit 111 from an external database on the basis of the attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit 112. A presentation unit 116 presents the content searched by the content searching unit 115 to a user, and an instruction unit 117 instructs the reproduction unit 111 to reproduce the content presented by the presentation unit 116 continuously with the content under current reproduction. The reproduction unit 111 reproduces the content searched by the content searching unit 115 in accordance with the instruction.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for searching for content.

  There is a technology for searching and providing content that matches user preferences. Patent Document 1 uses related information (keywords) selected by a user among a plurality of pieces of related information of a content as a search word, searches related content related to this content, associates them with each other, and makes them available. Is disclosed.

JP 2010-191940 A

  On the other hand, an object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for continuously playing back content on a database having the same attributes as the currently played back content.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, a content playback apparatus according to the present invention is a playback unit that plays back content and any one of attributes that are classified in advance and is currently played back by the playback unit. An attribute information acquisition unit that acquires attribute information indicating an attribute assigned to content, and an attribute common to the attribute indicated by the attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit, and can be played back by the playback unit Content search means for searching for content from a database; and instruction means for instructing the playback means to play back the content searched by the content search means following the currently played content, The reproduction means starts reproduction when content reproduction is instructed by the instruction means.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the content retrieval unit retrieves a plurality of contents from the database, and sequentially reproduces the contents having the highest matching degree with the attribute of the currently reproduced content.
In another preferable aspect of the present invention, based on the attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit, a plurality of search images associated with an attribute common to the content allocated to the content reproduced by the reproduction unit are obtained. A search image acquisition means acquired from a database, and a display control for sequentially switching a plurality of search images acquired by the search image acquisition means for the content to be displayed on the display means when the content is being reproduced by the reproduction means Means.

  In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the reproduction means reproduces the content recorded on the recording medium on which the content is recorded, and then searches the content based on attribute information indicating an attribute assigned to the content. The content retrieved by the means is reproduced, and the attribute information obtaining means obtains the attribute information specified by the information recorded on the recording medium for the content recorded on the recording medium, and the content search For the content retrieved by the means, the attribute information is acquired from an external database.

  The content playback system of the present invention includes a content playback device and a server device that are communicatively connected, and the content playback device has a playback means for playing back content and any one of the attributes previously classified into a plurality of attributes. The attribute information acquisition unit for acquiring attribute information indicating the attribute assigned to the content currently played back by the playback unit, and the attribute common to the attribute indicated by the attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit And a content search means for searching the database for content that can be played back by the playback means, and the playback means for playing back the content searched for by the content search means following the currently played content. Instruction means for instructing the content to be reproduced, and the reproduction means reproduces the content by the instruction means. The server device has a database for storing the content and attribute information indicating the attribute of the content in association with each other, and the content retrieved by the content retrieval unit is stored in the reproduction unit. Features to provide

  According to the present invention, it is possible to continuously reproduce the content on the database having the same attribute as the currently reproduced content.

The figure which shows schematic structure of a content reproduction system Block diagram showing the configuration of the content playback device Block diagram showing the configuration of the content server The figure explaining the structure of the data stored in search image DB The figure explaining the structure of the data stored in search content DB Functional block diagram showing a functional configuration realized by the control unit of the content reproduction apparatus Figure explaining the contents of a playlist The flowchart which shows the flow of the process in a content reproduction apparatus Functional block diagram showing a functional configuration realized by the control unit of the content reproduction apparatus

[Embodiment]
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a content reproduction system. The content reproduction system includes a content reproduction device 10 and a content server 20. Here, the content reproduction apparatus 10 is an audio player. The content reproduction apparatus 10 is connected to the communication network 90 and communicates with the content server 20. The content server 20 is a server device having a database for storing content and search images to be described later, and provides various data to the content reproduction device 10 via the communication network 90 in response to a request from the content reproduction device 10. Here, the content stored in the content server 20 relates to music.
In the present embodiment, the content reproduction apparatus 10 and the content server 20 are described as one, but a plurality of content reproduction apparatuses 10 and content servers 20 may exist.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the content reproduction apparatus 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the content reproduction apparatus 10 includes a control unit 11, a disk drive 12, a network communication unit 13, an operation unit 14, a display unit 15, and a speaker 16.
The control unit 11 is a control unit including an arithmetic device including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory. The arithmetic device controls the operation of the content reproduction device 10 by executing a program stored in the memory. The disk drive 12 reads various information recorded on a CD (Compact Disk) (hereinafter referred to as “disk”) which is an example of the recording medium of the present invention, and outputs the read information to the control unit 11. The disk drive 12 has a tray as a recording medium storage unit for storing a recording medium, and reads information from a disk stored in the tray. Information recorded on the disc is roughly classified into contents and control information. The content changes along the time axis, and corresponds to music here. Here, the control information is TOC (Table of Contents) bit string information (hereinafter referred to as “TOC information”). The TOC information includes information indicating the number of songs recorded on the disc, the performance time of each song, and the start position of each song.
In the following description, content recorded on a disc may be referred to as “disc content”.

  The network communication unit 13 is an interface for connecting to the communication network 90. The operation unit 14 includes an operation switch that receives a user operation, and outputs an operation signal to the control unit 11 in accordance with the received operation. The operation unit 14 may include a remote controller that can remotely control the content reproduction apparatus 10. The display unit 15 is a display unit having a display area on the front surface of the content reproduction apparatus 10, and is, for example, a liquid crystal display. The display unit 15 displays information such as the title (song title) and performance time of the content being played back as information specified based on the TOC information. The speaker 16 is a stereo speaker including L and R speakers, and is a sound emitting unit that emits sound according to a musical sound signal reproduced by the control unit 11.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the content server 20. As shown in FIG. 3, the content server 20 includes a control unit 21, a network communication unit 22, and a storage unit 23.
The control unit 21 is a control unit including an arithmetic device including a CPU and a memory. The arithmetic device controls the operation of the content server 20 by executing a program stored in the memory. The network communication unit 22 is an interface for connecting to the communication network 90. The storage unit 23 includes, for example, a hard disk device, stores a program for operating the control unit 21, and includes a search content DB (Data Base) 231 and a search image DB 232.

  The search content DB 231 is a database that stores content to be searched by the content reproduction apparatus 10 (hereinafter referred to as “search content”). In the search content DB 231, as shown in FIG. 4, attribute information indicating an attribute assigned to the search content is associated with the search content. The attribute information is information describing various information indicating the attributes of the search content such as the genre of the search content, the name of the singer, and the sales start time of the content. These attributes are any of a plurality of attributes classified in advance, and may be common to a plurality of different contents. The search content DB 231 accumulates a plurality of contents having at least one attribute in common as described above. For example, the search content DB 231 stores a plurality of contents whose genre is lock and a plurality of contents whose genre (field) is jazz. In addition, the search content DB 231 accumulates a plurality of contents (music pieces) having a common singer name, for example, in the form of a music album. In addition to this, the attribute information describes different attributes for each content such as the name of the search content (music name), playback time, and track number.

The search image DB 232 is a database that stores images to be searched by the content reproduction apparatus 10 (hereinafter referred to as “search images”). In the search image DB 232, as shown in FIG. 5, attribute information indicating attributes assigned to the search image is associated with the search image. The search image is assigned an attribute common to the attribute assigned to the content that can be played back by the content playback apparatus 10. The search image is input by the administrator of the content server 20, for example, and a still image such as a landscape or a geometric pattern is used. The attributes indicated by the attribute information used in the search image DB 232 and the search content DB 231 include common attributes. For example, the search image DB 232 stores search images associated with attribute information indicating genres such as rock and jazz as attributes. For example, the search image DB 232 stores a search image having contents suitable for a lock image and a search image having contents suitable for a jazz image in association with attribute information indicating attributes of the search image.
The attribute information as described above specifies a search content having an attribute common to the content being reproduced on the content reproduction device 10 or specifies a search image having an attribute common to the content being reproduced on the content reproduction device 10. Used when. The use of attribute information in the content reproduction system will be described later in detail.
Incidentally, the content reproduction apparatus 10 has operation modes of “normal mode” and “continuous reproduction mode”, and operates in accordance with any of these. When the content playback apparatus 10 operates in the continuous playback mode, the content playback apparatus 10 continuously plays back not only the content specified by the user, but also a plurality of contents spontaneously searched from the content server 20. This continuous reproduction means that a plurality of contents are continuously reproduced one by one. On the other hand, when the content reproduction apparatus 10 operates in the normal mode, the content (for example, only the disc content) designated by the user is reproduced without performing such continuous reproduction.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing a functional configuration realized when the control unit 11 of the content reproduction apparatus 10 operates in the continuous reproduction mode. The control unit 11 executes the program to reproduce the reproduction unit 111, the attribute information acquisition unit 112, the search image acquisition unit 113, the display control unit 114, the content search unit 115, the presentation unit 116, and the instruction unit 117. A function equivalent to is realized.
The playback unit 111 corresponds to playback means of the present invention and plays back content. The reproduction unit 111 reproduces content to generate a musical sound signal, and outputs the generated musical sound signal to the speaker 16. The content reproduced by the reproduction unit 111 is disc content read from a disc set in the disc drive 12 or search content acquired from the content server 20 via the network communication unit 13.

  The attribute information acquisition unit 112 corresponds to the attribute information acquisition unit of the present invention, and indicates an attribute assigned to the content currently reproduced by the reproduction unit 111, which is one of the attributes classified in advance into a plurality of attributes. Get attribute information. As described above, the attribute information here includes information indicating the genre (rock, jazz, etc.) to which the content belongs. When the disc content is played back by the playback unit 111, the attribute information acquisition unit 112 acquires attribute information from an external database by the network communication unit 13 based on the TOC information recorded on the disc. Regarding the acquisition of attribute information in this case, the attribute information acquisition unit 112 may use a known method for acquiring music information such as a music title from the outside using the TOC information. The attribute information acquisition unit 112 acquires attribute information from the search content DB 231 of the content server 20 via the network communication unit 13 when the search content is played back by the playback unit 111.

  The search image acquisition unit 113 is an example of a search image acquisition unit of the present invention, and has attributes common to those assigned to the content played back by the playback unit 111 based on the attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit 112. A plurality of search images associated with is acquired from the content server 20 by the network communication unit 13. Here, the search image acquisition unit 113 acquires, from the search image DB 232 of the content server 20, a plurality of search images having the same genre as the content being played back by the playback unit 111.

The display control unit 114 is an example of the display control unit of the present invention, and when the content is played back by the playback unit 111, a plurality of search images acquired by the search image acquisition unit 113 are sequentially switched to the display unit 15. Display. For example, the display control unit 114 displays the search images having the same attributes as the content one by one while switching the content at regular intervals during the reproduction of the content.
If the attributes of a plurality of contents are common, the display control unit 114 may display the same search image when the playback unit 111 plays back those contents. That is, the search image is not independent for each content, but may be shared by a plurality of contents depending on the content attributes.

The content search unit 115 is an example of a content search unit of the present invention, and is associated with an attribute common to the attribute indicated by the attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit 112 and can be played back by the playback unit 111. Search from the search content DB 231 of the content server 20. Since the attribute information acquisition unit 112 acquires the attribute information of the content currently played back by the playback unit 111, the content search unit 115 searches for content to be played back following this content. For example, the content search unit 115 searches for the search content associated with an attribute having a higher degree of matching with the attribute of the content played back by the playback unit 111, and acquires a plurality of pieces in order from the highest matching level. The degree of coincidence is, for example, a value obtained by dividing the number of attributes that match in both contents by the number of all attributes and expressed as a percentage, but may be a value that serves as an index of the degree of matching of attributes.
The content in a format that can be played back by the playback unit 111 is, for example, content represented by data in a file format that can be played back by the playback unit 111.

  The presentation unit 116 is a presentation unit that presents the search content searched by the content search unit 115 to the user as the content to be reproduced following the currently reproduced content. Here, the presentation unit 116 obtains a playlist based on a plurality of search contents searched by the content search unit 115 and displays the contents on the display unit 15 to present the search result to the user. The reproduction list is a list in which a plurality of contents continuously reproduced by the content reproduction apparatus 10 are listed in the reproduction order. The reproduction list has a data structure shown in FIG. 7, for example. In FIG. 7, the numbers at the beginning of each row, such as “1” and “2”, indicate the playback order, and the subsequent “con1001” and “con1341” are content identifiers for identifying the content to be played back. When the presentation unit 116 displays the content of the playlist, information such as the title of the content and the name of the singer is used.

The instruction unit 117 is an example of an instruction unit according to the present invention, and instructs the reproduction unit 111 to reproduce the search content searched for to be reproduced by the reproduction unit 111 by the content search unit 115. The content search unit 115 searches the search content DB 231 for a plurality of contents. The instructing unit 117 instructs the reproducing unit 111 to sequentially reproduce the content with the highest matching degree with the attribute of the currently reproduced content. When the instruction unit 117 instructs the reproduction unit 111 to reproduce the search content, the reproduction unit 111 starts the reproduction.
This is the end of the description of the configuration of the content reproduction system.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the content reproduction apparatus 10. The flowchart shown in FIG. 8 shows the procedure of processing started when the content playback apparatus 10 is in the continuous playback mode. In other words, prior to the following operation, the content playback apparatus 10 is set to the continuous playback mode in advance by the user.
First, the user of the content reproduction apparatus 10 stores the disc in the tray of the disc drive 12. The control unit 11 of the content reproduction apparatus 10 reads the disc content and TOC information from the disc stored in the tray of the disc drive 12. Then, the control unit 11 reproduces the disc content to generate a musical tone signal, and outputs the generated musical tone signal to the speaker 16, thereby starting the reproduction of the disc content (step S1). And the control part 11 acquires the attribute information which shows the attribute of the disc content under reproduction | regeneration using the TOC information read from the disc (step S2). The control unit 11 displays the performance time and the track number of the content on the display unit 15 based on the acquired TOC information, acquires attribute information determined by the TOC information, and information such as the name and genre of the content being played back Is displayed on the display unit 15.
Here, the control unit 11 reproduces the content recorded on the disc medium stored in the tray of the disc drive 12, but acquires and reproduces the content in the content server 20 as will be described later. There is also.

  Next, based on the attribute information acquired in the process of step S2, the control unit 11 uses the network communication unit 13 to obtain a plurality of search images having attributes common to those assigned to the currently reproduced content. Obtained from the server 20 (step S3). Here, the control unit 11 specifies the genre of the content using the attribute information, and transmits a search image transmission request including the genre information indicating the specified genre to the content server 20 by the network communication unit 13. Based on the transmission request received from the content reproduction device 10 by the network communication unit 22, the control unit 21 of the content server 20 searches the search image DB 232 for a plurality of search images having the same genre as the content being reproduced by the content reproduction device 10. Search for. Here, it is assumed that the control unit 21 searches for a predetermined number of search images, and if more search images than this number are accumulated in the search image DB 232, for example, the search images are randomly selected. Then, the control unit 21 transmits the search image to the content reproduction device 10 through the network communication unit 22. The control unit 11 acquires the search image received by the network communication unit 13.

  Next, when reproducing the disc content, the control unit 11 sequentially switches the plurality of search images acquired in the process of step S3 and displays them on the display unit 15 (step S4). Here, the control unit 11 switches the search image every time a certain period elapses and causes the display unit 15 to display the search image one by one. Thereby, the user can appreciate the search image related to the content of the content while viewing the content emitted from the speaker 16. For example, the control unit 11 sequentially displays search images suitable for the lock image if the genre of the content being played is locked, and searches suitable for the jazz image if the genre of the content being played is jazz. Display images sequentially.

  Next, based on the attribute information acquired in the process of step S2, the control unit 11 associates the search content that is associated with the attribute common to the disc content currently being played back and can be played back by itself with the content server 20. (Step S5). Here, the control unit 11 searches for the search content during the playback of the disc content started in the process of step S1. Specifically, the control unit 11 specifies a genre from the attribute indicated by the attribute information, and transmits a content transmission request including the genre information indicating the specified genre to the content server 20 by the network communication unit 13. Based on the transmission request received from the content reproduction device 10 by the network communication unit 22, the control unit 21 of the content server 20 retrieves content having a higher degree of attribute matching with the content being reproduced by the content reproduction device 10. A plurality of searches are performed from the DB 231. Here, the control unit 21 searches for a predetermined number of contents, and if more contents than this number are stored in the search content DB 231, for example, the contents are randomly selected. Then, the control unit 21 transmits a reproduction list corresponding to the searched content to the content reproduction apparatus 10 through the network communication unit 22. The control unit 11 acquires the list information received by the network communication unit 13, and thus the search in the process of step S5 is completed.

  Next, the control unit 11 obtains a reproduction list and displays the contents on the display unit 15 to present a list of search contents to the user (step S6). And the control part 11 instruct | indicates to reproduce | regenerate search content according to the reproduction | regeneration order prescribed | regulated by the reproduction | regeneration list | wrist (step S7). For example, when the playback of the disc content started in the process of step S1 is completed, the control unit 11 determines the highest content defined in the playback list among the unplayed content (in the example of FIG. 7, the content identifier “con1001 "Content"). For example, information such as a title and a singer name (for example, the content of the search content attribute) may be used so that the user can understand what the search content is during playback of the search content according to the playback instruction. It is good to present. In such a process of step S7, the control unit 21 of the content server 20 transmits the content in, for example, a streaming format, so that the content searched for by the control unit 11 (content search unit) is controlled by the control unit 11 (reproduction). Means). Thereby, the control unit 11 reproduces the search content (in this case, the search content having a relatively high degree of attribute matching) having the same attribute as the content of the disc content being reproduced following the reproduction of the disc content. It becomes.

  Next, the control unit 11 determines whether or not the last content in the reproduction list is being reproduced (step S8). The final content is the search content whose reproduction order specified by the reproduction list is last, and in the example of FIG. 7, is the content with the content identifier “con2134”. If the control unit 11 determines that the final content is not being played back (step S8: NO), the control unit 11 returns to the process of step S7 and issues a playback instruction according to the above procedure. In the process of step S7, when the reproduction of the content with the content identifier “con1001” is completed, the control unit 11 repeats the reproduction instruction according to the reproduction list, such as instructing the reproduction of the content with the content identifier “con1341”.

  When determining that the final content is being reproduced (step S8: YES), the control unit 11 determines whether or not the continuous reproduction mode is set (step S9). If the control unit 11 determines that the continuous playback mode is not set (step S9; NO), the entire process is terminated. For example, when the control unit 11 receives an operation for switching from the continuous playback mode to the normal mode by the user via the operation unit 14 during execution of the processes of steps S1 to S8 and changes the operation mode, the control unit 11 performs steps S1 to S1. After performing the process of S8, it will determine with "NO" by the process of step S9.

On the other hand, if the control part 11 determines with it being continuous reproduction mode (step S9; YES)
The process proceeds to step S10. And the control part 11 acquires the attribute information of the last content (step S10). The control unit 11 acquires attribute information associated with the final content from the search content DB 231 of the content server 20.

  Next, the control unit 11 returns to the process of step S3, and searches for a plurality of search images related to the search content being reproduced based on the attribute information acquired in the process of step S10 (step S3). Here, the control part 11 acquires a search image in the same procedure as the process of said step S3, and repeatedly performs the following process steps S4-S10. However, in the process of step S3, a search image is acquired based on the attribute information of the search content acquired in the process of step S10, and in the process of step S5, based on the attribute information of the search content acquired in the process of step S10. Search for another search content.

  According to the content reproduction apparatus 10 of the embodiment described above, the following two effects are mainly achieved. First, the content reproduction apparatus 10 retrieves and reproduces the search content having the same attribute as the content being reproduced from the content server 20. In this way, starting from the content recorded on the disc stored by the user himself / herself, for example, the content reproduction apparatus 10 spontaneously searches and reproduces the content suitable for the user's preference. As a result, the user can realize continuous playback of the content recommended by the content playback apparatus 10 only by storing a certain disc in the content playback apparatus 10. Second, during the reproduction of the content, the content reproduction apparatus 10 acquires a plurality of search images associated with the common attributes assigned to the content, and sequentially switches and displays these. As a result, the user can view the search image related to the content while viewing the content played back by the content playback apparatus 10. Thereby, even if the content reproduction apparatus 10 is in the middle of continuous reproduction of the content, the content reproduction apparatus 10 can switch the search image having an attribute common to the attribute of each content to be displayed on the display unit 15 for each content. Can do.

[Modification]
The present invention can be implemented in a form different from the above-described embodiment. Further, the following modifications may be combined as appropriate.
(Modification 1)
In the above-described embodiment, the content reproduction apparatus 10 acquires the search content and the search image based on the genre as the content attributes. However, even if the search image and the search content are acquired using the following attributes, Good. For example, the content playback apparatus 10 may acquire other content and search images in which the currently played content (or the disc on which the content is recorded) has become popular at the start of sales, or a certain singer Only the content may be searched and reproduced continuously. Further, the content reproduction apparatus 10 may display different search images for each singer as attributes, such as so-called album art and portrait photographs. As described above, the content playback apparatus 10 acquires a search image or search content based on any of the attributes classified in advance and assigned to the content played back by the playback unit 111. These attributes may be selected as appropriate. Further, as long as the content reproduction device 10 is configured to acquire and display the search image so that the attributes of the content being reproduced and the search image are common to each other, any attribute may be focused on in the present invention. .

(Modification 2)
In the above-described embodiment, the content reproduction apparatus 10 sequentially switches and displays a plurality of search images every time a certain period of time elapses. However, the content reproduction apparatus 10 may perform switching in conjunction with content details. That is, in the present invention, the relationship between the playback position of the content on the time axis and the time when display of the search image is started may be uniquely determined.
For example, there are cases where the user wants to know the musical instrument to be played, such as jazz. Therefore, the content reproduction apparatus 10 may display a search image (for example, an image imitating a musical instrument) with a content that allows the user to grasp the musical instrument during reproduction of the content.
In this case, in the content server 20, the search image DB 232 is a search image (for example, an image imitating a musical instrument) that can grasp the time on the time axis representing the reproduction time of the content and the musical instrument that starts playing from that time. Are stored in association with each other. When providing the search image to the content reproduction apparatus 10, the content server 20 transmits a data set of the search image and the time associated with the search image to the content reproduction apparatus 10. When the time associated with the search image acquired by the search image acquisition unit 113 arrives, the display control unit 114 selects and displays the search image associated with the time based on the received information. Display on the unit 15.

(Modification 3)
In the embodiment described above, the content server 20 has both the search content DB 231 and the search image DB 232. However, even if the content server 20 has one of these databases and the other device has the other database. Good. Even with this configuration, the same effects as those of the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

(Modification 4)
In the above-described embodiment, the content playback apparatus 10 acquires search content having an attribute common to the attribute of the content being played back, but may have the following configuration.
The content playback device 10 has a function as a radio tuner (including so-called Internet radio), and automatically tunes to a channel that plays back content (search content) that is common to the attributes of the content being played back. May be preset. If so-called RDS (Radio Data System) is used, the content reproduction apparatus 10 can specify the genre of the content currently being reproduced in each channel. By using this, the content playback apparatus 10 tunes based on the commonality of attributes between the content being played back and the content being played back in each channel, and acquires search content.

(Modification 5)
The content reproduction apparatus 10 may automatically perform operation settings related to the operation of the own apparatus based on attribute information indicating the attribute of the content being reproduced. For example, the content reproduction apparatus 10 automatically sets the sound field mode of the own apparatus based on the attribute (for example, genre) of the content, and generates a tone signal corresponding to the automatically set sound field mode when reproducing the content. Also good. At this time, the content reproduction apparatus 10 sets the sound field mode so that the sound field mode is suitable for the genre specified based on the acquired attribute information, for example.

(Modification 6)
Although the content of the embodiment described above relates to music, the content of the content of the present invention is not limited to a specific content. For example, the content of the present invention may represent video or may include both audio and video. In this case, the content reproduction apparatus 10 includes a process of reproducing the content by generating a video signal from the content acquired from the content server 20 and outputting the video signal to an external display device. In short, the content of the present invention may be anything that changes along the time axis.
FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram showing a functional configuration realized by the control unit 11 of the content reproduction apparatus 10 according to this modification. Here, the same functions as those in the embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals to represent the respective functions, and the description thereof is omitted. Here, the audio reproduction unit 111a of the reproduction unit 111 generates an audio signal during content reproduction, and outputs the generated audio signal to the speaker 16. The video playback unit 111b of the playback unit 111 generates a video signal indicating a video during playback of the content, and outputs the video signal to an external display device 30 (for example, a liquid crystal television) to display the video. That is, here, the video reproduction unit 111b displays the video included in the reproduced content on the display device 30, and the display control unit 114 displays the video on the display unit 15 searched by the search image acquisition unit 113. At this time, the display control unit 114 may display the search image on an external display device that is wirelessly / wired-connected, such as an external wireless communication terminal.
In addition, the content server 20 is not limited to the configuration in which the content is transmitted in the streaming format, but may be a format in which the content reproduction device 10 reproduces data while downloading it, such as progressive download. In short, any configuration may be used as long as the content reproducing apparatus 10 acquires the content and reproduces the already acquired content.

(Modification 7)
The content reproduction apparatus of the present invention may be other than an audio player, and may be a content reproduction apparatus such as a personal computer, a speaker, a stereo, and a television. In addition, the content reproduction apparatus may have a database corresponding to the search image DB 232 and acquire the search image from the database in the own apparatus. In addition, the search image stored in the search image DB 232 may be input by the administrator who manages the content server 20 or may be input by the user of the content reproduction apparatus 10.

The content playback apparatus of the present invention may be configured not to search for a search image related to the content of content played on a disc. In this case, the control unit 11 does not have to realize functions corresponding to the search image acquisition unit 113 and the display control unit 114. The control unit 11 does not realize the function corresponding to the presentation unit 116, continuously plays the search content searched by the content search unit 115, and uses the last playback as the final content, and performs the processing as in the above-described embodiment. You may go.
In addition, the content search unit 115 may search for only one content having the highest attribute matching degree, or may search for any one content whose matching degree is equal to or greater than a threshold value. Further, the instruction unit 117 causes the user to specify any one of the plurality of search contents via the operation unit 14 based on the contents of the playlist presented by the presentation unit 116, and the process of step S7 Then, it may be instructed to reproduce only the designated search content. In this case, the designated search content corresponds to the final content.

  The recording medium of the present invention may be a disk medium such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) in addition to a CD, or may be a recording medium such as an SD card or a flash memory. In short, the format of the recording medium of the present invention is not particularly limited as long as the content is recorded. Further, the attribute information acquisition unit 112 acquires attribute information for disc content based on information recorded on a recording medium for recording the disc content. The information recorded on the recording medium may be attribute information itself or content in addition to the TOC information described above. For example, the content reproduction apparatus of the present invention may use so-called CD-TEXT, in which attribute information is written on the CD itself, and the attribute information acquisition unit 112 reads it when reproducing the content. Further, the content reproduction apparatus of the present invention may analyze the content and acquire attribute information indicating attributes such as a genre to which the content content belongs based on the analysis result.

(Modification 8)
The program executed by the control unit 11 of the content reproduction apparatus 10 in the above-described embodiment includes a magnetic recording medium (magnetic tape, magnetic disk (HDD, FD), etc.), an optical recording medium (optical disk (CD, DVD), etc.), It may be provided in a state where it is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a magneto-optical recording medium or a semiconductor memory. It is also possible to download via a network such as the Internet. Moreover, the function implement | achieved by the control part 11 may be implement | achieved by 1 or several software, and may be implement | achieved by 1 or several hardware.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Content reproduction apparatus, 11 ... Control part, 111 ... Reproduction part, 111a ... Audio | voice reproduction part, 111b ... Video reproduction part, 112 ... Attribute information acquisition part, 113 ... Search image acquisition part, 114 ... Display control part, 115 ... Content search unit 116 ... presentation unit 117 ... instruction unit 12 ... disk drive 13 ... network communication unit 14 ... operation unit 15 ... display unit 16 ... speaker 20 ... content server 21 ... control unit 22 ... Network communication unit, 23 ... Storage unit, 231 ... Search content DB, 232 ... Search image DB, 30 ... Display device, 90 ... Communication network

Claims (5)

Playback means for playing back content;
Attribute information acquisition means for acquiring attribute information indicating any attribute of the attributes classified in advance and assigned to the content currently being played by the playback means;
A content search unit that searches a database for content that is associated with an attribute common to the attribute indicated by the attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit and that can be played back by the playback unit;
An instruction means for instructing the reproduction means to reproduce the content searched by the content search means following the currently reproduced content;
The content reproduction apparatus, wherein when the instruction unit instructs the reproduction of the content, the reproduction unit starts the reproduction. The content search means searches the database for a plurality of contents,
The content reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructing unit instructs the reproducing unit to sequentially reproduce the content having the highest matching degree with the attribute of the currently reproduced content. Search image acquisition means for acquiring, from a database, a plurality of search images associated with attributes common to those assigned to the content played back by the playback means based on the attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition means When,
And a display control means for sequentially switching a plurality of search images acquired by the search image acquisition means for the content to be displayed on the display means when the content is being played back by the playback means. 3. The content reproduction apparatus according to 1 or 2. The reproduction unit reproduces the content recorded on the recording medium on which the content is recorded, and then reproduces the content searched by the content search unit based on attribute information indicating an attribute assigned to the content. ,
The attribute information acquisition means acquires the attribute information specified by the information recorded on the recording medium for the content recorded on the recording medium, and externally extracts the content searched for by the content search means. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the attribute information is acquired from the database. A content playback device and a server device connected in communication,
The content playback device
Playback means for playing back content;
Attribute information acquisition means for acquiring attribute information indicating any attribute of the attributes classified in advance and assigned to the content currently being played by the playback means;
A content search unit that searches a database for content that is associated with an attribute common to the attribute indicated by the attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit and that can be played back by the playback unit;
An instruction means for instructing the reproduction means to reproduce the content searched by the content search means following the currently reproduced content;
The reproduction means starts reproduction when the instruction means instructs to reproduce the content,
The server device
A database for storing content and attribute information indicating attributes of the content in association with each other;
A content reproduction system, wherein the content retrieved by the content retrieval unit is provided to the reproduction unit.

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