CN100583284C - Reproduction device, related information notification method, and related information notification program - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a reproduction apparatus, a related information notification method, and a related information notification program. The reproduction apparatus includes a reproduction section, a notification section, and a notification control section. The reproduction section reproduces the content data. The notification section notifies the user that there is content data related to the content data reproduced by the reproduction section. The notification control section determines whether or not content data related to the content data reproduced by the reproduction section has been retrieved, and controls the notification section to notify the user of the presence of the related content data when the related content data has been retrieved.

Description

Reproducing device, related information notifying method, and related information notifying program

Cross References to Related Applications

The present invention contains subject matter related to Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-311507 filed on October 26, 2005 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-237496 filed on September 1, 2006, the entire contents of which are hereby cited as refer to.

technical field

The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus, a related information notifying method, and a related information notifying program for notifying a user that there is content related to the content being played back.

Background technique

In recent years, many portable reproducing apparatuses using small hard disk drives as recording media have been commercially produced (hereinafter, these apparatuses will be referred to as portable devices (PD)). The recording capacity of small hard disk drives ranges from several gigabytes (GB) to about tens of GB, which enables recording of many tracks, such as hundreds to thousands of tracks. Thus, PD is greatly popularized. Since the casing of the PD is small and light, it is possible to record contents composed of audio data such as music as tracks on the PD recording medium. The user can use the PD outdoors and enjoy listening to music reproduced from the recording medium.

Content reproduced by such a PD is transferred from a communication device, such as a personal computer, connected through a predetermined communication interface, and recorded on a recording medium of the PD. On the other hand, the personal computer side separates content from a commercial music compact disc (CD), and records the content in a hard disk drive (HDD). The personal computer side may instead download content from a server on the Internet and record the content in the HDD. The content recorded in the HDD of the personal computer is transferred to the PD and recorded on the recording medium of the PD.

When a large number of tracks are recorded on a recording medium and used, it is necessary for the interface to select and designate the tracks recorded on the recording medium in order to quickly select a desired track. Such an interface specifies up and down directions or up, down, left and right directions, for example using a rotary wheel or a multi-directional key, to move a cursor on a list of tracks displayed on the display part to select a desired track. When the playback key is pressed, the track at the cursor position is played back.

On the other hand, PD is often used when the user is moving (eg, walking). In this way, it may not be easy for the user to select his or her intended track based on the text information. In this case, the user will select his desired track by successively reproducing the tracks recorded on the recording medium. This operation is very troublesome. To solve this problem, there is disclosed, for example, as Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-50816, a technique of sequentially reproducing highlighted portions of each track of an anthology. According to the method of this related art reference, since the user can automatically check the content of each track of the collection, he or she can easily select his or her desired music without using his or her hands.

Contents of the invention

When the PD is reproducing specific content, the user may want to cause the PD to reproduce other content related to the specific content. The user may also want to instead have the PD continuously reproduce his or her favorite content regardless of the particular collection and artist.

In the related art reference, a user causes the PD to display a content retrieval list screen, for example, an artist list, an album list, and a track list, on a PD display part. The user manually retrieves his desired content on the list screen by rotating the wheel or the multi-directional key, and makes the PD reproduce the desired content. Thus, it is very troublesome.

Even if the method of the related art reference is used, each track is automatically reproduced in succession only for the selection. In other words, the user's favorite content is not automatically reproduced.

In view of the above, it is desirable to provide a reproducing apparatus, a related information notifying method, and a related information notifying program capable of easily retrieving content related to the content being reproduced and reproducing the retrieved content.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a reproduction apparatus including reproduction means, notification means, and notification control means. The reproducing means reproduces content data. The notifying means notifies the user of the presence of content data related to the content data reproduced by the reproducing means. The notification control section determines whether content data related to the content data reproduced by the reproduction section has been retrieved, and controls the notification section to notify the user of the existence of the related content data when the related content data has been retrieved.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a related information notification method is provided. Content data is reproduced. It is determined whether there is content data related to the reproduced content data. When it has been determined that the relevant content data exists, the user is notified of the presence of the relevant content data.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a related information notification program for causing a computer to execute a related information notification method. Content data is reproduced. It is determined whether there is content data related to the reproduced content data. When it has been determined that the relevant content data exists, the user is notified of the existence of the content data.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is determined whether related content data related to content data being reproduced has been recorded in the recording means that cumulatively records content data. When it is determined that the relevant content data has been recorded, the user is notified that the relevant content data has been recorded. Thus, the user can know that there is related content data related to the content data being reproduced without performing a retrieval operation for the content data.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the ensuing detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings below.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example using a reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2A and 2B represent a front view and a side view, respectively, showing an example of a portable reproduction device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a block diagram showing a structural example of a reproducing apparatus;

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing an architecture applicable to a rendering device;

The schematic diagram of Figure 5 shows an example of the structure of the attribute information table;

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the structure of artist link information;

The flowchart of FIG. 7 shows an example of processing for automatically starting preview reproduction;

8A, FIG. 8B, FIG. 8C and FIG. 8D are schematic diagrams showing examples of representations displayed on the display part according to the flowchart;

9A and 9B are schematic diagrams describing the process of switching from preview reproduction to normal reproduction;

The flowchart of FIG. 10 shows an example of processing performed in the artist link mode;

Figures 11A, 11B and 11C are schematic diagrams showing examples of representation transitions in the processing of artist link mode;

Figure 12A, Figure 12B, Figure 12C and Figure 12D are schematic diagrams showing examples of representation transitions in the processing of artist link mode;

The flowchart of FIG. 13 shows the process of starting the artist link mode when specific content data is being reproduced;

Figure 14 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a normal reproduction screen;

Figure 15 is a schematic diagram showing an example search in progress screen;

Figure 16 is a schematic diagram showing an example screen prompting the user whether to lower the relevant level;

Figure 17 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a screen prompting the user to return to a screen displaying content currently being reproduced;

Fig. 18 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an associated artist information display screen;

Figures 19A and 19B are schematic diagrams showing examples of related artist information display screens;

20 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of the related information notifying method according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

21 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of the related information notifying method according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 22 is a schematic diagram describing the subscription service;

23 is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of the related information notifying method according to the modification of the second embodiment of the present invention;

The flowchart of FIG. 24 shows an example of processing after the user has been notified of relevant content;

25 is a block diagram showing a structural example of a reproducing apparatus using a rewritable ROM as a recording medium;

26 is a block diagram showing a structural example of a reproducing apparatus using a wireless communication interface for controlling wireless communication;

FIG. 27 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example using a reproducing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention; and

The flowchart of FIG. 28 shows an example of processing for turning on a discovery button when related content data exists in another terminal unit.

Detailed ways

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order.

1. The system applicable to the embodiment of the present invention

1-1. System configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention

1-2. Structure of playback device

1-3. Outline operation of preview playback

1-4. Outline operation of artist link mode

2. More specific operation and GUI in artist link mode

3. Related information notification method according to the first embodiment of the present invention

4. Related information notification method according to the second embodiment of the present invention

4-1. Example of applying the second embodiment to subscription service

5. Modified example of the second embodiment of the present invention

6. Operation after notification of related content common to the second embodiment and its modifications

7. Example of retrieving related content based on attributes other than artist

8. Modifications different from the first embodiment, the second embodiment, and the modification of the second embodiment

9. The related information notification method according to the third embodiment of the present invention

1. The system applicable to the embodiment of the present invention

1-1. System configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example using a reproduction apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The reproduction apparatus 1 is a portable device (PD) having a small and lightweight casing. The playback device 1 has a hard disk drive as a recording medium. The reproduction device 1 reproduces content from a recording medium. The playback device 1 has an interface capable of communicating with a personal computer 2 (hereinafter abbreviated as PC 2). Examples of the interface include a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface and an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1394 (IEEE1394) interface. In this example, the playback device 1 and the PC 2 are connected via a USB cable as a communication interface.

In the following description, it is assumed that the content data recorded on the recording medium of the reproduction apparatus 1 is music data, that is, audio data. A unit of music data is also called a track.

The music server 4 provides services such as a content data download service via the Internet 3 . The music server 4 manages content data by associating it with attribute information such as artist, collection, and genre of music. Preferably, the attribute information related to the content information is the melody and rhythm of music. Furthermore, the music server 4 manages rank information using the number of times downloaded content data and correlation information between artists (this information is called artist link information). The music server 4 provides services via the Internet 3 using these information. For example, these rating information, artist link information, and the like are added to the above-mentioned attribute information provided to the user. Release dates of anthology and content data may be added to attribute information.

The user, for example, connects the PC 2 to the Internet 3, and downloads content data from the music server 4 on the Internet 3 to the PC 2. The downloaded content data is stored in the hard disk drive of the PC 2, for example. Furthermore, the user connects the reproducing apparatus 1 and the PC 2 using a USB cable to transfer the content data recorded in the hard disk drive of the PC 2 to the reproducing apparatus 1. The playback device 1 records the transferred content data to an internal recording medium. When the user disconnects the reproducing device from the PC 2, he or she can use the reproducing device 1 outdoors to reproduce content data from the recording medium of the reproducing device 1.

When the user downloads content data from the music server 4, if he or she also obtains rating information as attribute information, he or she can easily retrieve currently popular content. If the user also obtains artist link information as attribute information, he or she can easily know the artists related to the artist of the selected content and easily retrieve the content of the related artist. If the reproduction apparatus 1 stores a history of reproduction content data, he or she can easily retrieve his or her favorite content.

1-2. Structure of playback device

FIG. 2 shows an example of the appearance of the portable reproducing apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. 2A and 2B show a front view and a side view, respectively. As shown in FIG. 2A , the reproduction apparatus 1 has a display section 10 and an operation section 20 on the front surface. The display section 10 uses, for example, an organic electroluminescent device (EL) as a display device that displays information for a user. The operation unit 20 has a plurality of keys for accepting user's operations. The display section 10 is capable of performing display control for displaying text, simple characters, icons, and the like so as to achieve an accuracy of, for example, one dot.

On the upper surface of the reproduction apparatus 1, a hold switch 16 and a connector part 17 are provided. The hold switch 16 selects an enabled state or a disabled state of the operation part 20 . The connector section 17 is provided with a connector for exchanging digital data with an external device (for example, the PC 2), and an earphone terminal for outputting an analog audio signal reproduced by the reproduction apparatus 1.

As shown in FIG. 2B, a discovery button 14 is provided on one side surface of the reproducing apparatus 1 in such a manner that the discovery button 14 can be pressed from there. When the user holds the reproduction apparatus 1 with his or her left hand, and is in a situation where he or she can see the display section 10, he or she can press the discovery button 14 with his or her left thumb. Almost the vast majority of the discovery button 14 is made up of the light emitting part 15 . The light emitting unit 15 includes, for example, a light emitting diode (LED). Via the light-emitting part 15, the light-emitting device can be seen from the outside to emit light.

As shown in FIG. 2A , the discovery button 14 is provided so that the user can see the light emitting part 15 when he or she faces the front surface of the reproduction apparatus 1 .

Next, keys provided on the operation part 20 will be described. For example, when each key is pressed, a control signal corresponding to the key is output. In addition, different functions can be assigned to each key depending on the length of time it is pressed. In other words, depending on whether the key is pressed for a period equal to or greater than a predetermined value (this state is called a long-pressed state) or less than a predetermined value (this state is called a short-time pressed state), for each The keys are assigned different functions. When each key is pressed briefly, the assigned function is performed after the key is pressed and released within a predetermined period of time. On the other hand, when the key is pressed for a long time, after a predetermined period of time or more is pressed, the assigned function is executed. If a key is assigned only a short press state, when the key is pressed, the assigned function is performed. If a key is pressed for a predetermined time or longer, the state can be defined as if the key is pressed repeatedly (this state is called a key repeat state).

Key 11 is a key for selecting optional functions. When the key 12 is pressed briefly, the operation of the reproduction device 1 can be traced back. When the key 12 is pressed for a long time, a top menu is displayed on the display unit 10 .

The key group 13 has five direction keys, in which an input key 13A is arranged at the center, and arrow keys are arranged around the input key 13A. Arrow keys point up, down, left, and right (call them Up Arrow, Down Arrow, Left Arrow, and Right Arrow). The functions of the key group 13 are assigned according to the status of the playback device 1 .

When the display section 10 displays the screen with the content currently being reproduced thereon, when the enter key 13A is pressed for a short time, the currently reproduced content is commanded to be alternately reproduced and paused. When the display section 10 displays a screen other than the content reproduction screen, upon pressing the enter key 13A, an item selected on the screen is confirmed. When the display section 10 displays a list of content items, when the enter key 13A is pressed, reproduction of all the content on the list is commanded.

When the up key and the down key of the key group 13 are pressed for a short time, the currently selected item on the display part 10 is switched to the immediately previous item and the immediately next item respectively. When the up key and the down key are pressed for a long time, the list on the display part 10 is commanded to scroll up and down quickly, respectively. The key repeat function works with the Up and Down keys until they are long pressed. Thus, using the up key and down key, the screen can be scrolled up and down, respectively.

When the left key and the right key of the key group 13 are pressed for a short time, the currently selected item is switched to an item to the immediate left and an item to the immediate right respectively. When the display part 10 displays a plurality of pages, the left key and the right key switch the current page, for example, to the next page and the previous page, respectively. The left and right arrow keys do not have a long-pressed state. However, the key repeat function works with the left and right keys.

When the discovery button 14 is pressed briefly, the command invokes the artist link function using the artist link information. When the discovery button 14 is pressed for a long time, the artist link function is invoked to reproduce the contents of all artists displayed on the display part 10 . Details of the artist link function will be described later.

The functions of key 11, key 12 and key group 13 are merely examples. The functions of these keys and key sets are not limited to these examples. Operational functions can be assigned to the key 11, the key 12, and the key group 13 as software.

The block diagram of FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure of the reproducing apparatus 1 . In the example shown in FIG. 3 , the reproduction apparatus 1 has three buses 30 , 34 and 40 . Connected to the bus 30 are a hard disk drive (HDD) 32 , a universal serial bus (USB) controller 33 and a system gate array 36 . The bus 30 mainly transfers content data. Connected to the USB controller 33 is a USB connector 31 . The USB controller 33 controls communication of external devices connected to the USB connector 31 .

Connected to the bus 34 are a USB controller 33 , a display control section 35 and a system gate array 36 . The bus 34 mainly transmits commands. The display control section 35 drives the display section 10 composed of EL, for example, by a display control signal supplied via the bus 34 . The display control section 35 causes the display section 10 to display a screen according to the display control signal. A display device usable for the display section 10 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) instead of EL.

Connected to the bus 40 are a microcomputer 41 , a system gate array 36 and a read only memory (ROM) 42 . The bus 40 mainly transmits commands. Connected to the microcomputer 41 are a real time clock (RTC) 46 and the operating section 20 . The operation part 20 generates control signals corresponding to the keys 11 to 13 and supplies the generated control signals to the microcomputer 41 . The microcomputer 41 controls the entire reproducing apparatus 1 through a control signal supplied from the operation part 20 according to, for example, a program prestored in the ROM 42 . Furthermore, the microcomputer 41 generates a predetermined display control signal according to the program.

The microcomputer 41 has an internal D/A converter (DAC) section 44 . The DAC section 44 converts audio data supplied from a decoder (which will be described later) into an analog audio signal, and supplies the analog audio signal to a headphone (HP) amplifier 45 .

The output signal of the find button 14 is supplied to the microcomputer 41 . The microcomputer 41 can determine whether the discovery button 14 has been pressed based on the output signal of the discovery button 14 . In addition, the microcomputer 41 can control the light emission of the light emitting part 15 (which is an LED).

The ROM 42 is, for example, an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), which is a rewritable memory. ROM 42 is capable of updating its stored programs. The program to be updated in the ROM 42 is supplied from an external computer device through the USB connector 31, for example.

Since the microcomputer 41 controls the reproducing apparatus 1 according to the program stored in the ROM 42, it can be considered that the reproducing apparatus 1 is basically a computer device.

System gate array 36 controls the exchange of data and commands between buses 30 , 34 and 40 . Connected to the system gate array 36 are a RAM 37 and a decoder 43. The decoder 43 decodes the compression-encoded audio data. The RAM 37 is used as a work memory of the microcomputer 41. In addition, the RAM 37 is also used as a buffer for audio data decoded by the decoder 43. The RAM 37 has a storage capacity of, for example, 16 megabytes (MB). Of the 16MB, a predetermined area of 12MB can be allocated as a buffer storage area for audio data.

Connected to the remote control terminal 47 is a remote control commander, which wirelessly and remotely controls the playback device 1, and has an earphone terminal. The analog audio signal output from the headphone amplifier 45 is supplied to the remote control terminal 47 . In addition, the system gate array 36 is also connected to a remote control terminal 47 . A control signal corresponding to the operation of the remote control commander is input from the remote control terminal 47 and supplied to the microcomputer 41 through the system gate array 36 and the bus 40 .

The aforementioned USB connector 31 and remote control terminal 47 are provided in the connector part 17 as shown in FIG. 2 . The hold switch 16 is connected to a microcomputer 41 (not shown).

In the above description, the reproduction apparatus 1 is connected to the PC 2 by wire. However, this structure is merely an example. Instead, a wireless communication interface (not shown) for controlling wireless communication may be connected to the bus 30 . The wireless communication interface can allow the reproduction device 1 and the PC 2 to wirelessly exchange commands between them, and allow the PC 2 to wirelessly transmit content data to the reproduction device 1.

FIG. 4 schematically shows an architecture applicable to the reproduction device 1 . A user interface (UI) task 60 implements a user interface that causes the display part 10 to display data, and generates a control signal corresponding to the operation of the operation part 20 . The UI task 60 is used, for example, to control the cursor representation 70 corresponding to the operation of the key group 13 of the operation part 20, and to generate a reproduction control command for audio data. Examples of reproduction control commands include play (reproduction), stop (reproduction stop), fast forward (fast forward without reproduction), rewind (fast reverse without reproduction), cue (fast forward with reproduction), review (fast reverse with reproduction) and Pause (playback pause).

The player task 61 is provided under the UI task 60 . The player task 61 manages reproduction of content data. Based on commands received from the UI task 60, the player task 61 exchanges data with a database (which will be described later), acquires content to be reproduced, and issues a content data reproduction control command to lower-level tasks. Furthermore, the player task 61 periodically obtains the current play mode, returns the play mode to the UI task 60, and controls reproduction according to the play mode.

The play mode is an operation mode regarding the reproduction order of content items. There are some playback modes such as a standard mode in which content items are reproduced in the order of the list and a chaotic mode in which content items are reproduced randomly.

A buffer task 62 , a database (DB) management task 63 and a decoder control task 65 are arranged below the player task 61 . The buffer task 62 controls reading data from and writing data to the buffer storage area of the RAM 37. In addition, the buffer task 62 controls the reading of audio data from the hard disk drive 32 . Furthermore, the buffer task 62 analyzes the header information of the audio data stored in the buffer memory. The buffer task 62 controls the buffer memory as a ring memory whose top address is logically connected to its last address.

The database management task 63 manages content data recorded in the hard disk drive 32 . The database management task 63 manages, for example, identification information (ID) for identifying content data recorded in the hard disk drive 32, information indicating a recording location of the content data, and attribute information of the content data in a correlated manner. In addition, the database management task 63 also manages artist link information. Details of the database managed by the database management task 63 will be described later.

The decoder control task 65 controls the decoding process performed by the decoder 43 for audio data. The control of the decoder control task 65 is interlocked with the processing of the buffer task 62, for example.

Operating system (OS) 68 carries out comprehensive management to UI task 60, player task 61, buffer task 62, decoder control task 65 and database management task 63, and they are the upper layer tasks of OS 68. In addition, OS 68 provides the basic functions of the software for each task. For example, the OS 68 provides a file system for each upper task for managing files recorded in the hard disk drive 32. The file system manages each logical address of the recording area of the hard disk drive 32 and files in the hard disk drive 32 . The file system provides a scheme for reading data from and writing data to hard disk drive 32 .

In addition, the OS 68 manages each component constituting the hardware of the reproduction apparatus 1. The OS 68 executes media processing between the upper layer tasks of the reproduction apparatus 1 and the hardware 69. The OS 68 has, for example, an HDD driver 64 that controls the hard disk drive 32, a buffer control section 66 that controls reading data from and writing data to the buffer storage area of the RAM 37, and a decoder that controls the decoder 43. Controller control unit 67.

OS 68 and tasks 60 to 65 are realized by microcomputer 41 according to programs stored or recorded in ROM 42 and/or hard disk drive 32 as shown in FIG. 4 .

In such a configuration, when the reproducing apparatus 1 and the PC 2 are connected by a USB cable, the USB controller 33 exchanges data with the PC 2 in a predetermined manner so that the PC 2 recognizes the reproducing apparatus 1 as a removable hard disk drive. In other words, using the file copy function provided by the OS of PC 2, PC 2 can record the content data recorded in the hard disk drive of PC 2 to the hard disk drive of playback device 1.

The PC 2 sends content data and commands to the playback device 1 via the USB cable. Content data and commands are received by the USB controller 33 . The received content data is transferred from the USB controller 33 to the hard disk drive 32 through the bus 30 and written to the hard disk drive 32 . In addition, received commands are received from the USB controller 33 to the microcomputer 41 through the system gate array 36 .

Next, processing for reproduction will be described. For example, the microcomputer 41 refers to a database for contents recorded in the hard disk drive 32, and generates a display control signal for displaying a list of contents. The display control signal is supplied to the display control section 35 through the system gate array 36 and the bus 34 . The display control section 35 converts the display control signal into a drive signal for driving the display section 10 . A drive signal is supplied to the display section 10 . The display section 10 displays a list of reproducible content data according to the display control signal.

The user operates the operation unit 20 in a predetermined manner based on data displayed on the display unit 10, for example, to select content data to be reproduced. The operation part 20 outputs a control signal according to a user's operation. The microcomputer 41 monitors the control signal output from the operation part 20 . When the microcomputer 41 acquires a control signal indicating a reproduction command, the microcomputer 41 issues a command to reproduce selected content data. The command is sent to hard disk drive 32 via system gate array 36 and bus 30 .

Content data read from the hard disk drive 32 is supplied to the system gate array 36 via the bus 30 . The system gate array 36 stores the provided content data in the buffer storage area of the RAM 37. In addition, the system gate array 36 reads a predetermined amount of content data from the buffer storage area of the RAM 37 at a certain timing, and transfers the content data to the decoder 43. The microcomputer 41 monitors the amount of content data stored in the buffer storage area. When the amount of data stored in the buffer memory is a predetermined amount or less, the microcomputer 41 issues a content data read command to the hard disk drive 32 through the system gate array 36 and the bus 30 .

The decoder 43 decodes the transmitted content data, and transmits it to the microcomputer 41 as baseband audio data. The microcomputer 41 performs predetermined acoustic processing on the audio data transferred from the decoder 43 as necessary. The DAC section 44 converts the synthesized digital audio data into analog audio data, and outputs the analog audio data as an analog audio signal. The analog audio signal is provided as HP amplifier 45 . The HP amplifier 45 performs amplification processing on the analog audio signal, and supplies the amplified audio signal to the remote control terminal 47 .

Next, a database that manages content data recorded in the hard disk drive 32 will be described. This database is managed by the aforementioned database management task 63 . Fig. 5 shows an example of the attribute information table structure of the database. The attribute information of the content data is managed by using the attribute information table of the database.

In the example shown in FIG. 5, each record of the attribute information table has a "content ID" field, an "anthology ID" field, an "artist ID" field, a "genre ID" field, a "release information" field, a "reproduction Frequency" field, "Rating" field, "Rating Information" field, "Sales Information" field, and "Registration Date" field.

The "Content ID" field contains an identifier unique to each content item. The "artist ID" field contains, for example, an identifier of an artist performing the content of the relevant content ID. The "genre ID" field contains an identifier of the music genre to which the content of the relevant content ID belongs.

In FIG. 5, although only the "type ID" field is used to indicate the type. However, types can be divided into multiple levels. For example, genres can be roughly subdivided into large genres such as "rock", "jazz", "classic", and "pop", and a Large types are assigned unique IDs. You can also subdivide each large type into small types, and assign a unique ID to each small type. The type ID is formed by combining the large type ID and the small type ID. For example, the large genre "rock music" is divided into small genres "American", "metal", "alternative", "progressive", and the like. As another classification method, the large genre "classic music" can be subdivided into small genres "baroque", "symphony", "concerto", "opera", "sonata", etc. (sonata)" and so on. In addition, small types can also be subdivided. However, only small types can be used to identify types without large types.

The "release information" field contains the release date of the content as the year, month, and day of the relevant content ID. In general, the year, month, and day of the "Issuance Information" field are the same as the year, month, and day of the release date of the anthology containing the content identified by the associated content ID.

The "reproduction frequency" field contains a value incremented by "1" when the content of the relevant record is reproduced. It can be considered that the value of the "reproduction frequency" field is normalized by the number of days since the content of the relevant record was recorded in the reproduction apparatus 1 .

The "rank" field indicates the favorite rank assigned by the user to the content of the related record. For example, a log file in which content reproduction history is recorded in the reproduction apparatus 1 is analyzed. According to the analysis result, the user's preference level for the content is obtained. For example, from the reproduction history, for each content item, the number of times it has been reproduced and the number of times it has been skipped are obtained. From the obtained value, the preference level is calculated. Skipping means a state in which content is not completely reproduced and its reproduction is stopped halfway. For example, a favorite rating may be obtained according to whether the content is fully reproduced, and if its reproduction is skipped, according to the percentage of the content that is partially reproduced.

The preference level can be calculated by the reproduction device 1 . However, when the reproducing apparatus 1 is connected to the PC 2, the log file can be transferred from the reproducing apparatus 1 to the PC 2 so that the favorite rank can be calculated by the PC 2. The preference level calculated by the PC 2 is transmitted to the reproduction device 1, and written into the database of the reproduction device 1.

The "rating information" field contains information on reactions of many general users to the content calculated in a predetermined manner. For example, content sales information may be used as rating information. Alternatively, the number of requests for content in the case of a wireless station or the like or the number of times of pre-purchased listening to a content in the case of a website or the like may also be used as the rating information. It is also possible to use, as the rating information, information in which the content rating is calculated in a predetermined manner (for example, "this week's top 10").

The "Sales Information" field contains sales information for the collection identified by the "Selection ID" field of the related record.

The "registration date" field contains the date on which the relevant record information was registered and the date on which the information was changed.

In the example shown in FIG. 5 , pointer information based on real data is stored as an ID in each field of each record. For example, each field of each record contains pointer information to a record of another table that contains real data. As a result, a relational database is constructed. The content ID is unique for each content item data. Using the content ID, each record of the attribute information table is related to each item of actual content data. The structure of the database is not limited to this example. Instead, actual data may be included in each field except the "Content ID" field.

The "rank information" field and the "sales information" field are updated at predetermined timing. For example, when new content data is downloaded from the music server 4 to the PC 2, rating information on each content item data stored in the PC 2 and sales information corresponding to the collection ID are also downloaded. When the content data is transferred from the PC 2 to the reproducing apparatus 1, rating information and sales information are also transferred to the reproducing apparatus 1, and thus its database is updated.

Rating information and sales information can be obtained in different ways than described above. For example, it can be considered that rating information and sales information are sent periodically. When the PC 2 receives rating information and sales information from the music server 4, the PC 2 temporarily stores them in an internal hard disk drive or the like. When the reproduction apparatus 1 and the PC 2 are connected, the rating information and sales information stored in the PC 2 are transmitted to the reproduction apparatus 1.

Database management task 63 also manages artist link information. Artist link information is, for example, how artist A is related to information on artist B, artist C, etc. related thereto. For example, if artist A collaborates with artist B and artist C to create anthology Z, artist B and artist C are, so to speak, related artists of artist A. Furthermore, Artist A may be related to other artists in terms of Artist A's style. For example, Artist A may be related to other artists in terms of the melody and rhythm of Artist A's primary content. Furthermore, Artist A may be related to other artists in terms of the number of years Artist A has been actively working. In addition, the artist's information may also be relevant in terms of various artist information and its content.

Depending on the relative level of the target artist, different levels may be assigned to the artist link information. For example, artist A may be associated with first artist link information consisting of information such as artists B, C, D, etc. strongly related to artist A, and second artist link information consisting of information related to Artist A is weakly related to the information of artists O, P, Q, etc.

As shown in FIG. 6, artist link information may be appended to the aforementioned attribute information table. In FIG. 6, the "anthology ID" field, the "genre ID" field, the "reproduction frequency" field, and the "rank information" field will be omitted from the attribute information table shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, a specific artist ID is related to a related artist ID (1) which is an artist ID of an artist strongly related to a specific artist, and a related artist ID (2) which is an artist ID of an artist weakly related to a specific artist ID. relevant.

When the attribute information table is created in this way, it is possible to easily obtain artists who are strongly related to an artist corresponding to a specific content ID and artists who are weakly related.

In the attribute information table, in addition to the artist information of the artist corresponding to the content ID, as shown in FIG. 6, the content ID of another item of content may be correlated. Thus, it is possible to easily obtain the content related to the content corresponding to the specific content ID.

The structure of artist link information is not limited to the aforementioned examples. For artist information managed by the database management task 63, instead, these two types of tables are created. Instead, it can be considered that all fields of artist information managed by the database management task 63 are set in a matrix form, and a correlation level is set for each field.

Artist link information is set as, for example, a service provided by the music server 4 side to the user. The artist link information is downloaded from the music server 4 to the PC 2 via the Internet 3. The artist link information is transmitted from the PC 2 to the reproduction apparatus 1, and then recorded to the hard disk drive 32. For example, the content list recorded in the hard disk drive of the PC 2 and the hard disk drive 32 of the reproducing apparatus 1 is transferred from the PC 2 to the music server 4. The music server 4 creates artist link information with reference to the attribute information corresponding to the content list, and sends it to the PC 2. Or instead, the artist link information can be created by the user agent.

1-3. Outline operation of preview playback

According to this embodiment of the present invention, if the cursor indication has been set at the position of the specific content for a predetermined period of time, the specific content is selected, and a predetermined portion thereof is automatically reproduced. In the following description, an operation of selectively reproducing only a predetermined portion of content is referred to as preview reproduction. On the other hand, an operation about reproducing the entire content is referred to as normal reproduction. A method of performing preview reproduction will be described later.

The flowchart of Fig. 7 shows an example of processing for automatically performing preview reproduction. 8A to 8D show examples of representations displayed on the display section 10 according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 7 . A content list is displayed on the display section 10 (step S10). For example, a content name list is displayed on the display section 10 as shown in FIG. 8A. Furthermore, a cursor representation 70 is displayed at its starting position.

The cursor representation 70 is displayed as follows. For example, the microcomputer 41 generates a display control signal causing a cursor indication to be displayed at a predetermined position. Display control signals are supplied to the display control section 35 through the system gate array 36 and the bus 34 . The display control unit 35 drives the display unit 10 according to the display control signal. Accordingly, cursor representation 70 is displayed. By operating, for example, an up key and/or a down key of the key group 13, the position of the cursor 70 is moved and designated.

In the example shown in FIGS. 8A to 8D , the cursor representation 70 is generated by inverting the display color of the content name. However, the display method of the cursor indication 70 is not limited to this example. In other words, any method can be used as long as the cursor indication 70 is displayed at the content name position. For example, the cursor representation 70 may be a predetermined mark displayed at the beginning of the title of the content.

In step S11, it is determined whether or not the cursor indication 70 has been moved. For example, when the user has not performed key input, eg, through the up key and down key of the key group 13, the flow proceeds to step S12. In step S12, the microcomputer 41 counts the period T during which the cursor indication 70 stays at any content name position, and determines whether the period T exceeds a predetermined period _Tth . As shown in FIG. 8B , when the cursor indication 70 is moved to the position of the content name "CCCCC", the microcomputer 41 starts counting the period T based on the output of the real-time clock 46 . Before the period T exceeds the predetermined period _Tth , the microcomputer 41 determines whether the cursor indication 70 has moved from the position of the content name "CCCCC" to another position.

The predetermined period T _th is, for example, about 0.5 seconds. Preferably, the value of the predetermined period T _th is changed by the user.

When the determined result at step S12 indicates that the period T exceeds the predetermined period _Tth , the flow proceeds to step S13. In step S13, a part of the content at the current cursor indication 70 position is reproduced. For example, when the cursor indication 70 has been moved to the content name "CCCCC" position, as shown in FIG. 8B, and stays at this position for a predetermined period of time T _th or longer, as shown in FIG. part of the content data. For the content having the content name "CCCCC", preview reproduction is performed.

In preview reproduction, content data is reproduced for a predetermined period (for example, 10 seconds) from the start. However, the reproduction may be stopped after a predetermined period of time from the start of reproduction of the actual content data. Instead, a dedicated file for preview reproduction may be created and reproduced. However, the preview reproduction position may also be different in each content item. When content data is recorded to the hard disk drive 32, a dedicated file for preview reproduction can be automatically created.

When the preview reproduction of the specific content is completed, the preview reproduction of the content at the next location may be automatically started. In the example shown in FIGS. 8A to 8D , after the preview reproduction of the content with the content name “CCCCC” is completed and the cursor indication 70 is not moved, the preview of the content with the next content name “DDDDD” can be automatically started. reproduce.

In addition, the cursor indication 70 can be moved by key operations while preview reproduction is being performed. In this case, when the cursor indication 70 is moved to the position of another content name and stayed for a predetermined period of time Tth or longer, preview reproduction may be performed on the content at the position of the cursor indication 70 .

For example, as shown in FIG. 8C, when the preview reproduction is being performed for the content having the content name "CCCCC" at the position of the cursor indication 70, the cursor indication 70 is moved by a key operation. The cursor indication 70 is caused to move over the position of the content name "DDDDD" within a predetermined period _Tth , and then stay at the position of the content name "EEEEE". The microcomputer 41 counts the dwell period T of the cursor indication 70 . When the stay period T exceeds the predetermined period _Tth , the microcomputer 41 stops the preview reproduction of the content with the content name "CCCCC", and starts the preview reproduction of the content with the content name "EEEEE".

When the selected content is confirmed while the preview reproduction is being performed, the preview reproduction can be switched to the normal reproduction. When the preview reproduction is switched to the normal reproduction, the display section 10 displays a representation describing that normal reproduction is being performed, as shown in FIG. 8D. In the example shown in FIG. 8D, the display section 10 displays the text "Now Playing", indicating that normal reproduction is being performed. Furthermore, the display section 10 displays the attribute information of the content having the content name "CCCCC" being reproduced.

The selected content is confirmed when, for example, the enter key 13A is pressed while preview reproduction is being performed. Thus, preview reproduction is switched to normal reproduction. Next, the process of switching from preview reproduction to normal reproduction will be described. In this case, there are two methods. In the first method, normal reproduction is performed from the beginning of content data for which preview reproduction is performed. In the second method, normal reproduction is resumed from the position of the content data where preview reproduction was stopped.

Hereinafter, these methods will be briefly described with reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B . Assume that the period to perform preview reproduction is 10 seconds from the start of content reproduction, and assume that preview reproduction is automatically performed sequentially for the first, second, and third tracks of content data, and that confirmation is performed during preview reproduction for the third track.

In the first method, as shown in FIG. 9A , when confirmation is performed by operating, for example, the enter key 13A while preview reproduction is being performed on the third track (ie, when a reproduction operation is commanded), preview reproduction for the third track is stopped. After a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the entire third track of the content data is reproduced from the beginning.

On the other hand, in the second method, as shown in FIG. 9B , when confirmation is performed while preview reproduction is being performed for the third track, preview reproduction is stopped. Standard operation continues from where the preview rendering of the third track was stopped.

In the above description, the list of contents recorded in the hard disk drive 32 is directly displayed on the display section 10 . However, this result is only an example. In other words, hundreds to thousands of content items can be recorded in the hard disk drive 32 . Contents can be easily retrieved from such a large amount of data by automatic preview reproduction corresponding to the stop period of the cursor indication 70 and content attribute information.

1-4. Outline operation of artist link mode

Next, a method of selecting content data using the artist link information described above will be described. In the following description, a mode of retrieving and/or selecting content using artist link information is referred to as an artist link mode.

The flowchart of Fig. 10 shows an example of processing performed in artist link mode. 11A to 11C and 12A to 12D show examples of representation transition of the display section 10 in the processing shown in FIG. 10 . Assume that the reproduction operation mode of the reproduction apparatus 1 is the normal reproduction mode, and normal reproduction is being performed on the content X of the artist A. When, for example, the discover button 14 is pressed, the artist link mode appears. When the artist link mode appears, the microcomputer 41 refers to the artist link information, and causes the display section 10 to display an artist link screen, as shown in FIG. 11A. The artist link screen has a list display portion 71A showing lists of artist A and artists B, C, etc. related to artist A (step S20).

In this example, artist names are sorted and listed in descending order of the number of content items recorded in the hard disk drive 32 with reference to the attribute information table. A cursor representation 70 is displayed at Artist A's location. The reproduced content display section 71B displays information on the currently reproduced content. The sort order of artist names is not limited to this example. Although the cursor representation 70 is displayed at Artist A's position. But for the content being reproduced in the normal reproduction mode immediately before the appearance of the artist link mode (in this example, the content X of the artist A), the normal reproduction is continued.

In this state, when, for example, the down key of the key group 13 is operated, as shown in FIG. 11B, the cursor indication 70 is successively moved to the positions of the relevant artists B, C, etc. (step S21). Also, switch artist link mode to preview reproduction mode. In the example shown in FIG. 11B , cursor representation 70 appears at artist C's position past artist B's position within a predetermined period of time (eg, 0.5 seconds) corresponding to the user's operation of the down key.

Based on the count result of the microcomputer 41, it is determined that the cursor indication 70 stays at the position of the artist C for a predetermined period _Tth or longer (step S22). When the determined result indicates that the stop period T is equal to or greater than the predetermined period _Tth , the flow proceeds to step S23. In step S23, referring to the attribute information table, the content is automatically selected from the content data related to the item at the position indicated by the cursor 70 according to a predetermined rule.

For example, as shown in FIG. 11B , it is assumed that the cursor indication 70 is displayed at the position of "artist C", and content items P, Q, R, and S have been recorded in the hard disk drive 32 as artist C's content. These content items P, Q, R and S are sorted in descending order of their ranks according to the attribute information table. As an item for this level, the "reproduction frequency" field of the attribute information table is used. The content items are sorted in descending order of their frequency of reproduction. Or instead, the "rank information" field of the attribute information table can be used to sort the content items in order of their popularity. Or the content items may be ranked in their preference levels based on the number of times of reproduction and the number of times of skipping for each content item obtained from the reproduction history. Preferably, the items to be rated are freely designated by the user. In step S23, the microcomputer 41 automatically selects, for example, the content item P having the highest rank.

Thereafter, the flow proceeds to step S24. In step S24, preview reproduction for the selected content item P is performed. In step S24, the display section 10 still displays the artist link screen. The reproduction content representation section 71B represents information on the content for which preview reproduction is being performed (see FIG. 11C ).

Thereafter, the flow proceeds to step S25. In step S25, when the cursor representation 70 is displayed at the position of the artist C, it is determined whether the preview reproduction for the content item P is completed. When the determined result of step S25 indicates that the preview reproduction for the content item P has been completed, the flow proceeds to step S26. In step S26, preview reproduction for the next selected content item is automatically performed. Preview reproduction for a content item having the next higher rank after content item P (for example, content item Q) is automatically performed. The display unit 10 still displays the artist link screen. The reproduction content representation section 71B represents information on the content item for which preview reproduction is being performed (see FIG. 12A ). Thereafter, the flow returns to step S25.

After completing preview reproduction in hard drive 32 for all content items recorded in hard drive 32 by artist C at the cursor indication 70 position, preview reproduction (repeat) for content items of the next artist (for example, artist D) is automatically performed. Steps S25 and S26). Here, the display section 10 still displays the artist link screen. In the list display portion 71A, the cursor display 70 is automatically moved to the position of the artist D (see FIG. 12B). The reproduction content representation section 71B represents information on the content item T for which preview reproduction is currently being performed.

In contrast, when the determined result at step S25 indicates that preview reproduction is being performed, the flow proceeds to step S27. In step S27, it is determined whether the preview mode is to be switched to the normal reproduction mode.

When confirmation is performed, for example, by the enter key 13A in the state shown in FIG. 12A, the artist link screen is switched to the content list screen on the display section 10, as shown in FIG. 12C. A content item of Artist C may be selected on the content list screen. The list display portion 71A on the content list screen shows a list of content items of Artist C. The reproduced content display section 71B on the content list screen displays information on the content item for which preview reproduction is currently performed.

When confirmation of a content item is performed, for example, by the enter key 13A in the state shown in FIG. 12B, it is determined to switch the reproduction mode to the normal reproduction mode. The flow proceeds to step S28. In step S28, normal reproduction is performed for the content item Q for which preview reproduction is currently being performed. The display section 10 still displays the content list screen. The reproduced content display section 71B on the content list screen shows information on content items selected for normal reproduction (FIG. 12C). After performing normal reproduction for content item Q, the value of the "reproduction frequency" field in the record corresponding to content item Q on the attribute information table is updated so that the value indicates reproduction.

If execution of normal reproduction is not commanded, the flow returns to step S25. In step S25, preview reproduction is continued. When the preview playback for content item Q is complete, if the cursor representation 70 has not moved, preview playback for the content item R with the next highest rating is automatically initiated. The cursor representation 70 is moved to the content item R's location.

When the determined result of step S25 indicates that preview reproduction is being performed, another artist can be selected by moving the cursor indication 70 in a state where the artist link screen as shown in FIG. 12A is displayed. In other words, when the determined result at step S25 indicates that preview reproduction is being performed and the cursor indication 70 has been moved, the flow returns to step S23. In step S23, preview reproduction of the content item for the artist at the position where the cursor indication 70 is located may be performed.

As described above, according to the above embodiment, preview reproduction can be automatically performed on the content item of the artist at the position of the cursor indication 70 only by moving the cursor indication 70 on the artist name and staying there for a predetermined period of time.

2. More specific operation and GUI in artist link mode

Next, the operation in the artist link mode and its graphical user interface (GUI) will be described based on specific examples. As described above, artist link information may be ranked according to the artist's relevance level. In the following description, it is assumed that artist link information is formed into two levels, ie, first artist link information strongly related to a specific artist and second artist link information weakly related to a specific artist.

The flowchart of FIG. 13 shows an example of the process of starting the artist link mode by pressing the discovery button 14 while specific content data is being reproduced. Before the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. 13 is executed, it is assumed that a content item list of a specific artist (“Police”) recorded in the hard disk drive 32 is displayed on the display section 10 . In the following description, an artist (in this example, "Police") that has been selected before execution of the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. 13 is referred to as a target artist. Artists described in the artist link information corresponding to the target artist are referred to as related artists.

At step S30, the cursor representation 70 is moved, for example, by means of the UP key and/or the DOWN key of the key set 13 . Select the desired content item from the content list. When the cursor indication 70 is moved to the position of the content to be reproduced ("Every Breath You"), by pressing, for example, the enter key 13A, normal reproduction for the content item corresponding to the cursor indication 70 is started (step S31).

At this time, the display section 10 displays a normal reproduction screen representing a content item performing normal reproduction. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a normal reproduction screen 100 . The normal reproduction screen has a list display portion 71A showing the title of the content (“Every Breath You”), the name of the collection of collections containing the content item (“The Police best”), the name of the artist (“The Police”), the genre to which the content item belongs ( "Rock") and the current reproduction time ("00:02") of the content item, and also have icons representing the meaning of these information.

In the following example, the musical note icon represents the content name. The tray icon indicates the collection name. The bust icon indicates the artist name. A framed note icon indicates the type. The meanings of these icons are common in every screen of the display section 10 .

The list representation section 71A also represents the rating of the content item being reproduced with asterisks. In addition, the list display section 71A shows the content release year. Furthermore, the reproduced content representation section 71B briefly represents information on the currently reproduced content item and information on the elapsed time since the content item was reproduced. In these drawings, a list display section 71A and a reproduced content display section 71B are shown separately. In practice, however, they are displayed as different areas on one screen of the display section 10 .

When it has been determined that the discovery button 14 has been operated during reproduction of the content data (step S32), the operation mode of the reproduction apparatus 1 is switched to the artist link mode. In the artist link mode, information about artists strongly related to the artist who is reproducing the content item is retrieved. Furthermore, the current screen of the display section 10 is switched to the retrieval in progress screen 101, as shown in FIG. 15 (step S33).

The search in progress screen 101 shows the name of the artist ("The Police") who is searching for the relevant artist according to the artist link information, a text message indicating that the search is in progress, and an icon (two rotating semicircular arrows as shown in Figure 15 ). Rendering for the content item continues. The reproduced content display section 71B displays information on the currently reproduced content item.

When it has been determined that the predetermined period has elapsed after the retrieval in progress screen 101 appeared (step S34), the flow proceeds to step S35. In step S35, it is determined whether there is first artist link information based on the retrieval result of step S33, where the first artist link information is information on an artist strongly related to the artist currently reproducing the content data. When the determined result indicates that the first artist link information exists, the flow proceeds to step S36.

When the determined result of step S35 indicates that there is no strongly correlated artist information, the flow proceeds to step S41. In step S41, it is determined whether there are first artist link information for the artist currently reproducing the content item and second artist link information which is related artist link information weakly related to the target artist. When the determined result indicates that neither the first artist link information nor the second artist link information exists for the target artist, the flow proceeds to step S43.

In contrast, when the determined result at step S41 indicates that there is second artist link information for the target artist, the flow proceeds to step S42. In step S42, the display section 10 displays a screen 102 (see FIG. 16) prompting the user whether to lower the correlation level of the artist link information for the target artist. In the example shown in FIG. 16, the list display part 71 of the display part 10 shows text asking the user whether to lower (or raise) the relevant level, and shows related artist link information and keys for user operations (for example, find button 14).

In step S42, reproduction of the content data item is continued in the normal reproduction mode. The reproduced content indicating section 71B indicates information on the content item being reproduced.

When the discovery button 14 or the enter key 13A has been operated so as to lower the correlation level at step S42, and the relevant artist link information is indicated, the artist link information for the target artist is switched from the first artist link information to the second artist link information. Thereafter, the flow returns to step S35.

In contrast, when it has been determined in step S42 that the correlation level is not lowered, the flow proceeds to step S43. In step S43, the screen of the display section 10 is returned to the screen shown in FIG. 14, showing information on the content item currently being reproduced. In normal reproduction mode, reproduction of the content item continues.

When the user operates the discovery button 14 on the display part 10 in the state shown in FIG. 16 at step S42, the correlation level is not lowered. As shown in FIG. 17, the screen of the display section 10 is switched to a screen for prompting the user to return to a screen showing information on a content item currently being reproduced. In the example shown in FIG. 17, the list display portion 71A of the display part 10 shows text describing that there are no first artist information and second artist information for the target artist and a key (for example, key 12) for user operation. .

When the determined result at step S35 indicates that, based on the artist link information, there is related artist information for related artists of the target artist, the flow proceeds to step S36.

In step S36, the screen of the display section 10 is switched to a related artist information display screen 104 showing related artist information, as shown in FIG. The related artist information display screen 104 shows related artist information corresponding to the first artist link information or the second artist link information according to the branch of step S35, step S41 or step S42.

In the example shown in FIG. 18 , the top portion of the related artist information display screen 104 shows the target artist name and cursor indication 70 of the related artist information. Furthermore, the related artist information display screen 104 shows a related artist information list of the target artist based on the first artist link information or the second artist link information. In the example shown in FIG. 18, the related artist information according to the first artist link information or the second artist link information is connected to the icon 75 of the target artist by a dotted line.

In FIG. 18, when the artist link information of the target artist exceeds the size of one screen, by operating the keys of the operation part 20 in a predetermined manner, artist information that does not appear on the current screen can be displayed on the display part 10. For example, as long as the down key of the operation key group 13 is used, the cursor representation 70 is moved to a predetermined position in the list representation part 71A (in the example shown in Figure 18, it is the position "Discover more..."), in the list representation part The associated artist information shown in 71A is scrolled by one entry.

In step S37, it is determined whether the related artist information display screen 104 shows the cursor display 70 at the position of the name of the artist whose content item is currently being reproduced. In other words, by using the up key and down key of the key group 13, the user can move the cursor representation 70 to the position of his or her intended artist on the relevant artist information representation screen 104. On the associated artist information display screen 104, when the cursor indication 70 appears at the position of the starting artist name ("The Police" in this example), the reproduction of the content item continues in the normal reproduction mode (step S38).

When the result of the determination indicates that the cursor indication 70 has been moved from the position of the name of the artist who is currently reproducing the content item, the flow proceeds to step S39. When the user operates, for example, the down key, the cursor representation 70 is moved. As shown in FIG. 19A, cursor representation 70 appears at the location of an artist name ("Sting") that is different from the artist name of the content item currently being reproduced.

In step S39, it is determined whether the cursor indication 70 has stayed at the position of the relevant artist name to which the cursor indication 70 has been moved for a predetermined period of time. When the result of the determination indicates that the cursor indication 70 has stayed for a predetermined period of time, the flow proceeds to step S40. In step S40, the reproduction mode is switched from the normal reproduction mode to the preview reproduction mode. The artist name at the position indicated by the cursor 70 is designated as the selected artist name. A preview rendering of the content item for the artist name ("Sacred Love" in this example) is automatically performed. As shown in FIG. 19B, the reproduced content display section 71B of the display section 10 displays information on the newly selected and reproduced content item.

3. Related information notification method according to the first embodiment of the present invention

Next, a related information notifying method according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. According to this embodiment, when the reproducing apparatus 1 reproduces content, if a content item related to the reproduced content item has been recorded in the reproducing apparatus 1, the reproducing apparatus 1 notifies the user of the related content item. Thus, the user can know whether or not a content item related to the currently reproduced content item has been recorded in the reproduction apparatus 1 without performing a content retrieval operation.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the related information notifying method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. When the reproducing apparatus 1 has determined the content item to be reproduced in a predetermined manner (step S50), the flow proceeds to step S51. In step S51, it is determined whether or not a content item related to the content item determined to be reproduced is already recorded in the reproduction device 1 with reference to a database that manages content recorded in the reproduction device 1 .

For example, referring to the database based on the content ID of the content item determined to be reproduced, information on artists strongly related to the artist of the content item determined to be reproduced is retrieved. When the search result shows that the information on the artist strongly related to the artist who decided to reproduce the content item is registered in the database, it can be determined that the content item related to the determined content item to be reproduced has been recorded in the reproduction device. 1 in.

When the determined result at step S51 indicates that the content item related to the content item decided to be reproduced has been recorded in the reproduction apparatus 1, the flow proceeds to step S52. In step S52, a process of notifying the user that the relevant content item has been recorded in the reproduction apparatus 1 is performed. According to this embodiment, the notification process is executed by turning on the light emitting part 15 of the discovery button 14 provided on one side of the reproducing apparatus 1 in a predetermined manner.

For example, at step S52, when reproducing the content item determined at step S50 to be reproduced, the microcomputer 41 generates a light emission control signal that causes the light emitting part 15 of the discovery button 14 to emit light in a predetermined manner. This control signal is supplied to the light emitting part 15 . Thus, the light emitting part 15 emits light. When the light emitting part 15 emits light, the user knows that there is a content item related to the content item currently being reproduced.

When the notification process is performed by turning on the light emitting part 15 of the discovery button 14, it is preferable that the light emitting part 15 automatically stops emitting light when a predetermined period elapses in order to reduce battery power consumption of the reproducing apparatus 1. The light emitting part 15 may emit light when the content item to be reproduced decided at step S50 is reproduced. It can be considered that the light emitting unit 15 emits light after a certain delay after the content is reproduced. Or instead, the light emitting means 15 emits light for a predetermined period of time that the last part of the content item is being reproduced. Or alternatively, when the content item to be reproduced determined at step S50 is being reproduced, the light emitting part 15 may emit light. Or instead, until the user performs the next operation on the reproducing apparatus 1, the light emitting part 15 continues to emit light.

When the determined result at step S51 indicates that the content item related to the content item decided to be reproduced is not recorded in the reproduction apparatus 1, the flow proceeds to step S53. In step S53, the related information notifying process is completed. Regardless of the result of the determination at step S51, the content item decided to be reproduced at step S50 is reproduced.

After the user has been notified at step S52, when he or she presses, for example, the discovery button 14, the operation mode can be switched to the aforementioned artist link mode. In this case, the screen of the display section 10 is switched to the artist link screen. The list display section 71A shows the artist of the content item decided to be reproduced at step S50, and a list of artists strongly related to the target artist retrieved at step S51. When a plurality of artists strongly related to the target artist have been retrieved at step S51, the list display section 71A shows a list of artists strongly related to the target artist in a predetermined order.

The light emitting part 15 and the discovery button 14 are integrated together. Thus, when the user is notified of the presence of the relevant content item, he or she can properly operate the light emitting part 15 since the light emitting part 15 illuminates the discovery button 14 which he or she operates.

4. Related information notification method according to the second embodiment of the present invention

Next, a related information notifying method according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. According to the second embodiment, when the user is notified of content items related to content items to be reproduced, a result that may be more effective for him or her is obtained.

As a specific example, when the user's evaluation value of a content item to be reproduced exceeds a predetermined value, it is determined whether there is a related content item. Furthermore, it is assumed that the related content item to be determined is strongly related to the content item to be reproduced, and the user has not yet evaluated the related content item. Thus, the user can be notified of only relevant content items that he or she finds useful.

A content item that has not yet been evaluated by the user is a content item that has already been reproduced for which the preference rating in the "Rating" field is not calculated, for example, a content item for which only preview reproduction is performed or a content item selected by the user, but whose reproduction is performed by others within a predetermined period of time. or she stops.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the related information notifying method according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the flow chart shown in FIG. 21, the letter "A" indicates an entry to the flow chart shown in FIG. 24, and the letter "B" indicates an entry from the flow chart shown in FIG.

In the reproducing apparatus 1, when the content item to be reproduced is decided in a predetermined manner (step S60), the flow proceeds to step S61. At step S61, it is determined whether or not the user's evaluation value for the content item to be reproduced decided at step S60 exceeds a predetermined value. When the determined result indicates that the user's evaluation value is equal to or lower than the predetermined value, the flow proceeds to step S65. In step S65, the user is not notified of the relevant content item.

As the evaluation value of the content item by the user, the value of the "rank" field of the attribute information table of the content can be used. Assume that the value "5" of the "level" field is the highest evaluation value among the values "5" to "0". In this case, when the value of the "grade" field is "4" or more, that is, "4" or "5", it can be determined that the user's evaluation value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Instead, the value of the "reproduction frequency" field may be used as the user's evaluation value.

In contrast, when the determined result at step S61 indicates that the user's evaluation value for the content item decided to be reproduced is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the flow proceeds to step S62. In step S62, it is determined whether or not a content item related to a content item determined to be reproduced is already recorded in the reproduction device 1 with reference to a database that manages contents recorded in the reproduction device 1 . When the result of the determination indicates that no relevant content data is recorded in the reproducing apparatus 1, the flow proceeds to step S65. In step S65, the user is not notified of the relevant content.

As in the first embodiment, the database is referred to based on the content ID, and information on artists strongly related to the artist of the content item decided to be reproduced is retrieved. When the search result indicates that information on artists strongly related to the artist of the content item decided to be reproduced has been registered in the database, it can be determined that the content item related to the content item determined to be reproduced has been recorded in the reproduction apparatus 1 .

When retrieving information on an artist strongly related to an artist who decides a content item to be reproduced, the retrieval conditions can be further narrowed. It can be considered that the retrieval conditions for artist information are narrowed, for example, in terms of deciding the genre of a content item to be reproduced. For example, artists of content items whose genre is the same as the genre of the content item decided to be reproduced, or artists of content items whose genre matches more than a predetermined percentage with respect to the genre of the content of the artist decided to reproduce the content item are further retrieved. When the type is used as the retrieval condition, it can be considered that the retrieval results can be obtained more appropriately when the aforementioned small types are used. Therefore, it can be expected to obtain retrieval results that better meet user preferences.

In contrast, when the determined result at step S62 indicates that the relevant content item is recorded in the reproducing apparatus 1, the flow proceeds to step S63. In step S63, it is determined whether there are content items that the user has not listened to or that he or she has not evaluated among the contents of strongly related artists retrieved in step S62. When the determined result indicates that there are no content items that the user has not listened to or that he or she has not evaluated, the flow proceeds to step S65. In step S65, the user is not notified of the relevant content item.

From the value of the "reproduction frequency" field of the attribute information table for each content item of the retrieved strongly related artist, it can be determined whether there is a content item that the user has not listened to, or that he or she has not evaluated. When the value of the "reproduction frequency" field is "0", it can be determined that the user has not listened to the content item or has not evaluated the content item.

Or it may be considered instead that the user has not listened to or evaluated the content item when the value of the "reproduction frequency" field is equal to or lower than a predetermined value. Or it may instead be determined from the reproduction history recorded as a log file that the user has not listened to or evaluated the content item when a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the content item was reproduced.

When the determination result in step S63 indicates that among the content items of strongly related artists retrieved in step S62 there are content items that the user has not listened to, the flow proceeds to step S64. In step S64, for example, the light-emitting part 15 of the discovery button 14 is illuminated, notifying the user that the relevant content item is recorded in the reproduction apparatus 1 . The light-emitting period and light-emitting timing of the light-emitting part 15 can be set in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

When the user is notified of the relevant content item and the user presses the discovery button 14, the operation mode of the reproduction apparatus 1 is switched to the artist link mode. When the operation mode of the reproduction apparatus 1 has been switched to the artist link mode, as described above, the display section 10 displays the artist link screen. When the user selects a predetermined artist on the artist link screen, the display section 10 displays a content list screen showing a content list of the selected artist.

According to the second embodiment, it is preferable that, on the content list screen, among the content items represented as a list, content items that have not been listened to or evaluated by the user are highlighted. It is contemplated that content items that the user has not listened to or that he or she has not evaluated may be stylized differently than other content items, eg, by solid letters, italicized letters, and shaded letters. Or instead add a content name to a predetermined icon or badge. Thus, the user can easily find content items that he or she has not listened to or that he or she has not evaluated.

Information other than the presence of the relevant content item may be indicated by the light emitting pattern of the light emitting member 15 . For example, the light emitting pattern of the light emitting part 15 may be changed according to the evaluation value obtained at step S61 for the content item to be reproduced. Thus, the user can determine whether to press the discovery button 14 and switch the mode to the artist link mode according to the light emitting pattern of the light emitting part.

For example, it can be considered that the lighting interval of the light emitting part 15 is changed in accordance with the obtained evaluation value. More specifically, assuming that the value "5" of the "level" field is the maximum value among the evaluation values "0" to "5", when the evaluation value is "5", the light emitting part 15 can emit light at intervals of 0.5 seconds. When the evaluation value is "4", the light emitting part 15 may emit light at intervals of 1 second. However, it can be considered that the light-emitting part 15 has a plurality of light-emitting devices having different light-emitting colors so that they can be turned on individually and their light-emitting colors can be changed according to evaluation values.

In the foregoing example, when the discovery button 14 is pressed at step S64, the operation mode is switched to the artist link mode. However, unlike this, the operation mode may not be switched to the artist link mode. For example, when the discovery button 14 is pressed at step S64, content items that the user has not listened to or that he or she has not evaluated may be directly reproduced. When a plurality of content items that the user has not listened to or that he or she has not evaluated have been retrieved, it may be considered that they are successively reproduced in a predetermined order. Here, the aforementioned preview reproduction can be performed.

4-1. Example of applying the second embodiment to subscription service

As with the second embodiment, when he or she uses a subscription service under a contract with a content provider that allows him or her to reproduce downloaded content for a predetermined period, it is appropriate to add to the retrieval condition that the user has not listened to the content item. condition.

Next, the reservation service will be briefly described. For example, the user pays a flat fee to a service provider (for example, the music server 4), and signs a predetermined service contract with the service provider. On the other hand, the service provider encrypts the content in a predetermined manner and stores it as the reserved content. The service provider allows the subscriber to download subscription content. Furthermore, the service provider sends the subscriber the decryption key for the encrypted subscription content, for example via the Internet 3 . Specify an expiration date on the key. After the expiration date has been reached, the content cannot be decrypted using the key.

The user records the downloaded reserved content and its key to the playback device 1 . When the user selects the downloaded reserved content to be reproduced, the reproducing apparatus 1 decrypts the reserved content using the key, and reproduces the reserved content.

In other words, as shown in FIG. 22 , before the expiration date, the encrypted content 200 recorded in the playback device 1 is decrypted and reproduced using the key 201 for which the expiration date is specified. The validity period of the key 201 is managed by the secure clock 202, and the user cannot change the time of the secure clock 202. When the encrypted content 200 is reproduced, the specified expiration date of the key 201 is compared with the current time counted by the secure clock 202 . When the current time is earlier than the specified validity period of the key 201 , the encrypted content 200 is decrypted by the key 201 . On the contrary, when the current time is later than the specified validity period of the key 201 , the encrypted content 200 (which is an encrypted audio file) will not be decrypted by the key 201 .

When the valid period of the reserved content has been reached, the user may pay a predetermined amount of money to the content provider to extend the valid period of the reserved content. Accordingly, the validity period of the reserved content is extended. In this way, the encrypted content 200 can be decrypted by the key 201, and predetermined reservation content can be reproduced.

As a subscription service, the service provider side provides the service of automatically transmitting the subscription content to the user. The service provider side prepares content according to user preferences as subscription content. When the PC 2 is connected with the music server 4 through the Internet 3, the prepared content is transferred to the PC 2. When the user connects the reproducing apparatus 1 to the PC 2, the reserved content is automatically transferred from the PC 2 to the reproducing apparatus 1.

The reproducing apparatus 1 creates a list of content items transmitted within a predetermined period from the current date to a predetermined past date as the latest transmission content list. The content item list includes the previously transmitted reserved content. The predetermined period is, for example, one week, ten days, one month, or the like. The latest transmission content list transmitted through the subscription service can be used as an automatic playlist.

As described above, as the subscription service, the subscription content appropriately selected by the service provider is automatically downloaded from the music server 4 to the PC 2. The downloaded reserved content is automatically transferred from the PC 2 to the reproduction device 1. Thus, there is a high possibility that content (reserved content) not recognized by the user has been recorded in the PC 2 and the reproduction apparatus 1. Since the user does not know the content, there is a possibility that it will not be selected by the user, and will not be reproduced.

As described above, the subscription service can normally specify the reproduction valid period to the content. If there are many reserved contents that will not be reproduced until the effective period of reproduction, the user wastes money on these reserved contents. In addition, users may lose the opportunity to know new content.

Since the condition of whether the user has not listened to the content is used as the retrieval condition, the possibility of retrieving the content which the user has not recognized and which he or she has not listened to becomes high. Thus, the user does not waste money for subscribing content. Furthermore, users are expected to be able to know new content adapted to their preferences.

5. Modified example of the second embodiment of the present invention

Next, a modified example about the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. According to the modification of the second embodiment, whether or not to notify the user of the existence of related content is determined based on the number of contents related to the content decided to be reproduced.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the related information notifying method according to the modification of the second embodiment of the present invention. In the flowchart shown in FIG. 23, the letter "A" indicates an entry to the flowchart shown in FIG. 24, and the letter "B" indicates an entry from the flowchart shown in FIG.

When the content to be reproduced is determined in the reproducing apparatus 1 in a predetermined manner (step S70), the flow proceeds to step S71. In step S71, it is determined whether or not the content related to the determined content to be reproduced is already recorded in the reproduction device 1 by referring to the database for managing the content recorded in the reproduction device 1 . When the determined result indicates that the relevant content is not recorded in the reproduction apparatus 1, the flow proceeds to step S74. Thus, the user is not notified of the relevant content.

For example, the database is referred to based on the content ID of the content determined to be reproduced, and information on artists strongly related to the artist of the content determined to be reproduced is retrieved. When the retrieval result indicates that information on artists strongly related to the artist of the content decided to be reproduced is registered in the database, it can be determined that the content related to the content decided to be reproduced is already recorded in the reproduction apparatus 1 .

When the determined result at step S71 indicates that the content related to the content determined to be reproduced has already been recorded in the reproducing apparatus 1, the flow proceeds to step S72. In step S72, it is determined whether the number of contents retrieved in step S71 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. When the determined result indicates that the number of retrieved contents is equal to or smaller than the predetermined value, the flow proceeds to step S74. Thus, the user is not notified of the relevant content.

When the determined result at step S72 indicates that the number of contents retrieved at step S71 is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the flow proceeds to step S73. In step S73, for example, the light emitting part 15 of the discovery button 14 emits light so as to notify the user that the relevant content has been recorded in the reproducing apparatus 1 . The light-emitting period and light-emitting timing of the light-emitting part 15 are the same as the example of the first embodiment.

6. Operation after notification of related content common to the second embodiment and its modifications

Next, an example of processing after notification of related content common to the second embodiment and its modifications will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 24 . In FIG. 24, the letter "A" indicates an entry to the flow chart shown in FIG. 21 or 23, and the letter "B" indicates an entry from the flow chart shown in FIG. 21 or 23.

In the flowchart shown in FIG. 24, in step S80, the light emitting part 15 of the discovery button 14 emits light. In other words, the processing at step S80 is equivalent to the processing at step S64 in the flowchart according to the second embodiment shown in FIG. Processing of S73.

In step S81 , the user is prompted to press the discovery button 14 . The playback device 1 waits until a predetermined period of time elapses (step S83). When the discovery button 14 is pressed within a predetermined period of time after the light emitting part 15 of the discovery button 14 emits light at step S80, the flow proceeds to step S82. In step S82, the operation of the discovery device 1 is switched to the artist link mode.

In contrast, unless the user does not press the discovery button 14 within a predetermined period of time after the light emitting part 15 emits light, the flow proceeds to step S84. In step S84, the light emitting part 15 of the discovery button 14 stops emitting light. Thereafter, the flow proceeds to step S85. In step S85, the reproducing apparatus 1 waits until the reproduction of the content is completed. In other words, when the processing shown in FIG. 21 is switched to the processing shown in FIG. 24, the reproducing apparatus 1 waits until the reproduction of the content decided to be reproduced at step S60 is completed. When the processing shown in FIG. 23 is switched to the processing shown in FIG. 24, the reproducing apparatus 1 waits until the reproduction of the content decided to be reproduced at step S70 is completed.

When the determined result at step S85 indicates that reproduction of the content has been completed, the flow proceeds to step S86. In step S86, it is determined whether or not the content to be reproduced next time has been set. When the determined result indicates that the content to be reproduced next time has not been set, the flow proceeds to step S87. In step S87, reproduction of the content is completed.

On the contrary, when the determined result of step S86 indicates that the content to be reproduced next time has been set, the flow proceeds to the processing designated by the letter "B". In other words, when the processing shown in FIG. 21 is switched to the processing shown in FIG. 24 , the flow proceeds from step S86 to step S61 shown in FIG. 21 . In step S61, it is determined whether or not the evaluation value of the content to be reproduced next exceeds a predetermined value. When the processing shown in FIG. 23 is switched to the processing shown in FIG. 24 , the flow proceeds from step S86 to step S71 shown in FIG. 23 . In step S71, it is determined whether there is another content related to the content to be reproduced.

After step S65 shown in FIG. 21 , the flow proceeds to step S85 shown in FIG. 24 . At step S85, the reproducing apparatus 1 waits until the reproduction of the content decided to be reproduced at step S60 as shown in FIG. 21 is completed. Also, after step S74 shown in FIG. 23 , the flow proceeds to step S85 shown in FIG. 24 . At step S85, the reproducing apparatus 1 waits until the reproduction of the content decided to be reproduced at step S70 as shown in FIG. 23 is completed. Thereafter, the flow proceeds to step S86. In step S86, it is determined whether there is a content to be reproduced next.

The processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. 24 can be applied to the processing of the flowchart according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 20 . In this case, after step S53 shown in FIG. 20 , the flow proceeds to step S85 shown in FIG. 24 . When the determined result at step S86 as shown in FIG. 24 indicates that there is content to be reproduced next, the flow proceeds to step S51.

7. Example of retrieving related content based on attributes other than artist

According to the first embodiment, the second embodiment, and the modification of the second embodiment, it is determined whether or not an artist strongly related to the artist of the content decided to be reproduced has been recorded in the reproducing apparatus 1 (at step S51 as shown in FIG. 20 ). , step S62 as shown in FIG. 21 and step S71 as shown in FIG. 23). However, these embodiments and modifications may not be limited to such examples. In other words, determination may be performed based on attributes other than the artist for which the content to be reproduced is decided.

In the example of the attribute information table shown in FIG. 5, it is considered that determination is performed according to the type of content. Artists are retrieved, for example, in the condition that the genre of the content of the artist matches the genre of content decided to be reproduced and the condition that the number of content of the artist recorded in the reproduction apparatus 1 exceeds a predetermined value. Here, it is preferable to use the aforementioned subcategory as a retrieval condition.

At step S51 as shown in FIG. 20 , step S62 as shown in FIG. 21 , and step S71 as shown in FIG. 23 , features that determine content to be reproduced may be extracted. According to the extracted features, relevant content can be retrieved. When the content is music data reproduced as music, it can be considered that the music data is analyzed and then tempo, melody, pitch, etc. are extracted from the music data as characteristic data of the content.

As an example of music data analysis, when the music data is a composition according to a particular beat, such as rock or pop, the common parts of the left and right stereo audio signals can be considered as the beat and/or melody (vowels). The amplitude, frequency content, etc. of the common parts of the left and right stereo audio signals are analyzed. A portion changing at intervals of a predetermined period is extracted as a tempo. When a pattern unique to a human voice is detected, a melody part can be extracted. When the pitch of the melody part is obtained, the key of the music (minor key, major key, etc.) can be detected.

For example, music data is analyzed by PC 2. The analysis results for each content item are described in an attribute information table, and transmitted to the reproduction apparatus 1 . Or instead, the content data recorded in the hard disk drive 32 of the playback device 1 may be analyzed. Or instead, information such as tempo, melody and pitch for each content item may be provided by the music server 4 side. When PC 2 is connected with music server 4, these information that music server 4 end provides are transmitted to PC 2. When the playback device 1 is connected to the PC 2, these information are transferred from the PC 2 to the playback device 1.

It can be considered that in step S62, related content can be retrieved based on the statistical information on the content decided to be reproduced. Statistical information on content has been considered, such as "people who like artist A tend to like artist B" and "people who like content C tend to like content D", it is possible to obtain information on artists and content.

The music server 4 end obtains such statistical information for each artist and each content item in advance according to the content download request from the user end. When the PC 2 was connected with the music server 4, the music server 4 transmitted the statistical information to the PC 2 as the information of the attribute information table of the content. When the reproduction apparatus 1 is connected to the PC 2, the statistical information for each artist and for each content item transmitted to the PC 2 is transmitted to the reproduction apparatus 1.

8. Modifications different from the first embodiment, the second embodiment, and the modification of the second embodiment

In step S64 according to the first embodiment as shown in FIG. 21 , step S64 according to the second embodiment as shown in FIG. 21 , step S73 according to the modification of the second embodiment as shown in FIG. The light emitting part 15 emits light, and notifies the user of related content of the content determined to be reproduced. Or instead, the user may be notified of relevant content through audio sound or vibration. Or instead, the user may be notified of relevant content through the representation of the display part 10 .

When the user is notified of related content by audio sound, it is considered that the audio sound is recorded in the hard disk drive 32 as, for example, a predetermined audio file. When notifying the user of related content, an audio file is read from the hard disk drive 32 and reproduced in the same manner as the audio data of the content. Audio files are output from the HP amplifier 45 to the remote control terminal 47 . Audio files are reproduced as audio sounds by headphones.

Or instead, the audio sound may be generated by the microcomputer 41 in a predetermined manner according to a program. The microcomputer 41 generates audio data in a predetermined manner according to a program. The audio data is converted into an analog audio signal by the DAC 44. The HP amplifier 45 outputs audio signals to the remote control terminal 47 .

When the method of notifying the user of related content by audio sound is applied to the second embodiment, it is considered that a plurality of sound modes for notifying the user of related content are prepared, and one of the sound modes is selected according to the evaluation value.

When notifying the user of related content through audio sound, it is preferable to output the audio sound after completion of reproduction of the content in order to prevent the audio sound from affecting the reproduction of the content.

When notifying the user of related content by vibration, a vibrator is provided in the reproduction apparatus 1 . The operation of the vibrator is controlled by the microcomputer 41 . When the method of notifying a general of related content by vibration is applied to the second embodiment, it can be considered that the vibration pattern can be changed according to the evaluation value. When notifying the user of related content through vibration, the timing at which the vibrator vibrates may be the same as the timing at which the light emitting part 15 emits light.

When the user is notified of the related content by audio sound or vibration, he or she can know that there is the related content without looking at the reproduction apparatus 1 . Specifically, when the user is notified of related content by audio sound, he or she can know that there is a music related to the content being reproduced even though he or she is listening to music reproduced, for example, from the reproduction device 1 in a schoolbag or a pocket of its clothes. content.

Or instead, the user may be notified of relevant content through a representation on the display part 10 . The microcomputer 41 generates a display control signal according to a program to display an indication for notifying the user of related content, and supplies the generated display control signal to the display control section 35 . The display control section 35 generates a display signal based on the display control signal, and supplies the display signal to the display section 10 . The representation for notifying the user of related content may be predetermined text, icon, image, and the like.

In the above description, an example in which the discovery button 14 and the light emitting part 15 are provided in the reproduction apparatus 1 has been described. Or instead, the discovery button 14 and the light emitting part 15 can be set in the remote control commander connected to the remote control terminal 47 . Here, a control signal according to the operation of the discovery button 14 is supplied from the remote control commander to the remote control terminal 47 , and then supplied to the microcomputer 41 through the system gate array 36 and the bus 40 . A control signal for controlling the light emitting part 15 is output from the microprocessor 41 and then supplied to the remote control terminal 47 through the bus 40 and the system gate array 36 . After that, the control signal is supplied to the remote control commander.

In the foregoing example, the recording medium on which the content is recorded is the hard disk drive 32 of the reproduction apparatus 1 . Or instead as shown in FIG. 25 , the embodiments and modifications of the present invention can be applied to a reproducing apparatus 1' using a rewritable nonvolatile semiconductor memory such as a flash memory 302.

In the foregoing examples, the content was described as audio data such as music data. The content may instead be moving image data, still image data and/or text data.

9. The related information notification method according to the third embodiment of the present invention

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. According to the third embodiment of the present invention, the reproducing apparatus 1 is provided with a wireless communication function. Through the wireless communication function, the reproducing apparatus 1 directly transmits and receives data to and from the music server 4 and another terminal unit without passing through the PC 2.

FIG. 26 shows a structural example of a reproducing apparatus 1", which is the same as the reproducing apparatus 1 except that the reproducing apparatus 1" includes a wireless communication interface 303 for controlling wireless communication. In FIG. 26 , the same components as those shown in FIG. 3 are assigned the same reference numerals, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The wireless communication interface 303 is connected to the bus 30 . The wireless communication interface 303 exchanges data and commands with the microcomputer 41 through the bus 30 , the system gate array 36 and the bus 40 . Under the control of the microcomputer 41, the wireless communication interface 303 performs wireless communication with the outside world by sending and receiving data and commands to and from the outside world using radio waves according to a predetermined protocol. Or instead, the wireless communication interface 303 can use infrared signals to communicate wirelessly with the outside world.

When the reproducing device 1" is provided with the wireless communication interface 303 having a wireless communication function, the reproducing device 1" can directly transmit data to and receive data from another reproducing device having the same functions as the reproducing device 1" and the music server 4, And not by PC 2. As shown in Figure 27, reproducing apparatus 1 " carries out wireless communication by using wireless communication interface 303 and the wireless communication equipment (not shown) that is arranged on Internet 3, and directly to music server 4 by Internet 3 Send data and receive data from it.

Furthermore, the reproducing apparatus 1" is capable of wireless communication with another terminal unit having the same function as the reproducing apparatus 1" to transmit and receive data and commands to and from the terminal unit. As shown in FIG. 27, the reproducing device 1" can directly transmit data and commands to and receive data and commands from a reproducing device 1"A disposed around the reproducing device 1" and having the same function as the reproducing device 1". When the distance between the reproducing device 1" and the reproducing device 1"A is small and they can directly see each other, they can transmit and receive data and commands with each other through infrared signals as well as radio waves.

In addition, the playback device 1" can communicate with the playback device 1"B, and the playback device 1"B has the same function as the playback device 1", and can store content data through the Internet 3, so that the playback device 1" can send data to the playback device 1". B sends and receives data and commands from B. In this case, the reproducing apparatus 1" and the reproducing apparatus 1"B are connected to the Internet 3 through a wireless communication device (not shown) on the Internet 3, and can communicate with each other.

When the reproducing device 1" is reproducing content data, the reproducing device 1" can communicate with other terminal units such as the reproducing device 1"A and the reproducing device 1"B. The light emitting part 15 of the discovery button 14 of the reproducing device 1" can emit light when these terminal units have content data related to the content data being reproduced by the reproducing device 1".

The flowchart of FIG. 28 shows an example of processing for turning on the light emitting part 15 of the discovery button 14 when related content data exists in another terminal unit. In the reproducing apparatus 1", as described above, under the control of the microcomputer 41, the content data to be reproduced is selected and determined according to the user's operation on the operation part 20 (step S1). Then, in step S2, the content data is reproduced. data.

When the reproduction of the reproduction content is started, the flow proceeds to step S3. In step S3, in reproducing apparatus 1 ", wireless communication interface 303 communicates in a predetermined manner under the control of microcomputer 41. Reproducing apparatus 1 and wireless communication interface 303 detect another communication terminal unit. Here, as shown in FIG. 28 As shown, the reproducing device 1" can detect another terminal disposed around the reproducing device 1", for example, the reproducing device 1"A. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 28, the reproducing apparatus 1" may instead detect another terminal unit that can communicate via the Internet 3, for example, a reproducing apparatus 1"B.

In step S4, it is determined whether the reproducing apparatus 1 " and the wireless communication interface 303 have detected another terminal unit. When the determined result in step S4 represents that another communication terminal unit has been detected, the flow proceeds to step S5. In step S5, It is determined whether other terminals have content data related to the content data currently being reproduced by the reproduction apparatus 1".

For example, the reproducing apparatus 1" transmits the content ID of the content data currently reproduced by the reproducing apparatus 1" and a retrieval request for content data related to the content data having the content ID to the detected terminal unit. The detected terminal unit retrieves the content data from the content data storage part based on the content ID and the retrieval request sent from the reproduction apparatus 1", and sends the retrieval result back to the reproduction apparatus 1" using the wireless communication function.

The method of judging whether other terminals have content data related to the content data being reproduced by the reproduction apparatus 1″ is not limited to such an example. Instead, it can be considered that the reproduction apparatus 1″ requests another terminal unit to store content data stored in the content data storage means The list of content data stored in , and determine whether there is relevant content data according to the list.

When the result of the determination at step S4 indicates that another communicable terminal unit has not been detected within the predetermined period, the process is terminated due to timeout. Thereafter, the reproduction device 1" continues to reproduce the content data.

When the determined result at step S5 indicates that other terminals do not have content data related to the content data currently reproduced by the reproduction apparatus 1", the process ends. Thereafter, the reproduction apparatus 1" continues to reproduce the content data.

On the contrary, when the determination result in step S5 indicates that other terminals have content data related to the content data currently reproduced by the reproducing apparatus 1", the flow proceeds to step S6. In step S6, for example, the light emitting part 15 of the discovery button 14 is turned on The light is emitted under the control of the computer 41 in order to notify the user of relevant content data.

While the light emitting part 15 of the discovery button 14 of the reproducing apparatus 1' is emitting light, when the operation of the discovery button 14 by the user is detected (step S7), the flow proceeds to step S8. In step S8, under the control of the microcomputer 41, the attribute information of the content data related to the content data currently reproduced by the reproduction apparatus 1" and information about other terminals are displayed on the display section 10.

Examples of the attribute information of the relevant content data include the title, anthology name, artist name, and genre name of the content data. According to the content ID of the content data, attribute information of related content data can be obtained from other terminals, for example, through wireless communication. Or instead, the wireless communication interface 303 can communicate with the music server 4 through the Internet 3 to obtain attribute information based on the content ID.

The information on other terminal units may be information capable of identifying them. For example, when the reproducing apparatus 1" communicates with other terminal units according to a communication protocol, such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the other terminal unit can be used as information about the other terminal unit. The information of the unit. Or instead, its terminal name can be used as information about other terminal units. The terminal name is, for example, stored in the ROM of other terminals or in the storage unit for storing content data. Reproduced as shown in Figure 26 In the example of the device 1", the terminal name can be pre-stored in the ROM 42 as system information. Or instead, a user-establishable terminal name may be stored in the hard disk drive 32 .

In the foregoing example, the case where the reproducing device 1" communicates with the reproducing device 1"A and the reproducing device 1"B through the wireless communication interface 303 has been described. Or instead, in the reproducing device 1", the wireless communication interface 303 can communicate with the reproducing device 1" through the The Internet 3 wirelessly communicates with the music server 4 to retrieve content data related to the currently reproduced content data from the music server 4 .

Thus, according to the third embodiment, from another terminal unit and the music server 4, as well as the local reproduction device, the content data related to the currently reproduced content data can be retrieved.

It should be understood that, depending on design requirements and other factors, those skilled in the art may conceive of various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims (30)

1. A playback device, comprising: reproducing means for reproducing content data; notification means for notifying a user of the presence of content data related to the content data reproduced by the reproduction means when said content data is reproduced; and Notification control means for determining whether content data related to the content data reproduced by the reproduction means has been retrieved, and controlling the notification part to notify the user of the existence of the related content data when the related content data has been retrieved. 2. The reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a light emitting component that emits light when the notification control component controls the notification component; and an operation part for switching the operation mode of the reproducing apparatus to a retrieval and/or selection mode for relevant content data according to a user's operation, Wherein, the operating part and the light emitting part are integrated together. 3. The reproducing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, Wherein, when the evaluation value of the content data reproduced by the reproduction means is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the notification control means determines whether related content data related to the content data has been retrieved. 4. The reproducing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, Among them, the notification control section controls the notification section in a mode depending on the evaluation value of the content data reproduced by the reproduction section. 5. The reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an audio output component that generates an audio sound when the notification control component controls the notification component, Wherein, the notification control part controls the notification part to notify the user of the existence of the relevant content data by using the audio sound generated by the audio output part. 6. The reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a vibration generation component that generates vibration when the notification control component controls the notification component, Wherein, the notification control part controls the notification part to notify the user of the existence of the relevant content data using the vibration generated by the vibration generation part. 7. The reproducing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, Here, the notification control means determines whether related content data related to the content data has been retrieved based on the attribute information of the content data reproduced by the reproduction means. 8. A reproduction apparatus as claimed in claim 7, Wherein, the attribute information is the artist information of the content data, and Among them, the notification control section regards content data having artist information related to the artist information of the content data reproduced by the reproduction section as attribute information as related content data. 9. A reproduction apparatus as claimed in claim 7, Wherein, the attribute information is the type information of the content data, and Among them, the notification control section regards content data whose genre information matches that of the content data reproduced by the reproduction section as related content data. 10. A reproduction apparatus as claimed in claim 7, Among them, the attribute information is the statistical information of the content data, and Wherein, the notification control unit judges whether relevant content data has been retrieved based on statistical information of the content data reproduced by the reproduction unit. 11. A reproduction apparatus as claimed in claim 1, Here, the notification control section judges whether related content data related to the content data has been retrieved based on the characteristics of the content data reproduced by the reproduction section. 12. The reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: A recording part capable of accumulating recording content data, wherein the reproducing part reproduces the content data recorded in the recording part, and Wherein, the notification control part determines whether relevant content data related to the content data reproduced by the reproduction part has been recorded in the recording part, and when the notification control part has judged that the relevant content data has been recorded in the recording part, controls the notification part The user is notified of the existence of relevant content data. 13. A reproduction apparatus as claimed in claim 12, Wherein, when the notification control part has judged that related content data related to the content data reproduced by the reproduction part has been recorded in the recording part and the user has not listened to or evaluated the related content data, the notification control part controls the notification part to notify the user of the presence There is relevant content data. 14. A reproduction apparatus as claimed in claim 12, Wherein, when the notification control part has judged that related content data related to the content data reproduced by the reproduction part has been recorded in the recording part and the amount of the related content data recorded in the recording part is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the notification control part The control notifying section notifies the user of the existence of relevant content data. 15. The reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: wireless communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from a content storage device storing content data, Wherein, the notification control component detects another communicable content storage device through the wireless communication component, determines whether the detected content storage device stores relevant content data, and controls the notification component to notify the user that there is relevant content data when the relevant content data has been retrieved. . 16. The reproducing apparatus as claimed in claim 15 , further comprising: Display components, used to display data, Wherein, the notification control part controls the display part to display the attribute information of the relevant content data and the information about the content storage device storing the relevant content data. 17. A reproduction apparatus as claimed in claim 15, Wherein, the notification control part detects another communicable content storage device arranged around the reproducing apparatus, determines whether the detected content storage device has stored relevant content data, and controls the notification part to notify the user of the presence of the relevant content data when the relevant content data has been retrieved. related content data. 18. A method for notifying related information, comprising the following steps: reproduction of content data; determining whether there is content data related to the content data reproduced in the reproducing step; and When it has been determined that the related content data exists, the existence of the related content data is notified to the user while reproducing the content data. 19. The related information notification method according to claim 18, Among them, the notifying step is performed by causing the light emitting member to emit light. 20. The relevant information notification method according to claim 18, Wherein, the judging step is performed when the evaluation value of the content data reproduced in the reproducing step is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. 21. The related information notification method according to claim 18, Among them, the notifying step is performed when the user has not listened to or evaluated related content data related to the content data reproduced at the reproducing step. 22. The related information notification method according to claim 18, Wherein, the notifying step is performed when related content data related to the content data reproduced in the reproducing step is recorded in a reproducing apparatus that reproduces the content data and an amount of the related content data is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. 23. The related information notification method according to claim 18, Wherein, the notifying step is performed using a notifying mode depending on an evaluation value of the content data reproduced at the reproducing step. 24. The related information notification method according to claim 18, Wherein, the notifying step is performed using an audio sound generated by the audio output unit. 25. The related information notification method according to claim 18, Here, the notifying step is performed using the vibration generated by the vibration generating means. 26. The related information notification method according to claim 18, Here, the judging step is performed based on the attribute information of the content data reproduced in the reproducing step. 27. The related information notification method according to claim 18, Here, the judging step is performed based on the characteristics of the content data reproduced in the reproducing step. 28. The related information notification method according to claim 18, further comprising the following steps: detecting another communicable content storage device by wireless communication, Wherein, the notifying step is performed by determining whether another content storage device detected at the detecting step stores related content data, and notifying the user of the existence of the related content data when the related content data has been retrieved. 29. The related information notification method according to claim 28, further comprising the following steps: The attribute information of the relevant content data and the information on the content storage device storing the relevant content data are displayed on the display device. 30. The relevant information notification method according to claim 28, wherein the detecting step is performed by detecting another communicable content storage device disposed around the reproducing apparatus, and Wherein, the notifying step is performed by judging whether another content storage device detected in the detecting step has stored the related content data, and notifying the user of the existence of the related content data when the related content data has been retrieved.

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