JP2010109493A - Content recording apparatus, method, computer program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

When a content to be deleted is determined due to a lack of free space in a storage means, content that a user desires to copy is deleted because the remaining number of times that the content can be copied is not taken into consideration.
A recording / reproducing apparatus compares a free capacity value of a built-in storage unit with a threshold value, and determines whether or not the free capacity is insufficient. If it is determined that the capacity is insufficient, it is confirmed that another recording device connected to the outside is in a state where the content in the storage means can be transferred. Since the recording / reproducing apparatus moves to another recording apparatus, the priority order of the plurality of contents is determined based on the number of remaining copies of each content, and the contents are moved based on the priority order.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing apparatus that manages whether or not it is necessary to save broadcast content recorded in a storage device (storage medium) such as a hard disk, and a control method therefor.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, recording / reproducing apparatuses equipped with a large-capacity hard disk as well as magnetic tape, optical disk, and memory card storage media have been developed as AV equipment for recording and reproducing video data and audio data.

  Among these recording / reproducing apparatuses, there is a recording / reproducing apparatus that includes a large-capacity hard disk and can store a large amount of content (broadcast program data) on the large-capacity hard disk. When a large-capacity hard disk is used for the recording / reproducing apparatus, it is not necessary to prepare a number of storage media such as a magnetic tape and an optical disk as in the prior art. Therefore, a recording / reproducing apparatus using a large-capacity hard disk gives the user great convenience in recording and managing recorded contents. On the other hand, as the capacity of the hard disk increases, it becomes difficult for the user to grasp the contents of all recorded program data in the large-capacity hard disk.

  Since the user cannot grasp all program data recorded on the large-capacity hard disk, unnecessary contents may be stored in the hard disk. When the hard disk capacity becomes full, the user needs to select and delete unnecessary program data from a huge amount of recorded program data. However, since the user cannot grasp all recorded program data, it is a heavy burden to select and delete unnecessary program data.

In order to reduce this burden, in Patent Document 1, the free space of the storage unit is increased by selecting and deleting content with the oldest recorded date and time in the recording / reproducing apparatus. In Patent Document 2, the free space of the storage unit is increased by selecting and deleting content using information such as the number of times the content is reproduced, the recording date and time, and the reproduction time in one reproduction.
JP 2007-312042 A JP 2005-038478 A

  In December 2007, Dubbing 10, a unified name established by the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA), was officially announced in response to the operational rules for private use of digital broadcasting proposed by the Information and Communication Council of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. It was done.

  The dubbing 10 is a new rule regarding copying of recorded programs of terrestrial digital broadcasting. For broadcast programs recorded with a hard disk recorder or a personal computer, nine copies and one move to another recording medium are permitted.

  However, according to the standard, there is a limitation that the number of remaining copies that can be made is zero when content that holds the number of remaining copies that can be made multiple times is moved to another recording device. However, the conditions have been greatly relaxed from the conventional “copy once” which allows only one copy, and the dubbing 10 gives a new user right to the content as the number of remaining copies.

  When the content is deleted by the above-described prior art method, there is a problem that the content recorded by the dubbing 10 is deleted while leaving a copyable right for many times. In other words, the conventional deletion method does not consider the remaining number of times that the content can be copied, and therefore deletes content that still has a copyable right for many times.

  The present invention provides a video / audio data recording / reproducing apparatus and its control method capable of increasing the free capacity of the storage unit by deleting the content recorded in the storage unit without losing the copy right of the user as much as possible. For the purpose.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the recording / reproducing apparatus compares the free capacity value of the built-in storage unit with a predetermined threshold value, and determines whether or not the free capacity is insufficient. If it is determined that the capacity is insufficient, it is confirmed that another recording apparatus connected to the outside is in a state where the content in the storage unit can be transferred. Since the recording / reproducing apparatus moves to another recording apparatus, the priority order of the plurality of contents is determined based on the number of remaining copies of each content, and the contents are moved based on the priority order.

  More specifically, it is a content recording apparatus capable of recording one or more contents input from the input unit and moving the recorded contents to an external device, and a free capacity value of the storage unit in which the contents are recorded and a predetermined value. The free space determination means for determining whether the free space is insufficient, and the external device connected to the content recording device when the free space determination means determines that the free capacity value is smaller than the threshold value. State detection means for detecting the operation state of the recording medium, and movement priority determination for determining movement priority for each content based on the number of remaining copies of each content when moving the content recorded in the recording unit to the external device And the operation status of the external device detected by the status detection means are ready for content movement, in order according to priority. Characterized in that it comprises a content moving means for moving the contents of the above to the external apparatus.

  According to the present invention, the recording / reproducing apparatus can increase the free capacity of the storage unit by selecting and deleting the content to be moved in consideration of the remaining number of times that copying is possible, so that the user can maximize the right to copy the content. It is possible to hold as long as possible.

<Embodiment 1>
A first embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(Configuration of recording and playback device)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a recording / reproducing apparatus 100 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  The antenna 101 receives a digital broadcast radio wave from a broadcasting station as an input unit, and outputs a signal based on the radio wave to the tuner 102.

  The tuner 102 converts the signal from the antenna 101 into a format that can be recorded by the storage unit.

  The recording unit 103 records the content output from the tuner 102 and management information including copy information about the content in the HDD 104 serving as a storage unit.

  The HDD 104 is a storage unit such as a hard disk drive (Hard Disk Drive), and records a plurality of contents such as broadcast data and management information about the recorded contents. The management information here is content attribute information indicating the number of remaining copies of each content recorded in the HDD 104.

  The threshold storage unit 110 holds a predetermined threshold of the HDD free space used to determine whether to move the content input by the user through the user IF unit 111 and increase the free space.

  The free space determination unit 105 compares a predetermined threshold stored in the threshold storage unit 110 with the free space of the HDD 104 and determines whether the free space is insufficient. If it is determined that the free space is insufficient, the control unit 109 is notified to execute a process for increasing the free space.

  The movement priority assigning unit 106 acquires the remaining number of times that the content recorded in the HDD 104 can be copied, calculates the priority of the content to be moved, and adds it to the management information of the HDD 104.

  The communication IF unit 107 communicates with a connected recording / reproducing device, and acquires information about the connected device and transfers content.

  The connection device detection unit 108 notifies the communication IF unit 107 of a device search request on the network in response to an inquiry from the control unit 109 whether there is another recording / playback device that can communicate with the network, and displays the result of the state detection. Notify the control unit 109.

  The control unit 109 transmits a detection command for detecting another device connected to the connection device detection unit 108 in response to a notification from the free space determination unit 105 and a user request from the user IF unit 111. Also, the control unit 109 sends information such as content to be deleted to the display unit 112. In addition, the control unit transmits a content movement command recorded in the HDD 104 to the content movement unit 114.

  The user IF unit 111 presents the order in which the content is moved according to the movement priority, receives the determination result by the user, and sends the content information to the control unit 109.

  The display unit 112 displays information to the user according to the data from the control unit 109.

  The reproduction unit 113 decrypts the content recorded in the HDD 104 and outputs it.

  The content moving unit 114 sends the content recorded in the HDD 104 notified from the control unit 109 to the communication IF unit 107.

(Operation flow of recording / reproducing device)
Next, the operation of the recording / reproducing apparatus of Embodiment 1 will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of recording one or more contents in a recording / playback apparatus for recording contents.

  In step S <b> 201, when a recording start request is generated, the free space determination unit 105 compares the free space value of the HDD in which content is recorded with the threshold value stored in the threshold value storage unit 110. If the free capacity value is larger than the threshold value, the process ends without executing the process. When the free capacity value is smaller than the threshold value, a detection command is transmitted to the control unit 109 in order to detect other recording / playback apparatuses connected via the network.

  In step S202, when the control unit 109 receives a notification of insufficient free space from the free space determination unit 105, the control unit 109 makes an inquiry to the connected device detection unit 108 to another external recording device connected to the network. Let This inquiry is made by detecting whether the operation state of the external recording device is ready for content movement. In this way, the connection device detection unit 108 performs communication for detecting the operation state of another recording device through the communication IF unit 107 and returns the detection result to the control unit 109. If a connection device is not detected, the connection device detection unit 108 notifies the control unit 109 and proceeds to step 210. If an external recording device is detected, the control unit 109 notifies the movement priority assignment unit 106 and proceeds to step 203.

  In step S203, the movement priority assigning unit 106, which is a movement priority determination unit, sets each movement recorded in the HDD 104 in a descending order of the remaining number of remaining copies and sets the priority to each content. Give. Next, the control unit 109 sends a content movement command to the content moving unit 114, and the process proceeds to step S205. Here, the reason why the priority of movement is set high for content with a small remaining number of possible copies is that there is a high possibility that the content has already been copied several times and recorded on the recording medium. Accordingly, it is considered that even if the recording apparatus is moved to another recording apparatus, the viewing is not restricted and the disadvantage to the user can be minimized. Also, whenever the content is moved, the number of remaining copies that can be made is always zero. Therefore, moving content that has a large number of remaining copies that can be made may significantly reduce the rights of the number of remaining copies that the user has retained.

  In step S204, the content moving unit 114 selects the content having the highest movement priority based on the priority set in S203, and proceeds to step S205.

  In step S205, the control unit 109 determines whether the selected content exists in the storage unit. If the content to be moved is not in the storage unit, the process proceeds to step 211. If the content to be moved exists in the storage unit, the process proceeds to step 206.

  In step S206, the display unit 112 inquires of the user whether to move the content to be moved. If it is determined that the user does not move, the processing from S205 is executed for the next highest priority content. If it is determined that the user moves, the process proceeds to step S207.

  In step S207, the content moving unit 114 moves the target content recorded in the HDD 104 to another recording device via the communication IF unit 107, and the process proceeds to step S208.

  In step 208, after the movement is completed, the free space determination unit 105 determines whether the free space value is larger than the threshold value. When the free space determination unit 105 determines that the free space value is smaller than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step S209. If the free capacity determination unit 105 determines that the free capacity value is greater than the threshold value, the process ends.

  In step S209, the free space determination unit 105 selects a content having the next highest movement priority among other content that has not yet been selected. Then, the control unit 109 confirms whether or not the content having the next highest movement priority exists in the storage unit. If the content does not exist as a result of the confirmation, the control unit 109 selects the next priority content, The processing from S205 is repeated. If the free capacity determination unit 105 determines that the free capacity value is greater than the threshold value, the process ends.

  In step S <b> 210, the control unit 109 informs that the recording apparatus to be connected cannot be detected through the display unit 112. Then, the process proceeds to Step 211.

  In step S211, the display unit 112 indicates to the user that the recording device has insufficient free space and ends the process.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the movement priority order of each content set by the movement priority assigning unit 106 based on the remaining number of possible copies in the first embodiment.

  Here, the broadcast content indicates content recorded in the HDD 104. The remaining number of times that can be copied indicates the number of remaining copies that can be held by the content.

Content having the same remaining number of times of copying is assigned the same movement priority, and content having the same movement priority may be selected as an object to be moved.
<Embodiment 2>
Next, the configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

(Configuration of Embodiment 2)
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In the configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus in FIG. 4, the same display numbers as those in FIG. 1 are used as the display numbers of the blocks having the same functions as those in FIG.

  In the first embodiment, the contents having the remaining remaining copy count of 0 have the same priority. However, the second embodiment is characterized in that, when prioritizing movement, priorities are given to attribute content with a remaining copy count of 0 from attribute information such as dubbing 10, copy once, and copy IN. Here, the copy IN indicates that recording from another apparatus is performed on the recording / reproducing apparatus by copying or moving. As with the copy-once content, the copy-in content cannot be copied (duplicated) and can only be moved to another device. This is because the number of remaining copies that can be copied or moved from another apparatus is 0 according to the standard.

  The recording / reproducing apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment includes a content attribute determining unit 401 serving as a content attribute determining unit in addition to the configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the first embodiment. Here, the description of the same block as the functional block in the configuration of FIG. 1 is omitted.

  The content attribute determination unit 401 determines whether the content is dubbing 10 content or copy once content from the broadcast wave analyzed by the recording unit 103, and assigns the determination result to the management information of the HDD 104. Also, the content attribute determination unit 401 gives copy IN information to the management information of the HDD 104 when content is copied from the communication IF unit 107 to the HDD 104.

  Further, the content attribute determination unit 401 gives information indicating the copy IN to the management information for the content copied from the other device by the communication IF unit 107.

  The movement priority assigning unit 106 also acquires attribute information from the management information for the content in the HDD 104, and assigns priority from the attribute information to the content with the remaining number of possible copies in addition to the remaining number of possible copies.

  The management information recorded in the HDD 104 includes the remaining number of times that each content recorded in the HDD 104 can be copied and a content attribute that is a result of the content attribute determination unit 401. Here, there are three types of attribute information: dubbing 10, copy IN, and copy once.

  The dubbing 10 content with the remaining number of possible copies of 0 is the dubbing 10 content that has been copied 9 times and has the remaining number of possible copies of 0. The copy IN content with the remaining number of possible copies of 0 is content that has been moved by copying or moving content recorded by another recording / playback apparatus. Further, the copy-once content with the remaining number of possible copies of 0 is a copy-once content recorded by the self-recording / reproducing apparatus.

  Regarding the movement of content, the present invention also takes into account the fear of the loss of content due to the failure of movement and the user's desire to copy-in from another recording / playback apparatus. That is, it is desirable to select content that is not important to the user as much as possible.

  Therefore, the movement priority assigning unit 106 sets the attribute priority of the content having the remaining number of possible copies 0 times to the highest movement priority for the copy once content. Then, the transfer priority is set to the next highest for the copy-in content, and the transfer priority is set to the lowest for the dubbing 10 content whose remaining number of possible copies is zero.

  Next, the operation of the recording / reproducing apparatus of the second embodiment will be described.

(Operation flow of recording / reproducing device)
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of recording content in the recording / playback apparatus according to the second embodiment.

  In step S501, when a recording start request is generated, the free space determination unit 105 compares the free space value of the HDD in which the content is recorded with a predetermined threshold stored in the threshold storage unit 110. If the free capacity value is larger than the threshold value, the process ends without executing the process. If the free capacity value is smaller than the threshold value, a detection command is transmitted to the control unit 109 in order to detect other recording / playback apparatuses connected via the network, and the process proceeds to step S502.

  In step S <b> 502, when the control unit 109 receives a notification of insufficient free space from the free space determination unit 105, the control unit 109 records the ready state to the connected device detection unit 108 in order to detect other connected recording devices. An inquiry is made as to whether or not a playback device exists. The connection device detection unit 108 performs communication for detecting another recording device connected through the communication IF unit 107, and returns a detection result to the control unit 109. If a connection device is not detected, the connection device detection unit 108 notifies the control unit 109 and proceeds to step 511. When the recording / reproducing apparatus to be connected is detected, the control unit 109 notifies the movement priority assigning unit 106 and proceeds to Step 503.

  In step S503, the movement priority assigning unit 106 sets the movement priority to the contents recorded in the HDD 104 in the order from the smallest remaining copy count, assigns each priority to the contents, and proceeds to step S504. .

  In step S <b> 504, the movement priority assigning unit 106 assigns priority to each content from the attribute information indicating the dubbing 10, copy once, and copy IN included in the management information of each content recorded in the HDD 104 for which the remaining number of copies is 0. Add.

  In step S505, the control unit 109 selects content to be moved based on the priority set in step S304, and proceeds to step S306.

  In step S506, the control unit 109 determines whether the selected content exists in the storage unit. If the content to be moved is not in the storage unit, the process proceeds to step S512. If the content to be moved exists in the storage unit, the process proceeds to step 507.

  In step S507, the display unit 112 inquires of the user whether to move the content to be moved. If it is determined that the user does not move, the processing from step S506 is executed for the next highest priority content. If it is determined that the user moves, the process proceeds to step S508.

  In step S508, the content moving unit 114 moves the target content recorded in the HDD 104 to another recording device via the communication IF unit 107, and the process proceeds to step S509.

  In step 509, after the movement is completed, the free space determination unit 105 determines whether the free space value is larger than the threshold value. When the free space determination unit 105 determines that the free space value is smaller than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step S510. If the free capacity determination unit 105 determines that the free capacity value is greater than the threshold value, the process ends.

  In step S510, the free space determination unit 105 selects a content having the next highest movement priority among other content that has not yet been selected. Then, the control unit 109 confirms whether or not the content having the next highest movement priority exists in the storage unit. If the content does not exist as a result of the confirmation, the control unit 109 selects the next priority content, The processing from S506 is repeated. If the free capacity determination unit 105 determines that the free capacity value is greater than the threshold value, the process ends.

  In step S <b> 511, the control unit 109 notifies that the connected recording device cannot be detected through the display unit 112. Then, the process proceeds to step 512.

  In step S512, the display unit 112 indicates to the user that the recording device has insufficient free space and ends the process.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the movement priority for each content set by the movement priority assigning unit 106 based on the remaining number of possible copies in the second embodiment.

  Here, the broadcast content indicates content recorded in the HDD 104. The remaining number of times that can be copied indicates the number of remaining copies that can be held by the content. Furthermore, the attribute is an attribute of the content, and is indicated by dubbing 10, copy once, and copy IN.

  Equivalent movement priorities are assigned to content with the same number of remaining copies. Content with the same movement priority may be selected as a movement target. However, the priority is assigned to the content whose remaining number of copies is 0, based on the attribute information.

As described above, in the second embodiment, even when a plurality of contents having three types of content attribute information are mixedly recorded in the storage unit, the priority order of movement using the attribute information is used. Can be set. By setting the priority, the user can move each content to another device without losing the right to copy.
<Embodiment 3>
A configuration according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

(Configuration of Embodiment 3)
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. In the configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus 300 in FIG. 7, the same display numbers as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are used as the display numbers of the blocks having the same functions as those in FIGS. Here, the description of the same block as the functional block in the configuration of FIG. 1 or FIG. 2 is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the timer 701 gives the date and time of reproduction or the date and time of recording to the content management information.

  The user request analysis unit 702 analyzes a user request for content based on the remaining number of times that each content can be copied, the history of reproduction date / time, and the history of copy date / time, which are management information stored in the HDD 104.

  The process determination unit 703 is a content movement process determination unit, and determines a process for increasing the free capacity of the HDD 104 based on the user request analyzed by the user request analysis unit 702. This process includes movement, backup, backup and copy, copy twice and delete. This management information is composed of information indicating an operation on the content including the remaining number of times that each content can be copied, the content attribute information in the content attribute determination unit 401, and the playback time, copy time, and recording time of the content.

  The content processing unit 704 performs copying, moving, backup processing, and the like of content recorded on the HDD 104 based on an instruction from the control unit 109.

  Next, the operation of the recording / reproducing apparatus in the third embodiment will be described.

(Operation flow of recording / reproducing device)
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation in which the recording / playback apparatus according to the third embodiment records content.

  In step S <b> 801, when a recording start request is generated, the free space determination unit 105 compares the free space value of the HDD in which content is recorded with the threshold value stored in the threshold value storage unit 110. If the free capacity value is larger than the threshold value, the process ends without executing the process. If the free capacity value is smaller than the threshold value, a detection command is transmitted to the control unit 109 in order to detect other recording / playback apparatuses connected via the network, and the process proceeds to step S802.

  In step S <b> 802, when the control unit 109 receives a notification of insufficient free space from the free space determination unit 105, the control unit 109 is in a ready state with respect to the connection device detection unit 108 in order to detect other connected recording devices. An inquiry is made as to whether a recording / reproducing apparatus exists. The connection device detection unit 108 performs communication for detecting another recording device connected through the communication IF unit 107, and returns a detection result to the control unit 109. If a connection device is not detected, the connection device detection unit 108 notifies the control unit 109 and proceeds to step 815. When the recording / reproducing device to be connected is detected, the control unit 109 notifies the movement priority assigning unit 106 and proceeds to Step 803.

  In step S815, the control unit 109 informs that the connected recording device cannot be detected through the display unit 112. Then, the process proceeds to Step 816.

  In step S816, the display unit 112 indicates to the user that the recording device has insufficient free space and ends the process.

  In step S803, the movement priority assigning unit 106 sets the movement priority to the contents recorded in the HDD 104 in the order from the smallest remaining copy count, assigns the priority to each content, and proceeds to step S804. .

  In step S804, the movement priority assigning unit 106 assigns a priority to each content from the attribute information indicating the dubbing 10, copy once, and copy IN included in the management information of each content that is recorded in the HDD 104 and has a remaining copy count of 0. Add.

  In step S805, the control unit 109 selects content to be moved based on the priority set in step S804, and the process proceeds to step S806.

  In step S806, the control unit 109 determines whether the selected content exists in the storage unit. If the content to be moved is not in the storage unit, the process proceeds to step S816. If the content to be moved exists in the storage unit, the process proceeds to step 807.

  In step S807, the control unit 109 determines whether the number of remaining copies that can be processed is 0. If the remaining number of possible copies is 0, the process proceeds to step S813. If the remaining number of possible copies is not 0, the process proceeds to step S808.

  In step S808, the user request analysis unit 702 analyzes the user request based on the past viewing history, the recording date and time, and the remaining number of possible copies for the content. As a result of the analysis, the control unit 109 determines one of “move”, “backup”, “copy and backup”, and “copy twice and delete”.

  In step S809, the process determination unit 703 determines a process for increasing the free space based on the user request analyzed from the remaining number of times that can be copied, the copy history for the content, the playback history, and the recording date and time. For example, when there is a user request such as “I want to watch immediately” and “I want to copy or watch in the future” for the content, the process for increasing the free space is “copy and backup”.

  After the processing candidate is determined in step S810, when the content to be processed exists in the storage unit, the display unit 112 displays the content to be processed to the user and inquires whether to process this content. Here, this process refers to the process determined in S809 or S813. When it is determined that the user does not process, the processing from S806 is executed on the content with the next highest priority. If it is determined that the user will process, the process proceeds to step S811.

  In step S811, the content processing unit 704 moves the target content recorded in the HDD 104 to another apparatus via the communication IF unit 107.

  In step S812, the free space determination unit 105 determines whether the free space value is greater than a threshold value. When the free space determination unit 105 determines that the free space value is smaller than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step S814. If the free capacity determination unit 105 determines that the free capacity value is greater than the threshold value, the process ends.

  In step S813, the control unit 109 sets “move” as a process for increasing the free space.

  In step S814, the free space determination unit 105 selects another content that is not yet selected with the same priority, or if there is no content with the same priority, selects a content with the next priority, and from S806. Repeat the process.

(Processing on content)
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of correspondence between a user request and processing for content according to the third embodiment. As shown in the figure, “I want to watch immediately”, “I want to copy immediately”, and “I want to copy or watch in the future” are shown as user request selections. For example, in the case of content 1, when all of “I want to watch immediately”, “I want to copy immediately” and “I want to copy or watch in the future” are requested, it is understood that the action of “Copy and backup” is selected. .

  Here, backup means copying content to another recording / playback device, and the copied content cannot be viewed or edited from the copy-source recording / playback device and the copy-destination recording / playback device. In addition, when there is a request for viewing or copying content, it is necessary to move the content from the recording / playback device at the backup destination to the recording / playback device that performed the backup. Although it is temporarily impossible to view or copy content, it is possible to avoid a decrease in the number of remaining copies by returning the content to the backup recording / playback device when the free space increases. Become.

  The procedure for analyzing user requests from management information is shown below.

The user request analysis unit 702 analyzes whether the user requests one of “I want to view immediately”, “I want to copy immediately”, or “I want to copy or view in the future”. For example, if the remaining number of times that the content can be copied has not been copied as nine times and there is no history of reproduction within one week, it is analyzed that there is a request to “view immediately”. (In this case, “○” in the column “I want to watch it immediately” in FIG. 9 is applicable.) Also, if there is no history of recent copy of content and it was recorded within one week, Analyze that there is a "request to copy" to. (In this case, “○” in the column “I want to copy immediately” in FIG. 9 corresponds.) Furthermore, if the remaining number of remaining copies of content remains as many as 5 or more, “I want to copy or view in the future” “Analyze that there is a request. (In this case, “◯” in the column “I want to copy or view in the future” in FIG. 9 corresponds.)
The user requests are “I want to watch immediately”, “I want to copy immediately”, and “I want to copy and watch in the future”, but the user request for content is not limited by the example of the user request shown here. In addition, “Move”, “Backup”, “Copy and backup”, and “Copy twice and delete” are listed as processing to increase free space, but “Delete”, “Copy and delete three times”, etc. It is also possible to increase the available capacity of the recording device.

  As described above, in the third embodiment, the time history of the reproduced date and the copied date is acquired by providing a timer. The user's processing request for the content is extracted by analyzing the user's request including the remaining number of times that can be copied and these time histories. By taking this form, the present invention is not limited to the standard processing, but the processing content can be changed according to the user's wish, and thus has an effect of giving flexibility to the processing.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is also achieved by supplying a program that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments directly or remotely to a system or apparatus, and the system or apparatus reads and executes the code of the supplied computer program. The Accordingly, the computer program code itself installed in the computer in order to realize the functional processing of the present invention by the computer is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  In this case, the program may be in any form as long as it has a program function, such as an object code, a program executed by an interpreter, or script data supplied to the OS.

  Examples of the storage medium for supplying the program include a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an optical disk (CD, DVD), a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, and a ROM.

  Further, the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the computer executing the read program. In addition, based on the instructions of the program, an OS or the like running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments can also be realized by the processing.

Further, the program read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. Thereafter, the CPU of the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a recording / reproducing device in Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the recording / reproducing apparatus in the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the priority of the content in Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a recording / reproducing device according to a second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a recording / reproducing apparatus in Embodiment 2. It is a figure which shows the priority of the content in Embodiment 2. FIG. FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a recording / reproducing device according to Embodiment 3. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a recording / reproducing apparatus in Embodiment 3. It is a figure which shows the response | compatibility of the process with respect to the user request | requirement and content in Embodiment 3.

Explanation of symbols

101 Antenna 102 Tuner 103 Recording unit 104 HDD
105 Free capacity determination unit 106 Movement priority assignment unit 107 Communication IF unit 108 Connection device detection unit 109 Control unit 110 Threshold storage unit 111 User IF unit 112 Display unit 113 Playback unit 114 Content movement unit 401 Content attribute determination unit 701 Timer 702 User Request determination unit 703 Processing determination unit 704 Content processing unit

Claims (6)

A content recording apparatus capable of recording one or more contents input from an input unit and transferring the recorded contents to an external apparatus,
A free space determination unit that compares the free space value of the storage unit in which the content is recorded with a predetermined threshold and determines whether the free space is insufficient;
State detecting means for detecting an operating state of the external device connected to the content recording device when the free capacity determining means determines that the free capacity value is smaller than the threshold;
Movement priority determination means for determining the priority of movement for each content when moving the content recorded in the storage unit to the external device based on the number of remaining copies of each content;
Content moving means for moving one or more contents to the external apparatus in the order according to the priority when the operation state of the external apparatus detected by the state detecting means is a ready state for moving contents;
A content recording apparatus comprising: The recording device further includes content attribute determination means for determining based on content attribute information of copy once received with the content, dubbing 10 or a copy from another device,
The content recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the movement priority determination unit determines a movement priority for the content from the remaining number of times that the content can be copied and the content attribute information.   The apparatus further comprises a process determining means for determining whether to move, copy, or delete the content based on the history of the remaining number of times that the content can be copied, the reproduction date and time, and the copy date and time. The content recording apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that: A method capable of recording content input from an input unit and moving the recorded content to an external device,
Comparing the free space value of the storage unit in which the content is recorded with a predetermined threshold and determining whether the free space is insufficient;
Detecting the operating state of the external device connected to the storage unit when it is determined that the free capacity value is smaller than the threshold;
Determining the priority of movement for each content when moving the content recorded in the storage unit to the external device based on the number of remaining copies of each content;
Moving the one or more contents to the external device in the order according to the priority when the detected operation state of the external device is a ready state for the movement of the content.   A computer program for causing a computer to execute each step in the method according to claim 4.   A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to execute each step in the method according to claim 4.

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