Content reproduction device and control method thereof

• US 20070250888A1
• Filed: 03/24/2006
• Published: 10/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Sato, Koji
• Granted Patent: US 8,060,912 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/115
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

A mobile phone of the present invention, which is capable of reproducing a broadcast program supplied through a broadcast wave and stored programs stored in a program data storage, is provided with (i) a program ID extraction section that obtains a broadcast program ID for identifying a supplied broadcast program and a stored program ID for identifying a stored program, and (ii) a program reproduction control section that selects, as a reproduced program, at least one of a broadcast program and stored programs. On this account, a suitable program is selected and reproduced even if a broadcast program is broadcasted in a one-to-many manner. As a result, a suitable reproduced program is selected at suitable timing, in accordance with a supplied broadcast program and stored programs, and hence diversified needs of the users are satisfied.

Claims

1. A content reproduction device capable of reproducing (i) a broadcast content supplied through a broadcast wave and (ii) a stored content stored in a content storage,

the content reproduction device comprising:

broadcast content identification information obtaining means for obtaining broadcast content identification information used for identifying a supplied broadcast content;

stored content identification information obtaining means for obtaining stored content identification information used for identifying the stored content; and

reproduction control means that selects, as at least one reproduced content, at least one of the broadcast content and the stored content, based on a combination of the obtained broadcast content identification information and the obtained stored content identification information.

2. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 1,

wherein,

in the content storage, information indicating how many times the stored content has been reproduced is stored in association with the stored content identification information, and

the reproduction control means selects said at least one reproduced content, based on the information indicating how many times the stored content has been reproduced.

3. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 1,

wherein,

the reproduction control means selects a plurality of reproduced contents, and determines (i) in what order the reproduced contents are reproduced and (ii) at which positions of a display screen the reproduced contents are displayed.

4. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 1,

wherein,

a template storage stores a template which describes, in association with the broadcast content identification information, a rule based on which the reproduction control means selects the reproduced content based on the combination, and

the reproduction control means selects said at least one reproduced contents, based on the rule associated with the obtained broadcast content identification information.

5. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 4,

wherein,

the template includes timing information based on which a timing to replace a template that the reproduction control means refers is specified, and

based on the timing information, the reproduction control means replaces a template to be referred to.

6. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 5,

wherein,

the template describes, as the timing information, a rule based on the combination of the broadcast content identification information and the stored content identification information, and

the reproduction control means replaces a template to be referred to, in a case where the obtained broadcast content identification information and the stored content identification information satisfy the rule based on the combination.

7. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 5,

wherein,

when the content reproduction device receives a predetermined control signal from an external device, the reproduction control means replaces a template to be referred to.

8. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 5, further comprising:

template obtaining means for (i) obtaining, from an external device, a template to be newly referred to by the reproduction control means, in accordance with the timing information, and (ii) storing the obtained template in the template storage.

9. A method of controlling a content reproduction device capable of reproducing (a) a broadcast content supplied through a broadcast wave and (b) a stored content stored in a content storage,

the method comprising the steps of:

(i) obtaining broadcast content identification information used for identifying a supplied broadcast content;

(ii) obtaining stored content identification information used for identifying the stored content, and

(iii) based on a combination of the obtained broadcast content identification information and the obtained stored content identification information, selecting, as at least one reproduced content, at least one of the broadcast content and the stored content.

10. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave, the computer data signal comprising program code of a control program which causes a content reproduction device to reproduce (a) a broadcast content supplied through a broadcast wave and (b) a stored content stored in a content storage,

the control program causes a computer to execute the steps of:

(i) obtaining broadcast content identification information used for identifying a supplied broadcast content;

(ii) obtaining stored content identification information used for identifying the stored content, and

(iii) based on a combination of the obtained broadcast content identification information and the obtained stored content identification information, selecting, as at least one reproduced content, at least one of the broadcast content and the stored content.

11. A computer-readable storage medium storing a control program which causes a content reproduction device to reproduce (a) a broadcast content supplied through a broadcast wave and (b) a stored content stored in a content storage,

the control program causes a computer to execute the steps of:

(i) obtaining broadcast content identification information used for identifying a supplied broadcast content;

(ii) obtaining stored content identification information used for identifying the stored content, and

(iii) based on a combination of the obtained broadcast content identification information and the obtained stored content identification information, selecting, as at least one reproduced content, at least one of the broadcast content and the stored content.