INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, MUSIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, MUSIC DISTRIBUTION METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM

• US 20120226783A1
• Filed: 05/11/2012
• Published: 09/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Murata, Yuki, Atsumi, Soichiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,886,502 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/683 using metadata automatically derived from the content

Abstract

There is provided an information processing apparatus including a content storage portion to store content data, a content playback portion to play back content data, a metadata acquisition portion to acquire metadata describing information about the content data being played back in the content playback portion, a metadata transmission portion to transmit the metadata acquired in the metadata acquisition portion to the distribution server, a content reception portion to receive content data selected in the distribution server based on the information contained in the metadata and distributed from the distribution server, a content acquisition portion to acquire the content data from the content storage portion based on the information contained in the metadata, and a control portion to control the content playback portion to play back the content data distributed from the distribution server and the content data acquired from the content storage portion by the content acquisition portion.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus for playing back content data, connected to a distribution server for distributing content data over a network, comprising:

a content storage portion to store content data;

a content playback portion to play back content data;

a metadata acquisition portion to acquire metadata describing information about content data being played back in the content playback portion;

a metadata transmission portion to transmit the metadata acquired in the metadata acquisition portion to the distribution server;

a content reception portion to receive distributed content data selected in the distribution server based on the information contained in the metadata and distributed from the distribution server;

a content acquisition portion to acquire local content data from the content storage portion based on the information contained in the metadata, the local content data acquired from the content storage portion being different than the distributed content data distributed from the distribution server; and

a control portion to control the content playback portion to selectively play back the distributed content data distributed from the distribution server and the local content data acquired from the content storage portion by the content acquisition portion based on a configurable playback ratio, wherein the configurable playback ratio specifies a ratio between the distributed content data distributed from the distribution server and the local content data acquired from the content storage portion and, wherein the configurable playback ratio is used by the control portion to select either the distributed content data or the local content data for play back by the content playback portion.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the control portion controls the content playback portion to sequentially play back the distributed content data distributed from the distribution server and the local content data acquired from the content storage portion as content having the same or similar feature.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a content analysis portion to analyze content data to be played back in the content playback portion and obtain information about the content data.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the content analysis portion obtains information about a feature of content data, and the metadata acquisition portion acquires metadata containing the information about the feature.

5. An information processing apparatus for playing back content data, connected to another information processing apparatus over a network, comprising:

a content storage portion to store content data;

a content playback portion to play back content data;

a metadata acquisition portion to acquire metadata describing information about content data being played back in the content playback portion;

a metadata transmission portion to transmit the metadata acquired in the metadata acquisition portion to the other information processing apparatus;

a content reception portion to receive distributed content data selected in the other information processing apparatus based on the information contained in the metadata and transmitted from the other information processing apparatus;

a content acquisition portion to acquire local content data from the content storage portion based on the information contained in the metadata, the local content data acquired from the content storage portion being different than the distributed content data transmitted from the other information processing apparatus; and

a control portion to control the content playback portion to selectively play back the distributed content data transmitted from the other information processing apparatus and the local content data acquired from the content storage portion by the content acquisition portion based on a configurable playback ratio, wherein the configurable playback ratio specifies a ratio between the distributed content data transmitted from the other information processing apparatus and the local content data acquired from the content storage portion and, wherein the configurable playback ratio is used by the control portion to select either the distributed content data or the local content data for play back by the content playback portion.

6. A content distribution system comprising a distribution server for distributing content and an information processing apparatus for playing back content, connected to the distribution server over a network, wherein

the information processing apparatus includes:

a content storage portion to store content data;

a content playback portion to play back content data;

a metadata acquisition portion to acquire metadata describing information about content data being played back in the content playback portion;

a metadata transmission portion to transmit the metadata acquired in the metadata acquisition portion to the distribution server;

a content reception portion to receive distributed content data selected in the distribution server based on the information contained in the metadata and distributed from the distribution server;

a content acquisition portion to acquire local content data from the content storage portion based on the information contained in the metadata, the local content data acquired from the content storage portion being different than the distributed content data distributed from the distribution server; and

a control portion to control the content playback portion to selectively play back the distributed content data distributed from the distribution server and the local content data acquired from the content storage portion by the content acquisition portion based on a configurable playback ratio, wherein the configurable playback ratio specifies a ratio between the distributed content data distributed from the distribution server and the local content data acquired from the content storage portion and, wherein the configurable playback ratio is used by the control portion to select either the distributed content data or the local content data for play back by the content playback portion; and

the distribution server includes;

a content retention portion to retain content;

a metadata reception portion to receive the metadata describing information about the content being played back in the information processing apparatus from the information processing apparatus;

a content selection portion to select the distributed content data from the content retained in the content retention portion based on the information contained in the metadata; and

a content distribution portion to distribute the distributed content data selected by the content selection portion to the information processing apparatus.

7. The content distribution system according to claim 6, wherein

the content selection portion selects the distributed content data as content having a same or similar feature as the content being played back in the content playback portion.

8. The content distribution system according to claim 6, wherein

the content selection portion selects the distributed content data from the content retained in the content retention portion based on a similarity of the distributed content data to the content being played back in the content playback portion.

9. The content distribution system according to claim 6, wherein

the control portion controls the content playback portion to sequentially play back the distributed content data distributed from the distribution server and the local content data acquired from the content storage portion as content having the same or similar feature.

10. The content distribution system according to claim 6, wherein

the information processing apparatus further includes a first content analysis portion to analyze content data to be played back in the content playback portion and obtain information about the content data.

11. The content distribution system according to claim 10, wherein

the first content analysis portion obtains information about a first feature of content data, and the metadata acquisition portion acquires metadata containing the information about the first feature.

12. The content distribution system according to claim 11, wherein

the distribution server further includes a second content analysis portion to analyze content data retained in the content retention portion and obtain information about a second feature of the content data, and

the content selection portion selects the distributed content data from the content retention portion so that the second feature of the distributed content data analyzed in the second content analysis portion matches information about the first feature of content contained in the metadata.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program for playing back content in a computer connected to a distribution server for distributing content over a network, the computer program causing the computer to execute a process comprising the steps of:

storing content data;

playing back content data;

acquiring metadata describing information about the content being played back in the playback step;

transmitting the metadata acquired in the metadata acquiring step to the distribution server;

receiving distributed content selected in the distribution server based on the information contained in the metadata and distributed from the distribution server;

acquiring local content data from the content data stored in the storing step based on the information contained in the metadata, the local content data acquired from the content data being different that the distributed content received from the distribution server; and

controlling content playback to selectively play back the distributed content data distributed from the distribution server and the local content data acquired in the content acquiring step based on a configurable playback ratio, wherein the configurable playback ratio specifies a ratio between the distributed content data distributed from the distribution server and the local content data acquired from the content storage portion and, wherein the step of controlling content playback further includes using the configurable playback ratio to select either the distributed content data or the local content data for play back by the computer.

14. A method for playing back content in a computer connected to a distribution server for distributing content to over a network, the method comprising the steps of:

storing content data;

playing back content data;

acquiring metadata describing information about the content being played back in the playback step;

transmitting the metadata acquired in the metadata acquiring step to the distribution server;

receiving distributed content selected in the distribution server based on the information contained in the metadata and distributed from the distribution server;

acquiring local content data from the content data stored in the storing step based on the information contained in the metadata, the local content data acquired from the content data being different that the distributed content received from the distribution server; and

controlling content playback to selectively play back the distributed content data distributed from the distribution server and the local content data acquired in the content acquiring step based on a configurable playback ratio, wherein the configurable playback ratio specifies a ratio between the distributed content data distributed from the distribution server and the local content data acquired from the content storage portion and, wherein the step of controlling content playback further includes using the configurable playback ratio to select either the distributed content data or the local content data for play back by the computer.