RECEPTION APPARATUS, RECEPTION METHOD, TRANSMISSION APPARATUS, AND TRANSMISSION METHOD

• US 20140040968A1
• Filed: 03/18/2013
• Published: 02/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: KITAZATO, Naohisa, YAMAGISHI, Yasuaki, DEWA, Yoshiharu, KITAHARA, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 9,154,840 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/115
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/462 Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02

Abstract

Enable appropriate caching of application programs executed in coordination with AV content. The cache memory temporarily stores a coordinated application that is executed in coordination with received AV content. When a plurality of coordinated applications are stored in the cache memory, a control block controls the cache memory according to the priority of the coordinated applications which corresponds to a predetermined frequency specified for each of them in advance. The present technology is applicable to, for example, television receivers that receive digital television broadcast signals.

Claims

1. A reception apparatus comprising:

a reception block configured to receive audio visual content;

a cache memory configured to temporarily store an application program that is executed in coordination with the audio visual content; and

a control block configured to, when a plurality of the application programs exist, control the cache memory in accordance with priority of the application programs corresponding to a predetermined frequency specified for each of them in advance.

2. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the priority is determined based on at least one of a frequency of use and frequency of update of the application programs.

3. The reception apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the application programs are categorized into two groups, namely, those prioritized by a provider thereof and those that are not, and

the priority of the application programs categorized as to be preferred is set such that it is always higher than the priority of the other application programs not categorized as to be preferred.

4. The reception apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising

a terminal information acquisition block configured to acquire terminal information that is used to determine the priority and can be obtained in the reception apparatus,

wherein the priority is determined based on the terminal information.

5. The reception apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the terminal information is information that indicates a use history of the application program or a cache capacity or free capacity of the cache memory.

6. The reception apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the priority is determined based on an expiration date specified in advance for each of the application programs.

7. The reception apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a trigger information acquisition block configured to acquire trigger information used to identify a command for controlling the operation of the application program; and

a correlation table acquisition block configured to acquire a correlation table in which information obtained from the trigger information is correlated with the command,

wherein the control block controls the operation of the application program according to the command identified by the trigger information and correlation table.

8. The reception apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the priority is determined according to at least one of frequency of use, frequency of update, and expiration date of the application program which are specified by the correlation table, and the category of priority of the application program set by the provider.

9. A reception method comprising:

receiving audio visual content; and

controlling, when there are a plurality of application programs to be executed in coordination with the audio visual content in a cache memory that temporarily stores them, the cache memory in accordance with priority of the application programs corresponding to a predetermined frequency specified for each application program in advance.

10. A transmission apparatus comprising:

a generation block configured to, when there exist a plurality of application programs that are to be executed in coordination with audio visual content, generate trigger information used to control the operations of the application programs recorded in a cache memory in accordance with priority corresponding to a predetermined frequency specified for each application program in advance; and

a transmission block configured to transmit the trigger information along with the audio visual content.

11. A transmission method comprising:

generating, when there exist a plurality of application programs that are to be executed in coordination with audio visual content, trigger information used to control the operations of the application programs recorded in a cache memory in accordance with priority corresponding to a predetermined frequency specified for each application program; and

transmitting the trigger information along with the audio visual content.