Contents reordering in a contents reproduction apparatus

• US 8,103,699 B2
• Filed: 07/02/2007
• Issued: 01/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nara, Hitoshi, Tamura, Takashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Rones, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Choi, Yuk Ting
• Application Number:
  US11/772,429
• Publication Number:
  US 20080168084A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,667 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/61 wherein solid state memory is used for storing A/V content storing computer data in solid state memories G06F
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]

Abstract

The present invention provides a contents reproduction apparatus which includes a file identifier generation unit that generates file identifiers that uniquely determine a plurality of contents files respectively which are hierarchically stored in an external storage device, an identification information generation unit that generates identification information to identify the respective contents files based on part of additional data related to the contents files and the file identifiers, a list forming unit that forms a list by re-arraying the identification information with the part of additional data set as the re-array condition, and a reproduction unit that reads out and reproduces the contents files which are identified by the file identifiers of the respective identification information from the external storage device in accordance with the order of the identification information in the list.

Claims

1. A content reproduction apparatus comprising:

file identifier generation means for generating sequential file identifiers that uniquely identify a plurality of content files respectively which are hierarchically stored in an external storage device;

identification information generation means for generating an identifier for each of the respective content files, each identifier being generated based on a same predetermined number of leading characters of additional data describing content of the respective content file and a different one of the sequential file identifiers, the predetermined number of leading characters being less than the total number of characters of at least one of the additional data describing the contents of the content files, wherein the identifier of each of the respective content files includes the predetermined number of leading characters of the additional data describing the content of the respective content file, wherein the additional data includes at least one of a title, an artist, and an album of the corresponding content file;

list forming means for forming a list by reordering the identification information with the predetermined number of leading characters of the additional data set as a reordering condition; and

reproduction means for reading out and reproducing the content files which are identified by the sequential file identifiers of the respective identification information from the external storage device in accordance with the order of the identification information in the list.

2. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the file identifier generation means sets a hierarchy cyclic order in hierarchy cyclic processing in which the cyclic order with respect to the plural content files uniquely identifies the sequential file identifier.

3. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

connection means for connecting to the external storage device, the external storage device being a portable storage device; and

list storage means for storing the list in the external storage device.

4. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

deleting means for deleting the list from the external storage device before being separated from the external storage device.

5. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the deleting means deletes the list from the external storage device before the power is turned off.

6. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the list forming means forms a plurality of lists with a plurality of kinds of the additional data set as the reordering conditions respectively, and

the reproduction means reproduces the content files in the order conforming to the list which is selected by the user from among the plural lists.

7. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reproduction means reproduces the plural content files stored in the external storage device in a readable order while the list forming means forms the list.

8. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the list forming means re-forms the list in case the number of the identification information contained in the list which has already been stored in the external storage device and the number of the content files which are actually stored in the external storage device are different.

9. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the list formed by the list forming means includes the sequential file identifier generated by the file identifier generation means and the identifier generated by the identification information generation means in association with each of the respective content files.

10. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification information generation means generates a plurality of identifiers for each of the respective content files, each of the plurality of identifiers being based on different additional data describing the content of the respective content file.

11. A content reproduction method of an information processing apparatus comprising:

a file identifier generation step of generating sequential file identifiers that uniquely identify a plurality of content files respectively which are hierarchically stored in an external storage device;

an identification information generation step of generating, by the information processing apparatus, an identifier for each of the respective content files, each identifier being generated based on a same predetermined number of leading characters of additional data describing content of the respective content file and a different one of the sequential file identifiers, the predetermined number of leading characters being less than the total number of characters of at least one of the additional data describing the contents of the content files, wherein the identifier of each of the respective content files includes the predetermined number of leading characters of the additional data describing the content of the respective content file, wherein the additional data includes at least one of a title, an artist, and an album of the corresponding content file;

a list forming step of forming a list by reordering the identification information with the predetermined number of leading characters of the additional data set as a reordering condition; and

a reproduction step of reading out and reproducing the content files which are identified by the sequential file identifiers of the respective identification information from the external storage device in accordance with the order of the identification information in the list.

12. The content reproduction method according to claim 11, wherein the file identifier generation step sets a hierarchy cyclic order in hierarchy cyclic processing in which the cyclic order with respect to the plural content files uniquely identifies the sequential file identifier.

13. The content reproduction method according to claim 11, further comprising:

a list storage step of storing the list in the external storage device, the external storage device being a portable storage device configured to connect to a connection unit of the information processing apparatus.

14. The content reproduction method according to claim 13, further comprising:

a deleting step of deleting the list from the external storage device before being separated from the external storage device.

15. The content reproduction method according to claim 14, wherein the deleting step deletes the list from the external storage device before the power is turned off.

16. The content reproduction method according to claim 11, wherein

the list forming step forms a plurality of lists with a plurality of kinds of the additional data set as the reordering conditions respectively, and

the reproduction step reproduces the content files in the order conforming to the list which is selected by the user from among the plural lists.

17. The content reproduction method according to claim 11, wherein the reproduction step reproduces the plural content files stored in the external storage device in a readable order while the list forming step forms the list.

18. A content reproduction apparatus comprising:

a file identifier generation unit that generates sequential file identifiers that uniquely identify a plurality of content files respectively which are hierarchically stored in an external storage device;

an identification information generation unit that generates an identifier for each of the respective content files based on a same predetermined number of leading characters of additional data describing content of the content files and a different one of the sequential file identifiers, the predetermined number of leading characters being less than the total number of characters of at least one of the additional data describing the contents of the content files, wherein the identifier of each of the respective content files includes the predetermined number of leading characters of the additional data describing the content of the respective content file, wherein the additional data includes at least one of a title, an artist, and an album of the corresponding content file;

a list forming unit that forms a list by reordering the identification information with the predetermined number of leading characters of the additional data set as a reordering condition; and

a reproduction unit that reads out and reproduces the content files which are identified by the sequential file identifiers of the respective identification information from the external storage device in accordance with the order of the identification information in the list.

19. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising:

a connection unit configured to connect to the external storage device, the external storage device being a portable storage device; and

a list storage unit configured to store the list in the external storage device.