Communication apparatus and its control method and program

• US 8,117,633 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2006
• Issued: 02/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kurosawa, Takahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHEPARD, JUSTIN E
• Application Number:
  US11/614,208
• Publication Number:
  US 20070147777A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,881 Days
• Field of Search: 725/81
• US Class Current: 725/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42646 for reading from or writing on a non-volatile solid state storage medium, e.g. DVD, CD-ROM
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42661 for reading from or writing on a magnetic storage medium, e.g. hard disk drive
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver

Abstract

In a network including a source of video contents and a playback terminal to receive video contents distributed from the source of video contents and play back the video contents, information on viewing state of video contents is collected and the collected information is stored. Then access right of the playback terminal for the video contents is set based on the stored information on viewing state.

Claims

1. A communication apparatus comprising:

a collection unit configured to collect playback communication log information of video contents played back via a network including a source of video contents and a playback terminal to receive video contents distributed from the source of video contents and play back the video contents;

a rule setting unit configured to set a filtering rule of video contents, wherein the filtering rule includes an executive portion and a conditional portion, and the executive portion determines an access right of video contents in accordance with the conditional portion;

a storage unit configured to store the playback communication log information collected by the collection unit; and

an access right setting unit configured to analyze the playback communication log information stored in the storage unit to determine the access right of the video contents based on the executive portion and the conditional portion of the filtering rule of the video contents set by the rule setting unit and an analysis result of the playback communication log information.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the playback communication log information includes at least one of a playback communication time of the video contents, a source of the video contents, a distribution destination, identification information of the video contents, identification information of the playback terminal, user identification information, the number of playback times of the video contents, a playback portion of the video contents and a group of the video contents.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the source of video contents is one of a storage connected to the network and an image sensing device.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication apparatus includes one of a hub and a router of a cable network, an access point of a wireless network, a residential gateway having an Internet gateway function.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the access right setting unit sets a publishing procedure of the video contents for a video sharing service.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the access right setting unit sets QoS conditions in video distribution.

7. A communication apparatus control method, comprising:

a collection step of collecting playback communication log information of video contents played back via a network including a source of video contents and a playback terminal to receive video contents distributed from the source of video contents and play back the video contents;

a rule setting step of setting a filtering rule of video contents, wherein the filtering rule includes an executive portion and a conditional portion, and the executive portion determines an access right of video contents in accordance with the conditional portion;

a storage step of storing the playback communication log information collected in the collection step; and

an access right setting step of analyzing the playback communication log information stored in the storage unit to determine the access right of the video contents based on the executive portion and the conditional portion of the filtering rule of the video contents set in the rule setting step and an analysis result of the playback communication log information.

8. A control method according to claim 7, wherein the playback communication log information includes at least one of communication time of the video contents, a source of the video contents, a distribution destination, identification information of the video contents, identification information of the playback terminal, user identification information, the number of playback times of the video contents, a playback portion of the video contents and a group of the video contents.

9. A control method according to claim 7, wherein in the access right setting step, a video content publishing procedure for a video sharing service is set.

10. A control method according to claim 7, wherein in the access right setting step, QoS conditions in video distribution are set.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform the control method defined in claim 7.