Information processing apparatus, music distribution system, music distribution method and computer program

• US 8,195,639 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2008
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Murata, Yuki, Atsumi, Soichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Quader, Fazlul
• Application Number:
  US12/290,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20090125527A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,309 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705, 707/711
• US Class Current: 707/711
• 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 music storage portion to store music data, a music playback portion to play back music data, a metadata acquisition portion to acquire metadata describing information about the music data being played back in the music playback portion, a metadata transmission portion to transmit the metadata acquired in the metadata acquisition portion to the distribution server, a music reception portion to receive music data selected in the distribution server based on the information contained in the metadata and distributed from the distribution server, a music acquisition portion to acquire the music data from the music storage portion based on the information contained in the metadata, and a control portion to control the music playback portion to play back the music data distributed from the distribution server and the music data acquired from the music storage portion by the music acquisition portion.

Claims

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

a music storage portion to store music data;

a music playback portion to play back music data;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 music 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 music playback portion.

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

the information processing apparatus includes:

a music storage portion to store music data;

a music playback portion to play back music data;

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

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

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

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

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

the distribution server includes;

a music retention portion to retain music;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

12. The music distribution system according to claim 6, wherein

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

the music selection portion selects the distributed music data from the music retention portion so that the tune of the distributed music data analyzed in the second music analysis portion matches information about a tune of music contained in the metadata.

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

storing music data;

playing back music data;

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

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

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

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

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