AV information reproducing system and a reproducing method applied to the same system

• US 8,396,345 B2
• Filed: 01/03/2008
• Issued: 03/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Kanazawa, Koji, Yasukawa, Sachiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): HASAN, SYED Y
• Application Number:
  US12/003,925
• Publication Number:
  US 20080159721A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,895 Days
• Field of Search: 386/240, 386/220, 386/329, 386/356, 386/E5.025, 386/E9.036, 386/E9.04, 345/419, 348/473, 369/13.02, 369/53.37, 369/30.18, 369/30.03, 369/94, 369/275.3, 707/999.009, 707/999.1, 707/999.2, 707/E17.009, 709/219, 709/208, 709/223, 711/117, 711/163, 715/236, 715/752, 715/759, 715/861, 720/718, 725/37, 725/110, 725/112, 725/131
• US Class Current: 386/240
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/65 wherein solid state memory is used for storing indexing information or metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/11 by using information not detectable on the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3027 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/9206 the additional signal being a character code signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/79 Processing of colour television signals in connection with recording

Abstract

In a system for reproducing AV information from a recording medium, such as a DVD, not only are usual titles reproduced, but also related information relevant to specific stream information is acquired easily by making use of resources on a computer network. In a reproducing system with the function of reproducing the title information recorded on a DVD and displaying it on the screen of a display section, when the user clicks a Web mark on the screen, the CPU links to a Web server on the Internet via a modem and accesses the Web page related to the stream information on the screen. At that time, the related Web page is the selected information conforming to parental information, or attribute information, set in the system.

Claims

1. A reproducing apparatus comprising:

a first acquisition section configured to acquire, based on units of scenes, access information blocks composed of a table provided separately from stream data wherein the access information blocks contain references that include references to different external contents and to selected external contents;

a reproduction section configured to reproduce the acquired stream data, the reproduction of the acquired stream data being related to the acquired external contents;

a second acquisition section configured to acquire the external contents by referral to the access information blocks; and

an output section configured to output the acquired external contents in synchronization with the reproduction of the stream data.

2. A method of reproducing stream data, comprising:

acquiring, based on units of scenes, access information blocks composed of a table provided separately from the stream data wherein the access information blocks contain references that include references to different external contents and to selected external contents;

reproducing the acquired stream data, the reproduction of the acquired stream data being related to the acquired external contents;

acquiring the external contents by referral to the access information blocks; and

outputting the acquired external contents in synchronization with the reproduction of the stream data.

3. A method, comprising:

acquiring, based on units of scenes, access information blocks composed of a table provided separately from the stream data wherein the access information blocks contain references that include references to different external contents and to selected external contents;

providing the acquired stream data, the provision of the acquired stream data being related to the acquired external contents;

acquiring the external contents by referral to the access information blocks; and

generating the acquired external contents in synchronization with the provision of the stream data.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying a content of the generated acquired external contents.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying a content of the provided acquired stream data and/or the generated acquired external contents.

6. An apparatus comprising a processor configured to execute instructions corresponding to the method of claim 3.

7. An apparatus comprising a network interface configured to transfer the external contents, the apparatus being configured to execute the method of claim 3.