INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, DISPLAY METHOD THEREOF, AND PROGRAM THEREOF

• US 20070206923A1
• Filed: 11/13/2006
• Published: 09/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Murabayashi, Noboru, Murakoshi, Sho, Seki, Tsutomu
• Granted Patent: US 8,326,115 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/230
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• 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 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/7921 for more than one processing mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8227 the additional signal being at least another television signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8715 involving the mixing of the reproduced video signal with a non-recorded signal, e.g. a text signal

Abstract

An information processing apparatus includes a first display control section, a first input section, and a second display control section. The first display control section controls displaying of a plurality of content representative pictures so that the content representative pictures are displayed and arranged in a first direction. The content representative pictures represent a plurality of titles of content. Each of the titles of content is made up of a plurality of structural units. The first input section inputs a first user'"'"'s operation to select one content representative picture from the displayed content representative pictures. The second display control section controls displaying of structural unit representative pictures so that the structural unit representative pictures are displayed and arranged in a second direction starting from the selected content representative picture when the first user'"'"'s operation is input. The structural unit representative pictures represent the structural units of the title of content.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

first display control section for controlling displaying of a plurality of content representative pictures so that the content representative pictures are displayed and arranged in a first direction, the content representative pictures representing a plurality of titles of content, each of the plurality of titles of content being made up of a plurality of structural units;

first input section for inputting a first user'"'"'s operation to select a content representative picture of a title of content from the displayed content representative pictures; and

second display control section for controlling displaying of structural unit representative pictures so that the structural unit representative pictures are displayed and arranged in a second direction starting with the selected content representative picture when the first user'"'"'s operation is input, the structural unit representative pictures represent the structural units of the title of content, the second direction being different from the first direction.

2. The information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

second input section for inputting a second user'"'"'s operation to select one structural unit representative picture of the displayed structural unit representative pictures; and

reproduction control section for controlling reproducing of the structural unit of the title of content so that the structural unit is reproduced when the second user'"'"'s operation is input.

3. The information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 2, further comprising:

marker display control section for controlling displaying of a marker so that the marker is movable on the displayed content representative pictures and the displayed structural unit representative pictures, the first user'"'"'s operation and the second user'"'"'s operation being input with the marker.

4. The information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 2,

wherein each of the titles of content is a moving picture made up of a plurality of frames,

wherein the structural units are chapters which segment the moving picture into a plurality of regions,

wherein each of the structural unit representative pictures is a thumbnail picture of the start frame of each of the chapters,

wherein the second display control section controls displaying of the thumbnail picture of each of the chapters so that the thumbnail picture is displayed in the second direction in the time series, and

wherein the reproduction control section controls reproducing of the moving picture of the selected chapter so that the moving picture is reproduced from the start frame when the second user'"'"'s operation is input.

5. The information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the first direction is nearly perpendicular to the second direction.

6. The information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the second display control section controls displaying of the structural unit representative pictures so that the structural unit representative pictures are displayed and their sizes are gradually decreased in the second direction.

7. The information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 4,

wherein the second display control section controls displaying of the thumbnail pictures so that the thumbnail pictures are displayed and the durations of the chapters in a total reproduction duration of the moving picture are correlated with the distances between the thumbnail pictures.

8. The information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 3, further comprising:

third display control section for controlling displaying of a plurality of category pictures so that the category pictures are displayed in a third direction which is different from the first direction, the category pictures indicating categories of the titles of content; and

third input section for inputting a third user'"'"'s operation to select one category picture of the displayed category pictures;

wherein the marker display control section controls displaying of a marker so that the marker is movably displayed on the category pictures, the third user'"'"'s operation being input with the marker,

wherein the first display control section controls displaying the content representative pictures so that the content representative pictures are displayed in the first direction starting from the selected category picture when the third user'"'"'s operation is input.

9. The information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 8,

wherein the first direction is nearly in parallel with the third direction, and

wherein the second direction is nearly perpendicular to the first direction and the third direction.

10. The information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 4,

wherein titles of content are broadcast moving pictures, and

wherein the information processing apparatus further comprises:

receive section for receiving each of the broadcast moving pictures;

segmentation section for segmenting each of the received moving pictures into the plurality of chapters in a predetermined condition;

record section for recording the plurality of segmented chapters of the moving picture; and

storage section for storing the moving picture representative pictures which represent the moving pictures and chapter representative pictures which represent the segmented chapters of each of the moving pictures.

11. The information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 10,

wherein the segmentation section includes:

section for extracting feature point information from each of the received moving pictures and generating segmentation position information with which each of the moving picture is segmented into chapters according to the extracted feature point information.

12. The information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 10, further comprising:

section for controlling the reproduction of a particular moving picture so that the reproduction of the particular moving picture is stopped; and

section for storing stop position information of the particular moving picture whose reproduction has been stopped,

wherein the second display control section includes;

section for controlling displaying of a thumbnail picture of the frame at the reproduction stop position so that the thumbnail picture is displayed next to the chapter representative pictures according to the stop position information when the particular moving picture is reproduced again after its reproduction is stopped,

wherein the second input section includes;

section for inputting a fourth user'"'"'s operation to select a thumbnail picture of the frame at the reproduction stop position, and

wherein the reproduction control section includes;

section for controlling reproducing of the moving picture so that the moving picture is reproduced from the reproduction stop position when the fourth user'"'"'s operation is input.

13. A display method, comprising the steps of:

controlling displaying of a plurality of content representative pictures so that the content representative pictures are displayed and arranged in a first direction, the content representative pictures representing a plurality of titles of content, each of the plurality of titles of content being made up of a plurality of structural units;

inputting a first user'"'"'s operation to select a content representative picture of a title of content from the displayed content representative pictures; and

controlling displaying of structural unit representative pictures so that the structural unit representative pictures are displayed and arranged in a second direction starting from the selected content representative picture when the first user'"'"'s operation is input, the structural unit representative pictures representing the structural units of the title of content, the second direction being different from the first direction.

14. A program which causes an information processing apparatus to execute the steps of:

controlling displaying of a plurality of content representative pictures so that the content representative pictures are displayed and arranged in a first direction, the content representative pictures representing a plurality of titles of content, each of the plurality of titles of content being made up of a plurality of structural units;

inputting a first user'"'"'s operation to select a content representative picture of a title of content from the displayed content representative pictures; and

controlling displaying of structural unit representative pictures so that the structural unit representative pictures are displayed and arranged in a second direction starting from the selected content representative picture when the first user'"'"'s operation is input, the structural unit representative pictures representing the structural units of the title of content, the second direction being different from the first direction.