JP4875483B2 - Content reproduction method and information processing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a content reproduction method and an information processing device, and more specifically, a content reproduction method for reproducing content using a basic processing unit that controls and manages resources of the information processing device, and the content reproduction The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus using the method.

  Conventionally, information processing devices such as personal computers and mobile phone devices have been widely used. In recent years, in addition to improving the functions of communication terminal devices, in addition to providing communication functions such as call function, e-mail transmission / reception function, browser function, etc., you can enjoy music, novels, and even digital content with content like still images It is also possible to do. In addition to purchases from general stores in the form of files, these contents can be obtained using a download service provided by a content provider that has recently been remarkably enriched.

  When reproduction is performed in order to appreciate such content, it is necessary to perform calculations on a large amount of data using a simple reproduction algorithm. For this reason, it is a common practice to use a processing engine for performing high-speed arithmetic processing using the reproduction algorithm. Such a processing engine may be provided by hardware or may be provided by software.

By the way, not only communication terminal devices but also general devices are required to be downsized. In particular, mobile communication terminal devices such as mobile phone devices are strongly required to be small. For this reason, unless it is assumed that the usage frequency is high or the types of applications to be used are large, the processing engine is not usually provided by hardware. For this reason, a processing engine for a function positioned as an additional function for a communication terminal device such as reproduction of digital contents is usually provided by software. For example, in the following Patent Document 1, an invention relating to 3D rendering middleware having a 3D engine realized as software is disclosed.
JP 2006-4276 A

  As described above, conventionally, a processing engine for an additional function for a communication terminal device is usually provided by software. As a method of providing the processing engine, the type of application using a specific processing engine is used. Different schemes are adopted. For example, when a general-purpose application that uses a specific processing engine is described in an intermediate language such as JAVA (registered trademark) and operates independently of the model of the communication terminal device, the general-purpose application is It was common to have a specific processing engine involved. This is because it cannot be said that there is a high probability that another application using the specific processing engine is mounted on one communication terminal device.

  By the way, the digital content to be installed is generally encrypted for protection. In addition, there are various types of content, including still images and text, and in some cases, instructions such as vibration operation and backlight lighting may be further incorporated. Therefore, when using such various contents, it is suitable to develop while decrypting in the basic processing unit, and it is not appropriate to do this with a processing engine described in an intermediate language possessed by a general-purpose application.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when reproducing content, the content reproduction method and information capable of quickly reproducing the content and appropriately reproducing associated elements included in the content An object is to provide a processing apparatus.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in an information processing apparatus including a basic processing unit including a processing engine used for content reproduction by a general-purpose application , at least one of audio and image is included as a main element, and visual -A content playback method for playing back content including ancillary elements other than the main element, which is information for controlling an action appealing to at least one sense of hearing and touch , wherein the instruction to play the content is detected Is reported from the basic processing unit , the general-purpose application stores the content with the content reproduction condition in the basic processing unit that controls and manages the resources of the information processing apparatus . A deployment command step for commanding deployment of a content file; and the basic process that has received the deployment command. Part is, the content file, to expand by using the processing engine in accordance with the reproduction condition, with respect to the general-purpose application, the content file report content file expansion process and that the result of the expansion; in the deployment results And a content presentation step of presenting the content using content presentation means in the information processing apparatus led by the general-purpose application that has received the report of the result of the expansion , the content file comprising: Both the main element and the accompanying element are created in a format that can be described in a unified format, and in the content file expansion step, the main element in the content file is continuously expanded, and the expansion result is the It is continuously reported to general-purpose applications and the main When the accompanying element is detected during deployment of the application, the general application is requested to execute the detected accompanying element, and the content presentation step is performed by the general application to reproduce the reported main element. A primary element regeneration step to be performed by the initiative; and the general-purpose application that has received the request for execution of the subsidiary element is necessary to reproduce the detected subsidiary element in parallel with the progress of the primary element regeneration step. Information is acquired from the processing engine, the acquired accompanying element information is transferred to the basic processing unit, and the basic processing unit controls the accompanying presentation unit included in the content presentation unit to detect the detected And a subsidiary element reproducing step of reproducing the subsidiary element .

Here, “including at least one of sound and image as a main element” includes both a case where only a main element is included and a case where an accompanying element other than the main element is included. In this specification, the term “including at least one of sound and image as a main element” is used in this sense.
Further, as the operation of the accompanying presentation means, LED (Light Emitting Diode) emission, activation of a vibration function, lighting of a backlight, ringing of an alarm or a ringing tone, and the like can be considered.
Note that the content file is created in such a manner that both main elements and accompanying elements can be described in a unified format.

In this content playback method, first, when the basic processing unit reports that a command to play back content is detected , in the deployment command step, the resources of the information processing device are allocated from the general-purpose application that plays back the content. An expansion command with the content reproduction condition is issued to the basic processing unit to be managed and controlled.

  Subsequently, in the content file expansion process, the basic processing unit that has received the expansion command expands the content that is the contents of the content file in accordance with the reproduction condition notified in accordance with the expansion command. When the expansion is completed, the result of the expansion is reported to the general-purpose application.

  Next, in the content presentation step, the general-purpose application that has received the report in the content development step takes the lead and presents the content using the content presentation unit in the information processing apparatus based on the result in the content file development step.

In the above content file expansion process, the main element in the content file is continuously expanded, the expansion result is continuously reported to the general-purpose application, and an accompanying element is detected during the expansion of the main element. The basic processing unit (more specifically, the processing engine) requests the general-purpose application to execute the detected accompanying element.
In the content presentation process, the general application takes the lead in playing back the reported main element in the main element playback process. Further, in the content presentation process, the general-purpose application that has received a request for the execution of the accompanying element in the accompanying element playback process is required to play back the detected accompanying element in parallel with the progress of the main element playback process. Is acquired from the processing engine, and the acquired accompanying element information is transferred to the basic processing unit. Then, the basic processing unit that has received the transferred incidental element information controls the incidental presentation unit to reproduce the detected incidental element.
Therefore, even when a content file is played back, the basic processing unit including the processing engine is expanded and the like, so that quick playback can be performed and user convenience can be improved.
In addition, when reproducing the content, not only the sound or image that is the main element, but also the additional effect that is the accompanying element can be appropriately reproduced in time.

In the content reproduction method of the present invention, the basic processing unit may not report the reproduction result of the detected associated element in the associated element reproduction step to the general-purpose application.
In the content playback method of the present invention, the content file includes image data, the content presentation unit includes a display unit for displaying an image, and the playback condition is dedicated to the general-purpose application. Part of the reserved area includes image data development result storage area designation for designating an area in which the development result of the image data is to be stored. In the content presentation step, the general-purpose application includes the image data Can be transferred to the image display storage means.

  Here, the display means for displaying an image is a display device. Further, the image display storage means refers to a memory such as a VRAM (Video Random Access Memory).

In the content reproduction method of the present invention, when image data is included in a content file, the reproduction condition in which the main element is an image includes the display area information and the content of the content in the display means for reproducing the image data . Reproduction location information can be further included. Display area information refers to the size of the display device. This is because it is necessary for display processing.

From the second viewpoint, the present invention has at least one of a display means for displaying an image and an audio output means for outputting sound as a main presentation means, and in addition to the main presentation means, visual, auditory, and tactile senses. Content presentation means having at least one accompanying presentation means capable of appealing to at least one of the senses ; including at least one of sound and image as main elements and at least one of visual, auditory, and tactile sensations A content file created by a method in which contents including incidental elements other than the main element, which is information for controlling an action that appeals to the sense, is stored, and both the main element and the incidental element can be described in a unified format. a storage storing means; together comprise a processing engine that is utilized in the development of the content file, control the resources and Basic processing unit and for management; if that command for reproducing the content has been detected which is reported from the basic processing unit, to the basic processing unit, wherein the content file with the reproduction condition of the contents performs deployment command, based on the expansion result of the content file using the processing engine by the basic processing unit, a general-purpose application to lead the presentation of the content using the content presentation means; wherein the basic The processing unit continuously reports the continuous deployment result of the main element in the content file using the processing engine to the general-purpose application, and the accompanying element is detected during the deployment of the main element. Requesting the generic application to execute the detected ancillary element, and When an acquisition request for accompanying element information necessary for reproducing the accompanying element is received from the application, the processing engine sends the accompanying element information to the general-purpose application, and sends the accompanying element information transferred from the general-purpose application. If received, controls the accompanying presentation means to play back the detected accompanying elements, and the general purpose application leads the playback of the reported primary element using the primary presentation means, and When an element execution request is received, the processing engine is requested to acquire the accompanying element information, and the accompanying element information is acquired and transferred to the basic processing unit. Information processing apparatus.

First, when the basic processing unit reports that the instruction to reproduce the content is detected , the general-purpose application that reproduces the content controls the basic processing unit that manages and controls the resources of the information processing apparatus. The content file is instructed to be developed with the content reproduction condition.

  Subsequently, the basic processing unit develops the content according to the reproduction condition notified in accordance with the development command. When the expansion is completed, the result of the expansion is reported to the general-purpose application.

  Next, the content presenting means causes the general-purpose application that has received the report by the basic processing unit to present the content based on the reported result.

Here, the basic processing unit continuously expands the main elements in the content file, continuously reports the expansion results to the general-purpose application, and detects an accompanying element during the expansion of the main elements. Requests the general-purpose application to execute the detected accompanying element.
Then, the general-purpose application that has received the request to execute the accompanying element acquires the accompanying element information necessary for reproducing the detected accompanying element from the processing engine in parallel with the lead of the reproduction of the main element. Transfer the element information to the basic processing unit. Then, the basic processing unit that has received the transferred incidental element information controls the incidental presentation unit to reproduce the detected incidental element.
Therefore, when the content file is reproduced, the basic processing unit including the processing engine is expanded and the like, so that the reproduction can be performed quickly and the convenience of the user can be improved.
In addition, when reproducing the content, not only the sound or image that is the main element, but also the additional effect that is the accompanying element can be reproduced in time.

In the information processing apparatus of the present invention, the basic processing unit may not report the reproduction result of the detected accompanying element to the general-purpose application.
In the information processing apparatus of the present invention, the content file includes image data, the content presentation unit includes a display unit for displaying an image, and the playback condition is dedicated to the general-purpose application. A part of the reserved area includes an image data development result storage area designation for designating an area in which the image data development result is to be stored, and a display image for display on the display means is stored. The image processing apparatus may further include an image display storage unit, and the general-purpose application may transfer the expansion result of the image data to the image display storage unit.

In the information processing apparatus of the present invention, when image data is included in a content file, the playback condition includes display area information on the display means for playing back the image data and playback location information of the content. , That can be.

  As described above, the content reproduction method of the present invention has an effect that when reproducing the content, the content can be reproduced quickly and the accompanying elements included in the content can be reproduced appropriately.

  Further, the information processing apparatus of the present invention has an effect that when reproducing the content, the content can be quickly reproduced and the accompanying elements included in the content can be appropriately reproduced.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this case, the same or equivalent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

<Configuration>
FIG. 1 schematically shows an external configuration of the mobile phone device 10. Here, FIG. 1A shows a front view of the appearance of the mobile phone device 10, and FIG. 1B shows a rear view of the appearance of the mobile phone device 10.

  As generally shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the mobile phone device 10 includes (a) a mobile phone main body 11, (b) a numeric keypad for inputting a telephone number, and an operation. An operation unit 12 having function keys for inputting various commands such as mode switching to a control unit 21 (see FIG. 2) described later, and (c) a liquid crystal display for displaying operation guidance, operation status, received message, and the like. And a display unit 13 as display means having the device. In addition, the cellular phone device 10 includes (d) a call speaker 14 that reproduces an audio signal transmitted from a communication partner during a call, and (e) a sound input during sound collection or a sound input during a call. And (f) a guidance speaker 16 for generating ringtones and guidance sounds, and (g) an antenna 17 for transmitting and receiving radio signals to and from the base station.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile phone body 11 includes (i) a control unit 21 that controls the overall operation of the mobile phone device 10, and (ii) a base station via an antenna 17. And (iii) a storage unit 23 having a read-only memory (ROM) element and a random access memory (RAM) element for storing a program executed by the control unit 21 and various data. And. The display unit 13 includes a VRAM (Video RAM) 18 therein.

  Inside the storage unit 23, a content storage area 24 (storage means) and a HEAP area 25 are provided. A content file storing content is stored in the content storage area 24. The file can be obtained by purchasing at a store and installing it in the mobile phone device 10, or by downloading directly through the Internet. The content file also includes a multimedia file, and any one of audio and image is a main element, and an operation that appeals to at least one sense of sight, hearing, and touch is an accompanying element. And the accompanying elements are created in a manner that can be described in a unified format. Here, the “operation that appeals to at least one sense among visual, auditory, and tactile sensation” includes light emission of an LED (Light Emitting Diode), activation of a vibration function, lighting of a backlight, and the like. The HEAP area 25 is an area used exclusively by, for example, a JAVA (registered trademark) application, which is a general-purpose application.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 21 includes a basic processing unit 31 (part of the basic processing unit), an engine 32 (part of the basic processing unit), an execution environment unit 33, and a content reproduction application 34. (General-purpose application).

The basic processing unit 31 controls and manages resources in the mobile phone device 10 , and includes an engine 32 and an execution environment unit 33 therein as shown in FIG.

  The engine 32 decrypts the encrypted content file and calculates / renders the data if the content is image data. If the content is text, the engine 32 selects a font held in the basic processing unit 31. Use to reproduce. Further, when an accompanying element of the content is expanded and detected, an accompanying element execution request is made to the content reproduction application 34, and when there is a data acquisition request from the content reproduction application 34, the accompanying element is expanded. Transferred binary data.

  The execution environment unit 33 provides an effective environment for a general-purpose application described in JAVA (registered trademark) or the like to operate. The execution environment unit 33 is provided between the content reproduction application 34 that is a general-purpose application and the basic processing unit 31. It consists of a set of programs that perform command conversion and provide software resources for executing the content reproduction application 34.

  When it is detected that a content playback command has been issued, the content playback application 34 instructs the basic processing unit 31 to develop a content file with content playback conditions, and the basic processing unit 31. Based on the development result of the content file by the above, the content presentation using the content presentation means such as the display unit 13 is led. Specifically, for example, if the content is an image, the content developed on the HEAP area 25 is transferred to the VRAM 18, and when the accompanying element of the content is detected in the process of developing the content, The basic processing unit 31 is requested to execute the associated element.

<Operation>
The operation of the content reproduction application 34 configured as described with reference to FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, it is assumed that the content to be reproduced is content having an image as a main element. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, the exchange between the content reproduction application 34 and the basic processing unit 31 always passes through the execution environment unit 33, but is omitted in FIG.

  When a content file stored in the content storage area 24 is designated by an operation from the operation unit 12 and an instruction to reproduce the content is issued, first, in step S10, the basic processing unit 31 The command from 12 is detected. Then, the basic processing unit 31 reports to the content reproduction application 34 that the detection has been made. If the content reproduction application 34 is not activated at this stage, the content reproduction application 34 is also activated by the report.

  Subsequently, the content reproduction application 34 instructs the basic processing unit 31 to expand the content. At this time, as a playback condition, the location where playback in the content is started and the size of the display area of the display unit 13 are notified, and the memory address of the HEAP area 25 which is the area where the content is to be developed is specified. Next, the basic processing unit 31 instructs the engine 32 to develop the content with the reproduction condition.

  Subsequently, in step S11, the engine 32 starts decrypting the content and expanding the image content if the content is encrypted. Here, the expansion of the main elements is performed on the designated area of the HEAP area 25 notified from the content reproduction application 34. In the case of the present embodiment, since the content is image data, calculation for drawing and actual drawing work are performed. When the expansion is completed, the engine 32 reports the completion of the expansion to the content reproduction application 34 via the basic processing unit 31.

  Next, when the component of the content developed by the engine 32 is the main element in step S12, the content reproduction application 34 transfers the content from the HEAP area 25 to the VRAM 18 so that the display unit 13 can display the content. Perform the transfer. Then, while continuing the transfer, the content development is further continued. When an element corresponding to an accompanying element of the content is detected by the engine 32 in step S13, the engine 32 detects the content reproduction application 34. In response, an execution request for the accompanying element is made. That is, the engine 32 performs event management of the associated element.

  The content reproduction application 34 that has received the execution request makes an acquisition request for binary data, which is a developed accompanying element, to the engine 32 via the basic processing unit 31. Then, the engine 32 transfers the binary data to the content reproduction application 34.

  Next, the content reproduction application 34 designates the binary data and issues a device control instruction to the basic processing unit 31. Then, in step S14, the basic processing unit 31 executes the binary data. This may be light emission of an LED (Light Emitting Diode), activation of a vibration function, lighting of a backlight, and the like, and thus a more effective impression can be given when reproducing image data. The execution result of the associated element is not particularly reported to the content reproduction application 34. This is because where the activation fails, it does not become a major obstacle to the regeneration of the main elements.

  Therefore, even after receiving the execution request for the accompanying element, the content reproduction application 34 continues to transfer the image content developed by the engine 32 to the VRAM 18. In this way, these operations continue until all of the content commanded to be reproduced is reproduced.

  As described above, in the above-described embodiment, when it is detected that an instruction to reproduce content is issued, the resources of the information processing apparatus are managed and controlled by the content reproduction application 34 that reproduces the content. A content file development command with the content reproduction condition is issued to the basic processing unit 31.

  Subsequently, the basic processing unit 31 expands the content according to the reproduction condition notified in accordance with the expansion command. When the expansion is completed, the result of the expansion is reported to the content reproduction application 34.

  Next, the content presentation means causes the content reproduction application 34 that has received the report by the basic processing unit 31 to present the content based on the reported result.

  Therefore, even when a content file that includes both the main element and the accompanying element is played back, the basic processing unit 31 including the engine 32 can be expanded and the like can be quickly played back, which is convenient for the user. Can be improved.

  In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the content reproduction application 34 requests the basic processing unit 31 to reproduce the accompanying element when the content includes the accompanying element. When the reproduction request is received, at least a part of the content presentation unit is controlled to reproduce the accompanying element.

  In this case, when the engine 32 detects that the accompanying element should be played, the content reproduction application 34 that has received the accompanying element execution request requests the basic processing unit 31 to play the accompanying element. . Subsequently, the basic processing unit 31 that has received the reproduction request reproduces the associated element. For example, when the associated element is information for controlling the light emission of the LED, the LED is caused to emit light in a predetermined pattern over a predetermined time according to the description of the accompanying element.

  Therefore, in this case, when reproducing the content, it is possible to reproduce not only the sound or image as the main element but also the additional effect as the accompanying element at the same time.

  In the information processing apparatus of the present invention, the reproduction condition includes content reproduction location information.

<Modification of Embodiment>
In the present embodiment, the present invention is applied to a mobile phone device. However, the present invention can also be applied to a normal information communication device having a content reproduction function and can be applied to other mobile communication terminal devices. is there.

  The content reproduction method and the information communication terminal according to the present invention can be applied to content reproduction such that reproduction of accompanying elements is included in the content.

It is the schematic which shows the external appearance of a mobile telephone apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the mobile telephone apparatus of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the control part in FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the content reproduction application in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Mobile phone apparatus ( information processing apparatus ), 11 ... Mobile phone main body, 12 ... Operation part, 13 ... Display part, 14 ... Speaker for call, 15 ... Microphone, 16 ... Speaker for guidance, 17 ... Antenna, 18 ... VRAM , 21 ... control unit, 22 ... transmission / reception unit, 23 ... storage unit, 24 ... content storage area, 25 ... HEAP area, 31 ... basic processing unit, 32 ... engine, 33 ... execution environment part, 34 ... content reproduction application.

Claims (8)

In an information processing apparatus including a basic processing unit including a processing engine used for content reproduction by a general-purpose application, the information processing apparatus includes at least one of voice and image as a main element and at least one sense of visual, auditory, and tactile A content playback method for playing back content including an accompanying element other than the main element, which is information for controlling the appealing action ,
When the basic processing unit reports that the instruction to play the content is detected , the general-purpose application sends the content to the basic processing unit that controls and manages the resources of the information processing device. A deployment command step for commanding deployment of a content file containing the content with playback conditions;
The basic processing unit that has received the expansion command expands the content file using the processing engine according to the reproduction condition, and reports a result of the expansion of the content file to the general-purpose application. Deployment process;
On the basis of the result of the expansion, said the general-purpose application which has received the results of the report of deployment is led, and the content presentation step performs presentation of the content using the content presentation means in the information processing apparatus; equipped with,
The content file is created in such a manner that both the main element and the accompanying element can be described in a unified format,
In the content file development step,
The main element in the content file is continuously expanded, and the expansion result is continuously reported to the general-purpose application,
If the accompanying element is detected during the deployment of the primary element, the execution of the detected accompanying element is requested to the general-purpose application;
The content presentation step includes
A main element reproduction step in which the general-purpose application takes the lead in reproducing the reported main element;
The general-purpose application that has received the request to execute the accompanying element acquires accompanying element information necessary for reproducing the detected accompanying element from the processing engine in parallel with the progress of the main element reproduction step, and Transferring the acquired accompanying element information to the basic processing unit, and the basic processing unit controls the accompanying presentation unit included in the content presentation unit to reproduce the detected accompanying element; Comprising:
A content reproduction method characterized by the above . The content playback method according to claim 1, wherein the basic processing unit does not report a playback result of the detected accompanying element in the accompanying element playback step to the general-purpose application. The content file includes image data,
The content presentation means includes display means for displaying an image,
The reproduction condition includes an image data development result storage area designation that designates an area in which the development result of the image data is to be stored in a part of the area reserved exclusively for the general-purpose application ,
In the content presentation step, the general-purpose application transfers the development result of the image data to an image display storage unit.
The content reproduction method according to claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that 4. The content reproduction method according to claim 3 , wherein the reproduction condition further includes display area information on the display means for reproducing the image data and reproduction position information of the content. It has at least one of display means for displaying an image and sound output means for outputting sound as a main presentation means, and in addition to the main presentation means, an operation appealing to at least one sense of sight, hearing and touch is possible. Content presentation means having at least one accompanying presentation means ;
Containing at least one of audio and image as a main element, and storing content including an accompanying element other than the main element, which is information for controlling an action appealing to at least one sense of sight, hearing and touch Storage means for storing a content file created by a method in which both the main element and the accompanying element can be described in a unified format ;
A basic processing unit that includes a processing engine used to expand the content file and controls and manages resources;
When the basic processing unit reports that the instruction to reproduce the content has been detected , the basic processing unit is instructed to expand the content file with the content reproduction condition, and comprising a,; based on the expansion result of the content file using the processing engine by the basic processing unit, a general-purpose application to lead the presentation of the content using the content presentation means
The basic processing unit includes:
Continuously reporting the results of continuous deployment of the main elements in the content file using the processing engine to the general purpose application;
If the accompanying element is detected during deployment of the primary element, requesting the generic application to execute the detected accompanying element;
When receiving an acquisition request for accompanying element information necessary for reproducing the accompanying element from the generic application, the processing engine sends the accompanying element information to the generic application,
When the accompanying element information transferred from the general-purpose application is received, the accompanying presentation unit is controlled to reproduce the detected accompanying element,
The general purpose application is:
Leading the replay of the reported key elements using the key presentation means,
When receiving a request for execution of the accompanying element, the processing engine is requested to acquire the accompanying element information,
Obtaining the accompanying element information and transferring it to the basic processing unit;
An information processing apparatus characterized by that . The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the basic processing unit does not report a reproduction result of the detected accompanying element to the general-purpose application. The content file includes image data,
The content presentation means includes display means for displaying an image,
The reproduction condition includes an image data development result storage area designation for designating an area in which the development result of the image data is to be stored in a part of the area reserved for the general-purpose application .
Image display storage means for storing a display image for display in the display means;
The general-purpose application transfers the development result of the image data to the image display storage unit.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 5 or 6 . The information processing according to claim 7, wherein the reproduction condition includes display area information on the display unit that reproduces the image data and reproduction location information of the content .

Images