JP5358633B2 - Content transmission device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To resolve a problem that, in acquisition of a content over a network, the content can not be transmitted in response to a transmission request in the case that the resource is used by a transmission side or the like even when the content is registered in a content list acquired from the content transmission apparatus side, which causes wasted operation and process in a content reception apparatus side. <P>SOLUTION: List information for a content that can not be transmitted because of usage of the resource at the time of request for a content list is set to be transmission impossible to prevent a wasted process in a reception apparatus side. Registration of content information inaccessible, at the time when the content list is acquired, to the content list is restricted to reduce the load of a list generation process. In addition, a content transmission apparatus distributes the content list of contents that can be used at that time at a timing of change in resource usage of the self apparatus as a trigger. Thereby, a content reception apparatus can always refer the contents that can be acquired. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2012,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention receives information from a content transmitting apparatus that transmits the requested content information and the requested content to other devices connected via the network, and the content from other devices connected via the network. The present invention relates to a content receiving apparatus.

HDD recorders that store broadcast programs on a hard disk drive (HDD) and a built-in tuner that can record broadcast programs and store them on a WAN (Wide Area Network) server AV devices that can store a large amount of content in their own devices, such as PCs (Personal Computers) that can download stored content and store them in the HDD of their own devices, have become widespread.
In addition, with the start of IPTV services that acquire VOD (Video On Demand) content over WAN via TV and the termination of BS (Broadcast Satellite) analog broadcasting services, a number of new BS digital broadcasting services have started. It is thought that content that users will come into contact with will increase in the future, such as planned.

  In such a situation, when a plurality of devices as described above are held in one household, there is an increasing demand for connecting these devices to each other and sharing the stored content. . In contrast, the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) connects home devices to each other via an IP (Internet Protocol) network, and stores content stored in each device or available via a tuner. Standards for sharing are established.

In DLNA, when content is acquired from a content transmission apparatus existing on a network, what kind of content exists in the content transmission apparatus and what content is the content (video, music, or image) It is necessary to acquire information (hereinafter, referred to as a content list) in advance (non-patent document 1).
A method for displaying information on an enormous amount of content so that it can be easily used by a user, and a method for acquiring content optimal for a system state such as traffic of a device (hereinafter referred to as a content receiving device) that receives the content at that time Is proposed in Patent Document 1.

On the other hand, when digital content is transmitted and shared over a network as described above, there is little deterioration in data quality during transmission, and a copy (duplication) of the same quality as the content in the transmitting device is received. Therefore, for content that should be protected by copyright, consideration must be given to prevent unauthorized copying of content that deviates from the scope of personal use. For example, when content is transmitted between digital AV devices, encryption is performed on the content transmission device side, and information for decryption is shared with the content reception device side, so that the transmission destination Copy protection is implemented to prevent the creation of an unlimited copy so that the content is not correctly received and decrypted by a device other than a content receiving device.
As an example of such a copy protection method, there is a DTCP (Digital Transmission Content Protection) system that defines a copy protection method on the IEEE1394 bus, for example, as incorporated in a digital AV device (Non-patent Document 2). .

DLNA Home Networked Device Interoperability Guidelines 5C Digital Transmission Content Protection White Paper

JP 2006-128848 A

  When acquiring content over the network, even if the content is registered in the content list acquired from the content transmission device side, local playback is performed on the transmission side, or the transmission side device is performing recording processing. When the resource is used for the above reasons, the content cannot be transmitted even if the content transmission is requested. However, since the content is registered in the content list, reproduction processing is performed on the content receiving apparatus side, and there is a problem that useless operations and processing are performed.

  In addition, when the number of stored content and content that can be acquired via a tuner or WAN increases, it is necessary for the content receiving device to generate the content list when the content receiving device acquires content list information. There is a problem that the cache and the memory area increase, the processing load increases, and the amount of information flowing on the network also increases, which imposes traffic. In addition, since the amount of information that needs to be displayed to the user increases, there is a problem that the response speed at the time of screen operation in the content receiving apparatus also decreases. In the above-mentioned patent document 1, although the content transmitted at the time of acquiring the content main body is optimized, the processing load and traffic at the time of transmitting the content list acquired in advance are not considered. In addition, since information is merged on the content receiving device side when displayed to the user, it is considered that the response speed decreases when the amount of content becomes enormous. Furthermore, no consideration is given to reducing the load on the content transmission apparatus side.

  The above object is achieved by the configuration described in the claims as an example.

  According to the content transmission device of the present invention, the usage status of resources such as the tuner and HDD of the device itself and device authentication status required for copyright protection are managed, and when content list information is requested, By transmitting content identification information that cannot be transmitted depending on the resource status, an effect of preventing useless playback processing on the content receiving apparatus side can be obtained. In addition, content information is acquired by reducing the processing load on the content transmission device and content reception device without generating unnecessary traffic by transmitting information excluding content information that cannot be used because resources are not used or device authentication is not performed. There is an advantage that response time can be improved. Also, by distributing the content list according to the change in the resource state of the content transmission device, the content reception device can always hold the latest list and present it to the user. Furthermore, by managing the authentication status, it is possible to control content information transmission of copyright-protected content and enhance the effect of preventing unauthorized use of content.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a home network system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart which shows the flow of the content acquisition via a network. The block diagram of a content transmission apparatus. Explanatory drawing of a resource management table. Explanatory drawing of the resource management table after resource use status change. The processing flow figure at the time of resource use start. The processing flow figure at the time of resource use stop. The example of a content list provided with a transmission permission flag. The example of a content list with a transmission permission flag produced | generated when HDD is unusable. FIG. 3 is a detailed process flow diagram of content information collection processing according to the first embodiment. The example of the list information display screen in a content receiver. An example of a list information display screen in the content receiving device when the HDD is disabled in the content transmitting device. Content list example An example of a content list generated when the HDD is unusable. FIG. 10 is a detailed process flow diagram of content information collection processing according to the second embodiment. The sequence diagram at the time of resource state management table update. The detailed flowchart of the content list update process at the time of a resource state change. The block diagram of the content transmission apparatus in the case of performing apparatus authentication management. Explanatory drawing of an authentication status management table. The sequence diagram at the time of completion of device authentication processing. Example content list with CCI. An example of a content list when authentication with a content list request source device is incomplete. FIG. 14 is a detailed process flow diagram of content information collection processing according to the fourth embodiment.

  Embodiments of the best mode for realizing the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  Hereinafter, Example 1 which is the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The purpose of the present embodiment is to reduce the load on the content transmitting device side, reduce the traffic on the network, and speed up the response on the content receiving device side when acquiring content information.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a home network system for sharing content via a network using a content transmission apparatus according to the present invention.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a content transmission apparatus according to the present invention. Reference numeral 2 denotes a content receiving device that has all the basic functions for acquiring and playing back a content list and content from the content transmitting device 1 via the IP network 3. The content transmitting apparatus 1 is connected to the terrestrial broadcasting antenna 5 and the satellite broadcasting antenna 6 through the antenna line 4. Further, the content transmission device 1 is connected to the VOD server 9 via the router 7 and the WAN 8.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram at the time of content reproduction between the content transmission device 1 and the content reception device 2 in FIG. A simple flow from content list acquisition to content reproduction via the network will be described with reference to FIG. The content receiving device 2 first issues a content list acquisition request to the content transmitting device 1 (S1). Upon receiving the content list acquisition request (S2), the content transmission device 1 collects information on the content that can be transmitted from its own device (S3). When the collection of the content information is completed, the content transmission device 1 transmits a content list generated based on the collected information to the content reception device 2 (S4).
When the content receiving device 2 receives the content list (S5), the user selects content from the list (S6), and issues a content acquisition request for the selected content to the content transmitting device 1 (S7). When the content transmission device 1 receives the content acquisition request (S8), the content transmission device 1 acquires the content from its own device (S9) and transmits it to the content reception device 2 (S10). When receiving the content from the content transmitting device, the content receiving device 2 reproduces the content (S11).

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating the simplest configuration of the content transmission device 1 and the content reception device 2 in FIG. The content transmission device 1 is composed of the following functional blocks.
A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101 that performs overall control.
A memory 102 serving as a main storage device on the content transmission device 1.
A reproduction control unit 105 that controls content reproduction / transmission when the content transmission device 1 locally reproduces content or transmits content to the content reception device 2 via a network.
A recording control unit 106 for realizing the recording function.
A user interface unit 107 for a user to perform local operations such as playback and recording on the content transmission apparatus 1.
A tuner control unit 109 that controls a tuner 110 for BS and CS broadcasting (hereinafter referred to as BSCS) and a tuner 111 for digital terrestrial broadcasting (hereinafter referred to as terrestrial digital).
An optical drive control unit 112 that controls an optical drive 113 such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) drive.
An HDD control unit 114 that controls the HDD 115.
A resource information management unit 108 that collects information from the tuner control unit 109, the optical drive control unit 110, and the HDD control unit 114, and manages the resource usage status in the content transmission apparatus 1, such as a tuner, an optical drive, and an HDD.
A content list generation / management unit 120 that collects content information existing in its own device, forms a content list, and transmits the content list to the content receiving device 2.
A network interface 121 for connecting to a home or outside network.

In addition, the content receiving device 2 includes the following functional blocks.
A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201 that performs overall control.
A memory 202 serving as a main storage device on the content receiving device 2.
A reproduction control unit 203 that performs reproduction control of content acquired from the content transmission device 1 via the network.
A user interface unit 204 that accepts user operations and displays a content list.
A content list acquisition / display control unit 205 that performs control when acquiring the content list or displaying the acquired content list.
A network interface 206 for connecting to a home or external network.

Hereinafter, the resource management method in the content transmission apparatus 1 in FIGS. 1 and 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5, 6, and 7.
4 and 5 are resource information management tables managed by the resource information management unit 108. FIG. First, the resource information management table will be described with reference to FIG.
The resource information management table 1000 includes at least a resource name 1001 for setting a name of a resource to be managed, a class 1002 indicating classification information (tuner, optical drive, etc) of the resource, and a usage status 1003 indicating a state of the resource. It is an internal database that is configured.

  A resource name 1001 indicates a specific name of a resource such as a terrestrial digital tuner, an HDD, and a DVD drive that the content transmission apparatus 1 has. When there are a plurality of tuners, HDDs, DVD drives, and the like in the same content transmission apparatus, a name or ID that can identify each of them is registered. As resources to be managed, in addition to a tuner, an interface with an external storage medium such as a USB memory, a network interface, and the like can be considered. A class 1002 indicates category information indicating what kind of device the resource of the resource name 1001 is such as a tuner, HDD, or optical drive.

The resource information management table resource usage status 1003 indicates that the resource is “in use” and cannot be used via the network, or is “available”.
Indicates the status of the resource, such as whether it can be used via the network. The resource state management table shown here is only an example, and the same effect can be obtained if the resource state can be managed regardless of the configuration of the table.

FIG. 5 shows table information in a state where the resource name: hard disk drive is “in use” (1051) in the resource management table 1000 of FIG.
FIG. 6 shows processing when the content transmitting apparatus 1 in FIGS. 1 and 3 executes local content playback or recording, or content playback via a network, and uses resources such as a tuner, an optical drive, and an HDD. It is the flowchart which showed. This process is always executed when the resource is used, independently of the process such as content list acquisition. In the present embodiment, as an example, a case is considered in which a program stored in the HDD is reproduced locally by the content transmission apparatus 1 in accordance with a user instruction. First, the reproduction control unit 101 receives a reproduction instruction from the user interface 107 together with the content designation information (S101).

Then, the reproduction control unit 105 performs an instruction to the content reproduction from HDD115 the HDD control unit 114 (S102). When receiving the reproduction instruction, the HDD control unit 114 notifies the resource information management unit 108 of the start of HDD use (S103). The resource information management unit 108 checks the usage status of the resource name “hard disk drive” registered in the resource information management table 1000 of FIG. 4 and updates it to “in use” if “usable” ( S104). The updated table is as shown in FIG. Finally, the resource information management unit 108 notifies the HDD control unit 114 that the resource can be used (S105), and the HDD control unit 114 starts reproduction of the designated content in the HDD 115 (S106).

  In the above processing, if the resource information management table 1000 is confirmed to be “in use”, the resource information management unit 108 notifies the HDD control unit 114 that the resource cannot be used. At this time, the content transmission apparatus 1 can have various options such as interrupting the playback start sequence and temporarily stopping the use of the current HDD resource by giving priority to the user instruction, but is not the main point of the present invention. Not shown in this figure.

FIG. 7 shows processing when the content receiving apparatus 1 in FIGS. 1 and 3 stops local content reproduction or recording or content reproduction via a network and releases resources such as a tuner, an optical drive, and an HDD. It is the flowchart which showed. This process is always executed when releasing the resource independently of the process such as content list acquisition. In the present embodiment, a stop process corresponding to the start process in FIG. 6 , that is, a HDD playback stop process locally in the content transmission apparatus 1 according to a user instruction is considered. First, the reproduction control unit 105 from the user interface 107 receives the stop instruction (S151).

Then, the reproduction control unit 105 performs the content playback stop command to the HDD control unit 114 (S152). The HDD control unit 114 stops the content reproduction (S153). After stopping the content reproduction, the HDD control unit 114 notifies the resource information management unit 108 of the HDD use stop (S154). The resource information management unit 108 updates the usage status of the resource name “hard disk drive” registered in the resource information management table 1000 of FIG. 4 to “available” (S155).

  In the present invention, an embodiment using an internal database for resource management has been shown. However, various management methods are conceivable, such as a method of actually confirming the usage state of hardware or a method of using the state transition of a program module such as a tuner control unit, but the present invention is applied to the content transmission apparatus 1. In doing so, it goes without saying that the same effect can be obtained no matter how the resources are managed.

Next, a detailed processing example of the content information collection processing S3 in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and FIG.
8 and 9 are examples of content lists generated by the content list generation / management unit 120 in the content transmission apparatus of FIG. FIG. 8 shows an example of a content list when all resources are available in the content transmission apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. The content list will be described with reference to FIG. The content list 1100 indicates an ID 1101 for uniquely identifying the content, a container ID 1102 indicating the directory location of the content, a title 1103 of the content, a resource 1104 that provides the content, and whether the content can be transmitted. A transmission permission flag 1105, a channel name 1106 when the content is a broadcast program or a recorded broadcast program, a genre 1107 indicating the classification of the content, a URI (Uniform) specified when the content is acquired via the network Resource Locator) 1108 or the like includes detailed information on each content. The ID 1101 is an identifier for uniquely identifying the content within the system (content transmission device 1).

  A container ID 1102 is an ID for designating a directory location used when a content receiving apparatus creates a directory structure and displays content information when acquiring a content list, and indicates the location of the directory to which the content belongs. The title 1103 is the name of the content specified by the user or specified by the broadcast station. A resource 1104 is identification information indicating which resource the content is provided by, such as a tuner, an HDD, or an optical drive. The transmission permission / inhibition flag 1105 is identification information for identifying whether or not the content transmission device 1 can currently transmit the content. The channel name 1106 is broadcast station information when the content is a broadcast program or content obtained by recording a broadcast program.

  The genre 1107 indicates how the content is classified as a drama, a sports program, a movie, a variety program, or the like. The URI 1108 is position identification information specified when the content is acquired via the network. In the present embodiment, the items as described above are exemplified, but there are other items such as content length and content file size as information set in the content list. These descriptions are omitted.

FIG. 9 is an example of a content list generated when the HDD 115 is unusable in the content transmission apparatus 1 configured as shown in FIG. In the content list 1200 of FIG. 9, the transmission permission flag 1105 of the content information whose resource 1104 is “HDD” is set to “No” (1201).

FIG. 10 is a detailed process flow diagram of the content information collection process S3 in FIG. In this process, the usage statuses of all resources registered in the resource management table 1000 in FIG. 4 are confirmed. If “usable”, “permitted” is set in the transmission permission flag 1105 of the content information provided by the resource. If it is “unusable”, “no” is set in the transmission permission flag 1105. The content information collection process S3 in the configuration example of FIG. 3 will be described below using FIG. In this example, it is assumed that the content transmission apparatus 1 has the terrestrial digital tuner 111, the BSCS tuner 110, the HDD 115, and the DVD drive 113 as resources in the configuration of FIG. Upon receiving the content list acquisition request (S2 in FIG. 2), the content transmission device 1 starts the content information collection process S3.

The content list generation / management unit 120 in FIG. 3 first checks the usage status of the resource name: “terrestrial digital tuner”, which is the first record in the resource management table 1000, and caches it in the EPG or the content transmission apparatus 1. Information on the content provided from the terrestrial digital tuner is acquired from the program information thus obtained (S201). As a result of the confirmation, if the terrestrial digital tuner is “usable” (S202 YES), “permitted” is set to the transmission permission flag 1105 of the terrestrial digital live content (S203). If the terrestrial digital tuner is not “usable” (NO in S202), “no” is set in the transmission permission flag 1105 of the program information provided from the terrestrial digital tuner (S204).

  Next, the content list generation / management unit 120 confirms the usage status of the resource name: “BSCS tuner”, which is the second record of the resource management table 1000, and acquires information on the content provided from the BSCS tuner. (S205). If the BSCS tuner is “available” (S206 YES), the BSCS live content transmission availability flag 1105 is set to “enabled” (S207). If the BSCS tuner is not “usable” (S206 NO), “no” is set in the transmission permission flag 1105 of the program information provided from the BSCS tuner (S208).

  Next, the content list generation / management unit 120 confirms the usage status of the resource name: “hard disk drive”, which is the third record in the resource management table 1000, and acquires the content information accumulated in the hard disk drive ( S209). If the HDD is “usable” (S210 YES), the HDD storage content transmission permission flag 1105 is set to “possible” (S211). If the HDD is not “usable” (S210 NO), the HDD storage content transmission permission flag 1105 is set to “not permitted” (S212). Next, the content list generation / management unit 120 confirms the usage status of the resource name: “DVD drive”, which is the fourth record of the resource management table 1000, and acquires the content information stored in the DVD (S213). ).

  If a disc has been inserted into the DVD drive and the DVD drive is usable (disc inserted & usable) (S214 YES), the transmission permission flag 1105 of the DVD stored content is set to “possible” (S215). If the DVD drive is not “usable” (S214 NO), the transmission permission flag 1105 of the DVD stored content is set to “not permitted” (S216). Finally, the content list generation / management unit 120 generates a content list from the collected information (S217). The content list generation / management unit 120 transmits the content list generated here to the content receiving apparatus 1 (S4 in FIG. 2).

  In this example, the above four configurations have been described as resources, but in addition to this, various resources such as a terrestrial analog broadcast tuner, a CD-ROM drive, a BlueRay disk drive, and a network interface can be considered. , Any of those resources can be handled in the same way.

  11 and 12 are examples of list information display screens in the content receiving device 2 when the content list transmitted by the above process is acquired. 11 shows an example of a list information display screen in the content receiving apparatus 2 when the content list 1100 of FIG. 8 is received, and FIG. 12 shows the content receiving apparatus 2 when the content list 1200 of FIG. 9 is received. FIG.

  In the screen example 2200 of FIG. 12, information of content that cannot be acquired by the content receiving device is filtered by the content list acquisition / display control unit 205 using the acquisition permission flag 1105, and the information in the screen example 2100 of FIG. A portion corresponding to 2101 is not displayed. Therefore, useless reproduction processing is not performed by specifying content that is displayed in the content list but is not actually acquired by the user.

  In this example, the content that cannot be acquired is not displayed when the list information is displayed. However, the content information is added with a symbol that clearly indicates that the content cannot be acquired. Even if the content is not selected by a method such as graying out the list information, the same effect can be obtained.

Since the other processes (S1, S2, and S4 to S10) in FIG. 2 are not the gist of the present invention, the detailed process will not be described. All of these processes can be realized by a general method defined by DLNA. For example, in DLNA, content list acquisition uses UPnP (Universal Plug & Play), and content acquisition uses HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) or RTP (Realtime Transport Protocol).
As described above, identification information indicating that transmission is not possible is set in the content list information that cannot be transmitted because the resource is used at the time when the content list is requested, and wasteful processing is performed on the content receiving apparatus side. It is possible to prevent this from happening.

Hereinafter, Example 2 which is the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The overall configuration of the home network system, the functional block configuration of the content transmission apparatus, the resource management method, and the like in the second embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment.
In the second embodiment, content information that cannot be accessed at the time when the content list is acquired is not included in the content list, thereby reducing the load of content list generation processing in the content transmitting apparatus 1 and the content list flowing through the network. The purpose is to reduce the data size to avoid traffic pressure and to increase the response speed at the time of content list acquisition.

Hereinafter, a detailed processing example of the content information collection processing S3 in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIGS. 13 and 14 are examples of content lists generated by the content list generation / management unit 120 in the content transmission apparatus of FIG. FIG. 13 is an example of a content list when all resources are available in the content transmission apparatus having the configuration of FIG. The content list 1300 in FIG. 13 is substantially the same as the content list 1100 in FIG. 8, but the transmission availability flag 1105 that indicates whether the content can be transmitted is not necessary, and is therefore omitted.

  FIG. 14 is an example of a content list generated when the HDD 115 cannot be used by the content transmission apparatus 1 having the configuration shown in FIG. In the content list 1400 in FIG. 14, content information (1301 in FIG. 13) in which the resource 1104 is an HDD is not registered.

FIG. 15 is a detailed process flow diagram of the content information collection process S3 in FIG. In this process, the usage statuses of all resources registered in the resource management table 1000 in FIG. 4 are confirmed, and if “usable”, information on the content provided by the resources is collected from the own apparatus or outside. The content information collection process S3 in the configuration example of FIG. 3 in the second embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. When receiving the content list acquisition request (S2 in FIG. 2), the content transmission device 1 starts the content information collection process.
The content list generation / management unit 120 in FIG. 3 first checks the usage status of the resource name: “terrestrial digital tuner”, which is the first record of the resource management table 1000 (S251). If the terrestrial digital tuner is “usable” (S252 YES), the program information provided from the terrestrial digital tuner is acquired from the program information cached in the EPG or the content transmitting apparatus 1 (S253). If the terrestrial digital tuner is not “usable” (NO in S252), the process proceeds to the next process without doing anything.

Next, the content list generation / management unit 120 checks the usage status of the resource name: “BSCS tuner”, which is the second record of the resource management table 1000 (S254).
If the BSCS tuner is “usable” (S255 YES), the program information provided from the BSCS tuner is acquired from the program information cached in the EPG or the content transmitting apparatus 1 (S256). If the BSCS tuner is not “usable” (NO in S255), the process proceeds to the next process without doing anything.

  Next, the content list generation / management unit 120 checks the usage status of the resource name: “hard disk drive”, which is the third record of the resource management table 1000 (S257). If the HDD is “usable” (S258 YES), the content information stored in the hard disk drive is acquired from the stored content information stored in the content transmission device 1 (S259). If the HDD is not “usable” (NO in S258), the process proceeds to the next process without doing anything. Next, the content list generation / management unit 120 checks the usage status of the resource name: “DVD drive”, which is the fourth record in the resource management table 1000 (S260).

If a disc is inserted in the DVD drive and the DVD drive is usable (disc inserted & usable) (S261 YES), content information is acquired from the DVD (S262). If the DVD drive is not “usable” (S261 NO), the process proceeds to the next process without doing anything. Finally, the content list generation / management unit 120 generates a content list from the collected information (S263). The content list generation / management unit 120 transmits the content list generated here to the content receiving apparatus 1 (S4 in FIG. 2).
A screen display example of the list information in the content receiving device 2 when the content list transmitted by the above process is used is the same as in FIG. However, filtering processing on the content receiving device side is unnecessary here.

  As described above, by generating and transmitting a content list excluding content information provided from resources that cannot be used at the time of list acquisition, the processing load of the content transmission device 1 is reduced, the network traffic is reduced, and the content reception device side It is possible to improve response speed and reduce unnecessary processing by the user.

Next, Example 3 which is the 3rd Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated using drawing. The purpose of this embodiment is that the content transmission device 1 always generates and distributes a content list triggered by a change in the resource usage status, so that the content reception device 2 always holds the content information that can be acquired, and the user can It is to be able to know immediately.
The overall configuration diagram of the home network system and the block diagram of the content transmission apparatus are the same as those in the first embodiment, and thus description thereof is omitted.

The processing flow of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 16 and 17.
FIG. 16 is a processing flow of the resource management unit and the content list generation / management unit when the resource information management table is updated. HDD is in use. When the resource usage state is updated, such as when the tuner is in a usage state, the resource management unit issues a resource state change notification to the content list generation / management unit (S301). The content list management unit updates the content list according to the usage status of the lease ( S302 ). Next, the content list generation / management unit 120 distributes the updated content list to the content receiving device 2.

FIG. 17 is a detailed process flow diagram of the content list update process ( S302 ) of FIG. The detailed process of the content list update process ( S302 ) will be described with reference to FIG. Upon receiving the resource state change notification (S401), the content list generation / management unit 115 determines the change contents of the resource, such as whether the resource has become unusable or usable (S402). ). When a resource that could not be used becomes available, the content list generation / management unit acquires information on the content provided from the resource (S403). If a resource that was available becomes unavailable, the process proceeds to the next process without doing anything. Next, the content list generation / management unit collects content information provided by resources other than the resource (S404). The content list generation / management unit 120 generates a content list when the collection of content information is completed by the above processing (S405).

If the content list distributed as described above is acquired and held on the content receiving device 2 side, the user can always refer to available content information and give a reproduction instruction.
In this embodiment, since content information is distributed as the resource usage state changes, even when content is recorded in the content transmission apparatus 1 and content stored in the HDD is added, it is immediately added to the content list. Reflected, there is an effect that the user can always refer to the latest information.

  Next, Example 4 which is the 4th Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated using drawing. The purpose of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment. However, an authentication state between devices is added as a state to be managed in addition to the resource state. As a result, in addition to obtaining the above-mentioned effects, it is possible to suppress the transmission of content information held by the device itself to devices for which device authentication has not been completed, and for content that requires copyright protection. The effect of preventing unauthorized use increases.

The overall configuration of the home network system is the same as that of the first embodiment.
FIG. 18 shows a functional block diagram of the content transmission device 1 in the present embodiment.
Reference numerals 101 to 121 are the same as those in the first embodiment. Reference numeral 130 denotes an authentication state management unit that manages the authentication state, and reference numeral 131 denotes an authentication control unit that performs device authentication processing.

An example of an authentication state management method in the content transmission apparatus 1 in FIG. 18 will be described with reference to FIGS. 19 and 20.
FIG. 19 is an authentication state management table managed by the authentication state management unit 130 in the content transmission apparatus 1 of FIG. First, the authentication status management table will be described with reference to FIG. The authentication state management table 3000 includes a request source device device ID 3001, a request source device public key 3002, a request source device authentication IP address 3003, a request source device MAC address 3004, a final authentication time 3005, an authentication result 3006, an authentication failure factor 3007, and the like. It is an internal database composed of items. The request source device device ID 3001 is an ID that can uniquely identify a counterpart (content receiving device 2) acquired when device authentication is performed.
The request source device public key 3002 is a public key of the other party exchanged at the time of device authentication. Since these are linked one-to-one with the device, they are used as identification information of the other party.

The request source device authentication IP address 3003 and the request source device MAC address 3004 are the IP address and MAC address of the other party when the authentication process is performed. The final authentication time 3005 is
The time when authentication processing was performed last is shown. An authentication result 3006 shows the result of the authentication process, and an authentication failure factor 3007 shows a failure factor when the authentication process fails.

Next, the processing flow of authentication state management will be shown using FIG. When device authentication is performed between the content reception device 2 and the content transmission device 1 in the device authentication control unit 131 (S501), the device authentication control unit 131 notifies the authentication state management unit 130 of the device authentication result ( S502). Upon receiving the device authentication result, the authentication state management unit 130 updates the authentication state management table (S503). In the update process, if the new device authentication is performed, the record is added, if the re-authentication of registered equipment has been carried out, such as the last authentication time 3 005 is updated.
In addition, the authentication status management table is updated when the key exchanged at the time of device authentication is discarded.

The processing flow of the content list transmission control process using the device authentication state according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 21, 22, and 23.
21 and 22 are tables showing content lists generated by the content list generation / management unit 120 in the content transmission apparatus 1 of FIG.
FIG. 21 is an example of a content list generated when device authentication is completed between the content transmission device 1 and the content reception device 2 that requested the content list in the content transmission device 1 of FIG. The content list 1500 includes a CCI (Copy Control Information) 1501 in addition to the item ID 1101, the container ID 1102, the title 1103, the resource 1104, the channel name 1106, the genre 1107, and the URI 1108 of the content list 1100 of FIG. The CCI 1501 is identification information indicating copy restriction information of the content (no copy restriction, copy permitted once, copy not permitted, etc.). Reference numeral 1502 is an example of a content record without copy restrictions.
The authentication status management table shown here is only an example, and the same effect can be obtained if the authentication status can be managed regardless of the configuration of the table.

  FIG. 22 is an example of a content list generated when device authentication is not completed between the content transmitting device 1 and the content receiving device 2 that requested the content list in the content transmitting device 1 of FIG. . In the content list 1600 in FIG. 22, only content information without copy restriction (1502 in FIG. 21) is registered.

FIG. 23 is a detailed process flow diagram of the content information collection process S3 of FIG. 2 in the present embodiment. The flow of content information collection processing in this embodiment will be described below using FIG. First, the content list generation / management unit 120 acquires an authentication state with the content list transmission destination content receiving device 2 from the authentication state management table managed by the authentication state management unit 130 (S601). Next, the content list generation / management unit 120 acquires content information of content that can be transmitted (S602). When the content information is acquired, it is confirmed whether or not the content is CopyFree (no copy restriction) content (S603). If the content is other than CopyFree (with copy restriction) (NO in S603), it is acquired in advance. The authentication status with the content list transmission destination device is confirmed (S604). As a result of the confirmation, if it has been authenticated (YES in S604), the content is added to the content list (S605).

Here, if it is unauthenticated (NO in S604), nothing is done. If the content is CopyFree (no copy restriction) content (YES in S603), it is not determined whether the device has been authenticated, and the content is added to the content list (S605). The content list is generated by repeating the above for all content. In addition, here, the content list generation process using the resource information is omitted, but it may of course be combined.

  By transmitting the content list generated as described above, the network traffic can be reduced and the processing response in the content receiving device 2 can be accelerated, and the content information of the device itself can be transmitted to devices that have not been authenticated. And the effect of preventing unauthorized use of content that requires copyright protection can be enhanced.

In this example, the method of not transmitting the content list including the content information of the copyright-protected content to the content receiving device that has not been authenticated is illustrated. However, in the case of a content receiving apparatus that starts device authentication processing using information included in the content list, device authentication is not executed indefinitely in the above processing, and content information of copyright-protected content cannot be obtained. There is sex. In such a case, as in the first embodiment, if a content list including identification information indicating an authentication state is transmitted as content information, it is possible to trigger device authentication processing on the content receiving device side. It is.

  Another method is to issue an authentication processing execution request to the content receiving device before transmitting the content list. As a result, the content receiving device can detect the presence of copyright-protected content in the content transmitting device, and can trigger a necessary authentication process. Also, when combined with the second embodiment, necessary authentication processing can be executed in the same manner.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Content transmitter 2 Content receiver 3 IP network 4 Antenna line 5 Terrestrial broadcasting antenna 6 BSCS broadcasting antenna 7 Router 8 WAN
9 VOD server 101 CPU
102 Memory 105 Playback Control Unit 106 Recording Control Unit 107 User Interface Unit 108 Resource Information Management Unit 109 Tuner Control Unit 110 BSCS Tuner 111 Terrestrial Digital Tuner 112 Optical Drive Control Unit 113 Optical Drive 114 HDD Control Unit 115 HDD
120 Content List Generation / Management Unit 121 Network Interface 130 Authentication Status Management Unit 131 Device Authentication Control Unit

Claims (1)

A content transmission device that transmits content to other devices connected to the network,
A built- in device as one of the resources used at the time of content transmission , or a resource information management unit that manages the usage status of an external peripheral device as an availability state ;
If the usability status of each of the external peripheral devices that are connected to the built-in device, or the content transmitter apparatus is changed, generates a content list to collect information about the content, of the other A content transmission apparatus comprising: a content list generation / management unit that transmits the content list to the apparatus.

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