JP2007189554A - Content reproduction apparatus, content provision server, broadcast content supply apparatus, content distribution system, content reproduction method, content provision method, correction information generation method, control program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

A content distribution system that provides a user-desired content with high quality as to compressed content transmitted by broadcast waves.
A digital television 100 according to the present invention has high-quality data for reproducing high-quality content having the same quality as broadcast content transmitted by broadcast waves and having higher quality than the broadcast content. A high-quality content acquisition unit 23 that is acquired in advance and a content reproduction unit 24 that reproduces the high-quality content in synchronization with the broadcast of the broadcast content based on the acquired high-quality data. Therefore, it is possible to reproduce the content desired by the user with high quality as to the compressed content transmitted by the broadcast wave.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a content distribution system, and more particularly, to a content reproduction apparatus that provides high-quality digital content, a content providing server, and a content distribution system having them.

  Terrestrial digital broadcasting has been gradually deployed nationwide since the service was started in three major metropolitan areas in December 2003. Accordingly, as this digital broadcast receiver, for example, a digital television has been widely spread. In recent digital televisions, as represented by a liquid crystal television having a liquid crystal display, it is possible to enjoy beautiful images on a flat and thin large screen.

  In addition, while digital content distribution services using broadcast waves have become widespread, in communication means using the Internet, broadband services capable of high-speed and large-capacity communication have developed along with the spread of dedicated media such as optical cables. It was. A transmission service having a communication speed of Gbps or higher is being constructed from the conventional communication speed (about 10 kbps), and it is expected that transmission / reception of high-capacity high-quality data will be accelerated in the future. Multi-channel digital video distribution services using these communication means are also widespread.

  As described above, with respect to digital contents distributed via broadcast waves and the Internet, it is expected that the user's need to enjoy higher quality data will increase in the future. Therefore, it is strongly desired to provide a content distribution system that allows users to enjoy higher quality content by overcoming restrictions such as capacity, communication speed, and communication cost in the communication means.

  In digital terrestrial broadcasting, one HD (high-definition) (high definition, high resolution) class content or SD (Standard-Definition) (SD) (standard-definition) (frequency) for one channel of analog broadcasting (6 MHz) It is possible to broadcast three contents of standard resolution) class. Thereby, compared with analog broadcasting, video / audio can be reproduced more precisely and high-quality content can be provided. Digital data compression techniques represented by MPEG2 and the like contribute significantly to the distribution of such high-definition digital content in digital broadcasting (Non-patent Document 1).

  However, for example, when it comes to video, the video provided by conventional digital broadcasting is generally said to be very beautiful video, but when compared with the actual picture taken, the texture, gloss, and hue Has not been faithfully reproduced. As everyone feels, when an image actually captured by a commercially available digital video camera is displayed on a television screen, the facial expression and landscape of the person are different from those actually captured. There are two main reasons why fidelity is lost when reproducing the texture, gloss, and color. The first factor is the color reproducibility of the display means of the conventional content reproduction apparatus. The second factor is a compression technique for digital content.

  Hereinafter, the second factor (compression technique) will be described in more detail. For example, in a content production company, in order to broadcast content captured by a high-resolution camera using a broadcast wave, a compression technique is used to fit in a certain band. An outline of this conventional content compression processing is shown in FIG.

  First, data obtained by photographing a person or landscape with a high-resolution camera as an object to be photographed is stored as a high-resolution content in a recording medium (digital tape, memory medium, etc.) (S1). In general, a high-resolution camera for business use can express gradation of 12 to 16 bits for each color. The capacity of the accumulated data is about 2.2 Gbps × imaging time (sec) if the HD class content for high-definition broadcasting is 30 frames per second and the depth per pixel is 12 bits.

  Then, color tone conversion processing is first performed on the high-resolution video content in order to compress the depth of each RGB color from 12 bits to 8 bits (S2). Color tone processing methods include table mapping processing and a method of simply deleting lower bits. At this stage, the video content is compressed to about 1.5 Gbps × imaging time (sec) (S3). Next, in the existing MPEG2 encoding system (S4), it is compressed into MPEG2 content of about 24 Mbps × imaging time (sec) (S5).

  Some information reduction processing is performed in the existing MPEG2 encoding system. This information reduction process is an irreversible compression technique and includes, for example, a sub-sampling process and a quantization process. The sub-sampling process is a process for reducing the information amount by thinning out the color difference information, and the quantization process is a process for reducing the information amount by rounding the pixel value of each pixel. These information reduction processes have succeeded in overcoming the limitations of communication means. However, since these compression techniques are lossy, the original high-resolution content cannot be restored in the decoding process on the content playback device side, and the image quality of the video content is inferior to the original one. Is inevitable. Hereinafter, a compression method for each process will be described.

(Information reduction process 1)
The subsampling process will be described with reference to FIG. Here, in order to simplify the description, the size of one frame of the video signal is 8 × 8 pixels. First, the color component information of the video signal is converted from the RGB color space to the YCrCb color space. In the processing in this case, the expression shown in FIG. 18 is generally used. Note that color reduction for conversion from the RGB color space (total 24 bits) to the YCrCb color space (total 24 bits) does not basically occur.

  Next, for example, when sampling of 4: 1: 1 is performed, the Cr plane and the Cb plane each correspond to one pixel for the four pixels of the Y plane. That is, the pixels of the Cr and Cb planes indicating the color difference information, not the Y plane pixels indicating the luminance information, are thinned out to a quarter. For one pixel of Cr and Cb, an average value of four pixels at the same pixel position on the Y plane is often used. This process utilizes the human visual property that is sensitive to luminance information and insensitive to color difference information. However, due to this processing, the resolution of the original video content is reduced, color blurring and blurring occur, and the video is deteriorated.

  In addition, this problem does not occur only in the case of 4: 1: 1 sampling, but similarly occurs if the same sub-sampling method (4: 2: 0, 4: 2: 2 sampling, etc.) is used. Is.

(Information reduction process 2)
Next, the quantization process will be described with reference to FIG. The result of sub-sampling processing from the Y, Cr, and Cb planes is blocked in units of 8 × 8 pixels, and DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) processing is performed on the blocks. First, each pixel value is converted from the real space to the frequency space (strictly, only the amplitude component is converted and the phase component is reduced. Therefore, even if inverse DCT is performed, The high frequency component is reduced based on the value determined by the quantization table. This processing generates block distortion and mosquito noise peculiar to the DCT processing. Further, since high frequency components are removed by quantization, the resolution is lowered, blurring occurs, and the image quality is lowered.

  As described above, a lot of information is reduced by the compression technique, and when the user views the video, the actually captured video cannot be reproduced faithfully.

  Various ideas have been made to overcome such factors of image quality degradation. For example, the first factor has been devised to extend the color reproduction range in recent content reproduction devices such as liquid crystal displays.

  Patent Document 1 further includes a color conversion unit that converts the color of the color image in accordance with the reproduction characteristics of the color image display means (content reproduction apparatus) and the lighting environment during user viewing and outputs the color image to the display means. A color reproduction terminal device is disclosed.

  Alternatively, Patent Document 2 discloses that the stored image is color-converted into an image that matches the color characteristics of the receiving terminal based on the information acquired regarding the color characteristics of the receiving terminal (content reproduction device), and the receiving terminal A stored image delivery method for delivery is disclosed.

As for the second factor, Patent Document 3 discloses a receiving system that acquires a high-definition print image (digital content for printing) regarding digital content by broadcast waves. As a result, even when low-quality digital content compressed by broadcast waves is received, high-quality video data suitable for printing can be obtained via the Internet for the digital content.
JP 2001-60082 (March 6, 2001) JP 2002-218262 (released on August 2, 2002) JP 2004-102590 (released on April 2, 2004) Supervised by Wataru Kameyama and Tsuyoshi Hanamura “Revised Digital Broadcast Textbook (Part 1)” Impress Publishing Co., Ltd. October 11, 2004 (first edition, first print)

  However, according to the methods of the above-mentioned patent documents, it is not possible to provide high-quality digital content for viewing by the user against the second factor (deterioration of video due to application of compression technology). Cause problems.

  That is, in the methods of Patent Documents 1 and 2, although color conversion is performed following the color characteristics of a display that is a display means for a color image (accumulated image), the image quality of the content itself displayed on the display is improved. Therefore, the video data to be projected is a low-quality image that remains compressed.

  Alternatively, according to the method of Patent Document 3, high-definition content is provided over a network for image content specialized for a printer, not for digital content for viewing with respect to digital content transmitted by broadcast waves. I'm just there. Therefore, the image quality of the video displayed on the display remains unimproved.

  In addition, this problem does not occur only in the MPEG2 compression coding system, but also occurs in other irreversible compression techniques (MPEG1, MPEG4, H.264 / AVC, etc.).

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a user-desired content with high quality as to compressed content transmitted by broadcast waves. Another object is to realize a content reproduction device, a content provision server, a broadcast content supply device, a content distribution system, a content reproduction method, a content provision method, a correction information generation method, a control program, and a recording medium.

  In order to solve the above problems, a content playback apparatus according to the present invention is a content having the same content as broadcast content transmitted by a broadcast wave, and plays back high-quality content having a higher quality than the broadcast content. High quality data acquisition means for acquiring high quality data in advance, and content reproduction means for reproducing the high quality content in synchronization with the broadcast of the broadcast content based on the high quality data acquired by the high quality data acquisition means It is characterized by having.

  According to the above configuration, the high quality data acquisition means is the same content as the broadcast content transmitted by the broadcast wave, and the high quality necessary for reproducing the high quality content having a higher quality than the broadcast content. Obtain data in advance. Then, the content reproduction means uses the acquired high quality data corresponding to the broadcast content in synchronization with the broadcast of the broadcast content, that is, as the broadcast content is actually broadcast. Play high quality content.

  Thereby, instead of the broadcast content, it is possible to reproduce high quality content having the same content as the broadcast content and higher quality. Therefore, the user can view the desired content having the same content as the high quality broadcast content whose quality has deteriorated due to the lossy compression.

  Further, since the high-quality content is automatically reproduced in accordance with the broadcast of the broadcast content, the user does not need to learn a complicated operation for viewing the high-quality content separately. High-quality content can be viewed in the same manner as when viewing.

  The high quality data may be, for example, high quality content data itself. In this case, the high-quality data acquisition unit acquires high-quality content data, and the content reproduction unit reproduces the acquired high-quality content instead of the broadcast content.

  Furthermore, the high-quality content may be a source content that has been subjected to lossy compression encoding processing and has not yet been broadcast content. In this case, it is possible to reproduce high-quality content in which the original content that has not been reduced in any information before the lossy compression encoding process is completely restored.

  Alternatively, the high-quality data is correction information for correcting the broadcast content into high-quality content, and the content reproduction apparatus converts the broadcast content into high-quality content based on the correction information in addition to the above configuration. The content correction means may correct the high-quality content corrected by the content correction means.

  The correction information is correction information applied to the broadcast content itself in order to correct the high-quality content. Therefore, the data size is smaller than the data of the high quality content itself having a higher quality than the broadcast content.

  From the above, it is possible to reduce the load on the communication line and the communication cost when acquiring high-quality data for reproducing high-quality content. In addition, it is possible to avoid a decrease in processing efficiency of the content reproduction apparatus and to save a storage area.

  The broadcast content is obtained by applying a lossy compression encoding process to the high-quality content, and the correction information may include a difference value between the high-quality content and the broadcast content.

  The correction information includes a difference value between the high-quality content as the original content before applying the lossy compression encoding process and the broadcast content. By using this, the content correction means of the content reproduction apparatus can restore the high-quality content by applying the difference value to the received broadcast content.

  Further, the correction information may be a difference value from the original content at the time of the sub-sampling process that is a pre-process of the MPEG2 compression process when converting the high-quality content into the broadcast content.

  Further, the content reproduction means of the content reproduction apparatus may reproduce a high-quality content corresponding to the broadcast content when the broadcast image receiving unit that receives and reproduces the broadcast content receives and reproduces the broadcast content. preferable.

  As a result, the content reproduction apparatus can reproduce high-quality content at the broadcast content reception timing (at the timing when the user starts viewing). At this time, the high-quality content may be switched from the corresponding broadcast content and output, or may be output after being superimposed. Alternatively, in the case of video content, both broadcast and high-quality content may be displayed on two screens.

  In addition to the above configuration, the content reproduction apparatus further includes an information acquisition unit that acquires content information about the broadcast content, and the high-quality data acquisition unit acquires the acquired high-quality data. The high quality data may be recorded in the high quality data recording unit in association with the content information regarding the broadcast content corresponding to the high quality data.

  According to the above configuration, when recording the high quality data acquired by the high quality data in the high quality data recording unit, the high quality data acquisition unit associates the content information of the broadcast content corresponding to the high quality data, and Record the data.

  As a result, the content information of the corresponding broadcast content is recorded for each high quality data in the high quality data recording unit. The content information includes, for example, information such as content title, broadcast start (end) date, channel, genre, performer, and the like. Therefore, even when reproducing high-quality content, the user can acquire the content information of the broadcast content having the same content and know the information of the high-quality content.

  The content information includes broadcast start date / time information of the broadcast content, and the content playback means of the content playback device adds high-quality data associated with the broadcast start date / time information to the broadcast start date / time of the broadcast content. Based on this, playback of high-quality content may be started.

  According to the above configuration, when the broadcast start date / time information included in the content information is used and the date / time indicated by the broadcast start date / time information of the broadcast content associated with the high quality data is reached, the content reproduction means Play high-quality content using data.

  As a result, the content reproduction apparatus can automatically reproduce high-quality content in accordance with the broadcast start date and time of the broadcast content. Therefore, even if the user reserves the viewing of the high-quality content and forgets that, the user can surely view the high-quality content according to the broadcast start date and time of the original broadcast content. Note that the high-quality content may be output by switching from the corresponding broadcast content, or may be output after being superimposed. Alternatively, in the case of video content, both broadcast and high-quality content may be displayed on two screens.

  Further, the content information includes broadcast end date / time information of the broadcast content, and the content playback apparatus is associated with the broadcast end date / time information when the broadcast end date / time of the broadcast content elapses in addition to the configuration. It is preferable to include content management means for deleting high quality data from the high quality data recording unit.

  According to the above configuration, when the broadcast end date / time information included in the content information is used and the date / time indicated by the broadcast end date / time information of the broadcast content associated with the high quality data is reached, the content management means The quality data is deleted from the high quality data recording unit.

  As a result, after the broadcast of the original broadcast content is finished, the content reproduction apparatus cannot reproduce the high-quality content corresponding to the broadcast content.

  From the above, it is possible to reproduce the corresponding high-quality content only while the original broadcast content is being broadcast. In this way, specifying the time (start time and / or end time) during which high-quality content can be played back is the following for the broadcast content or high-quality content provider (service provider, broadcast station, etc.) There are such merits.

  Avoid service biases between general broadcast content viewers and other users (such as unfairness that only certain people can view content with a fixed broadcast time early). Is possible. That is, it is possible to construct a high-quality content distribution system that provides high-quality content with only the high quality of content as an added value.

  Furthermore, it is possible to prevent unauthorized use of high-quality content, such as high-quality content being viewed by a person other than a legitimate user, or being viewed inappropriately (many times) outside of the main broadcast time. Therefore, management of copyright protection becomes easy.

  Note that the timing at which the content management means deletes the high-quality content may be triggered by the end of playback of the high-quality content.

  Further, in addition to the above configuration, the content reproduction apparatus further includes an operation accepting unit that accepts designation of broadcast content that the user desires to view or record, and the high-quality data acquisition unit receives the designation received by the operation accepting unit. It is preferable to acquire high quality data corresponding to the broadcast content.

  Thereby, the user's operation for viewing (recording) reservation for the high-quality content can be made common to the operation for instructing reservation of broadcast content that is normally broadcast. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform another complicated operation in order to view high-quality content, and it is possible to reduce the user's trouble.

  In addition to the above-described configuration, the content playback apparatus includes a time acquisition unit that acquires a reception time when the operation reception unit receives a designation of broadcast content desired to be viewed from a user, and the high-quality data acquisition unit. An acquisition time calculating means for calculating a required time for acquiring high-quality data corresponding to the specified broadcast content, and an acquisition completion time obtained by adding the required time to the reception time from the broadcast start date and time of the broadcast content An acquisition control means for controlling the high-quality data acquisition means so as not to acquire the high-quality data in the case of delay may be provided.

  According to the above configuration, the acquisition control means adds the required time calculated by the acquisition time calculation means to the reception time acquired by the time acquisition means. For example, when the instruction received by the operation receiving means is a viewing reservation, if the acquisition completion time is later than the broadcast start date and time of the broadcast content specified by the viewing reservation instruction, the high-quality content Therefore, the acquisition control means does not send a high quality data acquisition instruction to the high quality data acquisition means.

  Thereby, it is possible to avoid sending and receiving unnecessary data of high-quality content that cannot be viewed.

  Note that it is preferable to notify the user that high-quality data desired by the user is not acquired. Thereby, the user can recognize that the high-quality content is not in time for the broadcast date and time.

  Alternatively, when the instruction received by the operation receiving unit is a recording reservation, an instruction to acquire high quality data for recording may be sent to the high quality data acquiring unit and the acquisition completion time may be presented to the user. Alternatively, from the difference between the acquisition completion time and the current time, it may be notified how long the acquisition is to be completed. Thereby, the user can know when the recorded high-quality content can be reproduced later.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a content providing server according to the present invention is a content having the same content as broadcast content transmitted by a broadcast wave, and plays back high-quality content having higher quality than the broadcast content. Reservation receiving means for receiving a request message for requesting high-quality data from the above-mentioned content reproduction apparatus, and high-quality data distribution means for distributing the high-quality data specified by the request message to the content reproduction apparatus. It is characterized by being.

  According to the above configuration, the reservation receiving unit receives a request for high quality data from the content reproduction apparatus and manages the reservation information. The high quality data distribution means distributes the high quality data designated by the request message to the content reproduction apparatus.

  As a result, it is possible to provide the content reproduction apparatus with high quality data requested by the user via the content reproduction apparatus. Therefore, the user can view desired high-quality content on the content reproduction apparatus.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a content providing server according to the present invention is a content having the same content as broadcast content transmitted by a broadcast wave, and plays back high-quality content having higher quality than the broadcast content. Broadcast start date / time information of the broadcast content corresponding to the high quality data corresponding to the request message for requesting the high quality data received from the client terminal device and the high quality data recording unit for recording the high quality data for each broadcast content The reservation receiving means for managing the reservation information associated with the high-quality data recorded in the high-quality data recording unit based on the reservation information is distributed to the client terminal device before the broadcast start date and time. Thus, it is characterized by comprising high quality data distribution means for starting distribution.

  According to the above configuration, the reservation receiving unit receives a request for high quality data from the user's client terminal device and manages the reservation information. At this time, the reservation receiving means manages the reservation information in association with the broadcast start date / time information of the broadcast content corresponding to the requested high quality data.

  The high quality data distribution means distributes the requested high quality data to the client terminal device at an appropriate timing based on the reservation information. That is, the distribution to the client terminal device is started so that the high quality data recorded in the high quality data recording unit is completed before the broadcast start date and time.

  As a result, since the client terminal device cannot acquire high-quality data before broadcasting the corresponding broadcast content, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience that the client terminal device cannot reproduce the high-quality content in time for the broadcast time. Become.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the broadcast content supply apparatus according to the present invention is irreversible compression into high-quality content having the same quality as broadcast content transmitted by broadcast waves and having higher quality than the broadcast content. By applying the encoding process, the broadcast content creation means for creating the broadcast content, and the difference value between the high-quality content and the broadcast content are used as correction information for correcting the broadcast content into the high-quality content. It is characterized by comprising correction information creating means for creating.

  According to the above configuration, the broadcast content creation means is suitable for transmission on broadcast waves by applying the lossy compression encoding process to the content (high quality content) before the lossy compression encoding process for broadcasting. Create broadcast content. At this time, the correction information creation means, when the broadcast content creation means executes the lossy compression coding process, the difference value between the high-quality content before the coding process and the broadcast content after the coding process Is calculated and created as correction information.

  The data before the lossy compression encoding process is high-quality content having high-quality video (audio) data in which no information is reduced, and the data after the lossy compression encoding process is a broadcast wave Broadcast content suitable for transmission by (but with reduced information). Therefore, if the correction information including the difference value is supplied as the high-quality data to the content reproduction device, the lossy compression encoding process is applied by applying the correction information to the received broadcast content. Even from broadcast content, high-quality content can be completely restored and played back.

  The high quality content has a higher quality than when the broadcast content that has been subjected to the lossy compression encoding process is decoded. Therefore, the user can view the broadcast content with high quality.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the content distribution system of the present invention is a content having the same content as the broadcast content transmitted by the broadcast wave, and is a high-quality content for reproducing higher quality content having a higher quality than the broadcast content. Based on the high quality data provided from the content providing server by transmitting the request message requesting the high quality data to the content providing server by providing the content providing server that provides the quality data, It is characterized by including the above-described content reproduction apparatus that reproduces high-quality content in synchronization with broadcast.

  According to the above configuration, the content reproduction device requests the high-quality data requested by the user from the content providing server, and the content providing server provides the high-quality data requested from the content reproduction device.

  Therefore, it is possible to construct a high-quality content distribution system 1 that provides digital content for viewing by a user with high quality for compressed digital content transmitted by broadcast waves.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the content distribution system of the present invention is a content having the same content as the broadcast content transmitted by the broadcast wave, and is a high-quality content for reproducing higher quality content having a higher quality than the broadcast content. The quality data is acquired from the broadcast content supply apparatus belonging to the broadcast content supply source and provided, and the content providing server and the request message for requesting high quality data are transmitted to the content providing server. Including the above-described content reproduction device that reproduces the high-quality content in synchronization with the broadcast of the broadcast content based on the high-quality data provided from the provision server, the content provision server using the high-quality data Use the content playback device to send a usage notification message In the usage notification message received, (1) the first information indicating the usage fee of the high-quality data charged to the user of the content reproduction device, (2) the usage of the high-quality data paid to the supplier Charging processing means for managing charging information associated with second information indicating a fee and (3) third information indicating a surcharge for selling the high-quality data collected from the supplier; It is characterized by.

According to the above configuration, when high-quality data is used in the above-described content playback device, the billing processing unit of the content providing server receives the usage notification message from the content playback device and manages the billing information. The billing processing means, for each billing information,
(1) A charge for use of the high quality data charged to the user of the content reproduction device. (2) Usage fee for the high quality data paid to the supply source. (3) The high quality data collected from the supply source. Manage agency fee information related to sales of

  As a result, it is possible to appropriately grasp the charge amount / collection amount of the price of the used high-quality data exchanged between the broadcast content supply device, the content providing server, and the content reproduction device.

  That is, the user of the content reproduction device can obtain desired high quality data from the content providing server by paying a viewing fee to the content providing server, and can view the high quality content on the content reproducing device. Furthermore, a service provider having a content providing server uses a high quality data provided from a supplier such as a broadcasting station, obtains an agency fee from the supplier, and provides a user with a high quality content viewing service as a business. Is possible. On the other hand, for the supplier, it is possible to provide the data before compression (high quality content) that has been reduced without being provided to the user by the normal compression technology as it is or by generating difference data before and after correction. Become. Thereby, it is possible to effectively use the information resource generated by the production and obtain the price as a usage fee from the service provider having the content providing server.

  From the above, it is possible to construct a content distribution system that provides digital content for users to watch with high quality as to compressed digital content transmitted by broadcast waves.

  The content reproduction method according to the present invention is a method for acquiring in advance high-quality data for reproducing high-quality content having the same content as broadcast content transmitted by broadcast waves and having higher quality than the broadcast content. And a second step of reproducing the high-quality content in synchronization with the broadcast of the broadcast content based on the high-quality data acquired in the first step.

  Thereby, instead of the broadcast content, it is possible to reproduce high quality content having the same content as the broadcast content and higher quality. Therefore, the user can view the desired content having the same content as the high quality broadcast content whose quality has deteriorated due to the lossy compression.

  In order to solve the above problem, a content providing method according to the present invention is a content for reproducing high-quality content having the same quality as broadcast content transmitted by broadcast waves and having higher quality than the broadcast content. A first step for receiving a request message for requesting high quality data from the above-described content reproduction device, and a second step for distributing the high quality data specified by the request message received in the first step to the content reproduction device. And a step.

  As a result, it is possible to provide the content reproduction apparatus with high quality data requested by the user via the content reproduction apparatus. Therefore, the user can view desired high-quality content on the content reproduction apparatus.

  In order to solve the above problem, the correction information generation method according to the present invention is a content having the same content as the broadcast content transmitted by the broadcast wave, and the original content as a high-quality content having a higher quality than the broadcast content. Is a correction information generation method in a broadcast content supply apparatus that creates the broadcast content by applying a lossy compression encoding process to a difference value between the source content and the broadcast content, It is characterized by including a step of creating as correction information for correcting the content.

  By using the correction information generated in the above step, the above-described content reproduction apparatus can restore and reproduce the original content as high-quality content even from the broadcast content to which the lossy compression encoding process is applied. it can.

  The high-quality content restored in this way has higher quality than when the broadcast content that has been subjected to lossy compression encoding processing is decoded. Therefore, the user can view the broadcast content with high quality.

  The content reproduction device, content providing server, and broadcast content supply device may be realized by a computer. In this case, the above-described content providing server or broadcast content supply apparatus is realized by a computer by causing the computer to operate as the above-described units of the above-described content providing server or broadcast content supply apparatus. The content providing server or the broadcast content supplying apparatus control program and the computer-readable recording medium on which the control program is recorded also fall within the scope of the present invention.

  As described above, the content reproduction apparatus according to the present invention is high-quality data for reproducing high-quality content having the same quality as broadcast content transmitted by broadcast waves and having higher quality than the broadcast content. High-quality data acquisition means for acquiring in advance, and content reproduction means for reproducing the high-quality content in synchronization with the broadcast of the broadcast content based on the high-quality data acquired by the high-quality data acquisition means ing. Therefore, it is possible to reproduce the content desired by the user with high quality as to the compressed content transmitted by the broadcast wave.

  An embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, as an example, a content reproduction apparatus as a digital television that receives broadcast content transmitted from a broadcast station by broadcast waves will be described.

Embodiment 1
(Configuration of digital TV)
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a content reproduction apparatus as the digital television 100 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the digital television 100 according to the present embodiment includes a tuner unit 101, a TS (transport stream) decoder 111, an AV (audio visual) decoder 112, a graphics generation unit 103, an image superimposing unit 104, an external The configuration includes an interface 105, a content output unit 106, an operation unit 107, a control unit 110, and a recording unit 40.

  The control unit 110 performs overall control, and further includes an input / output control unit 10 and a content reproduction control unit 20. The recording unit 40 records a program executed by the control unit 110 and various data read when the control unit 110 controls content reproduction. Details of the control unit 110 and the recording unit 40 will be described later.

  The content output unit 106 presents the content acquired by the digital television 100 to the user. The content output unit 106 includes a speaker 113 that outputs audio data included in the content, and a display unit 114 that outputs video (moving image / image) data included in the content. The display unit 114 is realized by a display device such as an LCD (liquid crystal display), a PDP (plasma display panel), or a CRT (cathode-ray tube) display.

  The operation unit 107 is signal input means for inputting a signal for the user to operate the digital television 100. In the present embodiment, for example, the first operation unit 107a using a remote controller (remote controller) for remote operation outside the digital TV 100 and the second operation unit 107b provided in the digital TV 100 itself are configured. Yes. The digital television 100 has light receiving means (not shown) that receives an instruction signal (for example, an infrared signal) by each key operation on the first operation unit 107a side as a remote controller on the receiving side (light receiving unit side). The instruction signal received by the light receiving means is sent to the control unit 110.

  The external interface 105 communicates with an external device or reads / writes data from / to an external device, and exchanges data between the digital television 100 and the external device.

  For example, the external interface 105 receives various information from a content providing server 200 that distributes high-quality data to a client terminal (digital television 100), an external server device that provides service information such as EPG (electronic program guide) data, and the like. This is realized as a communication interface for performing communication for acquisition. In this case, communication with each external device is, for example, a wireless local area network (LAN) realized by infrared rays or Bluetooth (registered trademark), or a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and Realized via the Internet.

  The external interface 105 is realized as an input / output interface that supplies information read from an external storage device that records the high-quality data and EPG data or a recording medium into the digital television 100. The EPG data may be acquired from a broadcast wave transmitted by the broadcast station 300.

  The high-quality data is data for reproducing high-quality content having the same quality as the broadcast content transmitted by the broadcast station 300 using broadcast waves and having higher quality than the broadcast content. is there. The digital television 100 can reproduce high quality content by acquiring the high quality data.

  Next, in the digital television 100 according to the present embodiment, a digital broadcast signal transmitted from the broadcast station 300 and including broadcast content or EPG data encoded by the MPEG2 encoding / compression method is received and output. The remaining components of the digital television 100 will be described along with the flow up to. However, the digital television 100 according to the present invention is not limited to the following components.

  The tuner unit 101 is a tuner for digital broadcasting. When a digital broadcast signal is supplied through an antenna (not shown), the tuner unit 101 selects a received signal, performs demodulation and error correction according to the signal form, and forms multiplexed digital data. The multiplexed digital data is output to the TS decoder 111.

  The TS decoder 111 extracts the TS (Transport Stream) by decoding the multiplexed digital data output from the tuner unit 101, separates it into TS packets for each purpose, and outputs them to the AV decoder 112 and the control unit 110 at the subsequent stage. . Here, TS is a signal sequence in which fixed-length TS packets are continuous, and each TS packet includes information for identifying EPG data and content in addition to video / audio signals (for example, PSI (Program Specific Information). ), SI (Service Information)) and the like. Here, the extracted TS is a TS packet (broadcast content) that includes a video / audio signal for output to the AV decoder 112 and a TS packet that includes a content-related data signal for output to the control unit 110 ( Content information).

  The AV decoder 112 decodes the TS packet (broadcast content) from the TS decoder 111 and separates it into audio data and video data. The separated audio data is supplied to the speaker 113, and the video data is supplied to the image superimposing unit 104.

  Note that the TS decoder 111 and the AV decoder 112 constitute a part of the correction unit 102. The correction unit 102 corrects the broadcast content encoded by the MPEG2 encoding / compression method so as to be a high-quality content having a higher quality. Details of the correction unit 102 will be described later.

  The graphics generation unit 103 forms OSD (On Screen Display) information to be output to the image superimposing unit 104. The OSD information is various information stored in the recording unit 40, such as an EPG (electronic program guide), a menu screen (GUI) for the user to operate the digital television 100, and the like. The OSD information also includes an operation screen for the user to instruct viewing reservation, recording reservation, high quality data request, and result display of the high quality data request status.

  The image superimposing unit 104 superimposes the video data decoded by the AV decoder 112 and the OSD image such as an operation screen or an EPG, and outputs them to the display unit 114. As a result, the video data of the broadcast content and the OSD information can be displayed in a superimposed manner on one display screen.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, the broadcast content transmitted from the broadcast station 300 can be received by the broadcast image receiving unit including the tuner unit 101, the TS decoder 111, the AV decoder 112, and the like. Yes.

  That is, when the digital television 100 receives a channel selection (program viewing) instruction from the user via the operation unit 107, the digital TV 100 transmits the video data and audio data of the specified content of the specified channel to the content output unit 106. By outputting, the user can view the content of the channel.

  Furthermore, the digital television 100 has a content reproduction control unit 20 in the control unit 110 in order to realize the content reproduction apparatus of the present invention, that is, to reproduce high-quality content corresponding to the broadcast content. ing.

  Details of the content reproduction control unit 20 and the recording unit 40 will be described below.

(Details of digital TV)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a content reproduction apparatus as a digital television 100 according to the present embodiment. Note that the reference numerals given to the respective constituent elements in FIG. 1 correspond to the reference numerals given to the respective constituent elements in FIG. 2, and the same reference numerals indicate the same constituent elements. Therefore, the description of the components already described above will not be repeated.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the digital television 100 includes an input / output control unit 10 and a content reproduction control unit 20 inside the control unit 110.

  The input / output control unit 10 of the control unit 110 includes components in the digital television 100 (the tuner unit 101, the external interface 105, the operation unit 107, the graphics generation unit 103, the image superimposing unit 104, the display unit 114, and the recording unit 40 described above. And the like, and includes a communication control unit 11, an operation reception unit 12, and a display control unit 13.

  The content reproduction control unit 20 performs processing for reproducing broadcast content or high-quality content corresponding to the broadcast content, and includes a channel selection unit 21, an EPG processing unit 22, a high-quality content acquisition unit 23, and a content reproduction unit 24. It has.

  The recording unit 40 that the content reproduction control unit 20 reads and writes has a high-quality content recording unit 41, an EPG recording unit 42, and a display buffer 43.

  The communication control unit 11 of the input / output control unit 10 controls communication with an external device. More specifically, for example, when acquiring broadcast content, the tuner unit 101 is controlled to acquire broadcast content or EPG data instructed by the channel selection unit 21. In addition, when two-way communication is performed with an external device via the Internet (transmission of a request signal for high quality content, acquisition of high quality content, etc.), the external interface 105 is controlled.

  The operation receiving unit 12 receives an instruction signal from a user input to the digital television 100 via the operation unit 107 and supplies the instruction signal to each unit of the content reproduction control unit 20. Examples of the contents of the instruction from the user include an instruction for selecting broadcast content and an instruction for viewing reservation / recording reservation.

  The display control unit 13 controls various signals (video signal, OSD image signal, etc.) for displaying information on the display unit 114. For example, when broadcasting content is displayed, content encoded by the MPEG2 encoding / compression method extracted as video data by the AV decoder 112 is decoded and supplied to the display unit 114 under the control of the display control unit 13. . At this time, the display control unit 13 extracts a signal constituting one screen from the decoded video signal and stores it in the display buffer 43. Then, when a signal constituting one screen is prepared in the display buffer 43, the display unit 114 is controlled to display an image. At this time, if there is an OSD image to be superimposed, the image superimposing unit 104 is controlled to store the OSD image signal for one screen in the display buffer 43 and also output to the display unit 114.

  The channel selection unit 21 of the content reproduction control unit 20 controls the tuner unit 101 via the communication control unit 11 and acquires various information (broadcast content, EPG data, etc.) transmitted from the broadcast station by broadcast waves. is there. More specifically, the channel selection unit 21 instructs the tuner unit 101 on the channel selected by the user. The tuner unit 101 extracts broadcast content corresponding to the channel selected by the channel selection unit 21.

  The EPG processing unit 22 analyzes and processes EPG data acquired by the channel selection unit 21, creates information about broadcast content (hereinafter referred to as content information) as a database, and stores it in the EPG recording unit 42. Content information for each broadcast content recorded in the EPG recording unit 42 is used for receiving viewing / recording reservations, managing / reproducing high-quality content, creating an electronic program guide, and the like.

  The high quality content acquisition unit 23 acquires high quality data necessary for reproducing high quality content. The content playback unit 24 uses the high quality data acquired by the high quality content acquisition unit 23 to play back the high quality content in synchronization with the broadcast of the corresponding broadcast content.

  In the present embodiment, the high quality data is high quality content data. The high quality content acquisition unit 23 acquires high quality content from an external device such as the content providing server 200 (FIG. 2) via the Internet. More specifically, a request signal (request message) is transmitted to the content providing server 200 so as to distribute the high quality content designated by the user, and the requested high quality content is received from the content providing server 200. It is stored in the high quality content recording unit 41.

  The content information of the EPG recording unit 42 is recorded for each broadcast content. Therefore, the high quality content acquisition unit 23 stores the acquired high quality content in association with the content information of the broadcast content corresponding to the high quality content.

  Thereby, for example, when the broadcast date and time information of the broadcast content is included in the content information, the content reproduction unit 24 can identify when the original broadcast content of the high-quality content is broadcast. . Therefore, the content reproduction unit 24 can identify when the high-quality content can be synchronized with the broadcast content.

  The EPG recording unit 42 records the content information for each broadcast content extracted from the EPG data by the EPG processing unit 22 as a database. The format of content information in this embodiment is shown in FIG. The EPG processing unit 22 extracts each piece of information shown in FIG. 12A from the EPG data for each broadcast content, and records the information as content information in the EPG recording unit 42.

  In the “content ID” shown in FIG. 12A, identification information for uniquely specifying the broadcast content is recorded. In the “organization channel”, information for identifying an organization channel necessary for acquiring desired broadcast content is recorded. In “Title”, the title of the broadcast content is recorded. In “Content”, information about the content content such as an outline and a summary of the broadcast content is recorded. In the “broadcast start (end) date”, information specifying the broadcast start (end) date of the broadcast content is recorded.

  In the present embodiment, the content information items of the broadcast content are the above-described six items, but are not limited to the above. The content information can include any information relating to the content that can be extracted from the EPG data (genre information, information on whether or not the content is paid content, etc.).

  The high quality content recording unit 41 records the high quality content acquired by the high quality content acquisition unit 23. FIG. 12B shows the format of high quality content management information in this embodiment. The high quality content acquisition unit 23 records the acquired high quality content in the high quality content recording unit 41 as management information in association with the corresponding broadcast content information (for example, “content ID”).

  In the “request status” shown in FIG. 12B, information indicating whether or not a request signal for requesting the high-quality content from the content providing server 200 has been transmitted is recorded. In “content ID”, a content ID for specifying broadcast content supported by the high-quality content is recorded. In “viewing reservation date and time”, information on the date and time when high-quality content is reproduced in synchronization with the main broadcast is recorded based on the broadcast start date and time information of the broadcast content. In the “high quality content”, data of high quality content indicating the content of the broadcast content is recorded. In “Size”, information indicating the storage capacity of the high-quality content is recorded. In the “storage status”, information indicating the progress of storage of the high-quality content is recorded.

  In order to ensure the quality of high-quality content, it has a great deal of information and has a large capacity, so acquisition (downloading from the content providing server 200) may take time. Therefore, if information indicating how many percent of the high-quality content can be downloaded is recorded, the digital television 100 can predict how long it will take to complete the download.

  Alternatively, in order to distribute the load caused by communication, it is conceivable to divide a large amount of high-quality content into several parts and distribute it. Also in this case, if progress information is managed, it is possible to easily predict how much download will be completed.

  As in the item “high quality content”, an auxiliary storage device or recording medium for recording high quality content data is provided separately without securing an area for directly recording a large volume of high quality content data. Also good. In this case, an item of “management address” indicating an address where the high-quality content is stored is provided, and the content reproduction unit 24 reads predetermined high-quality content based on information indicated by the “management address”. It becomes.

  The recording medium for recording high-quality content may be any recording medium that can record digital content, such as a DVD (Digital Video Disc) or a hard disk. A disc-shaped recording medium such as a semiconductor memory such as a flash memory is preferably used. Further, it may be recorded on a recording medium provided in another device via a communication path such as a network.

  According to the above configuration, the high-quality content acquisition unit 23 acquires and records in advance a high-quality content that is the same content as the broadcast content transmitted by the broadcast wave and has a higher quality than the broadcast content. Then, the content reproduction unit 24 reproduces the acquired high-quality content in synchronization with the broadcast content broadcast.

  As a result, instead of the broadcast content, it is possible to reproduce high-quality content with the same content as the broadcast content, and the content of the same content desired by the user with respect to the broadcast content compressed in an irreversible manner. Can be provided with high quality.

  Furthermore, since the high-quality content is reproduced in accordance with the broadcast time of the broadcast content, the user does not need a complicated operation for viewing the high-quality content (normal viewing reservation operation). On the other hand, only by performing an operation of selecting high-quality content), it is possible to view high-quality content in the same manner as normal broadcast content viewing.

(High quality content playback method)
More specifically, for example, the following method may be used as a method for reproducing high-quality content in synchronization with broadcast content.

(1) Using the “broadcast start time” included in the content information recorded in the EPG recording unit 42, high-quality content is reproduced at that time.
(2) The broadcast content to be reproduced is switched to the corresponding high-quality content and reproduced (or displayed on two screens) in accordance with the reception timing of the broadcast content.

  Each reproduction method will be described in detail below.

  (1) The content reproduction unit 24, for each of the high quality content recorded in the high quality content recording unit 41, based on the content ID, broadcast date and time information of the original broadcast content that the high quality content corresponds to Manage. This is the viewing reservation date / time information of the high-quality content (FIG. 12B).

  When the current time reaches the time indicated by the viewing reservation date / time information, the content reproduction unit 24 reads out the high quality content associated with the viewing reservation date / time information from the high quality content recording unit 41, This is supplied to the display control unit 13. The display control unit 13 controls the display unit 114 to display the high-quality content in place of the broadcast content supplied from the TS decoder 111 and the AV decoder 112.

  Thereby, it is possible to reproduce the high quality content recorded in the high quality content recording unit 41 in synchronization with the broadcast start time of the corresponding main broadcast content. As a result, the user can view high-quality content in the same way as viewing broadcast content.

  (2) The content reproduction unit 24 receives the broadcast content from the high-quality content recording unit 41 based on the content ID of the broadcast content at a timing when the image receiving unit of the digital television 100 attempts to acquire and reproduce the broadcast content from the broadcast station 300. The high-quality content corresponding to the broadcast content is extracted and supplied to the display control unit 13.

  As a result, it is possible to reproduce the high quality content recorded in the high quality content recording unit 41 at the timing when the corresponding main broadcast content is received. As a result, the user can view the high-quality content corresponding to the selected broadcast content only by selecting the broadcast content desired to be viewed as usual.

  As a method for displaying high-quality content, the original broadcast content may be replaced and displayed, or both the high-quality content and the broadcast content may be displayed in a user's preferred layout.

(Details of content playback processing)
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of high quality content playback processing of the digital television 100 (FIG. 1). As an example, the flowchart of FIG. 3 shows the flow of processing when high-quality content is reproduced based on the above-described method (1). In this embodiment, the channel selection unit 21 (FIG. 1) stores content information from the EPG data in the EPG recording unit 42, and the user designates the content information using the operation unit 107. Suppose that viewing reservation of desired broadcast content is made to the digital television 100.

  When the operation accepting unit 12 accepts a viewing reservation instruction from the user via the operation unit 107 (YES in S101), the operation accepting unit 12 determines whether or not the viewing reservation instruction includes an instruction to acquire high-quality content. Determine (S102). When the operation reception unit 12 determines that the viewing reservation instruction is a viewing reservation instruction for normal broadcast content (NO in S102), the control unit 110 performs normal viewing reservation processing (S103). finish.

  On the other hand, when the operation reception unit 12 determines that an instruction to acquire high quality content is included (YES in S102), the viewing reservation instruction is supplied to the high quality content acquisition unit 23.

  Next, the high quality content acquisition unit 23 creates and transmits a request signal for requesting the content providing server 200 (FIG. 2) for high quality content based on the content ID included in the viewing reservation instruction ( S104). An example of this request signal is shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 12 (c), in the present embodiment, the request signal indicates preset user-specific information (user information 5) and which broadcast content is requested for high-quality content ( Content information 6). However, the format of the request signal is not limited to the format shown in FIG. 12C, and what information is included if it is clear who is requesting which content. Also good.

  Subsequently, the high quality content acquisition unit 23 receives the requested high quality content from the content providing server 200 that has received the request signal as described above via the communication control unit 11, and sends it to the high quality content recording unit 41. Store (S105). At this time, the high-quality content is recorded in association with content information (that is, broadcast start date / time information) of the corresponding broadcast content. As a result, the content reproduction unit 24 can manage viewing reservation date / time information of high-quality content.

  When the content playback unit 24 detects that the current time has reached the viewing reservation date and time (YES in S106), the content playback unit 24 plays back the high-quality content associated with the viewing reservation date and time information (S107).

  According to the above method, when a reservation for viewing high-quality content is received from the user, a request signal for the high-quality content is created and transmitted to the content providing server 200. Thereby, it is possible to acquire high-quality content from the content providing server 200. Subsequently, the acquired high quality content is recorded in association with the broadcast start time information of the corresponding broadcast content. When the broadcast start time of the corresponding broadcast content is reached, the high quality content stored in the high quality content recording unit 41 is read, and the video of the high quality content is output to the display unit 114.

  As a result, it is possible to reproduce high-quality content with the same content as the broadcast content instead of the broadcast content, and the content of the same content desired by the user for the compressed broadcast content can be reproduced with high quality. It can be provided as it is.

  Furthermore, since the high-quality content is reproduced in accordance with the broadcast time of the broadcast content, the user does not need a complicated operation for viewing the high-quality content (normal viewing reservation operation). On the other hand, only by performing an operation of selecting high-quality content), it is possible to view high-quality content in the same manner as normal broadcast content viewing.

[Embodiment 2]
In the above-described embodiment, the high-quality content corresponding to the broadcast content is acquired as the high-quality data, and the high-quality content is provided to the user by replacing the broadcast content. However, the content reproduction apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The content reproduction apparatus of the present invention can also reproduce high quality content by acquiring correction information as high quality data and applying the correction to the received broadcast content.

  Hereinafter, the digital television 100 as a content playback apparatus that plays back high-quality content by applying corrections to received broadcast content will be described.

  In this embodiment, as an example, on the broadcast station 300 (FIG. 2) side, correction is applied to video data of broadcast content compressed by the MPEG2 encoding compression method, and high-quality content with high image quality is reproduced. The case where it does is demonstrated. However, this embodiment does not limit the broadcast content compression technique before correction in the present invention to MPEG2. Further, the correction target is not limited to video data.

(Details of digital TV 2)
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a content playback apparatus as the digital television 100 according to the present embodiment. In addition, the code | symbol attached | subjected to each component of FIG. 4 respond | corresponds to the code | symbol attached | subjected to each component of FIG. 1, and the same code | symbol has shown the same component. Therefore, the description about the component mentioned above is abbreviate | omitted.

  4 differs from FIG. 1 in that the content reproduction control unit 20 includes a correction information acquisition unit 25 instead of the high-quality content acquisition unit 23, and the correction unit 102 (FIG. 2) in that the content correction control unit 26 for controlling each unit included in the recording unit 40 is included, and the recording unit 40 includes a correction information recording unit 44 instead of the high-quality content recording unit 41. is there.

  The correction information acquisition unit 25 acquires correction information as high quality data necessary for reproducing high quality content.

  The content correction control unit 26 controls the correction unit 102. That is, the correction information (high quality data) acquired by the correction information acquisition unit 25 is used to correct the corresponding broadcast content being received into high quality content. The content reproduction unit 24 reproduces the high quality content corrected by the content correction control unit 26.

  The correction information recording unit 44 records correction information as high-quality data acquired by the correction information acquisition unit 25. The format of management information for correction information in the present embodiment is substantially the same as the format of management information for high-quality content (embodiment 1) shown in FIG. The difference from the first embodiment is that “correction information” is stored instead of “high quality content”.

  According to the above configuration, the content correction control unit 26 applies the correction information to the broadcast content encoded by the MPEG2 encoding / compression method that is input to the TS decoder 111, and outputs the high-quality content to the display unit 114. To do. The correction information is correction information corresponding to the broadcast content acquired by the correction information acquisition unit 25.

  As a result, the broadcast content can be corrected to a high-quality content with the same content as the broadcast content, and the content of the same content desired by the user can be converted to a high-quality content for the compressed broadcast content. It can be provided as it is.

  Furthermore, since the capacity of the correction information can be reduced as compared with the case where high-quality content itself is transmitted and received, the communication cost and the load on the communication line are reduced, and the storage area is saved.

  When the broadcast start time of the broadcast content to be corrected is reached, the content correction control unit 26 extracts the correction information corresponding to the broadcast content from the correction information recording unit 44 that records the correction information, and supplies the correction information to the correction unit 102. . The correction unit 102 receives the correction information from the content correction control unit 26 for each frame, and executes correction for making the broadcast content high-quality content for each frame. Details of the correction unit 102 will be described below.

(Details of correction part)
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of the correction unit 102. In the present embodiment, the correction unit 102 includes a TS decoder 111 and an AV decoder 112, and further includes a video decoder 81, an audio decoder 82, a time stamp comparison unit 83, a video memory buffer 84, and an audio memory buffer 85. Yes.

  Broadcast content is input from the tuner unit 101 to the TS decoder 111. The TS decoder 111 separates video (video) data and audio (sound) data from the MPEG2-TS stream format. Since details are described in Non-Patent Document 1, description thereof is omitted. At the time of separation, the time stamp information given by the transmission side (broadcast station 300 (FIG. 2)) is also extracted from the MPEG2-TS stream. This time stamp information is used to match the time information on the transmission side and the time information on the reception side, and the output timing of video data and audio data is determined based on the time information. Audio data and video data are input to the respective decoders (video decoder 81 and audio decoder 82) and decoded from the compressed data. Each of the decoded video data and audio data is temporarily stored in a memory buffer (video memory buffer 84, audio memory buffer 85). Then, the time stamp comparison unit 83 refers to the time stamp information, adjusts the timing, and transmits the timing to each memory buffer. The decoded video (audio data) is output at a timing designated by the time stamp comparison unit 83.

  Here, two signals are input to the video decoder 81 for correcting video data. The content correction control unit 26 acquires the correction information separated and extracted by the TS decoder 111 from the correction information recording unit 44 and supplies it to the video decoder 81. Further, the time stamp comparison unit 83 creates a frame-by-frame request signal for correcting high-quality content for each frame based on the time information, and supplies it to the video decoder 81 via the TS decoder 111. Thereby, the video decoder 81 synchronizes the correction information and the broadcast content at an appropriate timing, receives the correction information for each frame, and executes correction for making the broadcast content a high-quality content for each frame. It becomes possible. Details of the video decoder 81 that corrects video data of broadcast content will be described below.

(Details of video decoder)
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the video decoder 81 in the present embodiment. The video decoder 81 includes an MPEG2 decoder unit 91, a YCrCb conversion correction unit 92, a correction data buffer 93, and a timer unit 94 therein.

  The MPEG2 decoder unit 91 decodes video data out of broadcast contents encoded by the MPEG2 encoding / compression method on the broadcasting station 300 side. The video data is separated by the AV decoder 112 and supplied to the MPEG2 decoder unit 91. The MPEG2 decoder unit 91 can be provided with a corresponding decoder according to the difference in encoding and compression method.

  The YCrCb conversion correction unit 92 corrects the video data decoded by the MPEG2 decoder unit 91 using the correction information supplied by the content correction control unit 26. Broadcast content to which correction is applied by the YCrCb conversion correction unit 92 is output as high-quality content.

  The timer unit 94 performs synchronization control of correction processing in the YCrCb conversion correction unit 92. That is, the YCrCb conversion correction unit 92 synchronizes the video data and the correction information and supplies them to the YCrCb conversion correction unit 92 at an appropriate timing so that the correction can be correctly applied for each frame of video data of the broadcast content.

  More specifically, first, a request signal for each frame based on the time information supplied from the TS decoder 111 is received. Using the clock counter of the request signal for each frame, the correction information is stored in the correction data buffer 93 for each frame. At this time, the timer unit 94 stores the time information stored in the correction data buffer 93. Next, information on the time when the video data decoded from the MPEG2 decoder unit 91 is output is also stored. If the stored times coincide with each other, the correction data buffer 93 is instructed to input correction information to the YCrCb conversion correction unit 92. Accordingly, correct correction information corresponding to one frame of the video data is supplied to the YCrCb conversion correction unit 92 at an appropriate timing, so that the YCrCb conversion correction unit 92 appropriately generates the high-quality content by applying the correction information. It becomes possible to do.

(Correction information format)
As the correction information used by the YCrCb conversion correction unit 92, for example, difference data when subsampling from YCrCb can be used when the broadcast content is encoded by the MPEG2 encoding / compression method on the broadcast station 300 side.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a format of correction information as the difference data. One band indicates correction information for one frame. For example, when the video data A to be corrected included in the broadcast content A is composed of n + 1 frames, the correction information A includes correction information 700, correction information 701, and so on as shown in FIG. It is composed of information 70n.

  The correction information for one frame is composed of the following six data. The first data 71 is a “content ID” and indicates identification information for uniquely specifying the broadcast content. The second data 72 is a “time code” and indicates a time during which a frame is reproduced. The third data 73 is “frame count” and indicates count information indicating the number of frames counted from the top frame. The fourth data 74 is “frame correction data Y” and indicates difference data before and after correction in the luminance signal Y of the frame. The fifth data 75 is “frame correction data Cr” and indicates difference data before and after correction in the color difference signal Cr of the frame. The sixth data 76 is “frame correction data Cb” and indicates difference data before and after correction in the color difference signal Cb of the frame.

  The data structure of the correction information is not limited to the above, and may be a data structure including information other than the difference data necessary for correction.

  According to the above configuration, the timer unit 94 controls the correction data buffer 93 so that correct correction information corresponding to one frame of video data is supplied to the YCrCb conversion correction unit 92 at an appropriate timing.

  As a result, the YCrCb conversion correction unit 92 can generate high-quality content using appropriate correction information (for example, difference data before and after correction of each of Y, Cr, and Cb) for one frame of video data. Become.

  As a result, since it is possible to faithfully reproduce the content before being encoded and compressed from the encoded broadcast content, the high-quality content having the same image quality as the broadcast content and having high image quality is reproduced. It becomes possible.

[Embodiment 3]
In the above-described embodiments, the digital television 100 that reproduces high-quality content corresponding to broadcast content has been described. According to the digital television 100 of the present invention, for example, a high quality data provider (service provider) provides high quality data (high quality content or correction information) for the digital television 100 to reproduce high quality content. It is possible to realize a high-quality content distribution system that provides and receives the consideration from the user of the digital television 100.

(High quality content distribution system)
FIG. 8A is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the high-quality content distribution system according to the present embodiment. The high-quality content distribution system 1 according to the present invention provides a terrestrial digital broadcast service and transmits the broadcast content to the digital television (client terminal device) 100 of each user 3. Receiving the broadcast content and reproducing the high-quality content in synchronization with the broadcast content, and providing the high-quality data of the desired content of the user 3 in response to the request of the digital television 100 And the content providing server 200 of the service provider 2 to be included.

  The broadcast content supply apparatus 301 compresses the produced broadcast content by the MPEG2 encoding compression method, converts it into broadcast stream data, transmits the broadcast wave on the digital television 100 (broadcast content C1). The digital television 100 selects a channel corresponding to the broadcast content, receives the broadcast content on the broadcast wave, displays video, and outputs audio. Thereby, the user 3 can view the broadcast content provided by the broadcast station 300.

  The content providing server 200 receives provision of high quality data (high quality content or correction information) from the broadcast content supply device 301 of the broadcast station 300 which is a broadcast content supply source (high quality data C2). As a result, high-quality data corresponding to broadcast content can be provided to the digital television 100.

  The user 3 uses the digital television 100 communicable with the content providing server 200 to designate broadcast content viewed at high quality from an electronic program guide (EPG) acquired in advance, and information on the designated broadcast content is content. To the providing server 200. For example, a high-quality content viewing reservation can be made in the same way as a normal viewing reservation. At this time, information (ID) for specifying the content and broadcast date / time information may be transmitted to the content providing server 200 of the service provider 2 as reservation information for high-quality content (reservation information D1).

The content providing server 200 distributes high quality data corresponding to the broadcast content specified by the reservation information D1 to the digital television 100 of the user 3 using, for example, the Internet (high quality data C2 ′). It should be noted that the high quality data distribution method includes a case where all necessary high quality data is sent at once, and a case where it is divided and sent little by little in consideration of the burden on the communication line. In any case, control is performed so that the distribution of all high quality data is completed at the broadcast start date and time of the broadcast content corresponding to the high quality data.

  When the digital television 100 reproduces the high-quality content using the high-quality data C2 ′ in synchronization with the start of the main broadcast (or when the reproduction is finished), the digital television 100 allows the user 3 to reproduce the high-quality content. Viewing information indicating viewing is transmitted to the content providing server 200 of the service provider 2 (viewing information D2).

  This viewing information D2 serves as a receipt for certifying receipt of a product (high quality data in this embodiment). Upon receiving the viewing information D2, the content providing server 200 performs a billing process based on the content of the viewing information D2, and pays the billing destination (user 3) the viewing fee as the price of the viewed high quality data C2 ′. Is charged and received (viewing fee F1).

  The content providing server 200 pays the usage fee to the broadcasting station 300 according to the viewing information D2 (that is, according to the usage fee for high quality data) (usage fee F2). Then, an agency fee is collected from the broadcasting station 300 (an agency fee F3).

  The personal information used for the user's billing process may be a card ID that has a one-to-one correspondence between the card information and the user's personal information, such as an existing B-CAS card. Alternatively, the service provider 2 manages the serial number assigned to the digital television 100 so that the digital television 100 and the user 3 have a one-to-one correspondence with the personal information of the user. Also good. However, in order for the service provider 2 to provide the service and perform billing processing, registration as a high-quality content user is performed in advance, and the service provider 2 grasps the personal information of the user and the information of the digital television 100 that is the provision destination. There is a need.

  According to the high-quality content distribution system 1 described above, the user 3 pays a viewing fee to the content providing server 200 to obtain desired high-quality data from the content providing server 200, and the digital television 100 uses the high-quality content. Can be watched.

  Therefore, it is possible to construct a high-quality content distribution system 1 that provides digital content for viewing by a user with high quality for compressed digital content transmitted by broadcast waves.

  Furthermore, in the high-quality content distribution system 1, the service provider 2 uses the high-quality data provided from the broadcast station 300, obtains an agency fee F3 from the broadcast station 300, and provides the user with a high-quality content viewing service as a business. It becomes possible to provide. On the other hand, for the broadcasting station 300, it is possible to provide data before compression (high quality content) that has been reduced without being provided to the user by the normal compression technique as it is or by generating difference data before and after correction. It becomes. As a result, it is possible to effectively use the information resources generated by the production and obtain a profit as a usage fee from the content providing server 200.

  Note that transmission of the broadcast content C1 to the digital television 100 and supply of the high quality data C2 to the content providing server 200 are performed by the broadcast content supply device 301 belonging to the broadcast station 300. Hereinafter, the broadcast content supply apparatus 301 will be described in detail.

  FIG. 8B is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of the broadcast content supply apparatus 301. As shown in FIG. 8B, the broadcast content supply apparatus 301 includes a control unit 310 that performs overall control of the broadcast content supply apparatus 301, and a recording unit that records various information used when the control unit 310 executes various processes. 320. The control unit 310 includes a high-quality data transmission unit 311, a broadcast content transmission unit 312, a broadcast content creation unit 313, and a correction information creation unit 314 inside. The recording unit 320 includes a high quality content recording unit 321, a broadcast content recording unit 322, and a correction information recording unit 323.

  The high quality data transmission unit 311 supplies high quality data to the content providing server 200. When the high quality data is the high quality content itself, the high quality content recorded in the high quality content recording unit 321 is supplied. When the high quality data is correction information, the correction information recorded in the correction information recording unit 323 is supplied. The broadcast content transmission unit 312 transmits broadcast content on a broadcast wave.

  The broadcast content creation unit 313 creates broadcast content suitable for transmission by applying lossy compression encoding processing such as MPEG2 to the broadcast content.

  When the broadcast content creation unit 313 executes the lossy compression coding process, the correction information creation unit 314 calculates a difference value between the before and after the coding process and creates it as correction information. Is.

  The data before the lossy compression encoding process is high-quality content having high-quality video (audio) data in which no information is reduced, and the data after the lossy compression encoding process is a broadcast wave Broadcast content suitable for transmission by (but with reduced information). Therefore, if the correction information including the difference value is supplied to the digital television 100 as the high-quality data, the digital television 100 applies the correction information to the received broadcast content, thereby correcting the received broadcast content. Can be reproduced as high quality content.

(Details of digital TV 3)
Now, details of the digital television 100 according to the present embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, the digital television 100 is configured to acquire high-quality content from the content providing server 200 as high-quality data, but the present invention is not limited to this. The high-quality content distribution system 1 according to the present invention can also apply the digital television 100 that acquires the correction information and reproduces the high-quality content as in the second embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the user 3 operates the operation screen displayed on the display unit 114 (FIG. 2) of the digital television 100 via the operation unit 107, thereby viewing and recording desired broadcast content. The reservation can be instructed to the digital television 100. At this time, it is possible to select whether to view (record) the broadcast content as it is (as usual) or to view (record) with high-quality content. Viewing (recording) reservation means that the user designates broadcast content desired to be viewed (recorded) using the EPG. Thereby, the digital television 100 automatically reproduces (records) the designated broadcast content at the broadcast start date and time of the broadcast content. When high quality content is selected, the high quality content corresponding to the broadcast content is reproduced (recorded, that is, acquired and recorded).

  The operation screen displayed on the display unit 114 and the viewing (recording) reservation method using the operation screen will be described in detail later.

  FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of a content reproduction device as the digital television 100 according to the present embodiment. In addition, the code | symbol attached | subjected to each component of FIG. 9 respond | corresponds to the code | symbol attached | subjected to each component of FIG. 1, and the same code | symbol has shown the same component. Therefore, the description about the component mentioned above is abbreviate | omitted.

  The digital television 100 shown in FIG. 9 is different from FIG. 1 in that the content reproduction control unit 20 further includes a content acquisition control unit 27 and a content management unit 28.

  The content acquisition control unit 27 receives a viewing (recording) reservation instruction from the user, and the high quality content acquisition unit 23 (so as to acquire high quality data in response to the selection of high quality content. Alternatively, the correction information acquisition unit 25) is controlled.

  As described above, the high-quality data is reproduced in synchronization with the corresponding broadcast content, so it must be acquired in time for the broadcast start date and time of the broadcast content reserved for viewing. Therefore, the content acquisition control unit 27 controls the high quality content acquisition unit 23 so that the acquisition of high quality data is completed before the broadcast start date and time. As a result, the high-quality content acquisition unit 23 ensures that the acquisition of all high-quality data is completed by the broadcast start date and time, regardless of whether it is acquired from the content providing server 200 in batches or acquired in small increments. Data can be acquired.

  The content acquisition control unit 27 can estimate the time taken to acquire (download; DL) the high quality data after receiving an instruction to acquire the high quality data from the user. If for some reason (such as a lack of communication line or DL instruction time is just before the start of broadcasting), it becomes clear that high quality data cannot be DL in time for the broadcast start date and time, the high quality content acquisition unit 23 is Control to avoid acquiring the high quality data. Then, the user may be notified that the designated high quality data has not been acquired (is not possible). Thereby, it is possible to control the high-quality content acquisition unit 23 so as not to unnecessarily DL in response to a request that cannot provide a service. In addition, the user can recognize this.

  Further, when the recording reservation is accepted, the content acquisition control unit 27 may control the high quality content acquisition unit 23 to acquire the high quality data for recording. The high-quality data for recording is obtained by performing predetermined processing on high-quality data as a high value-added product so that it cannot be illegally used.

  More specifically, for example, the encrypted high-quality data cannot be decrypted unless the high-quality data is encrypted and there is no key that is distributed only to legitimate users who use the high-quality data. Can be considered. Alternatively, the number of times of use (playback or correction) of high-quality data is determined in advance, the data can be reproduced only by legitimate hardware (digital TV 100) of a legitimate user registered in advance, The thing which performed the prevention process is also mentioned.

  The content management unit 28 manages the high-quality content acquired by the high-quality content acquisition unit 23 recorded in the high-quality content recording unit 41. For example, high-quality content that has been played back in synchronization with broadcast of broadcast content and has been played back (or high-quality content for recording that has been played a predetermined number of times) will not be played back unjustly many times. The high quality content may be deleted from the high quality content recording unit 41 so that it cannot be restored.

  The timing at which the content management unit 28 deletes the high-quality content may be triggered by the playback end point of the high-quality content, or based on the broadcast end date / time information of the broadcast content corresponding to the high-quality content. The trigger may be that the current time has reached the broadcast end date and time.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to reproduce the corresponding high-quality content only while the original broadcast content is being broadcast. Thereby, there are the following merits for the content provider side (service provider 2 and broadcasting station 300).

  It is possible to avoid service bias (such as unfairness that only a specific person can watch content with a fixed broadcast time early) that occurs with general viewers and other users Become. That is, it is possible to construct a high-quality content distribution system that provides high-quality content with only the high quality of content as an added value.

  Furthermore, it is possible to prevent unauthorized use of high-quality content, such as high-quality content being viewed by a person other than a legitimate user, or being viewed inappropriately (many times) outside of the main broadcast time. Therefore, management of copyright protection becomes easy.

(Details of content acquisition control unit)
FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing details of the content acquisition control unit 27. The content acquisition control unit 27 includes a time acquisition unit 31, an acquisition time calculation unit 32, and an acquisition instruction unit 33 therein.

  The time acquisition unit 31 acquires a time (acceptance time) when the operation reception unit 12 receives a viewing (recording) reservation from the user. The acquisition time calculation unit 32 is for the high quality content acquisition unit 23 to estimate and calculate the time (required time) required for DL of high quality data. For example, the DL required time may be calculated using the state of the communication line between the digital television 100 and the content providing server 200 (for example, transmission band status information).

  The acquisition instruction unit 33 instructs the high quality content acquisition unit 23 to execute a DL of predetermined high quality content. More specifically, the acquisition instruction unit 33 adds the required time calculated by the acquisition time calculation unit 32 to the reception time acquired by the time acquisition unit 31. When the instruction received by the operation accepting unit 12 is a viewing reservation, the time of the added result (acquisition completion time) is later than the broadcast start date and time of the broadcast content specified by the viewing reservation instruction Since the high-quality content cannot be made in time for the main broadcast, the acquisition instruction unit 33 does not send the DL execution instruction to the high-quality content acquisition unit 23. At this time, the user may be notified that the high-quality data desired by the user is not DL. Thereby, the user can recognize that the high-quality content is not in time for the broadcast date and time.

  If the instruction received by the operation accepting unit 12 is a recording reservation, an instruction to execute DL of the high quality data for recording is sent to the high quality content acquisition unit 23 and the added result time is presented to the user. May be. Or you may notify how much DL is completed from the difference of the time of a result and the present time. Thereby, the user can know when the recorded high-quality content can be reproduced later.

(Content providing server configuration)
Next, the content providing server 200 that supplies high-quality data to the digital television 100 and executes the charging process will be described.

  FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the content providing server 200 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 11, the content providing server 200 includes a communication interface 30 for communicating with an external device, a control unit 60 that performs overall control of the content providing server 200, and when the control unit 60 executes various processes. The recording section 50 is provided for recording various data to be read / written.

  The recording unit 50 includes a high quality data recording unit 51, an EPG recording unit 52, a reservation information recording unit 53, and a billing information recording unit 54.

  The high quality data recording unit 51 records the high quality data C2 obtained from the broadcast station 300 (FIG. 8A) for each broadcast content. Note that the format of the high-quality data management information in this embodiment is almost the same as that shown in FIG. The difference is that instead of the items “request status” and “storage status”, an item “broadcast station ID” indicating from which broadcast station 300 the high-quality data is acquired is included. In addition, an item “acquisition date and time” indicating when it is acquired may be included.

  The EPG recording unit 52 records content information for each broadcast content extracted from EPG data in a database. Note that the format of the content information in the present embodiment is the same as the format shown in FIG.

  The reservation information recording unit 53 records the reservation information D1 (FIG. 8A) received from the digital television 100 for each user and each content. Based on each piece of reservation information recorded in the reservation information recording unit 53, high quality data is distributed to the user at an appropriate timing. Details of the format of the reservation information will be described later.

  The billing information recording unit 54 records the viewing information D2 (FIG. 8A) received from the digital television 100 for each user and each content. Based on each piece of viewing information recorded in the billing information recording unit 54, billing processing for the used high quality data is executed, and the viewing fee is collected appropriately. Details of the format of the viewing information will be described later.

  The reservation receiving unit 61 receives the reservation information D1 (FIG. 8A) from the digital television 100 and manages each reservation information recorded in the reservation information recording unit 53. More specifically, reservation information received from the digital television 100 (FIG. 12C) is received, and the reservation information is stored for each user and for each content.

  FIG. 13A shows a format of reservation information recorded for each user content in this embodiment. In “Reservation No” shown in FIG. 13A, identification information for uniquely managing the reservation information is recorded. Information recorded in “user ID”, “content ID”, and “broadcast start date” corresponds to the information of the same item name shown in FIG. Since the “content ID” corresponds to the “content ID” recorded in the EPG recording unit 52, the content providing server 200 uses the same EPG data that the digital television 100 refers to to broadcast content. It is possible to identify and refer to other content information associated with the broadcast content.

  “Viewing fee” indicates the price of the high-quality data corresponding to the broadcast content having the content ID, and the viewing fee charged to the user after the high-quality data is used by the user. The amount information is recorded. The “supply status” records information indicating the progress of supply of the requested high quality data.

  The high quality data distribution unit 62 distributes appropriate high quality data recorded in the high quality data recording unit 51 at an appropriate timing based on reservation information recorded in the reservation information recording unit 53. The appropriate timing is a timing at which the transmission of high quality data is completed before the broadcast start time of the original broadcast content. That is, the high quality data distribution unit 62 determines the timing for starting the distribution of the high quality data based on the capacity of the high quality data to be transmitted and the required distribution time estimated from the degree of the communication line. If the high quality data distribution unit 62 determines that the supply completion time of the high quality data being supplied is not in time for the broadcast start date and time of the broadcast content corresponding to the high quality data, the high quality data distribution unit 62 cancels the distribution and notifies that effect. A message to be notified may be transmitted to the digital television 100 of the supply destination.

  The billing processing unit 63 receives viewing information (usage notification message) for notifying that high-quality data has been used from the digital television 100 and performs billing processing. More specifically, the billing information shown in FIG. 13B is generated based on the viewing information, and each billing information is stored in the billing information recording unit 54 for each user and for each content.

  FIG. 13B shows a format of billing information recorded for each content for each user in this embodiment. In “Billing No” shown in FIG. 13B, identification information for uniquely managing billing information (viewing information) is recorded. Information recorded in “user ID”, “content ID”, and “viewing fee” corresponds to information of the same item name shown in FIG. The “broadcasting station ID” records information that identifies the provider of the high-quality content that is used (included in the viewing information), that is, the payee payee for the service provider 2. “Usage fee” records information on the amount of usage fee that the service provider 2 should pay to the broadcasting station 300. If the agency fee is determined in advance, an item of “agent fee” may be added and information on the amount of agency fee collected from the broadcast station 300 may be recorded.

  “Settlement status” records information indicating the progress of the billing process. For example, “Billed” (viewing fee to the user), “Retrieving viewing fee”, “(Paid usage fee to the broadcasting station)”, or “(Receiving agency fee) (from broadcasting station)” Information.

  According to the above configuration, the reservation receiving unit 61 of the content providing server 200 receives a request for high quality data from the digital television 100 of the user 3 and manages reservation information. The high quality data distribution unit 62 distributes the requested high quality data to the digital television 100 at an appropriate timing based on the reservation information. When the high quality data is used in the digital television 100, the billing processing unit 63 receives viewing information from the digital television 100, manages the billing information, and charges / collects the price of the used high quality data. Done properly.

  Thereby, the user 3 can obtain desired high quality data from the content providing server 200 by paying a viewing fee to the content providing server 200, and can view the high quality content on the digital television 100.

  Therefore, it is possible to construct a high-quality content distribution system 1 that provides digital content for viewing by a user with high quality for compressed digital content transmitted by broadcast waves.

  Furthermore, in the high-quality content distribution system 1, the service provider 2 uses the high-quality data provided from the broadcast station 300, obtains an agency fee F3 from the broadcast station 300, and provides the user with a high-quality content viewing service as a business. It becomes possible to provide. On the other hand, for the broadcasting station 300, it is possible to provide data before compression (high quality content) that has been reduced without being provided to the user by the normal compression technique as it is or by generating difference data before and after correction. It becomes. As a result, it is possible to effectively utilize the information resources generated by the production and obtain a profit as a usage fee from the content providing server 200.

  In the present embodiment, the high-quality content distribution system 1 is described in which the broadcast content supply apparatus 301 as a high-quality data supply source and the content providing server 200 that provides high-quality data to the user 3 are separately configured. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

  When the service provider 2 also serves as the broadcast station 300 (or when the broadcast station 300 also serves as the service provider 2), the broadcast content is transmitted and corresponding high quality data is directly transmitted to the user 3 upon request. Can be provided. That is, the broadcast content supply apparatus 301 may be configured to include each unit of the content providing server 200 of the present invention (the content providing server 200 includes each unit of the broadcast content supply apparatus 301 of the present invention).

  Next, an operation screen for viewing (recording) reservation displayed on the display unit 114 (FIG. 2) of the digital television 100 will be described with reference to the drawings. Here, as an example, (1) an operation screen for making a viewing reservation and (2) an operation screen for canceling the viewing reservation after the viewing reservation will be described. However, the following description does not limit the operation on the operation screen realized in the digital television 100 according to the present invention to viewing reservation.

(Operation screen example 1-Viewing (recording) reservation)
FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen at the time of viewing (recording) reservation displayed on the display unit 114 (FIG. 2) of the digital television 100 in the high-quality content distribution system 1 and its transition. Each operation screen (operation screens 14 a to 14 e) illustrated in FIG. 14 is generated as OSD information in the graphics generation unit 103 and displayed on the display unit 114 by the display control unit 13.

  The operation screen 14a is an operation screen displayed when an instruction to display an electronic program guide (EPG) for viewing (recording) reservation is input by the user via the operation unit 107 of the digital television 100. . In the EPG displayed on the operation screen 14a, the horizontal axis represents the broadcast time information 141, and the vertical axis represents the channel number information 142. The square representing the program (broadcast content) displayed in the program display field 143 has its vertical display position determined according to the channel, and the horizontal length of the square is determined according to the broadcast time zone. . In the present embodiment, when the user selects this square using the operation unit 107, an instruction for viewing (recording) reservation for a program (broadcast content) recorded in the square is input.

  Outside the EPG display area on the operation screen 14a, a program information button for displaying detailed program information, a genre search button for searching for a desired program by genre, and confirmation of viewing (recording) reservation status are displayed. A reservation list button 144 for performing operations, an explanation of operation buttons for performing screen switching, etc. using keys provided on the operation unit 107 may be displayed.

  When a mass (broadcast content) is selected by the user via the operation unit 107, an operation screen 14b for selecting a program reservation method is displayed next. A program reservation method selection menu 145 is displayed, and “viewing reservation button”, “recording reservation button”, and “non-reservation button” are displayed as reservation method options. In addition, program information such as performers of the program may be displayed outside the display area of the selection menu 145 on the operation screen 14b.

  When the “no reservation button” is selected, the operation screen 14a is displayed again. On the other hand, when the “view (recording) reservation button” is selected, an operation screen 14c for designating the type of the selected reserved program (normal content (broadcast content) or high-quality content) is displayed. Is done.

  On the operation screen 14c, a selection menu 146 for selecting the type of the reserved program is displayed, and “high quality button”, “normal button”, and “return button” are displayed as selection types. When the “return button” is selected, the operation screen 14b is displayed again. When the “normal button” is selected, normal program viewing (recording) reservation processing that is not charged is executed.

  When the “high quality button” is selected, an operation screen 14d for notifying detailed information related to a reserved program such as billing information is displayed next.

  Detailed information 147 regarding the reserved program is displayed on the operation screen 14d. The detailed information 147 includes, for example, video / audio format information, presence / absence of subtitles, information on whether there is accompanying data, content data amount, determination information on whether recording is possible, and the reservation Fee information for high-quality content corresponding to the program is displayed. In addition, a “cancel button” for canceling the operation for selecting the high quality content and a reservation button 148 for confirming the selection of the high quality content are displayed.

  When the “cancel button” is selected, the selection of the high-quality content is canceled and the operation screen 14c is displayed again.

  When the reservation button 148 is selected, an operation screen 14e is displayed as a viewing (recording) reservation result confirmation screen for high-quality content. When the reservation button 148 is selected, a request signal (FIG. 12C) for requesting high-quality content is transmitted through the network to the content providing server 200 of the service provider 2 (FIG. 8A). . The request signal includes user information 5 for billing processing.

  A confirmation menu 149 for reserved high-quality content is displayed on the operation screen 14e. Here, the viewing fee information may be displayed again. When the “return button” is selected, the operation screen 14d is displayed again.

(Operation screen example 2-Confirmation / cancellation of reservation)
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen at the time of reservation confirmation / cancellation displayed on the display unit 114 (FIG. 2) of the digital television 100 in the high-quality content distribution system 1 and its transition. Each operation screen (operation screens 15a to 14d) illustrated in FIG. 15 is generated as OSD information by the graphics generation unit 103 and displayed on the display unit 114 by the display control unit 13.

  The operation screen 15a is an operation screen for displaying a reservation list for confirming the reservation status displayed when the reservation list button 144 displayed on the operation screen 14a is selected. In the reservation list on the operation screen 15a, the broadcast time, channel, and program name are displayed for each reserved program. In addition, for each reserved program, a viewing flag indicating whether or not the reserved program has been viewed may be displayed.

  Here, when information 151 of a reserved program listed in the reserved list is selected, an operation screen 15b for displaying more detailed reserved program information of the reserved program is displayed next. As the detailed information 152 of the reserved program information, for example, in addition to the detailed information 147 on the operation screen 14d, type information indicating whether the reserved content is normal content (broadcast content) or high-quality content is displayed. Further, a cancel button 153, a “change button”, and a “do not change button” are displayed as operation options that can be executed for the selected reserved program.

  When the “button not to change” is selected, the operation screen 15a is displayed again. When the “change button” is selected, the operation screen 14c is displayed again, and the type of the reserved program can be selected again.

  When the cancel button 153 is selected, an operation screen 15c for canceling the reserved program is displayed. On the operation screen 15 c, “cancel” “do button” and “do not button” are displayed as options for the cancel operation. When the “no button” is selected, the operation screen 15b is displayed again.

  On the other hand, when the “Yes button” is selected, the operation screen 15d for displaying the result of the reserved program cancellation processing is displayed next. On the operation screen 15d, a message notifying that the reserved program has been canceled is displayed. In addition, when the “return button” is displayed and selected, the operation screen 14a may be displayed again. As described above, the reservation program canceling operation can be ended.

  As described above, a user operation for viewing (recording) reservation for high-quality content can be made common with an operation for instructing reservation of broadcast content that is normally broadcast. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform another complicated operation in order to view high-quality content, and it is possible to reduce the user's trouble.

  Also, in the digital television 100, since many of the high-quality content designation processes can be made common with the broadcast content designation process to be broadcast, many of the members for processing each can be made common, and the content reproduction apparatus of the present invention The configuration of the digital TV 100 can be simplified.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope shown in the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  Finally, each block of the digital television 100, the content providing server 200, and the broadcast content supply apparatus 301, in particular, the high-quality content acquisition unit 23, the content reproduction unit 24, and the content correction control unit 26 are configured by hardware logic. Alternatively, it may be realized by software using a CPU as follows.

  That is, the digital television 100, the content providing server 200, and the broadcast content supply apparatus 301 are configured to have a central processing unit (CPU) that executes instructions of a control program that realizes each function, and a ROM (read only memory) that stores the program. A RAM (random access memory) for expanding the program, and a storage device (recording medium) such as a memory for storing the program and various data. An object of the present invention is to provide program codes (execution format program, intermediate code program, source program) of control programs for the digital television 100, the content providing server 200, and the broadcast content supply apparatus 301, which are software for realizing the functions described above. ) Is readable by a computer and supplied to the digital television 100, the content providing server 200, and the broadcast content supply device 301, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) is recorded on the recording medium. This can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code.

  Examples of the recording medium include a tape system such as a magnetic tape and a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk / hard disk, and an optical disk such as a CD-ROM / MO / MD / DVD / CD-R. Card system such as IC card, IC card (including memory card) / optical card, or semiconductor memory system such as mask ROM / EPROM / EEPROM / flash ROM.

  Further, the digital television 100, the content providing server 200, and the broadcast content supply device 301 may be configured to be connectable to a communication network, and the program code may be supplied via the communication network. The communication network is not particularly limited. For example, the Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN, ISDN, VAN, CATV communication network, virtual private network, telephone line network, mobile communication network, satellite communication. A net or the like is available. Also, the transmission medium constituting the communication network is not particularly limited. For example, even in the case of wired such as IEEE 1394, USB, power line carrier, cable TV line, telephone line, ADSL line, etc., infrared rays such as IrDA and remote control, Bluetooth ( (Registered trademark), 802.11 wireless, HDR, mobile phone network, satellite line, terrestrial digital network, and the like can also be used. The present invention can also be realized in the form of a computer data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program code is embodied by electronic transmission.

(Supplementary information)
Note that the content reproduction apparatus of the present invention receives and reproduces broadcast content including content such as a broadcast program redundant in a broadcast wave from a broadcast station, and the broadcast content in which the user is redundant in the broadcast wave. Rather than requesting high-definition content corresponding to the broadcast content, or having a network interface unit capable of receiving the high-definition (high-quality) content, video that temporarily stores the high-definition content A storage memory is provided, and when a user views high-definition content, the high-definition content temporarily stored in the video storage memory is output to the display of the video reception device instead of the normal broadcast content. It is characterized by that.

  Here, high-definition content means content that does not deteriorate when producing programs, movies, etc., and broadcast content uses compression technology such as MPEG2 to make high-definition content redundant with broadcast waves. This means content that has deteriorated.

  The content playback apparatus receives broadcast content including content such as a broadcast program redundant in a broadcast wave from a broadcast station and reproduces it. The user can increase the broadcast content redundant in the broadcast wave. A network interface unit that can request or receive correction information that can be reproduced in high-quality content is provided, and a correction information storage memory that temporarily stores correction information is provided. When viewing content, instead of normal broadcast content, the broadcast content is corrected using correction information temporarily stored in the correction information storage memory, and the corrected content is displayed on the display of the video receiver. It is characterized by outputting.

  The correction information is a difference value from the original video content at the time of sub-sampling, which is a pre-processing of the MPEG2 compression technique when converting high-quality content into broadcast content.

  In addition, in a method in which a user receives a broadcast wave and views the broadcast wave content that is redundant with the broadcast wave by the content reproduction apparatus, the broadcasting station that creates the broadcast wave content redundant with the broadcast wave has high-quality content. There is a provider that provides a service for delivering the high-definition content to a content playback device that is viewed by the user using a network, and the provider is an agent for delivering the high-definition content to a broadcasting station. When the fee is collected from the broadcasting station and the user views high-definition content on the content playback device, the provider collects the viewing fee, and the broadcast station collects the difference between the viewing fee and the agency fee, It is characterized by being able to view content of higher quality than broadcast wave content.

  According to the high-quality content distribution system of the present invention, it is possible to reproduce high-quality content corresponding to broadcast content deteriorated by a compression technique on the receiving side. Therefore, the present invention can be applied to various high-quality content distribution systems that provide video data, audio data, image data, and the like that have been deteriorated by the lossy compression encoding method while maintaining high quality. In addition, by setting a service provider, high-quality data can be smoothly exchanged between a broadcast station that is a broadcast content supplier and a user who has a content playback device to provide high-quality content. It is possible to build a high-quality content distribution system that provides profit as a service. Therefore, a content playback apparatus for playing back high-quality content is a variety of audiovisual equipment that can acquire the broadcast content and the high-quality data necessary for playing back the high-quality content, such as a digital TV and a mobile phone with a TV tuner. It can be applied to telephone, radio, etc.

It is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the content reproduction apparatus as a digital television which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the content reproduction apparatus as a digital television which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the high quality content reproduction process of the digital television which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the content reproduction apparatus as a digital television concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the correction | amendment part shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the video decoder shown in FIG. 5. It is a figure which shows the example of the format of the correction information recorded on a correction information recording part. (A) is a figure which shows schematic structure of the high quality content delivery system which concerns on embodiment of this invention, (b) is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the broadcast content supply apparatus shown to (a). . It is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the content reproduction apparatus as a digital television concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the detail of the content acquisition control part shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the content provision server 200 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. (A) is a figure which shows the example of the format of the content information recorded on an EPG recording part, (b) shows the example of the format of the management information of the high quality content recorded on a high quality content recording part (C) is a diagram illustrating an example of a format of a request signal when the high-quality content acquisition unit requests a high-quality content from the content providing server. (A) is a figure which shows the example of the format of the reservation information recorded on a reservation information recording part for every content for every user, (b) is the charge information recording part recorded for every content for every user. It is a figure which shows the example of a format. It is a figure which shows the example of the operation screen at the time of viewing (recording) reservation displayed on the digital television in a high quality content delivery system. It is a figure which shows the example of the operation screen at the time of the reservation confirmation / cancellation displayed on the digital television in a high quality content delivery system. It is a figure which shows the outline of the conventional content compression process. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the conventional subsampling process. It is a figure which shows the type | formula utilized at the time of a subsampling process. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the conventional quantization process.

Explanation of symbols

1 High-quality content distribution system (content distribution system)
2 Service provider 3 User 10 Input / output control unit 11 Communication control unit 12 Operation receiving unit (operation receiving means)
13 Display Control Unit 20 Content Playback Control Unit 21 Channel Selection Unit (Information Acquisition Unit)
22 EPG processing unit 23 High quality content acquisition unit (high quality data acquisition means)
24 content playback unit (content playback means)
25 Correction information acquisition unit (high quality data acquisition means)
26 Content correction control unit (content correction means)
27 Content acquisition control unit 28 Content management unit (content management means)
30 Communication Interface 31 Time Acquisition Unit (Time Acquisition Unit)
32 Acquisition time calculation unit (acquisition time calculation means)
33 Acquisition instruction section (acquisition control means)
40 recording unit 41 high quality content recording unit (high quality data recording unit)
42 EPG recording unit 43 display buffer 44 correction information recording unit (high quality data recording unit)
50 recording unit 51 high quality data recording unit 52 EPG recording unit 53 reservation information recording unit 54 charging information recording unit 60 control unit 61 reservation receiving unit (reservation receiving means)
62 High Quality Data Distribution Department (High Quality Data Distribution Unit)
63 Charge processing unit (charge processing means)
81 Video decoder (content correction means)
82 Audio decoder 83 Time stamp comparison unit 84 Video memory buffer 85 Audio memory buffer 91 MPEG2 decoder unit 92 YCrCb conversion correction unit (content correction unit)
93 Data buffer for correction 94 Timer unit 100 Digital television (content playback device / client terminal device)
101 Tuner section (broadcast receiving section)
102 correction unit 103 graphics generation unit 104 image superimposition unit 105 external interface 106 content output unit 107 operation unit 107a first operation unit 107b second operation unit 110 control unit 111 TS decoder (broadcast image receiving unit)
112 AV decoder (broadcast receiver)
113 Speaker 114 Display Unit 200 Content Provision Server 300 Broadcast Station 301 Broadcast Content Supply Device 310 Control Unit 311 High Quality Data Transmission Unit 312 Broadcast Content Transmission Unit 313 Broadcast Content Creation Unit (Broadcast Content Creation Unit)
314 Correction information creation unit (correction information creation means)
320 recording unit 321 high quality content recording unit 322 broadcast content recording unit 323 correction information recording unit

Claims (20)

High-quality data acquisition means for acquiring in advance high-quality data for reproducing high-quality content that is the same content as the broadcast content transmitted by the broadcast wave and has a higher quality than the broadcast content;
A content reproduction apparatus comprising: content reproduction means for reproducing the high-quality content in synchronization with the broadcast of the broadcast content based on the high-quality data acquired by the high-quality data acquisition means.   The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the high quality data is data of the high quality content. The high quality data is correction information for correcting broadcast content to high quality content,
Based on the correction information, the content correction means for correcting the broadcast content to high quality content,
2. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content reproduction unit reproduces the high quality content corrected by the content correction unit. The broadcast content is obtained by applying a lossy compression encoding process to the high-quality content,
The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the correction information includes a difference value between the high-quality content and the broadcast content.   2. The content reproducing unit according to claim 1, wherein the broadcast receiving unit that receives and reproduces the broadcast content reproduces the high-quality content corresponding to the broadcast content when the broadcast content is received and reproduced. The content reproduction device described. Comprising information acquisition means for acquiring content information relating to the broadcast content,
The high-quality data acquisition unit records the acquired high-quality data in a high-quality data recording unit in association with content information regarding the broadcast content corresponding to the high-quality data acquired by the information acquisition unit. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1. The content information includes broadcast start date and time information of the broadcast content,
The said content reproduction means starts reproduction | regeneration of a high quality content based on the high quality data linked | related with this broadcast start date / time information at the broadcast start date / time of the said broadcast content. Content playback device. The content information includes broadcast end date and time information of the broadcast content,
The content management means for deleting the high-quality data associated with the broadcast end date / time information from the high-quality data recording unit when the broadcast end date / time of the broadcast content elapses. The content reproduction device described. Comprising an operation accepting means for accepting designation of broadcast content that the user desires to view or record;
2. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the high quality data acquisition unit acquires high quality data corresponding to the designated broadcast content received by the operation reception unit. Time acquisition means for acquiring the reception time at which the operation reception means receives the designation of broadcast content desired to be viewed from the user;
An acquisition time calculating means for calculating a time required for the high quality data acquiring means to acquire high quality data corresponding to the designated broadcast content;
An acquisition control means for controlling the high quality data acquisition means not to acquire the high quality data when the acquisition completion time obtained by adding the required time to the reception time is later than the broadcast start date and time of the broadcast content. The content reproduction apparatus according to claim 9, wherein 11. A request message for requesting high quality data for reproducing high quality content having the same content as broadcast content transmitted by a broadcast wave and having higher quality than the broadcast content, Reservation accepting means for receiving from the content reproduction device according to claim 1;
A content providing server comprising high quality data distribution means for distributing high quality data designated by the request message to the content reproduction apparatus. A high-quality data recording unit for recording high-quality data for each broadcast content, which is content having the same content as the broadcast content transmitted by the broadcast wave and for reproducing high-quality content having a higher quality than the broadcast content; ,
Reservation receiving means for managing reservation information associated with broadcast request date and time information of broadcast content corresponding to the high quality data to the request message for requesting the high quality data received from the client terminal device;
High quality data distribution means for starting distribution based on the reservation information so that the distribution of the high quality data recorded in the high quality data recording unit to the client terminal device is completed before the broadcast start date and time; A content providing server comprising: Broadcast content creation that creates the above-mentioned broadcast content by applying irreversible compression coding processing to high-quality content having the same content as broadcast content transmitted by broadcast waves and higher quality than the broadcast content Means,
A broadcast content supply apparatus, comprising: correction information creating means for creating a difference value between the high quality content and the broadcast content as correction information for correcting the broadcast content into high quality content. The content providing server according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the content providing server provides high-quality data for reproducing high-quality content having the same content as the broadcast content transmitted by the broadcast wave and having higher quality than the broadcast content. When,
A request for reproducing high-quality content in synchronization with the broadcast of the broadcast content based on the high-quality data provided from the content providing server by transmitting a request message requesting the high-quality data to the content providing server A content distribution system comprising the content reproduction device according to any one of Items 1 to 10. Broadcast content supply apparatus that provides high-quality data for reproducing high-quality content having the same content as broadcast content transmitted by broadcast waves and having higher quality than the broadcast content to the broadcast content supply source The content providing server according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the content providing server is obtained and provided.
By transmitting a request message for requesting high quality data to the content providing server, the high quality content is reproduced in synchronization with the broadcast of the broadcast content based on the high quality data provided from the content providing server. Including the content reproduction device according to claim 1,
The content providing server
A usage notification message for notifying that high-quality data has been used is received from the content reproduction device, and the usage notification message
(1) First information indicating a usage fee for the high-quality data to be charged to a user of the content reproduction device;
(2) second information indicating the usage fee for the high-quality data to be paid to the supplier; and
(3) A content distribution system characterized by comprising billing processing means for managing billing information associated with third information indicating a surcharge for selling the high quality data collected from the supplier. A first step of acquiring in advance high-quality data for reproducing high-quality content having the same content as broadcast content transmitted by a broadcast wave and having higher quality than the broadcast content;
A content reproduction method comprising: a second step of reproducing the high-quality content in synchronization with the broadcast of the broadcast content based on the high-quality data acquired in the first step. 11. A request message for requesting high quality data for reproducing high quality content having the same content as broadcast content transmitted by a broadcast wave and having higher quality than the broadcast content, A first step of receiving from the content reproduction device according to claim 1;
A content providing method comprising: a second step of delivering high quality data specified by the request message received in the first step to the content reproduction device. The above-mentioned broadcast content is created by applying irreversible compression encoding processing to the original content as high-quality content having the same content as the broadcast content transmitted by the broadcast wave. A correction information generation method in a broadcast content supply device that includes:
A correction information generating method comprising: creating a difference value between the original content and the broadcast content as correction information for correcting the broadcast content into a high-quality content.   A computer is caused to function as each unit of the content reproduction device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, the content provision device according to claim 11 or 12, or the broadcast content supply device according to claim 13. Control program for.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the control program according to claim 19 is recorded.

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