JP2012178028A - Album creation device, control method thereof, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically create an album and a digest in consideration of preferences of a plurality of users who have accessed content.SOLUTION: The reactions of a plurality of users who have accessed a plurality of reproduced contents are acquired (S304, S306), based on the acquired reactions of the plurality of users, priorities of the plurality of reproduced contents are determined (S308), and based on the determined priorities an album is created (S309).

Description

  The present invention relates to an album creating apparatus, an album creating method, and a program for creating an album from a plurality of contents.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the enjoyment of viewing image data such as still images and videos shot with a digital camera or digital video camera with multiple people on a TV, or simultaneously viewing with a remote person and a TV. Yes. Then, after viewing, you can create an album and look back and enjoy the content you watched, or save a digest of what you watched.
To create an album from image data such as still images and movies shot with a digital camera or digital video camera, the user can select an image while playing back the image data by operating it with the remote control, mouse, etc. It was necessary to select a layout. In order to reduce this work burden, in Patent Document 1, a face image is detected from each of image data of a plurality of input image data, the importance as a subject is obtained, and the importance of the image data is calculated.
A method of automatically creating an album by determining the layout of image data based on the importance is proposed.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, voice data such as laughter and cheering uttered by a user at the moment when a moving image data is played back is recorded, and the result of analyzing the voice data is used to obtain user preference. There has been proposed a method of extracting a part that meets the requirements.

JP 2007-049387 A JP 2010-098636 A

  However, when the information included in the image data is used as in Patent Document 1, the user's reaction during reproduction is not reflected, and therefore an image important for the user is not necessarily an image having a high importance. There was a problem that was not possible.

Moreover, in patent document 2, although the audio | voice data which one user emitted are used, since there is not necessarily the same reaction when there are several users, the place which suited the taste of several users is not necessarily used. There was a problem that it could not be extracted.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to automatically create an album that suits the preferences of a plurality of users who have browsed content.

  In order to achieve the above object, an album creating apparatus of the present invention comprises the following arrangement. That is, an acquisition unit that acquires the responses of a plurality of users who have viewed the reproduced content, and a determination unit that determines the priority of the reproduced content based on the responses of the plurality of users acquired by the acquisition unit And creating means for creating an album in which the content is arranged based on the priority determined by the determining means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically create an album or a digest considering the preferences of a plurality of users.

It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the content reproduction apparatus for implementing this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the content reproduction apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the calculation method of the candidate order | rank of embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the method to arrange | position the image of embodiment of this invention to an album. It is a figure for demonstrating the relationship of the content reproduction apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of the content of the communication information recorded in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the example at the time of arrange | positioning the image in embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
The first embodiment is a synchronized playback system for a plurality of users at remote locations to share the same content and browse simultaneously. In the synchronous playback system, a plurality of users browse the same content at the same time using a content playback device connected to a network. A content playback apparatus connected to a network has both a transmission function for transmitting content and a reception function for receiving content.

  In the following, it is assumed that a content reproduction device that uses a transmission function is a transmission device, and a content reproduction device that uses a reception function is a reception device. The present embodiment is composed of one transmitting device and a plurality of receiving devices. When transmitting content, the transmitting device controls transmission of content so that the content is simultaneously played back by the plurality of receiving devices. .

Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the first embodiment, description will be made by applying the content reproduction apparatus 100 of FIG. 1 to the album creating apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of a content playback apparatus 100 applied to an album creating apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that performs operations for information processing, logical determination, and the like, and controls each component connected to those buses via a system bus 111. The CPU 101 also performs processing of a flowchart to be described later.

  Reference numeral 102 denotes a read-only fixed memory ROM (Read Only Memory), which stores control program codes such as processing programs executed in the present embodiment. Reference numeral 103 denotes a writable RAM (Random Access Memory), which is used for temporary storage of various data from each component. An input device 104 receives an instruction from the remote controller 105.

  Reference numeral 107 denotes a display device such as a liquid crystal panel, and the display controller 106 controls display of image information on the display device. An external storage device 108 stores contents, album templates for arranging the contents, album backgrounds, and the like. As a storage medium for storing these data, a memory card, HDD, DVD-RAM, or the like can be used. Reference numeral 109 denotes a communication device that can be connected to a plurality of devices via a communication network 110 such as the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), and a wireless LAN.

  The content playback device including such components operates in response to various inputs from the input device 104 and various inputs via the network supplied from the communication device 109. Therefore, when an input from the input device 104 and an input from the communication device 109 are supplied, an interrupt signal is first sent to the CPU 101. Then, the CPU 101 reads out various control signals stored in the ROM 102, RAM 103, and external storage device 108, and various controls are performed in accordance with those control signals.

  The present invention can also be achieved by supplying a storage medium storing the program according to the present invention to a computer such as a system or apparatus, and the system or apparatus reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium. .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the content reproduction apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Here, a description will be given taking a still image as an example of content. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 of 200 transmitting devices is a playback device management unit that manages information on 220 receiving devices that perform playback simultaneously. For example, in the embodiment of the present invention, user personal information, preference information, and the like are acquired.
A content transmission unit 202 transmits content. There is a method of transmitting a part of the content to be reproduced, or a method of transmitting all the contents in advance and transmitting the reproduction method later. A content reproduction unit 203 reproduces content.

  Reference numeral 221 of the 220 receiving device is a content receiving unit that receives data transmitted by the 202 content transmitting unit of the 200 transmitting device. A content reproduction unit 222 reproduces the content received by the content reception unit 221. A reproduction operation recording unit 204 records a reproduction operation (pause, return, etc.). Reference numerals 205 and 223 denote comment transmission units that transmit comments (voice data, text data, etc.). Here, in the case of voice data, the comment is a voice uttered by the user, and includes cheers and laughter. The comment transmission unit has a microphone function and a text data input function, and transmits input voice data and text data. Reference numerals 206 and 224 denote comment receiving units that receive comments. Thus, the user can reproduce the content while talking between the devices. A comment communication recording unit 207 records a transmission source, comment communication contents, and the like. When the comment is voice data, the voice recognition unit 210 may recognize the voice, convert the content into text data, and record the text data. In addition, record the analysis results and volume of men and women.

  An operation point calculation unit 211 calculates a playback time from the playback operation recorded by the playback operation recording unit 204 and calculates an operation point. Further, the operation point may be calculated by the number of reproduction operations, for example, the number of “pause”. 212 is a communication point calculation unit, which calculates communication points from the number of communication points, volume points, and content points calculated by the points registered in the content point registration unit of 213 from the comment communication information recorded in the comment communication recording unit of 207 To do.

  The image candidate selection unit 208 selects an image candidate from the operation points calculated by the operation point calculation unit 211 and the communication points calculated by the communication point calculation unit 212. An image layout unit 209 lays out the selected image, registers the correspondence between the keyword of the comment content and the album background in the content background registration unit 214, and if there is a comment that matches the keyword, the album background Create an album with the registered background.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the embodiment of the present invention.
The synchronized playback system includes a transmitting device and a plurality of receiving devices. In the following description, one transmitting device and three receiving devices will be described as an example. When starting the control, the transmission device acquires user information of a plurality of content reproduction apparatuses that simultaneously reproduce the content, and manages them in the reproduction device management unit 201 in S301.

  For example, when the content playback devices (devices A, B, C, and D) of the present invention are connected as shown in FIG. 6, the content playback device A uses the transmission function, and the content playback devices B, C, And D assumes that the reception function is used. The content reproduction device A acquires and manages user information of the content reproduction devices B, C, and D.

  In step S302, the content is simultaneously reproduced. Here, an example in which a plurality of still images are sequentially reproduced will be described. The content reproduction device A transmits the content to be reproduced simultaneously from the content transmission unit 202, and the content reproduction devices B, C, and D receive the content at the content reception unit 221, and the content reproduction unit 222 reproduces the content. The content reproduction device A also reproduces content by the content reproduction unit 203 and starts reproduction of the content by the four content reproduction devices.

  In S303, it is determined whether there is communication information (comment transmission / reception) as a user reaction based on whether the comment reception unit 206 and the comment transmission unit 205 transmit / receive a comment. If there is no communication information, the process proceeds to S305. If there is communication information in S303, the comment transmission device and the playback position, communication information, and the volume in the case of voice data are recorded in the comment communication recording unit 207 in S304.

Here, when the communication information is voice data, the voice recognition unit 211 may recognize the voice and record the communication content as text. If the voice data can be analyzed to determine gender (gender), personal name, etc., record them. When the communication information is character information, the transmitting device and character information are recorded.
In step S305, it is determined whether there is no reproduction operation as a user response. If there is no reproduction operation, the process proceeds to step S307. If there is a reproduction operation in S305, the reproduction position and the reproduction operation information are recorded in the reproduction operation recording unit 204 in S306.
In step S307, it is determined whether the reproduction is completed. If the reproduction has not ended, the process returns to S303. When the reproduction is started, the communication information and the reproduction operation are always detected until the reproduction is stopped, and the communication information and the reproduction operation information are recorded. When the reproduction of the content is completed, in S308, the communication information recorded in S304 and the reproduction operation information recorded in S306 are pointed, and the candidate ranking of the images to be used as the album of each content is given according to the points. Details will be described with reference to FIG.
In step S309, images are arranged on the album according to the candidate rank and the communication content. Details will be described with reference to FIG. In step S310, the album is output.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the candidate rank calculation method of S308.
In S401 to S403, points are calculated from the communication information recorded in the comment communication recording unit 207 in S304. In step S401, the number of communication users (number of devices) for each image is summed from the communication information device recorded in step S304 to calculate a communication number point.

FIG. 7 is an example of the contents of the recorded communication information. Here, the number of communicating devices is taken out for each image, and is used as the number of communication points. In S402, content points are calculated based on the content of the communication information recorded in S304.
FIG. 7 shows an example of the contents of the communication information for each content recorded. Points corresponding to the content keyword are registered in the content point registration unit. Positive points are set for positive words, negative points for negative words, and 0 points for meaningless words.
The content points will be described with reference to the example of FIG. It is assumed that -1 points are registered in the content point registration unit for "U" and "U", and 0 points for "U". The other contents are 1 point. In image 1, “Wow” of device A is 1 point, and “Yes” of device D is “Yes” registered as 0 points, so 0 points are added, and the content point is 1 point.

  Similarly, in the image 2, “E” of the device B is −1 point, “Yes” of the device D is 0 point, and the content point is −1 point. Similarly, image 3 has 3 points, image 4 has 0 points, image 5 has 3 points, and image 6 has 2 points. In this example, the content is converted to text and the points are determined by comparing with the keywords. However, the voice data is recorded as it is, and the points are determined by comparing with the registered voice data. May be.

  In step S403, a volume point is calculated using the volume recorded in the case of audio data in step S304. Points may be obtained by summing up the volume of each device for each image. Further, points for sound volume may be determined for each device or for each person, and the points for each image may be totaled. At this time, the content points registered in the content point registration unit and the volume points may be multiplied and summed for each image.

  In the example of FIG. 7, the points are calculated by multiplying the content points registered in the content point registration unit and the volume. In image 1, “Wa” of device A is 4 points with a volume of 4 on 1 point, “Yes” of device D is 0 points with a volume of 2 and 0 points, and the volume point is 4 points. It becomes. Similarly, a volume point for each image is calculated.

  In S404, an operation point is calculated from the reproduction operation recorded in S304. Here, the display time is obtained from the reproduction operation, and the operation point is calculated. In the example of FIG. 7, the display time of each image is calculated from the reproduction operation, and the operation point is calculated with the display time of 5 seconds as one point. Alternatively, a point may be determined for each reproduction operation, and the operation point may be calculated by the number of reproduction operations for each image.

  In step S405, the communication points calculated from the communication information and the operation points calculated from the reproduction operation are summed up, and candidates with high total points are assigned as candidates with high priority. Candidates may be determined by increasing the point of the communication information or the playback operation to be emphasized. Further, in order to further narrow down the candidates, the image quality of the image may be determined by a known technique, and an image with good image quality may be extracted from the top candidates given the candidate ranks by points.

  If there are similar images, an image with good image quality may be selected from the similar images, and the points may be the sum of the similar images. Further, for each device, matching information may be extracted by comparing the preference information of each device and the metadata of the image. In the example of FIG. 7, the points calculated from the communication information are set as the volume points calculated in consideration of the communication contents, and are totaled with the operation points as image points. The candidate rankings are in the order of image 5, image 3, image 1, image 6, image 4, and image 2.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a method of arranging the image of S309 in the album. In S501, an image to be an album is determined. The number of images in the album may be a predetermined number, or a template including the number may be set before the user starts playback. In addition, all images with positive content points may be included, or all images with positive volume points may be included.
In step S502, a template is determined. The template determines how many pages are placed on one page. A predetermined template may be used.
In S503, the background is determined from the contents of the exchanged communication information. The correspondence between the content and the background is registered in the content background registration unit 214 in advance. Then, the background is determined from the content of the comment corresponding to the image arranged on each page.

  In S504, the size of the image is determined and arranged according to the candidate rank. The images are arranged in time series, and the images are arranged in a larger size from the highest candidate ranking in the page. Here, the description is given in chronological order, but of course other order may be used. And when the template which does not change the magnitude | size of an image is selected, it arrange | positions by the same magnitude | size.

  FIG. 8A shows an example of image arrangement. Here, in the example of FIG. 7, the top four images (in order of candidates of image 5, image 3, image 1, and image 6) are used, and the images are arranged in different sizes. The point of image 5 is larger because the point is higher than the other three images, and the three points are almost the same, so they are arranged in the same size.

If a template for placing a comment is selected, a comment is also placed. The font of the comment may be changed between a female voice and a male voice. FIG. 8B shows an example where comments are arranged. Comments with negative or zero content points are not placed. In addition, comments from a plurality of users are arranged in one image. And the font is changed by men and women.
Furthermore, the time when the comment is received may be recorded in the comment update recording unit 207, and the comments may be arranged in the order in which the comment was issued.

  Further, it is assumed that a background corresponding to “cute” is registered in the content background registration unit 214. Although not shown in the drawing, a background selection unit is provided, and “cute” is included in the comment. Therefore, the background selection unit selects a background corresponding to “cute” from the content background registration unit 214. Also, if there are comments that match different registered backgrounds on the same page, if the images are different, use the background of the image with the highest candidate ranking, and if the images are the same, use the background of the comment with the larger number of people sent To determine the background.

  In this way, by recording communication information content and playback operations during content playback, it is possible to automatically create albums that match the preferences of multiple users, reflecting the reactions of multiple users. it can.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, Embodiment 2 according to the present invention will be described. The basic configuration is the same as that described with reference to FIGS.
In the first embodiment, it is configured by one transmission device and a plurality of reception devices. In the second embodiment, the content playback device applied by the album creating device is configured by only one content playback device, and the content played back by this content playback device is viewed by a plurality of users. It is assumed that a microphone is prepared for each user in the content reproduction apparatus. In this case, since cheers and comments of individual users can be distinguished, it can be similarly realized by regarding a plurality of microphones as corresponding to a plurality of comment transmission units in the first embodiment.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, Embodiment 3 according to the present invention will be described. The basic configuration is the same as that described with reference to FIGS.
In the second embodiment, a plurality of microphones are prepared. In the third embodiment, only one microphone is connected to the content reproduction apparatus. In this case, by using speaker recognition technology, it is possible to distinguish cheers and comments of individual users, and therefore, it can be realized in the same manner as in the second embodiment.

(Embodiment 4)
Next, a fourth embodiment according to the present invention will be described. The basic configuration is the same as that described with reference to FIGS.
In the above embodiment, the case where the content is a still image has been described. However, the present invention can be implemented even when the content is a moving image. In the case of a moving image, sections or scenes divided at a certain interval are considered to correspond to the still image in the first embodiment. Then, by recording the communication information and the reproduction operation, points can be calculated for each section and each scene. An album can be created by assigning candidate ranks for each section or scene and creating one image (such as a representative scene) from the section or scene by a known technique. It is also possible to create a digest by cutting out a section above a point with a candidate rank or a section with a candidate rank that fits within a certain time without creating a single image.

(Embodiment 5)
Next, a fifth embodiment according to the present invention will be described. The basic configuration is the same as that described with reference to FIGS.
In the above embodiment, both the communication point and the operation point are used to set the image candidate rank. However, the candidate rank may be set using only one of the points.

(Embodiment 6)
Next, a sixth embodiment according to the present invention will be described. The basic configuration is the same as that described with reference to FIGS.
In the above embodiment, an album common to a plurality of users is created, but by calculating a communication point and an operation point for each user and selecting an image for each user by the same method as in the first embodiment, It is also possible to individually create an album suitable for each user.

  As described above, as described in the first to sixth embodiments, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically create albums and digests in consideration of the preferences of a plurality of users.

101 CPU
102 ROM
103 RAM
104 Input Device 105 Remote Control 106 Display Controller 107 Display Device 108 External Storage Device 109 Communication Device 110 Communication Network 111 System Bus

Claims (14)

An acquisition means for acquiring reactions of a plurality of users who have viewed a plurality of reproduced contents;
Determining means for determining priorities of the plurality of contents based on responses of a plurality of users acquired by the acquiring means;
An album creating apparatus comprising: creating means for creating an album by arranging the plurality of contents based on the priority determined by the determining means.   2. The album creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user response acquired by the acquisition unit is at least a content of a user's voice, a number of users, a volume of a user's voice, and a user operation.   The album creating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a recording unit, which records the reaction of each user and the content in association with each other.   The determination unit further includes a point calculation unit that points the reaction of the user for each content, and the point determination unit determines the priority of the content according to the point by the point calculation unit. The album creating apparatus according to claim 1.   The album creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining unit obtains reactions of a plurality of users who have viewed content reproduced by a plurality of apparatuses connected via a network.   The album creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the content is a moving image, the creating unit creates a digest as the album.   The album creating apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a recognizing unit for recognizing the content of the user's voice. It further comprises background selection means,
8. The album creating apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the background selecting unit selects a background according to the content recognized by the recognizing unit.   The album creating apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the creating unit arranges the content recognized by the recognizing unit together with the content.   The album creating apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the creating unit arranges a plurality of contents recognized by the recognizing unit in one content.   2. The album creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the creating unit arranges a predetermined number of contents based on the priority determined by the determining unit.   2. The album creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the creating unit determines and arranges the size of the content based on the priority determined by the determining unit. An acquisition step in which an acquisition unit acquires the reactions of a plurality of users who have viewed a plurality of reproduced contents;
A determination step in which a determination unit determines priorities of the plurality of contents based on the reactions of the plurality of users acquired in the acquisition step;
And a creation step of creating an album by arranging the plurality of contents based on the priority determined in the determination step.   A program for causing a computer to execute each step of the control method of the album creating apparatus according to claim 13.

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