Patent ID: 8904416
Filing Date: 2014-12-02
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. A content playback apparatus that plays back a viewing target content for a viewer, said apparatus comprising: a microprocessor; and a non-transitory memory having stored thereon executable instructions that, when executed by said microprocessor, cause said content playback apparatus to function as: a viewing target content obtaining unit configured to obtain the viewing target content; a viewer detecting unit configured to detect a first viewer who views the viewing target content played back by said content playback apparatus; a viewer content selecting unit configured to select, from among a plurality of viewer contents, a viewer content having a matching degree higher than a predetermined threshold, the matching degree indicating an amount of common points between the first viewer detected by said viewer detecting unit and a second viewer who views a same content as the viewing target content under temporally or spatially a different condition, and each of the plurality of viewer contents including information of video or sound of the second viewer who views the same content; and a content playback unit configured to play back the viewing target content obtained by said viewing target content obtaining unit and the viewer content selected by said viewer content selecting unit, wherein said viewer detecting unit includes: a viewer content obtaining unit configured to obtain a viewer content including information of video or sound of the first viewer who is currently viewing the viewing target content played back by said content playback apparatus; and a viewer information obtaining unit configured to obtain a viewer information item on the first viewer, from the viewer content obtained by said viewer content obtaining unit, said content playback apparatus further comprises a memory configured to store, in association with each other, (i) a plurality of viewer contents of the second viewer that are obtained in the past and (ii) a plurality of viewer information items of the second viewer that are obtained from the viewer content, said viewer content selecting unit is configured to calculate matching degrees between the viewer information item of the first viewer detected by said viewer detecting unit and each of the plurality of viewer information items of the second viewer stored in said memory, and to select, from among the plurality of viewer contents of the second viewer stored in said memory, a viewer content associated with the viewer information item of the second viewer, the viewer information item of the second viewer having one of the matching degrees higher than the predetermined threshold, said content playback unit includes a display screen that displays image data included in the viewing target content and the viewer content selected by said viewer content selecting unit, said executable instructions, when executed by said microprocessor, cause said content playback apparatus to further function as a display control unit configured to display the viewing target content on said display screen, and to display the viewer content to be superimposed on a part of the viewing target content, said display control unit includes: a non-attention region estimation unit configured to estimate, on said display screen, a non-attention region that is a region outside of a region on which the first viewer focuses attention; and an effective visual field estimation unit configured to estimate an effective visual field of the first viewer on said display screen, and said display control unit is configured to display the viewer content within the non-attention region and the effective visual field.