Patent Publication Number: US-2010129054-A1

Title: Information processing apparatus and information processing method

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-302538, filed on Nov. 27, 2008, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field 
     An aspect of the present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     As a related art, there is an information processing apparatus which retrieves program information from an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) based on keyword information and performs recording programming (see JP-A-2006-5541, for instance). 
     This information processing apparatus has: an EPG acquisition module which acquires an EPG; a keyword input module by which a user inputs desired keyword information; a priority setting module which sets priority for the input keyword information; and a program retrieval module which retrieves program information containing the keyword information from the EPG in accordance with the priority and displays the retrieved program information. Since the user is able to program recording by selecting a desired program from the displayed program information as a result of the retrieval, it is possible to easily program recording in accordance with user&#39;s preference. 
     In the information processing apparatus, it is however necessary for the user to select a program to be recorded when, for example, identical programs matching with the keyword are in the EPG or the like. Accordingly, it is necessary for the user to confirm details of the identical programs in selecting the program. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A general architecture that implements the various feature of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the present invention and not to limit the scope of the present invention. 
         FIG. 1  is an exemplary schematic view showing the external appearance of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exemplary block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention; 
         FIGS. 3A and 3B  are schematic views showing examples of configuration of video display output from the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention; and 
         FIG. 4  is a flow chart showing an example of operation of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Various embodiments according to the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In general, according to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus including: a content information acquisition module configured to acquire first identification information of selected content; a content retrieval module configured to retrieve content having second identification information, the second identification information characterized as being in a same category as the first identification information; and a content display processor configured to perform processing for displaying the first identification information and the second identification information. 
     An information processing apparatus and an information processing method according to an embodiment of the invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. 
     (Configuration of Information Processing Apparatus) 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic view showing the external appearance of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention. 
     The information processing apparatus  1  is a video recording/reproducing apparatus which is connected to an antenna not shown so as to be able to receive broadcast waves and output video and audio and which is connected to an external network  3  such as the Internet through a Local Area Network (LAN) cable or the like so as to be able to communicate with the outside. The information processing apparatus  1  outputs a video signal and an audio signal to a display device  2  such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) having a display screen  2 A. The information processing apparatus  1  has a remote control signal reception module which receives an operation signal transmitted from a remote controller including operating switches based on an operation of any one of the operating switches. The information processing apparatus  1  is operated based on the operation signal. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention. 
     The information processing apparatus  1  includes a tuner  10 , a communication module  11 , a controller  12 , an operation module  13 , and a memory  14 . The tuner  10  receives a transport stream selectively by demodulating while receiving digital broadcast waves or the like from the outside via an antenna  10 A. The communication module  11  communicates with a video content distributing server (not shown) through the external network  3 . The controller  12  has a video processing function which decodes the transport stream received by the tuner  10  into a video signal and an audio signal and outputs the video signal and the audio signal to the display device  2 . The controller  12  has a Central Processing Unit (CPU) which operates a content information acquisition module  12 A, an identical content retrieval module  12 B, a rearrangement criterion setting module  12 C, a recording programming module  12 E and a content recording module  12 F. The operation module  13  serves as an operation device including a remote controller, and a remote control signal reception module. The memory  14  includes a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) which stores information including video contents. 
     The content information acquisition module  12 A is a module which acquires associated information on a video content selected by a user. The identical content retrieval module  12 B is a module which extracts identification information from the acquired associated information and retrieves contents characterized as being in the same category as the video content selected by the user. The rearrangement criterion setting module  12 C is a module which sets a criterion for rearrangement of the identical contents based on a user&#39;s operation. The content display processor  12 D is a module which performs processing to display the video content selected by the user and the identical contents. The recording programming module  12 E is a module which performs recording programming of a video content selected from the video contents displayed by the content display processor  12 D. The content recording module  12 F is a module which records the video content programmed by the recording programming module  12 E and stores the recorded video content into the memory  14 . 
       FIGS. 3A and 3B  are schematic views showing examples of configuration of video display output from the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3A , an identical content display screen  20  is displayed on the display screen  2 A. The identical content display screen  20  contains a target content  21 , a criterion selection module  22 , a cursor  23 , and identical contents  24 A to  24 C. The target content  21  indicates a video content selected from an EPG or the like by the user. The criterion selection module  22  is for selecting a criterion for determining display priority of contents identical to the target content  21 . The cursor  23  is for selecting a video content to be programmed. The identical contents  24 A to  24 C have identical content to the target content  21 . The identical contents  24 A to  24 C have the same title as the target content  21  and different version from that of the target content  21 . The different version indicates different bit rate or resolution, for example. 
     The identical contents  24 A to  24 C have detailed information  24   a  to  24   c  indicating details of associated information, respectively. Each of the detailed information  24   a  to  24   c  has channel or distribution source address information, broadcasting day and time information, picture quality information, accounting information, etc. 
     When the cursor  23  is moved to operate the criterion selection module  22 , as shown in  FIG. 3B , a pull-down menu is displayed. The pull-down menu contains criteria  22   a  to  22   d . The criterion  22   a  is “Priority to Picture Quality” which is an item for rearranging the identical video contents in descending order of resolution or bit rate. The criterion  22   b  is “Priority to Broadcasting Date” which is an item for rearranging the identical video contents in order of broadcasting day and time. The criterion  22   c  is “Priority to Data Size” which is an item for rearranging the identical video contents in ascending order of data size. The criterion  22   d  is “Priority to Account” which is an item for rearranging the identical video contents in ascending order of video charge. 
     (Operation) 
     Operation of the information processing apparatus in the embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to the respective drawings. 
       FIG. 4  is a flow chart showing an example of the operation of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention. 
     First, when the user operates the remote controller or the like to display an EPG, the controller  12  of the information processing apparatus  1  controls the display device  2  to display a program list in the EPG form as a content selection screen on the display screen  2 A (S 1 ). When the user selects a desired video content on the content selection screen, the content information acquisition module  12 A acquires associated information on the video content selected by the user, and acquires identification information such as title, identification number, etc. of the video content from the associated information (S 2 ). 
     Then, the identical content retrieval module  12 B retrieves identical contents from an external video content distributing server, the EPG, etc. based on the acquired identification information of the video content (S 3 ). As shown in  FIG. 3A , the identical contents as a result of the retrieval and the video content selected by the user are displayed as the identical contents  24 A to  24 C and the target content  21 , respectively, by the controller  12  (S 4 ). The criterion selection module  22  is displayed, as shown in  FIGS. 3A and 3B , by the rearrangement criterion setting module  12 C. 
     Then, when any one of the criteria  22   a  to  22   d  in the criterion selection module  22  is selected by the user (Yes in S 5 ), the content display processor  12 D compares the detailed information  24   a  to  24   c  as associated information on the identical contents  24 A to  24 C with one another based on the rearrangement criterion, rearranges the identical contents  24 A to  24 C and displays the rearranged identical contents  24 A to  24 C (S 6 ). When, for example, the rearrangement criterion is 
     “Priority to Data Size”, the identical content  24 C which is a video content with low picture quality, the identical content  24 B with normal picture quality and the identical content  24 A with high definition are rearranged and displayed in this order. On the other hand, when the rearrangement criterion is not selected (No in S 5 ), the routine of processing goes to step  57 . 
     Then, the recording programming module  12 E programs recording of a video content selected by the user from the target content  21  and the identical contents  24 A to  24 C displayed on the identical content display screen  20  (S 7 ). When the selected video content is content such as the identical content  24 B which needs to be downloaded from the video content distributing server, downloading is performed. 
     When it comes to the recording time after the aforementioned operation, the content recording module  12 F executes the recording and stores the recorded video content in the memory  14 . 
     (Effect of Embodiment) 
     According to the aforementioned embodiment, the identical contents  24 A to  24 C which have video contents identical to the target content  21  that is a video content selected by the user are retrieved and displayed, so that the user is able to view a desired video content in a desired criterion. By changing the criterion from one of the criteria  22   a  to  22   d  to another, the identical contents  24 A to  24 C are able to be compared with one another easily. 
     Configuration may be made so that the controller  12  automatically selects a video content to be programmed based on one of the criteria  22   a  to  22   d  without user&#39;s selection of the video content to be programmed. Or configuration may be made so that one of the criteria  22   a  to  22   d  is set in advance. Or scenes identical to one scene such as a music clip contained in a video content may be retrieved and displayed as identical scenes.