Patent Application
20070287486
This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. JP 2006-120776 filed in the Japanese Patent Office on Apr. 25, 2006, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to content reproduction systems, content reproduction apparatuses, and content reproduction methods used to reproduce content such as music.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, portable music players, for example, have been broadly used. Desired content is stored in advance in a recording medium as content data, for example, and the stored content data is read out by a portable reproduction apparatus to reproduce the content, whereby a user listens to the desired content in any desired place.
The related art is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-352351.
A known portable content reproduction apparatus is used so that a user may listen to the content being reproduced. Therefore, people other than the user do not know what music the user with headphones on is listening to unless they ask the user, and therefore, the user may not share the content with other people.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a content reproduction system, a content reproduction apparatus, and a content reproduction method, in which the user can share and enjoy content with other people.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a content reproduction system which may include a plurality of content reproduction apparatuses, wherein at least one of the plurality of content reproduction apparatuses may include reproducing means for reproducing content by reading out content data recorded in a recording medium, and transmitting means for transmitting the content data representing the content being reproduced by the reproducing means by way of wireless communication. In addition, each of the other apparatuses of the plurality of content reproduction apparatuses may include receiving means for receiving the transmitted content data, and reproducing means for decoding the content data received by the receiving means and reproducing the content.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a content reproducing apparatus which may include first reproducing means for reproducing content by reading out content data recorded in a recording medium, transmitting means for transmitting the content data representing the content being reproduced by the first reproducing means by way of wireless communication, receiving means for receiving the content data transmitted from another content reproduction apparatus, and second reproducing means for decoding the content data received by the receiving means and reproducing the content.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a content reproduction method utilized in a content reproduction system which may include a plurality of content reproduction apparatuses, wherein at least one of the plurality of content reproduction apparatuses may reproduce content by reading out content data recorded in a recording medium and transmit the content being reproduced by way of wireless communication. In addition, each of the other content reproduction apparatuses may receive and decode the transmitted content data to reproduce the content.
Since at least one of the plurality of content reproduction apparatuses may reproduce content by reading out content data recorded in a recording medium, and transmit the content data representing the content being reproduced by way of wireless communication, and in addition, each of the other apparatuses of the plurality of content reproduction apparatuses may receive the transmitted content data and decode the content data to reproduce the content, the user may share and enjoy content with other people and a community including members having the same preference may be created. Furthermore, since distribution destinations may be limited to the friends of the user, the distribution may work as an efficient promotion of the distributed music by word of mouth.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. A content reproduction system shown as an example of the present invention includes a plurality of content reproduction apparatuses. At least one of the plurality of content reproduction apparatuses reproduces content by reading out content data recorded in a recording medium and transmits the content data representing the content being reproduced by way of wireless communication. Other content reproduction apparatuses receive the transmitted content data, and then decode the content data to reproduce the content.
Note that although the content reproduction system in this embodiment uses wireless LAN (Local Area Network) as a wireless networking technique, the present invention is not limited to this. A configuration of the wireless LAN networking includes an infrastructure mode and an ad-hoc mode. In this embodiment, an ad-hoc mode is used as an example. In the ad-hoc mode, apparatuses directly communicate with one another without using access points. In addition, in this embodiment, although music is reproduced as an example of content, a video may be reproduced.
The content reproduction apparatus 10 has two music reproducing modes which are a “distribution reproducing mode” used to reproduce the music files stored in the storage unit 12 and to distribute the music files as streaming files and a “reception reproducing mode” used to receive a streaming file from another apparatus and reproduce the received streaming file. Note that the reception reproducing mode is only used to reproduce content transmitted from another apparatus by a streaming method, and is not used for any reproducing operations including cue, fast-forward, fast-rewind, and recording.
Reproducing operations in the distribution reproducing mode and in the reception reproducing mode will now be described.
In step S13, the content reproduction apparatus 10 in the distribution reproducing mode displays the music files stored in the storage unit 12 on a display unit. The content reproduction apparatus 10 reads a music file selected by a user from the storage unit 12 (step S14) and starts reproducing and distributing (step S15). Specifically, the music file read from the storage unit 12 is decoded using the audio decoder 13 to generate audio signals and the audio signals are output from a headphone terminal of the audio output unit 15 through the switcher 14. Furthermore, the audio signals generated using the audio decoder 13 are encoded to generate streaming files and the streaming files are distributed from the wireless transmitter 17. A distribution operation will be described later.
In step S16, the content reproduction apparatus 10 determines whether the reproduction is terminated. When it is determined that the reproduction is terminated, the distribution is terminated (step S17). Note that the distribution is also terminated when the user instructs the termination of the distribution.
In step S12, when it is determined that the reproducing mode is not a “distribution reproducing mode”, that is, the reproducing mode is a “reception reproducing mode”, the content reproduction apparatus 10 periodically scans through the network, authenticates another apparatus in communication in an ad-hoc mode with the content reproduction apparatus 10 and is connected to the other apparatus (step S18). Then the content reproduction apparatus 10 acquires identification information of the other apparatus which is authenticated and content information of the content being reproduced, and displays, for example, the identification information and a content name as a list on the display unit (step S19). The content information preferably includes, for example, a content name, reproduction time, a copyright holder, and presence or absence of DRM (Digital Rights Management). The content information helps the user to select, for example, content having long remaining reproduction time or content reproducible using the DRM. Since the network identification information and the content information of the apparatus connected to the content reproduction apparatus 10 are displayed, the user selects an apparatus desired to be connected and content desired to be reproduced with ease.
In step S20, the content reproduction apparatus 10 requests streaming files of the other apparatus which is a distribution source apparatus of the content selected by the user and starts reproducing by a streaming method (step S21). For example, the content reproduction apparatus 10 sets a channel used for the wireless LAN communication with the selected distribution source apparatus distributing the streaming file. Then the content reproduction apparatus 10 acquires a key from the distribution source apparatus, decodes the streaming file received using the wireless receiver 11 using the audio decoder 13 in accordance with the key, and outputs audio signals through the switcher 14 from the headphone terminal or the like of the audio output unit 15. Note that the reproduction using a streaming method is started from a reproducing point of the distribution source apparatus.
Furthermore, the content reproduction apparatus 10 monitors a connection status in wireless communication between the content reproduction apparatus 10 and the distribution source apparatus and controls volume in accordance with the connection status in wireless communication. For example, if a reception level is lower than a threshold value A, the volume is controlled to be small in accordance with the reception level, and if the reception level is lower than a threshold value B (threshold value B<threshold value A), the volume is set to 0.
In step S22, the content reproduction apparatus 10 determines whether the reproduction by the streaming method is terminated. For example, when the reception level is low in accordance with the connection status in the wireless communication or when the distribution source apparatus stops reproducing, the reproduction by the streaming method is terminated.
In step S32, when the content reproduction apparatus 10 receives a request of content which is being reproduced from the distribution destination, the sleep mode is terminated. The content reproduction apparatus 10 supplies the audio signals to the audio encoder 16 in addition to the audio output unit 15 through the switcher 14, and generates streaming files of the content being reproduced (step S33).
In step S34, the content reproduction apparatus 10 exchanges keys with the distribution destination apparatus which requests the content and thereafter transmits the streaming files whereby the content being reproduced is distributed by a streaming method.
As described above, the content reproduction apparatus 10 has the “distribution reproducing mode” which is used to reproduce music files stored in the storage unit 12 and distribute the music files as music streaming files and the “reception reproducing mode” which is used to receive and reproduce the distributed music streaming files. Accordingly, the user enjoys content by himself/herself and further enjoys distributing the content to friends. In addition, although different preferences of music of different people have lead to less hit songs in recent years, a community including members having the same preference may be created by distributing the music which is the user's preference. Furthermore, since distribution destinations are limited to the friends of the user, the distribution works as an efficient promotion of the distributed music for so-called “music companies” which are copyright holders.
It should be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occur depending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they are within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| P2006-120776 | Apr 2006 | JP | national |
