TRANSFER APPARATUS, TRANSFER METHOD, AND TRANSFER PROGRAM

Abstract

A transfer apparatus includes: a storage section configured to store a plurality of content data; a communication section configured to communicate with external equipment; and a control section configured to control the communication section in such a manner as to transfer content data from the storage section to the external equipment. The control section detects from the external equipment a logical node retaining content data of the same type as that of the content data to be transferred and, based on the result of the detection, designates a transfer destination before transferring the content data to the external equipment.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon a reading of the following description and appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view outlining a transfer apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a structure of a music transfer system;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a structure of a music reproduction terminal;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a structure of a portable music reproduction apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a folder structure;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are schematic views showing folder contents before transfer;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic views showing folder contents after transfer;

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing a transfer procedure of a first embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing an example in which music files are stored in a plurality of folders in the sibling;

FIGS. 10A and 10B are schematic views showing how the transfer destination folder is designated where music files are stored in a plurality of folders in the sibling;

FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing a transfer procedure of a second embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing a structure of a transfer destination designation screen of another embodiment of this invention; and

FIG. 13 is a schematic views showing an example in which music files are stored in a plurality of formats.

Claims

1. A transfer apparatus comprising: a storage section configured to store a plurality of content data;a communication section configured to communicate with external equipment; anda control section configured to control said communication section in such a manner as to transfer content data from said storage section to said external equipment, whereinsaid control section detects from said external equipment a logical node retaining content data of the same type as that of the content data to be transferred and, based on the result of the detection, designates a transfer destination before transferring said content data to said external equipment.

2. The transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said external equipment is arranged to accommodate said content data in a logical node of hierarchical structure, andwhen said external equipment is detected having, sibling nodes retaining content data of the same type as that of the content data to be transferred, said control section either selects one of said plurality of sibling nodes or creates a new sibling node as the destination to which to transfer said content data.

3. The transfer apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the content data to be transferred is furnished with related information about said content data, andsaid control section creates a new sibling node based on said related information added to said content data to be transferred.

4. The transfer apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a display section, whereinwhen detecting said plurality of sibling nodes, said control section causes said display section to display said plurality of sibling nodes so that a user may select one of the displayed sibling nodes, said control section further designating the user-selected sibling node as a transfer destination before transferring said content data to the destination.

5. The transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control section detects from said external equipment a logical node retaining content data in the same format as that of the content data to be transferred and, based on the result of the detection, designates a transfer destination before transferring said content data to said external equipment.

6. The transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said external equipment has equipment identification information unique to every piece of the equipment, andwhen designateing said transfer destination, said control section associates said transfer destination with said equipment identification information acquired from said external equipment and stores said transfer destination in association with said equipment identification information into said storage section.

7. A transfer apparatus comprising: a storage section configured to store a plurality of content data;a communication section configured to communicate with external equipment;a conversion section configured to convert content data in format; anda control section configured to control said communication section in such a manner as to transfer content data from said storage section to said external equipment, whereinsaid control section searches the content data in said external equipment for the format in use and, if the format detected by the search is different from that of the content data to be transferred to said external equipment, said control section causes said conversion section to convert the format of said content data to be transferred into the format of the content data in said external equipment, before transferring said content data to said external equipment.

8. The transfer apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said conversion section is constituted by a compression encoding section configured to compression-encode content data and by a decoding section configured to decode content data.

9. The transfer apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said control section detects from said external equipment a logical node of the content data acquired by said search and, based on the result of the detection, designates a transfer destination before transferring said content data to said external equipment.

10. A transfer method comprising the steps of: detecting from communicable external equipment a logical node retaining content data of the same type as that of content data to be transferred to said external equipment;designating a transfer destination to which to transfer the content data based on the result of the detection in said detecting step; andtransferring said content data to said transfer destination designated in said designating step.

11. A transfer method comprising: searching communicable external equipment for content data stored in the equipment;converting the format of the content data to be transferred into the format of the content data stored in said external equipment when the format of the content data detected by the search in said searching step is different from the format of content data to be transferred to said external equipment; andtransferring the content data to said external equipment.

12. A transfer program for causing a transfer apparatus to execute a procedure comprising the steps of: detecting from communicable external equipment a logical node retaining content data of the same type as that of content data to be transferred to said external equipment;designating a transfer destination to which to transfer the content data based on the result of the detection in said detecting step; andtransferring said content data to said transfer destination designated in said designating step.

13. A transfer program for causing a transfer apparatus to execute a procedure comprising the steps of: searching communicable external equipment for content data stored in the equipment;converting the format of the content data to be transferred into the format of the content data stored in said external equipment when the format of the content data detected by the search in said searching step is different from the format of content data to be transferred to said external equipment,; andtransferring the content data to said external equipment.