Content reproducing apparatus for reproducing content that is stream data divided into a plurality of reply segments, and content transmitting/receiving system

Abstract

A content reproducing apparatus according to the present invention is such that the content reproducing apparatus judges whether or not reproducing data of a replay segment pointed out by the skip instruction is skippable when a skip instruction from a user is accepted while a content is being reproduced. When a result of judgment is negative to the skip instruction, an alternative data is reproduced in place of data of the replay segment hat has been instructed to be skipped. When the reproducing of the alternative data is completed, so that data of the replay segment successive to the replay segment pointed out by the skip instruction is executed.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] (1) Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a technique of controlling reproduction of a content which is stream data divided into a plurality of replay segments, and more specifically, it relates to the skip function thereof. [0003] (2) Description of the Prior Art [0004] In recent years, services for distributing users with multimedia contents (hereinafter referred to as contents) that include commercial messages (CM) of sponsors of the contents at no extra charge have been offered. A user can listen and watch a distributed content using a content reproducing apparatus, such as a personal computer and a mobile device. The distributed content is divided into a plurality of replay segments, and each of the plurality of replay segment includes a part of the content with a certain degree of cohesiveness, such as each scene from the main content. [0005] A content reproducing apparatus is provided with a skip function as one of f...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a content reproducing apparatus that can play content without causing heavy load on content distributing servers and without skipping data that the user does not need. The apparatus can accept a skip instruction from the user and use alternative data to replace the skipped data. This allows the content provider to provide the data they intended without compromising the user's experience. The apparatus can also obtain additional information to determine if the data of a certain replay segment is skippable or not. This information helps the apparatus to decide whether to use the alternative data to replace the data of a certain replay segment or not. Overall, the invention provides a more efficient and effective way to play content while still satisfying the needs of the content provider."

Problems solved by technology

On the other hand, the skip function can be disadvantageous for content providers, because it is possible that, by utilizing the skip function, users listen and watch contents without reproducing replay segments for CMs of sponsors.

If a CM is skipped without being reproduced too often, it becomes highly probable that the sponsor considers the advertising effectiveness of the CM is low and thus stops sponsoring.

Because the encrypting process is required to be executed in real time, such a method increases the load to the content distributing server.

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