Content management server, content search device, and program

Abstract

To present a content in which a scene related to a search word is included for a long time, to a user from a distribution content being distributed at present.SOLUTION: A content management server 10 for managing a distribution content to which a tag is given in real time includes: a tag list management unit 121 which manages the distribution content and the latest tag given to the distribution content in association with each other as a tag list; a tag duration time measuring unit 122 which measures a tag duration time during which the tag is continuously given to the distribution content; and a thumbnail management unit 123 which manages thumbnails of scenes used for generation of the tag.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a content management server, a content search device, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, when searching for video content on the Internet, it is common to display results in order of relevance between the search term and pre-defined titles and tags. In recent years, it has become possible to display search results in real time, such as displaying trending words on SNS or searching posts on Twitter (registered trademark). Real-time search can be said to be one of the factors that improve search satisfaction.

[0003] Patent document 1 also discloses a video search device that receives a search keyword for searching for specific video data from a storage device that stores multiple video data consisting of multiple frame images, and searches for video data based on the received search keyword and metadata associated with each video data, and when multiple video data are obtained by the search, generates a list in which thumbnail images of each of the multiple video data or metadata of each video data are arranged based on the evaluation results of each video data. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 5337420 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In the case of linear distribution, where the content changes from moment to moment, searching according to the title or tags set before the program starts may not be the same as the currently distributed scene content, making it difficult to obtain the desired search results. Even if tags can be set in detail in real time, if multiple pieces of content are hit with the same search word, it is difficult to determine which of the hit pieces is the most useful.

[0006] In addition, the video search device disclosed in Patent Document 1, when multiple hits are found for the same search word, acquires the number of information resources including metadata associated with video data, and can preferentially display popular videos by regarding the greater the number of information resources as the more popular the video is. However, it cannot present to the user content that shows a long scene related to the search word.

[0007] The object of the present invention, made in consideration of the above circumstances, is to provide a content management server, a content search device, and a program that are capable of presenting to a user content that contains extended scenes related to a search word from currently being distributed content in linear distribution over the Internet. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The gist of the present invention for solving the above problems is as follows.

[0009] (1) A content management server that manages distribution content to which tags are assigned in real time, the content management server comprising: a tag list management unit that associates the distribution content with the latest tag assigned to the distribution content and manages them as a tag list; a tag duration measurement unit that measures the tag duration for which the tag is continuously assigned to the distribution content; and a thumbnail management unit that manages thumbnails of scenes used to generate the tags.

[0010] (2) The content management server according to (1), wherein the tag list management unit, when multiple tags are assigned to one distribution content, identifies the tag with the longest tag duration.

[0011] (3) A content management server as described in (1) or (2), comprising: a search hit content information acquisition unit that acquires a search word from a content search device that searches for the distribution content, and acquires the tag duration and the thumbnail for search hit content that includes the search word in the title or tag of the distribution content; and a display screen creation unit that creates a display screen in which the display method of the thumbnail is changed depending on the tag duration.

[0012] (4) A content search device that searches for distribution content to which tags are added in real time, comprising: a search word acquisition unit that acquires a search word; a search hit content information acquisition unit that acquires, for search hit content that includes the search word in the title or tag of the distribution content, a tag duration for which the tag has been continuously added and a thumbnail of a scene used to generate the tag; and a display screen creation unit that creates a display screen in which the way the thumbnail is displayed is changed depending on the tag duration.

[0013] (5) The content search device according to (4), wherein the display screen creation unit changes a size or an order of the thumbnails depending on the tag duration.

[0014] (6) A content search device as described in (4) or (5), further comprising a priority determination unit that increases the priority of the search hit content when the search word is included in both the distribution title and tag of the search hit content, and the display screen creation unit arranges thumbnails in order of the search hit content with the highest priority.

[0015] (7) A program for causing a computer to function as the content management server according to any one of (1) to (3).

[0016] (8) A program for causing a computer to function as the content search device according to any one of (4) to (6). Effect of the Invention

[0017] According to the present invention, in linear distribution on the Internet, it is possible to present to a user content currently being distributed that contains a long scene related to a search word. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates an example of the configuration of a content search system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a content management server according to an embodiment; FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a tag list created by a content management server according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a content search device according to an embodiment; [Diagram 5] 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a search processing unit in a content search device according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on a content search device according to an embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process of the content search system according to an embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a modified example of a content management server according to an embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a modification of the content search device according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0020] 1 shows an example of the configuration of a content search system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The content search system 1 includes a content management server 10, a content search device 20, a video distribution server 30, and a tagging server 40, which are connected to each other via the Internet 50. The video distribution server 30 and the tagging server 40 may be connected to each other via a dedicated local network, or may be connected to each other via the Internet 50.

[0021] The video distribution server 30 is a server that linearly distributes distribution content including a manifest file and segments, and may be, for example, a general web server. A segment is a file in which a stream of video content encoded with one or more qualities (parameters such as screen size and bit rate) is divided into files of about one second to several tens of seconds. A manifest file is a file that describes the URL of a segment, attributes of the video content, etc. An example of a method of streaming distribution using the HTTP protocol is the international standard MPEG-DASH (ISO / IEC23009-1).

[0022] The tagging server 40 uses techniques such as machine learning and deep learning to generate and tag in real time for the distribution content currently being distributed from the video distribution server 30. For example, a one-second segment file is analyzed within one second, and one or more tags are assigned. The tagging server 40 transmits the assigned tag to the content management server 10 at regular intervals (for example, every second) together with the segment file of the scene used to generate the tag, or an image included in the segment file. The content management server 10 creates a thumbnail based on this segment file or image. The tagging server 40 may also generate a thumbnail and transmit it to the content management server 10 together with the tag. The thumbnail may be the first frame image of the segment file.

[0023] As shown in Fig. 1, the content search system 1 may include a plurality of video distribution servers 30 and tagging servers 40. For example, the video distribution server 30-1 is a video distribution server for a national program, and the tagging server 40-1 is a server that tags the distribution content distributed from the video distribution server 30-1. The video distribution server 30-2 is a video distribution server for a first regional program, and the tagging server 40-2 is a server that tags the distribution content distributed from the video distribution server 30-2. The video distribution server 30-3 is a video distribution server for a second regional program, and the tagging server 40-3 is a server that tags the distribution content distributed from the video distribution server 30-3.

[0024] 2 shows an example of the configuration of the content management server 10. The content management server 10 shown in FIG.

[0025] The communication I / F 11 is an interface for connecting to the Internet 50 .

[0026] The storage unit 13 includes one or more memories, and may include, for example, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic memory, an optical memory, etc. Each memory included in the storage unit 13 may function, for example, as a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, or a cache memory. The storage unit 13 stores any information used in the processing of the content management server 10.

[0027] The control unit 12 performs various controls of the content management server 10. The control unit 12 includes a tag list management unit 121, a tag duration measurement unit 122, a thumbnail management unit 123, and a distribution content management unit 124. The control unit 12 may be configured with dedicated hardware such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), may be configured with a processor, or may be configured with both.

[0028] The tag list management unit 121 creates a tag list that associates distribution content identification information that identifies distribution content distributed by multiple video distribution servers 30 with the latest tags that have been assigned to the distribution content by the tagging server 40. Then, the tag list management unit 121 outputs the created tag list to the storage unit 13.

[0029] The tag duration measurement unit 122 measures the duration (hereinafter referred to as “tag duration”) assigned to each tag in the tag list managed by the tag list management unit 121. Then, the tag duration measurement unit 122 outputs the tag duration to the storage unit 13.

[0030] When multiple tags are assigned to one distribution content, the tag list management unit 121 refers to the tag duration and identifies the tag with the longest tag duration. For example, when associating multiple tags with distribution content identification information, the tag list management unit 121 may arrange the tags in order of longest tag duration.

[0031] The thumbnail management unit 123 manages thumbnails of scenes used to generate tags. Specifically, the thumbnail management unit 123 acquires a segment file or an image of a scene used to generate tags in the tagging server 40 from the tagging server 40 via the communication I / F 11, and creates thumbnails based on the segment file or the image. The thumbnail may be the first frame image of the segment file of the scene used to generate tags in the tagging server 40. Then, the thumbnail management unit 123 outputs the created thumbnail to the storage unit 13. The creation of the thumbnail may be performed by the tagging server 40, and in that case, the thumbnail management unit 123 acquires a thumbnail of a scene used to generate tags from the tagging server 40 via the communication I / F 11.

[0032] The delivery content management unit 124 acquires the URL of the delivery content (hereinafter referred to as "delivery URL") and the title of the delivery content (hereinafter referred to as "delivery title") from the tagging server 40 via the communication I / F 11. The delivery content management unit 124 may acquire a manifest file in which the delivery URL and the delivery title are described from the tagging server 40 via the communication I / F 11. Then, the delivery content management unit 124 outputs the delivery URL and the delivery title to the storage unit 13. Note that the delivery content identification information managed by the tag list management unit 121 may be any information that can identify the delivery content, and may be the delivery URL or the delivery title acquired by the delivery content management unit 124.

[0033] FIG. 3 shows an example of a tag list. If the distribution content identification information of the distribution contents distributed from the video distribution servers 30-1, 30-2, and 30-3 is A, B, and C, respectively, the distribution content identification information A, B, and C are associated with tags assigned by the tagging servers 40-1, 40-2, and 40-3, respectively. The tags are updated in real time. The example of FIG. 3 shows how tags are updated every second. In this embodiment, the first tag for each distribution content identification information is the tag with the longest tag duration. For example, in the tag list at the time t=T, the tags associated with the distribution content identification information A are a1, a2, and a3, and among them, the tag with the longest tag duration is a1.

[0034] 4 shows an example of the configuration of the content search device 20. The content search device 20 shown in FIG.

[0035] The communication I / F 21 is an interface for connecting to the Internet 50 .

[0036] The input unit 22 is an interface for inputting information used in the processing of the content search device 20. The input unit 22 is a keyboard, a pointing device, or the like.

[0037] The storage unit 24 includes one or more memories, and may include, for example, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic memory, an optical memory, etc. Each memory included in the storage unit 24 may function, for example, as a main memory device, an auxiliary memory device, or a cache memory. The storage unit 24 stores any information used in the processing of the content search device 20.

[0038] The display unit 25 outputs information obtained by processing of the content search device 20. The display unit 25 is a liquid crystal display, an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display, etc. The input unit 22 and the display unit 25 may be integrated into one unit, such as a touch screen.

[0039] The control unit 23 performs various controls of the content search device 20. The control unit 23 includes a search word acquisition unit 231 and a search processing unit 232. The control unit 23 may be configured with dedicated hardware such as an ASIC or an FPGA, may be configured with a processor, or may be configured including both.

[0040] The search word acquiring unit 231 acquires a search word via the input unit 22. Then, the search word acquiring unit 231 outputs the acquired search word to the search processing unit 232.

[0041] The search processing unit 232 searches for distribution contents that include the search word in the distribution title or tag of the distribution contents managed by the content management server 10, and acquires thumbnails of the distribution contents. In addition, the search processing unit 232 acquires the tag duration, and changes the display method of the thumbnail according to the tag duration.

[0042] 5 shows an example of the configuration of the search processing unit 232. The search processing unit 232 shown in FIG.

[0043] The search hit content information acquisition unit 233 acquires a delivery URL, a tag duration, and a thumbnail of a scene used to generate a tag for delivery content (hereinafter referred to as "search hit content") that includes a search word in the delivery title or tag from the content management server 10 via the communication I / F 21. There may be multiple search words, and in that case, the search hit content information acquisition unit 233 acquires a delivery URL, a tag duration, and a thumbnail for search hit content that includes multiple search words in the delivery title or tag from the content management server 10 via the communication I / F 21. The tag duration may be the sum of the tag durations of tags that include the search word.

[0044] If the tag of the search hit content contains the search word, the search hit content information acquisition unit 233 acquires the tag duration of the tag containing the search word, and if the tag of the search hit content does not contain the search word (i.e., if the search word is contained only in the distribution title of the search hit content), it acquires the tag duration of the tag of the search hit content with the longest tag duration.

[0045] The priority determination unit 234 determines the priority of displaying thumbnails of the search hit content on the display screen created by the display screen creation unit 235. The priority can be determined based on the degree of relevance to the search word. Specifically, when the search hit content contains the search word in both the distribution title and tag of the search hit content, the priority determination unit 234 increases the priority of the search hit content.

[0046] The display screen creation unit 235 creates a display screen in which the display method (e.g., size or order) of the thumbnails of the search hit content is changed according to the tag duration acquired by the search hit content information acquisition unit 233, and outputs the created display screen to the display unit 25. Since the tag duration changes in real time, the display method of the thumbnails is also updated in real time.

[0047] The display screen creation unit 235 may perform a size conversion process so that the thumbnail size of the search hit content with the longer tag duration is larger. The display screen creation unit 235 may arrange the thumbnails in the order of the search hit content with the longest tag duration. The display screen creation unit 235 may display the thumbnails together with the tag duration. The display screen creation unit 235 may combine these modes. In this way, the display screen creation unit 235 can display thumbnails in various ways according to the tag duration.

[0048] The priority determination unit 234 is not an essential processing unit, but if the content search device 20 is equipped with the priority determination unit 234, the display screen creation unit 235 arranges thumbnails in the order of search hit contents with the highest priority determined by the priority determination unit 234. If there are multiple search hit contents with the same priority, the display screen creation unit 235 can arbitrarily determine the arrangement order of thumbnails of the multiple search hit contents. For example, the arrangement order of thumbnails of search hit contents with the same priority may be alphabetical order or Japanese syllabary order of distribution titles, or order of latest distribution start time, etc.

[0049] The display screen creation unit 235 may arrange thumbnails in the order of search hit contents with higher priorities determined by the priority determination unit 234, and may perform size conversion processing so that the thumbnails of search hit contents with longer tag durations are larger in size. The display screen creation unit 235 may also arrange thumbnails in the order of search hit contents with longer tag durations, and may perform size conversion processing so that the thumbnails of search hit contents with higher priorities are larger in size.

[0050] Fig. 6 shows an example of a display screen displayed on display unit 25. Content search device 20 shown in Fig. 6 is a smartphone, and input unit 22 and display unit 25 are integrated together.

[0051] As shown in FIG. 6, when "cooking" is entered in the search box 26, the search word acquisition unit 231 acquires "cooking" as a search word. The search processing unit 232 displays thumbnails of search hit contents that include "cooking" in the distribution title or tag of the distribution content on the search result display unit 27. Note that in FIG. 6, the search result display unit 27 shows only the frame of the thumbnail, and the image of the thumbnail is omitted. If all the thumbnails cannot be accommodated in the search result display unit 27, the remaining thumbnails may be displayed in response to a screen scroll operation. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the search result display unit 27 displays thumbnails from the upper left to the lower right in order of the search hit contents with higher priority, and the search hit contents with longer tag durations have larger thumbnail sizes. Note that the thumbnails change more significantly as the tag durations of the search hit contents become longer. The currently viewed content display unit 28 displays thumbnails of the currently viewed distribution content.

[0052] (How to search for content) Next, a content search method of the content search system 1 will be described with reference to a sequence diagram shown in FIG.

[0053] In step S101, the video distribution server 30 transmits the distribution content to the tagging server 40.

[0054] In step S102, the tagging server 40 tags the distribution content in real time, and transmits the distribution URL and the tag to the content management server 10. In addition, the tagging server 40 transmits to the content management server 10 the segment file used for tagging, or the image included in the segment file.

[0055] In step S103, the content management server 10 creates thumbnails based on the segment files or images received from the tagging server 40. Note that the tagging server 40 may create thumbnails of the scenes used for tagging and transmit the created thumbnails to the content management server 10.

[0056] In step S104, the content search device 20 starts an application and starts searching for distributed content.

[0057] In step S105, the content search device 20 transmits the search word entered in the search box to the content management server 10.

[0058] In step S106, the content management server 10 transmits to the content search device 20 the distribution URL, the tag duration, and a thumbnail for the search hit content that includes the search word in the distribution title or tag.

[0059] In step S107, the content search device 20 determines the priority order for each search hit content based on whether or not the search word is included in both the distribution title and the tag.

[0060] In step S108, the content search device 20 displays thumbnails in descending order of priority of the search hit contents. For example, if there are two search hit contents, search hit content A that includes the search word in the distribution title and tag, and search hit content B that includes the search word in the tag but not in the distribution title, the thumbnail of search hit content A is displayed first, and then the thumbnail of search hit content B is displayed. In addition, the content search device 20 changes the way thumbnails are displayed depending on the tag duration. After that, when a thumbnail is selected by the user, the content search device 20 acquires a segment of the distribution content from the distribution URL corresponding to the thumbnail.

[0061] In this way, by managing the tag duration in the content management server 10 and changing the display method of thumbnails in accordance with the tag duration in the content search device 20, it is possible to present to the user, from among the currently distributed contents, those which have long scenes related to the search word. Therefore, when multiple distributed contents are found for the same search word, it is possible to visually appeal to the usefulness of the distributed contents. In addition, since tagging is performed in real time, it is possible to find a hit in the search even when the search target scene is included in part of the distributed contents.

[0062] (Modification) The content management server 10 may have some or all of the functions of the search processing unit 232 described above. FIG. 8 shows an example of the configuration of a content management server 10' having all of the functions of the search processing unit 232 of the content search device 20. The content management server 10' differs from the content management server 10 in that it further includes a search processing unit 232. An example of the configuration of the search processing unit 232 is as shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 9 shows an example of the configuration of a content search device 20' corresponding to the content management server 10'. The content search device 20' differs from the content search device 20 in that it includes a search result acquisition unit 236 instead of the search processing unit 232.

[0063] The content search device 20' transmits the search word acquired by the search word acquisition unit 231 to the content management server 10'. When the search hit content information acquisition unit 233 of the content management server 10' receives the search word from the content search device 20', it acquires the tag duration and thumbnail for the search hit content that includes the search word in the title or tag of the distributed content. Then, the display screen creation unit 235 creates a display screen in which the thumbnail display method is changed according to the tag duration. The search result acquisition unit 236 of the content search device 20' acquires the display screen created by the display screen creation unit 235 from the content management server 10'. As a modified example, an example in which the content management server 10' has all the functions of the search processing unit 232 has been described, but it is clear that the content management server 10' may similarly have a part of the functions of the search processing unit 232.

[0064] (program) A computer capable of executing program instructions may be used to function as the above-mentioned content management servers 10, 10' and content search devices 20, 20'. Here, the computer may be a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, a workstation, a PC (Personal Computer), a smart device, etc. The program instructions may be program code, code segments, etc. for performing necessary tasks.

[0065] The computer includes a processor. The processor may be a CPU (Central Processing Unit), MPU (Micro Processing Unit), GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), DSP (Digital Signal Processor), SoC (System on a Chip), etc., and may be composed of multiple processors of the same or different types. The processor reads out a program from a storage unit and executes it to control each of the above components and perform various types of arithmetic processing. At least a part of the processing content may be realized by hardware.

[0066] The program may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. By using such a recording medium, the program can be installed on the computer. Here, the recording medium on which the program is recorded may be a non-transitory recording medium. The non-transitory recording medium is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory. In addition, the program may be in a form that is downloaded from an external device via a network.

[0067] Although the above-mentioned embodiment has been described as a representative example, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that many modifications and substitutions can be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited by the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications or changes can be made without departing from the scope of the claims. For example, it is possible to integrate multiple building blocks shown in the configuration diagram of the embodiment, or to divide one building block. [Explanation of symbols]

[0068] 1 Content Search System 10,10' Content Management Server 11 Communication I / F 12 Control section 13 Storage section 20,20' Content Search Device 21 Communication I / F 22 Input section 23 Control Unit 24 Memory section 25 Display section 26 Search Box 27 Search results display section 28 Currently viewed content display section 30 Video distribution server 40 Tagging Server 50 Internet 121 Tag List Management Department 122 Tag duration measurement unit 123 Thumbnail Management Department 124 Distribution Content Management Department 231 Search word acquisition section 232 Search processing unit 233 Search hit content information acquisition unit 234 Priority Determination Department 235 Display Screen Creation Department 236 Search Result Acquisition Unit

Claims

1. A content management server that manages distribution content to which tags are added in real time, a tag list management unit that manages, as a tag list, a content to be distributed and a latest tag assigned to the content to be distributed; a tag duration measurement unit that measures a tag duration during which the tag is continuously added to the distribution content; a thumbnail management unit that manages thumbnails of the scenes used to generate the tags; A content management server comprising:

2. The content management server according to claim 1 , wherein, when a plurality of tags are added to one distribution content, the tag list management unit identifies the tag having the longest tag duration.

3. a search hit content information acquisition unit that acquires a search word from a content search device that searches for the distribution content, and acquires the tag duration and the thumbnail for search hit content that includes the search word in a title or tag of the distribution content; a display screen creation unit that creates a display screen in which a display method of the thumbnail is changed according to the tag duration; The content management server according to claim 1 or 2, comprising:

4. A content search device that searches for distribution content to which tags are added in real time, a search word acquisition unit that acquires a search word; a search hit content information acquisition unit that acquires, for a search hit content that includes the search word in a title or tag of the distribution content, a tag duration during which the tag is continuously assigned and a thumbnail of a scene used to generate the tag; a display screen creation unit that creates a display screen in which a display method of the thumbnail is changed according to the tag duration; A content search device comprising:

5. The content search device according to claim 4 , wherein the display screen creation section changes a size or an order of the thumbnails depending on the tag duration.

6. a priority order determination unit that increases the priority order of the search hit content when the search word is included in both the distribution title and the tag of the search hit content; 6. The content search device according to claim 4, wherein the display screen creation section arranges thumbnails of the search hit contents in order of the highest priority.

7. A program for causing a computer to function as the content management server according to claim 1.

8. A program for causing a computer to function as the content search device according to claim 4.

Images