Playlist Deletion Using Reference Status Flags

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Solution Overview

Problem

The existing technologies face challenges in quickly deleting playlists from recording media due to the need to check if associated clips are referred to by other playlists, leading to prolonged deletion times as the number of playlists increases.

Innovation Solution

An information processing device and method that utilize a flag system to determine if a content file is referred to by another playlist, allowing for immediate deletion when not referenced, thereby streamlining the deletion process.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the system checks whether a clip is referred to by other playlists before deletion, then data integrity is maintained, but deletion time increases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata integrityVSAvoiddeletion time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing reference relationship flags in the playlist management system. Before deletion operations are performed, the system maintains flag information indicating whether each clip is referenced by other playlists. This preliminary tagging allows the deletion check to simply read the flag status rather than performing a comprehensive search through all playlists, thus maintaining data integrity while dramatically reducing deletion time.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Quantity of substance

If the number of playlists is increased to store more contents, then recording capacity is improved, but the time to check reference relationships during deletion increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenumber of playlistsVSAvoidreference check time
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies segmentation by dividing the reference relationship management into independent flag indicators for each clip. Instead of maintaining a complex interconnected reference map that requires traversal, the system segments the reference information into discrete flag bits stored alongside each clip or playlist metadata. This segmentation allows O(1) reference checks regardless of the total number of playlists, enabling the system to scale from hundreds to thousands of playlists without proportionally increasing deletion check time.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

3Productivity

If independent management of clips and playlists is implemented, then recording capacity utilization is improved, but deletion complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improverecording capacity utilizationVSAvoiddeletion management complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism in the form of reference flags that mediate between the independent clip and playlist management systems. These flags act as a lightweight intermediary data structure that tracks reference relationships without requiring complex inter-dependent management logic. When a playlist is deleted, the system simply checks the flag status rather than performing complex dependency resolution, thus maintaining the benefits of independent clip/playlist management while reducing deletion complexity to a simple flag-based check.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentEP2786379B1Information processing device and information processing method
Publication Date: 2020.06.10 SONY GROUP CORP
  • EP2786379B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2786379B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP2786379B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

An information processing device includes: a recording unit that records a flag representing that actual state information as an actual state of contents, which is referred to by reproduction information, is referred to by other reproduction information; a search unit that searches for the actual state information that is deletable by using the flag, in a case where deletion of the reproduction information is instructed; and a deletion unit that deletes the reproduction information of an object to be deleted and the deletable actual state information, in a case where the deletion of the reproduction information is instructed.