US 8,805,159 B2Granted

Reproducing device, control method, and recording medium

AssigneeMitsubishi Electric Corporation

InventorsKenji Esumi, Kiyoyasu Maruyama

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Abstract

A reproducing device includes: one or more input source selectors for selecting content to reproduce; two or more decoding processors for decoding the content; two or more output controllers for reproducing and outputting the decoded content; an instruction reception unit for receiving a reproduction instruction specifying arbitrary content, to have the specified content reproduced and output by one of the output controllers; a reproducibility determiner for deciding, on a basis of usage conditions of the input source selectors and the decoding processors, whether or not the specified content can be reproduced with one of the decoding processors; a reproduction path determiner for designating, on a basis of the decision, which decoding processor and which output controller to use to reproduce the specified content; and a reproduction controller for using the designated decoding processor and output controller to reproduce the specified content.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A reproducing device for reproducing plural content supplied from one or more input sources, the reproducing device comprising:

one or more input source selectors for selecting content to reproduce from among the plural content;
a plurality of decoding processors for performing a decoding process on the content;
a plurality of output controllers for reproducing and outputting the content after the decoding process;
an instruction reception unit for receiving a reproduction instruction specifying arbitrary content from among the plural content, to have the specified content reproduced and output by one of the output controllers;
a reproducibility determiner for making a decision, when the reproduction instruction is received, on a basis of usage conditions of the one or more input source selectors and the plurality of decoding processors, as to whether or not the specified content can be reproduced with one of the plurality of decoding processors;
a reproduction path determiner for designating, on a basis of the decision made by the reproducibility determiner, which decoding processor and which output controller to use to reproduce the specified content;
and
a reproduction controller for using the decoding processor and the output controller designated by the reproduction path determiner to reproduce the specified content;
wherein
when first content is already being reproduced by one of the plurality of decoding processors and the instruction reception unit receives a new reproduction instruction for second content, the reproducibility determiner decides that the second content cannot be reproduced with another one of the decoding processors, differing from the decoding processor being used to reproduce the first content, when at least one of the following is satisfied:
there is no input source selector that can demultiplex the second content and is not currently being used for reproduction,
there is no decoding processor that can decode the second content and is not currently being used for reproduction,
the second content is supplied from an input source, among the one or more input sources, that is currently being used for reproduction and is incapable of multiple output,
the second content is supplied from an input source, among the one or more input sources, having an access bandwidth limit that would be exceeded if the second content were to be reproduced with said another one of the decoding processors, and
when the second content is network content and network bandwidth needed for reproducing the second content is not obtainable.

12 more elements

A control method for a reproducing device for reproducing plural content supplied from one or more input sources, the reproducing device including one or more input source selectors for selecting content to reproduce from among the plural content, a plurality of decoding processors for performing a decoding process on the content, and a plurality of output controllers for reproducing and outputting the content after the decoding process, the control method comprising:

receiving a reproduction instruction specifying arbitrary content from among the plural content, to have the specified content reproduced and output by one of the output controllers;
deciding, on a basis of usage conditions of the one or more input source selectors and the plurality of decoding processors, whether or not the specified content can be reproduced with one of the plurality of decoding processors;
designating, on a basis of the decision, which decoding processor and which output controller to use to reproduce the specified content;
and
using the designated decoding processor and the designated output controller to reproduce the specified content;
wherein
when first content is already being reproduced by one of the plurality of decoding processors and a new reproduction instruction for second content is received, it is decided that the second content cannot be reproduced with another one of the decoding processors, differing from the decoding processor being used to reproduce the first content, when at least one of the following is satisfied:
there is no input source selector that can demultiplex the second content and is not currently being used for reproduction,
there is no decoding processor that can decode the second content and is not currently being used for reproduction,
the second content is supplied from an input source, among the one or more input sources, that is currently being used for reproduction and is incapable of multiple output,
the second content is supplied from an input source, among the one or more input sources, having an access bandwidth limit that would be exceeded if the second content were to be reproduced with said another one of the decoding processors, and
when the second content is network content and network bandwidth needed for reproducing the second content is not obtainable.

9 more elements

A machine-readable recording medium storing a control program for a reproducing device for reproducing plural content supplied from one or more input sources, the reproducing device including one or more input source selectors for selecting content to reproduce from among the plural content, a plurality of decoding processors for performing a decoding process on the content, and a plurality of output controllers for reproducing and outputting the content after the decoding process, the control program comprising:

instructions for receiving a reproduction instruction specifying arbitrary content from among the plural content and specifying one of the plurality of output controllers, in order to have the specified output controller reproduce and output the specified content;
instructions for deciding, on a basis of usage conditions of the one or more input source selectors and the plurality of decoding processors, whether or not the specified content can be reproduced with one of the plurality of decoding processors;
instructions for designating, on a basis of the decision, which decoding processor and which output controller to use to reproduce the specified content;
and
instructions for using the designated decoding processor and the designated output controller to reproduce the specified content;
wherein
when first content is already being reproduced by one of the plurality of decoding processors and a new reproduction instruction for second content is received, the instructions for deciding decides that the second content cannot be reproduced with another one of the decoding processors, differing from the decoding processor being used to reproduce the first content, when at least one of the following is satisfied:
there is no input source selector that can demultiplex the second content and is not currently being used for reproduction,
there is no decoding processor that can decode the second content and is not currently being used for reproduction,
the second content is supplied from an input source, among the one or more input sources, that is currently being used for reproduction and is incapable of multiple output,
the second content is supplied from an input source, among the one or more input sources, having an access bandwidth limit that would be exceeded if the second content were to be reproduced with said another one of the decoding processors, and
when the second content is network content and network bandwidth needed for reproducing the second content is not obtainable.

9 more elements

instructions for receiving a reproduction instruction specifying arbitrary content from among the plural content and specifying one of the plurality of output controllers, in order to have the specified output controller reproduce and output the specified content;
instructions for deciding, on a basis of usage conditions of the one or more input source selectors and the plurality of decoding processors, whether or not the specified content can be reproduced with one of the plurality of decoding processors;
instructions for designating, on a basis of the decision, which decoding processor and which output controller to use to reproduce the specified content;
and
instructions for using the designated decoding processor and the designated output controller to reproduce the specified content;
wherein
when first content is already being reproduced by one of the plurality of decoding processors and a new reproduction instruction for second content is received, the instructions for deciding includes instructions for deciding whether or not the second content can be reproduced with another one of the decoding processors, differing from the decoding processor being used to reproduce the first content;
and
when it is decided that the second content cannot be reproduced with said another one of the decoding processors, the instructions for deciding includes instructions for deciding whether or not the second content is identical to the first content.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.