JP2003167788A - Information terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To ensure that the expiration date of content information is always accurately determined by preventing the determination of the expiration date in a state where an accurate standard time cannot be obtained. SOLUTION: Prior to a determination of a reproduction expiration date of content information, it is determined whether a clock time of a system clock 22 is valid or invalid. If the clock time is valid, it is determined based on the clock time of the system clock 22. The reproduction expiration date is determined. Then, if it is confirmed by this determination that the counted time is within the reproduction expiration date, the content information is read from the storage unit 13 and reproduced. On the other hand, when the clock time of the system clock 22 is invalid or when the content information is out of the validity period, a message to that effect is generated without reproducing the content information and the display unit 1
5 is displayed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information terminal device such as a personal computer or a mobile phone, and more particularly to a device having a timed reproduction function of content information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, some information terminal devices such as notebook personal computers and mobile phones have a function of reproducing content information received through a communication network or recorded in a recording medium. The number of devices is increasing. The use of such a device is very convenient because the user can reproduce and enjoy the content information including his or her favorite music or video from any place.

By the way, recently, content information in which a reproduction valid period or a reproduction valid period is set for copyright protection is increasing. When playing this kind of content information,
In the conventional information terminal device, the reproduction valid period or the reproduction valid period set in the content information is compared with the current time measured by the built-in clock. Then, if the current time is within the reproduction valid period or within the reproduction valid period, the content information can be reproduced.

However, the built-in clock of the information terminal device generally has a time measurement error determined by the reference oscillator.
Therefore, in a device with a built-in clock that has a large timing error,
It is not possible to accurately manage the reproduction time limit of content information. Further, a built-in clock provided in this type of device is provided with a time adjustment function by manual operation, so that the user can freely adjust the time. Therefore, if the user intentionally changes the time of the built-in clock, it becomes possible to reproduce the content information even before the expiration date, and as a result, it is impossible to prevent unauthorized use of the content information.

Therefore, the present inventors have proposed, for example, CDMA (Co
We propose a device that receives system time data broadcast by a base station of a mobile communication system that adopts the de division multiple access) method and determines the expiration date of content information based on the received system time data. ing. By using this device, it is possible to determine the reproduction time limit of the content information according to the system time data having a function as standard time without depending on the built-in clock of the device. Further, it is possible to eliminate the influence of the time measurement error of the built-in clock to accurately determine the reproduction time limit, and to eliminate the influence of the intentional change of the time measurement time by the user to prevent the unauthorized use of the content information. Become.

[0006]

However, in general, in a mobile communication system, there is a case where the information terminal device is out of the wireless area of the base station, or even in the wireless area, inside the building or underground. When it is in a place where radio waves cannot reach, the system time data broadcast by the base station cannot be received. Further, even when the information terminal device is moving at high speed, the system time data from the base station may not be received due to the influence of fading or the like.

Therefore, if the reproduction expiration date determination of the content information described above is performed while the system time data having the function as the standard time cannot be received, the correct determination may not be performed. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. A first object of the present invention is to prevent a reproduction expiration date from being determined when an accurate standard time cannot be obtained.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an information terminal device capable of always accurately determining the expiration date of content information.

A second object is to prevent the reproduction expiration date from being set in a state where an accurate standard time cannot be obtained, thereby enabling accurate management of the expiration date of the content information. Is to provide.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned first object, a first invention is an information terminal device having a function of reproducing content information having a predetermined reproduction expiration date. Time measuring means for acquiring time and performing a time measuring operation based on the acquired standard time; first judging means for judging whether the time measured time of this time measuring means is valid or invalid; Second determination of whether or not the time measured by the means is within the reproduction expiration date of the content information
And a reproduction control means. Then, the first determining means determines that the time measured by the time measuring means is valid, and the second determining means determines that the time measured by the time measuring means is within the reproduction expiration date of the content information. Only in this case, the content information can be reproduced.

Specifically, the first determining means determines that the timekeeping time of the timekeeping means is invalid when the standard time cannot be acquired from outside, or the timekeeping time is not initialized in the timekeeping means. In addition, when the standard time cannot be acquired from the outside, it is realized by determining that the time measured by the time measuring means is invalid.

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the invention, for example, when the information terminal device is located in a place where the radio wave from the station broadcasting the standard time is hard to reach and the standard time cannot be acquired, the timekeeping of the timekeeping means is performed. The time is determined to be invalid, and the reproduction expiration date of the content information is not determined. For this reason,
It is possible to prevent in advance the problem that the reproduction expiration date of the content information is determined based on the incorrect timekeeping time, which makes it possible to make a highly stable expiration date determination in consideration of the acquisition status of the standard time. .

The reproduction control means has a function of generating a message to that effect and notifying the user when the first determination means determines that the time measured by the time measurement means is invalid. Good. With this configuration,
The user can clearly recognize the reason why the content information is not reproduced.

Further, the second judging means, when the first judging means judges that the time measured by the time measuring means is invalid, the time measured by the time measuring means is within the reproduction expiration date of the content information. It is better not to judge whether there is any. With this configuration, with this configuration, it is possible to prevent unnecessary determination processing from being performed in the second determination means, thereby reducing the processing load on the control unit and reducing power consumption, for example. Can be planned.

On the other hand, in order to achieve the above-mentioned second object, a second aspect of the present invention obtains a standard time from the outside in an information terminal device having a function of reproducing content information having a predetermined reproduction effective period. A time measuring means for performing a time measuring operation based on the standard time acquired by the lever, a first judging means for judging whether the time measuring time of the time measuring means is valid or invalid, and an expiration date setting means. Prepare When the first determination means determines that the time counted by the time measuring means is valid, the reproduction expiration date of the content information is set on the basis of the time measured time and the reproduction effective period of the content information. When it is determined that the clock time is invalid, the reproduction expiration date is not set.

Therefore, according to the second aspect of the present invention, when the reproduction expiration date is set for the content information in which the reproduction expiration period is designated, it is possible to prevent the reproduction expiration date from being set based on an incorrect clock time. can do.

The expiration date setting means may be configured to generate and display a message to that effect when it is determined that the clock time of the clock means is invalid. With this configuration, the user can clearly know the reason why the expiration date is not set.

Further, an expiration date extension means is further provided, and after the reproduction expiration date is set by the expiration date setting means, the time during which the content information cannot be reproduced based on the determination result of the first determination means. It may be configured to detect and extend the reproduction expiration date based on the detected time.

According to this structure, when the content information cannot be reproduced even though the reproduction expiration date is reached, for example, when the radio wave from the station broadcasting the standard time cannot be received, the content information cannot be reproduced. The number of days is counted, and the playback expiration date is automatically extended for this number of days.
Therefore, the user can use all of the reproduction valid period designated in advance for reproducing the content information.

[0020]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (First Embodiment) In the first embodiment of the present invention, when the content information having the reproduction expiration date is reproduced, the time count of the system clock is valid or invalid. Is determined. Then, when it is determined that the content information is valid, the expiration date is determined based on the clock time, and the content information can be reproduced within the expiration date. On the other hand, when it is determined that the time measured by the system clock is invalid, the expiration date determination process and the content information reproduction process are not performed.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a mobile communication terminal which is a first embodiment of an information terminal device according to the present invention. This mobile communication terminal MS uses a CDMA (Code Division) as a radio access method with a base station BS.
Multiple Access) method is adopted.

The radio frequency signal transmitted from the base station BS is received by the antenna 1 and then the antenna duplexer 2 (D
It is input to the receiving circuit (RX) 3 via UP). In the reception circuit 3, the radio frequency signal is mixed with the reception local oscillation signal output from the frequency synthesizer (SYN) 4 and frequency-converted into an intermediate frequency signal or a baseband signal. The frequency of the reception local oscillation signal generated from the frequency synthesizer 4 is specified by the control signal SYC from the control unit 12A.

The received intermediate frequency signal or the received baseband signal is input to the CDMA signal processing section 6. CDM
The A signal processing unit 6 performs the quadrature demodulation process and the despreading process using the spreading code (PN code) assigned to the reception channel on the input reception intermediate frequency signal or the reception baseband signal. Demodulated data in a predetermined format according to the data rate can be obtained. This demodulated data is input to the voice code processing unit 7. Further, the control data indicating the data rate of the demodulated data is input to the control unit 12A as the reception data rate.

The voice code processing unit 7 controls the demodulated data output from the CDMA signal processing unit 6 by a control unit 12A.
After performing expansion processing according to the received data rate notified from, decoding processing using Viterbi decoding and error correction decoding processing are performed to reproduce baseband received digital data.

The PCM code processing section 8 performs different signal processing depending on the type of communication (voice communication, image or data communication) output from the control section 12A. That is, during voice communication, the received digital data output from the voice code processing unit 7 is PCM-decoded and an analog reception signal is output. This analog reception signal is amplified by the reception amplifier 9 and then outputted from the speaker 10. During image or data communication, the received digital data output from the voice code processing unit 7 is supplied to the control unit 12A.
The control unit 12A stores the received digital data in the storage unit 1.
3 and stores it in the display unit 15.

The received digital data may be transmitted to a personal digital assistant (PDA: Personal D) (not shown) if necessary.
It is also possible to transfer the information to an external information terminal device such as a digital personal computer or a notebook personal computer through an external interface (not shown).

On the other hand, the voice input by the speaker during voice communication is input as an analog voice transmission signal through the microphone 11 and amplified to a proper level by the voice transmission amplifier 18. Then, it is input to the PCM code processing unit 8. In the PCM code processing unit 8, P is applied to the input analog transmission signal.
CM encoding processing is performed. The transmission data thus generated is supplied to the voice code processing unit 7. The data output from the external information terminal device is input to the control unit 12A via an external interface (not shown), and is input from the control unit 12A to the voice code processing unit 7 via the PCM code processing unit 8.

The voice code processing section 7 uses P during voice communication.
The amount of energy of input voice is detected from the transmission voice data output from the CM code processing unit 8, and the data rate is determined based on the detection result. Then, the transmission data is compressed into a burst signal having a format corresponding to the data rate, and further subjected to error correction coding processing, and then the CDM.
Output to the A signal processing unit 6. On the other hand, at the time of image or data communication, the transmission data output from the PCM code processing unit 8 is compressed into a burst signal having a format according to a preset data rate. Then, the compressed transmission data is subjected to error correction coding processing and output to the CDMA signal processing unit 6. It should be noted that the control unit 12A is notified of both the data rate during voice communication and the data rate during image or data communication as the transmission data rate.

The CDMA signal processing unit 6 performs a spreading process on the burst signal compressed by the voice code processing unit 7 using a spreading code assigned to the transmission channel. Then, quadrature modulation processing is performed on the spread coded transmission signal, and the quadrature modulation signal is transmitted to the transmission circuit (TX).
Output to 5.

The transmission circuit 5 includes the CDMA signal processing unit 6 described above.
The quadrature modulation signal output from the frequency synthesizer 4
Is converted into a radio frequency signal. Then, the transmission circuit 5 high-frequency-amplifies only the effective portion of the radio frequency signal based on the transmission data rate notified by the control unit 12A, and outputs it as a transmission radio frequency signal. The transmission radio frequency signal output from the transmission circuit 5 is transmitted to the antenna 1 via the antenna duplexer 2.
And is burst-transmitted from the antenna 1 to a base station (not shown).

The input section 14 is provided with a key group such as a dial key, a transmission key, a power key, an end key, a volume control key, and a mode designation key, and the display section 15 is provided with an LCD display and an LED. ing. LCD display,
The stored information in the telephone directory, the history of incoming and outgoing calls, the telephone number of the other party's terminal device, the operating state of the own device, etc. are displayed. Also LE
D is turned on or blinked when notifying the user of the occurrence of an incoming call or when requesting charging of the battery 16.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a power supply circuit, which is the battery 1
A predetermined operating power supply voltage Vcc is generated based on the output of 6 and supplied to each circuit section. A charging circuit is also provided in the power supply circuit 17, and the battery 16 is charged by this charging circuit.

The mobile communication terminal of this embodiment comprises a storage unit 13 for storing content information and the like, a user clock 21 and a system clock 22. Both the user clock 21 and the system clock 22 are RT
Performs timekeeping operation using C (Real Time Clock). However, while the user clock 21 allows the user to manually set the time arbitrarily, the system clock 22 cannot set the time by the user, and the system time data received from the base station BS during standby and communication is used. The clocking operation is performed in synchronization.

The control unit 12A is provided with, for example, a microcomputer as a main control unit. The control unit 12A executes a wireless connection control according to incoming and outgoing calls to enable voice communication and data communication, and position registration control. In addition to the original control functions of the mobile terminal, such as functions and idle handoff control functions, new control functions related to the present invention include a content information reproduction control function 12a, an expiration date determination function 12b, and a system time validity / invalidity determination function 12c. , And a system time acquisition adjustment control function 12d.

The system time acquisition adjustment control function 12d is
The system time data coming from the base station is periodically received during power-on, standby and communication. And
Based on the received system time data, setting and adjustment processing of the clock time of the system clock 22 is performed.

The system time valid / invalid judgment function 12c is
When a reproduction request for content information is input, it is determined whether the clock time of the system clock 22 is valid or invalid, and if it is determined to be invalid, a message to that effect is generated and the display unit 15 is displayed. To display. The validity / invalidity determination is performed as follows.

That is, the clock time of the system clock 22 becomes indefinite when the battery 16 is removed. This indefinite state is not eliminated only by mounting the battery 16, and the system time data broadcast by the base station BS is received by the time acquisition adjustment control function 12d, and based on the received system time data. This continues until the clock time is initialized in the system clock 22. The state in which the clock time is indefinite is defined as "invalid". When the above-mentioned clock time is initialized, the system clock 22 displays, for example, RTC (Real Tim).
e Clock) starts the self-propelled timekeeping operation, and the timekeeping time is adjusted based on the system time data received periodically thereafter. This timekeeping operation state is defined as "valid". These “invalid” and “valid” can be determined by, for example, storing a flag indicating the state of the system clock 22 in a memory in the control unit 12A and referring to this flag.

The expiration date determining function 12b is activated when the system time validity determining function 12c determines that the clock time of the system clock 22 is valid. First, whether the reproduction expiration date is set in the content information or not is determined. To determine. Then, when the reproduction expiration date is set, the clock time of the system clock 22 is compared with the reproduction expiration date and it is determined whether or not it is within the expiration date.

The content information reproduction control function 12a reads the content information from the storage unit 13 and executes the reproduction control when the expiration time determination function 12b determines that the clock time of the system clock 22 is within the expiration date. . On the other hand, when it is determined that the time measured by the system clock 22 is outside the expiration date, the content information reproduction control is not performed, and a message indicating “expiration date” is generated and displayed on the display unit 15.

The content information reproduction control function 1 described above
2a, expiration date determination function 12b, system time validity / invalidity determination function 12c, and system time acquisition adjustment control function 12
d is realized by causing the microprocessor of the control unit 12 to execute the program. This program is stored in the program memory in the control unit 12 or the program storage area in the storage unit 13. Means for storing the program in these program memory or program storage area are those which are recorded in advance by a program writer at the time of manufacture, or C
What is read from an external memory such as DROM or memory card and written in the program memory or the program storage area, and further downloaded from the site of the telecommunications carrier or manufacturer via the communication network and written in the program memory or the program storage area Etc.

Next, the content information reproducing operation by the mobile communication terminal configured as described above will be explained. Figure 2
It is a flow chart which shows the procedure and contents of content information reproduction control which control part 12A performs.

Content information is stored in the storage unit 13 in advance. This content information can be downloaded, for example, from a site on the Internet, or from an external information device such as a personal computer via a cable or Bl.
Transfer via wireless interface such as uetooth,
Alternatively, it is loaded into the terminal by reading from the memory card and stored in the storage unit 13.

Now, the control unit 12A during standby
Monitors the content reproduction operation by the user in step 2a. In this state, the user
In, it is assumed that the content information stored in the storage unit 13 is specified and the reproduction operation is performed. Then, the control unit 12A first activates the expiration date determination function 12b, reads the expiration date information corresponding to the specified content information from the storage unit 13 in step 2b, and determines whether the expiration date information is set in step 2c. judge. Then, when the expiration date information is not set, the process unconditionally proceeds to step 2h to execute the content information reproduction process.

On the other hand, it is assumed that the expiration date information is set in the designated content information. In this case, the control unit 12A proceeds to step 2d, where the system time acquisition adjustment control function 12d first receives the system time data from the base station BS. The reception of the system time data is performed by temporarily switching the reception channel from the paging channel to the sync channel, receiving the sync channel signal transmitted by the base station, and extracting the system time data from the received sync channel signal. . Next, the control unit 12A adjusts the clock time of the system clock 22 based on the received system time data. Then, the process proceeds to step 2e, and it is determined by the system time validity / invalidity determination function 12c whether the clock time of the system clock 22 is valid or invalid.

For example, it is assumed that the system clock 22 is not initially set to the clock time and the system time acquisition adjustment control function 12d cannot receive the system time data from the base station BS. Then the control unit 1
2A determines that the clock time of the system clock 22 is “invalid”, moves to step 2j, and generates a reproduction impossible message indicating that the reproduction of the content information cannot be performed,
The generated message is displayed on the display unit 15.
This message includes a reason why it cannot be reproduced and a message prompting the user to move to a place where radio waves can be received. Therefore, the user can
It can be recognized that the expiration date cannot be determined because the radio wave cannot be received.

On the other hand, it is assumed that the system clock 22 is operating normally, and the system time valid / invalid judgment function 12c judges that the measured time is "valid". Then, the control unit 12A proceeds to step 2f and activates the expiration date determination function 12b, and the expiration date determination function 12c first fetches the clocked time from the system clock 22. And
The time measured by the system clock 22 is compared with the expiration date information previously read from the storage unit 13, and it is determined in step 2g whether or not the designated content information is within the reproduction expiration date.

As a result of this determination, if the specified content information is within the reproduction valid period, the control section 12A activates the content information reproduction control function 12a,
In step 2h, the reproduction process of the designated content information is executed. This reproduction process is performed by, for example, the storage unit 13.
Then, the content information is read from, and it is determined whether the format of the content information is audio content such as music or video content including a still image used as wallpaper. If it is audio content, after decoding the audio data, PCM
The signal is output from the speaker 10 via the code processing unit 8 and the reception amplifier 9. On the other hand, in the case of video content, the still image data is decoded and then displayed on the display unit 15.

When the content information is a moving image content composed of audio data and moving image data, the PCM code processing unit 8 after decoding the audio data.
And output from the speaker 10 via the reception amplifier 9,
On the other hand, the moving image data is decoded and then displayed on the display unit 15. The output operation of the audio data and the display operation of the moving image data are performed after being synchronized with each other based on the time stamp added to the data.

If a speaker for reproducing audio contents is provided separately from the speaker 10 for receiving voice, the audio data may be controlled to be output from the speaker for reproducing audio contents. Also, when an output terminal for audio data and video data is provided, it is possible to supply audio data and video data to an external personal computer or the like via this output terminal for output or display. is there.

When the reproduction of the content information is started in this way, the control section 12A monitors the reproduction end in step 2i, and returns to the standby state when the reproduction is completed.

On the other hand, it is assumed that, as a result of the determination in step 2g, the designated content information is outside the reproduction expiration date. In this case, the control unit 12A does not perform the reproduction process of the content information, moves to step 2j, generates a message of "expiration date" here, and displays this message on the display unit 15. Therefore, the user can recognize that the content information designated by this display message has expired.

As described above, in the first embodiment, it is determined whether the clock time of the system clock 22 is valid or invalid prior to the determination of the reproduction expiration date of the content information. The reproduction expiration date is determined based on the time measured by the system clock 22. Then, when it is confirmed by this determination that the clocked time is within the reproduction expiration date, the content information is read from the storage unit 13 and reproduced. On the other hand, if the time measured by the system clock 22 is invalid or if the content information is out of the reproduction expiration date, a message to that effect is generated without displaying the content information and displayed on the display unit 15. I am trying to do it.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, by using the clock time of the system clock 22 which is adjusted to the system time of the base station BS and cannot be arbitrarily adjusted by the user, the influence of the clock error is eliminated. The reproduction expiration date of the content information can be accurately determined, and the unauthorized use of the content information can be reliably prevented.

Further, when the clock time of the system clock 22 is invalid, the reproduction expiration date determination process is not performed. Therefore, assuming that the system time data from the base station BS cannot be received, it is possible to always determine the reproduction expiration date based on the accurate clock time, thereby realizing highly reliable time limit management. it can.

Further, when the clock time of the system clock 22 is invalid, and when the content information designated as the reproduction target is information outside the reproduction expiration date, a message to that effect is generated and displayed on the display unit 15. To be done. Therefore, the user can clearly recognize the reason why the specified content information is not reproduced by the displayed messages.

(Second Embodiment) In the second embodiment of the present invention, for example, when a reproduction expiration date is set for content information in which a reproduction effective period is set such that it is effective for one month from the start of use. , It is determined whether the clock time of the system clock is valid or invalid, and if it is determined to be valid, the playback expiration date of the content information is set based on the clock time of the system clock and the playback valid period. Set. Further, also when reproducing the content information for which the reproduction expiration date is set, it is determined whether the clock time of the system clock 22 is valid or invalid, and when it is valid, the clock time of the system clock 22 is determined. Based on the judgment, the expiration date of reproduction is determined. Then, the content information is reproducible only when it is confirmed by this determination that the clocked time is within the reproduction valid period.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a mobile communication terminal according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In addition,
In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The control unit 12B has a content information reproduction control function 12a, an expiration date determination function 12b, a system time validity / invalidity determination function 12c, a system time acquisition adjustment control function 12d, and a validity function as control functions according to the present invention. It has a deadline setting function 12e.

Of these, the expiration date setting function 12e is based on the clock time of the system clock 22 and the above-mentioned reproduction effective period when the reproduction effective period is set as the expiration date information in the content information to be reproduced. Set the playback expiration date. At that time, the system time valid / invalid judgment function 12
Based on c, it is determined whether the clock time of the system clock 22 is valid or invalid, and if it is determined to be valid, the above-described reproduction expiration date setting process is executed. Also, the system clock 2
When it is determined that the measured time of 2 is invalid, the reproduction expiration date is not set and a message to that effect is generated and displayed on the display unit 15.

Next, the content information reproducing operation by the mobile communication terminal configured as described above will be explained. 4 and 5 are flowcharts showing the procedure and contents of the content information reproduction control executed by the control unit 12B.

In the input unit 14, the user is in the storage unit 13
It is assumed that the desired content information stored in is specified and the reproduction operation is performed. Then, the control unit 12B proceeds from step 4a to step 4b and activates the expiration date determination function 12b. Then, the expiration date information corresponding to the specified content information is read from the storage unit 13, and it is determined in step 4c whether or not the expiration date information is set. Then, if the expiration date information is not set, the process unconditionally moves to step 5g and the content information reproducing process is executed.

On the other hand, it is assumed that the expiration date information is set in the designated content information. In this case, the control unit 12B proceeds to step 4d and identifies whether the type of the expiration date information is "expiration date" or "effective period".

It is assumed that the type of the expiration date information is “effective period”. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the control unit 12B receives the system time data from the base station BS by the system time acquisition adjustment control function 12d in step 5a. The reception of the system time data is performed by temporarily switching the reception channel from the paging channel to the sync channel, receiving the sync channel signal transmitted by the base station, and extracting the system time data from the received sync channel signal. . Next, the control unit 12A
Adjusts the clocked time of the system clock 22 based on the received system time data. And step 5
In step b, the system time valid / invalid determination function 12c determines whether the clock time of the system clock 22 is valid or invalid.

For example, suppose that the system clock 22 is not initially set to the timekeeping time and the system time acquisition adjustment control function 12d cannot receive the system time data from the base station BS. Then the control unit 1
2B determines that the clock time of the system clock 22 is "invalid", moves to step 5i, generates a message indicating that the reproduction expiration date cannot be set for the content information, and displays the generated message on the display unit. 15 is displayed. This message includes the reason why it cannot be reproduced and a message prompting the user to move to a place where radio waves can be received. Therefore, the user can recognize from the displayed message that the reproduction expiration date cannot be set because the radio wave cannot be received.

On the other hand, it is assumed that the system clock 22 is operating normally, and the system time validity / invalidity determining function 12c determines that the time is "valid". Then, the control unit 12B determines in step 5c whether or not the reproduction expiration date has been set for the designated content information. If already set, step 5e as it is
If it is not set yet, the reproduction expiration date is set in step 5d. The reproduction valid period is set to a time after the reproduction valid period has elapsed from the time measured by the system clock 22.

When the setting of the expiration date is completed in this way, the control section 12B proceeds to step 5e to activate the expiration date determination function 12b, and the expiration date determination function 12c fetches the time count from the system clock 22 again. And
The captured time of the system clock 22 is compared with the reproduction expiration date set in step 5d, and it is determined in step 5f whether the specified content information is within the reproduction expiration date.

If the result of this determination is that the specified content information is within the reproduction expiration date, the control section 12B activates the content information reproduction control function 12a,
In step 5g, the reproduction process of the specified content information is executed. This reproduction process is performed by, for example, the storage unit 13.
Then, the content information is read from, and it is determined whether the format of the content information is audio content such as music or video content including a still image used as wallpaper. If it is audio content, after decoding the audio data, PCM
The signal is output from the speaker 10 via the code processing unit 8 and the reception amplifier 9. On the other hand, in the case of video content, the still image data is decoded and then displayed on the display unit 15.

When the content information is a moving image content composed of audio data and moving image data, the PCM code processing unit 8 after decoding the audio data.
And output from the speaker 10 via the reception amplifier 9,
On the other hand, the moving image data is decoded and then displayed on the display unit 15. The output operation of the audio data and the display operation of the moving image data are performed after being synchronized with each other based on the time stamp added to the data.

If a speaker for reproducing audio contents is provided separately from the speaker 10 for receiving voice, it is preferable to control the audio data to be output from the speaker for reproducing audio contents. Also, when an output terminal for audio data and video data is provided, it is possible to supply audio data and video data to an external personal computer or the like via this output terminal for output or display. is there.

When the reproduction of the content information is started in this way, the control unit 12B monitors the end of the reproduction in step 5h, and when the reproduction is completed, it returns to the standby state.

On the other hand, it is assumed that, as a result of the determination in step 5f, the specified content information is outside the reproduction expiration date. In this case, the control unit 12B does not perform the reproduction processing of the content information, moves to step 5i, and generates a message that the "expiration date has expired" here,
This message is displayed on the display unit 15. Therefore, the user can recognize that the content information designated by this display message has expired.

As a result of the determination in step 4d, if the type of the expiration date information is "expiration date", the control section 12B shifts to step 2e shown in FIG. Then, in steps 2e to 2i, it is determined whether the clock time of the system clock 22 is valid or invalid, and it is further determined whether the content information is within the reproduction valid period, and both conditions are satisfied. If satisfied, the reproduction process of the content information is performed.

As described above, in the second embodiment, when the reproduction expiration date of the content information is set, it is determined whether the clock time of the system clock 22 is valid or invalid. The reproduction expiration date is set based on the time measured by the system clock 22 and the reproduction effective period. Therefore, the problem that the reproduction expiration date is set in a state where the system time data from the base station BS cannot be received and the clock time of the system clock 22 is indefinite is avoided, whereby the reproduction expiration date is always accurate. Can be set to.

If the clock time of the system clock 22 is invalid, a message to that effect is generated and the display unit 15
Is displayed in. Therefore, the user can clearly recognize the reason why the reproduction expiration date is not set for the designated content information from the displayed message.

(Third Embodiment) In the third embodiment of the present invention, after the reproduction expiration date of the content information is initially set, the content information cannot be reproduced due to the invalidation of the clock time of the system clock. If so, count the number of days. Then, the reproduction expiration date of the content information is automatically extended by the number of days when the reproduction cannot be performed.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a mobile communication terminal according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted. .

The control section 12C has a content information reproduction control function 12a, an expiration date determination function 12b, a system time validity / invalidity determination function 12c, a system time acquisition adjustment control function 12d, and a validity function as control functions according to the present invention. It has a deadline setting function 12f.

Of these, the expiration date setting function 12f includes an expiration date initial value setting function 12g and an expiration date extension function 12h.
It has and.

The expiration date initial value setting function 12g is based on the clock time of the system clock 22 and the above-mentioned reproduction effective period when the reproduction effective period is set as the expiration date information in the content information to be reproduced. Set the initial value of the playback expiration date. At that time, the system time validity / invalidity judging function 12c judges whether the clock time of the system clock 22 is valid or invalid, and when it is judged to be valid, the reproduction expiry date is initialized. When it is determined that the clock time of the system clock 22 is invalid, a message to that effect is generated and displayed on the display unit 15 without initializing the reproduction expiration date.

After the expiration date initializing function 12g initializes the reproduction expiration date, the expiration date extension function 12h does not judge the reproduction expiration date due to the invalidation of the system clock 22 clock time, and the system information is not displayed. When the reproduction cannot be performed, the time when the reproduction cannot be performed is counted, for example, in units of days. Then, the initial setting value of the reproduction expiration date is extended by the counted number of days, and the expiration date after the extension is reset.

With such a configuration, it is assumed that the user replaces the battery 16 after the initial setting of the reproduction expiration date. Then, the time measured by the system clock 22 becomes indefinite. In this indefinite state, the system time data is received from the base station BS after the power is turned on again,
If the clocked time of the system clock 22 is initialized based on this time data, it is resolved. However, at this time, if the mobile communication terminal MS exists outside the radio area of the base station BS, the system time data from the base station BS cannot be received, and therefore the system clock 22 is not initialized and the system clock is not set. The indefiniteness of the clock time of 22 is not resolved. That is, in this state, the user cannot reproduce the content information even if he wants to reproduce the content information, and only the reproduction effective period is reduced.

However, in this embodiment, after the clock time of the system clock 22 is initialized, the system clock 2
When it is determined that the time measurement time of 2 is invalid, the control unit 12C counts the number of days when the invalid determination occurs. Then, the reproduction expiration date is extended by the counted number of days and then reset. That is, when the radio wave cannot be received from the base station BS, the reproduction expiration date is automatically extended. Therefore, the user can fully utilize the reproduction valid period originally specified in the content information to reproduce the content information.

When the reproduction expiration date is automatically extended, a message to that effect may be displayed. in this case,
It is further preferable to display the expiration date after the extension or the remaining number of days or hours.

(Other Embodiments) In the above embodiments, the case where the system time data broadcast by the CDMA base station is received as an external means for acquiring the standard time has been described as an example. However, it is not limited to this, and GPS
The (Global Positioning System) receiver may be used to receive the system time data by the GPS receiver when reproducing the content information. Further, a standard time receiver may be provided in place of the GPS receiver, and the standard time receiver may receive standard time information broadcast by the standard time transmitting station installed in Otadoyama, Fukushima Prefecture.

As a means for notifying the non-reproducible message, in addition to displaying the text message on the display unit 15, a voice message may be generated by the voice synthesizing function and the voice message may be output from the speaker 10. .

Further, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the CDMA mobile communication terminal has been described as an example of the information terminal device.
It may be a mobile communication terminal adopting another wireless access method such as a TDMA mobile communication terminal or an analog mobile communication terminal, and is not limited to the mobile communication terminal but is a notebook type personal computer, an audio player, a video reproducing device. It may be a portable electronic device such as a game machine or a watch, or a fixedly installed personal computer or audio player.

In addition, the system time validity / invalidity determination function,
The control procedure and contents of the expiration date setting function, the expiration date determination function, and the content information reproduction control function, the type and form of the content information, the configuration thereof, etc. can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the present invention. .

[0088]

As described above in detail, in the first aspect of the invention, when the content information having the predetermined reproduction expiration date is reproduced, the standard time is acquired from the outside to perform the timekeeping operation of the timekeeping means. Is determined to be valid or invalid, and whether or not the time measured by the time measuring means is within the reproduction valid period of the content information. The content information can be reproduced only when it is determined that the time measured by the time measuring means is valid and the time measured by the time measuring means is within the reproduction expiration date of the content information. Is configured.

Therefore, according to the first invention, for example, when the information terminal device is located in a place where the radio wave from the station broadcasting the standard time is hard to reach and the standard time cannot be acquired,
The information terminal device is configured such that the time measured by the time measuring means is determined to be invalid, and the reproduction expiration date of the content information can be prevented from being determined, so that the expiration date of the content information can always be accurately determined. Can be provided.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when reproducing the content information having the reproduction effective period set in advance, the time measuring time of the time measuring means which acquires the standard time from the outside and performs the time measuring operation is valid or invalid. Determine if there is. Then, when it is determined that the time counting time of the time counting means is valid, the reproduction valid term of the content information is set based on the time counting time and the playback valid period of the content information, while the time counting time is invalid. When it is determined, the reproduction expiration date is not set.

Therefore, according to the second aspect of the present invention, when the reproduction expiration date is set for the content information for which the reproduction effective period is designated, it is possible to prevent the reproduction expiration date from being set based on an incorrect clock time. Therefore, it is possible to provide an information communication terminal capable of accurately managing the expiration date of content information.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile communication terminal which is a first embodiment of an information terminal device according to the present invention.

2 is a flowchart showing a procedure and contents of content information reproduction control executed by a control unit of the mobile communication terminal shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a mobile communication terminal which is a second embodiment of the information terminal device according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart showing a procedure of content information reproduction control executed by the control unit of the mobile communication terminal shown in FIG. 2 and a first half of the content.

5 is a flowchart showing a procedure of content information reproduction control executed by a control unit of the mobile communication terminal shown in FIG. 2 and a second half of the content.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a mobile communication terminal which is a third embodiment of the information terminal device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

BS ... Base station MS ... Mobile communication terminal 1 ... antenna 2 ... Antenna duplexer (DUP) 3 ... Receiving circuit (RX) 4 ... Frequency synthesizer (SYN) 5 ... Transmission circuit (TX) 6 ... CDMA signal processing unit 7 ... Voice code processing unit 8 ... PCM code processing unit 9 ... Receiver amplifier 10 ... speaker 11 ... Microphone 12 ... Control unit 12a ... Content information reproduction control function 12b ... Expiration date determination function 12c ... System time valid / invalid judgment function 12d ... System time acquisition adjustment control function 12e, 12f ... Expiration date setting function 12g ... Expiration date initial value setting function 12h ... Expiration date extension function 13 ... storage unit 14 ... Input section 15 ... Display 16 ... Battery 17 ... Power supply circuit 18 ... Transmitter amplifier 21 ... User clock 22 ... System clock

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An information terminal device having a function of reproducing content information having a reproduction expiration date set in advance, acquires standard time from the outside, and performs timekeeping operation based on the acquired standard time. Means and first determining means for determining whether or not the timed time of the timed means is valid or invalid, and whether or not the timed time of the timekeeping means is within the reproduction expiration date of the content information Second determining means and the first determining means determine that the time measured by the time measuring means is valid, and the second determining means determines that the time measured by the time measuring means is within the reproduction expiration date of the content information. And a reproduction control unit that enables reproduction of the content information when it is determined that the information terminal device. 2. The information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the first determination unit determines that the clock time of the clock unit is invalid when the standard time cannot be acquired from the outside. 3. The first determining means determines that the clocking time of the clocking means is invalid when the clocking time is not initialized in the clocking means and the standard time cannot be acquired from the outside. The information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The reproduction control means, when the first determination means determines that the clock time of the clock means is invalid, generates a message to that effect and notifies the user of the message. The information terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising: 5. The second determination means, when the first determination means determines that the clocked time of the clocking means is invalid, the clocked time of the clocking means reproduces the content information. The information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein it is not determined whether or not it is within an expiration date. 6. An information terminal device having a function of reproducing content information having a reproduction effective period set in advance, acquiring standard time from the outside, and performing timekeeping operation based on the acquired standard time. Means, first determining means for determining whether the time counting time of the time counting means is valid or invalid, and the first determining means determines whether the time counting time of the time counting means is valid. An expiration date when the reproduction expiration date of the content information is set based on the clock time and the reproduction expiration period of the content information, while the reproduction expiration date is not set when the measurement time is determined to be invalid. An information terminal device comprising: setting means. 7. The expiration date setting means further has a function of generating a message to that effect and notifying the user when the clock time is determined to be invalid. Information terminal equipment. 8. A second judgment means for judging whether or not the time measured by the time measurement means is within the reproduction expiration time set by the expiration time setting means, and the result of the judgment by the second judgment means. And a reproduction control unit that enables reproduction of the content information when the time measured by the time measuring unit is within the reproduction effective period set by the effective period setting unit. Item 6. The information terminal device according to item 6. 9. The reproduction control means does not reproduce the content information when the first determination means determines that the time measured by the time measurement means is invalid. Information terminal device described. 10. The reproduction control means further has a function of generating a message to that effect and notifying the user when the time determination time of the time measurement means is determined to be invalid by the first determination means. The information terminal device according to claim 8, wherein: 11. After the reproduction expiration date is set by the expiration date setting means, a time during which the content information cannot be reproduced is detected based on the determination result of the first determination means, and this detection is performed. 10. The information terminal device according to claim 9, further comprising an expiration date extension means for extending the reproduction expiration date based on the set time.