JPH0567271A - Media rental shop - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To provide a media rental shop that can promptly meet various media requests of many customers without being limited by the store area and can record the requested media in a media package in a short time. [Structure] A media center and a media rental shop are connected by a high-speed transmission line, media information reproduced by a high-speed media reproducing device in the media center is transferred through the high-speed transmission line, and a high-speed media recording device in the media rental shop is connected. High speed recording on media package by.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a media rental shop that sells or rents packaged media on which various media information is recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Specific examples of media rental shops include video rental shops, CD record rental shops and rental software houses. Taking a video rental shop as an example, a shop store prepares various kinds of video tapes as package media in the store, and a customer goes to the shop store to select a video tape from the video tapes in the store and purchase or buy it. It is in the form of borrowing. Recently, there is also a service in which a shop delivers a video tape ordered by a customer without the customer having to go to the shop.

By using a higher-speed transmission line, a video center having various video information is connected to a home,
A video request system has also been proposed in which video information corresponding to a request signal from a home is transferred from a video center through a high-speed transmission line (for example, the National Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers Autumn National Convention SB-6-2). This proposal has been proposed as a system that allows the user to instantly watch desired video information while staying at home.

A video request system using a high speed transmission path will be described below. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional video request system.

In FIG. 2, 21 is a video center, 22 is a subscriber's house, 23 is a high-speed transmission line, 24 is a video reproducing device, 25 is a transmission line interface, and 26 is a receiving device. Each subscriber sends a request signal to the video center 21, and the video center reproduces the video information for the request by the video reproducing device 24.
It is sent to the high-speed transmission line 23 via the transmission line interface 25. At each subscriber home 22, the transmission line interface 2
The receiving device 26 is configured to receive the video information transferred via the V.5.

[0006]

However, since the number of video tapes that can be prepared in proportion to the size of the shop is limited, it is necessary for the shop to have the video tape that the customer wants. Not necessarily. In addition, it often happened that the customer could not purchase or borrow when he / she wanted because it was lent to another customer. These problems occur not only in video rental shops but also in CD record rental shops and rental software houses.

For this reason, rental shops have been trying to meet the demands of customers by expanding their stores and enhancing services such as reservation services. However, expansion of stores is not always easy, and reservation services cannot be said to be able to immediately respond to customer requests.

Further, even when video information is provided to each home by using a high-speed transmission line, enormous equipment investment is required to lay such a high-speed transmission line to each home, and it is also enormous. Even if such a system is made by investing a lot of money, in order to recover the capital investment, there is no choice but to make a great rebound to the service cost borne by each household. In addition, video information that is frequently requested may be simultaneously requested from a plurality of households, and if requests from other households are early, there is a problem that it is necessary to wait until the service of that household ends.

Various technical developments are currently underway to realize such a video request system by a broadband ISDN. However, in order for such a service to spread to general households, service costs and the like are still included. Many challenges remain.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and provides a media rental shop which can promptly meet the diverse demands of many customers even with a shop having a small shop area with a minimum capital investment. The purpose is to do.

[0011]

In order to solve this problem, the present invention connects a media center having various kinds of media information and a media rental shop by a high-speed transmission line, and the media required by the media center is requested. The information is played back at high speed by the high-speed media playback device and sent to the high-speed transmission line. At the media rental shop, the transferred media information is recorded by the high-speed media recording device, and the recorded package media is sold to customers. Or lend it.

[0012]

[Operation] Since the media center and the media rental shop are connected by a high-speed transmission line, even if the media information requested by the customer is not in the shop because another customer has already borrowed it, By requesting that media information to be transferred to the media rental shop and recording it on the package media using the recording device in the media rental shop,
We can meet customer demand.

When video information is requested from the media center, for example, a huge amount of video information is transferred in a short time by the high-speed media reproducing device and the high-speed transmission line in the media center and the high-speed media recording device in the media rental shop. It can be recorded, and can immediately respond to customer requests. Even when a plurality of customers request the same media information, the requested media information can be received in a short waiting time by the functions of high-speed media playback, high-speed media transmission, and high-speed media recording.

Further, it is not necessary to equip the media rental shop with packaged media, and if all the customer's requests are notified to the media center and the requested media information is transferred, high-speed media recording in the media rental shop is possible. By installing the device, it is possible to immediately meet the demands of many customers without being limited by the store area.

The capital investment is mainly high-speed transmission lines between the media rental shop and the media center and high-speed media recording devices in the media rental shop. Compared with the case where a high-speed transmission line is installed in each home. ,
You can build a system at a much lower cost.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a media rental shop showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 11 is a media center, 12 is a media rental shop, 13 is a high-speed media playback device, 14 is a high-speed media recording device, 15 is a high-speed transmission line, 16 is a transmission line interface, and 17 is a customer for sale or rental. It is a media package that does.

The media information requested by the customer is reproduced at high speed by the high-speed media reproducing device 13 in the media center 11 and sent to the transmission line interface 16. The sent media information is transferred by the high speed transmission line 15 and input to the high speed media recording device 14 via the transmission line interface 16 in the media rental shop 12. The requested media information is recorded at high speed in the media package 17 by the high speed media recording device 14, and the media package is sold or lent to the customer.

Here, for example, when the requested video information is movie software for 2 hours, the video signal is compressed to a band of 10 Mb / s by the band compression technique, and the information transmission capacity of the high speed transmission line is 600 Mb / s. If so, by setting the reproduction speed of the high-speed media reproducing device and the recording speed of the high-speed media recording device to 600 Mb / s, the transfer can be performed in 1/60 time as compared with the conventional transfer time.

That is, the movie software for 2 hours can be recorded in only 2 minutes, and the customer's request can be immediately met.
Further, even when a plurality of customers request the same video information, it is possible to meet the customer's request with a short waiting time.

If the media package recorded in this way is an erasable recordable optical disk, a high-speed media reproducing apparatus and a high-speed media recording apparatus can be relatively easily configured by using a reproducing head or a recording head as a multi-head. In addition, the same optical disc can be used many times.

Further, the copyright can be protected by multiplexing the control code for copy protection on the optical disk.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, a huge amount of media information such as video information requested by customers can be realized by the high-speed media reproducing device in the media center, the high-speed transmission line, and the high-speed media recording device in the media rental shop. Can be transferred in a short time and recorded in a media package, and can immediately respond to customer requests. Further, even when a plurality of customers request the same media information, the media information can be recorded and sold or rented in a short waiting time.

Further, the media rental shop does not need to be equipped with a large number of media packages, and it is possible to immediately meet the demands of many customers without being limited by the store area. In addition, by using a media package as an erasable and recordable optical disc, a high-speed media playback device and a high-speed media recording device can be easily configured,
The package media can be used effectively.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a media rental shop according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a conventionally proposed video request system.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Media Center 12 Media Rental Shop 13 High Speed Transmission Line 14 High Speed Media Playback Device 15 High Speed Media Recording Device 16 Transmission Line Interface 17 Media Package Sold or Lent to Customers

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A media rental shop that sells or rents out various packaged media in which media information is recorded, wherein a media center having various media information such as video, audio, and data, and the media rental shop are operated at high speed. Connected by a transmission line, the media center is equipped with a high-speed media playback device that reads out media information in response to a customer's request at high speed and sends out to the high-speed transmission line, and the media rental shop has transferred from the media center. A media rental shop comprising a high-speed media recording device for recording media information at high speed, and selling or renting a packaged media recorded by the high-speed media recording device to a customer. 2. The media rental shop according to claim 1, wherein the package medium to be sold or rented to the customer is an erasable recordable optical disk. 3. The media rental shop according to claim 1, wherein the package medium to be sold or rented to the customer is an optical disc having a copy protection function.