Reception apparatus, reception method, transmission apparatus, and transmission method

1. A reception apparatus comprising:

circuitry configured to

receive audio/visual (AV) content,

extract a feature quantity from data of said audio/visual content,

provide the extracted feature quantity to a server via a communication network,

receive control information that is associated with said audio/visual content from said server, the control information being for controlling an operation of an application to be executed concurrently with a display of said audio/visual content, said control information being received by the circuitry in response to the provided extracted feature quantity, said control information corresponding to an identification result of said audio/visual content according to said feature quantity, and

control an operation of said application, which is executed concurrently with said display of said audio/visual content, based on said control information received from said server.

2. A reception method of a reception apparatus comprising:

receiving audio/visual content;

extracting a feature quantity from data of said audio/visual content;

providing, by circuitry of the reception apparatus, the extracted feature quantity to a server via a communication network,

receive, by the circuitry, control information that is associated with said audio/visual content from said server, the control information being for controlling an operation of an application to be executed concurrently with a display of said audio/visual content, said control information being received by the circuitry in response to the provided extracted feature quantity, said control information corresponding to an identification result of said audio/visual content according to said feature quantity; and

controlling, by the circuitry, an operation of said application, which is executed concurrently with said display of said audio/visual content, based on said control information received from said server.

3. An information providing apparatus comprising:

circuitry configured to

store control information for controlling an operation of an application to be executed concurrently with a display of audio/visual content,

receive, from a reception apparatus via a communication network, a feature quantity extracted from data of said audio/visual content, and

provide, to said reception apparatus via said communication network and in response to said received feature quantity, said stored control information for controlling said operation of said application to be executed concurrently with said display of said audio/visual content.

4. A method of an information providing apparatus for providing control information, the method comprising:

storing, by circuitry of the information providing apparatus, said control information for controlling an operation of an application to be executed concurrently with a display of audio/visual content;

receiving, from a reception apparatus via a communication network, a feature quantity extracted from data of said audio/visual content; and

providing by the circuitry, to said reception apparatus via said communication network and in response to said received feature quantity, said stored control information for controlling said operation of said application to be executed concurrently with said display of said audio/visual content.

5. The reception apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to:

control an operation of said application in accordance with an operation mode specified in said control information.

6. The reception apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the circuitry is configured to:

acquire correlation information used to identify an action specified by an event for the application based on a character string included in the control information when the operation mode specified in said control information is a first operation mode, and

acquire the application program based on the character string included in the control information when the operation mode specified in said control information is a second operation mode.

7. The transmission apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein

said control information is provided with an operation mode type that indicates an operation mode defined in accordance with a control scheme of said application.

8. The reception apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein

when the operation mode type specifies a first operation mode, the control information causes the reception apparatus to acquire correlation information used to identify an action specified by an event for the application based on a character string included in the control information, and

when the operation mode type specifies a second operation mode, the control information causes the reception apparatus to acquire the application based on the character string included in the control information.

9. The reception apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said control information is associated with said application and identifies an action to be performed for said application.

10. The reception apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said application is configured to execute in synchronization with a specific one of a plurality of segments of said audio/visual content.

11. The reception method according to claim 2 , wherein said application is configured to execute in synchronization with a specific one of a plurality of segments of said audio/visual content.

12. The information providing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein said application is configured to execute in synchronization with a specific one of a plurality of segments of said audio/visual content.

13. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said application is configured to execute in synchronization with a specific one of a plurality of segments of said audio/visual content.

14. A television receiver comprising the reception apparatus according to claim 1 .