GB2264385A - Apparatus for selecting predetermined segments in a cassette tape - Google Patents

Abstract

A video cassette rewinder selects a predetermined segment (11, 12, 13) in a cassette tape recorded with a number of MTV programs. The predetermined segment is a blank section (11b, 12b, 13b) in the cassette tape without any recorded audio signal. A selection number can be specified by a consumer and the apparatus is capable of rewinding the cassette tape to the predetermined segment. The effect is achieved by adding a series of location codes to the predetermined segments. The location codes can be added either by direct recording them to the blank segments or by attaching a set of adhesive code bands (30) printed with bar codes to the backside of the same. The predetermined segment can be found by winding forward or backward the cassette tape and comparing a signal corresponding to the selection number with a signal generated in accordance with the location codes. <IMAGE>

Description

APPARATUS FOR SH;ECTIWG PREDETERMINED SEGNWTS IN A VIDEO CASSETTE TAPE The present invention relates to an apparatus for use in a video cassette recorder (VCR) system or in a separate rewinder to select specific pieces of program recorded on a VCR cassette tape.

A VCR cassette tape, in addition to recording a movie program, is often utilized for recording a number of music pieces which are played along with video images. The thus recorded video programs are commonly referred to as MTV (which stands for music television).

A typical VCR cassette tape with a play time of two hours is able to accommodate the recording of about 15-20 pieces of MTV programs. Since the VCR cassette tape is a sequential access medium, it is often bothersome when a consumer wants to listen to a particular piece of MTV program that is located somewhere in the middle of the cassette tape. The only possible way to do this is perhaps to wind the cassette tape a little bit forward or backward, push the stop button and then push the play button to watch what is played. If what is played is not what is desired, the same process is repeated again and again until the desired MTV program is eventually located.

A technique for automatically locating a desired piece of MTV program is to utilize an audio signal detecting means and a counter (not illustrated in the accompanying drawings). Using this technique, the VCR tape should be firstly rewound to its very beginning portion and then wound forward until the audio signal detecting means detects for the third time a section recorded without any audio signal.

This technique, however, is quite time consuming when rewinding of the VCR tape is needed.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus equipped to a VCR system or a separate cassette tape rewinder for locating a desired piece of MTV music recorded in a VCR cassette tape.

In accordance with the foregoing object, a segment in precedence of the desired piece of MTV music where no audio signal is recorded thereto is pre-recorded with a particular location code or attached with code bands printed with bar codes. A selection button is provided for a consumer to select a selection number corresponding to the desired piece of MTV program and the apparatus according to the present invention is capable of finding the segment by comparing the selection number with the pre-recorded location codes or with the printed bar codes..

The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG. 1A illustrates portions of a VCR tape prerecorded with location codes at the spaces between two consecutive pieces of MTV music; FIG. IB illustrates portions of a VCR tape to be attached with a plurality of code bands to the back of the blank segments between two consecutive pieces of MTV music; FIG. 2 shows a VCR cassette tape rewinder provided with MTV music selection function; and FIG. 3 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus embodying the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1B, in a VCR tape 10 recorded with a number of pieces of MTV program there is always a blank segments, as designed by the numerals lib, 12b, or 13b, between two consecutively arranged pieces of MTV program.

The blank segments are sections in the VCR tape where no audio signals are recorded thereon. The blank segments, when played, will last for 4-5 seconds. As shown in the illustration, a first blank segment lIb is located before where the first piece of MTV program is recorded (designated by the numeral "11"), a second blank segment 12b is located before where the second piece of MTV music is recorded (designated by the numeral "12"), a third blank segment 13 is located before where the third piece of MTV program is recorded (designated by the numeral "13b"), and so on.A standard VCR tape is normally capable of accommodating the recording of 15 to 20 pieces of MTV music When a consumer wishes to enjoy the playing of, for example, the third piece of MTV music recorded in the VCR tape 10, the VCR tape 10 should be wound forward or backward until the blank segment 13b that is located right in precedence to where the third piece of MTV music is recorded is found.

The technique according to the present invention is to add some forms of codes to all the blank segments in the VCR tape 10. These codes will be herein and hereinafter referred to as location codes. These location codes, when decoded, will produce a series of sequentially ordered binary numbers.

Referring simultaneously to FIGS. lA-lB, there are two methods by which the location codes can be added to the blank segments in the VCR tape 10.

The first method is by recording video signals premodulated by the location codes to the blank segments.

Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. IA, each of the blank segments preceding a piece of MTV program is pre-recorded with a location code,# as designated by the numerals gila, 12a, 13a etc. The first method, when put into practice, requires the agreements between the manufacturer of the apparatus of the present invention and the producer of the MTV cassette tapes to adopt a protocol of the location codes.

For already circulating MTV cassette tapes not provided with the pre-recorded location codes, a second method can be utilized. As illustrated in FIG. 1B, each of the blank segments preceding a piece of MTV program is attached, to the backside thereof, with a strip of adhesive code band 30.

Using the second method, a set of 20 adhesive code bands sequentially labelled with the numbers from 1 to 20 is provided to be attached to the blank segments in the VCR tape 10. In addition, each of the code bands 30 is also printed with a particular bar code which, when decoded, will produce a binary signal with the value thereof equal to the labelled number thereof.

(i.e. non-playing) A consumer can attach the code bands to the back side of the blank segments in his/her MTV tape as illustrated in FIG. 2, wherein the code band labelled with "1" is attached to the backside of the first blank segment lib before the where the first piece of MTV program is recorded, the code band labelled with "2" is attached to the backside of the second blank segment 12W between where the first piece of MTV program and where the second piece of MTV program are recorded, and so on.Each of the blank segments llb, 12b, 13b etc. can be approximately located by a straightforward approach, i.e. a cassette tape to be attached with the code bands is played from its very beginning portion and after the completion of the playing of each piece of MTV program, the cassette tape is ejected and a code band is attached to the back of the VCR tape. This process repeats until the final piece of MTV program.

It is extremely important that the consumer attaches the code bands 30 in a sequential order according to the labelled numbers; otherwise the apparatus of the present invention may not work.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a rewinder 100 which is equipped with an apparatus of the present invention. The apparatus is only usable when a cassette tape inserted into the rewinder 100 is provided with the location codes by either of the two methods described above.

When the cassette tape is provided with pre-recorded location codes, the lever of a switch should be turned to a position marked with "RECORDED CODE"; and when the cassette tape is provided with attached code bands, the lever of the switch should be turned to a position marked with "BAR CODE". Consumers should be self aware of what type of location codes are provided to the cassette tape since the code bands are actually attached to the cassette tape by themselves, and a cassette tape pre-recorded with - the location codes are indicated with signs on the cover thereof.

A pair of selection buttons 71, 72 marked with "t" and "I" respectively are designed to let a consumer select the desired piece of MTV music. If, for example, the consumer wishes to play the recording of the third piece of MTV music recorded in the cassette tape, he/she should press the selection button 71 marked with "t" three times. The number of times the selection button 71 has been pressed is displayed on a digital display 91.

Therefore, in this case, a digit "3" is shown on the digital display 91. If the consumer wants to reduce the selection number displayed on the digital display 91, the selection button 72 marked with "i" can be pressed.

Referring simultaneously to FIG. 3 for the schematic block diagram of the apparatus, each press of the selection button 71 causes the generation of a pulse which triggers the adding of 1 to the count of an up-down counter 80; and each press of the selection button 72 causes the generation of a pulse which triggers the subtraction of 1 from the count of the same. The output of the up-down counter 80 is a 5-bit binary number B which is received by a display controller 90 to display the equivalent decimal value thereof on the digital display 91.

After the selection number has been determined, the consumer then should press a button 73 marked with "SEARCH" to initiate the apparatus to search for the desired piece of MTV music, or in other words, for the location codes, either pre-recorded or printed on a code band depending on the selection of the switch 74, with a same decoded value with the selection number displayed on the digital display 91.

The rewinder 100 includes a first motor 61 employed for winding the cassette tape forward (when the button marked with "FF" is pressed) and a second motor 62 employed for winding the cassette tape backward (when the button marked with "REW" is pressed).

If the switch 74 shown in FIG. 2, which is actually a two-way switch as illustrated in FIG. 3, is turned to the position marked with "RECORDED CODE", an audio magnetic head 43 is used to detect the pre-recorded location codes and an audio signal demodulator 44 is used to transformed the detected location codes into a binary number A. And if the switch 74 shown in FIG. 2 is turned to the position marked with "CODE BAND", a code reader 41 is used to detect the bar codes printed on the code bands and a decoder 42 is used to transform the detected bar code into a binary number A.

When the search is initiated, the rewinder 100 firstly commands the first motor 61 to rotate to wind the cassette tape forwards. When a pre-recorded location code, or a printed location code, is encountered, the binary signal A is compared by a digital comparator 50 with the binary signal B. The digital comparator 50 has three onebit output digital signals Y1, Y2, Y3 for indicating the comparison. If A < B, then Y1=l; if A=B, then Y2=l; and if A > B, then Y3=l.

The three digital signals Y1, Y2, Y3 are used by a motor controller 60 for controlling the rotations of the first motor 61 and the second motor 62. The presence of the signal Y1=l initiates the first motor 61 to rotate so as to wind forward the cassette tape; the appearance of the signal Y3=l initiates the second motor 62 to rotate so as to rewind the cassette tape; and the appearance of the signal Y2=l causes a stop to the rotating motor.

Due to the sequential arrangement of the location codes, if the desired location code is still ahead of the currently encountered location code, then A < B and thus Yl As a consequence of this condition, the motor controller 60 commands the first motor 61 to keep winding forward the cassette tape until the condition A=B is met. The motor controller 60, responding to the signal Y2=l, commands the first motor 61 to stop rotating and the cassette tape is ejected out of the rewinder 100.

If the currently encountered location code is ahead of the desired location code, then A < B and thus Y3=l. As a consequence of this condition, the motor controller 60 stops the first motor 61 and commands the second motor 62 to rotate to rewind the cassette tape until a condition when A=B is met. The binary signals generated in accordance with the subsequently encountered location codes will be compared one after the other to the fixed binary signal B until the condition A=B is met. The motor controller 60, responding to the signal Y2=l, commands the second motor 62 to stop rotating and the cassette tape is ejected out of the rewinder 100. When the ejected cassette tape is played by a VCR system, the selected piece of MTV music is shown promptly.

The present invention has been described hitherto with an exemplary preferred embodiment. However, it is to be understood that the scope of the present invention need not be limited to the disclosed preferred embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements within the scope defined in the following appended claims. The scope of the claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

Claims (3)

1. An apparatus equipped to a cassette tape driver for locating one of a plurality of predetermined segments in a cassette tape, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of code bands, each of which is provided with a location code and is attached to the backside of each of the predetermined segments in the tape; code detecting means for detecting the location codes provided on said code bands, said detecting means generating a first code signal in accordance with the location code detected thereby; selection means, operable by a user, for the user to specific which one of the predetermined segments in the tape is desired to be located, said selection means generating a second code signal in accordance with the selection of the user; ; whereby as the user selects a desired predetermined segment in the cassette tape by using said selection means to generate a first code signal, said apparatus begins to wind the tape and every time a second code signal is actuated by a code bands passing said code detecting means the actuated second code signal is compared with the first code signal, said apparatus actuating a stop to the winding of the cassette tape if the second code signal is determined to be in association with the first code signal

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the code detecting means is a bar code reader and the location codes are bar codes.

3. A VCR tape winding apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and/or as shown in the drawings.