JP2002238023A - Digital information recorder, reproducing device and transmitter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital information recorder, a reproducing device and a transmitter that can allow a user to replace a recorded medium, so as to eliminate the inconvenience of the user, even when a copy control signal with respect to digital information such as video and audio denotes that no further copying can be approved. SOLUTION: The digital information recorder is provided with an operating mode, where transfer of information to other medium is permitted on the condition that the information of the original medium is erased. Authentication is conducted between the digital information recorder and the digital information reproducing device, so as not to transfer information to a device where no specified operations are conducted. The authentication is made on one-to-one basis, so that a third device connected to the reproducing device will not record the information as soon as the information is transferred and a control signal which does not approve copying is attached to at least a monitor output.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording or reproducing digital information such as video and audio.
In particular, the present invention relates to a digital information recording device and a reproducing device which can restrict copying of information to be recorded or reproduced by authority of a copyright holder or the like. Further, the present invention relates to a transmitting device for suitably transmitting digital information to such a recording / reproducing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of television broadcasting and devices for recording and reproducing the same, and package media such as movie software, digital broadcasting has started, and consumer digital recording / reproducing devices corresponding to this have been released. .
The package software used in this device will appear in the near future.

[0003] An apparatus using the digital recording method has an advantage that quality is not deteriorated or very small during a recording / reproducing process. However, if many high-quality copies are made and circulated outside the copyright owner's custody, there is a problem that profits cannot be returned to the copyright owner. This is a case where measures have been considered in various fields since it became a problem with digital audio tape decks. For example, JP-A-11-146
Japanese Patent Publication No. 378 discloses a method in which when digitally recording information, a quality is deteriorated in advance so that a high-quality copy cannot be created.

[0004]

The matters disclosed in the above prior arts provide one solution to the problem.
However, the problem of copyright cannot be solved by a method in which the copyright owner, the broadcasting or software development company, or the general user receives profit or loss. In the above case, the user is mainly disadvantaged.

[0005] At present, a copy control signal for controlling the copying by the user from the creator of the information data is being studied. For example, Copy Never (copy prohibited), Copy One Generation (copy one generation only), Copy No More (copied once in Copy One Generation, no more can be copied), Copy F
In some cases, a ree (copyable) code is inserted in a header portion of data or the like, or as a WM (Water Mark) embedded in an image so as to be extremely difficult to detect.

[0006] Copy Never, Copy One Generation, Copy
The designation of Free is determined by the copyright holder such as the creator of the information. Copy No More is what was originally rewritten in Copy One Generation when it was copied, and is used in the sense that further copying is not allowed. Since there are a total of four states, transmission can be performed with 2-bit information. Copy Never is (1,1), Copy One Gener
ation is (1, 0), Copy No More is (0, 1), Copy
free is (0, 0) or the like.

By using this information, for example, it is assumed that the quality of Copy Free information does not deteriorate as described above when a copy is made. This allows the copyright owner to control whether or not copying is possible, and allows the user to make a good copy of the Copy Free information, so that the problem can be solved to some extent without any one-sided loss. Can be.

[0008] On the other hand, information sent as Copy One Generation is, in principle, recorded in a recording device.
Copy No More, no more copies. Recently, temporary recording, which is temporarily recorded on a hard disk or the like, is being studied. In this case, for a certain period (about 60 to 120 minutes) after recording, Copy One
It is conceivable to leave it as Generation, but after a certain amount of time it will be Copy No More.

However, once Copy No More has occurred, the medium for recording and storing is fixed, and it is not possible to change the medium for storing the contents.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a user,
An object of the present invention is to provide a means for solving the above-mentioned inconvenience of the user in a manner that balances the interests of the copyright holder and the like.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, a digital information reproducing apparatus according to the present invention converts a digital information attached to digital information reproduced from a first recording medium into another digital information. Control signal detection circuit for detecting a copy control signal as to whether or not to permit recording on a recording medium of the type described above, and when the detected copy control signal is a control signal that does not permit further recording (Copy No More) In order to record the copy control signal for only one generation, the control signal (Copy One Generation) is added to the digital information and added to the digital information. A signal output circuit capable of outputting to the digital information recording apparatus when the signal output circuit rewrites the copy control signal and outputs the signal to the digital information recording apparatus. A reproduction disable circuit for making at least a part of the digital information recorded on the medium unreproducible.

Further, the digital information recording apparatus of the present invention comprises:
A control signal detection circuit for detecting a copy control signal attached to the input digital information and indicating whether or not recording of the digital information on a recording medium is permitted; and a recording operation based on the detected copy control signal. In response to an authentication key signal sent from an externally connected digital information reproducing device,
An authentication control circuit that sends back a key signal indicating that the device is a device that performs a recording operation in accordance with at least the copy control signal.

Further, the digital information reproducing apparatus of the present invention comprises:
A control signal detection circuit for detecting a copy control signal attached to digital information reproduced from the first recording medium,
By transmitting a predetermined authentication key signal to a digital information recording device connected to the device for recording on the second recording medium, and receiving a key signal transmitted from the recording device in response to this, An authentication control circuit that determines whether or not the recording device is a device that performs a recording operation by detecting at least a copy control signal; and a control in which the copy control signal detected by the control signal detection circuit does not permit further recording. In the case of a signal (Copy No More), a signal output circuit for directly adding the copy control signal to the reproduced digital information and outputting the digital information to a digital information recording device, and a control signal for which the copy control signal does not permit further recording. Despite (Copy No More), when the digital information recording apparatus records digital information on the second recording medium, the digital information is recorded on the first recording medium. A reproduction disabling circuit for reproduction disabling at least a portion of Ijitaru information, and a.

[0014] The digital information recording apparatus of the present invention comprises:
A control signal detecting circuit for detecting a copy control signal attached to the input digital information; a recording control circuit for controlling a recording operation based on the copy control signal; An authentication control circuit for returning a key signal indicating that the apparatus is a device that performs a recording operation in accordance with at least the copy control signal in response to the key signal, When the authentication control circuit detects that the digital information reproducing apparatus makes the reproduced digital information unreproducible based on the key signal sent from If the control signal does not permit further recording (Copy
No More), it records digital information.

[0015] Further, the digital information transmitting apparatus of the present invention comprises:
The digital information is transmitted to a recording / reproducing apparatus having a first recording medium, and the digital information is transmitted to the first recording medium by a control signal (Co.
py No More), a digital control signal for transmitting a copy control signal indicating that the transfer of the digital information is permitted from the first recording medium to the second recording medium different from the first recording medium. It has a control signal giving circuit for giving information.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the present invention, Copy One Gen
As an eration, the primary purpose is to eliminate the inconvenience caused by the inability to change the medium to be recorded and stored after the information that allows the user to copy only one generation is recorded on the medium. It is. At that time, if you allowed copying as usual, the number of recorded media increased,
The interests of the copyright holder will be lost. Therefore, in the present invention, instead of permitting copying from the original medium once recorded to another medium, the corresponding information of the original medium is erased, that is, a so-called “movement”, a new operation mode that has not existed in the past. Applying is the first feature. If this transfer is used, even if it is copied to another medium, the number of media on which information is recorded does not change, so that the copyright holder does not suffer any disadvantage.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings as necessary. Before describing the operation of the “movement”, the entire system to which the present invention is applied will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the entire system to which the present invention is applied, and shows an example in which information is transmitted and received by broadcasting and recorded and reproduced. The “moving” operation according to the present invention is performed in the course of the recording / reproducing operation.
1 is an information providing station such as a broadcasting station, 2 is a relay station, 3 is a receiving device, 4 is a first recording and reproducing device, 5 is a second recording and reproducing device, and 6 is a display. Note that when recording a broadcast or the like here, first, the first recording / reproducing device 4 is used, but the second recording / reproducing device 5 may not be present at that time. The second recording / reproducing device 5 may have the same function as the first recording / reproducing device 4, or may be the exact same device. Here, the following description will be made assuming that the information reproduced by the first recording / reproducing device 4 moves to the second recording / reproducing device 5.

An information providing station 1 such as a broadcasting station transmits a signal wave modulated by information via a relay station 2 such as a broadcasting satellite. Of course, other than that, for example, transmission by cable, transmission by telephone line, transmission by terrestrial broadcasting, or the like may be used. This signal radio wave received by the receiving device 3 on the receiving side is suitable for being recorded on the first recording / reproducing device 4 or the second recording / reproducing device 5 after being demodulated into an information signal as described later. Is recorded as a signal. Also, it is sent to the display 6. Here, the user can directly view the information content. Also,
At least the information reproduced by the first recording / reproducing device 4 among the above-mentioned recording / reproducing devices is provided to the display 6 via the receiving device 3, and the original information such as video and audio is viewed. Information reproduced by the second recording / reproducing device 5 can also be provided to the display 6 via the receiving device 3 as necessary. When the information recorded in advance on the removable recording medium is provided, the reproduction operation from the first recording / reproducing device 4 or the second recording / reproducing device 5 to which the information is attached is performed. It should be noted that the transmission and reception of information between the devices is often performed by digital signals. For example, the reception device 3 and the display 6 may be connected by analog signals.

The block diagram in FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the information providing station 1 such as a broadcasting station. 1
1 is a source generation unit, 12 is an encoding circuit that performs compression by the MPEG method or the like, 13 is a scramble circuit, 14 is a modulation circuit, 15 is a transmission antenna, 16 is a management information adding circuit,
17 is an input terminal.

Information such as video and audio generated by the source generator 11 including a camera and a recording / reproducing device is compressed by an encoding circuit 12 so that the information can be transmitted in a smaller occupied band. The signal is encrypted by the scramble circuit 13 so that only a specific viewer can view the signal, and is modulated by the modulation circuit 14 so as to be a signal suitable for transmission. It is emitted as a radio wave toward the relay station 2.
At this time, the management information adding circuit 16 adds information such as the above-mentioned copy control signal and current time. Although not shown in FIG. 1, request information is input from the input terminal 17 via a telephone line or the like.
This is used in a system that determines information to be transmitted in response to a viewer request, such as video on demand.

In practice, a plurality of pieces of information are often multiplexed on one radio wave by a method such as time division or spread spectrum. Although not shown in FIG. 2 so as not to be complicated,
In this case, there are a plurality of systems of the source generation unit 11 and the encoding circuit 12, and a multiplex circuit for multiplexing a plurality of pieces of information is provided between the encoding circuit 12 and the scrambling circuit 13.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the receiving device 3 in FIG. 301 is an RF / IF conversion circuit, 302 is a demodulation circuit, 303 is an error correction circuit, 30
4 is a descrambling circuit for decrypting a signal, 305 is a first demultiplexing circuit, 306 is an input / output terminal, 307 is a second demultiplexing circuit, 30
8 is a decoding circuit, and 309 is an output terminal.

Radio waves from a relay station such as a broadcasting satellite are input to the RF / IF conversion circuit 301. Here, the radio wave of the RF band is the IF band (Intermediate Frequenc
The signal is frequency-converted to y) and becomes a signal of a certain band independent of the reception channel. The demodulation circuit 302 demodulates the modulation operation performed for transmission. Further, after a code error occurring during transmission is detected and corrected by the error correction circuit 303, the descrambling circuit 304 decrypts the code. Thereafter, it is sent to the first and second demultiplexing circuits 305 and 307. As mentioned above,
Particularly in the case of digital broadcasting, a plurality of pieces of information are often multiplexed on one channel by a method such as time division or spread spectrum. The demultiplexing circuit separates only desired information from this. The reason why the first and second and two are provided is not only to enable so-called counter program recording, but also to remove information that is not worth recording by the first demultiplex circuit 305. In other words, the information often includes additional information such as a weather forecast and a broadcast schedule of a program, which is good for viewing at the time of broadcasting, but is not worth recording and viewing at a later date. It is possible to remove it. The output of the first demultiplex circuit 305 is supplied to an input / output terminal 306, and exchanges signals with the first recording / reproducing device 4 connected thereto. The input / output terminal 306 is a bidirectional terminal, and exchanges information to be recorded / reproduced with the first recording / reproducing device 4 by digital data, for example. Of course, one information line does not necessarily have to be bidirectional, and may be composed of a plurality of unidirectional or bidirectional information lines. In the second demultiplexing circuit 307,
The information sent from the descrambling circuit 304 or the information reproduced by the first recording / reproducing device 4 from the input / output terminal 306 is connected, and one of the information to be viewed is selected, and the desired information is selected. Is separated. In the next decoding circuit 308, the data compression of the moving image performed before the transmission is decoded and sent to the external display 6 via the output terminal 309.

Since the present invention can be understood by recognizing that the relay station 2 and the display 6 only relay information radio waves and display information, respectively, the internal operation will not be described in detail. The first recording / reproducing device 4 and the second recording / reproducing device 5 will be described later in detail.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control signal according to this embodiment. The information is generated and transmitted by the management information providing circuit 16 of the information providing station 1 shown in FIG. 2, and is recorded on a recording medium by a recording / reproducing apparatus, particularly the first recording / reproducing apparatus 4 and the second recording / reproducing apparatus 5 of FIG. . For example, in the case of a tape medium, it is sufficient that one piece is recorded on one recording track, but naturally it is recorded in a fixed relationship with information data such as video and audio, so that it can be easily separated at the time of reproduction.

The program number 100 indicates the number of the program on the medium. The sector information 101 is
This is the number of a sector obtained by dividing the program into predetermined units. The division may be performed in fixed units, for example, in units of 2 kbytes, or may be performed in fixed units of information, for example, in units of division when encoding. The number may be assigned in the program or may be a serial number in the entire recording medium. Information such as a recording time 106 to be described later is added in units of this sector. The time information 102 indicates how long the recorded portion has passed since the start of the program. The type 103 indicates attribute information such as whether the program is sold, rented, self-produced, or broadcast.

The copy control 104 is the most important in the present invention in FIG. 4, and indicates whether the information can be recorded on a medium. As mentioned above, Copy Nev
er, Copy One Generation, Copy No More, and Copy Free. The APS 105 transmits a copy control signal (APS; Analogue Protection Sy) to an analog recording device.
stem), and controls whether copying is possible by adding a pseudo sync pulse to the analog video signal or the like.

The recording time 106 records, for example, the time given by the management information providing circuit 16 in FIG. The recording at the recording time 106 is performed, for example, in sector units. The viewing period 107 is added when a time limit is set for viewing information recorded on a medium. This is also often provided by the management information providing circuit 16 described above. For this time limitation, the preceding recording time 106 may be used.

[0029] The broadcasting system 108 has HD information (HD; High).
Definition; high definition), SD information (SD; Standard De
finition; standard definition) indicates the broadcasting system used by the information. For example, in the case of a high-resolution video signal such as HD information, the resolution etc. control 109 performs control such that the resolution is reduced and analog output is performed without outputting the video signal as it is. In the case of broadcasting, the information is often provided by the management information providing circuit 16, but when the information software is provided by a recording medium, the right holder records it at the time of creation.

The user identification 110 is recorded when a user-specific code is used so that the information recorded on the medium can be reproduced only by the same device or the same user at the time of recording. The encrypted information 111 is used for decrypting the data during reproduction when the data is encrypted and recorded on the recording medium. Since the information itself has a large data amount, a code number may be recorded, and the corresponding information stored in advance in the reproducing apparatus may be used.

The above is recorded at relatively small time intervals, such as for each frame of a video or for a fixed amount of data as required. Of the components described above, in particular, 103 to 1
What is indicated by 09 is often added in advance on the transmitting side. The configuration of the control signal shown in FIG. 4 is an example, and various configurations such as the configuration, the recording position on the medium, and the frequency are applicable. In the present invention, all of the contents are not essential, and some of them may be omitted. Of course, the order is not limited to this.

FIG. 5 schematically shows recording positions of control signals and information data such as video and audio on a recording medium. In the figure, (a) is suitable for a tape medium. In this case, it is desired that a block of the control signal is provided, for example, for each recording track. Therefore, for example, a control signal block is arranged in a header portion or the like of each track prior to information such as video and audio. (b) is suitable for a digital video disc or the like. In this case, it is desired that each sector has a certain amount of information.
Therefore, each sector is arranged in the header portion or the like.
(c) is suitable for a hard disk or the like. In this case, it is preferable that information such as video and audio and the control signal are recorded at separate positions on the disk so that the entire control signal can be read within a short time at the time of startup.

Next, the recording / reproducing operation of the first recording / reproducing device 4 and the second recording / reproducing device 5 will be described with reference to FIGS.
The movement operation according to the present invention will be described. First, the first recording / reproducing device 4 and the second recording / reproducing device 5 are suitable for recording a digitally transmitted or broadcast compressed bit stream as it is, mainly based on a recent or future digital recording method. In this case, the receiving device 3
It is preferable to transmit and receive the information digitally as described above. The recording medium is not limited to a tape, and various types of recording media such as a removable disk such as a digital video disk and a disk built in a device such as a hard disk are possible.

FIG. 6 is a circuit block diagram of these recording and reproducing devices. In particular, it is suitable for a recording medium using a disk. 41 is a recording circuit, 4101 is an input terminal of a signal to be recorded, 4102 is a storage means such as a semiconductor memory, 4103 is an encryption circuit, 4104 is an input terminal of an identification code of a device specific or a device permitting reproduction, and 4105 is a recording and encoding device. A circuit 4106 is an output terminal of a signal to be recorded on a recording medium, 4107 is a medium detection circuit, 4108 is a control detection circuit, 4109 is a recording control circuit, 4110 is a control signal input / output terminal, and 4111 is a control signal output terminal. . 42 is a reproduction circuit, 4201 is a reproduction signal input terminal,
4202 is a reproduction decoding circuit; 4203 is a block reproduction circuit; 4204 is storage means such as a semiconductor memory;
Is an error correction circuit, 4206 is a decryption circuit, 4207 is an input terminal of an identification code unique to the device, 4208 is a signal output circuit, 4209 is an output terminal for sending a reproduction signal to a receiver or the like, 4210 is a control signal detection circuit, 4211 Is a clock,
Reference numeral 4212 denotes a reproduction control circuit, 4213 denotes a control signal input / output terminal, and 4214 denotes a control signal output terminal.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the periphery of the recording medium of the recording / reproducing apparatus. 43 is a recording / reproducing unit, 4301 is an input terminal, 4302 is a recording amplifier, 4303 is a recording medium drive on which a recording medium such as a hard disk, digital video disk, or video tape is mounted, 4304 is a reproduction amplifier, 4305 is an output terminal, and 4306 is a mechanism. A control circuit 4307 is an input terminal.

First, the operation will be described with reference to FIG. The recording circuit 41 will be described first. Information to be recorded is input from an input terminal 4101. This is supplied from the input / output terminal 306 in FIG. The output from the output terminal 4209 of the information reproduced by the reproduction circuit 42 described later is also supplied to the input / output terminal 306 in FIG. Therefore, 4
101 and 4209 may be combined into one and used as an input / output terminal. Of course, this does not necessarily mean that there is only one signal line inside, but may be a plurality of unidirectional or bidirectional signal lines.

The input information includes digital information such as video and audio, as well as, for example, as shown in FIG.
Various control signals are provided. Among them, the copy control signal 104 is mainly described, for example, in the case of Copy One Generation. In the case of a broadcast, this is, for example, added to information from the management information adding circuit 16 in FIG. The input information is temporarily stored in the storage unit 4102 for each block. This is supplied to the control detection circuit 4108, and the control signal such as the one shown in FIG. Further, based on this, the recording control circuit 4109 judges whether this signal can be recorded or not, and sends the result to the recording encoding circuit 4105.

On the other hand, information such as video and audio in the storage means 4102 is input to the input terminal 410 in the encryption circuit 4103.
The encryption is performed according to the identification code of the device from step 4. This is effective in a case where it is required that only a predetermined user can view the contents, or a case where charging is required. The descrambling circuit 30 of FIG.
4, two types of encryption may be performed in an overlapping manner without performing descrambling. The encryption may be performed in units of a program, but if the encryption is changed by changing the key in units of sector and the respective keys are recorded, the processing can be performed in units of sector. Thereafter, the information is provided to the recording encoding circuit 4105. Of course, if the encryption here is unnecessary, the information from the storage unit 4102 is directly
This is supplied to the recording encoding circuit 4105.

In the recording encoding circuit 4105, based on a control signal from the recording control circuit 4109, if recording is prohibited, the information is cut off here, and if permitted, modulation suitable for the medium to be used is performed. Output to the output terminal 4106.
The control signal is not detected by the control detection circuit 4108,
There is also a method of externally providing data other than data such as video and audio. If the copy control signal is Copy Never, the information is blocked here. In the case of Copy No More, the information is also blocked here, except when performing the movement described later. Copy
If Free, the modulation is performed as it is and the output terminal 410
Sent to 6. Also, with Copy One Generation,
This copy control signal is copied by the recording encoding circuit 4105 to Copy
After rewriting to No More, modulation is performed, and output terminal 4106
Sent to

The recording control circuit 4109 sends the recording encoding circuit 4105 a clock 4211 in addition to the copy control signal.
The current time at the time of recording output from is also given. If recording is possible, this is also recorded simultaneously if necessary. The current time may be used if it is included in the received information, or the clock 4211 may be calibrated with the received information. This allows
It is possible to prevent falsification of the recorded current time. Also, an identification code is provided from the input terminal 4104, which is also recorded as necessary, so that it is possible to easily determine the device at the time of reproduction, or to determine whether or not to output a signal. .

When the control signal is Copy One Generation, for example, an apparatus capable of temporarily recording data on a hard disk or the like may permit recording with the Copy One Generation copy control signal. At this time, set a time limit, and when the time expires, only the copy control signal
It may be rewritten as Copy No More. This is also performed using the recording encoding circuit 4105. For this reason, the management of the current time at the time of recording is important. Further, as described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to record information of Copy No More using the operation mode of movement, which will be described later.

Further, the information signal at the output terminal 4106 is:
This is supplied to the input terminal 4301 of the recording / reproducing unit 43 shown in FIG. This is amplified by a recording amplifier 4302 so that a laser generating element and a magnetic head can be driven, and then recorded on a recording medium as described above by a recording medium drive 4303. Reference numeral 4306 denotes a mechanism control circuit such as a motor for driving the recording medium drive 4303, and an input terminal 4307
The recording medium is controlled by the control signal from the CPU. The output of the recording control circuit 4109 shown in FIG.
111. If necessary, this may be supplied to the input terminal 4307 in FIG. 7 to instruct the mechanism control circuit 4306 to stop the recording operation, for example, when information for which recording is prohibited is input.

Next, the operation when reproducing the recorded information will be described. The information signal reproduced from the recording medium drive 4303 shown in FIG. 7 is amplified by a reproduction amplifier 4304 to a level at which signal processing can be performed in a subsequent stage, and then output to an output terminal 4305.
Output to The control signal from the output terminal 4214 in FIG.
06 is controlled. This is generated by the reproduction control circuit 4212. Usually, the recording control circuit 4109 and the reproduction control circuit 4212 are actually on the same semiconductor device. In this case, 4111 and 421
4 can be shared.

The information signal at the output terminal 4305 in FIG. 7 is supplied to the input terminal 4201 of the reproduction circuit 42 in FIG. This is supplied to the reproduction / decoding circuit 4202. Here, the modulation performed on the recording side for recording and reproducing on the medium is demodulated,
The waveform is equalized and the data is determined by the clock. Next, a synchronization signal, an ID signal, and the like are detected by the block reproduction circuit 4203, and the reproduction data is temporarily stored in a predetermined position of the storage unit 4204 based on the detection. The error correction circuit 4205 detects a code error generated in the recording / reproducing process by a calculation operation from the stored data and corrects the code to a correct value. The data after the error correction is supplied to the decryption circuit 4206. This is, of course, necessary when encryption is performed by the encryption circuit 4103 at the time of recording. Here, decryption is performed using the device identification code from the input terminal 4207. If the identification code is not the one specified,
Normal decryption is not performed and cannot be viewed. Thereafter, the signal is supplied to the signal output circuit 4208.

On the other hand, a control signal detection circuit 4210 detects, for example, a copy control signal, a recording time, and the like from the error-corrected data. Next, the reproduction control circuit 4212 determines whether or not reproduction output is possible based on the detected information and the current time from the clock 4211 and controls the output of the signal output circuit 4208.
Alternatively, the decryption circuit 4206 is operated or stopped. For example, there is a time limit for playback and viewing,
If this has passed, and the copy control signal is being sent to the Copy One Generatio
When it can be determined that the information has been recorded by an illegal method, for example, by indicating n, the signal output circuit 4208 does not output at least information that can be normally viewed. If necessary, a control signal may be sent from the output terminal 4214 to the input terminal 4307 in FIG. 7 to stop the reproduction operation of the recording medium drive 4303 itself.

When it is recognized that the reproduced information is to be output, the information is supplied to an output terminal 4209 and supplied to the display 6 via the receiving device 3 shown in FIG. The compression operation of the data amount by the MPEG or the like performed by the encoding circuit 12 of FIG.
At 08, it is restored. Therefore, the user can view the information content. The decoding circuit 308 may be built in the display 6.

When a copy control signal or the like is embedded in a video information as a digital watermark unlike the above-described ones, the same control is performed at the time of reproduction by using information detected from the digital watermark. May be. The timepiece 4211 naturally requires a certain degree of accuracy. Anything that can be easily changed by the malicious intent of the user serves no purpose. It is desirable that the information be controlled by time information from a broadcasting station or the like. When the time is intentionally changed, the apparatus may not operate thereafter.

Next, a case where the first recording / reproducing device 4 and the second recording / reproducing device 5 are connected as shown in FIG. 1 and the former reproduced signal is recorded by the latter will be described. Both have the recording and reproducing circuits 41 and 42 shown in FIG. 6 and the recording and reproducing unit 43 shown in FIG. At this time,
The output terminal 4209 of the first recording / reproducing device 4 is connected to the input terminal 4101 of the second recording / reproducing device 5, and the former input / output terminal 4213 and the latter input / output terminal 4110 are connected. When the information at the input terminal 4101 and the output terminal 4209 is digital information,
The control signals at the input / output terminals 4110 and 4213 are
According to a unified connection standard, it is common to combine a single connection terminal having a plurality of signal lines and multiplex some of them into one connection terminal. In this case, the information is
A single cable can be used to transmit and receive between the recording and reproducing devices, or a wireless transmission and reception can be performed using infrared rays or the like.

In the present invention, when the above operation is performed, the following functions are performed with respect to the copy control signal. If the copy control signal reproduced by the first recording / reproducing device 4 is (0, 0), that is, Copy Free, the second recording / reproducing device 5 records the information given from the first recording / reproducing device 4. I do. Also, (1, 1), ie, Copy Nev
If it is er, the second recording / reproducing device 5 does not record this information. As described above, this is detected by the control detection circuit 4108 of the second recording / reproducing apparatus 5 and sent to the recording control circuit 4109, and the recording / encoding circuit 4105
Can be realized by performing control to operate or stop. Further, the recording medium drive 4303 may be stopped by controlling the mechanism control circuit 4306 in FIG. When the first recording / reproducing device 4 is a device capable of temporary recording, the reproduced copy information is (1, 0), that is, Copy One.
Generation may be indicated. At this time, the second recording / reproducing device 5 records the information given from the first recording / reproducing device 4, but if at least the second recording / reproducing device 5 is a device that cannot perform temporary recording, The recording encoding circuit 41
05, the copy control signal is set to (0, 1), that is, Copy No Mo
Change to re before recording on the media, so that further increase of copy media can be prevented.

The first recording / reproducing apparatus 4 needs to operate after knowing whether the second recording / reproducing apparatus 5 which is a party to which information is to be transmitted / received performs the above-described operation. is there. That is, when a device is created that ignores industry standards, for example, the information of Copy Never may be recorded as it is. Therefore, when the first recording / reproducing device 4 operates, it sends a key signal for authentication to the second recording / reproducing device 5. If the latter is a device that meets industry standards, a key signal is sent back to the former. When this key exchange is completed, the first recording / reproducing device 4 starts operating. In FIG. 6, the input / output terminal 4
110 and 4213, each of which has a recording control circuit 4109.
And the playback control circuit 4212, the main purpose of which is to exchange the keys described above. That is, the recording control circuit 4109 and the reproduction control circuit 4212 include an authentication control circuit for performing authentication between apparatuses. It should be noted that the key code itself is known only to the maker of the device, and it is necessary that the code is not generally known. Although the input / output terminals 4110 and 4213 are separately illustrated in FIG. 6, they may be the same terminal. Actually, the recording control circuit 4109 and the reproduction control circuit 4212 are often formed of the same semiconductor device, and in this case, the same terminal may be used. When exchanging keys, the key to be sent and the key to be sent back are not necessarily the same code.

Next, when the reproduced copy control signal is (0,
1) That is, the case of No More Copy will be described. At this time, unless the user instructs to use the travel mode,
The second recording / reproducing device 5 cannot perform recording,
Of course, the information of the first recording / reproducing device 4 is not erased. The case where the user gives an instruction to use “move” will be described below. First, the first recording / reproducing device 4 sends the above-mentioned authentication key to the second recording / reproducing device 5. The key is for knowing whether or not the operation of “moving” information can be performed on the second recording / reproducing device 5. In response, if the key is returned from the latter to the former, the authentication of the device has been established and it is determined that the device can be moved, and this operation is started. Note that the first recording / reproducing device 4 itself to which the key can be sent is a device which can be moved, so that if the authentication of the second recording / reproducing device 5 is established, the first recording / reproducing device 4 can be moved.

A description will be given of the movement operation and the conditions of the apparatus which can perform the movement, that is, the conditions for establishing the authentication. As described above, “move” means recording on another medium on the assumption that information on the original recording medium is erased. When transferring information from the first recording / reproducing device 4 to the second recording / reproducing device 5, the copy control signal is set to (1, 0) = Copy One Gener
ation and (0, 1) = Copy No More, the condition changes. Assuming that the authentication is successful, the operation will be described first.

First, consider the case of performing (1, 0). At this time, the first recording / reproducing device 4 rewrites the copy control signal from (0, 1) to (1, 0) in the signal output circuit 4208 and supplies the copy control signal to the output terminal 4209. Next, the information on the recording medium is erased. In FIG. 6, a medium detection circuit 410
That is why the control signal is supplied from the reproduction control circuit 4212 to the recording / encoding circuit 4105.

In the case of a disk medium, there is a type that can be recorded only once and cannot be rewritten. Although it is a so-called R type, the fact that it cannot be rewritten means that it cannot be erased, and that the copy control signal (0, 1) reproduced therefrom must be rejected from moving to the outside. The medium detection circuit 4107 is provided for this purpose, and sends a control signal to the reproduction control circuit 4212 when it detects that the R-type medium is mounted, so as not to perform the movement operation. For the detection of the medium, a method of detecting a code recorded in advance on the medium or examining the reflectance is known.

From the reproduction control circuit 4213 to the recording control circuit 4
A control signal is supplied to 105, and the rest of the recording circuit 41 is operated to perform an erasing operation. If the recording encoding circuit 4105 generates a meaningless code as information and records it on a medium, the information recorded in advance can be erased.

The "erasing" here is not limited to literally erasing the whole, but may be merely making the effective information unreproducible by rewriting at least a part of the information on the medium. Therefore, it is not always necessary to rewrite all of the recorded locations. For example, the purpose can be achieved only by erasing the control signal recording portion in FIG. Alternatively, the purpose can be achieved even if only the encrypted information 111 is erased.

The erasing timing will be described. The reproduced portion may be deleted immediately, but it is also conceivable that the reproduced portion is collectively deleted in units of information frames. It is also conceivable to manage the data in a larger time unit, for example, to manage the data in units of one minute and collectively delete the data within one minute after the reproduction. It may be managed in units of a plurality of image frames, and may be erased collectively at a prescribed time. For each fixed amount of data,
A similar operation may be performed. Furthermore, after recording one program on the next medium, all programs may be erased collectively.

Also, control signals for each of the units to be managed,
For example, if it is encrypted, the scramble information is collectively recorded at one place on the medium. At the time of moving, these are first reproduced together, stored in a specific location of the storage means 4204, and deleted from the medium. This essentially means that erasure has taken place and the process is simplified. In this case, in order to prevent the control signal from being lost due to power-off during reproduction, a non-volatile storage unit such as a flash memory may be used for all of the storage unit 4204 or at least a part for storing this information. . When the reproduction is stopped in the middle, the movement can be temporarily stopped in the middle by performing an operation of recording the control signal of the part which is not viewed on the medium again.

Regardless of which method is used, stop or stop the movement operation until one program is completed in order to ensure the purpose of the movement that the number of recorded media is not increased. It may not be.

On the other hand, the second recording / reproducing device 5 only needs to have a function of rewriting at least the copy control signal as (0, 1) and recording. If necessary, the recording / encoding circuit 4105 may be controlled based on the detection result of the medium detection circuit 4107 to prevent recording on the R-type medium. If you move to an R-shaped medium, you will not be able to move further from here,
This has the effect of alerting the user. The above is the operation when the copy control signal is rewritten as (1, 0) and moved, and it is a necessary condition for establishing the above-mentioned authentication that the above operation can be performed by each device.

Next, a case where the copy control signal is performed with (0, 1) being considered will be considered. After the authentication is established, the first recording / reproducing device 4 outputs information without rewriting the copy control signal. The detection of the medium and the erasure of the information on the medium may be the same as those described above. Only once after the authentication is performed, the second recording / reproducing device 5 converts the input information into a copy control signal (0, 0, 1).
Recording is performed on a recording medium while 1) is being performed. This is the movement operation in this case, and it is a necessary condition for the above-mentioned authentication to be established that the above operation can be performed by each device. At the time of authentication, the first recording / reproducing device 4 may notify the second recording / reproducing device 5 that the information in which the copy control signal is (0, 1) is to be deleted after reproducing and outputting. .

[0062] The movement is characterized in that the number of media on which information is recorded does not increase. Therefore, even if information is given to a device other than the second recording / reproducing device 5 when moving,
It is necessary to make it impossible to record on this. For this reason,
At least with regard to the transmission and reception of the key signal, the authentication must be performed one-to-one between one sending device and one receiving device, and the embodiment of FIG. 6 satisfies this condition.

An advantage of performing the copy control signal with (0, 1) as it is is that there is no possibility of simultaneous recording by devices other than the second recording / reproducing device 5. That is, although not shown, the second recording / reproducing apparatus 5 usually has a monitor output for displaying at least information to be recorded. Even if this output is connected to another recording apparatus to increase the number of copy media, it is impossible because the copy control signal is (0, 1). In addition, since the authentication of movement is established on a one-to-one basis only between the two recording / reproducing devices, it is not possible to move to any other device.

On the other hand, the advantage of moving the copy control signal by rewriting it as (1, 0) is that it has an operation corresponding to the copy control signal and does not introduce a new mode of movement, for example, the existing general-purpose mode. It can be moved to a digital recording device or the like. Of course, it is not possible to move further from here, but if it can be recorded on an existing device, it may be convenient for the user. On the other hand, at this time, if the above-mentioned monitor output of the second recording / reproducing device 5 is connected to another recording device, there is a problem that it can be copied here. In order to avoid this, there is a method in which when the second recording / reproducing device 5 outputs a monitor output, it is rewritten to (0, 1) again. Further, the monitor output may be stopped in the second recording / reproducing device 5 in the moving mode. In this case, at the time of authentication, the first recording / reproducing device 4
May be notified that the copy control signal has been rewritten from (0, 1) to (1, 0).

If it is inconvenient if there is no monitor output, the first recording / reproducing device 4 outputs copy control signals (1, 0) and (0, 1), respectively, and outputs them for recording and monitoring, respectively. There is a method to use. Of course, the information rewritten as (1, 0) is supplied only to the device for which the above-mentioned authentication has been established. The output terminal 4209 requires two channels. This does not necessarily mean that there are physically two connection terminals. In particular, if the digital information uses the unified connection standard as described above, even if it is physically one terminal, two connection terminals are required. Channel information can be output.

It is to be noted that a restriction on the number of times of movement can be added to the control signal shown in FIG. By using this, the number of times of movement can be limited by rewriting such that the number of times of movement is reduced by one each time the movement is performed. When moving to the above-mentioned R-shaped medium, this may be rewritten as 0 and recorded. As described frequently, the movement erases information on the original recording medium. To prevent this from causing problems later,
A warning may be displayed on the monitor output or on the display panel of the device to warn of the deletion.

In the present invention, in the description so far, the operation of “moving” targets information that is Copy No More. Of course, Copy Free and Copy One Generation information from an apparatus for which temporary recording is permitted can be moved. For example, if the user does not want to increase the number of recorded media due to reasons of organization or information that the user does not want others to see, it is preferable to change the recorded media by moving Copy Free information. Similarly, even if the information prohibits recording, Copy N
Since the copy control signal is separated from the ever information, it is not moved against the copyright owner's intention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention. This is suitable when the recording medium is a magnetic tape medium. 6 is different from FIG. 6 in that the medium detection circuit 4107 does not exist, the erasing device 44 is provided, and the operation is performed according to a control signal from the reproduction control circuit 4212. Since the magnetic tape does not have the same random accessibility as a disk medium, when moving the information recorded here, it is good to erase it while reproducing. The erasing device 44 is for this. At the time of the movement operation, the reproduction control circuit 4212 sends a command to the erasing device 44 to erase the reproduced information.

The erasing operation at the time of recording, which is usually performed, is performed prior to recording on the medium, but when moving, it is performed after reproduction. Therefore, the position of the erasing device is different.
If you use a full-width erase head (full erase head),
Must be on the underside of the playhead. If you use a flying erase head mounted on the same rotating drum as the playback head, just like the playback head,
You need to change the installed height or install a new head here. When erasing is performed using a recording / reproducing head that is not used in the operation as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-244924, the reproduction head must be followed. It just happens that the height satisfies this, but if it doesn't, the height must be changed.

Regardless of the method, when the information to be recorded is digital information, there is no quality problem even if the information is erased by a DC magnetic field without using an AC magnetic field, unlike analog information. When erasing while reproducing, it is actually difficult to prevent interference from the erasing head to the reproducing head due to magnetic induction. This can be solved by using DC. It is also conceivable to configure the erasing device with a permanent magnet. But,
There is a problem that a mechanism for moving the place when the erasing operation is not performed is required, and the tension applied to the tape changes depending on whether or not the erasing operation is performed. In that case,
It is better to use the above-described head as an electromagnet.

Next, a method for notifying the user of the information content recorded on the recording medium will be described. When there are a plurality of programs on the same recording medium, for example, the copy control signal often differs for each program. There is a problem when copying or moving to another recording medium only by considering the reproduction in order from the beginning. For example, it is necessary to decide what to do if a copy control signal changes after one program is completed during the movement. Unless the user constantly monitors the end of the reproduction of the program, the program is copied or moved to an unnecessary program. Whether or not the intended program can be copied cannot be known without finding the relevant part. In particular, in the case of a tape medium, it takes time to find the start.

Therefore, in the present invention, a method is employed in which the contents of the recording information in the recording medium are easily displayed to the user, including the copy control signal, and copying, moving, etc., are easily specified for each program. I do. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
A technique of displaying recorded contents on a display, searching for and reproducing a specified program, and displaying a copy control signal of the program, particularly when the list is displayed, as described in Japanese Patent No. 32922. Can be realized.

[0073]

As described above, according to the present invention, copy control reflecting the intention of the copyright holder can be performed. In particular, once recorded, information in which the control signal has been rewritten with Copy No More can be moved to another medium later, and the inconvenience of the user is eliminated. Since Copy Never uses a copy control signal different from Copy Never,
Only the information of No More can be moved. During the transfer, the information on the original medium is erased, so that the copyright holder does not suffer any disadvantage. When erasing, a simple method suitable for the medium can be used. Since one-to-one authentication is performed between devices, it is possible to prevent simultaneous copying to other devices. If the information of Copy Free can be moved, there is an effect that the usability of the user can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a digital information transmission, reception,
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a recording / playback system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of an information providing station 1 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a receiving device 3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a control signal according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view showing an embodiment of data recorded on a recording medium according to the present invention. (A) shows an example of a tape medium, (b) shows an example of a disk medium, and (c) shows an example of a hard disk.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the periphery of a recording medium of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Information providing station such as a broadcasting station 16 Management information adding circuit 104 Copy control signal 105 APS 2 Relay station 3 ··· Receiving device 4 ··· First recording / reproducing device 41 ··· Recording circuit 4102 ··· Storage means 4103 ··· Encryption circuit 4105 ··· Recording coding circuit 4107 ..Media detection circuit 4108 Control signal detection circuit 4109 Recording control circuit 4110 Input / output terminal 42 Reproduction circuit 4202 Reproduction decoding circuit 4203 Block reproduction circuit 4204 ... Storage means 4205 ... Error correction circuit 4206 ... Decryption circuit 4208 ... Signal output circuit 4210 ... Control signal detection circuit 4212 ... Reproduction control circuit 4213 ... Input / output terminal 4 3 Recording / reproducing unit 44 Erasing device 5 Second recording / reproducing device 6 Display

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Jiro Owase 292, Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Digital Media Development Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Atsushi Yoshioka 292, Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture F-term (reference) in Digital Media Development Division, Hitachi, Ltd. 5C053 FA13 GB15 GB37 JA30 LA06 5C063 AB03 AB07 AC01 AC05 AC10 CA34 CA36 DA07 5D044 AB05 AB07 BC01 BC06 CC03 CC04 DE50 EF05 FG18 GK12 HL08

Claims (14)

[Claims] A digital information reproducing apparatus for reproducing digital information from a first recording medium on which digital information including video information or audio information is recorded, wherein the digital information is attached to the reproduced digital information. A control signal detection circuit for detecting a copy control signal relating to whether or not recording of digital information on another second recording medium is permitted; and a copy control signal detected by the control signal detection circuit for further recording. In the case of a control signal (Copy No More) that is not permitted, the copy control signal is rewritten to a control signal (Copy One Generation) that permits recording of only one generation, and is appended to the digital information. A signal output circuit capable of outputting to a digital information recording device connected to the device for recording on a second recording medium, and the signal output circuit Rewriting the copy control signal and outputting the digital information to the digital information recording device, disables reproduction of at least a part of the digital information recorded on the first recording medium. A digital information reproducing apparatus, comprising: 2. A recording device according to claim 1, further comprising: transmitting a predetermined authentication key signal to said externally connected digital information recording device, and receiving a key signal transmitted from said recording device in response to said key signal. Further comprising an authentication control circuit for determining whether or not the device performs a recording operation according to at least the copy control signal described above. After the authentication control circuit authenticates the recording device, the signal output circuit outputs the digital information. 2. The digital information reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the digital information is output to the recording device. 3. The control circuit according to claim 1, wherein the signal output circuit includes a control signal (Copy One Gener
2) output to the digital information recording device after rewriting to the digital information recording device, and output to another external device as a control signal (Copy No More) which does not permit further recording. Digital information reproducing device. 4. A digital information recording apparatus for recording digital information including video information or audio information on a recording medium, wherein the digital information attached to the input digital information is recorded on the recording medium. A control signal detection circuit for detecting a copy control signal regarding whether or not to permit, a recording control circuit for controlling a recording operation based on the copy control signal detected by the control signal detection circuit, and an externally connected digital information reproducing device When an authentication key signal is sent from the device, an authentication control circuit that sends back a key signal indicating that the device is a device that performs a recording operation in accordance with at least the copy control signal in response to the authentication key signal. A digital information recording device characterized by the above-mentioned. 5. A copy control signal attached to the input digital information by the key signal sent from the digital information reproducing apparatus is a control signal (Copy No More) which does not permit further recording. If the authentication control circuit detects that the signal has been rewritten to a control signal (Copy One Generation) that permits the digital information reproducing apparatus to record only one generation, the recording control circuit: The digital information being recorded is not output to the outside, or the copy control signal is rewritten and output again as a control signal (Copy No More) that prohibits further recording. Digital information recording device. 6. A digital information reproducing apparatus for reproducing digital information from a first recording medium on which digital information including video information or audio information is recorded, wherein the digital information is attached to the reproduced digital information. A control signal detection circuit for detecting a copy control signal relating to whether or not to permit digital information to be recorded on another second recording medium; and a control signal detection circuit connected to the apparatus for recording on the second recording medium. By transmitting a predetermined authentication key signal to the digital information recording device and receiving a key signal transmitted from the recording device in response thereto, the recording device detects at least the copy control signal described above and An authentication control circuit for determining whether or not the apparatus performs a recording operation; and a copy control signal detected by the control signal detection circuit does not permit further recording. In the case of a control signal (Copy No More), a signal output circuit for outputting the digital information to the digital information recording device by attaching the copy control signal to the reproduced digital information as it is, and the copy control signal permits further recording. If the digital information recording apparatus records the digital information on the second recording medium despite the control signal (Copy No More) being not present, the digital information is recorded on the first recording medium. A digital information reproducing apparatus, comprising: a reproduction deactivating circuit for deactivating at least a part of digital information. 7. A digital information recording apparatus for recording digital information including video information or audio information on a recording medium, wherein the recording of the digital information attached to the inputted digital information on the recording medium is performed. A control signal detection circuit for detecting a copy control signal regarding whether or not to permit, a recording control circuit for controlling a recording operation based on the copy control signal detected by the control signal detection circuit, and an externally connected digital information reproducing device When an authentication key signal is sent from the device, an authentication control circuit that sends back a key signal indicating that the device is a device that performs a recording operation according to at least the copy control signal in response to the authentication key signal, Due to the key signal sent from the digital information reproducing apparatus, the digital information reproducing apparatus cannot reproduce the reproduced digital information. If the authentication control circuit detects that the digital information is to be converted, the recording control circuit controls the copy control signal attached to the input digital information so that further recording is not permitted (Copy No More). Even
A digital information recording device for recording the digital information. 8. The digital information according to claim 2, wherein said key signal can be transmitted and received only with one specific digital information recording device. Playback device. 9. The digital information as claimed in claim 4, wherein said key signal can be transmitted and received only with one specific digital information reproducing apparatus. Recording device. 10. The reproduction disabling circuit blocks digital information on the first recording medium into predetermined units,
7. The digital information reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said digital information is erased in units of said blocks. 11. The digital information reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said reproduction disabling circuit erases encrypted information contained in the digital information on said first recording medium. apparatus. 12. The digital information according to claim 1, wherein the reproduction disable circuit erases the digital information on the first recording medium in video or audio program units. Playback device. 13. The reproduction disabling circuit, after reproducing digital information from the first recording medium, erases at least a part of the digital information on the first recording medium that has been reproduced. The digital information reproducing apparatus according to claim 1 or 6, wherein 14. A digital information transmitting apparatus for transmitting digital information including video information or audio information to a recording / reproducing apparatus having a first recording medium, wherein the digital information is stored on the first recording medium. After a control signal (Copy No More) which does not permit recording of the digital information is added and recorded, it is requested that the movement of the digital information from the first recording medium to the second recording medium different from this is permitted. A digital information transmitting apparatus comprising a control signal adding circuit for adding the indicated copy control signal to digital information to be transmitted.