JP3311143B2 - Multimedia program storage and playback system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention creates a multimedia program by using a file including a plurality of communication media such as still images, characters, moving images, and audio, and stores the multimedia program in a storage medium. The present invention relates to a multimedia program storage system and a multimedia program playback system for playing a multimedia program from the medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A general method of creating a multimedia program will be described below step by step.

(1) Creation and collection of materials Still images, characters, moving images, narration audio, BGM (background music), and other materials are used for scanners, keyboards, video cameras, microphones, and A / D converters for audio. Etc., and these are stored in a mass storage,
In particular, they are generally stored individually on a hard disk.

(2) Creation of storyboard By combining the materials (files) obtained in the above step (1), for example, it is necessary to consider which narration should be combined with which image, and in what order to present it. As one program (program) in the style of a storyboard, and are described together with the lap time from the start of each program.

(3) Creation of a program sequence file (scenario file) A program sequence for controlling the progress of a program is coded while looking at the picture story completed in step (2) to create a program sequence file. The program sequence file is read by the sequencer of the multimedia reproduction system when reproducing the multimedia program, and controls the reproduction of the program.

That is, the program sequence file determines, for example, which images should be displayed in which order during reproduction.
It is used when recognizing which sound is to be reproduced and reproducing each program.

(4) Packaging After the target program is finally completed and actually played back from the hard disk for confirmation, the program sequence file and the still images, characters, Only the files of the material such as video and audio are written to the hard disk while interleaving in blocks such as packets and sectors, and finally the target program is completed. Write to a small capacity storage such as MOD, CDROM. In particular, when pressing on a CDROM, it takes time and money, so once another storage unit,
For example, a write-once proof disc is created, the program is actually reproduced using the storage medium, and after confirming that the program can be surely reproduced from the CDROM, the CDROM is actually pressed.

In reproducing a general multimedia program, when an operator selects a desired multimedia program with an operation unit such as a key and a mouse and gives an instruction for reproduction, the designated program is reproduced. Read the package with
Each file is reproduced from each package in order.

[0009]

In the system as described above, for example, when the narration voice and the commentary are changed to another language such as English, the materials of the narration voice and the commentary are recreated in English, and each of them is rewritten. In addition to accumulating the files as files on the hard disk and collecting and packaging the same material files as programs corresponding to such languages, a great deal of work is required. In addition, considering storing such a large number of packages in a CDROM, the cost is high. Further, for example, in order to support five languages, five disks must be created and stored, which causes a great waste in managing the disks.

[0010] Under such a background, an object of the present invention is to provide a multimedia program storage system that enables efficient use of a storage body when storing multimedia programs in the storage body.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a multimedia program reproducing system capable of reproducing a large number of multimedia programs from a storage having a small capacity.

[0012]

According to the present invention, a plurality of information files described in a program sequence file describing the progress of a multimedia program are stored in a storage together with the program sequence file. In the system, based on the description of the program sequence file, from a large number of information files stored in the mass storage means, an information file described in the program sequence file and a plurality of information described in the program sequence file Automatically detecting and reading a plurality of version files to which identification information for identifying each version is added to a plurality of versions of a file relating to at least one information file among the files, and the read plurality of information Fa Le and multiple versions file is configured to be recorded in the storage body with said program sequence file.

[0013]

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the storage system according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a scanner for extracting still image information.
The data is input to the data bus 10 via the CSI interface 5. Reference numeral 2 denotes a manual operation unit such as a keyboard and a mouse. Character information and various operation commands generated by this operation unit are taken into the data bus 10 or the control bus 30 via the RS232C interface 6. 3 is a video camera that generates a moving image signal, VTR, L
This is a moving image generation source such as D (laser disk), and the generated moving image signal is taken into the data bus 10 via the image A / D converter 7. Reference numeral 4 denotes a microphone that generates an audio signal, particularly a narration audio, and the generated audio signal is similarly taken into the data bus 10 via the audio A / D converter 8.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a CD (Compact Disc Player), which generates a digital audio signal. The digital audio signal can be taken into the data bus 10 via a digital audio interface 12. Reference numeral 15 denotes a recording device which drives a small-capacity storage body such as an MO or a CDROM and writes a signal into the storage device
Reference numeral 16 denotes a small-capacity memory (package medium) for storing packaged programs such as MO and CDROM. 20 is a microprocessing unit (MP
U) and 25 are large-capacity storage units, which are hard disks storing a large number of material files.

First, in the following embodiment, description will be made by taking an example of recording a program described in a basic program sequence file as shown in Table 1. The meaning of Table 1 is as follows.

[0018]

[Table 1]

That is, the contents of the program sequence file in Table 1 will be briefly described. In the table, the column described as lap time indicates the lap time from the beginning of the program in seconds. Therefore, when the reproduction is performed in accordance with the program sequence file shown in Table 1, the reproduction of the BGM is started simultaneously with the start of the reproduction of the program (after 0 seconds), and title 1 is displayed as the title character. Five seconds later, the still picture Still Picture 2 is displayed, and the narration 2 is reproduced and output.

Next, 10 seconds after the start of reproduction, the still image St
Display ill Picture 3, play and output narration 3. Then, 15 seconds after the start of playback, the video 4 is played and displayed, and the narration nara
Play and output Option 4.

Here, the hard disk 25 now has Table 2
It is assumed that a multimedia program component file as shown in FIG. For the sake of explanation, the number of files is assumed to be extremely small as compared with the case of actually designing a system. In addition, the file name after "." Will be referred to as an extension hereinafter.

[0022]

[Table 2]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart for explaining an example of the operation of the system when the present invention is applied to the system of FIG. 2 according to one embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, FIG.
The operation of this system will be described with reference to FIG.

When the MPU 20 receives the instruction of "start multi-version packaging" from the operation unit 2, it first reads one line of the program sequence file according to the flowchart of FIG. 1 (step S1). That is, "0000.00
, Read Disk, BGM, title 1 "is read. Here, since this is a read command of a disk file, it is determined (step S2), and a designated material file, here, BGM and title 1 is searched from the hard disk 25, transferred to the package medium 16, and written (step S2). S4).

Here, if a specified still image, character,
Material files for video, audio, etc., here BGM and title 1
If the file does not exist in the hard disk 25, it is determined (step S3), and there is a high possibility that the operator makes a mistake. Is called out (step S5).

Here, it is determined whether or not another version exists in the material file written here (step S2).
1) If any, another version of the specified file is similarly searched out from the hard disk 25 and written to the package medium 15, but here, BGM and titl
Since there is no other version in e 1, the process proceeds to step S6.

In step S6, it is determined whether or not the program sequence file has been completed. In this case, since the process has not been completed, the process returns to step S1 to read the next line of the program sequence file. . Here, "0005.00, read Disk, still Pictur
e 2, naration 2 ”is read out, the specified still picture 2 and naration 2 are similarly searched from the hard disk 25, and the package medium 16 is read.
Transfer to and write to.

Here, there is no other version of still Picture 2, but there are a Japanese version and an English version of naration 2, so narration 2,
In step S22, the Japanese file, the narration 2 file, and the English file are transferred to the package medium 15 with an extension and written.

Further, similarly, the next line of the program sequence file, that is, "0010.00, read Disk, still"
Picture 3, naration 3 ”is read and the specified stil
l Use Picture 3 and Naration 3
And transfers it to the package medium 16 for writing.

Again, there is no other version of still Picture 3 as well, but
Version and English version exist, so nara
tion3, Japanese files and naration 3, English
Is transferred to the package medium 15 with an extension in step S22 and written.

If all the program sequence files have been read in step S6, the program proceeds to step S6.
Then, the program sequence file is transferred to the package medium 16 and the process is terminated.

In the embodiment of the present invention as described above, since the files originally recorded on the package medium as three packages are recorded on the package medium as one package, the storage capacity of the package medium is greatly increased. As a matter of fact, files having no version are stored only once, so that the storage capacity can be saved. Also,
When managing package media, management became very easy.

This will be described in more detail. When considering multilingual support in a multimedia system, beautiful images and music are common to all nations, but narration voices and commentary characters are unique to each language system. Further, considering the amount of information, the narration voice has a smaller amount of information than BGM. For example, when the comparison of the amount of information from the sampling rate, etc., CD assuming the same level of BGM and the information amount per unit time of the BGM, 44.1KH sampling frequency _Z, each sample is assumed to stereo signals 16-bit Hour, (16 × 44
100 × 2 =) 1.4112 Mbps, whereas the narration voice has a sampling frequency of 11.02
Assuming 5KH _Z, 16-bit mono signal (16
X 11025 x 1 =) 176.4 Kbps. Therefore, preparing another file only for the narration as described above is very wasteful in terms of the amount of information, and by using the system of the embodiment of the present invention described above, the storage capacity is significantly increased. Can be saved.

In order to use the recording system of the present invention more effectively, the narration voice is
Using a well-known technique such as DPCM, the information amount can be further reduced to about half.

Further, as compared with a still image, a character such as a commentary has a very small amount of information. For example, assuming a still image signal of 512 × 768 true color (8 bits for each of RGB), the amount of information becomes extremely large at 1.179648 MByte, and at most 1/10 even if compression such as JPEG is used.
It can be compressed to a degree. On the other hand, the number of characters that can be displayed on a normal monitor is about 200 characters as a character for commentary and the like, but this is at most about 4 Kbytes even in Japanese with the largest amount of information. Therefore, if a separate file (package) is not prepared for the explanation in the system of the embodiment of the present invention described above, the storage capacity can be greatly reduced.

Next, the case of actually playing back using the package stored in the package medium will be described.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a playback system for playing back a package recorded as described above. FIG. 3 shows the operation of the system of FIG. 4 when playing back only a selected version of a program. It is a flowchart for explaining.

In FIG. 4, 40 is a storage medium such as a package medium or a hard disk, 41 is a SCSI interface for exchanging data between the data bus 60 and the control bus 61 and the storage body 40, and 42 is a data bus 60 A still image decoder 43 for decoding still image information, a character decoder 43 for decoding character information, a moving image decoder 44 for decoding moving image signals, and a decoder 45 for reproducing moving image signals. A frame memory for synthesizing image information and repeatedly displaying it on a monitor 57, a D / A converter 46 for converting the output of the frame memory 45 into an analog signal, a microprocessing unit (MPU) 47, and a BGM audio for 48 D / A converter, 49 is a narration voice D / A converter, 50 is RS2 2C interface, mixer 51 for combining the audio signal output of each D / A converter 48, 49, 55 audio amplifier, 56 a speaker,
57 is a monitor, and 58 is an operation unit such as a mouse and keys.

Hereinafter, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
An operation for reproducing a file related to a specified language will be described. First, when a reproduction command for a desired package is issued from the operation unit 58, step S31 is performed.
The language specified on the operation unit 58 is changed to a variable (LA
NGUAGE). Here, for example, the variable (LANGUA
GE) is stored in Japanese. Then, in step S32, the program sequence file of the package to be reproduced by the MPU 47 is written in one line ("0000.00, read Disk, BGM, title 1").
)), And it is determined that this is the disk file reading command as described above (step S3).
3) The process proceeds to step S34, in which the file name (BGM, title1) designated here is added with the language name (Japanese) stored in the above-mentioned variable (LANGUAGE) as an extension to search for a file. . That is, BGM.Japanese and title1.J
First, two types of files, apanese, are searched with the first priority.

In step S35, the presence or absence of this file is determined. Here, BGM.Japanese and title1.J
Since there is no file apanese, only the file having the file name (BGM, title1) specified in the program sequence file is searched and read from the storage medium 40 such as a package medium or a hard disk (step S37). Then, the BGM is transferred to the BGM D / A converter 48 to start the BGM reproduction (output from the speaker 56), read out the file title1 and read it out from the character decoder 4.
3, the title 1 is displayed on the monitor 57.

The MPU (sequencer) 47 reads the following one line (“0005.00, read Disk, still Picture 2, narat
ion 2)) (step S32), and step S32
At 34, the file name (still Picture 2, naration
2) File (still) with extension (Japanese) added
Picture 2 .Japanese, naration 2 .Japanese). Here, still Picture 2 .Japanese does not exist, but narration 2 .Japanese does exist, so after 5 seconds specified in this line, narration 2 .Japanese is sent to the D / A converter 49 for narration sound. By transferring the still picture 2 to the still picture decoder 42 (step S37) at the same time as transferring (step S37), the playback of the still picture and the playback of the narration sound are started.

Since the lap time of the next line of the program sequence file is 10 seconds, similarly, 1
After 0 seconds, the file name (still Picture 3, narat
ion3) with the extension (Japanese) added (sti
ll Picture 3 .Japanese, naration 3 .Japanese), display still Picture 3, and display narration 3 .Ja
Play panese. Further, when a program sequence file exists, the same processing is performed for the next line. When the program sequence file has been completely read (step S38), the process ends.

With the above-described configuration, only files using the language of the version desired to be reproduced are preferentially reproduced from the package. If the specified version does not exist, the file specified in the program sequence file is used. Is read, the completed program is reproduced.

In the above-described embodiment, it has been described that there are versions of each language only for narration and characters. However, for example, a plurality of versions can be obtained for still images. For example, if a plurality of flag files of each country are prepared, a plurality of flag files of the country of the designated language are prepared, and an extension corresponding to each country is added, the operator automatically instructs reproduction. It is also possible to configure so that the flag of the language country is displayed.
In addition, various version files can be similarly prepared for moving images.

In the case where data of multimedia program component files such as still images, characters, moving images, narration sound, and BGM are compressed, the still image decoder 42, character decoder 43, and moving image decoder in FIG. 44, the narration sound is expanded in the block indicated by the D / A converter 49, respectively.

[0046]

As described above, in the present invention, a plurality of version files relating to at least one information file among a plurality of information files described in a program sequence file and a plurality of information described in a program sequence file are provided. Since the file is automatically read from the large-capacity storage means and recorded in the storage together with the program sequence file, the capacity of the storage for storing a plurality of versions of the program can be greatly reduced.

[0047]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a multimedia storage system as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a multimedia storage system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the multimedia reproduction system as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a multimedia playback system as one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 scanner 2,58 manual operation unit 3 video source 4 microphone 5,41 SCSI interface 6,50 RS232C interface 10 data bus 11 compact disc player 12 digital audio interface 15 recording device 16 small capacity memory (package media) 20,47 micro Processing unit (MP
U) 25 Hard disk (mass storage) 30 Control bus 40 Storage (hard disk, MO, CDROM) 42 Still image decoder 43 Character decoder 44 Video decoder 45 Frame memory 46 D / A for image 48 D / A for BGM 49 Narration Audio D / A 51 Mixer 55 Audio amplifier 56 Speaker 57 Monitor

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A system for storing a plurality of information files described in a program sequence file describing the progress of a multimedia program in a storage together with the program sequence file, based on the description of the program sequence file.
A plurality of versions of the information files described in the program sequence file and a plurality of versions of at least one information file among the plurality of information files described in the program sequence file from the large number of information files stored in the mass storage means Means for automatically detecting and reading a plurality of version files to which identification information for identifying each version is added; and reading the plurality of read information files and the plurality of version files together with the program sequence file. Means for recording in the storage unit. 2. The multimedia program storage system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one information file is an audio file, and said plurality of version files use different languages. 3. A method for accumulating a plurality of information files described in a program sequence file describing the progress of a multimedia program in a storage together with the program sequence file, based on the description of the program sequence file.
A plurality of versions of the information files described in the program sequence file and a plurality of versions of at least one information file among the plurality of information files described in the program sequence file from the large number of information files stored in the mass storage means Automatically detects and reads a plurality of version files to which identification information for identifying each version is added, and stores the read plurality of information files and the plurality of version files together with the program sequence file. A multimedia program storage method characterized by recording on a body.